Stories for January '15
(Issue Story)Americana Week in New York City 2015
Download printable Americana Week 2015 Calendar of Events (pdf)
Crouch-Jordan-Bacon family mahogany scalloped- and tilt-top tea table, Philadelphia, 29" high x 37 3/8" in diameter, with rococo carving on its shaft and knees, to be offered January 31 at noon at Keno Auctions. The estimate is $800,000/1.2 million.
Spending Americana Week in ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions
Maine Antique Digest includes, as space permits, brief announcements of exhibitions planned by galleries, museums, or other venues. We need all press materials at least six weeks in advance of opening. We need to know the hours and dates of the exhibit, admission charges, and phone number and Web site ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Flamingo Eventz Assumes Management of Poster Fairs and Changes Location for New York City Show
Flamingo Eventz, LLC, a show management company based in Rochester, New Hampshire, has assumed management of the New York, Chicago, and San Francisco International Vintage Poster Fairs, previously managed by David Pollack and Gail Chisholm.
“There will be no disruptions in operation of the shows as a result of this arrangement,” ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
Many of our book reviews are shorter than usual this month to allow us to squeeze in as many books as possible. Whether you’re looking for last-minute gifts or just some good reading for yourself, you’ll find many interesting choices below. We have included ordering information for publishers that accept ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Atlantic City Antiques Show Announces New Dates, Location
The 2015 Spring Atlantic City Antiques Show, produced by JMK Shows, will return to the Atlantic City Convention Center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with new dates: Saturday and Sunday, April 11 and 12. The show originally had been scheduled for March 21 and 22 at the Trump Taj Mahal, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)When Couples Collect—A Most Interesting Dance
It’s time someone takes a look at the issues that pop up when partners collect. Maybe new collectors and experienced collectors will feel less idiosyncratic, less silly, and more as if “we are not the only ones,” and perhaps gain a useful idea or two.
Most of what I have read ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Orleans Auction Galleries on the Move in the New Year
In 1991, a new auction house opened at the corner of Magazine and Julia Streets in New Orleans with Jean Vidos as president and a crew of veterans from the antiques trade. After the firm fell into bankruptcy in 2011, Houston businesswoman Susan Krohn purchased the New Orleans Auction Galleries ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Barn Star to Mount New Show in Rhinebeck
When the Rhinebeck Antiques Fair was canceled in October 2014, there was an opportunity to revive a long-running show. At least three show promoters were interested in taking the show’s dates—Memorial Day weekend and Columbus Day weekend—at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds in Rhinebeck, New York.
The Dutchess County Agricultural Society’s board ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, January 2015
Letter from London
Ian McKay, <[email protected]>
Yet again I have been defeated in my attempts to find something appropriate and Christmassy to illustrate and describe in this last “Letter” of the old year, so all I can do here is wish M.A.D. readers, one and all, a Happy Christmas and a Good ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)CCADA Awards Cultural Enrichment Fund Grants
The Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association (CCADA) has awarded its annual Cultural Enrichment Fund grants. Through the Cultural Enrichment Fund, CCADA seeks to promote a better understanding of the Cape’s history and heritage by providing support to nonprofit organizations for special projects that help educate the public and preserve the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Dealer Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Is Barred from Selling Submarine
John Re, 54, of East Hampton, New York, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on December 1, 2014, in federal court. He was accused of a nine-year scheme to defraud art collectors who sought to acquire works by Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, resulting in approximately $2.5 ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Bruce Gimelson, Garrison, New York
Bruce Gimelson with a blow-up of one of his favorite snapshots. It shows him at five years old with his father. Young Bruce is holding a Lionel train car (mint-in-box). He said he was running down the hill to trade it to another kid for four baseball cards. His father ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)The British Invasion
Editorial
The British are coming—and they want young dealers.
A group calling itself Antiques Young Guns U.K. was founded in 2011 by three veterans of the trade: Gail McLeod of Antiques News & Fairs, George Johnson of Lady Kentmores, and TV presenter and author Mark Hill. The group’s goal is to foster ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Aspen Gallery Accused of Underpaying Consignor
Aspen Art Gallery, Inc. and its owner, Damian Guillot, are being sued in Pitkin County District Court in Colorado, accused of underpaying a consignor. Denver-based artist Nada Mirat, professionally known as Nadaleena Mirat Brettman, filed the suit in November 2014, charging civil theft, breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)St. Monica Society Antique Show Celebrates 50 Years
In these days of disappearing and contracting antiques shows, the St. Monica Society Antique Show has persevered. The show held in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin, is run entirely by volunteers and will celebrate its 50th anniversary this year.
