Stories for September '16

(Computer Article)

Comparing Computers
by John P. Reid

Computer Column #333 John P. Reid, [email protected] One thing is inevitable in modern life: a day will come when that old personal computer has to be replaced. My wife just retired her eight-year-old Windows Vista desktop machine. It was getting cranky and was not fast enough for modern software. Computers are not new ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

The Dealer's Fair Has New Management
by M.A.D. staff

The Dealer’s Fair, held at the Goshen Fairgrounds in Goshen, Connecticut, will be under new management this fall. Maria McLennan, owner of Covet Antiques, and Annie Fletcher Itin, creative director and owner of the Fletcher Design Group, will partner under the name of Hunt & Gather Events. Now in its fourth ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Brexit Leads to BADA Dealers Showing in New York City
by M.A.D. staff

There will be a dedicated pavilion of members of the British Antique Dealers’ Association (BADA) at the Palm Beach Show Group’s New York Art, Antique and Jewelry Show taking place at Pier 94 in New York City November 9-13. The BADA initiative is being launched as a response to the U.K.’s ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Gagosian Gallery Settles $4.28 Million Tax Bill
by M.A.D. staff

On July 19 Gagosian Gallery agreed to a $4.28 million settlement following an investigation into sales tax collection practices. Gagosian Gallery has galleries in New York City, Beverly Hills, San Francisco, London, Paris, Geneva, Rome, Athens, and Hong Kong.  “There is one set of tax rules for all, and that includes ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Harmer Johnson to Receive Belmont Society Award
by M.A.D. staff

The Belmont Society Award is presented to a member who has made a significant contribution to the Appraisers Association of America (AAA) over the course of 25 years or more. The name comes from the Belmont Plaza Hotel, where the association’s members met monthly from November 1958 to circa 1973. The ... (Read More)

(Young Collectors)

Antiq-onomics, Part Two
by Hollie Davis and Andrew Richmond

The Young Collector So, where were we? Oh, yes! Last month, when we left our fictional auctioneer/dealer hero(ine), he or she was at the bottom of an enormous fiscal hole just about to have the glimmering light of entrepreneurship cruelly snuffed out by the hulking evil Free Consultation and his henchmen ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Robert Ross, Ross Bros. Antiques, Haydenville, Massachusetts
by Frank Donegan

In the Trade When you stop for gas at your local Xtra-mart or Kwik Stop, you might also buy a quart of milk or a bag of chips or a six-pack. You can’t do that at Robert Ross’s Sunoco station in Haydenville, Massachusetts. You can get your gas there all right ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Ownership of Cincinnati Art Galleries Changes
by Don Johnson

Cincinnati Art Galleries was sold to David Hausrath on July 15. The gallery was founded by the Sandler family. Randy Sandler, who has been involved in the art business for the past 37 years, will stay on as a consultant for three years. Employees at Cincinnati Art Galleries will remain, ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Classical Splendor
by Lita Solis-Cohen

“Post Palladian Modernism” could be the alternate title for Classical Splendor: Painted Furniture for a Grand Philadelphia House, an exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) September 3 through January 1, 2017. It will showcase the elegant and graceful streamlined furniture designed by architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe and made ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Hindman Expands to Scottsdale
by M.A.D. staff

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers is expanding its regional reach to Scottsdale, Arizona. Headquartered in Chicago, the auction house has five other locations: Denver, Colorado; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Naples and Palm Beach, Florida; and St. Louis, Missouri. Logan Browning has been hired as the director of business development for the Scottsdale location. Browning, a ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Luman Reed's Service Goes to N-YHS
by Christine I. Oaklander

The Old Paris porcelain dining service owned by Luman Reed (1787-1836), a wealthy dry goods merchant and a pioneering patron and close friend of preeminent American artists Thomas Cole (1801-1848), Asher B. Durand (1796-1886), and William Sidney Mount (1807-1868), has been purchased from family descendants and donated to the New-York ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

London Company Pays $2 Million for Artwork but Still Waits for Delivery
by M.A.D. staff

London firm Blue Art Limited agreed to buy a piece of contemporary art from New York City dealer David Zwirner in June 2014, according to a suit filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York. The price tag was $2,000,000. Blue Art Limited claims to have paid ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Be There
by Clayton Pennington

Editorial While walking around a recent show, I found something I wanted to purchase for my wife. It was exactly what she had been looking for to grace the walls of her office. Looking it over, I found there was no price tag and no information. Nothing. I thought I’d ask the ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Penniman Portraits Acquired by Old Sturbridge Village
by M.A.D. staff

