Stories for December '21

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Book Reviews
by Lita Solis-Cohen & M.A.D. Staff

Book Reviews A Guide to Taking Good Care by Lita Solis-Cohen Did you know that using microfiber dustcloths is the safest and most efficient way to keep most objects clean? They are charged with static electricity and are dry and lint free. A long soft-bristled brush is the tool to use to dust ... (Read More)

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Auction Prices Realized, December 2021
by M.A.D. Staff

Auction Prices Realized Here are a few notable prices of antiques sold recently at auction, as provided by press releases. All prices include the buyer’s premium when charged. We’re always looking for news of prices realized at auctions, particularly unusual or top lots. Send pictures, complete descriptions, and information to A.P.R., ... (Read More)

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American Revolution Time
by M.A.D. Staff

In the long sleepless night before the “shots heard round the world” were fired “shots heard round the world” were firedon Lexington Green on April 19, 1775, a solemn group of patriots sat in that Colonial town’s Buckman Tavern awaiting the arrival of British soldiers from Boston. Diaries report that ... (Read More)

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Fresh Perspective
by Hollie Davis & Andrew Richmond

Beneath the Surface Back when COVID-19 was terrible (or is that still now?) we wrote about an imaginary trip we’d get to take someday when much of this was behind us. Recently, much like a movie adaptation of a novel with some of the important bits trimmed out of it, we ... (Read More)

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Goosefare Launches Series of Portland Shows
by M.A.D. Staff

John and Elizabeth DeSimone ofGoosefare Antiques & Promotionshave announced a new series of monthly winter shows in Portland, Maine. The shows will be on Sundays from December through April at the Italian Heritage Center, off Congress Street. “The hall is well lit, level to the ground, with three large loading doors, ... (Read More)

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New Orleans Museum of Art Receives Decorative Arts Trust Curatorial Internship Grant
by M.A.D. Staff

The New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) will serve as the 2022-24 Curatorial Internship Grant partner of the Decorative Arts Trust, a nonprofit organization that underwrites curatorial internships for recent master’s degree or Ph.D. graduates in collaboration with museums and historical societies. These internships allow host organizations to hire a deserving ... (Read More)

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Hope and the Collector
by Baron Perlman

Most collectors know—and I have written about it myself—that one of the primary motivators for collecting is the hunt. Not knowing when one will find a piece to covet, even what it will be, renders the ongoing search full of unknowns. The hunt lies at the heart of what we ... (Read More)

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Curator Charged with Theft by Deception
by M.A.D. Staff

On October 19 curator Inhee Moon of Englewood, New Jersey, was arrested on a charge of theft by deception. According to Bergen County prosecutor Mark Musella, on June 15 detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Financial Crimes Unit received a complaint against Moon that accused her of unlawfully taking ... (Read More)

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Letter from London, December 2021
by Ian McKay, [email protected]

One lot towers above all others in this month’s selection, not physically but in financial terms—an early 16th-century Samson and Delilah plate that utterly demolished its estimate in selling at $1.71 million in Edinburgh—but in drawing on English and Irish country sales as well some of what the Scottish capital ... (Read More)

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Connecticut Spring Antiques Show to Return with New Manager
by M.A.D. Staff

The Haddam Historical Society has announced that the Connecticut Spring Antiques Show will be held in Hartford March 26 and 27, 2022, after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Debbie Turi will be the new show manager, taking over for Karen DiSaia, who has agreed to provide guidance ... (Read More)

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Daring Design: The Impact of Three Women on Wharton Esherick’s Craft
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Daring Design: The Impact of Three Women on Wharton Esherick’s Craft, an exhibition at the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, opened early in September and continues through February 6, 2022. It demonstrates the importance of commissions from three women on the creative life in the early career of Wharton ... (Read More)

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100 Years of Weathervanes
by Julie Schlenger Adell

Olde Hope, New York City There must be something in the New York fall air. Weathervanes seem to be everywhere, including at Olde Hope’s New York City gallery exhibition and sale and at the American Folk Art Museum’s months-long, well-publicized exhibition American Weathervanes: The Art of the Winds (open through January ... (Read More)

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Hanging with Holly and Jeff Noordsy
by Julie Schlenger Adell

Objects tell stories, and those stories keep evolving, certainly for Holly and Jeff Noordsy, antique bottle, glass, and earthenware dealers who live in Cornwall, Vermont. Jeff and Holly Noordsy in their abode. Their story begins at a film studies class during the January term at Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. Jeff, then ... (Read More)

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Exhibitions, December 2021
by M.A.D staff

Claude Monet (1840-1926), Charing Cross Bridge, brouillard, 1902, oil on canvas, 28¾" x 36¼". Collection of Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Gift of Ethel and Milton Harris, 1990. Photograph © AGO. —Through January 23, 2022 —San Antonio, Texas Claude Monet and James Abbott McNeill Whistler were both fascinated by London’s Thames River. ... (Read More)

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Passing It On
by S. Clayton Pennington

