(Fragment)
On July 13 a Birmingham, Michigan, art dealer agreed to plead guilty to defrauding more than ten customers who had entrusted her with the sale of their art, worth over $1.5 million, according to United States Attorney Dawn N. Ison.
Wendy Halstead Beard, 58, pleaded guilty to one count of wire ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)
The most unusual item in the September 13 sale at Nye & Co., Bloomfield, New Jersey, was a Grand Harmonicon labeled by Francis Hopkinson Smith of Baltimore. It sold for $10,625 (includes buyer’s premium), well above the $3000/5000 estimate.
Smith (1792-1872) was living in Eastville, Northampton County, Virginia, in 1825 when ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)
Old World Auctions, Henrico, Virginia
Photos courtesy Old World Auctions
The high lot of the sale was this 1718 map of Louisiana and the Mississippi Valley. As with most of the early maps, there are some inaccuracies; however, the significance of this map is that it displays the first known reference to ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)
On July 17 London’s Maddox Fine Art Ltd. filed a suit in federal court in Florida claiming it had been duped into buying a $650,000 Keith Haring painting the gallery alleges is fake. The gallery says Ghada Dergham of Tequesta, Florida, has refused to issue a refund.
Dergham, a “well-known private ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Hindman Auctions
Ruth Thuston, G.G., senior specialist of jewelry and watches at Hindman, Chicago, Illinois, spoke with me after Hindman’s September 12 “Important Jewelry” sale, which featured a plethora of antique pieces from named and unnamed collections. “There was a Miami collection, and there was a ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)
When an unprecedented storm inundated the state of Vermont July 10, the village of Weston and many other communities suffered extreme damage. The Weston Playhouse, the main stage for the Weston Theater Company and home to the Weston Antiques Show, was badly hit. In spite of shutters, windows were breached, ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)
Leland Little Auctions, Hillsborough, North Carolina
Photos courtesy Leland Little Auctions
Before his 275-lot fall “Signature” auction September 9, Leland Little reflected on the future of the antiques auction business. “I’m looking forward, not back,” he said. “The best is yet to come as baby boomers begin to downsize.” Most of that ... (Read More)
|
(Issue Story)
An outrageously overloaded American penknife and an aged, indeed historic, tennis racquet are among the more unusual artefacts featured in this month’s “Letter,” along with a curious wooden fish—though more traditional fare also finds a place.
That racquet was offered in a sports memorabilia auction in June that also included a ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)
The video of art dealer Collier Gwin of San Francisco, California, spraying a homeless woman with a garden hose on January 9 went viral on the Internet, and charges soon followed. Gwin, an art gallery owner and 42-year resident of San Francisco, was charged with misdemeanor battery.
On July 10 a ... (Read More)
|
(Issue Story)
Beneath the Surface
In 2016, not long after Andrew hung out his shingle as an independent appraiser, a college friend reached out to see if he could help her father with his coin collection. Her dad was aging (as parents tend to do) and wanted to make a plan for his ... (Read More)
|