Stories for September '15

(Issue Story)

The Salmagundi Club Completes Renovations
by Julie Schlenger Adell

A partial view of the Salmagundi Club of New York City on lower Fifth Avenue. As with many buildings in Manhattan, scaffolding hides part of the structure. Club president Robert W. Pillsbury, known as “one of the left-handed Bobs,” is shown preparing his copper plate to be printed on one of ... (Read More)

(Book Review)

Books Received, September 2015
by M.A.D. Staff

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. Soldier, Engraver, Forger: Richard Brunton’s Life on the Fringe in America’s New ... (Read More)

(Auction Law and Ethics)

Prepare to Finish
by Steve Proffitt

Auction Law and Ethics We’ve been looking at certain consignment contract terms and why they are of particular importance to auction consignors. This month we’ll complete our review of these terms and consider several negotiating points consignors should know and use to their advantage. Auctioneering People generally don’t like conflict and the tension ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Vilinsky Is New Director of 20th-Century Decorative Arts & Design at Bonhams New York
by M.A.D. Staff

Beth Vilinsky has been appointed director of the 20th-century decorative arts and design department at Bonhams in New York City, effective immediately. Vilinsky will oversee all facets of the department’s strategic development and administration. Her focus will be on expanding and curating auctions, including Art Nouveau, Arts and Crafts, Tiffany, ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Amanda Bury, Cazenovia, New York
by Frank Donegan

Amanda Bury. Bury’s home and shop. A packed corner in the shop. Bury’s side patio from which she sells her garden items. Two Mexican silver necklaces. The one with the black ribbon is an “armadillo” necklace by Hector Aguilar, $2650. The scroll-link necklace from the 1940s is by William Spratling and is priced at ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Proposed Rule Change for Elephant Ivory; Antiques, Defined by ESA, Are Exempt
by M.A.D. Staff

When it comes to federal restrictions on ivory, there’s good news. On July 25 President Obama announced that the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) is proposing revisions to the African elephant rule under Section 4(d) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The new rules would prohibit most non-antique interstate ... (Read More)

(Computer Article)

Utilizing the Internet When You Move
by John P. Reid

Google Earth can show neighborhood details down to parked cars, a tennis court, and a swimming pier on the nearby river. Computer Column  #321 John P. Reid, [email protected] Antiquers are not the only people who move a home or business to a new location. Many people do so. However, a move from a ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

New Appreciation
by Clayton Pennington

Editorial During the second weekend in August, Maine Antique Digest set up a promotional booth at the Maine Antiques Festival, promoter Paul Davis’s signature show in Union, Maine. The three-day show, once home to approximately 380 dealers, has seen the number of dealers decline in recent years because of the economy, ... (Read More)

(Book Review)

The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky
by Lita Solis-Cohen

A Book Review The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky by Gaylord Torrence Skira Rizzoli and the musée du quai Branly, 2014, 320 pages, hardbound, $65 The landmark exhibition The Plains Indians: Artists of Earth and Sky was at the musée du quai Branly in Paris from April to July 2014, ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

A Classical Collection and New Faces at the Winter Antiques Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

New York City dealer Carswell Rush Berlin is selling a private collection of Classical furniture and period decorative accessories including some rare lighting. “It came from a southern mansion. The collectors are simply downsizing,” he said. Berlin is not running an auction or devoting a stand to the collection at ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

The New Selkirk Faces Lawsuit over Use of Name
by Clayton Pennington

In September 2014 Amelia and Jeff Jeffers, owners of Garth’s Auctions in Ohio, announced they were expanding and had bought the assets associated with the defunct Ivey-Selkirk Auctioneers in St. Louis, Missouri, including company names and other intellectual property. “We were interested in a name that has an incredible and ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Former Chihuly Company Employee Charged with $3 Million Art Theft
by M.A.D. Staff

A former Chihuly company employee is accused of stealing more than $3 million worth of artwork by Dale Chihuly. Christopher Robert Kaul, 38, has been charged with theft in the first degree and trafficking stolen property in the first degree. According to papers filed by Scott R. Peters, a deputy prosecuting ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Heritage Auctions Expands to the Netherlands
by M.A.D. Staff

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions has joined forces with the Dutch auction house MPO Auctions to form Heritage Auctions Europe, based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The Amsterdam expansion comes at the same time as Heritage’s recently announced Hong Kong expansion. “Heritage is a growing global brand,” said Cristiano Bierrenbach, vice president of Heritage ... (Read More)

(Young Collectors)

