Stories for February '16
(Feature)Solid Sales at Rago and Skinner
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Rago Arts and Skinner, Inc.
A great deal of anticipation preceded Rago Arts’ December 6, 2015, jewelry sale in Lambertville, New Jersey, where bidders vied for Dora Jane Janson’s coveted collection of Art Deco and Art Nouveau jewelry, which realized a total of $579,063 (with buyers’ ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The "American Eagle" by James Bard: A Closer Look
A painting signed by Antonio Jacobsen or Fred Pansing of a named ship is a ship’s portrait. Simple as that? Well, not really. No, it’s more. Like the title of an essay—or a short story—it is filled with the details that abide behind the name, details about the builder, the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Los Angeles Art Dealer Sentenced to Federal Prison
A Los Angeles art dealer has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for conspiring to smuggle looted archaeological resources into the United States and then using those antiquities as the basis of a charitable donation tax fraud scheme involving local museums.
Jonathan M. Markell, 70, a resident of the ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)Movin' On Up
The Young Collector
Over the years this space has served not only to document our lives in and our view of the antiques trade but by necessity, to a degree, our personal lives as well. (At Cowan’s we used to joke about having T-shirts made that read, “The auction business is ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Winterthur Closed for Season but Much of the Collection Now Available Online
The Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, Winterthur, Delaware, closed for the season on January 4 and will reopen to the public on March 1 with a new lineup of exhibitions and programs.
The institution has announced that it has reached a significant milestone: 60,000 objects in the collection have been cataloged ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Good Fellows: The Walpole Society
Part IV of V
Photos courtesy the Walpole Society
“Outsiders are often unclear as to what the Walpole Society actually does. [Member Robert Lincoln McNeil Jr.’s daughter] Vickie recalls as a child telling her grade school class that her father was going to spend time with the Tadpole Society!” The Walpole Society ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Westchester Glass Club Show Offers Free Admission
The Westchester Glass Club’s 40th annual Collectors Show and Sale will be held on April 9 and 10 at the Greenwich Civic Center in Old Greenwich, Connecticut. To celebrate the 40th anniversary and to attract new dealers and new buyers to the show, the Westchester Glass Club will offer free ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Four Useful Apps
Computer Column #326
John P. Reid, [email protected]
Most antiquers use both desktop and mobile computers these days. Here are four useful mobile apps available for both Apple iOS and Android devices. Most integrate well with desktop Windows, Macintosh, and Chromebook partner software or allow desktop access using any web browser. Except the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)A $665,000 Imperial Snuffbox at the Center of a Lawsuit
Two Maine residents with lineage to a famed Bulgarian diplomat are among the plaintiffs suing Christie’s over the sale of a jeweled and enameled two-color gold snuffbox. The 3¼" wide snuffbox, marked by Karl Hahn, was sold on May 20, 2015, in New York City for $665,000 (includes buyer’s premium), ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Shrubsole Researches Tea Table Used by George Washington
When Tim Martin, president of S. J. Shrubsole, walked into Doyle New York in early October 2015 to preview some silver, he had no idea he’d be the next owner of a tea table used by General George Washington at his headquarters in Newburgh, New York, during 1782 and 1783.
One ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Annual Tolland Show Celebrates Golden Anniversary and Changes Month
The annual antiques show in Tolland, Connecticut, a benefit for the Tolland Historical Society, is moving from February—the month it has been held in for the last 24 years—to April. According to Kathy Bach of the historical society, “This is our fiftieth golden anniversary show, so it’s going to be ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)California Dealer Sentenced for Illegal Sale of Black Rhinoceros Horns
Art dealer Lumsden W. Quan, 47, of San Francisco, California, was sentenced on December 16, 2015, in federal court in Las Vegas, Nevada, to one year and two days in prison for conspiracy to violate the Lacey and Endangered Species Acts and to a violation of the Lacey Act for ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Collector Sues over Native American Art Purchases
On December 7, 2015, Dr. Reuben Setliff of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, filed suit against Larry Belitz in county court in Fall River County, South Dakota. The case stems from Setliff’s purchase of more than $600,000 worth of Native American artifacts and antiquities from Belitz.
According to the suit, Setliff, a ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)David Weiss Antiques, Mill River, Massachusetts
In the Trade
Part-time dealers have always been a significant force in the antiques trade. Individually, they may not sell a lot, but, as a group, they account for a substantial share of the market. At your average antiques show or local weekly auction, it’s a safe bet that a lot ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Map Believed Stolen from the Boston Public Library Found in New York City and Returned
On December 4, 2015, the Boston Public Library (BPL) announced that a map believed to have been stolen from the library more than a decade ago has been located and returned.