Tilly and Caroline Hathaway Mead by John Ritto Penniman, each 21" x 18", oils on board, painted in Hardwick, Massachusetts, in April 1831. Photos courtesy Bernard & S. Dean Levy. Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, has acquired two portraits painted by John Ritto Penniman (1782-1841). The portraits, dated 1831, are ... (Read More)

(Book Review)

Books Received, September 2016
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. Imagining Ichabod: My Journey into 18th-Century America through History, Food, and a ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Yes, There Will Be Another Philadelphia Antiques Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

On August 4, Penn Medicine gave show managers Diana Bittel and Karen DiSaia the go-ahead to put together the 55th Philadelphia Antiques Show. “They had asked us to do a feasibility study, which we did, and when we told them that fifty-four of fifty-eight dealers who showed last April said ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Letter from London, September 2016
by Ian McKay

Ian McKay, <[email protected]> The most expensive item in this month’s selection, by far, is one of the old masters featured, Rubens’ Lot and His Daughters, and the pictorial content also includes a 17th-century “selfie.” Antiquities get the most extensive coverage, in words and pictures, but to these I have added some ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Pook & Pook to Sell Jewelry in Delaware Tax Free
by M.A.D. staff

Pook & Pook, the auction house in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, has announced a collaboration with Stuart Kingston Galleries in Wilmington, Delaware, for a tax-free sale of jewelry and paintings on Saturday, November 19. James Stein, who with his son Edward runs Stuart Kingston Galleries, a jewelry and fine arts business started by ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Next on the Block
by M.A.D. staff

Gurley Collection to Be Sold on Site Show promoter and dealer Nan Gurley of Parsonsfield, Maine, who died in March, was a stalwart of the business. The Gurley family has announced that they will be selling Gurley’s collection at the house she loved in North Parsonsfield. “We believe there is no more ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Rhode Island Furniture
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Art and Industry in Early America: Rhode Island Furniture, 1650-1830, the first major exhibition of early Rhode Island furniture in half a century, opens at the Yale University Art Gallery on August 19 and continues through January 8, 2017. It will present the most comprehensive survey of Rhode Island furniture ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Exhibitions, September 2016
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)

Long May She Wave
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Doylestown, Pennsylvania Photos courtesy Mercer Museum Long May She Wave: A Graphic History of the American Flag,an exhibition at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, that opened on July 2 and continues until November 6, is more than a stunning graphic history of the American flag; it is a celebration of the ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

New Orleans Auction Galleries Sues Kenos; Stair Galleries Files Suit Against Leslie (Updated)
by Clayton Pennington

Update: This suit and all others have been settled and dismissed. For more: http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/news/kenos-resolve-all-legal-matters On July 13 Leigh and Leslie Keno, well-known figures in the antiques world, said they were in the process of selling a multimillion-dollar Modernist painting privately. Part of the proceeds, according to the brothers, would be used to satisfy ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

"Action Comics" #1 Brings $956,000
by M.A.D. staff

A 1938 copy of Action Comics #1 featuring the first appearance of Superman sold for $956,000 (includes buyer’s premium) at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas, on August 4. It came from the collection of a comic book fan from the East Coast, who had purchased it from a dealer in the ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

A Blanket Statement at Farrin's
by Mark Sisco

Farrin’s Country Auctions holds two or three sales every month at its home base in Randolph, Maine. A regular crowd (including me) has been showing up for decades to paw through furniture, folk art, china, flea market culch, artworks, and various forms of hidden treasures. Rusty Farrin’s offering on July 20 ... (Read More)

(Show)

The 2016 National APIC Convention
by Karl H. Pass

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania The 2016 national convention for the American Political Items Collectors (APIC) was held from July 6 to July 10 at the Harrisburg Hilton Hotel in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The APIC holds its national convention every two years. “Usually in election years our membership goes up a few hundred,” remarked president Ron ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Round Lake Antiques Festival
by Betty Flood and Logan Callander

Round Lake, New York This is a story and sale that never goes away. Round Lake, New York, has been having outdoor shows for 44 years, and there does not seem to be any end in the future. What is different is the dealers, and I must say the quality and ... (Read More)

(Show)

Locust Grove Antiques Market
by Don Johnson

Louisville, Kentucky Locust Grove, the 55-acre national land-mark in Louisville, Kentucky, isn’t a hard place to find. Well, normally not. A couple of left turns here, a right turn or two there, and, ta-da, you’ve arrived. However, getting to the Locust Grove Antiques Market on June 26 was another matter—at least for ... (Read More)

(Auction)

