Stories for April '18
(Fragment)Olde Towne Hall Antiques Moves, Changes Name
Olde Town Hall Antiques in Stratham, New Hampshire, is moving across the street and changing its name. According to owner Natalie Healy, the business plans to open on April 2 at The Farmhouse on 33 at 148 Portsmouth Avenue in Stratham.
“We will be in the farmhouse [across the street] to ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Object Lessons
Object Lessons
The case of the Bingham family Civil War memorial secretary, confirmed as a fake, offers some lessons. (M.A.D. published the story online on February 26, and it appears in this issue on page 12-A.)
There’s no doubt that the saga stings. Dealer Allan Katz, the Wadsworth Atheneum, and the vetting ... (Read More)
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(Feature)New Executive Director of Winter Antiques Show Named
Winter Antiques Show dealers were recently informed by e-mail of a “significant development” concerning the show. They were told that “As a result of our discussions with Catherine Sweeney Singer, we have decided that she will be stepping down as Executive Director. We are pleased that she will be available ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Showtime Auction Services to Hold Auction in New Venue
Showtime Auction Services will hold its first big auction event of 2018 at a new venue on new dates. The auction will be held the weekend of April 20-22, about three weeks later than usual, at the Wayne County Fairgrounds, 10871 Quirk Road in Belleville, Michigan. Belleville is located east ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Leslie Hindman Auctioneers Expands to Atlanta
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers will open its newest location in Atlanta, Georgia, this spring. In September 2017 the auction firm announced its expansion into Atlanta after hiring director of business development Mary Calhoun. Before that announcement, in April 2017, Michael Shapiro, former director of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Dealers In and Out of the Philadelphia Show
The Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show, April 20-22 at the Navy Yard, will jointly benefit the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s initiative for global access through digital engagement and interpretive programs and Penn Medicine’s investment in the conservation and digitization of the records of Pennsylvania Hospital, the nation’s first hospital, founded ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Folk Art Exhibition at San Francisco Airport
San Francisco, California
Photos courtesy SFO Museum
Collectors and fans of traditional American folk art living in California know that it’s easier to collect moon rocks than folk art on our left coast. There are only a few major folk art dealers along the West Coast, and there is very little folk ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London; April 2018
This column, as it says at the top of the page, is called “Letter from London,” but with some of the capital’s salerooms rather slow getting into their full stride, this month’s copy also draws additionally on a couple of provincial sales and another held in Hong Kong by Bonhams, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Pook & Pook: A Family Partnership in Pennsylvania
Head of the House
Photos courtesy Pook & Pook, Inc.
All prices include buyer’s premium.
In 1984, Ronald and Debra Pook made the transition from touring the show circuit as antiques dealers to running their own auction house in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Best known for their presentation of distinguished Americana collections, the firm ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions: April 2018
Artist unknown (Mexico), Saint Michael the Archangel, 18th century, oil on canvas, 61 5/8" x 41 5/16". Collection of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
—Through April 22—Middlebury, Vermont
Middlebury College Museum of Art presents Power and Piety: Spanish Colonial Art. The museum’s website notes that “Spain, a formidable colonial power, kept a ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Manigault Bowl, Found at Show, Goes to Art Institute of Chicago
In October 2016 I headed to the Morristown (New Jersey) Armory Antiques Show on a Sunday afternoon, not to shop but to pick up a receipt for a painting I had bought from one of the exhibitors a few months earlier. The dealer left me a pass at the door, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Craig McElroy, Kingston Consignments, Kingston, New York
In the Trade
Years ago my mother worked in a Ridgefield, Connecticut, consignment shop called the Silk Purse. The operation always struck me as a good business model, especially when compared to the way your average antiques dealer works. Standard-model antiques dealers, after all, shop at venues, such as auctions, where ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)The Searchers; April 2018
Computer Column #351
The number of popular Internet search engines has declined as existing ones have refined and added features. A few specialized search engines are not well known but might be useful to antiquers.From the earliest days of the Internet, users have created indexes of specific sites or kinds of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)French Furniture Soars in Tarheel Country
A Restauration ormolu-mounted marble-top inlaid bibliothèque basse(low cabinet) by Pierre-Étienne Levasseur or his son Pierre-François Henri Levasseur, circa 1820, stamped “E. Levasseur,” soared to $224,200 (includes buyer’s premium) at Leland Little’s March 3 sale in Hillsborough, North Carolina.
The bibliothèque basse was from a private North Carolina collection and had been purchased ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Newel Welcomes The Silver Peacock to Its Showroom
The fourth generation of the Baer family is now in charge of Newel, the antique furniture and decorative arts business started in 1939 by Jake Baer’s great-grandfather, and things are moving and shaking at a fast pace these days.
