Anatol Kovarsky: Fourth of July Fireworks at Coney Island

Anatol Kovarsky's New Yorker cover for the issue of July 6, 1963, shows a lone fireworks barge off Coney Island illuminating the night sky on the Fourth of July. The original art was sold by the CartoonBank on November 14, 2006 with a letter attesting that its value at the time was $9,000, presumably the selling price. This spring it came to eBay professionally framed alongside the printed magazine cover.

The colors in the waves off Coney Island may have faded over time. It is also possible that the colors were enhanced in The New Yorker's printing process.

The seller's asking price on April 1 was $12,000 or Best Offer. 

Anatol Kovarsky
eBay listing accessed April 1, 2026

https://www.ebay.com/itm/306850543292?

Anatol Kovarsky
eBay item description

The seller was apparently new to the auction site. Within a day, the price was cut in half.

April 2

By April 7, the price was reduced another $200.

April 7

Next came $5,200:

April 9?

The seller next raised the price to $5,500, in order to make a seller offer of $500 off. Thus it sold on April 19 for the seller offer of $5,000.

05288

Alain [Daniel Brustlein]: Self-Portrait

Daniel Brustlein (1904-1996) was known to readers of The New Yorker as the cartoonist Alain. His signature collection is Alain's Steeplechase (1957). A self-portrait of his executed in oil on paper and sold on eBay early in 2020 is signed simply Brustlein.

The self-portrait shows the aritist surrounded by his paintings. The studio floor has tiles in a checkerboard pattern. The painter leaves the forms in an unresolved blur, and we are not sure whether we have quite seen him or not.

Daniel Brustlein's signature

The work is framed.

Alain [Daniel Brustlein]
eBay listing ended February 15, 2020

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Daniel-Brustlein-Alain-Autoportrait-Original-Oil-on-Paper-Painting-New-Yorker-/392362590977?hash=item5b5aa20301%3Ag%3Ajx8AAOSwyqhdQQip&nma=true&si=WEtIFz5%252FkfY9UxP8WWeB%252FCaqeVQ%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

Alain [Daniel Brustlein]
eBay item descritpion

The work sold for a best offer somewhere less than $799.99.

[End of eBay listing]

Here, for comparison, is a photographic image of the artist. He definitely captured somthing of himself.

https://www.danielbrustlein.com/biography

This is his Wikipedia portrait:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Brustlein

Curiously, on the back dust cover to The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975, he is referred to as "Daniel Alain," but nowhere else does this combination of name and pseudonym appear in print. 

The New Yorker Album of Drawings 1925-1975
Detail of rear dust jacket

https://www.ebay.com/itm/266426501507?/

You may wonder why I sometimes archive and hold on to eBay listings for years before proceeding to post them. I wonder as well.

05249

Eustace Tilley New Yorker Cufflinks

A pair of vintage cufflinks feature The New Yorker's mascot Eustace Tilley more or less as he appeared on the magazine's first cover by Rea Irvin. The iconic design from 1925 has been rendered freehand in enamel and mounted on sterling silver cufflinks. Thus the two cufflinks differ slightly. The pair were sold September 15 on the eBay auction site.

The articles weigh in at 26.8 grams.

AL is either a jeweler's hallmark or, less likely, the prior owner's initials.

The cufflinks are unusually thick.

There is apparently writing in Hebrew along the side.

Eustace Tilley Cufflinks
eBay listing ended September 15, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/236325473892?/

Eustace Tilley Cufflinks
eBay item description

I don't know why a $0.00 sale price appears here, but the cufflinks were originally listed at $45 and the buyer paid $42.

A similar pair of these was listed on Ruby Lane but is no longer available. Again, each cufflink is painted slightly differently.

https://www.rubylane.com/similar/1805888-R3160/

Note:  Of course, I'd love to learn more about these hand-painted curiosities. Perhaps someone will recognize the handiwork.

Meanwhile, the new owner of the eBay set has gone public in a companion post to this one here.

05072

A Signed Copy of Uncle Wiggily and His Friends by Howard R. Garis

Until I came across this eBay listing, it never had occurred to me that Howard R. Garis, author of the Uncle Wiggily books, was in the habit of signing his popular character's name above his own. We live and learn. The book was sold in late May.

Howard R. Garis
eBay listing ended April 27, 2025

https://www.ebay.com/itm/205515094098?itmmeta=01K39JYESBJNB74G8P62EN2B8H&hash=item2fd9a77852:g:y78AAOSwsERoNfLe&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAAwFkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1cZX9L2C5vt3%2BcIydKOlr9hZeAkt8mCpn0VMECviIXx%2Fh1XJK1qUNS0sNhMnYm3Tmbi1VASXSWbPO%2FKAtUrNzSs5UCfzj4hXrkAmwhlcvw5NVvcrvKKC11szvy5IDiLCBUBNds4P3zLq8Nm9HTyCw%2BUNiT5YJv1ljiYb5%2BRUN49Ozeu2U85ZJBh1W6w4CeqCYXeQtc2BsLKLjx8x1R2W3FicFk7XwgrCpoufPiIIrWOEQ%3D%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR-Ls-bKaZg&pfm=1

Howard R. Garis
eBay item description

05052