The Marion Antique Auction
by Frances McQueeney-Jones Mascolo

Marion Antique Auctions, Marion, Massachusetts When Frank McNamee and David Glynn hold a Marion Antique Auctions sale in Marion, Massachusetts, dealers and collectors take note. The sales are often a blend of area estate antiques and quirky material relating to the history of New Bedford and other seafaring communities along the ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Lititz Antiques Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Lititz, Pennsylvania For 54 years, the Lititz Historical Foundation has held an antiques show on the last weekend in June to benefit the 1792 Johannes Mueller House. It is Lancaster County’s oldest show, and for the second year it was held at the Warwick Middle School, an air-conditioned space with good ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Cut Glass Urn Stars at Tremont Sale
by Frances McQueeney-Jones Mascolo

Tremont Auctions, Newton, Massachusetts For the June 19 summer sale in their Newton, Massachusetts, gallery Tremont Auctions’ principals Brett Downer and Douglas W. Stinson, both seasoned professionals in the business, rounded up solid material from Boston-area estates and collections. Bidders filled most of the seats in the gallery, with many others ... (Read More)

(Auction)

In the Abstract, Moore Auction Looks Good
by Mark Sisco

Hap Moore, York, Maine Except for a collected lot of 14k gold brooches with assorted stones that topped out at $7475 (including buyer’s premium), Hap Moore’s June 18 auction in York, Maine, was anchored around a pair of dissimilar 20th-century abstract paintings that hailed from opposite sides of the globe. Moore had ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Military History Saluted at DownEast Auctions
by Mark Sisco

DownEast Auctions, Portland, Maine American history and military esoterica combined for a good presentation in Portland, Maine, on June 18. Auctioneer Mark Bradstreet and his wife, Linda, operate DownEast Auctions in Searsport, Maine. They moved this sale to Portland to accommodate a larger number of attendees. The move didn’t appear to ... (Read More)

(Auction)

From Geometric Abstraction to Symmetrical Utility
by Pete Prunkl

Wooten & Wooten, Camden, South Carolina Photos courtesy Wooten & Wooten “Do you want to see the Pol Bury?” asked auctioneer Jeremy Wooten. The kinetic wood and nylon wire wall sculpture by Pol Bury (Belgian, 1922-2005) was listed in the catalog for Wooten & Wooten’s June 18 sale in Camden, South Carolina, ... (Read More)

(Auction)

It's Lights Out at $2.8 Million
by Mark Sisco

James D. Julia, Fairfield, Maine Referring to the wide variety of offerings, with estimates ranging from $50 to a quarter of a million, at his June 16 and 17 lamp, glass, and jewelry auction in Fairfield, Maine, auctioneer Jim Julia noted, “You can’t go anyplace on the planet earth and see ... (Read More)

(Show)

Burton Antiques Market Thrives in Its 55th Season
by Susan Emerson Nutter

Burton, Ohio The weather: no one likes to talk about it, but everyone does where shows held outside are concerned. The Burton Antiques Market, held twice a year at the Geauga County Fairgrounds in Burton, Ohio, lives and dies by the weather, and it isn’t just a topic of rain or ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Old West Auction
by Susan Emerson Nutter

Brian Lebel’s Old West Auction, Fort Worth, Texas Photos courtesy Brian Lebel’s Old West Auction Still headlining events today, Annie Oakley continues to draw a crowd. At Brian Lebel’s Old West Auction on June 11 in Fort Worth, Texas, cowboys, cowboy-wannabes, and lovers of anything and everything Western turned out in ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Artworks and Flora Danica Bolster June Auction
by Walter C. Newman

The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia Photos courtesy The Potomack Company If there is such a thing as a celebrity auctioneer, those who attended The Potomack Company’s recent sale were treated to just that. Because of a scheduling conflict, Patrick O’Neill, the firm’s longstanding man with the gavel, was not at the podium. ... (Read More)

(Auction)

The "Lamb," a Rare Medal, and an Expensive Parrot
by Don Johnson

Cowan’s Auctions, Cincinnati, Ohio Photos courtesy Cowan’s Auctions The best items performed a bit of a balancing act during the American history sale held by Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati on June 10. On one side of the scale, the auction’s most anticipated lot, a presentation sword and archive of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth, ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Native American Art at Auction
by Alice Kaufman

Bonhams, San Francisco Photos courtesy Bonhams “The market has been suffering in some areas,” said Jim Haas, the Native American art specialist at Bonhams, while discussing his June 6 and 7 auction in San Francisco. These areas he mentioned include historic pottery, weavings (“classic blankets and serapes”), and California baskets (“but not ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Americana in Southern California
by Alice Kaufman