We Must Be Mistaken
by Hollie Davis and Andrew Richmond

The Young Collector In 2001 the University of Michigan Health System launched a new program, and a study to track the results followed. The idea was simple. Healthcare workers were encouraged to report any mistakes or errors and were given a step-by-step guide to navigating that process, from telling families and ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Bonhams to Move Furniture and Decorative Arts Sales to Los Angeles
by M.A.D. Staff

Bonhams will focus its furniture and decorative arts sales in its Los Angeles and New York City galleries. Staff will remain in San Francisco to offer valuations and advice on American and European furniture, decorative arts, ceramics, clocks, and silver. “We’ve reviewed the sales results on the West Coast, and we ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Taking Care of Antique and Vintage Jewelry
by Mary Ann Brown

This circa 1920 Art Deco platinum filigree pendant set with onyx and diamonds has a harder component—diamonds— and a relatively soft, porous component—onyx. Follow Pomphrett’s suggestion from the turquoise and gold earrings (see next page) and take the “most gentle cleaning” route. Use a soft, dry brush to wipe off ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

New York Metropolitan Glass Club Is Now Art Glass Forum | New York
by M.A.D. Staff

The New York Metropolitan Glass Club has changed its name to Art Glass Forum | New York. The new name better reflects the organization’s “leading role as an advocate for the glass arts and the study of historic, contemporary, and collectible glass,” according to an e-mail from forum president Paul ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Dealer Charged with Homicide
by M.A.D. Staff

Eli M. Goodrich, 26, of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, was arrested on August 4 and charged with murdering his father, Alan Goodrich, 67. Alan and his wife, June Goodrich, operated Goodrich Antiques and Folk Art in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, with their son Eli. According to published reports, Eli is accused of stabbing his father ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Letter from London, September 2015
by Ian McKay

Ian McKay, <[email protected]> Summer sales have filled my pending files with all sorts of riches and oddities that will feature in both this and future issues. The picture sales I have largely held over for next month’s “Letter,” though Klimt, Degas, and Goya do make an appearance here. Elsewhere you will ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Exhibitions
by M.A.D. Staff

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)

(Issue Story)

There Was No One Like Rudolph T. Lux, Ever
by A.J. Peluso Jr.

These Custer vases came to market in 1995 at Butterfield & Butterfield and sold for $46,750 the pair. Later they failed at Heritage Auctions in 2010 but were rescued by private treaty for $53,999, the current record. Miscellany and steamboats, however, seem to hover at middle four-figure prices. Photo courtesy ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Carousel Fails to Sell at Auction
by Kay Manning

The 1922 Spillman Engineering Co. menagerie carousel. The restored sign of the maker. Goat from row 9, made in 1885 by Dare’s New York Carousel Manufacturing Co. Leaping pig from row 3, made in 1875 by Chanvan Co., France. A collection of McDonald’s memorabilia that included (not shown) Mayor McCheese, whose head was a ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Stewart Coin Silver Trophy Breaks Record
by Pete Prunkl

George W. Stewart Kentucky coin silver trophy. Photo courtesy Brunk Auctions. Collectors and museums battled in the home stretch to win a coin silver trophy by George W. Stewart (c. 1820-c. 1875) at Brunk Auctions on July 16 in Asheville, North Carolina. The undated trophy was not associated with a particular ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Bonhams in Sydney, Australia Sells Lockwood de Forest Collection
by Lita Solis-Cohen

In oil on a 9½" x 14" card, this painting by Lockwood de Forest II is initialed, dated, and inscribed “Ulwar L de F 93.” It brought $2717. A late 19th-century carved teak vitrine, designed by Lockwood de Forest II and made for him in Ahmedabad, India and assembled in New ... (Read More)

(Show)

Fierce Storm Hammers Maine Show
by Clayton Pennington

It poured. It blew. The sides of the 120' tent kept flying up. It was a losing battle; the tent came down later in the day. The New England maple and pine chest with a secret molding drawer, circa 1780, was $1750 from Martin Ferrick of Lincolnville, Maine. The miniature chests ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Antiques in the Valley Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Farmer David Tuttle of Oley, Pennsylvania, said he bought these mittens in Vermont—“I like textiles”—and asked $335 for them. He sold a woolwork picture, six pieces of redware, and a sculpture of a train wreck made from wooden patterns from an iron-molding shop. David Tuttle asked $625 for this dollhouse. The ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Spitler Chest Achieves Record Price
by Walter C. Newman

The high lot of the Evans sale was something of a foregone conclusion. The Johannes Spitler paint-decorated yellow pine blanket chest enjoyed pride of place in the salesroom and was the object of most of the presale conversation. The chest has a hinged rectangular lid with applied edge molding. The ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Rittenhouse Tall Clock and Jonas Weber Box Sell at Conestoga
by Lita Solis-Cohen

