Stories for June '16
(Issue Story)Rudolph Lux: Some Very Bad News but Some Good News, Too
After publication in the September 2015 Maine Antique Digest of the article “There Was No One Like Rudolph T. Lux, Ever,” readers and friends have provided new facts, which this article incorporates.
For example, the morning edition of the New Orleans Republican of July 14, 1868, reported the following: “Attempted Assassination. ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Ceramics in America
A Book Review
Ceramics in America, edited by Robert Hunter. The Chipstone Foundation, distributed by University Press of New England, 2015, 216 pages, hardbound, $65 plus S/H from University Press of New England, (800) 421-1561 or (www.upne.com).
Ceramics in America is the annual Chipstone journal intended for collectors, historical archaeologists, curators, dealers ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Computer-Aided Design
Computer Column #330
John P. Reid, < [email protected]>
Antiquers occasionally need drawings or plans. Instruction to a woodworker for making a replacement part for furniture restoration is one example. A three-dimensional layout for a show booth is another.
Many Tools
Computer-aided design (CAD) has been a major software tool in manufacturing and construction industries ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Picasso, Allegedly Stolen--Hidden in Plain Sight
The buyer did his homework but could end up holding the bag, a bag that costs $500,000.
On May 7, 2013, Sotheby’s offered a 14" x 7½" oil on canvas by Pablo Picasso, Tête (Portrait de Marie-Thérèse), estimated at $700,000/900,000. The catalog listed the provenance as Knoedler Gallery, Laurence Tisch, and ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)A Long and Winding Road
The Young Collector
There are people you like and people you love. For people you like, you return calls, pick up their mail every now and then when they’re out of town, send them a card at the holidays, and like their photos on Facebook. For people you love, well, you ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Randi Ona, Wayne, New Jersey
In the Trade
Randi Ona knew early on that she liked antiques. As a girl, she spent weekends with her grandparents in Paterson, New Jersey. “My grandmother loved antiques,” Ona recalled. “We’d go to tag sales every week.” Paterson had been home to some great silk mills during the heyday of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Vending Machine Restorer Banned from Operating in North Carolina
A restoration company that repeatedly failed to complete work or return antiques to consumers is temporarily banned from operating in North Carolina, the state’s Attorney General Roy Cooper announced on April 28.
“Taking money from consumers and then failing to finish the job is simply the wrong way to do business,” ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Collector Fails to Pay Tax, Pays Huge Settlement Instead
A settlement with Aby J. Rosen, a collector of contemporary art, has been adjudicated for his failing to pay millions in sales and use taxes on art acquisitions made by his companies. Rosen will pay $7 million following an investigation by the New York Attorney General’s office.
A major figure in ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)An Imaginary Conversation Leads to a Proposed "Collector Code of Conduct"
Opinion
I imagine a well-known antiques dealer saying, “I think every dealer hopes for knowledgeable collectors who look for a win-win situation and have the means to follow through. Anyone who deals in retail finds most people desirable to deal with. Yet there is a segment that makes it so hard that ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Antiques in 2 Barns
Jennifer Sabin is stressing the basics when she debuts Antiques in 2 Barns, a small, one-day show on Wednesday, September 14, at the Franklin County Fairgrounds in Hilliard, Ohio. The timing takes advantage of buyers in the area for the Springfield (Ohio) Extravaganza later that week. The shows are 35 ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London
Ian McKay, <[email protected]>
Hong Kong and New York City have seen much of the major saleroom action in recent times, though by the time this issue appears, London will be fully up and running again. A couple of personal favourites from the Impressionist and Modern picture sales held in London in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Art Sales Executive Settles Tax Case
Art sales executive Victoria Gelfand, whose companies failed to pay New York sales and use tax on more than 30 works of art purchased by her companies, has agreed to pay the state $210,000 in sales and use tax combined.
From 2005 through 2013, Gelfand employed two companies to engage in ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Strength and Splendor
A Book Review
Strength and Splendor: Wrought Iron from the Musée Le Secq des Tournelles, Rouen, edited by Anne-Charlotte Cathelineau. The Barnes Foundation, 2015, 176 pages, hardbound, $32.50 plus S/H from the Barnes Foundation, (215) 278-7000 or (www.barnesfoundation.org).