Bonhams, Los Angeles Photos courtesy Bonhams All prices include buyer’s premium Brooke Sivo, who is the specialist for American furniture and decorative arts for Bonhams in Los Angeles, said he was pleased with the results from the June 7 and 8 auction, titled The Elegant Home. The auction offered “a broad spectrum of ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Wyeth: The Art of Timeless Design
by Julie Schlenger Adell

Sotheby’s, New York City Photos courtesy Sotheby’s Sotheby’s held a dedicated sale of just over 200 lots of 20th- and 21st-century furniture and design objects that were amassed by dealer John Birch of the store Wyeth in downtown New York City. It took place the afternoon after Sotheby’s design auction session in ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Rookwood XXVI
by Don Johnson

Humler & Nolan, Cincinnati, Ohio Photos courtesy Humler & Nolan It was one of those “the water’s fine, come on in” kind of auctions when Humler & Nolan held its summer sale on June 4 and 5. In usual fashion, the company offered nearly 1500 lots in multiple sessions: keramics, art glass, ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Paintings
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Freeman’s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Photos courtesy Freeman’s Alasdair Nichol called his June 5 American paintings sale at Freeman’s “An American Dream” and put an N.C. Wyeth picture of a happy American family on the cover. He had high hopes after his record-breaking $4 million sale in December 2015. That was when he sold ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Lady Washington Plate Soars
by Frances McQueeney-Jones Mascolo

Grogan & Company, Boston, Massachusetts A historic plate was the subject of intense bidding in the gallery and on the phone when it opened at $15,000 at Grogan & Company’s sale on June 5 in the Boston gallery. It raced to $244,000 (includes buyer’s premium) against the estimated $25,000/50,000. The 9?" ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Rago's Spring Design Sales
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Rago, Lambertville, New Jersey Photos courtesy Rago David Rago sold 20th- and 21st-century design from three catalogs on June 4 and 5 in Lambertville, New Jersey. It was the first of the June design sales, followed by Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Bonhams in New York City and Wright in Chicago. This sale went ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Dunning Still Life Tops Two-Day Sale
by Jackie Sideli

William A. Smith, Inc., Plainfield, New Hampshire Photos courtesy William A. Smith, Inc. The William A. Smith auction gallery in Plainfield, New Hampshire, was packed with customers for the two-day Memorial Day weekend antiques auction on May 29 and 30. William G. Smith has been steadfast in his refusal to use Internet ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Dave the Slave Pot Brings $206,800
by Marty Steiner

Southern Folk Pottery Collectors Society, Bennett, North Carolina Photos courtesy Southern Folk Pottery Collectors Society The absentee sale conducted by the Southern Folk Pottery Collectors Society (SFPCS) that closed on May 21 had 289 lots, but most of the bidding activity and dollars were focused on just four pots by Dave the ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Marklin "Amerika" Steams to a Record $271,400
by Dick Friz

Bertoia Auctions, Vineland, New Jersey Photos courtesy Bertoia Auctions An enthusiastic, rollicking crowd convened at Bertoia Auctions’ Toy Shoppe sale on May 20 and 21. They helped pull off, in Jeanne Bertoia’s words and in racetrack parlance, a trifecta. The $1.4 million run at the Vineland, New Jersey, auction house made it ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Huge Sale from the Descendants of Artist J. Alden Weir
by Jackie Sideli

Boyd Auctions, Portsmouth, New Hampshire Photos courtesy Boyd Auctions On May 20 and 21, Boyd Auctions sold property for the descendants of J. Alden Weir in a monumental sale at the Frank Jones Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Weir (1852-1919) was an American Impressionist painter, a member of the Cos Cob art ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Jewelry Highlights at Freeman's and Andrews & Andrews
by Mary Ann Brown

Antique Jewelry & Gemology Freeman’s held its regular jewelry auction on May 2 and its estate jewelry auction in the new “Jewelry & Silver at 1808” format on July 21. The May sale included higher-end jewelry and timepieces; the July sale had about 100 lots of more affordable jewelry. The auctions ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

"Exotic Woods, Masterful Makers"
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Winterthur, Delaware “Exotic Woods, Masterful Makers: Tropical Hardwoods and the Luxury Furniture Trade, 1600-1850,” the 2016 Sewell C. Biggs Winterthur Furniture Forum, held April 7-9, brought 160 collectors, curators, conservators, and craftsmen to all or part of three days of lectures, demonstrations, workshops, and a visit to a lumberyard to learn ... (Read More)
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