Stories for July '13

(Book Review)

A New Cornerstone
by Gerald W.R. Ward

A Book Review Woods in British Furniture Making, 1400-1900: An Illustrated Historical Dictionary by Adam BowettOblong Creative Ltd. in association with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England, 2012, 368 pages, hardbound, $180 plus S/H from the University Press of Chicago, (www.press.uchicago.edu) or (800) 621-2736. As a furniture person and as a resident of ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Proposed Sale of Thomas Cole's "Portage Falls on the Genesee" Argued in Court
by Betty Flood and Katlin Nash

In May, acting Surrogate Court Judge Thomas Leone appointed the Reverend Ray Messenger, a descendent of William H. Seward, as administrator of the estate of William H. Seward III for the purpose of enforcing the will’s charitable intent. Judge Leone heard arguments for over an hour from Messenger’s attorneys, attorneys for ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Indianapolis Art & Antiques Show Discontinued
by M.A.D. staff

After 26 years, the Indianapolis Art & Antiques Show & Sale has been discontinued. The annual event had been a principal fund-raiser of the Methodist Hospital Task Core. This year’s show was held March 7-10. According to Rod Lich, who promoted the event for the past seven years, the task ... (Read More)

(Computer Article)

Custom Apps
by John P. Reid

An Android app element that searches lists being programmed in MIT App Inventor. Computer Column #295 John P. Reid, [email protected] There are many ways that custom apps for smartphones and tablets could be useful in the antiques world. A dealer could make the shop inventory, location, hours, and contact information available to mobile ... (Read More)

(Feature)

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 Web site ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Gardening by the Book
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Priscilla Susan Falkner Bury, from A Selection of Hexandrian Plants, Belonging to the Natural Orders Amaryllidae and Liliacae, London, 1831-34. Collection of the Garden Club of America. The Garden Club of America (GCA) is 100 years old. Since its founding in 1913, it has maintained a significant library, which is celebrated ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Update Regarding Sotheby's Sale of American Folk Art Museum Gifts
by David Hewett

Sotheby’s still hasn’t announced whether it will offer the 212 once-promised gifts of Ralph Esmerian to the American Folk Art Museum at an auction in December 2013 or in January 2014, as we reported in our last issue (see M.A.D., June 2013, p. 12-A). Both dates were suggested in the ... (Read More)

(Feature)

Books Received
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 on-line orders. For other publishers, your local bookstore or mail-order house is the place to look. Columbia’s Daughters: Girlhood Embroidery from the District of Columbia by Gloria Seaman Allen ... (Read More)

(Young Collectors)

Listing or Capsizing?
by Hollie Davis and Andrew Richmond

The Young Collector We live and die by lists—mostly die, it seems—but at least we do it in an orderly fashion! Nowhere is this truer than with our annual planning of the Midwest Antiques Forum. Four years ago, when the folks at Prices4Antiques.com (www.p4a.com), Hollie’s employer, said they thought the Midwest ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Grand Rapids Antiques Market Sold
by M.A.D. staff

Vintage Promotions, LLC, the producers of the Dallas Vintage Clothing and Jewelry Show, Vintage Garage Chicago, and other events, has purchased Vintage Life Expo, also known as the Grand Rapids Antiques Market. Cecily Near, who produces and manages the show, has agreed to continue her involvement in the show’s planning and ... (Read More)

(Feature)

GLM Acquires the Pier Antiques Show and Antiques at the Armory
by M.A.D. staff

A widely circulated rumor was confirmed on May 20 when show producer GLM announced it had acquired the Pier Antiques Show and Antiques at the Armory from Stella Show Management Company. The Pier Antiques Show, one of New York City’s largest, is held semiannually in March and November at Pier 94 ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Affordable Jewelry & Watches
by Mary Ann Brown

Antique Jewelry & Gemology When a press release arrived broadcasting the news that “The Mid-Market Struts Its Stuff in Rago’s Big $1.8 Million April Auction Weekend” after we had decided to feature affordable jewelry at auction (hovering around $1000 and under) this month, it seemed the planets had aligned to support ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Letter from London
by Ian McKay

Ian McKay, [email protected] There is much Meissen in this month’s selection—the all-Meissen “Delphinium” and Marouf collections sold by Bonhams and the magnificent Meissen menagerie that made up the main portion of a Sotheby’s sale that dispersed property from the collections of Sir Gawaine and Lady Baillie. Add to that an Iron Age ... (Read More)

(Auction Law and Ethics)

Face behind the "Faceman"
by Steve Proffitt

Auction Law and Ethics Templeton Peck. Do you remember him from the 1980’s? He was the slick con man on The A-Team TV series (1983-87). Peck was such a pretty boy he was often called “Faceman.” I always liked the show and often recall the wry-smiling Faceman when I think of ... (Read More)