Strength and Splendor is the illustrated catalog for an exhibition of 150 pieces of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Fifty Years and Downsizing
Dana Tillou and his wife, Catherine, at the 2015 Antiques at Rhinebeck.
After having an art and antiques gallery for the past 50 years at 417 Franklin Street in Buffalo, New York, dealer Dana Tillou is moving. Not far, about two miles, to a smaller venue, where his gallery size will ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Buttocks Leads to Citation, Citation Leads to Lawsuit
A painting of a woman with bare buttocks by contemporary artist Tom Dash (b. 1975) resulted in the Borghi Fine Art Gallery in Englewood, New Jersey, receiving a written complaint, alleging a violation of the city’s nudity code.
Now the city is the subject of a federal lawsuit filed by the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)March Auction Features Variety and Value
Laughlin Auctions, Inc., Edinburg, Virginia
Photos courtesy Laughlin Auctions, Inc.
Laughlin Auctions, Inc. was founded in 1986 by three brothers, Hoyle, John, and Duane Laughlin, and its first sale was held over that year’s Memorial Day weekend. Each year since, the firm has held an annual spring auction, and this year’s, the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Eldred's Opens Satellite Office in Connecticut
The Robert C. Eldred Co., Inc. opened a new satellite office at 5 Roosevelt Avenue in Mystic, Connecticut, on May 9. The new office will be open Tuesdays and Wednesdays and by appointment for antiques and fine art appraisal and consignment services.
“This is an ideal location to service our existing ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Folk Fest 2016 Canceled
The 2016 Folk Fest, a folk art and Outsider art show in Atlanta set for August, has been canceled because of the loss of the lease by the operator of the exhibit hall that was home to the show. The sudden announcement caught many by surprise.
This decision was made shortly ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Books Received, June 2016
These are brief reviews of books recently sent to us. We have included ordering information for publishers that accept mail, phone, or online orders. For other publishers, your local bookstore or a mail-order house is the place to look.
Some Kind of Good by Mark Clay Grove (Spitfire Publishing, LLC, 2015, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Berkshire County Craftsman and His Contemporaries: The Newell Family
When assisting Joshua Lane, former curator of furniture at Historic Deerfield, with the “Four Centuries of Massachusetts Furniture” project, I realized that the majority of cabinetmakers covered in the 2013 exhibition Furniture Masterworks: Tradition and Innovation in Western Massachusetts were not from Berkshire County, Massachusetts. That same year at the ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions, June 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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(Fragment)White's Auctions Opens New Gallery in Middleboro, Massachusetts
White’s Auctions is opening a new auction hall in Middleboro, Massachusetts. The new gallery is approximately 3000 square feet, well lit, air conditioned, and handicap accessible. The building also has warehouse storage and shipping spaces as well as a loading dock. This new auction gallery is located just outside Middleboro ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Buy-In Numbers
Editorial
I attended an auction last month that struggled. Lot after lot was passed, but many in the audience had no idea. The auctioneer, deft at using chandelier bids to try to move a lot up to the reserve, relied heavily on buy-in numbers when a lot was passed. A buy-in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)George Schastey, Maker of Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age
The most publicized decorative arts exhibition this season, Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which opened on December 15, is being held over until June 5. More than 170,000 people have seen it and will now recognize the name George Schastey as a competitor ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Noel Barrett and Ron Pook Join Forces
Ron Pook (left) and Noel Barrett
Pennsylvania auctioneers Noel Barrett and Ronald Pook have announced a new collaboration. Barrett will be staging his annual fall auction of an eclectic mixture of vintage toys and other items at Pook’s facility in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, his first foray after rolling his Bucks County auction ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)University of Hartford's Plan to Sell Political Memorabilia Ignites Criticism
