Stories for May '15
(Fragment)"Washington Crossing the Delaware" Goes from White House to Winona, Minnesota
Photo courtesy Minnesota Marine Art Museum.
On March 22, the Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona, Minnesota, unveiled the 40½" x 68" version of Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 masterpiece Washington Crossing the Delaware, perhaps the most famous and iconic American painting.
It was acquired by Mary Burrichter and Robert A. “Bob” Kierlin, the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Winterthur Announces Acquisitions
Winterthur recently announced two important acquisitions.
John Shearer Chest Made for Salome Kramer
At the Furniture Forum (March 4-7) Winterthur announced the purchase of a chest of drawers made by John Shearer (worked 1790-1820) for Salome Kramer of Frederick County, Maryland, in 1809. Shearer signed the walnut, oak, and poplar chest eight ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Sandy Doig, Somers, Connecticut
Sandy Doig in his basement workshop. In good weather he works in his barn. He thinks the two-drawer stand is from the south shore of Massachusetts. “It has the thinner stock that they use there.” He’s asking $450 for it. “Eight years ago it would have been nine hundred,” he ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Sales Tax Affecting Galleries in Arizona
A group of Scottsdale, Arizona, art gallery owners say they are being crippled by a sales tax that kicked in at the beginning of this year. The new regulation adds the transaction privilege tax (TPT), Arizona’s sales tax, to fine art sales to out-of-state buyers who purchase the art in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Canadian Dealer Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Smuggling Rhino Horns, Ivory, and Coral
Xiao Ju Guan, aka “Tony Guan,” 39, of Richmond, British Columbia, was sentenced on March 25 in United States federal court to 30 months in prison for smuggling rhinoceros horns, elephant ivory, and coral from the United States to Canada. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Laura ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Changes Afoot for Sotheby's Boston Office and for Its Former Director
William S. “Bill” Cottingham. Litwin Media photo.
Cottingham Fine Art, 67½ Chestnut Street, Boston. Schinto photo.
One day in mid-January a sign maker put up new signage on the 19th-century carriage house at 67½ Chestnut Street at the foot of Beacon Hill where Sotheby’s regional Boston office had been located for the ... (Read More)
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(Auction Law and Ethics)Prepare to Listen
Auction Law and Ethics
Right out of law school I was routinely in court to appear on some motion or another—occasionally to try a small case. Despite the theory, philosophy, public policy, published opinions, moot court, and all the rest that constitute the law school experience, the real world is where ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Crossing the T's and Dotting the I's
Editorial
While on a cruise in 1999, Mattie King and her husband (now deceased) went to an auction conducted by Park West Galleries, Inc. They bought a complete set of Salvador Dalí’s Divine Comedy prints, spending $165,000. The set came with a certificate of authenticity and appraisals.
Ten years passed and King ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The Stages of an Antiques Collector's Life--A Curious Journey
Some people never lose their innocence to passion. Sometimes collecting antiques never gets into one’s blood. Not all collectors reach the final stage of their journey; people stop at different way stations to full-blown accumulating insanity. For others, collecting antiques can be a life journey. Like those fabulous characters in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Insurance for Conceptual Art
Crystal & Company has partnered with AIG Private Client Group to create a new insurance solution for collectors with conceptual art collections, according to a press release.
Conceptual art, the company said, is focused more on the idea being expressed, while the form and material are secondary. A certificate is provided ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Show in Ridgewood, New Jersey
Debbie Turi is managing the first annual Art & Antiques Show at the Ridgewood Woman’s Club in Ridgewood, New Jersey, on June 6 and 7. Turi has previously teamed up with Brad Reh to run a couple of shows: the Art, Design, and Antiques Show at Wallace Hall during Americana ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Metro Show Canceled for 2016
For the last four years, on the first weekend of Americana Week in New York City in January, the Art Fair Company has promoted the Metro Show (renamed this year Metro Curates) at the Metropolitan Pavilion at 125 West 18th Street in Chelsea. In a letter to exhibitors in mid-March, ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)TV Guide (to Antiques)
The Young Collector
Librarians get asked lots of odd questions—can you help me find the red cookbook I was looking at last week, what foods float, am I divorced? (yes, seriously, all of those)—but many of them would say their favorite question comes when someone just wants a good book to ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Philadelphia Show to Be Revived
After the 2015 Philadelphia Antiques Show was canceled, Anne Hamilton and Nancy Kneeland from the volunteers and Richard Worley and Joan Johnson, the current and past chairs of the Antiques Show Advisory Committee, met to focus on the possibility of a 2016 show.
