Stories for July '15
(Fragment)Badger Portraits Donated to Portsmouth Historical Society
The six portraits were last seen in Portsmouth when Ron Bourgeault and Northeast Auctions sold them at the Sawtelle sale in Portsmouth on August 17, 2014. They sold for $30,000. Pennington photo.
Six folk portraits of the Badger family, likely painted by Jonathan Treadwell, have been donated anonymously to the Portsmouth ... (Read More)
|
(Young Collectors)Guess Who's Not Coming to Dinner?
The Young Collector
For much of western history, the dining room, even remotely as we know it, did not exist. For centuries, virtually all spaces in the homes of common folks, and even to some degree those of “uncommon” folks as well, were multifunctional. Even in the wealthiest of homes, manor ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Private Sale of the Meriwether Lewis Pipe Tomahawk
A presentation pipe tomahawk, originally owned by Captain Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) and possibly carried during the Lewis and Clark Expedition, has been sold privately in a deal handled by Cowan’s Auctions, Cincinnati, Ohio. The identities of the parties were not disclosed nor were the terms. However, company president Wes Cowan ... (Read More)
|
(Issue Story)Misfiled
Editorial
The Boston Public Library—called one of the five most important libraries in America by historian David McCullough—alerted authorities in April that two prints were missing from its extensive collection of more than 200,000 pieces.
Adam and Eve by Albrecht Dürer (German, 1471-1528), 1504, and Self Portrait with Plumed Cap and Lowered ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Stone Book Find
In the April 2015 issue Maine Antique Digest published my article detailing stone books. I just bought a terrific stone book related to the Civil War that might be of additional interest to readers.
Most carved stone books that are believed to have been done by soldiers during the Civil War ... (Read More)
|
(Issue Story)Don Olson, Rochester, New York
Don Olson
Hollow-cut silhouette by the so-called Puffy Sleeve Artist circa 1830. The subject is in a teal-blue dress. “The color of the dress is really electric. It makes it special.” Olson said, adding, “It demands attention. It’s early; it’s color; it’s me.” The brass frame is probably original. Olson had ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)San Francisco Shop Sued over $1.36 Million Worth of Antiques; Shop Countersues
It was a chandelier that started it all.
A lawsuit—moved from California state court into federal court—details a $1.36 million antiques deal. The buyers claim they bought overpriced replicas and imitations. The sellers claim the buyers owe them money and that an ex-employee is trying to extort money from them.
It all ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)The Philadelphia Show Will Return
Yes, there will be a 2016 Philadelphia Antiques Show. Penn Medicine agreed on May 30 to move forward with a 2016 Philadelphia Antiques Show managed by Diana Bittel and Karen and Ralph DiSaia. The 2016 Philadelphia Antiques Show will open with a preview party on Thursday evening, April 14, 2016, ... (Read More)
|
(Auction Law and Ethics)Prepare to Work
Auction Law & Ethics
“Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is the probable reason so few engage in it.” ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)A $100,000 Eagle Finial
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading directly to the recovery of a Napoleonic finial stolen during the famous theft in 1990.
On March 18, 1990, a pair of thieves, dressed as Boston police officers, entered the museum and stole 13 works of ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Dolphin Promotions to Produce New Hillsborough Antiques + Art + Design Show
Dolphin Promotions has been selected to be the new producers of the Hillsborough Antiques + Art + Design Show to be held three times per year at the San Mateo Event Center, San Mateo, California. Formerly known as the Hillsborough Antiques Show, the event will benefit United Veterans Services (UVS). ... (Read More)
|
(Book Review)Books Received, July 2015
These are brief reviews of books recently sent to us. We have included ordering information for publishers that accept mail, phone, or on-line orders. For other publishers, your local bookstore or a mail-order house is the place to look.
100 British Chairs, edited by Adam Bowett (Antique Collectors’ Club, 2015, 144 ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association Awards Scholarship
The annual scholarship of the Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association (CCADA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the public’s knowledge and appreciation of antiques, has been awarded to Kimberly Thompson.
The CCADA provides funds to the Cape Cod Community College Educational Foundation each year to provide a scholarship to one or ... (Read More)
|
(Issue Story)A Negative Archive Deal
The business plan was straightforward: Digitize hundreds of thousands of vintage news and celebrity negatives and slides, try to sell licensing rights, and set up a site on eBay to sell 450-500 prints a week.
Such sales were predicted to generate between $10,000 and $15,000 per week, a pace John M. ... (Read More)
|
(Computer Article)Accessibility
This LED-backlit large-print keyboard is easily read in the shadow on the right side.
