(Fragment)
Brett Downer and Doug Stinson, the two principals of Tremont Auctions of Newton, Massachusetts, have agreed to a parting of the ways. The partnership was dissolved on January 15, as the two longtime antiques dealers and auctioneers are going in different directions.
Brett Downer (left) and Doug Stinson during a June ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
When Robert Cheney was six years old, he made his first visit to the rural homestead in Grafton, Massachusetts, where members of the famed Willard family first began making clocks. Privately owned and seriously run down, the home and workshop were endangered. Robert’s father, clockmaker Bradford W. Cheney, was hoping ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
In the Trade
For more than half a century, Norman and Mary Gronning have been selling period American antiques. They’ve developed an inventory that is both broad and deep. They sell formal, high country, and painted furniture from the 17th through the early 19th centuries, along with paintings, folk art, metalwork, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
After eight long months of outcries from residents and a few Norman Rockwell descendants, protest marches, injunctions, and copious numbers of documents, the Massachusetts attorney general’s office and the Berkshire Museum, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, have agreed on a plan for the sale of up to 40 artworks to address the financial ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
It’s encouraging to see the props that were chosen for this TD Ameritrade ad: a small collection of early telephones, along with a Big Ben alarm clock that could be vintage. There are also some old books, a couple of them set up as they might be for a trompe ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
Expert Opinion by Hollie Davis and Andrew Richmond
The Young Collector
When you are a librarian, everyone wants you to be on their team for Trivial Pursuit. “You know all the answers,” they say. “No,” a fellow librarian once said, “I know how to find all the answers.” That conversation is the intersection of our understanding of the difference between ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
The 56th Philadelphia Antiques and Art Show has new support. The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) and Penn Medicine have become joint beneficiaries of the show, and the PMA will gradually assume full responsibility for the show’s organization and management in the following years and apparently become its sole beneficiary.
The ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
Photos courtesy Ayer Mansion
A preservation organization that is renovating a historic house in Boston’s Back Bay is asking collectors, dealers, curators, and others to be on the lookout for a vase by Louis Comfort Tiffany that has gone missing. It was one of three that Tiffany designed for Frederick Ayer ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
Computer Column #350
Many of us spend part of every day staring at a web browser on a computer, perhaps buying, selling, or researching antiques or maybe just checking the news and gossip. We all have our favorite browsers, yet browsers are still evolving. New features are worth taking a look ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
The longest piece in this month’s selection focusses on the always fascinating and sometimes unexpectedly costly world of antiquities, but room is also found for the return of Lord Nelson, for a couple of remarkable celestial globes, and a really old master discovery.
Tsar Nicholas I’s passion for military uniforms provides ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)
Wedgewood Society of Boston
For more than 50 years, the Wedgwood Society of Boston has brought together New England collectors, ceramics enthusiasts, and lovers of the decorative arts and history to share new findings, build greater understanding, and enjoy the fellowship of lively and engaging fellow members and guests. We welcome ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
Opinion
One of the finest equestrian statues in the nation stands in a park in Memphis, Tennessee.* Designed by an accomplished sculptor working in the Neoclassical manner and cast in bronze in Paris, the century-old monument is a historic landmark and an important feature in the city’s history.
I’d like to take ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
William Kidd (b. 1961), Crusty Vase, 2003, earthenware. Promised gift of Sidney Swidler.
—Through March 31—Flint, Michigan
Flint Institute of Arts (FIA) presents The Art of Containment: Vessels from the Sidney Swidler Collection. Swidler’s fascination with ceramics collecting was influenced by his work as an architect and designer. Swidler has amassed more ... (Read More)
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(Feature)
It’s one of the best folk art fakes of all time. It fooled them all: dealers, curators, vetters, journalists, and more. Had it not been for one grainy 72 dpi digital photograph, the dogged persistence of a concerned group of antiquarians, and a dealer who eschewed embarrassment and confronted the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)
In light of the successful sale of Classical furniture from the Patricia M. Sax collection at Sotheby’s during Americana Week, M.A.D. wanted to see what New York City dealer Carswell Rush Berlin had brought to the Academy Mansion on East 63rd Street during Master Drawings New York the following week, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)
A Chinese green-glazed footed porcelain bowl, estimated at $1000/2000, brought $200,000 (includes buyer’s premium) at Nye & Company Auctioneers on January 31 in Bloomfield, New Jersey. “I would have to judge this sale a huge success, with strong bidding across all categories, led by the Chinese porcelain bowl, the true ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Americana filled seven floors of Sotheby’s on York Avenue in New York City in mid-January, daring collectors, curators, and dealers to explore a vast array of America’s past. Erik Gronning, head of Americana at the international auction house, gets one chance a year to prove ... (Read More)
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(Show)
New York City
Filling a void in the New York City show landscape, The Art, Design & Antiques Show at Wallace Hall offered dealers and collectors a place to exhibit and buy during Americana Week.