Catherine Sweeney Singer and the committee of four ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Round Lake Antiques Festival Gets New Promoter
The Round Lake Antiques Festival in Round Lake, New York, has a new promoter, Michael Green of Fairground Shows NY, who is best known for promoting the Washington County Antique Fair.
“I plan on doing some aggressive advertising and lots of person-to-person marketing. I like to go around to other shows ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
These are brief reviews of books recently sent to us. We have included ordering information for publishers that accept mail, phone, or online orders. For other publishers, your local bookstore or a mail-order house is the place to look.
Visual Art and the Urban Evolution of the New South by Deborah ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Raise the Speaker's Roof
The Speaker’s House as it looks today: the outline of the general store added by Frederick Muhlenberg in 1782 is visible on the gable wall. Photo courtesy Gavin Ashworth.
The Speaker’s House in Trappe, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, needs a roof. It is the house where Frederick Muhlenberg lived when he served ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Ivory Fight Moves to the States
With the implementation of the federal law banning the sale of ivory still unclear, the fight has moved to the state legislatures. New legislation has been introduced in at least 14 states; New York and New Jersey already have ivory bans in place.
In many instances, the language of the bills ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions
Maine Antique Digest includes, as space permits, brief announcements of exhibitions planned by galleries, museums, or other venues. We need all press materials at least six weeks in advance of opening. We need to know the hours and dates of the exhibit, admission charges, and phone number and website for ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Indiana's Religious Freedom Restoration Act
When state legislators passed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) in Indiana, the immediate firestorm of outcry burned all the way down to the antiques industry. Promoter Jon Jenkins felt the heat.
Among other shows, Jenkins manages the monthly Indie Arts & Vintage Marketplace in Indianapolis. Because of RFRA, he immediately ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Neon Sign Brings $143,750
Sold for $143,750. Photo courtesy Mecum Auctions.
An original porcelain neon factory-rotating Mobil Pegasus in working condition brought $83,375. Photo courtesy Mecum Auctions.
More than 400 vintage collectible signs from the Vernon Walker collection were offered for sale by Mecum Auctions on March 28 and 29 in West Memphis, Arkansas. The collection, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Garth's Single-Owner Sale of Native American Jewelry
This Casper the Friendly Ghost character ring by Carol Kee with inlaid jet and coral details realized $1875 (est. $150/350).
The top lot of the Garth’s sale was this signed 14k or 18k gold 1¼" high x 2½" wide cuff bracelet by Andy Lee Kirk. The hand-formed gold cuff with ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Louis Daniel Brodsky Collection of Art Nouveau
Director of decorative arts Corbin Horn told us that other copies of “Divan Japonais” by Toulouse-Lautrec, 1892-93, have sold for far less, but the $30,000 result at this sale might have resulted from the tide of enthusiasm generated by surrounding lots. Hindman photo.
The Emile Gallé marquetry cabinet tied for the ... (Read More)
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(Show)Art of the Americas
Santa Fe, New Mexico, dealer Jan Duggan was asking $20,000 for this pre-1900 Zuni frog pot. She said that sales were “great” and that she’d sold beadwork, a specialty that “had been slow but was definitely coming back.” She added, “Saturday’s attendance was up from last year.”
Santa Fe, New Mexico, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)An Important Discovery at Cottone
The second-highest price of the sale was the $115,000 paid by an absentee bidder for this 8'9" high stainless steel kinetic sculpture by George Warren Rickey (1907-2002) from the collection of Richard Brush of Rochester, New York, former owner of the SentrySafe company.
Meissen porcelain figural group, signed and numbered, some ... (Read More)
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(Auction)"Mountain Lake" by Sandzen Tops Massachusetts Auction
The highlight of the sale was Mountain Lake by Birger Sandzén (Swedish-American, 1871-1954) that sold for $33,825.
An equine lot brought impressive results. A late 19th- or early 20th-century full-body weathervane with some sheet metal in the highly detailed form of a horse being led by a groom or a ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Fine and Decorative Arts Auction
Cincinnati Art Club tombola panel, oil on wood artist’s palette, 1894, 11¼" x 15½" plus frame, excellent condition, $50,400.