Traditionally held on Valentine’s Day weekend, the show this year will be held on ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Less Frustrating Computing
A search for computer files containing the text “tinkerware.”
Computer Column #313
John P. Reid, [email protected]
The last few columns have dealt with heavy topics like moving all our software to the Internet or editing Web pages from a tablet. This month we will suggest little steps that make computers less frustrating.
Search Tools
We ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)Black Friday Blues
The Young Collector
Maybe it’s just the holidays combined with the rush of birthdays (both our kids have birthdays later in the year), but we are currently working on a theory about why younger people don’t want old stuff. It’s because they don’t want any stuff.
We can understand how you’d think ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The Amicable Split-up of The Philadelphia Print Shop
For over three decades, Donald H. Cresswell and Christopher W. Lane have been partners in The Philadelphia Print Shop, founded by the two in 1982. On December 31, 2014, they will be partners no more.
“We found having two shops in two states was not practical,” said Don Creswell at The ... (Read More)
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(Auction Law and Ethics)Prepare to Decide
Auction Law & Ethics
When I went to law school, my goal was to become a trial lawyer. I wanted to do what I saw the lawyers on television and in the movies do. Things like cross-examine witnesses, make objections, and argue before juries. It seemed so exciting and was in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Tricorn Hat and Hatbox Returned
The simple tricorn hatbox with a tricorn hat inside that sold to a phone bidder at Pook & Pook for $22,800 (est. $500/1000) on October 4, 2014, has been returned to the auction house.
“The box turned out to be made of red pine and therefore English; the hat inside is ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Old Pawnbroker/Secondhand Dealer Laws Can Still Bite
For almost three decades, we have been reporting on the increasingly popular practice by municipal and legislative entities of bundling the sellers of collectibles and antiques with pawnbrokers and junk dealers for licensing purposes and as a source of revenue. The predilection of the latter groups, whether real or mythical, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Stained-Glass Windows Lead to Court Fight
It can be a dealer’s worst nightmare—making a five-figure purchase for stock that turns out to be stolen. The nightmare has turned to reality for a Minnesota dealer. He has been arrested and jailed twice, been charged with a crime, spent $60,000 in legal bills, and is knee-deep in a ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)The Musselmans of Murrell: Pioneer Dealers in Pennsylvania German and Early American Antiques
Clayton (1880-1939) and Ada (1885-1946) Musselman on the side porch of their home in 1909.
Clayton Musselman and Ada Musselman and their ten-year-old son, David, are shown standing next to their new Ford Model T truck. According to Spohn’s research, the Musselmans bought the pine hanging cupboard with rattail hinges in ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Richard Scaife American Art Collection Divvied Up
Christmas came early to two Pennsylvania museums. On December 3, 2014, the Brandywine River Museum of Art in Chadds Ford and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg announced that they had begun the process of dividing up the art collection of Richard Mellon Scaife, an heir to the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Auction Record for Movie Poster: $478,000
$478,000. Photo courtesy Heritage Auctions.
The only known copy of the United States release one-sheet from the 1927 lost cinema classic London After Midnight (MGM) sold for $478,000 (includes buyer’s premium) in Heritage Auctions’ November 22, 2014, vintage movie posters auction in Dallas. That price establishes a new record for a ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)E. Howard & Company Wall-Hanging No. 47 Astronomical Regulator Brings $356,950
This clock sold for $356,950. Photo courtesy Fontaine’s Auction Gallery.
One of three known E. Howard & Company No. 47 wall-hanging astronomical regulator clocks sold for $356,950 (includes buyer’s premium) at a clock and watch auction held November 22 and 23, 2014, by Fontaine’s Auction Gallery in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. It was ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Delaware Antiques Show of 2014
The paint-grained corner cupboard was $35,000; the large basket on top, $850. The Dexter horse weathervane by Cushing and White, $19,000, stands on a Shaker bench, $1450. Above is a sign from a Chatham, New York, tavern, “T. Hoag’s Stage House,” with the state seal of New York. It was ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Greater York Antiques Show
Kelly Kinzle of New Oxford, Pennsylvania, had a big stand up front on the left of the show entrance with a Centennial quilt made of nine printed bandannas on the outside wall ($7500).
