Stories for January '14
(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 Web site ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
Our thumbnail reviews are shorter than usual this month to allow us to squeeze in as many books as possible. Whether you’re looking for last-minute gifts or just some good reading to curl up with in the next snowstorm, you’ll find many interesting choices below. We have included ordering information ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)In Defense of Robert J. Sim
Fig. 1: 1850 Middlesex County, New Jersey, original surveys, by J.W. Otley & J. Keily. Published by Lloyd Van Derveer, Camden , New Jersey. Source: Rutgers University Library.
Fig. 2: Bissett sherd, Period 1, with wavy line. MCHA Collection.
Fig. 3A: Motif I.
Fig. 3B: Motif II.
Fig. 3C: Motif III.
Fig. 3D: Motif IV.
Fig. ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London
Ian McKay, [email protected]
The timing of the sale is unfortunate, in that this issue will already have gone to press before it takes place, but a Sotheby’s auction of December 10, 2013, does allow me to include a couple of jolly Christmas images with this month’s “Letter” and, as usual, to ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)A Modern World
A Book Review
A Modern World: American Design from the Yale University Art Gallery 1920-1950
by John Stuart Gordon, with an introduction ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Hindman Opens Another Florida Auction Facility
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers has opened a new auction facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. The new salesroom is located at 1608 South Dixie Highway and will hold regularly scheduled auctions.
“Since opening our office in Palm Beach two years ago, we have been very impressed with the quality of fine jewelry, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Outsider Art Fair Changes Dates
The 2014 Outsider Art Fair will be held May 8-11 at Center 548 in Chelsea, New York City, the producer of the show, Wide Open Arts, has announced. The new spring dates reflect a major shift for the fair, which has been held in late January since its inception in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)“M.A.D. Cats” to Sell at Pook & Pook
Photo courtesy Pook & Pook.
“M.A.D. Cats” is the name for a hooked rug featured in the catalog American Classics: Hooked Rugs from the Barbara Johnson Collection. The catalog was for the 1988 exhibition at the Squibb Gallery on the Bristol-Meyers Squibb corporate campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The rug will ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Transferware and Browsers
Cobalt blue is the dominant color on this collectors club Web site, reminiscent of the pottery that members treasure.
Computer Column #301
John P. Reid, [email protected]
Internet browser preferences have changed significantly in the past few years, and we will update the standings. But first, here is an antiques-related Web site that is ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Native American History Sold Abroad
Editorial
Twice, the U.S. ambassador to France has urged the delay of the sale of Native American objects in France. Twice, he’s failed.
On December 9, 2013, the auction house Eve in Paris sold 32 objects, including Katsinam masks, which are considered sacred by the Hopi tribe, for approximately $1.6 million. This ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Americana Week Calendar of Events
Note: Check Web sites for auction previews and to confirm auction times.
Friday, January 17 • 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Edward Thorp Gallery, American Folk Art, curated by Fred Giampietro.
Saturday, January 18 • 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Edward Thorp Gallery, American Folk Art, curated by Fred Giampietro.
Monday, January 20 • 10 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Americana Week in New York City January 2014
Federal red polychrome paint-decorated yellow pine slant-front desk, circa 1835, ex-Ralph Esmerian, attributed to Johannes Braun, Mahantongo Valley, Pennsylvania, estimated at $300,000/500,000. Sotheby’s photo.