Passing It On In 2020, staring into the teeth of the COVID-19 pandemic, Germany launched a rescue package dubbed Neustart Kultur (Restart Culture), which committed one billion euros in order to maintain the country’s cultural scene and infrastructure. When the initial funds were used up, Germany threw another billion euros at ... (Read More)

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Chris Strand Named Director of Winterthur
by M.A.D staff

Chris Strand, the longtime director of garden and estate at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, has been named its Charles F. Montgomery Director and CEO. Strand has served as interim director and CEO at Winterthur since May. As interim director, Strand was responsible for all aspects of museum, library, and garden ... (Read More)

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Solid Results and an Uptick in Buying
by Mary Ann Brown

Antique Jewelry and Gemology Photos courtesy Rago/Wright Dianne Batista, director of fine jewelry, reported “really solid results and a lot of activity” when Rago/Wright, Lambertville, New Jersey, held its fall jewelry sale on October 20. She said it was a co-branded auction on the Rago and Wright platform. “We are doing that ... (Read More)

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Gilman’s Farm Is Becoming a Destination
by Walter C. Newman

Virginia Pickers Antiques & Collectables Show, Glen Allen, Virginia The fall 2021 edition of the Virginia Pickers Antiques & Collectables Show was held October 15 and 16 at Gilman’s Farm in Glen Allen, Virginia. This marks the seventh semiannual Virginia Pickers sale, and its growth is obvious. The spring show had 150 ... (Read More)

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The Estate of Al Capone
by Alice Kaufman

Witherell’s, Sacramento, California Photos courtesy Witherell’s “Buyers drop more than $3.1M during auction of Al Capone’s heirlooms” was a headline in the New York Post on October 12. But even before the blockbuster prices, the Witherell’s auction on October 8, “A Century of Notoriety: The Estate of Al Capone,” was a remarkable ... (Read More)

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The ADA/Historic Deerfield Online Antiques Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Antiques Dealers’ Association of America The Antiques Dealers’ Association of America, Inc. (ADA), established in May 1984 as a nonprofit trade association to make the business of buying and selling antiques more professional, was one of the first to launch an online antiques show. In 2019 when COVID-19 closed shows and ... (Read More)

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A Record Day at Fishersville
by Walter C. Newman

Fishersville Antiques Expo, Fishersville, Virginia The 67th semiannual Fishersville Antiques Expo was held as scheduled, October 8 and 9, at the Augusta Expo in Fishersville, Virginia. The show is staged by Heritage Promotions, Lynchburg, Virginia. The firm is co-owned by Ray and Martha Stokes and their daughter, Lesley Bartram. Fishersville is ... (Read More)

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The 2021 Black River Antique Show
by Fran Kramer

Ludlow, Vermont The fall foliage was not even close to peak (blame the warm weather evenings), but the annual Black River Antique Show, October 1 and 2, was, as usual, the place to find good buys. There was some brisk business, according to show manager Steve Sherhag of Ohio. Steve Sherhag’s booth ... (Read More)

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Antiques at the Ice House
by Fran Kramer

Ludlow, Vermont We knew that Vermont has ski resorts and lodges, but an ice house? In Ludlow, Vermont, one of the annual fall antiques shows was held in what most of us would call an outdoor ice skating rink. Jackson Gore Lodge at Okemo Mountain is a high-end resort with an ... (Read More)

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$3.5 Million Sale at Pook
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Pook & Pook, Inc., Downingtown, Pennsylvania Photos courtesy Pook & Pook A Mickey Mouse print by Andy Warhol sold for $196,800 (including buyer’s premium); a Harriet Whitney Frishmuth bronze fountain sold for $147,600; an Elie Nadelman bronze head of a man wearing a jaunty hat sold for $116,850; and four bronze 1992 ... (Read More)

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American Furniture, Folk Art, and Decorative Arts
by Don Johnson

Hindman, Cincinnati, Ohio Photos courtesy Hindman An Andrew Clemens sand bottle sold for a record $956,000 (including buyer’s premium) against an estimate of $100,000/150,000 during the Hindman auction of American furniture, folk art, and decorative arts on September 30 and October 1 in Cincinnati, Ohio. Wes Cowan, vice chair of Hindman, said ... (Read More)

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A Sweet Suite of Potomack Company Sales
by Walter C. Newman

The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia Photos courtesy The Potomack Company The Potomack Company held its recent suite of targeted sales in five sessions, spaced over a three-day period, September 28-30, at its Alexandria, Virginia, galleries. Potomack has settled comfortably into a groove of offering these smaller, more precisely curated auctions in series. ... (Read More)

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Hindman’s Fall Fine Art Sales Online
by Danielle Arnet

Hindman Auctions, Chicago, Illinois Photos courtesy Hindman Auctions We love these salad days in the auction biz, and still they continue. This September in a series of three days (September 27-29), each with a cataloged fine art sale, Hindman Auctions in Chicago realized over $7.5 million. In the process, more than 15 ... (Read More)