The map, Carte Geographique de Nouvelle France, compiled in 1612 by explorer Samuel de Champlain, was found for sale with ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Advances in Wood Identification and Thereby Attributions
Philip Zimmerman’s recent workshop “Strategies for Recognizing American vs. English Furniture,” under the auspices of the Appraisers Association of America, afforded this wooden objects and furniture conservator an opportunity to comment on an icon of American decorative arts: the 17th-century Elder Brewster chair, owned by Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Appraisal Organizations Join Forces
Three major personal property appraisal organizations have announced an initiative to educate the public regarding meaningful qualification standards for appraisers. The Appraisers Association of America (AAA), the American Society of Appraisers (ASA), and the International Society of Appraisers (ISA) support the effort as a needed step to improving overall appraiser ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Show in Cedar Grove, New Jersey
Show manager Debbie Turi has announced that a new antiques show, the Spring Antiques Expo, will be held March 19 and 20 at the Meadowbrook in Cedar Grove, New Jersey.
“The old Meadowbrook will house a stylish and intimate show of just 40 dealers. An old venue, once known for its ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Masonic and Odd Fellows Folk Art
Mystery and Benevolence: Masonic and Odd Fellows Folk Art from the Kendra and Allan Daniel Collection at the American Folk Art Museum at 2 Lincoln Square (Columbus Avenue between 65th and 66th Streets), New York City, January 21 through May 8, documents the rich artistic heritage of objects related to ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, February 2016
Ian McKay, [email protected]
A very familiar Constable painting, The Lock, heads the pictorial content of this month’s “Letter” and is joined in that category by Dürer’s magnificent woodcuts of a rhinoceros and a lion, Sir John Lavery having a Japanese moment in the Swiss mountains, and a golfing icon that has ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Spring Antique Spectacular to Open One Hour Earlier
The annual Spring Antique Spectacular, to be held March 4-6 at the QCCA Expo Center in Rock Island, Illinois, will open one hour earlier for two days of the three-day show. The new hours will be Friday, March 4, 4 to 9 p.m.; Saturday, March 5, 10 a.m. to 6 ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Major Changes for Cape Cod Glass Show
The 29th annual Cape Cod Glass Show will feature a new sponsor, a new location, and new dates. The show’s co-managers—James and Betsy Hewlett Lessig—will remain the same. They have been at the helm for the past four years and have exhibited at every show since its inception.
The show will ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)CCADA Announces Cultural Enrichment Grants
The Cape Cod Antique Dealers Association (CCADA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing the public’s knowledge and appreciation of antiques, has announced the 2015 winners of its Cultural Enrichment Grants.
Through its Cultural Enrichment Grant Fund, the CCADA seeks to promote a better understanding of Cape Cod’s history and heritage by ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Print Conservation Grant Program
The American Historical Print Collectors Society (AHPCS) encourages accredited nonprofit institutions with significant print collections to apply for conservation grants for the preservation of American historical prints. An American historical print is defined as an American print over 100 years old. Applicants must be members of the AHPCS.
This program is ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions, February 2016
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)
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(Issue Story)Sotheby's $50 Million Gutsy Gambit
Editorial
In early January, Sotheby’s announced it had acquired Art Agency, Partners, a two-year-old art advisory firm managed by Allan Schwartzman, Amy Cappellazzo, and Adam Chinn, for an eye-popping $50 million. (The price could rise to $85 million if certain performance criteria are met.) The announcement came about two weeks after ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Park Avenue Armory Is a "No-Show"
A “no-show” disappoints. A “no-show” is expected but does not appear. A “no-show” inexplicably fails to keep an appointment. A “no-show” shirks duty. The Park Avenue Armory is a “no-show” in the minds of the Palm Beach Show Group, promoters of antiques shows in five American cities.
According to a Page ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Erie County, New York, Secondhand Dealers Law Exempts Antiques
On December 17, 2015, the Erie County (New York) Legislature unanimously approved a local law regulating pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers, but a provision in the law exempts antiques dealers under several conditions.