Chippendale carved mahogany scallop-top tea table, probably the shop of Benjamin Randolph (1737-1791), with carving possibly by Richard Butts, Philadelphia, circa 1770, approximately 28" high x 32¼" ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Historic Deerfield Undergraduate Summer Fellowship Program
Historic Deerfield, Inc. invites applications from college juniors and seniors to take part in an intensive, nine-week summer fellowship program in history and material culture. Undergraduates who will be enrolled as either juniors or seniors as of January 1 are eligible for seven openings in the program, which is designed ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)RISD Appraisal Class During Americana Week
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) continuing education department will present an appraisal class in New York City, January 25 through 27, during Americana Week. Antiques show manager, dealer, and writer Jackie Sideli will guide students through three days of intense exposure and interactive learning that will cover all ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Otto Jakob, a Stellar Year, and a JAR Exhibit
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
This month we break all the rules of writing about the antique jewelry market and hardly mention antiques at all. Instead, we feature news of the sale of Otto Jakob contemporary jewelry at Auctionata and an exhibition, Jewels by JAR, from private collections and not for sale ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Matthew Thurlow Appointed Executive Director of Decorative Arts Trust
Matthew Thurlow, a decorative arts historian and museum professional, currently serves as assistant director of development, major gifts, and planned giving at the Winterthur Museum, Library, and Garden. Thurlow will take over as executive director of the Decorative Arts Trust from Penny Hunt, who has had held the position for ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)An Attitude of Gratitude
The Young Collector
Facebook is a quirky place. In many ways it embodies the Internet, which is probably why some people find it by turns addictive, amusing, educational, and annoying. You can watch trends just blip across the cultural radar. They range from small things such as “Sibling Week” (where if ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Stenton Guidebook
Not since Sarah Logan Wister Starr (1873-1956) wrote a short History of Stenton in 1938, telling of its importance in American history and citing her grandmother and other relatives as sources, has Stenton had a guidebook. That need has now been remedied with the publication of Stenton: A Visitor’s Guide ... (Read More)
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(Auction Law and Ethics)Commissionectomy: A Final Look
Auction Law & Ethics
We’ve been considering a seldom-discussed and extremely unpleasant issue in auctioneering—the “commissionectomy.” This is the term I use when a seller chisels an auctioneer out of a commission earned in order to keep the money for herself. The seller’s grab is done in breach of the parties’ ... (Read More)
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(The Art of Marketing)Relationship Marketing
The Art of Marketing
Last month I discussed effective selling. Now it’s time to change gears and move on to another vital topic and the next step in the sales process—relationship marketing (RM). Relationship marketing can be defined as attracting, maintaining, and enhancing customer relationships. RM activities are aimed at developing ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Greg Hamilton, Stone Block Antiques, Vergennes, Vermont
Greg Hamilton.
Stone Block Antiques.
Naïve oil on canvas of a man and woman in a landscape done in pointillist style by Justine Fuller. It retains its original frame. “She died in 1951,” Hamilton said. The piece is $2500.
Mid-19th-century Dutch cupboard, $3500. It’s filled with a collection of French faience priced at ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Veterans Reach Out to a Young Collector
“The kindness and generosity of M.A.D.’s subscribers and readers continues to amaze me,” said Celia Lash Briggs. Walter Fleming, a tinsmith from New York state, read “The Birth of a Collector” (M.A.D., Dec. 2013, p. 10-B) and contacted us about sending the gift of a 20th-century sugar bowl to young ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Skinner Appoints New Director of Fine Oriental Rugs and Carpets
Lawrence Kearney is the new director of the fine Oriental rugs and carpets department at Skinner, Inc.
Kearney comes to Skinner after more than three decades as a dealer in antique carpets and textiles. “Considered an authority in the field, he possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of regions, periods, and genres, from ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Rutz Clovis Point Sells to Texas Collector for $276,000
The Rutz Clovis point of sea-green obsidian, 9¾" long, was discovered by Les Ira Kreis in the early 1950’s in a wheat field on Badger Mountain near the community of Badger Creek Springs, Washington. It had been in a family collection ever since until it sold for $276,000. Photo courtesy ... (Read More)
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(Fragment) Olympic Gold Medal Sets World Record
An Olympic gold medal presented to Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics broke an auction record at SCP Auctions in Laguna Niguel, California, on December 8, 2013, It was one of the four Olympic gold medals that were presented to athlete Jesse Owens at the 1936 games, held in Hitler’s ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Antiques Dealer Sentenced to 37 Months in Prison for Wildlife Smuggling
Qiang Wang, also known as Jeffrey Wang, a 34-year-old Flushing, New York, antiques dealer, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court on December 5, 2013, to 37 months in prison for his role in a conspiracy to smuggle Asian artifacts made from rhinoceros horns and ivory and violate wildlife trafficking laws.
Wang ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Records Fall for American Art
Norman Rockwell, Saying Grace, signed “Norman Rockwell” (lower center), oil on canvas, 43" x 41", painted in 1951, $46,085,000. Sotheby’s photo.
Edward Hopper, East Wind over Weehawken, oil on canvas, 34" x 50¼", painted in 1934, $40,485,000. Christie’s photo.
Saying Grace, Norman Rockwell’s illustration for the Thanksgiving issue of the Saturday Evening ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Bay Psalm Book Sells for $14,165,000
Photo courtesy Sotheby’s.
The Bay Psalm Book, the first book printed in British America, sold for $14,165,000 (includes buyer’s premium) at Sotheby’s in New York City on November 26, 2013. It made auction history, setting an auction record for any printed book. It was purchased by philanthropist David Rubenstein, co-founder and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Floor-Standing Astronomical Regulator Clock Brings $277,300
This E. Howard & Co. No. 68 floor-standing astronomical regulator sold for a record $277,300.
