Stories for July '23
(Fragment)Pair Charged for Damaging National Gallery of Art Exhibit
Timothy Martin of North Carolina and Joanna Smith of New York, both 53, were taken into custody on May 26 following an indictment charging conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and injury to a National Gallery of Art exhibit. Both self-surrendered.
According to the indictment, Martin and Smith ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Goldbergers to Sell Personal Collection
On August 8 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Guyette & Deeter will offer Russ and Karen Goldberger’s personal collection of decoys and folk art in a 71-lot separate catalog sale.
The Goldbergers are downsizing. “We’re leaving a large house, where the decoys were displayed prominently, and moving to a much smaller facility ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Meander Auctions Launched
Meander Auctions has been formed by Andrew Richmond and Hollie Davis, replacing their previous show and auction business, The Ohio Company Antiques & Art. The couple should be familiar to readers of Maine Antique Digest through their monthly column, “Beneath the Surface.”
Their business will primarily feature online sales conducted from ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Reading between the Lines
Beneath the Surface
When Hollie was small, with two working parents in a rural community, there were very few convenient childcare options, and when her longtime babysitter said she could not handle another child even on the occasional days off from school, the task fell to her grandfather, a taciturn, weathered ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Ownership for Grogan & Company
On January 1 of this year, Boston auction house Grogan & Company changed ownership, passing from founder Michael Grogan to Georgina Winthrop. “I owned it 100%, and now Georgina owns it 100%,” Grogan said during a Zoom call May 25.
“The wonderful thing about buying a company rather than starting one ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Auction Prices Realized, July 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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(Fragment)Seizures at Rhinebeck Antiques Show
On Saturday, May 27, as part of an investigation targeting the illegal trade of endangered species parts, investigators from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) visited the Barn Star Productions’ Antiques at Rhinebeck show, held at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, New York. At the 126-dealer ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, July 2023
A very rare candlestick, comic cards, and a lot of old cheeses see the letter C figure prominently among the entries in this month’s “Letter”—the oldest of the first-mentioned category being one of only half a dozen examples recorded of a rare pewter stick of considerable age.
A great many words ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Decorative Arts Trust Awards Research Grants
The Decorative Arts Trust has announced that the 2023 Research Grants Trust will be awarded to 15 recipients, the largest number since the program began 20 years ago.
The recipient of the Marie Zimmermann Grant, sponsored by the Marie and John Zimmermann Fund, is Lea C. Stephenson from the University of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Union, Maine, Show Rescheduled
Goosefare Antiques and Promotions is trying to resurrect a longtime staple on the Maine antiques scene, but it’s going to have to wait another year. John and Elizabeth DeSimone of Goosefare have announced they are postponing the new Union Fairgrounds show until 2024. It was originally scheduled for August 4 ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Hanging with Katie Wood Kirchhoff
Katie Wood Kirchhoff confesses to being a “tightly wound individual,” but that trait enables her to bring vim and vigor to a recently endowed curatorship named in honor of Alice Cooney “Nonnie” Frelinghuysen at the Shelburne Museum in northwest Vermont.
Kirchhoff has been at the museum, a 45-acre campus with 39 ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Waving the White Flag
In this issue of M.A.D., we have two stories of seizures of ivory and other wildlife antiques: one in Hawaii and one in New York. Both stories should serve as stern warnings to all in the trade and prompt them to learn the law in their home state and in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Winslow Homer Watercolor Donated
Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has accepted into its collection a Winslow Homer watercolor painting, Waiting for the Boats (1882).
Photo courtesy National Park Service, Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site.
Donated by Frances Appleton Wetherell, great-granddaughter of Henry and Frances Longfellow, the 14" x 21½" painting joins ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions, July 2023
Tiffany Studios Peony table lamp. Photo courtesy Macklowe Gallery, New York City.
—Through June 30 ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Antiques Shop Raided
Antiques Shop Raided
Executing a search warrant, officers from Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration confiscated dozens of items from the Antique Freak shop in Wailuku, Hawaii, on May 23.