Not only has 30-year-old Jake expanded the company’s movie and television props ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Four Sandzén Paintings Sold in Kansas
Woody Auction celebrated the grand opening of its new Douglass, Kansas, auction hall with an antiques and fine art auction on Saturday, February 24, that featured four paintings by Swedish-born Kansas painter Birger Sandzén (1871-1954).
Cedars and Rocks, an oil on canvas landscape of Manitou Springs, Colorado, dated 1922, 36" x ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)John Bartlam Teapot Sells for £575,000 ($804,098)
A small teapot with a reglued handle and missing its lid, bought by a collector online from a general auction in Lincolnshire in the U.K. for £15 (about $20) in 2016, sold for £575,000 at Woolley and Wallis auctioneers in Salisbury, U.K., on February 20.
The buyer in the salesroom was ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Zook Record Broken
On February 17 Witman Auctioneers Inc., Manheim, Pennsylvania, sold two large three-dimensional diorama artworks by Abner Zook (1921-2010), breaking the auction record for the artist. A painting of six dapple-gray horses pulling a Conestoga wagon coming out of the forest and crossing a stream with waterfalls in the background sold ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Single-Owner Fine Jewelry Collection Exceeds Expectations in Seattle
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Mroczek Brothers Auctioneers & Associates
The February 15 auction of a single-owner 142-lot fine jewelry collection held by Mroczek Brothers Auctioneers & Associates, also known as MBA Seattle Auction House, was a white-glove sale (all lots sold, none passed). The results, Michael Mroczek said, “doubled our ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Painted Box with Drawers Brings $263,250
If it is fresh to market and has painted decorations, you never can tell what it will bring at auction. At Cordier Auctions on February 11, what was cataloged as a southern folk art painted sugar chest, probably Kentucky, early 19th century, provoked a long bidding battle between New Oxford, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Business as Usual at Julia’s—But Not Quite
James D. Julia, Fairfield, Maine
It was business as usual for James D. Julia’s two-day fine art and antiques auction on February 8 and 9 in Fairfield, Maine. Almost. The logo on the phone-book-size catalog read “James D. Julia, Inc. / a division of Morphy Auctions.” As most of the antiques ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The York Show
The Semi-Annual York Antiques Show, York, Pennsylvania
The 170th Semi-Annual York Antiques Show in York, Pennsylvania, February 2-4, was on Super Bowl weekend. Nevertheless 96 dealers set up in Memorial Hall East hoping they brought the right stuff to appeal to the regulars who came on Friday, a slew of new ... (Read More)
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(Show)Winter Show 2018
Winter Antiques Show, New York City
For 64 years, the Winter Antiques Show has filled the grand Park Avenue Armory for ten days in January to benefit East Side House Settlement’s educational projects ranging from early childhood to college preparatory. It was one of the first antiques shows created as a ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Cathedral Antiques Show
Atlanta, Georgia
The Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta is home to the Cathedral Antiques Show, a show with 26 dealers, five of whom are members of the Antiques Council. The Antiques Council is a professional nonprofit association with over 80 members in North America and Europe. It currently manages four ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Heron Takes Flight
Arader Galleries, New York City
Photos courtesy Arader Galleries
There was plenty of action at Arader Galleries’ auction on Saturday, January 27, which occurred during the last weekend of Americana Week. The entire staff, along with principal Graham Arader, was camped out on the second floor of 1016 Madison Avenue taking bids ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Potomack Company Begins Its Year in Grand Style
The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia
Photos courtesy The Potomack Company
The Potomack Company kicked off its 2018 auction schedule with a spectacular sale of antiques and fine art. The 400-lot auction was held on January 27 at Potomack’s galleries in Alexandria, Virginia. Well-known auctioneer, appraiser, and antiques personality Tim Luke was on ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Skinner Paintings
Skinner Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
Maine collector, businesswoman, gallerist, and philanthropist Linda L. Bean outlasted all comers at Skinner’s January 26 sale of American and European works of art in the Boston gallery when she took an oil on canvas by N.C. Wyeth for $339,000 (including buyer’s premium). Wallace Draws the King’s ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Tiffany Candlestick Tops Sale
Cowan’s Auctions, Cleveland, Ohio
Photos courtesy Cowan’s Auctions
The obvious story following Cowan’s winter sale of fine and decorative art at its salesroom in Cleveland, Ohio, on January 26 involved two records—one for a figural candlestick that highlighted the auction, the other for the sale’s total.
That’s the easy story. The comfortable one.