The law will make it unlawful for establishments to purchase any articles, jewelry, or precious metals from any person ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Louisiana Purchase Auction Caps the Year with a Flourish
Neal Auction Company, New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans has been a magnet for artists and artisans since the 18th century. All that creativity adds up, and the beautiful results—paintings, furniture, silver, and decorative arts—are exactly the sort of material that the Neal Auction Company seeks out for its fall events. The ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Last Harry B. Hartman Sale
Conestoga Auction Company, Manheim, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Conestoga Auction Company
The Conestoga Auction Company, a division of the Hess Auction Group, sold the last of Harry Hartman’s worldly goods on November 20 and 21, 2015, in Manheim, Pennsylvania. It took three two-day cataloged sales in May, August, and November to disperse the ... (Read More)
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(Show)Palm Beach Show Group's Fall Show in New York City
New York Art, Antique & Jewelry Show, New York City
The Palm Beach Show Group’s fall show opened in New York City the Friday before Thanksgiving. Eighty-five art, antiques, and jewelry dealers filled the Park Avenue Armory with their wares, hoping to take advantage of the beginning of the holiday season.
As ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Pots, Paintings, Pewter, and LSD
Wooten & Wooten, Camden, South Carolina
Photos courtesy Wooten & Wooten
At the start of the second day of Wooten & Wooten’s fall Americana sale held November 14 and 15, 2015, most of the pottery collectors and dealers could be found standing at the back of the long narrow gallery. It was ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Greater York Antiques Show
York, Pennsylvania
Collectors and dealers are in the habit of going to the York Fairgrounds for antiques show four times a year. The dates have changed in recent years, but for the last 56 years, dedicated collectors and dealers have managed to put a trip to York, Pennsylvania, in red letters ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Evans Conducts Americana Marathon
Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Inc., Mt. Crawford, Virginia
Photos courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates
Jeffrey Evans is used to record-setting auctions. We have witnessed and reported on several over the years. On November 14, 2015, Evans’s 29th semiannual Americana sale set a record that everyone hopes will never be ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Pier Antique Show 2015
New York City
The Pier Antique Show opened Saturday, November 14, 2015, on the morning after the terrorist attack in Paris, and ran through Sunday. There was a stillness to the show, but the event served to take showgoers’ minds off the horror that had occurred 12 hours before.
The show opened ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Callot Soeurs Orientalist Gown, a Paisley Shawl, and a Fairy Skeleton Gown Bring Top Dollar
Augusta Auctions, New York City
Photos courtesy Augusta Auctions
A labeled Callot Soeurs couture Orientalist gown brought an impressive $30,000 (includes buyer’s premium) at a November 11, 2015, auction of couture and vintage fashions held by Augusta Auctions of Bellows Falls, Vermont, at its New York City venue, Landmark on the Park, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Freeman's Pennsylvania Sale
Freeman’s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Freeman’s
Freeman’s scheduled its November 2015 Americana sale to coincide with the Delaware Antiques Show so that those flying in to shop and dealers trucking to and from the show could stop by and check out more than 500 lots of furniture, paintings, silver, ceramics, maps, prints, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The 2015 Delaware Show
Delaware Antiques Show, Wilmington, Delaware
The Delaware Antiques Show is not for beginners. It is the show for the true believers, who make pilgrimages to the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware, every November in search of the finest Americana, the highest quality craftsmanship and design in furniture, objects, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Des Barres Navigational Chart Sails to Victory
Brunk Auctions, Asheville, North Carolina
Photos courtesy Brunk Auctions
When it comes to 18th-century British maps of the American Colonies, early is not necessarily more valuable. That was clearly demonstrated when four maps deaccessioned by Colonial Williamsburg sold at Brunk Auctions’ November 6-8, 2015, sale. Three predated the Revolutionary War, and one ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Nadeau's Annual Fall Auction
Nadeau’s Auction Gallery, Windsor, Connecticut
Photos courtesy Nadeau’s Auction Gallery
Nadeau’s Auction Gallery held an antiques auction at its gallery in Windsor, Connecticut, on Saturday, November 7, 2015, and much of the material offered had been owned by Credit Suisse. The collection included striking portraits of prominent American businessmen and intellectuals of ... (Read More)
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(Show)Antiques + Modernism Winnetka
Winnetka, Illinois
When the final account is written about dead and near-dead antiques shows, the survival—indeed the resurrection—of the show in the Winnetka Community House of the north shore Chicago suburb will top them all. Call the show Lazarus, because it has risen from the dead.
