Stories for January '13
(Feature)About the Names of Boats, Pilot Boats in Particular
"Electus Comfort—Beau Brummel of the Sea/ Captain of the pilot boat J.F. Loubat No. 16—Captain Comfort was in active service 42 years." From the booklet, p. 19: Cigars, "plug hats, and frock coats constituted the au fait apparel for a Sandy Hook pilot. On shore the pilot invariably was the ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)A Close Look at Edward S. Curtis
A Book Review
A Close Look at Edward S. Curtis
by Jeanne Schinto
Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtisby Timothy EganHoughton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012, 384 pages, hardbound, $28.
On April 10, 2012, at Christie's in New York City, a complete set of Edward S. Curtis's ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Interesting Antiques Web Sites
WPA poster, 1938, available from the U.S. Library of Congress' Prints and Photographs Division with digital ID cph 3b49049.
URLs for Web sites mentioned in column.
1. www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/wpapos2. www.folkartmuseum.org3. www.roughandtumble.org4. www.pinterest.com/stlyn/repurposed-antiques5. www.youtube.com6. www.video.about.com/antiques/Repurposing-Antique-Items.htm7. www.retrash.com/repurposed-usb-typewriter8. www.pinterest.com/nyssamahree/cute-antiques9. www.folkpotterymuseum.com10. www.hagley.org/library11. www.metmuseum.org/collections12. www.si.edu/mci/english/learn_more/taking_care13. www.emuseum.history.org
Computer Column #289
Interesting Antiques Web Sites
by John P. Reid, [email protected]
It has been a ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Detroit’s Duty
Editorial
Detroit's Duty
On August 7, 2012, voters in the Michigan counties of Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb narrowly approved a ten-year millage increase to support the Detroit Institute of the Arts (DIA), providing the needy institution with a steady supply of tax dollars and ensuring its survival.
The property tax—a 0.2 mil levy—amounts ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Exhibitions
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 Web site ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Original Apple 1 Computer Sells for $640,000
Photo courtesy Auction Team Breker.
Original Apple 1 Computer Sells for $640,000
by Richard de Thuin
An original Apple 1 computer, one of six prototypes in fully working condition from a total of 200 Apple 1s that were ever made, sold for $640,000 at Auction Team Breker, specialists in technical antiques and fine ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Deaccessioning
Opinion
Deaccessioning
by Isabelle Douglas Seggerman
Through all of my life I have been acquiring. As a child I collected Ginny dolls, then Toni and Madame Alexander dolls. When I was a teenager I accumulated clothes, beaux, Lester Lanin beanies, and sailing trophies. During college, my collections revolved around good art and art ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Fenichell Joins Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates
Fenichell Joins Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates
Jill Fenichell has been appointed vice president and will head the newly formed ceramics department at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates in Mt. Crawford, Virginia. She will split her time between the newly established Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates New York office and the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Rare Texas Desk and Pottery Donated to Bayou Bend
Rare Texas Desk and Pottery Donated to Bayou Bend
A labeled Adolph Kempen writing desk and approximately 150 pieces of early Texas pottery have been given to the Bayou Bend Collection in Houston, Texas, by philanthropist and collector William J. Hill.
"For decades, Mr. Hill has been a major advocate and benefactor ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Forty-Year Member of NHADA Resigns, Quits Annual Show
Forty-Year Member of NHADA Resigns, Quits Annual Show
by David Hewett
Longtime show exhibitor and member of the New Hampshire Antiques Dealers Association (NHADA) Peter Eaton of Newbury, Massachusetts, has resigned from the association, which automatically ends his 40 consecutive years as an exhibitor at the show that gave birth to Antiques ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Pook & Pook to Sell Pastor Weiser's Pennsylvania German Collection
Pook & Pook to Sell Pastor Weiser's Pennsylvania German Collection
by Lita Solis-Cohen
Auctions are often much more than listings of property for sale; they can be rites of passage, a chance for friends and colleagues to remember a collector. Such is the case of the sale of decorative arts from the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Sotheby's Increases Dividend and Accelerates Payment of Two Quarters of Dividends
Sotheby's Increases Dividend and Accelerates Payment of Two Quarters of Dividends
The board of directors of Sotheby's declared an accelerated first and second quarter of 2013 cash dividend totaling $0.20 per share of outstanding common stock. This $0.10 per share per quarter dividend reflected a 25% increase from the previous quarterly ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)A Sultan and a Sultana
Panel of stereoview (1897) Dedication of Grant's Tomb-the Yacht Sultana. Only sold by Griffith & Griffith, Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Liverpool, England. This stereoview was possibly taken by William Rau (1855-1920) of Philadelphia, who worked periodically for Griffith & Griffith.