Computer Column #319
John P. Reid, [email protected]
Accessibility is important socially and legally in today’s world. Handicapped parking, wheelchair ramps, and an American Sign Language translator at a political speech are familiar sights. Access to computers for everyone ... (Read More)
|
(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 website for ... (Read More)
|
(Issue Story)Letter from London, July 2015
Ian McKay, <[email protected]>
This month’s selection, which I came to realise during the course of my research marks 30 years of these “Letters,” is largely dominated by matters military. Arms and armour associated with Tipu Sultan, the “Tiger of Mysore,” provide the lion, or tiger’s share of the words and pictures, ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Rockwell's Kennedy Portrait to Be Sold on July 30
Norman Rockwell’s Portrait of John F. Kennedy, painted for the April 6, 1963, cover of the Saturday Evening Post,will be auctioned on July 30 at the 15th anniversary gala for the National Museum of American Illustration (NMAI). The auction will be held in the garden at Vernon Court, 492 Bellevue ... (Read More)
|
(Book Review)The Evolution of Washington, D.C.
A Book Review
The Evolution of Washington, D.C.: Historical Selections from the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection at the George Washington University by James M. Goode George Washington University, distributed by Smithsonian Books, 2015, 192 pages, hardbound, $40.
James Goode, historian and curator of the Albert H. Small Washingtoniana Collection, has selected ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Bunch to Sell Raccoon Creek Inventory
Photo courtesy William H. Bunch Auctions & Appraisals.
“Game on,” said Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, auctioneer William Bunch on June 5. Bunch was confirming that his firm, William H. Bunch Auctions & Appraisals, has been tapped to sell at auction the assets of Raccoon Creek Antiques at Oley Forge, Oley, Pennsylvania. Raccoon ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)A Change to California's Resellers Law Approved by State Assembly
On June 1 the California State Assembly unanimously approved AB 1182, a measure to remove some regulatory burdens on secondhand dealers created by existing law. The bill was sponsored by the California Association of Resellers, ReUsers and Buyers (CARRB). The vote was 79-0; there was no opposition.
CARRB chair Allen Michaan ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Winterthur Establishes the Charles F. Montgomery Director
Henry Francis du Pont (left) and Charles F. Montgomery (right), Winterthur Museum’s first director. Image courtesy Winterthur.
On May 29 the Winterthur Museum, Garden, & Library announced it had received a $5 million endowment to fund the Charles F. Montgomery Director of Winterthur, in honor of the institution’s first director (1954-61). According ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Art Dealer Convicted
On May 19, after a three-week trial, a federal jury convicted art dealer and real estate investor Luke D. Brugnara of mail fraud, wire fraud, false declarations to a court, and escape.
Brugnara, 51, of San Francisco, was originally charged with fraud on May 27, 2014. Brugnara had refused to pay ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)New York Man Arrested for Cemetery Desecration
Kristopher K. Komaromi.
Kristopher K. Komaromi, 24, of Coxsackie, New York, was arrested on May 22 and charged with three counts of cemetery desecration in the first degree, a class E felony. According to the New York State Police, during the week of April 27, Komaromi allegedly stole numerous concrete flower ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Sentences Handed Down in Rhino and Ivory Smuggling Case
On May 20 Christopher Hayes, president and owner of the Elite Estate Buyers Inc. auction house in Boynton Beach, Florida, was sentenced in federal court in Florida to 36 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for his role in the illegal wildlife smuggling conspiracy in which ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Benton Brings $1,052,500
Discussion by Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) sold for $1,052,000. Photo courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
When the hammer came down May 20 at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago on Thomas Hart Benton’s 1967 Discussion, the 16" x 20" painting became the tenth Benton painting to sell for over $1 million. The final ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Lincoln Portrait Banner Sets Record at Heritage Auctions
Photo courtesy Heritage Auctions.
A political banner for Abraham Lincoln’s 1864 presidential reelection campaign set a new record when it sold for $106,250 (includes buyer’s premium) during the Heritage Auctions Americana and political auction on May 18 in Dallas, Texas.
Small in size at 9" x 18½", this record-setting flag features the ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Political Memorabilia Worth $120,000 Stolen
Police are still looking for a break in a case involving the theft of political campaign memorabilia, worth about $120,000, taken from a locked ballroom at the Met Troy, in Troy, Michigan. The burglary at the hotel occurred between 11 p.m. on May 8 and 6 a.m. on May 9, ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)ADA Online Show
The Internet has changed the antiques business in many ways. For example, the Antiques Dealers’ Association of America (ADA), founded in 1984 with the object of making the buying and selling of antiques more professional, held its third three-day online show April 28-30. The online shows are designed to enable ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)The Anne and Jeff Miller Sale
This oil on canvas view of St. Joseph’s Academy, Emmitsburg, Maryland, mid- to late 19th century, with buildings including a church in the landscape, was bought at Northeast Auctions by Milly McGehee in 1998 for $27,600. Fifteen years later it sold for slightly less—$26,400 (est. $8000/12,000) to Lititz, Pennsylvania, dealer ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Whitaker's Spring Couture Auction
Christine and Charles Whitaker hold a 19th-century embroidered linen liturgical vestment, probably Greek, which was embroidered with mythical birds, animals, and figures. Estimated at $200/400, it sold for $2040.
