Stories for April '23
(Fragment)Palm Beach Dealer Pleads Guilty
Palm Beach, Florida, art dealer Daniel Elie Bouaziz pleaded guilty February 21 to laundering money derived from his scheme to sell counterfeit artwork.
Bouaziz is the owner of art galleries in south Florida, including Danieli Fine Art and Galerie Danieli. According to the agreed-upon factual proffer in support of Bouaziz’s guilty ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Family Circus
Beneath the Surface
Last year, Andrew was approached about the most effective way to disseminate an enormous collection. The answer was an auction. (Hollie keeps thinking of The Godfather Part III: “Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!”) This collection has, in many ways, illustrated much ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)National Gallery Buys a Dave Jar
The National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., has acquired an 1859 storage jar by David Drake that was deaccessioned by the Madison-Morgan Cultural Center (MMCC) in Madison, Georgia. The 21¾" high alkaline-glazed stoneware jug was donated to the MMCC in 1992.
Dave (c. 1801-1870s), later recorded as “David Drake,” was an ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Hap Moore Closes Business
In a February 14 email, York, Maine, auctioneer Hap Moore announced that he is closing his business. He is not retiring. “What I’m doing is stopping my business,” he said in a phone call. “When you’re in a business like antiques, and you are as dedicated to it as I ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Serendipity in Collecting
“Chance favors the prepared mind.” —Louis Pasteur, French chemist, microbiologist, and inventor.
Collectors sometimes find that it is the unplanned moment that rises in importance. I think of happenstance, a random event that happens by chance or coincidence. A wonderful word, happenstance, a combination of happen and circumstance, originated in America ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)All of Me: A Winfred Rembert Exhibition
Writers are taught to write about what they know. The same could be said for artists.
In the case of Winfred Rembert (1945-2021), his works of dye on carved and tooled leather, a skill he picked up while incarcerated during his youth, are filled with scenes of black life from Cuthbert, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Auction Prices Realized, April 2023
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., Maine Antique ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, April 2023
This month’s “Letter” includes some quite odd lots, not least the battered metal advertising board for Silver Moonlight stove polish, as well as an equally battered-looking but rare seagoing cabin trunk by Louis Vuitton. A medieval love ring and a tiny postbox with royal links also are to be found, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Hanging with Howard Rehs
It’s a family affair at Rehs Galleries, Inc., New York City, and has been for four generations. A new generation was literally “waiting in the wings” when M.A.D. spoke with Howard Rehs in early February—a first grandchild was expected that week.
As did his grandparents M. Edwin and Ruth Schillay and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Dates for Scarborough, Maine, Show
The Scarborough High School Vintage and Antique Show & Sale has a new date. The event has been moved to Saturday, April 8, the day before Easter Sunday. Hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and admission is $6.
Joshua and Rachel Gurley of Gurley Antique Shows have been promoting this ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The Philadelphia Show
The Philadelphia Show, founded in 1962 as the Philadelphia Antiques Show, dropped the word antiques from its name last year and added a tagline in small print: “Antiques • Art • Design.” Forty-two dealers will exhibit their wares in a purpose-built tent at the top of the “Rocky Steps” on ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Ceramics in America 2021/2022
A Book Review
The 2021-22 edition of Ceramics in America, the second since Ronald W. Fuchs II joined Robert Hunter as co-editor, begins with four essays about Chinese porcelain and continues with more about ceramics made and used in America. Archaeologist Robert Hunter continues to show how the smallest ceramic fragments ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions, April 2023
Guy Pène du Bois, Portrait of Patricia Pike in White Dress, 1941. Estate of Yvonne Pène du Bois McKenney. Photo courtesy 511 Gallery, New York City.
—Through March 26 —Lakeland, Florida
Edward Hopper (1882-1967) and Guy Pène du Bois (1884-1958) were two different but stylistically overlapping artists who became lifelong friends from ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Knowing the Reserve
The practice of revealing auction price reserves to bidders has been debated for a long time. Both sides of the argument have solid points, and right now it is up to individual auction houses or consignors to decide.
If Oregon’s Senate Bill 734 passes, auctioneers in Oregon would be required by ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Franklin Clock Awakens
Photos courtesy Wiederseim Associates
If ever an auction lot qualified as a “sleeper,” it was an 18th-century English tall clock that sold February 15 at Wiederseim Associates in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, for $37,500 (includes buyer’s premium), far exceeding its $350 high estimate.