(The Art of Marketing)

Web Site Marketing
by Al Kenney

The Art of Marketing Last month I covered the topic of creating quantifiable and achievable marketing goals. This month I highlight the benefits of developing and maintaining an effective Web site. This is a very broad topic that I may come back to in the future because there is much in ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Pryor Dodge: The Bicycling Collector
by Jeanne Schinto

Pryor Dodge in his SoHo loft in April 2013. The bicycle on the wall, patented by John McCloskey of Ontario, Canada, in 1896, has a one-piece bentwood hickory frame. Schinto photo. Dodge on Rue Saint-Vincent in Montmartre in 1971, just a few months after he bought his first high-wheel bicycle and ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

Dave, Dan, and Lorraine Braskie, Quaboag Valley Antiques Center, Palmer, Massachusetts
by Frank Donegan

From left: Dave and Dan Braskie. (Lorraine was off on the day we visited.) Exterior of the group shop. One of the crowded no-nonsense aisles in the Quaboag Valley Antiques Center. The furniture section of the center. Much of it is devoted to Dan and Dave’s inventory. Oil on canvas painting of a red ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

The 1%'s 18%
by Clayton Pennington

Editorial The superrich really are different, if numbers released by the Singapore-based firm Wealth-X are to be believed. A report released on June 5 claims that the world’s top ten billionaire art collectors have an average of 18% of their net worth tied up in their art collections. The number one collector ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Sonoma Dealer Arrested for Fraud and Other Charges
by M.A.D. staff

On June 5, police deputies in Sonoma, California, arrested 51-year-old antiques dealer Dwayne Robert Kershner. According to authorities, Kershner had been operating an antiques consignment shop named Front Door Antiques at 201 W. Napa Street in the Sonoma Marketplace shopping center. The business suddenly closed up shop at the end ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Earl Davis Wins in Suit Connected to Salander-O'Reilly
by David Hewett

Here at M.A.D., we never know where a phone call from a reader might lead us. A call during the early summer of 2007 from a subscriber on the West Coast illustrates that point perfectly. Los Angeles art collector Maurice Katz was having trouble collecting a $32,000 debt owed to ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Dealer Charged with Tax Crimes
by M.A.D. staff

Art dealer Glafira Rosales of Sands Point, New York, was arrested on May 21 for filing false tax returns and for failing to disclose foreign bank accounts to the IRS. Rosales allegedly failed to report at least $12.5 million from the sale of works purported to be by celebrated Abstract Expressionist ... (Read More)

(Show)

Pure and Simple Antique Show
by Don Johnson

The smaller hatbox, marked for C.B. Platt, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, has an illustration of a beaver and was $495. The larger ­hatbox, showing birds in a tree and lettered “Tappé/ 9 West 57,” was priced at $325 and sold during the show by Bill and Terri Baxter of Baxter Auction Gallery, ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Horn of Plenty
by Don Johnson

This powder horn sold for $74,750 at Cowan’s Auctions on May 1. “It was one of a few map horns that detailed British ships in the New York harbor and the number of guns on each,” said Jack Lewis, Cowan’s director of historic firearms and early militaria. Cowan’s photo. A bit ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Barridoff's Spring Sale of Fine Art
by Hannah Pennington

View of the Barred Islands II by Fairfield Porter (1907-1975), a 1965 oil on masonite, 19" x 29", sold for $24,000 (est. $20,000/30,000). Barridoff had sold the same picture on August 6, 2004, for $18,720 to a Falmouth, Maine, collector. Dockside by Anthony Thieme (1888-1954), 25" x 30", oil on canvas, ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Americana
by Lita Solis-Cohen

William Tylee Ranney (1813-1857), Tories with a Prisoner, circa 1857. This 14¼" x 17¼" oil on canvas has had a long exhibition history and has been published in a catalog of Ranney’s works. With a Spanierman Gallery provenance, it sold for $43,750 (est. $20,000/30,000). This 6" x 4½" cased image of ... (Read More)

(Show)

Antiques Seekers Crowd the Spring in New Hampshire Antique Show
by David Hewett

This tavern table with an oval 35½" x 26½" two-board top has widely splayed legs and tiny feet; it was $2500. The handled tin pot with side pouring spout, all in orange paint and with a label attesting to the fact that it came from the collection of Mr. and ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Quinn & Farmer Gallery Catalog Sale
by Walter C. Newman