Shane Rosberg, 42, of Kula was arrested and charged with 26 counts of prohibited ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Antique Heirloom Jewels Featuring the Shemonsky Collection at Heritage
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Heritage Auctions
Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas, has two “Antique Heirloom Jewels” sales each year—one in the spring and one in the fall. This year’s spring auction, held May 18, was special because it contained a large group of jewelry from the collection of Peter Shemonsky. Jill ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Philadelphia Show 2023
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The 61st Philadelphia Show camped out in a tent on the East Terrace of the Philadelphia Museum of Art for the second year, April 27-30, with 42 dealers offering mostly American paintings, furniture, folk art, silver, flags, jewelry, and 20th- and 21st-century design.
Most of the glitches from last year ... (Read More)
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(Show)New Show Enthusiastically Received
Mid-Atlantic Antiques Festival, Poolesville, Maryland
There’s a new show in town. More precisely, there is a new show in the Mid-Atlantic. The second edition of the Mid-Atlantic Antiques Festival was held April 29 and 30 at Aix La Chapelle Farm, outside of Poolesville, Maryland. Aix La Chapelle is a working farm ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Wolf Family Collection: “Luxury Handbags: Vintage Icons”
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
As Erving and Joyce “Joy” Wolf found a better piece, they would move an early purchase from the great room to a bedroom. For example, the circa 1770 Newport desk-and-bookcase bought by Israel Sack for the Wolfs at Sotheby Parke Bernet February 1, 1975, for ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Wolf Family Collection: “America without Reserve”
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
“America without Reserve,” part of Sotheby’s sale of the collection of Erving and Joyce “Joy” Wolf, was for treasure seekers who hoped to find an undercataloged lot and get a bargain. They had fierce competition for some lots at this unreserved online sale held without ... (Read More)
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(Show)Early Country Antiques and Primitive Goods
Simple Goods, Berlin, Ohio
Simple Goods, which describes itself as an “Early Country Antiques & Primitive Goods Show,” held its spring edition April 22 near Berlin, Ohio. Specializing in country antiques with a handful of high-quality contemporary handmade items, the show featured 52 dealers in 50 booths. That’s normal. “We can’t ... (Read More)
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(Show)Going Back to Earlier Times
Earlier Times Antiques & Folk Art Show, Millersburg, Ohio
The semiannual Earlier Times Antiques & Folk Art Show held its spring edition April 21 and 22 in Millersburg, Ohio. The event featured 44 dealers in 42 booths. “That’s up a little bit, which is a good thing,” said promoter Cheryl ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Wolf Family Collection: “Building America”
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
“Building America,” the Friday, April 21, afternoon sale of the collection of Erving and Joyce “Joy” Wolf at Sotheby’s in New York City, offered Americana, silver, needlework, furniture, and paintings. Some furniture, sculpture, and paintings sold above estimates, much of it to the trade, and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Wolf Family Collection: “Cross-Currents in America”
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s “Cross-Currents in America” sale April 21 in New York City dispersed most of Erving and Joyce “Joy” Wolf’s Chinese porcelain. Much of it went to Chinese buyers on the phone or online, and all but two lots sold. The 149 lots of the 151 ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Americana and British Ceramics at Auction
New England Auctions, Branford, Connecticut
Photos courtesy New England Auctions
The Americana collection of Jeannine K. Dobbs and the estate of Jonathan Shaw Rickard came up for auction April 20 at Fred Giampietro’s New England Auctions, formerly New Haven Auctions, in Branford, Connecticut. The sale ran to 445 lots, 261 from the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Wolf Family Collection: “Forging America”
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
In just three days at Sotheby’s sales of the collections of Erving and Joyce “Joy” Wolf, the market absorbed more than 100 pieces of American sculpture spanning more than 100 years, beginning in the Neoclassical period and continuing into the Beaux Arts tradition at the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Wolf Family Collection: “Glorious America”
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