The clock’s engraved brass “sheet” dial was signed “Whitehurst, Derby” by ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Mid-19th-Century Documents Top Lots at Muscarelli Auction
Muscarelli Auction Company, Taylorsville, North Carolina
Photos courtesy Muscarelli Auction Company
Two historical handwritten documents tied for the top lot at Taylorsville, North Carolina-based Muscarelli Auction Company’s online sale that ended February 11. A letter from Confederate General Robert E. Lee to the governor of Florida and an account ledger book kept ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Strong International Jewelry Market Drives Bidders and Prices
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Doyle
If we had any question about how the latest jewelry sale at Doyle in New York City fared, the post-sale press release summed it up: “The current strength of the international jewelry market was on display...on February 2 as bidders across the country and overseas ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 69th Winter Show
New York City
The 69th edition of The Winter Show was back at its birthplace at the Park Avenue Armory, raising funds for the East Side House Settlement, January 20-29. Sixty-eight dealers were greeted enthusiastically by collectors, curators, decorators, and those who make a career of shopping. The preview party ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Rare Edison Pen Brings $21,250
Nye & Co., Bloomfield, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Nye & Co.
Nye & Company’s online-only sale January 25-27 offered a selection of furniture from the Stanley Weiss collection and material from estates that sold some of their finer furniture and folk art at Christie’s. “We do not have the space to exhibit ... (Read More)
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(Auction)$212,500 Tiffany Lamp Tops Sale
Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas
Photos courtesy Heritage Auctions
A Tiffany Studios leaded-glass table lamp with an Arrowroot shade atop a rare Cattailbase outperformed its estimate to sell for $212,500 (with buyer’s premium) at Heritage Auctions’ “Pursuit of Beauty” auction January 26 in Dallas.
The auction brought together Art Deco and Art Nouveau art ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Family Affair at Art Auction
Bonhams Skinner, Marlborough, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Bonhams Skinner
Bonhams Skinner sold American art in its compact, short, and sweet 75-lot auction January 25 in the Marlborough, Massachusetts, gallery. Work by some previously lesser-known artists came to market and did well. Some hardy souls were present in the gallery, while many others took ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Cohen and Cohen’s $1.7 Million Sale
Bonhams, New York City
Photos courtesy Bonhams
U.K. dealers Michael and Ewa Cohen are known for selling the finest and rarest Chinese export porcelain to collectors and museums in all parts of the world, often from well-designed stands at top antiques fairs. They kept a selection of works in a New York ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Important Americana
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Mrs. J. Insley Blair’s Philadelphia walnut scroll-top high chest of drawers, circa 1760, attributed to Henry Clifton and Thomas Carteret, with carving attributed to someone dealers call “Spike” because of the shape of his leaves, has a crusty old finish and its original cartouche, urn-and-flame ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Online Americana Sale Brings $1.1 Million
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s had so much Americana to sell in January that the last 305 lots were offered online only on Monday afternoon, January 23, beginning at noon and ending at 5 p.m. All the lots were on view for inspection at 1334 York Avenue, and 224 ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Folky Stand Brings $11,500
Farrin’s Country Auctions, Randolph, Maine
Photos courtesy Farrin’s Country Auctions
A two-day sale held January 21 and 22 at Farrin’s Country Auctions, Randolph, Maine, brought a huge crowd, according to auctioneer Rusty Farrin. The sale on the first day was topped by a paint-decorated one-drawer stand, probably from Maine, said Farrin, that ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Collector Knowingly Buys Fake for More Than Double High Estimate
On January 21 Crescent City Auction Gallery, New Orleans, Louisiana, sold three paintings all properly cataloged as “After Clementine Hunter.” They were fakes, and sold as such. In fact, after determining they were fake with the help of Hunter expert Tom Whitehead, Crescent City asked the consignor to write “FAKE” ... (Read More)
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(Show)Fruit Jar and Bottle Club Convention and Show
Midwest Antique Fruit Jar & Bottle Club Show, Muncie, Indiana
The annual show hosted by the Midwest Antique Fruit Jar & Bottle Club typically excels in top-end canning jars. That’s why it has been referred to in some circles as the Super Bowl of fruit jar shows. The 2023 edition, held ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Sale of the Santore Collection
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s sale of the collection of Philadelphia collectors Charles and Olenka Santore January 19 in New York City dispersed the finest assemblage of Windsor furniture ever to come to market.