First, a little history. We’ve covered ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Revered Print Reaches $120,000
Northeast Auctions, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Historical documents from several collections captivated bidders at Northeast Auctions’ October 31 and November 1, 2015, auction, which played before a full house on both days. “The Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in King Street, Boston on March 5th, 1770, by a party of the 29th Reg’t.,” engraved, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Willard Skeleton Unearthed at Halloween Clock and Watch Auction
Skinner, Inc, Marlborough, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Skinner, Inc.
Not human bones, a Simon Willard, Jr. skeleton clock, 1825-35, earned the fifth-highest price at the October 31, 2015, Skinner, Inc. auction of clocks, watches, and scientific instruments in Marlborough, Massachusetts. Selling at $19,680 (including buyer’s premium) from a New Hampshire collection, it is ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Autumn Auction of Majolica for the Connoisseur
Strawser Auction Group, Hatfield, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Strawser Auction Group
Sometimes collecting friendships segue into working friendships, and what a wonderful collaboration that can be. It was only a natural progression that Michael Strawser, founder of the Majolica International Society, president of the Strawser Auction Group, and collector extraordinaire of majolica in ... (Read More)
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(Show)The San Francisco Fall Antiques Show
San Francisco, California
San Francisco Fall Antiques Show (SFFAS), benefiting Enterprise for High School Students, pulled off its 34th annual four-day run without a hitch, October 22-25, 2015. There was zero competition from the Giants making the World Series as in years past, and the weather cooperated with gloriously warm and ... (Read More)
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(Show)Richmond Has a Bright New Show
Virginia Festival of the Antique, Richmond, Virginia
There is a new antiques show in Richmond, Virginia. Its name is the Virginia Festival of the Antique. The inaugural show was held at the Virginia Historical Society building over the weekend of October 23-25, 2015. Richmond has a well-established place in history and ... (Read More)
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(Show)A Fine Selection of Art
Boston International Fine Arts Show, Boston
Nineteen years old and counting, the Boston International Fine Arts Show (BIFAS) is still growing. While it remains a distinctly Boston affair, the mix of its 41 dealers from near and far gave it a wide horizon October 22-25, 2015. Of those dealers, 26 were ... (Read More)
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(Auction)R.O. Schmitt Fine Arts Fall Auction
Manchester, New Hampshire
Clock auctions are interesting events—no more or no less well attended than most other auctions. Buyers, however, want to see the clock that interests them, and its innards, and a 90" tall clock requires significant space for examination. The salesroom at R.O. Schmitt’s October 24 and 25, 2015, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)MESDA at 50
Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Photos courtesy MESDA
On the last weekend of October, when the leaves in North Carolina sang out in a symphony of color, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) at Old Salem in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, commemorated the 50th anniversary of its ... (Read More)
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(Show)The International Show 2015
The International Show: Art, Antiques, Design, New York City
After 27 years Anna and Brian Haughton have a new calling card. The International Fine Art and Antiques Show, which draws collectors, interior designers, and museum curators from around the world, is now called The International Show, bearing a new logo and ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 41st CSADA Fall Fox Valley Antiques Show
St. Charles, Illinois
Fans anticipating the return of their beloved Fall Fox Valley Antiques Show with its usual bounty of early Americana, held October 17 and 18, 2015, in St. Charles, Illinois, were no doubt nonplussed to see the show advertised with steampunk. Not only the ads but the show program ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Fine and Decorative Art
Cowan’s Auctions, Cincinnati, Ohio
Photos courtesy Cowan’s
It was a reminder that auction estimates are just that—estimates. Sometimes they aren’t even that.
The latter point seemed possible following the October 17, 2015, sale of fine and decorative art held by Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati, Ohio. The top lot of the day was a ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Another Top-Notch Auction of Illustration Art
Heritage Auctions, New York City
Photos courtesy Heritage
It was a busy day for Heritage Auctions on October 14, 2015, at its New York City salesroom, located in the historic Fletcher-Sinclair Mansion on East 79th Street off Fifth Avenue in New York City. An auction of science fiction and fantasy art from ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Gordon Wyckoff's Personal Collection Sold
William H. Bunch Auctions & Appraisals, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy William H. Bunch Auctions & Appraisals
On September 29, 2015, William H. Bunch Auctions & Appraisals sold 210 lots of baskets, Christmas decorations, and ornaments, and eight lots of furniture for Gordon Wyckoff as part of his personal bankruptcy procedure. The ... (Read More)
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