Carved patriotic eagle in cherry, probably third quarter of the 19th century, 32" high x 52¼" wide, small chips and minor age splits, loss to one side of tail feathers, a break to ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Dogs in Show & Field
The top lot of the sale was King Charles Spaniels by Richard Ansdell (British, 1815-1885). The 36" x 28" oil painting sold on the phone for $81,250 (est. $80,000/120,000). The same bidder bought five other paintings, all by John Emms, spending over a quarter of a million dollars, all on ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Evans Cabinet Brings $183,750
This Paul Evans (1931-1987), Paul Evans Studio, four-door Sculpture Front cabinet, New Hope, Pennsylvania, 1964, welded, forged, torch-cut, and polychromed steel, bronze, and 23k gold leaf and painted wood, with welded signature “Paul Evans 64D,” 21½" x 99" x 24", was purchased from the artist. It is published in the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Horst Sells Tannehill and Coleburn Collections
This Confederate Civil War letter signed by Robert E. Lee regarding the formation of the 39th Virginia Volunteers Infantry Regiment, addressed to Col. Charles Smith, sold for $10,600. The letter descended in the family of Smith to his granddaughter Marie Preston Smith, wife of well-known antiques collector Titus Geesey.
This fine ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Thrill of the Hunt at Copley's Winter Sale
A. B. Frost (1851-1928) is perhaps best known for his illustrations for Tom Sawyer and Uncle Remus. This 14" x 22" Quail—A Covey Rise by Frost was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons as part of a chromolithographed set entitled “Shooting Pictures.”The original watercolor was first purchased by Clarence Otis Bigelow, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Western Americana Sale Exceeds Expectations
To quote the catalog, Estracto de Noticias… is an “extremely rare first printed account of the founding of Monterey, the first European settlement in northern California,” attributed to Gaspar de Portolá, published in 1770. It sold for $97,500 (est. $30,000/50,000) after the first of many bidding wars between a bidder ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Tlingit Mask Hits the Big Time at Thomaston
Northwest Coast Tlingit mask, $109,250.
This possible Stine Pottery face jug, with an incised date appearing to read “Oct. 5, 1844,” cruised all the way to $21,275. Thomaston Place photo.
Andy Warhol serigraph titled Sunset, 1972, numbered “116/470,” made $34,500.
This unsigned 25½" x 33½" oil on canvas was stylistically and historically ... (Read More)
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(Auction)"Tradition of Progress" Exhibit
A section of balcony railing made by the Rose Iron Works, Cleveland, circa 1927, serves as a focal point at the entrance of A Tradition of Progress. Overhead is one of four name boards from the steamer Queen City. Made of painted wood, it dates to 1897.
Cambridge Glass Company items ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Okito's Checker Box Brings $12,000 in Magic Auction
The hand-painted checker cabinet by Theo Bamberg, a.k.a. Okito, sold for $12,000 (est. $7000/9000).
The interest in a photograph of French magician Alexander Herrmann was surprising to Fajuri. It sold for $5760, way above the estimate of $1500/1800. The cabinet card portrait was signed on the back by Adelaide Herrmann, and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Julia Opens for $3.5 Million
The 8" cannonball that missed killing Admiral David Farragut aboard the U.S.S. Hartford at the Battle of Mobile Bay when it fell intact onto the deck of the ship brought $5332.50.
Congressional silver medal commemorating the Jeannette Arctic expedition, 1879-82, given to team member Herbert Leach, $21,330.
A collection of about 50 ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Original Semi-Annual York Antiques Show & Sale
Found in Adams County, Pennsylvania, this exceptional redware pottery teapot with raised and molded relief decoration of birds in heart-shaped nests, a chain link spout, coggled rim, and black manganese glaze, signed William Baker twice, was $27,500 from Greg Kramer.
Alice and Art Booth of Wayne, New Jersey, asked $3200 for ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Neal Rolls the Dice on Rococo Revival--and Wins
Big and boisterous, this nine-piece bedroom suite (partially shown) from the Service collection is in the Renaissance style referred to as “Henry II.” Altogether it’s a great deal of carved oak furniture for $52,580 (est. $15,000/25,000).
Grant Oakes purchased both chandeliers and table lamps for the Service collection. Most ornate—with figures ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Antiques & Garden Show of Nashville: American Beauty in Its 25th Year
Now in its 25th year, the Antiques & Garden Show benefits the Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, whose resident gardeners constructed the entry presentation “La Dama del Jardin” with her dramatic blooming dress. Rows of antiques dealers’ displays can be seen beyond the fountain.
Veteran exhibitor Ron Lotz ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Important Maritime Paintings and Decorative Art
The pilot boat Phantom started life in Boston harbor in 1868 but subsequently was sold into the Sandy Hook pilots fleet. The painting depicts Phantom (number11) offering the unidentified brig her pilotage service. She and a team of pilot boats rescued hundreds of passengers off the Cunard steamer Oregon, which ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Asian and Continental Arts and Country Americana
Chinese huanghuali altar coffer, late 19th or early 20th century, three drawers over two bifold doors, relief carving of birds and prunus branches, pierce-carved panels, 36" high x 72" wide, minor pieced restorations, $66,000.