Cheryl Mackley of Red Lion, Pennsylvania, sold the two baskets at top and the sampler. The small ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Iron, Bone, and Americana
Nine phone bidders chased three unsigned paintings by Thomas Chambers (1808-1869). The 18" x 24" oil on canvas view of New York harbor (shown) with Castle Williams on one side and Staten Island on the other brought $25,830. Castles of the Mind, 22" x 30", from 1845-60 is an exotic ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Wilton Fall Antiques Market
These carved boxes with bears from Quimby’s Chocolate Company of California were available from Marc Witus of Gladstone, New Jersey. The brown bear was $1850, and the white one, $2450. The Victorian still life on the wall was $1250.
A 19th-century bench with a broad walnut seat and pine back was ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Important Virginia Stoneware Crock with Horses Trots to $92,000
This 13½" high two-gallon stoneware jug, stamped “Cowden & Wilcox” of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, set a new auction record for Pennsylvania stoneware, selling for $97,750 (est. $20,000/30,000). It was bought by a private Pennsylvania collector. “There were a lot of people interested. I believe above fifty,” said Tony Zipp following the ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 40th Annual Fall Fox Valley Antiques Show and Sale
Verdigris Antiques, Evanston, Illinois, brought a selection of late 19th-century tinsel reverse-painted art. The large ship was $750. The others were $650. Seller Jerry Greenblatt told us the art was an approved pastime for young ladies of the era.
The riveting three-masted ship in a hand-carved wooden case came with new ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Arts and Crafts to Modern Masters
Two phone bidders wanted this drop-front rotating desk by Charles Rohlfs (1853-1936) of Buffalo, New York, circa 1898, early in Rohlfs’s career. There are similar desks in a number of museums and private collections. The unmarked 56¼" x 25¼" x 24" desk sold for $255,750 (est. $45,000/65,000). The price may ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Children and Animals Are Seen and Heard
This ink on paper poem was painted by noted calligraphic artist Qi Gong (Chinese, 1912- 2005). It is his rendering of a poem that was originally from the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The 40" x 13" painting is mounted as a hanging scroll. The poem sold to a telephone bidder for ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Allen Victoriana Collection
All 770 clocks from the Greensboro (North Carolina) Clock Museum were sold at auction in the 1980s. This black onyx clock may have been one of them. A note from the museum stated that the clock was made circa 1855 and displayed the figure of Jean Racine, a royal historiographer ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Haughtons' International Fine Art & Antiques Show
The booth of Imperial Fine Books, New York City, beckoned showgoers to enter.
Douglas Dawson Gallery, Chicago, brought fresh stock and sold. Seen here is a collection of 20th-century Nigerian glass bead and cloth caps, coronet, crown, and footstool, ranging in price from $3800 to $12,500. Sales included a New Mexico ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Pook & Pook’s On-line Country Sale
Five tin, iron, and wood coffee grinders, 19th century, the tallest 10", sold for $400 (est. $150/200).
Primitive wood dulcimer, 19th century, 30½" long, sold for $492 (est. $50/100).
A large group of copper cookware, including two roasting pans and five saucepans with lids, sold for $861, the top price in ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts
The monumental English carved oak tall-case clock standing almost 11' high was consigned by a corporate collection. It has a rich provenance and even louder strike, and it was the sale’s top lot at $110,500.