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Historic Broadside Brings $275,000
by Marice Richter

Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas Photos courtesy Heritage Auctions A broadside offering a $100,000 reward for the capture of one of America’s most notorious assassins sold for a record $275,000 (including buyer’s premium) at Heritage Auctions’ September 25 and 26 Americana and political auction. Issued by the U.S. War Department on April 20, ... (Read More)

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Cordier Auction Benefits Art Association and Humane Society of Harrisburg
by M.A.D. Staff

On September 26 Cordier Auctions & Appraisals, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, hosted an online auction of art from the collection of Raymonde “Ré” DéSabres Plaut (1925-2020); the sale benefited the Art Association of Harrisburg and the Humane Society of Harrisburg Area. The artist loved art and animals, and one of her final ... (Read More)

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Battersea Foundation’s Second Annual Show
by Walter C. Newman

Battersea Antiques Show & Historic Trades Fair, Petersburg, Virginia The second annual Battersea Antiques Show & Historic Trades Fair was held September 18 and 19 on the grounds of Historic Battersea in Petersburg, Virginia. The event is sponsored by the Battersea Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded in 2006 whose purpose is ... (Read More)

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Carlsen Gallery Celebrates 30 Years of Auctions
by Fran Kramer

Carlsen Gallery, Freehold, New York Photos courtesy Carlsen Gallery In September 1992 the Carlsen family held the first auction at their new gallery. There were no computers, no websites, no Internet, and no smartphones. Carlsen’s buyer’s premium was 5%. George Bush was president. The average annual personal income was $22,000. Gasoline was ... (Read More)

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Fresh Kensett Painting Tops $1 Million
by Kay Manning

A September 18 online sale described as “small   and exclusive” by Cottone Auctions, Geneseo, New York, netted $3.75 million, with a painting by John Frederick Kensett (1816-1872), a Navajo chief’s blanket, and a circa 1870 timepiece setting the pace. Singing Beach & Eagle Rock, Magnolia, Massachusetts by Kensett, a Hudson River ... (Read More)

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Chicagoland Decoy Show
by Danielle Arnet

Lombard, Illinois Assume, for the sake of elucidation, that you are on the board of directors of a nationwide   collecting group with more than 6000 members. For as long as most remember (some 54 years) the group has held a multi-day annual show each spring in the same location. The event ... (Read More)

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The York Show: This Is What We Missed
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Original Semi-Annual York Antiques Show and Sale, York, Pennsylvania Photos by Kathy Lesieur There was a good gate on Friday, September 17, at what show manager Melvin Arion called the 177th Original Semi-Annual York Antiques Show and Sale even though the last one held, pre-COVID-19, January 31-February 2, 2020, was the 174th. ... (Read More)

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Part Two of Schroeder Collection Brings $2.6 Million
by Susan Emerson Nutter

Bertoia Auctions, Vineland, New Jersey Photos courtesy Bertoia Auctions September 10 and 11 found the gallery of Bertoia Auctions once again filled with the ultimate antique toy fantasyland, compliments of the Aaron and Abby Schroeder collection. This autumn event was round two. The first auction to disperse the couple’s collection took place ... (Read More)

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Online Wildfowl Auction
by Frances McQueeney-Jones Mascolo

Decoys Unlimited, West Barnstable, Massachusetts Photos courtesy Decoys Unlimited The Decoys Unlimited online sale held on August 28 was the third of the summer wildfowl auctions. At this auction, miniatures by Anthony Elmer Crowell (1862-1952) were the hot lots. Some 37 lots by Crowell were offered. It is fitting that Crowell works performed ... (Read More)

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Live and Online Americana Sales
by Frances McQueeney-Jones Mascolo

Skinner, Marlborough, Massachusetts Photos courtesy Skinner Skinner’s summer Americana sale on August 19 in the Marlborough gallery had a live audience of 12 to 15 carefully masked and spaced bidders for the 166-lot sale. The online sale, August 9-18, offered 2030 lots. In preliminary remarks Stephen L. Fletcher, head of Americana among other ... (Read More)

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Photography, Prints, and Ephemera
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Pook & Pook, Inc., Downingtown, Pennsylvania Photos courtesy Pook & Pook, Inc. A rare 21" x 17½" early antislavery broadside, “Sclaven Handel”(Slave Trade), printed in German in Philadelphia by Samuel Saur for Tobias Hirte, dated 1794, one of three known copies, sold for $10,332 (includes buyer’s premium), above the $4000/6000 estimate, at ... (Read More)

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Provincetown Art Highlights Sale
by Frances McQueeney-Jones Mascolo

Eldred’s, East Dennis, Massachusetts Photos courtesy Eldred’s Eldred’s July 28-30 three-day sale was just what a summer sale should be. Replete with Provincetown art, the sale included a group of white-line woodblock prints by artists of the Provincetown Printers, formed in 1915. Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt (1878-1955), who spent summers in Provincetown, ... (Read More)
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