A nearly identical photo of the Sultana attributed to John S. ... (Read More)
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(Auction Law and Ethics)Yaffe Meets Rabizadeh
Auction Law and Ethics
Yaffe Meets Rabizadeh
by Steve Proffitt
When present meets past, as Yogi Berra said, "It's déjà vu all over again," or something like that. This happened when Yaffe met Rabizadeh-but with opposite results.
-A Costly Walk
May 11, 1984, was a good spring day in Richmond, Virginia. Across the street from ... (Read More)
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(The Art of Marketing)The Art of Marketing
The Art of Marketing
by Al Kenney
I’m an avid antiques collector, not a dealer, and a professional marketer with a diverse career. I’ve worked for many global corporations marketing many major household brands as well as for small start-up companies. I’ve owned an international strategic marketing firm and marketed to people ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Mary and Bob Fraser, Chester, Vermont
In the Trade
Mary and Bob Fraser, Chester, Vermont
by Frank Donegan
Mary and Bob Fraser.
Exterior view of the shop. A lot of work went into making it look as if nothing much was done to this barn.
A partial view of the Frasers' shop.
Another view of the shop.
A ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)Risky Business
The Young Collector
Call it sentimental reflection brought on by our new arrival (Nathaniel Byrne, or Nat, as we call him, arrived on November 16 at 2 a.m., and we’re all fine and deeply in love already), but sometimes we like to look at Nora and joke about how she came ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Rare Chess Table Sells for $109,250
Photo courtesy S & S Auction, Inc.
Rare Chess Table Sells for $109,250
A rare chess table designed by Isamu Noguchi for Herman Miller in the 1940's and discovered by a contractor renovating a home outside Newark, New Jersey, sold for $109,250 at a sale held on October 22, 2012, by S ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Letter from London
Letter from London
by Ian McKay, [email protected]
Before launching into this month's selection, which is strong on antiquities but also includes two forgotten Dollies, two Russian posters, two Chinese flutes, two naval frigates, one Charles X box, one warming tapestry, and an old model medical aide, may I, as usual, wish M.A.D. ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
Books Received
These are brief reviews of books recently sent to us. We have included ordering information for publishers that accept mail, phone, or on-line orders. For other publishers, your local bookstore or mail-order house is the place to look.
Maine and the Sea: 50 Years of Collecting at Maine Maritime Museum ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Queens Foundry Owner Charged with Trying to Sell Fake Jasper Johns Sculpture
On November 15, 2012, an indictment charging Brian Ramnarine, owner of Empire Bronze Art Foundry, with attempting to sell a bronze sculpture that he falsely represented to be a genuine work of art by Jasper Johns was unsealed in federal court in New York. Ramnarine was arrested at his home ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Quinn & Farmer Debut with Record-Setting Southern Clock
Photos courtesy Quinn & Farmer.
by Walter C. Newman
When I spoke with Ken Farmer at the final cataloged antiques and collectibles auction at his Radford, Virginia, facility in October 2012, he reminded me to make plans to attend the November 3, 2012, inaugural catalog sale of the newly formed Quinn & ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Historic Firearms and Early Militaria
Krupp 5CM 50 mm mountain howitzer, 29½" rifled barrel with front sight, metal carriage with iron-banded and wood-spoke wheels, accompanied by tools, trail handle, 24 brass shell casings in a Krupp box, 30-plus projectiles, and a mold for projectiles, $34,500.
Cased Webley-Fosbery target revolver, .455 Eley caliber, 7½" barrel, marked "Webley-Fosbery" ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Whimsical Carnival Glass Vase Brings $50,000
Jim Wroda Auction Service, Millersburg, Ohio
by Nick Sabo
Photos by Sean Hoxworth
A giant rosebowl in green sold for $32,000. It is prized for its outstanding green color and blue iridescence.
This Hobstar and Feather vase was a whimsy made from a giant green rosebowl. The only such whimsy known ... (Read More)
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(Show)Weston Perseveres with Aplomb
Joy Ruskin Hanes and Lee Hanes of Hanes & Ruskin Antiques, Old Lyme, Connecticut, called this the Rolls-Royce of baby carriages. Made in Gardner, Massachusetts, by the Heywood family of manufacturers and dating from the 1860’s-90’s, it was priced at $475.
Offered by Robert Perry Antiques, Orchard Park, New ... (Read More)
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