Decorative arts director Corbin Horn told us that presale interest was high on the 19th-century ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Gruppé Groupies Head for Farrin’s
A 9" x 12" oil on canvas of three fishermen on a rocky ocean coast was titled on the back Bass Rock Fishermen and signed lower right “Chas. P. Gruppe.” Charles Paul Gruppé (1860-1940) was progenitor of the artistic Gruppé clan that included his sons Emile, Karl, and Paulo and ... (Read More)
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(Show)Strong Sales at a Wet Fishersville
Garland Grimm commented that since his signs were meant to hang outside, the rain was not a problem for his inventory. The Fishersville, Virginia, dealer offered this array of signs at his infield booth. The Studebaker Erskine sign is perhaps the most scarce. Studebaker manufactured the Erskine for only four ... (Read More)
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(Auction)African-American Art Sale Features Richard A. Long's Collection
Elizabeth Catlett’s Singing Head of circa 1977 is carved tropical wood with painted details. It is 16¼" x 8" x 7½" and sold for $125,000 (est. $120,000/ 180,000).
An institution paid $57,500 for Vernon by William E. Artis (1914-1977). The 1946-50 terra-cotta sculpture is 22" tall, including its base. It is ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Guns Fire Off at Julia’s for $19.3 Million
Like numerous other lots in the auction, this cased Mannlicher pistol, serial number 231, purported to have belonged to Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, had to be sold while waltzing carefully around the murky new ivory laws. The unremoveable and intricate ivory inlays meant that it could be sold, but the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Millersburg Glass Association Auction
This rare purple pitcher in the Multi-Fruits and Flowers pattern sold for $11,500, despite having damage on the handle.
There are perhaps ten tankards known in the Morning Glory pattern. This example in marigold sold for $17,000.
This purple giant rose bowl in the Hobstar and Feather pattern brought $4100.
These marigold Hobstar ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 63rd Fall Wisconsin Antiques Dealers Show
Seller Gloria Lyon of Lyn’s Antiques, Eagle River, Wisconsin, was a farm girl, so she pointed out components of the charming 1920s carved toy wooden vehicles found in Northwoods Wisconsin. The $325 brewery wagon at rear with four horses has barrels plus a man standing on the back. The $175 ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Paintings, Furniture, and Decorative Arts
Joseph Whiting Stock (1815-1855) portraits of Mary Wilcox and her younger brother Francis (who died in 1844 at ages four years and two months and two years and four months), 25" x 20¼" and 25" x 20 1/8", sold for $46,875 (est. $25,000/45,000) to the American Folk Art Museum.2
Phone bidding ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Planes and the Plain-speaking American
This No. 1 Stanley smooth plane, with spring-lever cap, rosewood open handle, and cast rib in front of the throat is in immaculate condition. “Bailey” on the box refers to Leonard Bailey, who in 1855 had invented and patented the definitive method of securing and adjusting the cutter. When the ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Indy Antique Advertising Show
Battery-operated Fred Flintstone on Dino by Marx, with the original box, $650 from Darryl McKinney of Monroe, Ohio, who promotes the Cincinnati Antique Toy and Advertising Show.
Mechanical store display, “Look for Mazda GE on the Bulb,” depicting a woman whose arm moved to point at a light that turned on ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Iconic Names Generate Strong Bids
The 1964 offset lithograph Liz by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is a very well-known image, but Davis was not sure which edition it was. Signed in pen and having some minor handling creases, the 21 5/8" x 22" image (22 1/8" x 22¼" sheet) must have been from a desirable edition. ... (Read More)
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(Show)The New York Art, Antique, and Jewelry Show
Banners outside the Park Avenue Armory announced the show. The new owners, the Palm Beach Show Group, blanketed Manhattan with advertisements, banners, and tickets.
This stretch Lincoln was available to shuttle showgoers between the armory and the Asia Art Fair at the Bohemian National Hall farther uptown.
John Atzbach Antiques, Redmond, Washington, ... (Read More)
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(Show)Rustic Antiques in New York
Dealers Jon Magoun of South Paris, Maine, and Bob Ross of Florence, Massachusetts, with Magoun’s dome-topped trunk, which sold for $1250.
Bob Ross had this Old Town canoe with sail priced at $3800.
John Provo Rustic Antiques, Plymouth, Minnesota, had Old Hickory table lamps priced at $795 a pair. Adirondack ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Cache of Harry Allen Davis Artworks Sold
Harry Davis is shown in front of his painting Harvest Dinner, which won the Rome Prize. The work is now in a private collection. The photo is from 1939.
The Nisbit-Koch House, Evansville by Harry Davis, acrylic on canvas, 40" x 46", signed, dated ’75, $6720. The back had a tag ... (Read More)
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