This paint-decorated small trinket box by Jonas Weber, often called Jacob Weber, 1820-40, 2 3/8" x 4 1/8", is painted green and decorated with a red house and yellow trees on the front, tulips on the sides, and a flower and corner fans on the top. It sold on the ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Summer Show in Winnetka
by Danielle Arnet

Zane Moss of New York City had been a fixture at NSADA shows. For this show, he brought the 19th-century mahogany apothecary chest, with original labels and knobs, priced at $4750, topped with a 19th-century Staffordshire lion priced at $575 and four rare circa 1850 Bewlay’s covered jars with labels, ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Early 20th-Century Decorative Arts and Some Mid-century Modern
by Lita Solis-Cohen

This is a 6" square Marblehead tile, decorated with trees reflected in a pond by Arthur Baggs (1886-1947), circa 1908, stamped with a ship mark and “MP,” and with original paper labels including a handwritten one that reads “Marblehead Pottery Bo’t from Tiffany & Co Aug, ‘08 $5.” It sold ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Ridgewood Art & Antiques Show
by Julie Schlenger Adell

Turi’s inaugural show in New Jersey took place on two floors of the Woman’s Club of Ridgewood. Debbie Turi’s booth greeted showgoers in the front lobby of the Woman’s Club of Ridgewood. As the manager of the show, she wore two hats, so she hired a helper to assist in her ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionist Paintings
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945), “However at last I taught him to call me by my name very familiarly,” oil on canvas, 24 3/8" x 26¼", signed with monogram bottom left, $353,000 (est. $80,000/120,000) to a bidder on the phone. An illustration for Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, published in 1920 ... (Read More)

(Auction)

The Wild, Wonderful West Celebrated at Lebel's June Events
by Susan Emerson Nutter

This circa 1910 Cherokee bandolier bag, 8½" square, having a beaded strap with flowers, leaves, symbols,  targets with arrows, and vines in colors of purple, red, blue, and white, went for $9075 (est. $2500/3000). Consisting of a bit, headstall, breast collar, reins, martingale, cinch, skirt, lariat, and saddle by Loomis Saddlery ... (Read More)

(Show)

Heartland Antique Show
by Don Johnson

This cherry sugar chest with an inlaid eagle, Kentucky or Tennessee, circa 1810, was $14,500, and the 19th-century carved and gilded eagle, in the manner of John Bellamy or Samuel McIntire, was $6800 from Sharon and Claude Baker of Hamilton, Ohio. Ohio one-door cupboard in original red and mustard paint, circa ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Bonhams Native American Art
by Alice Kaufman

This Haida gold bracelet made by Bill Reid (1920-1998) sold for $62,500 (est. $50,000/80,000) to a private collector, an overseas phone bidder who was not from Canada, Haas emphasized. San Francisco, California Photos courtesy Bonhams Bonhams’ June 1 Native American art auction in San Francisco totaled close to $1.2 million (including buyers’ premiums). Bonhams’ ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Thomaston Place Springs Forth with a Man from Greece, Flowers from China, and an Indian Maiden
by Mark Sisco

Two Chinese cloisonné jardinieres, holding contemporary jade plants and standing on form-fitting carved hardwood stands, $33,350. Thomaston Place photos. Bronze Age Cycladic alabaster male figure, $20,125. This original Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) etching and drypoint of the Mennonite minister Cornelis Claesz.Anslo (1592-1646) was signed within the image and dated 1641. Anslo was ... (Read More)

(Auction)

New Orleans Auction Galleries Presents the Classical Style of Don Didier
by Karla Klein Albertson

Top lot of the sale was a large allegorical painting alluding to the defense of Liberty by a united and vigilant citizenry. A handsome figure of Athena with shield and spear stands at center right. Bearing the date 1784, in the time of the Dutch Republic, the work by decorative ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Agnes Martin's "Blue Flower" Makes a Cool $1.5 Million
by Jeanne Schinto

Blue Flower by Agnes Martin (1912-2004) sold to a New York dealer for $1,539,000 (est. $1,500,000/2,000,000). Dated 1962, the collage of oil, glue, nails, and canvas is on canvas stretched over an 11 5/8" x 11 3/8" panel. Many of the artist’s works look minimalist, but she considered herself to ... (Read More)

(Show)