The April 20 sale titled “Glorious America” that started at 4 p.m. at Sotheby’s in New York City offered 54 lots of mostly paintings and sculpture from the collection of Erving and Joyce “Joy” Wolf. All but two lots sold, a 96.3% sell-through rate, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Wolf Family Collection: “Modern America”
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Erving and Joy Wolf’s son Daniel was responsible for their interest in photography and in furniture and lighting designed by Greene & Greene and Frank Lloyd Wright. As passionate a collector as his parents, Daniel Wolf died of a heart attack in January 2021 at ... (Read More)
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(Auction) The Wolf Family Collection: “Exceptional Jewels”
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
“Exceptional Jewels,” the 10 a.m. auction on April 20 at Sotheby’s in New York City of jewelry from the collection of Erving and Joyce “Joy” Wolf, added $8,042,656 to Sotheby’s Wolf sales total. The auction brought the most of any of the live daytime ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Wolf Family Collection: “The Spirit of America”
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s called the collections that filled the sumptuous Fifth Avenue apartment in New York City of Erving Wolf (1926-2018) and his wife, Joyce “Joy” (1927-2022), “the most important collection of American paintings, sculpture, furniture, and design of this generation.” They offered the Wolfs’ collection April ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Spring Splendor
Marion Antique Auctions, Marion, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Marion Antique Auctions
“Spring Splendor” it was. Marion Antique Auctions, Marion, Massachusetts, often gives its sales a name. The April 15 auction was a respite from winter in New England, and bidders showed up to bid—as did online and telephone buyers.
The auction began with paintings, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Furniture, Folk Art, and Decorative Arts
Hindman, Cincinnati, Ohio
Photos courtesy Hindman
A pair of “sweetheart” sand bottles by deaf and mute artist Andrew Clemens (1857-1894) sold for $151,200 (including buyer’s premium) against an estimate of $60,000/80,000 to highlight the American furniture, folk art, and decorative arts auction held by Hindman in Cincinnati, Ohio, March 30.
Pair of Andrew ... (Read More)
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(Auction)From Pottery Country, Pots of All Sorts
Cagle Auction Company, Bogart, Georgia
Photos courtesy Cagle Auction Company
Cagle Auction Company, Bogart, Georgia, located in the northeast part of the state, has routinely offered examples from the most elusive and sought-after southern pottery makers for 20 years, including works from Edgefield, South Carolina; Crawford County, Georgia; the Meaders family; W. ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Bertoia Sale Tops $1.8 Million
Bertoia Auctions, Vineland, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Bertoia Auctions
It was playtime at Bertoia Auctions’ annual spring sale, held March 24 and 25 in Vineland, New Jersey. Two days of childhood memories crossed the auction block, and would-be buyers tried their best to add to their stash.
Friday, March 24, featured property from ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Blessing Collection, Part Two
Woody Auction, Douglass, Kansas
Photos courtesy Woody Auction
Ron Blessing (1949-2022) was a longtime collector of American 19th-century furniture and Victorian silver plate. Later he added Art Nouveau glass and lamps. The star lot of the second sale of Blessing’s collection at Woody Auction in Douglass, Kansas, March 18 was his Louis ... (Read More)
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(Show)Jenkins Expands Offerings at the Fairgrounds
The Nashville Show, Nashville, Tennessee
After the February 16-18 Nashville Show, manager Jon Jenkins took time to analyze the event’s developments and discuss what the public can look forward to next year.
Anyone familiar with the antiques business knows there are two sorts of characters involved. There are those positive collectors and ... (Read More)
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(Show)Heart of Tennessee Makes the Collecting Heart Beat Faster
Heart of Tennessee Antique Show, Lebanon, Tennessee
With antiques ranging from classically formal to primitive country, the annual Heart of Tennessee Antique Show, held this year February 16-18, is an elegant showcase for around 40 exhibitors.
The Farm Bureau Expo in Lebanon, east of Nashville, is a large state-of-the-art building with easy ... (Read More)
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(Show)Fiddlers Kicks Off the Festivities at the Fairgrounds
Fiddlers Antiques Show, Nashville, Tennessee
The Fiddlers Antiques Show will always be fondly remembered as the show where collectors popped in and out of rooms at an old motel. But the current show, under the management of Kay and Bill Puchstein, features a roster of around 60 exhibitors who happily spread ... (Read More)
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