The high lot of the Quinn & Farmer sale was this massive (99" x 72" x 22") carved Renaissance Revival oak server. The three-section piece dates from the last half of the 19th century and exhibits extensive and elaborate carving. The lower cabinet has four doors enclosing storage shelves; the ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Americana Sale
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Berks County, Pennsylvania,  circa 1800 mahogany tall-case clock with a broken-arch bonnet, sunflower rosettes with three inlaid panels of flowers in urns, painted metal dial, inscribed “Benjn Witman, Reading,”with an eight-day movement over a waist door inlaid with an oval panel with an eagle with a shield and banner in ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Community Connections Add Spice to the Mix
by Karla Klein Albertson

Top lot among the donated works sold to benefit WLAE-TV, the local public broadcasting station, was 7th Ward Cinderella, a 40" x 30" oil on canvas by James Michalopoulos (b. 1951). It brought $15,375. One of the many 20th-century artworks that did well was this atmospheric Man in Blue, Playing a ... (Read More)

(Show)

Chicago Botanic Garden Antiques & Garden Fair
by Danielle Arnet

By the time we arrived, Trace Mayer’s eye-catching “tree” fashioned of details from picture frames looked rather spotty. Thanks to Mayer, we have this cell phone image taken before viewers bought off portions of the design. Artisan Ben Caldwell of Nashville, Tennessee, has repeat buyers who return for his unique copper ... (Read More)

(Feature)

Americana at Freeman's
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Two phone bidders competed for the Patton family 13-star American Revolutionary War flag, 21½" x 38¾", with blue wool canton and 13 five-pointed stars in a 4-5-4 pattern appliquéd on both sides, 13 white and red wool stripes, and cotton hoist inscribed “Natt. Ames. of England, March. 26 1784”—all hand ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Bully for You, Peter Scanlan
by Jeanne Schinto

Collector C. Peter Scanlan (1941-2012) This signed real photo postcard of President Theodore Roosevelt brought $1140 (est. $800/1200). Scanlan collection. In Memory of My Darling Wife Alice Hathaway Roosevelt and of My Beloved Mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt sold to a collector for $38,400 (est. $25,000/35,000). It was printed by G.P. ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Good Portsmouth Furniture at Hap Moore's Auction
by Mark Sisco

New Hampshire card table in birch with exaggerated top contours and reeded and turned legs, one of which needed some tightening, $3450. Federal card table by Judkins & Senter of Portsmouth, $7015. Empire folding card table in a heavily grained tiger maple, $1150. Hap Moore Antiques Auctions, York, Maine Hap Moore’s April 13 auction ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Mary Blood Mellen Painting Tops Marine Auction
by Jackie Sideli

// // Ship Departing Coastline, an oil painting, was attributed to Mary Blood Mellen (1819-1886), a student of Fitz Henry Lane. The painting depicts a ship flying the American flag and the owner’s blue pennant. In the background the shoreline has a church, homes, and a lighthouse. In a wonderful ... (Read More)

(Show)

"Antique City" Fun Fair
by Karl H. Pass

The Philip Rauch Fieldhouse is located on the Lehigh University campus near the athletic fields and facilities. It is outside the town of Bethlehem and convenient to major interstate highways. The university is roughly 80 miles outside of New York City and 70 miles outside of Philadelphia. The crowd was still ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Philadelphia Antiques Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Peter Eaton of Newbury, Massachusetts, asked $28,500 for this Federal clock from central or western Massachusetts, 1810-15. It is 96" tall and all original except the finials; it has an old surface. The seven-drawer cherrywood Connecticut River Valley tall chest with cove-molded top was $14,500. Steven Still of Manheim, Pennsylvania, offered ... (Read More)

(Show)

The New York Book Fair's Shadow Show
by Jeanne Schinto

// // A first edition of The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, offered for $3500 by Resser-Thorner Antiques, Manchester, New Hampshire, was not only signed by Toklas and by the book’s author, Gertrude Stein, it also had Man Ray photographs of the two women and their apartment at 27 rue ... (Read More)

(Show)

The 23rd Street Armory Antiques Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Doug Ramsay of Hadley, Massachusetts, asked $3600 for the 1930’s car weathervane; $1250 for the hooked rug; $2650 for the painted chest; and $650 for the iron duck on it. The druggist sign on top was $1750; the bellows, $350. The carving of a black man was $3800, and the ... (Read More)

(Show)

Rare Books in the Big Apple
by Jeanne Schinto

Jeremy Markowitz (left) and Tom McLaughlin of Donald A. Heald Rare Books, New York City. Their natural history offerings included a first elephant folio of The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America by John James Audubon and Rev. John Bachman, price on request. The first book illustrated by Rockwell Kent (1882-1971) was ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Francis Crick’s "Secret of Life" Letter Sets Record
by Jeanne Schinto