An E. Howard No. 68 astronomical regulator clock, 105" tall, sold for $277,300 (includes buyer’s premium) at Fontaine’s Auction Gallery in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on November 23, 2013. According to John Fontaine, that’s a new world auction ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Dealer of Fake Chihuly Sentenced
Michael Little, 35, of Renton, Washington, was sentenced on November 20, 2013, in U.S. District Court in Seattle to five months in prison, three years of supervised release, including five months in a halfway house, and $75,389 in restitution for wire fraud in connection with his scheme to advertise and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)John Shearer Desk Sells for $354,000
This desk was made in Frederick, Maryland, by the itinerant Martinsburg, Virginia, joiner John Shearer for Phillip Stuber or Stover in 1808. The 45½" x 47" x 23" walnut case has oak shells and feet, poplar secondary wood, and inlay on the fall front with a swag and oval with ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Helly Nahmad Pleads Guilty
Hillel Nahmad, also known as “Helly” Nahmad, pleaded guilty on November 12, 2013, in Manhattan federal court in connection with his leadership role in the operation of a high-stakes illegal sports gambling business.
Nahmad was charged in April 2013 in a 34-defendant indictment charging members and associates of two Russian-American organized ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Authorities Seek Information on Armed Robbery
On November 8, 2013, the Cortland County (New York) Sheriff’s Department investigated an armed robbery at River Bend Antiques in the village of Marathon. After following through on the investigation and receiving an anonymous tip, the sheriff’s department agency learned that the Pennsylvania State Police at the Milton and Lewisburg ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Skinner Sells Folk & Decorative Arts on Event-Packed Last Sunday in October
Jack O’Brien, on a telephone with Leigh Keno, took the mahogany Chippendale card table with a drawer and square-blocked ends, carved knees, and ball-and-claw feet for $57,000. Keno told us, “I believe it relates to a large group of classic Boston pieces made from the 1730’s to 1750’s. Boston makers ... (Read More)
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(Show)Wilton Antiques Show Revived
Red Griffin Antiques, Georgetown, Connecticut, asked $13,500 for this ship portrait of Ida by Albert Szatmar Nemethy (1920-1998). A side-wheeler used by the Confederate Navy from 1862 to 1864, she was captured by the North and burned on December 10, 1864.
This circa 1940 sign for “Grinders / 2 Lbs. Average ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Two-Day Sale Brings in $781,776
A phone bidder picked up this Connecticut cherry oxbow chest of drawers with blocked ends, attributed to the Chapin school of cabinetmakers in Hartford County, for $27,600. It has a rectangular top with molded edge, a blocked oxbow front, four long graduated drawers, and ogee blocked feet. The brasses were ... (Read More)
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(Show)Ellis Boston Antiques Show Celebrates Its Third Birthday
The booth of Bell-Time Clocks, Andover, Massachusetts, where on Sunday afternoon, Bob Frishman gave a booth chat, “The Long & Short of Grandfather Clocks.”
The loan exhibit of New Bedford Whaling Museum, New Bedford, Massachusetts.
The best pieces of Americana at this show, by far, weren’t for sale. They were part of ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 39th Fall Fox Valley Antiques Show
The show entrance was, as always, welcoming. The theme for this show was “Folk Art: Simple Pleasures.”
The circa 1930 racing game banner with oilcloth coating was $1150 from Bruce and Lynda Tomlinson of Alexandria, Minnesota. The catcher’s helmets were $115 at top and $195 for the circa 1910 version underneath. ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Furniture, Decorative Arts, and 19th-Century Paintings
William Trost Richards (1833-1905), Atlantic Coast, 1898, signed and dated, watercolor and pencil on paper, 24" x 47½", $28,125 (est. $10,000/15,000).
Benjamin Champney (1817-1907), View Near Conway, New Hampshire, 1881, signed and dated, oil on canvas, 20" x 32 1/8", $37,500 (est. $6000/8000). It was commissioned by Daniel Nute Stanton, who ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Nisbet and Art Shine
This sofa table in mahogany with pine as secondary wood was made by Saint John, New Brunswick, cabinetmaker Thomas Nisbet (1777-1850). It was the top lot in the sale and went to a telephone bidder for $18,500. Details of the sofa table include Nisbet’s typical ring turnings, ebonized trim, feather ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Paintings by Calder among Top Lots of $2.1 Million Sale
Attributed to Jan van Goyen (1596-1656), The Cunera Tower, Rhenen sold for $96,000 (est. $3000/5000). The 17" x 27" oil on panel was the top lot of the sale.