Charlie Santore (1935-2019) was known in the world of Americana as the author of the definitive ... (Read More)
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(Auction)19th-Century American Art
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
Christie’s offered 66 lots of 19th-century American art January 19 during Americana Week, and several dealers and collectors attended the live sale to buy and also observe what was selling and not selling during the auction. After three years of enduring COVID-19, clients sitting in ... (Read More)
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(Auction)From Peale to Peto: The Pollack Collection
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
Fans of paintings of fruit, flowers, fish, and faces showed their appreciation by bidding on and buying 32 out of 34 lots offered in Christie’s sale “From Peale to Peto: American Masters from the Pollack Collection,” held the morning of January 19 in New York ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Indian Art
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
For the first time in eight years, Sotheby’s sold American Indian art. It was an online sale January 10 through 18 that opened with sculpture from the collection of Amy and Elliot Lawrence, most of it small pieces of walrus ivory. The sale also ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Record Rembert at Outsider Art Sale
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
The widely anticipated Outsider and vernacular art sale at Christie’s was held the afternoon of Wednesday, January 18, midway through Americana Week. The sale, which offered 103 lots, totaled $2,064,384, with a sell-through rate of 99%. The presale estimates totaled $1.2/2 million, according to Cara ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Eagle Tops $4.5 Million 47-Lot Auction
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s offered 47 lots in its “Art of the Americas” sale held January 18, midway through Americana Week. The noon sale totaled $4,514,580 (including buyers’ premiums). Of the 47 lots offered (lots 5 and 7 were withdrawn before the auction), 33 sold, for a ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Revere Silver Pitcher Sells for Record $129,950
Anyone who previewed the 400 lots of estate jewelry and coins from the New York County Public Administrator and a collection of Native American pottery for the first day of Weiss Auctions’ two-day monthly sale January 18 and 19 in Lynbrook, New York, might have walked past the tarnished Paul ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Sale of the Schiffer Collection
Pook & Pook, Inc., Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Pook & Pook, Inc.
Pook & Pook offered the collection of Margaret Berwind Schiffer in 393 lots in an illustrated color catalog and sold it live in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, January 18, with about 40 people in the salesroom competing with bidders online and on ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Halliday House Stock Sold
Annex Auctions by Witherell’s, Sacramento, California
Photos courtesy Annex Auctions by Witherell’s
Witherell’s, a Sacramento, California, auction house now run by three generations of the Witherell family, held an online single-owner sale on its Annex Auctions platform featuring the contents of Halliday House, a “quaint little antiques shop nestled in the vineyards ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Garthoeffner Collection Crosses the Auction Block
New England Auctions, Branford, Connecticut
Photos courtesy New England Auctions
The large full-bodied molded and sheet-copper weathervane in the form of Lady Liberty holding a ten-star flag and raising her right arm was made by Cushing & White (formerly A.L. Jewell), Waltham, Massachusetts. The substantial figure, 38¾" x 27½", retains the original ... (Read More)
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(Show)Peter Mavris’s Three-Hour Antiques Show
Hampton, New Hampshire
The vagaries of weather and COVID-19 notwithstanding, Peter Mavris’s January 15 antiques show in Hampton, New Hampshire, pleased dealers and buyers alike. A couple of dealers were struck down by COVID or the flu and withdrew from the show, but it was a delight for those who did ... (Read More)
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(Auction)$1.9 Million Art and Design Auction
Toomey & Co., Chicago, Illinois
Photos courtesy Toomey & Co.
Within the past decade or so, the Chicago auction house Toomey & Co. has featured a series of art and design auctions, each intended to highlight distinctive examples of period design. By our reckoning, the first officially named art and design sale ... (Read More)
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(Auction)62nd Annual Thanksgiving Americana Auction
Garth’s Auctions, Columbus, Ohio
Photos courtesy Garth’s Auctions
Something interesting came out of the 62nd annual Thanksgiving Americana sale held by Garth’s Auctions in Columbus, Ohio, November 25—something unexpected. And it had nothing to do with any specific item being offered.
The auction was Garth’s first live event since the salesroom floor closed ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Historical Ephemera and Photography
Hindman, Cincinnati, Ohio
Photos courtesy Hindman
“Common Council” reward broadside issued after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the earliest and rarest of the assassination reward broadsides, one of only five recorded copies, issued by Colonel Lafayette C. Baker and including detailed descriptions of John Wilkes Booth and Lewis Payne, who had attempted ... (Read More)
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