However, ... (Read More)
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(Show)The New York Ceramics & Glass Fair
New York City
Serious collectors, curators, scholars, and designers put the annual New York Ceramics & Glass Fair on their January calendars. This year it was held January 18-21 with an opening night preview party on January 17 at the Bohemian National Hall in New York City. They know that half ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Outsider Art Fair 2018
New York City
The Outsider Art Fair offered the best of storytelling, with humor, pain, death, love, fear, abuse, and pathos featured in the artworks that filled the walls of the Metropolitan Pavilion from January 18 to 21. Over four days that coincided with Americana Week, flocks of people headed downtown ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Marchant Material Buoys China Trade Sale
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
Christie’s began its January Americana sales with a January 18 session of 206 lots of Chinese export art, of which 100 were consigned by the London firm Marchant. In September of last year Christie’s offered close to 50 bronzes, jades, and ceramics in a single-owner ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Printed and Manuscript Americana
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
A broadside of the Declaration of Independence printed in Salem, Massachusetts, on July 17, 1776, by Ezekiel Russell sold for $1,185,000 (includes buyer’s premium) to a private collector at Sotheby’s January 17 sale of printed and manuscript Americana including cartography.
The well-preserved broadside was from an ... (Read More)
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(Show)Celebrating the Charm of Chinoiserie
Washington Winter Show, Washington, D.C.
The annual Washington Winter Show has consistently grown each year as a midwinter destination for collectors, dealers, designers, and antiques enthusiasts. The 2018 event was held January 12-14. This year marked the 63rd edition of the show and its eighth year at the Katzen Arts Center ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Traylor’s Two Pigs Brings $37,200
CRN Auctions, Inc., Cambridge, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy CRN Auctions, Inc.
As auction staff broke out more chairs at CRN Auctions’ January 14 standing-room-only sale in Cambridge, Massachusetts, auctioneer Carl R. Nordblom said he and he alone had moved the Patriots game to the previous day to accommodate everyone. The extra chairs filled ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Carousel Horse Outdistances the Field at Laughlin
Laughlin Auctions, Inc., Edinburg, Virginia
Photos courtesy Laughlin Auctions, Inc.
Laughlin Auctions, Inc. held its annual winter auction at the firm’s facilities in Edinburg, Virginia, on January 13. We have come to expect a broad array of offerings at Laughlin Auctions, and this sale did not disappoint. As noted in previous reports, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Willard Tall-Case Clocks Top Americana and Decorative Arts Auction
Garth’s, Delaware, Ohio
Photos courtesy Garth’s
Two tall-case clocks from America’s first family of horology brought the top bids during Garth’s auction of American antiques and European and Asian decorative arts held January 13 in Delaware, Ohio. Although the scope of the sale was plenty wide, Americana consistently drew the strongest interest ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Sale of the Kemble Collection
Pook & Pook, Inc., Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Pook & Pook
As newlyweds in the 1960s, Roland and Marilyn Kemble began collecting antiques. They moved from the Bowling Green area of Kentucky to Ohio, taught school, and brought up three children in Norwich, Ohio, living with antiques. Ten years ago—after years of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Match Safe Collection of David and Holiday Winfield
Cowan’s Auctions, Cincinnati, Ohio
Photos courtesy Cowan’s Auctions
A single-owner collection of pocket match safes offered by Cowan’s Auctions of Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 11 yielded a few insights into this highly specialized segment of the antiques market. It was a day when material often trumped motif. As much as anything, however, ... (Read More)
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(Show)Annapolis Was Cold but Worthwhile
Annapolis Antiques Show, Annapolis, Maryland
Hardy New Englanders may disagree, but let’s face the reality of winter below the Mason-Dixon line. Lingering snow and ice, near zero temperatures, and subzero wind chills do not bode well for the success of any activity that requires leaving the warmth of home. Antiques shows ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Good Deal of Good Deals
Bruce Gamage Antiques, Rockland, Maine
If you wanted an interesting auction with lots of good deals for careful and well-informed buyers, then the January 6 and 7 auction held by Bruce Gamage in Rockland, Maine, was the place to be.
This gouache on paper by James Brooks (1906-1992) sold for $517.50.
New York ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Big Money for Old Money
Robert L. Foster Auction Company, Newcastle, Maine
Robert L. Foster opened the new auction year on a frigid sub-zero January 1 morning in Newcastle, Maine. Artist Vernon Broe (1930-2011) figured prominently, but it was old 19th-century money that brought in the big money.
Foster continues to mine the Vern Broe mother lode, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Wall Box Tops Auction
Carey Auctions, Somerset, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Carey Auctions
“If you build it, he will come.” (Field of Dreams)
As record cold temperatures blanketed Middle America, Brian Carey filled the Bakersville firehouse outside Somerset, Pennsylvania, with a wide assortment of antiques. The logic is that record temperatures would keep people home, but for about ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Papers from the American Revolution’s French Connection Soar at Fine Books and Manuscripts Sale
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
Papers from the archives of François Jean de Beauvoir, the Marquis de Chastellux (1734-1788), were the uncontested highlight of Christie’s fine books and manuscripts sale on December 5, 2017, in New York City. Chastellux was a French major general under Rochambeau during the American Revolutionary War. ... (Read More)
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