FDIC ONLINE AUCTION OF RARE 19TH CENTURY JAPANESE ART, IVORY NETSUKE’S

Japanese artwork and space memorabilia owned by the failed Bank of Lincolnwood and appraised at more than $30,000 is being auctioned by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The auction, being run by Rick Levin & Associates, Inc., continues now through April 28, 2010.

A Japanese ivory netsuke of a reclining rat, one of the pieces of Japanese artwork being auctioned off by the failed Bank of Lincolnwood.

Assets include Japanese ivory miniature sculptures of such subjects as: a recumbent boar with its “ludicrously extended snout raised heavenwards”; a reclining rat with bulging eyes and a baby rat on its tail; and a warty toad crouching on a stump. All three are starting at $480 apiece.

Other items include a framed patch signed “This patch was on board Apollo 13 spacecraft on the flight around the moon, 11-17, April 70. Jim Lovell, Commander.” Its current bid is $280.

Also available is a photograph of inventor Thomas Edison. The frame is damaged and its current bid is $60.

Among the pricier items are an $1,890 pipe holder and tobacco box hand-carved out of wood and featuring inlaid ivory and mother of pearl.

In June 2009, Bank of Lincolnwood, which was led by Clyde Engle and had two branches and $214 million in assets, was closed by regulators. Republic Bank of Chicago, Oak Brook, assumed its deposits and assets. At the time, the FDIC estimated that the cost to its insurance fund would be $83 million.

For more information about this online auction please visit RickLevin.com: http://www.ricklevin.com/Auctions/Online-Auctions.aspx