Ohio stoneware crock incised “July 6 1839 / L.D. Owen Ohio” above a bird and flowers within ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 2015 Outsider Art Fair
The Super Red Hot World Peppers, 2014, graphite, crayon, ink, and marker on paper, by Gregory Blackstock was $6400 from Garde Rail Gallery, Austin, Texas.
Julian Martin’s untitled pastels on paper, 15" x 11", were $1200 from Fleisher/Ollman Gallery. John Ollman brought 21 of them to the Outsider Art Fair, and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Early Clocks, One Day Late: The Abbott/Guggenheim Collection
The top-selling clock, and second only overall to a bronze Hercules that sold for $2,045,000 (see below), this 1580-90 German gilt striking and automaton lion clock by Philipp Miller went to a determined phone bidder who steadily jumped bid increments until the hammer fell far above the $150,000/250,000 estimate. This ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Chinese Export Art
Famille verte duck wine pot and cover, late 18th century, the body iron-red with green and gilt wings, the cover with a lotus finial, the handle a green stem, the beak gold, 8" long, $21,250 (est. $8000/12,000) to a bidder on the phone.
A large 18th-century famille rose pheasant, 16½" high, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Estates and Collections Contribute to Auction Success
Portraits did well in the January sale. Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl (1788-1838), son of Connecticut painter Ralph Earl, came to Tennessee in 1817 to paint Andrew Jackson. This couple by the younger Earl sold for $24,780 (est. $6800/8400). The sitters, the Reverend Hardy Cryer and his wife, were a handsome ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Two Phone Bidders Tango for Sunlight in the Studio
Sunlight in the Studio by Irving Ramsey Wiles (1861-1948) sold for $219,000 (est. $100,000/150,000). The signed and dated (“1888”) oil on canvas measures 18 1/8" x 22 3/16" without its period frame. Sold along with this lot was a group of books and ephemera about World’s Columbian Exposition (1893), where ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Teapot by Paul Revere Jr. Brings $233,000
Each of these Martelé silver figural ewers, marked for Gorham Mfg. Co., Providence, 1912, in baluster form, is decorated with fluid leaves and waves. One is chased with Poseidon holding his trident and has a cast merman-form handle; the other is chased with a mermaid holding a clamshell with pearls ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Semi-Positive Bidding on Negatives
It’s fun to look at the players in static poses that were intended to appear dynamic. This Jack Doran Old Judge glass negative took top price honors for the negatives at $5635. Saco River photo.
Three Ty Cobb T206 cards. Above: Sweet Caporal Cigarettes, graded very good, $1840. Below left: El ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 60th Washington Winter Show--a Winner
Janice Paull of Portimao, Portugal specializes in English ironstone china and 19th-century European ceramics. The large tureen by Hicks & Meigh dates from the first half of the 19th century. It was priced at $3000. The large vase on the top shelf, left, circa 1820, was tagged $700. The ornate ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Calendar Clock Brings $27,600
The 24" diameter D. J. Gale’s rosewood calendar clock was untouched and sold to a dealer in the gallery on the phone with a client for $27,600.
The painted cast-iron Kewpie doll arcade target (34" long) with ten figures was rare and sold for $4887.50. McInnis photo.
A Newburyport mahogany bowfront chest ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Furniture by Thomas Nisbet Tops Auction
From the Ritchie family came a mahogany desk made by Thomas Nisbet & Son for the New Brunswick Legislature and inscribed in pencil “Alan Joseph Ritchie, Newcastle, NB.” The desk made $2800.
Indian Town at the Foot of Main Street, Saint John, New Brunswick, a 12" x 16" gouache signed by ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, May 2015
by Ian McKay, <[email protected]>
This May selection kicks off with a double MM, a sighting of a “Moon Maiden,” and there are more Ms in a charming Exmoor landscape by Munnings and a mosaic mask that turned Greek tragedy to saleroom joy.
A wonderful collection of old carriages and sleighs; an Egyptian ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)E-mail Tips and Scams
An imitation phishing e-mail like the real ones.
Computer Column #317
John P. Reid, [email protected]
It is all about e-mail this month.
Archive E-mail
Many of us save received e-mail messages for years as transaction records or for their information content. I have e-mail to and from companies written about in this column, fellow collectors, ... (Read More)
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