Everyone Loves a "Comeback Kid"
by Fran Kramer

The booth of Missouri Plain Folk, Sikeston, Missouri. The dealers said that this “Rhinebeck was a show that matters. There is energy and diversity, and it looks great.” American Spirit Antiques, Shawnee Mission, Kansas, featured formal furniture, such as a $16,000 Connecticut Queen Anne highboy and a $7500 Classical wood and ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Reproductions Attract Interest
by Frances McQueeney-Jones Mascolo

Pennsylvania joiner Eric Jacobsen made the 1998 replica of the Rhode Island mahogany Chippendale chest-on-chest from the Kaufman collection, which is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Jacobsen said it’s one of his favorite pieces, and he bought it back for $13,200. This 35¼" high x 40" ... (Read More)

(Show)

Brandywine Show 2015
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Mark Allen sold these two figural food choppers on opening night. He said they had just arrived from France where they were made from 1850 to the 1940s. Prices for all the choppers he brought ranged from $1850 to $3000. The highest price was for the circa 1850 birds. Ed Weissman ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Indian Art
by Lita Solis-Cohen

There was good competition for this Classic Navajo pictorial man’s wearing blanket, Four Corners region, made of handspun wool in natural ivory, dark brown, and indigo blue and raveled bayeta in lac and cochineal red, 76" x 53". It sold on the phone for $250,000 (est. $60,000/100,000), underbid in the ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Eaton Collection of Native American Art and Western Paintings
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Indians Riding through the Canyon of Chelly (A Turn in the Canyon de Chelly) by Edgar Alwin Payne (1882-1947) is a 30" x 34" oil on canvas, signed (lower left) and inscribed on the back “Canyon de Chelly.” It sold to a bidder standing at the back of the salesroom ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Art and Visions of the West
by Julie Schlenger Adell

Above: The Cliffs of Green River, Wyoming, painted in 1896 by Thomas Moran, sold in the salesroom to dealer Mike Frost of J.N. Bartfield Galleries, New York City, who bought it for a client. The 20" x 30" oil painting, as well as Green River (below), had been acquired by ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Art Sale
by Julie Schlenger Adell

The cover lot of the sale was this Newell Convers (N.C.) Wyeth (1882-1945) illustration from James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Deerslayer. The 40" x 32" oil on canvas sold for $1.325 million (est. $400,000/600,000) to a phone bidder. It was the fifth-highest auction price for the artist. Wyeth was commissioned ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Art at Auction
by Lita Solis-Cohen

The Bookworm (Man with Nose in Book) by Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), signed lower left, oil on canvas, 32" x 26", painted for the August 14, 1926, cover of the Saturday Evening Post, $3,834,000 (est. $1.5/2.5 million) as an anonymous gift to the Grohmann Museum at the Milwaukee School of Engineering. ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Chair-Table Looks Pretty Good on the Surface
by Mark Sisco

The round chair-table displays a pristine, untouched surface and even a telltale oily spot where someone rested his head after dinner. It brought $7762.50.   Bidders loved this old Maine eider decoy in well-worn black and white paint, chasing it all the way to $2300. A small (roughly 11" x 12") oil on ... (Read More)

(Auction)

The Ohio Valley Auction
by Don Johnson

River landscape after Cornelius Ver Bryck (1813-1844), oil on canvas, signed “T. C— / from an outline by C. Ver Bryck,” 12" x 18" plus frame, inpainting to about 10% of the surface, $46,800.  Banjo clock, circa 1825, cherry and pine, scenic and foliate-decorated tablets, gilt surface, restoration to gold paint, ... (Read More)

(Auction)

"May We Play" Sale
by Dick Friz

Stutz coupe, Gendron, circa 1926, pedal car, pressed steel, 28½" long, ex-Don Kaufman, near mint, the sale’s top seller at $22,420. This Batman car by Yanoman, Japan, zoomed to $10,030, doubling the high estimate. Broadway & Central Park omnibus, George Brown, 1880s, painted tin, 12½" long, $10,620. Electric Packard pedal car, American National, ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Perfume Bottle Auction Brings $533,724
by M.A.D. Staff

This 1957 Christian Dior limited-edition presentation perfume bottle, “J’appartiens à Miss Dior” (I belong to Miss Dior), sold for $66,000. The buyer was an Asian collector. The 7¼" high figural bottle and stopper are thick-walled frosted glass with enameled details; the bottom label is numbered “CCXLII (242)” and, according to ... (Read More)

(Auction)

The Collection of Joseph T. Butler
by Jackie Sideli

Study St. Malo #11, a delicate 10½" x 13" (sight size) oil on panel by Maurice Prendergast, circa 1907, signed lower left, had a provenance from the estate of the artist and Mrs. Charles Prendergast. It is a very fine example of the landscape panels he made in France when ... (Read More)
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