The show has grown in stature and significance. The 33 dealers who set up shop January 19-21 ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Eldred’s
Eldred’s Auctioneers of East Dennis, on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, held its antiques and accessories sale on January 19 and 20, offering 152 lots of jewelry that achieved good results and had “a very low pass rate,” according to Leah Kingman, the specialist who cataloged ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
Americana sales in January have been called the barometer of the market for at least five decades. “As goes January, so goes the market” is the mantra. Collectors and dealers who make this market buy what speaks to them and ignore what they deem over-restored, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
When a double-sided Henry Darger watercolor and collage sells for $60,000 more than the highest-priced piece of furniture during Americana Week in New York City, people take notice.
This double-sided work by Henry Darger (1892-1973), 93 At Jennie Richee, are chaced for long distance by Glandelinians with blood hounds. / 95 ... (Read More)
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(Show)
Richfield, Ohio
Strong snowstorms offset with 50-degree days equal winter 2018 in Ohio to date. A week before the highly anticipated 46th annual Hudson Antique Show, which is held the second Saturday and Sunday in January (this year January 13 and 14) saw a big storm, offset with a huge melt.
And ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Mebane Antique Auction Gallery, Mebane, North Carolina
Photos courtesy Mebane Antique Auction Gallery
Instead of relying entirely on pickers and family consignments for his annual Americana sale on December 8, 2017, auctioneer Jon Lambert looked to his own considerable collection for a few lots. He chose seven pieces of redware—four jugs and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Bonhams, San Francisco, California
Photos courtesy Bonhams
Department director Ingmars Lindbergs described the Bonhams December 4, 2017, San Francisco auction of Native American art as “on a smaller scale but much more successful than the June 2017 sale.” Lindbergs said, “Overall, I was happy” with sales that totaled close to $885,000 (including ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Bonhams, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Swann Galleries, New York City
I could have stayed home in Massachusetts. Like many, if not most, auction previewers and buyers these days, I could have looked and watched online. I would have saved eight hours of driving, 15 miles of walking, money spent on a hotel, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Freeman’s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Freeman’s
More than 100 people filled the seats in the salesroom and stood at the back for Freeman’s sale of American art on December 3, 2017. Thirty-one of them were successful, and they went home with paintings by Pennsylvania Impressionists, an Andrew Wyeth letter with a watercolor ... (Read More)
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(Show)
Greenwich, Connecticut
The Greenwich Winter Antiques Show is one event under the aegis of Antiquarius, a suite of events held every December to benefit the Greenwich Historical Society. Its tag line is “Celebrate the Holidays in High Style,” and a house tour, the antiques show, and a holiday boutique are traditions ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Skinner, Inc. Boston, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Skinner, Inc.
American Indian and ethnographic art attracted bidders on December 2, 2017, to Skinner’s Boston gallery, where bidders came and went according to the kind of objects on the block. The highlight was a 19th-century anthropomorphic figure of a lizard man that brought $43,050 (includes ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
John McInnis Auctioneers, Amesbury, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy John McInnis Auctioneers
An unexpected trove of Andy Warhol material took an unexpected turn at John McInnis Auctioneers’ December 1 and 2, 2017, sale in its Amesbury, Massachusetts, gallery. After lifelong Amesbury resident Harriett Woodsom Gould died at age 94 in November 2016, her family ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Leland Little Auctions, Hillsborough, North Carolina
Photos courtesy Leland Little Auctions
Two and a half weeks before the December 2, 2017, catalog sale, Leland Little’s online catalog arrived in 20,000 electronic mailboxes. The curious scrolled down the opening page and found a large green button urging them to “Bid Now.” Six days ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
James D. Julia, Inc., Fairfield, Maine
Not surprisingly, the name Louis Comfort Tiffany dominated the James D. Julia lamp, glass, and jewelry auction on December 1, 2017, in Fairfield, Maine. About 60 Tiffany lamps and chandeliers came up, led by a trio of lamps that topped the sale at $84,700 apiece ... (Read More)
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(Show)
Williamsburg, VirginiaThe 36th annual Holiday Antiques Show was held the weekend of November 24-26, 2017, at the Doubletree by Hilton, Williamsburg, Virginia. The event has become a mainstay for Black Friday shoppers who wish to avoid the hassle of outlet malls and standstill traffic.