A highlight of the sale was a group of 18th-century stomachers and corsets. A stomacher is a decorated triangular panel that fills ... (Read More)
|
(Show)Chester County Historical Society's 33rd Show
Dutch Delft garniture, late 17th century, was $6000 from Mark Allen.
Christopher T. Rebollo Antiques, North Wales, Pennsylvania, offered this Chester County tall chest of drawers, 73" high x 42" wide x 21" deep, with the initials “M.P.” It is walnut with poplar and lightwood inlay, 1780-90, and has an unusual ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)Freeman's Sale Indicates Market Uptick
There was competition on the Internet and on the phone for this circa 1800 Federal inlaid mahogany tall-case clock by Samuel Breneiser, Adamstown and Reading, Pennsylvania. It has a scroll top with inlaid rosettes and brass ball and spire finials, a painted iron face inscribed “Samuel Breneiser, Reading,” moon phases, ... (Read More)
|
(Issue Story)Jewelry at Auction
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Doyle New York, Doyle Beverly Hills, and John Moran Auctioneers
The top lot of the Doyle April 22 sale was this pair of Cartier Art Deco platinum, diamond, and carved emerald and ruby “tutti frutti” pendant ear clips measuring 2 1/8" x 9/16". The pair was ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)A Sale Two Years in the Making
Shultz included three pieces of Soap Hollow furniture in his sale. The best was the 1867 chest of drawers (above right) stenciled “Manufactured by Jeremiah Stahl.” Shultz bought it out of a house in Windber, Pennsylvania, about 25 years ago. In my index, none of the ten signed Stahl chests ... (Read More)
|
(Show)The Bedford Spring Antiques Show
A circa 1900 still life by Émile Godchaux (1860-1938) was available from David Brooker Fine Art, Southport, Connecticut. Brooker said he bought it at an estate sale in Larchmont, New York, and was asking $12,500 for the 45" x 35" oil.
These Chinese watercolors on pith paper of fruits and vegetables, ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)Tall-Case Clock Expands Scholarship in Lower Southern Piedmont
Note the fine reeded panels on this circa 1815 tall-case clock attributed to James Mattison, Anderson County, South Carolina. See article for the full story. Dealer Keith McCurry bought the Mattison clock for $22,800 (est. $4000/6000). It was the top lot of the sale.
Provenance was conspicuously displayed on the face ... (Read More)
|
(Show)The Oglebay Institute's 61st Annual Antiques Show & Sale
Rick Fleshman of Fleshman’s Antiques leans on an Empire tiger and burl maple server featuring its original swirl glass handles. It was priced at $2150.
Langhorne, Pennsylvania, dealer Linda Grier, who offered formal and primitive country items, put this pair of 19th-century settle benches with mortised construction smack in the middle ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)The Lowdown on Highboys
This tiger maple Queen Anne highboy, attributed to New Hampshire furniture and clock case maker David Young, showing Dunlap influence around the carved molding and cornice, sold for $34,500.
This 19th-century trade sign reading “7 MILES TO BACONS / JEWELERY [sic] STORE / 8 CENTRAL ST. / DOVER, N. H.” made ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)Spring Was in the Air for Couture and Vintage Fashions
Bidding opened at $2500 for a Fortuny stenciled velvet gown of a golden ocher silk velvet tabard with Persian pattern gold stenciling. The gown has peach pleated silk sleeves and dress side panels enclosed with Murano glass beads and silk cord loops. In very good condition and labeled “Mariano / ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)Americana, Paintings, and Sporting Art Sold on the Cape
This 1900 Elk Buffalo by New York artist Henry Merwin Shrady (1871-1922) sold for a record price of $276,000. The buffalo stands ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)The Potomack Company Enjoys Solid Spring Sale
This oil on canvas is attributed to the circle of Gaetano Lapis (Italian, 1704-1776). The painting depicts the central encounter in the story of Armida and Rinaldo from the poem by Torquato Tasso (1544-1595). Armida is shown as she approaches the sleeping Rinaldo. Her intent is to kill Rinaldo; instead ... (Read More)
|
(Show)The Bowmanville Antiques & Folk Art Show: Fragments of Living Canadian History
Fairfield Antiques, Kingston, Ontario, offered the folk painting of the Yankee whale fishery for $1800. It dated from the second half of the 19th century (ex-Rod Brook collection). The six-board blanket box hailed from the Niagara Peninsula via the Bill Hogan collection and dated from the second quarter of the ... (Read More)
|
(Show)It Was an Interesting Time
Customers filled the floor on Saturday afternoon. One thing that pleased the dealers was a steadier than usual second-day flow.