It’s a collection rivaled only by the Smithsonian Institution, the owners say, and if all goes according to plan, it will be hitting the market. The University of Hartford’s collection of political memorabilia—posters, banners, textiles, prints, medals, pottery, glassware, snuffboxes, ribbons, and torchlights, possibly as many as 60,000 objects—will be ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Furniture and Decorative Arts
Freeman’s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Freeman’s
A consignment of furnishings collected by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association brought national attention to Freeman’s April 19 sale in Philadelphia. The furniture had helped fill up the empty rooms of George and Martha Washington’s plantation house with antiques from every state in the Union. The ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show 2016
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Philadelphia Antiques & Art Show was up and running April 14 through 17 and much improved after two years of rehabilitation. Show managers Diana Bittel and Karen and Ralph DiSaia were the doctors in charge of this fund-raiser for Penn Medicine, and they prescribed a new regimen that ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Caren Historical Documents Sale
Bonhams, New York City
Photos courtesy Bonhams
“Treasures from the Caren Archive II: How History Unfolds on Paper” was the title of an auction at Bonhams, New York City, on April 11 that again sold documents, letters, and newspapers that tell stories from American history, from the 16th century to the computer ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Washington Memorial Embroidery Leads Potomack Auction
The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia
Photos courtesy The Potomack Company
The Potomack Company held its spring catalog auction on April 9 at its gallery in Alexandria, Virginia, and offered a mix of categories of Americana, Asian, and Continental antiques and fine art. For a second consecutive sale, old masters paintings were among ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Houdiniana and Lewis Davenport Collection
Potter & Potter Auctions, Inc., Chicago, Illinois
Photos courtesy Potter & Potter
The April 9 Potter & Potter auction in Chicago drew worldwide interest because of a long-lost typed manuscript attributed to magician Harry Houdini and dark fantasy writer H.P. Lovecraft. Two other pieces, a so-called mystery clock by Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Norman Lewis's Star Continues to Shine at African American Fine Art Sale
Swann Galleries, New York City
Photos courtesy Swann
Swann’s African American fine art sale on April 7 proved the continuing star power of Norman Lewis. The auction house offered seven works by the 20th-century New York Abstract Expressionist, and all sold remarkably well, often many times over estimate. These works included the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Paintings, Furniture, and Decorative Arts
Doyle New York, New York City
Photos courtesy Doyle New York
Doyle’s salesroom on East 87th Street in New York City was filled almost to capacity when the auctioneer began the spring sale of American paintings, furniture, and decorative arts on Wednesday, April 6.
By noon, all but ten of the 117 lots ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Leslie Hindman Auctioneers' April Sale Brings $4.6 Million
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Leslie Hindman
Alexander Eblen, director of jewelry at Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, said that its April 3 and 4 jewelry sale in Chicago was “overall one of the top three sales we’ve ever held. It was a really, really good success. We had a ninety-one percent sell-through ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 2016 Chester County Antiques Show
Malvern, Pennsylvania
For 34 years, the Chester County Historical Society Antiques Show in April (this year April 1-3) has been a major fund-raiser for the museum and library devoted to the preservation of local history. Its fine collection has brought collectors and students of Americana through its doors.
The historical society is ... (Read More)
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(Show)Bedford Spring Antiques Show
Katonah, New York
A well-edited antiques show was held on the verdant campus of the Harvey School in Katonah, New York, the first weekend in April (1-3).
A benefit for St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in nearby Bedford, the show opened with a champagne preview party on Friday night. A few of the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Stair Sells Some 19th-Century Winners
Stair Galleries, Hudson, New York
Photos courtesy Stair Galleries
On April 2, Stair Galleries, Hudson, New York, sold the collection of Judith Hollander (1941-2013) of Mount Kisco, New York. The sale was titled “Principles of Design: The Collection of Judith Hollander, with Selected Additions.”