This copybook is dated 1853 and is ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Garth’s Auctions, Delaware, Ohio
Photos courtesy Garth’s Auctions
Having an obscure subject matter on top of a bizarre medium, a painting that sold halfway through the 57th Thanksgiving Americana auction held by Garth’s Auctions in Delaware, Ohio, on November 24 offered an interesting analogy of the day itself.
Pennsylvania painting of a man ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
More than 60 people gathered in the salesroom for Christie’s American art auction that took place on November 21, 2017, two days before Thanksgiving. While New York City was inundated with tourists hoping to attend the parade, view holiday windows, and shop, the auction house ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Bonhams, New York City
Photos courtesy Bonhams
Bonhams held its American art sale on November 20, 2017, the Monday of Thanksgiving week, and a small crowd gathered on the second floor of the Madison Avenue auction house to bid on the 71 lots that were offered. The sale totaled $1,294,750, and the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Cross Gate Gallery/Keeneland, Lexington, Kentucky
Photos courtesy Cross Gate Gallery
It’s a natural collaboration for Keeneland—where everyone who is anyone goes to buy the finest Thoroughbreds—and Cross Gate Gallery—where everyone who is anyone goes to purchase the finest sporting art. These Lexington, Kentucky-based businesses first teamed up in 2013 to bring to ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Tremont Auctions, Newton, Massachusetts
Antiques from the estate of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, show promoter, collector, and dealer Sonia Paine, who died last summer at 95, provided several bright spots in the Tremont Auctions November 19, 2017, sale in the Newton, Massachusetts, gallery. Paine, who opened an antiques shop in 1968, was ... (Read More)
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(Show)
Richmond, Indiana
For anyone driving rural back roads to the Heartland Antique Show in Richmond, Indiana, on the morning of November 18, 2017, something quickly became apparent. It was the opening day of deer season, as evidenced by an abundance of pickup trucks and SUVs edged off country roads near adjacent ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia
Photos courtesy The Potomack Company
The November 18, 2017, cataloged auction at The Potomack Company was held at the firm’s galleries in Alexandria, Virginia. The sale presented a mix of offerings from a broad group of categories, with a concentration of lots from an equally broad selection ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Milestone Auctions, Willoughby, Ohio
Photos courtesy Milestone Auctions
Vintage comic characters are a perennial favorite. When “the Mouse” is involved, it’s a given that interest will follow. Milestone Auctions saw this phenomenon firsthand during its “Hectic Eclectic” vintage comic character event held on November 18, 2017.
Selling were more than 500 lots of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Bertoia Auctions, Vineland, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Bertoia Auctions
Bertoia Auctions signed off on its November 11 and 12, 2017, Signature sale with the company’s highest-grossing sales figures since the glory days of the sale of Donald Kaufman’s collection (five auctions held from 2009 to 2011). The 1470-lot barrage of toys, banks, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)
Slotin Folk Art, Buford, Georgia
Photos courtesy Slotin Folk Art
The November 11 and 12, 2017, Slotin Folk Art Auction was particularly strong, with heavy emphasis on African American and slave-related material, much from the Acacia Collection in Savannah and the Old Slave Mart Museum in Charleston, South Carolina. These lots appeared ... (Read More)
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(Show)
New York City
The tenth American Art Fair opened its doors to an enthusiastic crowd on Saturday evening, November 11, 2017, ushering in American Art Week in New York City with a private invitation-only preview. The show ran through November 15.
Seventeen dealers of 19th- and 20th-century American art covered the walls ... (Read More)
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(Show)
Milford, New Hampshire
At 7 a.m. on November 5, 2017, I was entering the back door of the Hampshire Hills Athletic Club, not to play tennis but to visit one of Jack Donigian’s antiques shows during his 42nd consecutive year of running them in the area, a few miles west of ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)
“Horology in Art” by Frances McQueeney-Jones Mascolo
The Ward Francillon Time Symposium, Boston, Massachusetts
Since 1980 the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors (NAWCC) has sponsored the Ward Francillon Time Symposium at sites around the country where members meet to compare clocks, view examples of interesting and historic clocks, share new discoveries, and renew friendships. National and ... (Read More)
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Publications of Arthur and Sybil Kern As compiled by Leslie and Peter Warwick
1. Arthur B. and Sybil Kern, “Who was Benjamin Greenleaf?” Antiques World, September 1981, vol. III, no. 9, pp. ... (Read More)
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