YORK, PA.- November’s election results are still a matter of speculation, but there was no question that rare political memorabilia won the popular vote at Hake’s Americana’s million-dollar-plus July 12-14 pop culture auction.

Several record prices were confirmed during the sale, including the successful $31,625 bid that secured an 1860 parade flag imprinted “For President, Abram Lincoln – For Vice President, Hannibal Hamlin.” The 11 by 17-inch glazed cotton parade flag was a coveted item – even to the most advanced collectors pursuing it – because of its appealing star pattern and inadvertent misspelling of the future president’s first name. “According to our research, that was a record auction price for that particular flag design,” said Alex Winter, president of Hake’s Americana.

Another impressive performer was the ‘Free Gene Debs’ button, which sold for $11,511. Dating to the 1918-1920 period, the 1-inch button featured a “floating-head” portrait of the fabled union leader and five-time Socialist Party presidential nominee who had been imprisoned for defying a court injunction. The button carried a pre-sale estimate of $5,000-$10,000. Another Debs item, an oval portrait pocket mirror believed to be from the candidate’s 1912 presidential campaign, swept past its $2,000-$5,000 estimate to close at $7,603.

The Tuesday opening session also included a silver medal from the historically significant 1936 Olympics held in Nazi-controlled Berlin, Germany. Unusual from an auction-market standpoint in that it was a winner’s medal as opposed to a much more commonly seen participant’s medal, it sprinted to a winning bid of $5,383.

In every Hake’s auction, bidders can count on seeing the unexpected – for example, a countertop fortune-teller machine with Madam Melba at work behind a “crystal” ball. Ensconced in a wood and glass case with a marquee that says “Questions Answered – Yes Or No – Controlled By Fate,” the circa-1910 mechanical psychic may or may not have foreseen her $3,199 auction price.

Following a Wednesday intermission day, bidding resumed on Thursday, July 14, with a hard-fought battle over four subsets from the Comic Adventures comic-character card set. A complete and rarely offered 24-card Buck Rogers comic strip subset in near-mint to near-mint-plus condition crushed its $1,000-$5,000 estimate in realizing $13,775. There was heavy bidding action on the other three subsets in the sale, with each landing well above estimate. They included: Tarzan, $3,326; Broncho Bill, $1,670; and Tailspin Tommy, $1,335. Combined, the four subsets garnered a hefty $20,106, which Winter confirmed was “an extraordinary price and definitely a world auction record.”

Hake’s Auction 218 answered the call for rare artworks with a 30½ by 42-inch Ken Kelly oil painting of Conan the Barbarian as featured on the cover of the 1987 paperback titled Conan the Champion. Kelly was a protégé of the legendary Frank Frazetta, and painted the artwork in 1986 in the iconic style of his mentor. The depiction of Conan on a rearing horse sold within estimate for $5,750.

Entertainment memorabilia fans still love Lucy, and Desi, too. A vibrantly pictorial 1950s “Desi’s Conga Drum” in its original cardboard shipping box was one of only two known to have reached the auction market in the past 10 years. Estimated at $2,000-$5,000, the rare red, black and cream-colored drum with bandleader/percussionist Desi Arnaz’s image inside a heart shape captured the rhythm of the auction to reach a heady price of $6,958.

A pedigreed collection of toys, advertising and other elusive memorabilia from the 1960s TV spy series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was consigned by punk rocker Tesco Vee, singer for the groundbreaking D.C./Michigan punk rock band The Meatmen. A large and impressive Marx tri-fold cardboard display, with all original components from a Man From U.N.C.L.E. “Counterspy Outfit” still attached, reached the midpoint of its estimate at $3,479.

An array of sought-after Mego figures was led by a 1979 DC Comics Aquaman on its original blister card decorated with cameo images of other superheroes. The 8-inch posable figure dressed in the immediately recognizable Aquaman suit and leggings was entered in the auction with a $200-$400 estimate. After 23 bids, the colorful rarity was off to its new owner for $6,591.

Concert posters have a large and active following in Hake’s sales. While this category is frequently topped by posters for events headlined by Jimi Hendrix or The Doors, this time it was the Beach Boys who led the musical parade. A 14 by 28-inch color cardboard window card for the band’s 1966 concert at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa., commanded nearly four times its high estimate, settling at $3,782.

Also in its July 14 session, Hake’s offered one of the largest selections of comic books in its 49-year history, at price points to please all collectors. The predicted top lot amongst them – a March 1963 Amazing Spider-Man #1 – did not disappoint, snaring a within-estimate price of $6,325.