Seated in the Christie’s salesroom (from right) are Francis Crick’s son, Michael, a video-game inventor (www.wordzap.com); Michael’s daughter Kindra Crick, an artist (www.kindracrick.com); two unidentified women; James D. Watson; and an unidentified man. While the bidding took place, Michael snapped photographs of the auctioneer, room bidders, and phone bid-takers. Afterward ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Maureen O'Sullivan Stars in Devin Moisan Auction
by Mark Sisco

Half-sheet poster, 22" x 28", for The Grapes of Wrath, $5175. Moisan photo. Otto Henry Bacher oil on canvas of “Desdemona’s Palace” in Venice, Italy brought $6900. The scrubbed-down top and carriage of this New England Queen Anne drop-leaf table appeared to have started life together. The maple table with rule-jointed leaves ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Collector's Mementos of Nicholas & Alexandra on the Block
by Jeanne Schinto

A 6½" x 8½" circa 1905 gelatin silver print of the Russian imperial family aboard their yacht Standart brought $2640 (est. $1000/1500). A 1912 menu from the yacht made $2160 (est. $500/700). It was signed by dinner guests. This 6 5/8" x 3½" circa 1907 photogravure of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna in ... (Read More)

(Show)

If You Fill It, Will They Come?
by Cathy Aldrich

This vividly colored print was in the booth of Chloe and Jim McKinney of Chloe’s Antiques and Fine Collectibles in the Seattle area. It quickly caught the eye of one passerby and sold early in the show. The 48" x 48" framed artist’s proof, signed “Tarkay,” was priced at $750. ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Chester County Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Paul J. DeCoste Antiques, West Newbury, Massachusetts, offered a large collection of early wine glasses, which he said he had bought at Skinner. The earliest have baluster stems; later ones have air twist stems. Champagne glasses were $500 and $600 each; engraved glasses, $700 and $800 each; and common ones, ... (Read More)

(Show)

Bowmanville Antiques and Folk Art Show Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary
by John Norris

David and Mary Jo Field of Croydon House Antiques, Enterprise, Ontario, offered this circa 1890 Cree chief’s jacket with blue, yellow, and green beads, horse hair, and ermine pelts for $7500. Clay and Carol Benson of Port Hope, Ontario, had no trouble selling this open-top dish dresser, Nova Scotia, circa ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Spring Sales Offer Some Gems in New Brunswick
by Peter Smit

This Thomas Nisbet card table in mahogany also sold for $15,000. Tim Isaac Auctions. This Irving tanker truck made by Otaco Limited Co., Orillia, Ontario, in the 1950’s fetched $1200, and the Lincoln Van Lines/ Trans Canada Service truck made $130. Kevin Bond Auctions. This Thomas Nisbet sofa table in mahogany and ... (Read More)

(Auction)

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Auction
by Fran Kramer

Patriarchs of the Grove, an oil on canvas by William Wendt (1865-1946), was on the back cover of the auction catalog and on a full page inside. The 40" x 50" picture was consigned by the family of the original owners, Mr. and Mrs. Alvah Strong of Rochester, New York. ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Early Black Panther Banner Achieves Stunning Results
by Jeanne Schinto

This 33" x 24" cloth banner sold to an institution via an agent for $43,200 (est. $2500/3500). It is a rare relic of the earliest days of the Black Panther political party and movement, founded in Lowndes County, Alabama, in 1966. A manuscript search warrant for five runaway slaves sold for ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Rare Tiffany and Colman Furniture at Ivey-Selkirk Auctioneers
by Rob Hoffman

This exquisite Tiffany and Colman primavera wood table, a masterpiece of Gilded Age craftsmanship, fetched $70,800 (includes buyer’s premium).   These Tiffany and Colman side chairs were in decent dry, untouched condition. Unlike the table, they possessed their original brass and glass ball feet and sold for $53,100 (est. $30,000/40,000). Most people do ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Special Carnival Glass
by Nick Sabo

  This Northwood stippled Strawberry ruffled bowl with a ribbed back in lime green sold for $1050. A standout at the sale was this rare Northwood stippled Three Fruits 9" plate in lime green. Only a few are known, and it sold for $8000. This Northwood marigold Rose Show 9" plate had nice ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Armory Show at Piers 92 and 94
by Julie Schlenger Adell

Babel (Stockholm Type), 2013, by Charles Lutz was based on Andy Warhol’s Brillo boxes first exhibited in the 1960’s. Armory Show guests were encouraged to take home a box. Luminous Words, digital lighting books, by Airan Kang, a Korean artist, were offered for $5000 apiece at Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Art Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Jean Arp (1886-1966), Ganymede, 1966, $500,000 from Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York City. Menconi & Schoelkopf Fine Art, New York City, sold New Orleans #8 (left) by Ralston Crawford (1906-1978), 1957, 28¼" x 23¾". St. Anne Street (right), 24" x 18", oil on canvas, was $185,000. The images of fencers by Eadweard ... (Read More)
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