Eastham by Alexander Calder (1898-1976), 31" x 23", gouache on paper, signed and dated “Sandy Calder Eastham 1949,” $72,000 (est. $20,000/30,000). That’s ... (Read More)
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(Show)Museum and Collectors Help Spark ADA/Historic Deerfield Antiques Show
Elliott and Grace Snyder of South Egremont, Massachusetts, showed this Moore County, North Carolina, stand in poplar with a red paint finish and a Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts label in a drawer. It’s 26¾" high and $9500. The 9¼" diameter round box, paint-decorated on a yellow ground, is ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 2013 Ohio Country Antique Show
Made of painted wood, the double-sided “Ice Cream Social” sign was priced at $450. The bonnet chest in walnut had cherry drawer bottoms and was $795. The items were shown by Joseph Jarvis of Jarvis Antiques, Georgetown, Kentucky. “Smalls are doing good, but the big stuff didn’t move today,” he ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Blue Plate Special and Oriental Buffet
This 1883 Royal Worcester plate is 7 7/8" in diameter and is intricately honeycombed and hand painted and has a center scene of a gilt mountain landscape in Oriental style attributed to George Owen. It closed at $20,400.
This Chinese Kangxi period water pot, cataloged as in the taibo zun form, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Record Price Paid for Almshouse Painting
This oil on tin by Charles C. Hofman (1821-1882), labeled and titled in the painting Views of the buildings & surroundings of the Berks County Alms House, has a central oval bird’s-eye view of the complex within an ornate border surrounded by eight smaller vignettes of the outbuildings and with ... (Read More)
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(Show)Shenandoah Antiques Expo Slogs through a Rainy Weekend
Tom and Mary Jo Riggs are from Greensboro, Maryland. They trade as Country Sampler Antiques and are proud that they have “the biggest truck in the parking lot.” The couple has configured a very large box truck to function as both their motor home and cargo carrier. The Arts and ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Fifty Shades of Blue
Three phone bidders competed for this historical blue Staffordshire Mt. Pleasant Classical Institute plate, 10 5/8" in diameter, impressed “Clews,” one of three known examples, and in excellent condition. It sold for $21,330 (est. $4000/6000).
This 9 1/8" x 11¾" Staffordshire Baltimore platter sold on the phone for $7110 (est. $2500/3500) ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Printed and Manuscript Americana: Maps, Memoirs, and Mug Shots
This album of 31 photographs of a whale hunt and other scenes of Inupiaq village life sold to a dealer for $18,750 (est. $2000/3000). Suzanne Rognon Bernardi and her brother, Jack Rognon, were the photographers in Wales, Alaska, in 1901-02. Pictured are two Inupiaq hunters butchering a whale.
The top lot ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Millersburg Glass with a Twist
The glassmaker threw it all at this purple Four Pillars vase, twisting the body, flattening the rim, and swinging it out from its original 7" length to 12". A one-of-a-kind whimsy, it sold for $1607.
An outstanding piece of Millersburg, this 11" purple Peacock at Urn tri-corner bowl combined a rare ... (Read More)
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(Auction)J. Garland Warren's Country Store Collection
This 35" x 47" sign for Armour’s pork and beans, embossed tin in a wooden frame, late 19th or early 20th century, brought $2585 (est. $600/1200).
This 58" high Royal Crown Cola sign of enameled tin, early 20th century, sold for $1058 (est. $250/500).
This 7½" x 59" wooden sign with “Oliver ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Potomack Company Sale Tops $1.4 Million
The high lot of the Potomack Company sale was this carved sandstone head of a bodhisattva. The 10" high head is thought to have come from cave 17 at the Yungang Grottoes in Datong, Shanxi Province, west of Beijing. More than 50,000 pieces of carved art were found in the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The “Charged Up” Charger
This 15" high x 17" long standing temple kylin censer, in cast bronze with cloisonné and gilt decorations, was from a Baltimore estate. The price was an early indication that Orientalia buyers were tuned in, as one paid $50,600 for the piece.
On the very last page of the 76-page sale ... (Read More)
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(Auction)More American Tools Sold Abroad
The first known mention of a toolmaker in an American context occurs in 1752 in plane-maker Francis Nicholson’s will. This plow plane bearing his stamp brought $6748.
This finely proportioned crown molding plane in birch, stamped “N. Potter” and attributed to Nathaniel Potter of Lynn and Leicester, Massachusetts, sold for $10,310.
End ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Sale of Elizabeth Furnace and the Stiegel-Coleman House and Furnishings
This oil on canvas portrait of Anna and Harriet Coleman by Thomas Sully, painted between November 2 and December 18, 1846, with the monogram “TS,” 45½" x 35½", sold for $145,000 (est. $40,000/50,000) to one of Bill Coleman’s daughters, underbid by a private collector.
This blown glass pattern-molded cobalt pitcher, said ... (Read More)
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