This custard glass dresser set with its mustard-colored decoration on white shows a little wear, but for a set from the 1890s, once proudly gracing someone’s boudoir, that is to be ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)Hot Prices for Barkley Hendricks's Cool Portraits and Norman Lewis's Abstractions
Barkley L. Hendricks (b. 1945), Steve, 72" x 48" oil, acrylic, and Magna on canvas, 1976, $365,000.
Boy and Sheep under a Tree by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937) sold within estimates to a collector for $245,000. The 17 3/8" x 27" oil on canvas is signed and dated (“1881”).
Cathedral, Norman Lewis ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)The New York Sale
The “most emblematic of New York’s emblems” is how the auctioneer described Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi’s La Liberté éclairant le monde or Statue of Liberty. This parcel-gilt bronze with a dark green patina, 112 5/8" high, was cast in 2010 as part of an edition of 12 from the plaster in ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)The Sale of Wes and Shelley Cowan's Stereoviews
View of the 1882 lynching of Francisco Tafoya, also known as Navajo Frank, the photo by F. E. Evans of East Las Vegas, New Mexico Territory, imprinted description on reverse, minor spotting to mount, and very faint discoloration from the top edge, $2640. The text noted: “Francisco Tafoya / A Navajo ... (Read More)
|
(Show)The Pier Antique Show
You know what they say about the early bird. Folks were lined up before the 10 a.m. opening, some with empty shopping carts.
This campaign desk made by Kittinger Furniture Co., Buffalo, New York, was available from Harris Art and Mid-Century Antiques, Natick, Massachusetts. It was tagged $2850, and it ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)Old New England Prizes
An 18th-century New England desk-on-frame in maple with tiger maple and chestnut secondary wood, 35½" x 32" x 16", sold on the phone for $7080 (est. $2000/3000). It had been passed down through the Solomon Lincoln family, early settlers of Hingham, Massachusetts, and distant relatives of Abraham Lincoln.
The early 19th-century ... (Read More)
|
(Show)AD20/21: Art & Design of the 20th & 21st Centuries
Left to right: Tony Fusco, coproducer of AD20/21 and Boston Design Week, is pictured with Robert Campbell, recipient of the 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award, Ted Landsmark of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, and Julie Burros, chief of arts and culture for the city of Boston.
As show managers, Tony Fusco and Bob ... (Read More)
|
(Show)Crossroads of America Civil War/Political Show
Punched-paper sampler picturing Abraham Lincoln and the text “Malice toward None” and “Charity for All,” $350 from Tim Saiter of Paris, Illinois.
Confederate carbine by Keen, Walker & Company, one of only five known to exist, $29,000 from Bob Willey of Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Kentucky rifles offered by Mickey and Vicki Kissick ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)Part II of Berry Toy and Bank Collection Sparks Sensory Overload
Bank with a black man kicking a watermelon (a.k.a. “Football Bank”), J. & E. Stevens, patented 1888, Charles Bailey’s penultimate pedestal design, cast iron, ex-Walter Tudor, F.H. Griffith, Leon Perelman, and Stanley Sax collections, Berry II’s top achiever at $270,000.
“Zig Zag Bank,” maker unknown, patented 1889 to Moses Newman and ... (Read More)
|
(Auction)The Wall-Apelt Oriental Art Collection
This approximately 66" tall carved and lacquered wood statue of the Vairocana Buddha led the auction at $379,200. It had sold at Christie’s in New York City in September 2004 for $65,725.
It’s always interesting when an item with an insignificant estimate comes alive and heads out of sight. Here we ... (Read More)
|
(Show)The Chicago Botanic Garden Antiques, Garden & Design Show
I call this the show shuffle. Crowds on Friday morning were so dense that one could view some areas only in a slow-moving single file. Still, spirits were high. Here viewers admire Luncheon on the Terrace by Joseph O’Sickey (1918-2013). The 72" x 84" oil on canvas on the back ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)Artist--and M.A.D. Cartoonist--Wins First Prize in Art Contest
John Stinger of Stewartsville, New Jersey, who contributes cartoons to Maine Antique Digest, was named first-prize winner in the Warren County (New Jersey) Seniors Arts Program contest for his oil painting executed on location in Bucks County. Stinger was awarded top honors in the professional oil painting category. The painting ... (Read More)
|
1 (800) 752-8521 • PO Box 1429 • Waldoboro, ME 04572