Hollander’s interests in 19th-century furniture and decorative arts ranged ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Black History Matters: 20th Anniversary of African Americana Sales
Swann Galleries, New York City
Photos courtesy Swann
“Rather astoundingly, this is our twentieth sale,” Nicholas D. Lowry, president of Swann Galleries, said as he prepared to open the firm’s annual auction of printed and manuscript African Americana on March 31 in New York City. The first sale had taken place in ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Freeman's Inaugural 20th-Century Design Sale
Freeman’s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Freeman’s
Tim Andreadis, head of 20th-century design at Freeman’s for the last three years, held his inaugural Art + Design sale on March 20. Works by George Nakashima, Wharton Esherick, and Paul Evans used to be sold in the annual Pennsylvania sale at Freeman’s. From now on ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Jewelry from Cahners-Kaplan Highlights Boston Auction
Grogan & Company, Boston, Massachusetts
Lucy P. Grogan, vice president and gallery director of Grogan & Company, was instrumental in bringing to market fine jewelry from the estate of Boston collector and major philanthropist Helene Rabb Cahners-Kaplan (d. 2012). Cahners-Kaplan, gifted with an impeccable eye, was a benefactor of many Boston ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Alamance County, N.C., Redware Jar Sells for $28,750
Crocker Farm, Sparks, Maryland
Photos courtesy Crocker Farm
I’ve never been a fan of the term “fresh to the market”; however, it does apply to the material brought to the market by the Zipp family of Crocker Farm. Material long off the open market from all over the country surfaces at Crocker ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The New Masters
Cottone Auctions, Geneseo, New York
Photos courtesy Cottone Auctions
If you believe that Cottone Auctions’ major sales are a fairly accurate picture of the state of the antiques market today, at least in the public arena, then you can come to only one conclusion: the “new masters,” in terms of high prices ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Spring Antiques Expo
Cedar Grove, New Jersey
In what used to be Frank Dailey’s Meadowbrook Ballroom, a venue that hosted bands and vocalists during the 1930s and 1940s, show manager and dealer Debbie Turi put together an intimate antiques show featuring nearly 30 dealers.
Held on March 19 and 20, the first weekend of spring, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Gatling Gun and Paterson Revolver Top $15 Million Sale
James D. Julia, Fairfield, Maine
It doesn’t happen every day that a firearms auction hits $15 million in sales. At James Julia’s in Fairfield, Maine, however, it happens about every six months. This time around, it was a two-day affair on March 14 and 15. Many of the auction’s key items ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Crowd Splurges in a $1.3 Million Buying Spree
Bertoia Auctions, Vineland, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Bertoia Auctions
It was a vintage crop in Vineland, New Jersey, on March 12 as Bertoia Auctions sold 581 lots for a sparkling $1.3 million total (includes buyers’ premiums). Auction owner Jeanne Bertoia was suitably bubbling with enthusiasm, commenting that all categories had exceeded expectations ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Americana and Some South Americana Sell in Cambridge
CRN Auctions, Cambridge, Massachusetts
CRN Auctions has for some time been selling the collections of a Connecticut couple who lived in Latin America for many years beginning in the 1960s. The most recent sale on March 12 included 30 lots from that collection, the highlight of which was a mid-18th-century 31" ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Sweet Sale Sweeps Graeter's Americana into Others' Collections
Main Auction Galleries, Cincinnati, Ohio
Photos courtesy Main Auction Galleries
Auctioneer J. Louis “Jay” Karp had a simple explanation for the success of the February 28 sale at Main Auction Galleries in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. “Getting great stuff,” he said. “That’s the trick of the game.”
The best material was Americana from the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Berman's Political Americana Collection Totals $2.75 Million
Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas
Photos courtesy Heritage Auctions
Merrill C. Berman knew what he liked, and he bought what he wanted, and where his collection of political Americana was concerned, he liked and bought a lot. From February 2015 to February 2016, Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas, presented four cataloged auctions of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Midwinter Auction of a Country Collection
Davies Auctions, Lafayette, Indiana
The question came midway through a single-owner sale held by Davies Auctions on February 27 in Lafayette, Indiana. A dealer I’ve known for years tapped me on the shoulder and, with a smile, asked, “Is it fair to write a story about how crazy it is sometimes ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Hunt's American Antique Museum Auction: A Celebration of the Golden Age of Wood Carving
Hal Hunt Auctions, Northport, Alabama
Selling antiques at auction is in Hal Hunt’s blood, and that passion runs deep. In these times when even the oldest firms are bought, sold, or consolidated, his business is strictly a family affair and run with traditional practices. No Internet or phone bidding; buyers or ... (Read More)
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