Stories for December '16
(Fragment)Pair Arrested for Selling Fake Gold Bars
On October 27 search warrants were executed by the Delaware State Police Financial Crimes Unit with the assistance of the Ocean View Police Department, which resulted in the apprehension of two suspects and the seizure of counterfeit gold bars.
On October 24 detectives from the financial crimes unit had initiated an ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)"Suspended Worlds: Historic Theater Scenery in Northern New England" Wins Historic New England Book
The 22nd annual Historic New England Book Prize has been awarded to Suspended Worlds: Historic Theater Scenery in Northern New England by Christine Hadsel. Suspended Worlds is a celebration of the many historic theater curtains in northern New England and their part in community activities and entertainment. The curtains were ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Sotheby's Acquires Mei Moses Art Indices
Sotheby’s announced on October 26 that it had acquired the Mei Moses Art Indices, which will now be known as Sotheby’s Mei Moses. The indices use repeat sales—the sale of the same object at different times—to track changes in value. Through this acquisition, “Sotheby’s has unique access to an analytic ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)PAAM Adds Hoppers to Permanent Collection
The Provincetown (Massachusetts) Art Association and Museum has acquired 96 drawings by Edward Hopper, 69 drawings and watercolors by his wife, Josephine Hopper, and 22 diaries dating from 1933 to 1956 that chronicle the Hoppers’ lives. The donation was made through the generosity of Laurence C. and J. Anton Schiffenhaus ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)For Your Reconsideration
The Young Collector
Sometimes people ask what it’s like to write a column, to come up with something new to talk about each month. That, we say, is easy. That it’s just about having opinions, of which we are not short, and, hey, you know, being right all the time! So ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Fenimore Art Museum Attendance Up 42.8%
The Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown, New York, saw a 42.8% increase (as of September 14) in paid individual visitors during the summer with the help of exhibitions featuring famous names such as Ansel Adams, Toulouse-Lautrec, and James Whistler—among others.
“An average of 7440 people visited the museum each month since ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Maryland Man Admits Stealing Works of Art and Selling Them in New Jersey
On October 26 William C. Reed III, 42, of Rock Hall, Maryland, pleaded guilty to one count of interstate transportation of stolen property. Reed admitted to stealing at least 40 pieces of art and taking them to New Jersey to sell them.
Starting in June 2013, Reed was employed as a ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Sean Scherer of Kabinett & Kammer, Andes, New York
In the Trade
Maybe this is just a coincidence. Or maybe it’s a trend. For the second time in as many months, we have visited open shops that are the primary outlets for their owners who don’t do shows and don’t do lots of business on the Internet. The one other ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)George Eastman Museum Collections Now Accessible Online
The George Eastman Museum in Rochester, New York, has launched a new platform that allows public online access to more than 250,000 objects from its collections (www.eastman.org/collections-online). Objects from the museum’s photography, technology, and George Eastman Legacy collections are now searchable, and more objects from the museum’s holdings are being ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Five Institutions Awarded Frame Conservation Grants by Eli Wilner & Company
Eli Wilner & Company, New York City restorers and makers of fine art frames, has announced the recipients of the 2016 Museum Frame Conservation Grant Awards.
Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, Maine, was awarded a grant for the restoration of the original frame on Lady Judith Maxwell, a circa 1790 ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, December 2016
Ian McKay, <[email protected]>
A rather unusual “Letter” this month. With many of the early season London sales given over to modern and contemporary art, I thought it might make a change to tackle something different. Noting that Bonhams had held quite a lot of car, motorcycle, and general automobilia sales in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)"Kentucky by Design" Wins Alice Award
Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts and American Culture, edited by Andrew Kelly and sponsored by the Frazier History Museum, has been named the winner of the Alice Award, given by Furthermore Grants in Publishing. Furthermore is a program of the J.M. Kaplan Fund and is concerned with nonfiction book ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)On the Up and Up
Editorial
It’s getting more expensive to buy at auction in New York City.
On November 13 Sotheby’s raised its buyer’s premium. Buyers will now pay 25% on the hammer price up to and including $250,000; 20% on the hammer price from $250,001 to $3,000,000; and 12.5% on the portion of the hammer ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New York City Auction Houses Must Reveal Irrevocable Bids in Post-Sale Reporting
On September 9 a letter from the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs confirmed that New York City auction houses must reveal irrevocable bids in post-sale reporting.
“The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) writes...regarding whether the sale price disclosed by an auctioneer pursuant to Section 2 125(a) ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
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.
Meanderings of a Quilt Collector / Les Vagabondages d’une collectionneuse de Quilts ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)London Gallery Files Suit against Agnes Martin Catalogue Raisonné
From 2009 to 2013 the Mayor Gallery of London sold 13 works by Agnes Martin (1912-2004), who was an Abstract Expressionist and Minimalist painter. When those artworks were submitted to the Agnes Martin Catalogue Raisonné, they were all rejected, causing Mayor Gallery to issue some refunds. There are some big ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Art and Industry: The Furniture Trades in 18th- and 19th-Century Rhode Island
“American furniture has been studied for a hundred years, and Rhode Island furniture has been an obsessive part of the story,” said Philip D. Zimmerman on September 15 to an audience of 300 in the Robert L. McNeil Jr. Lecture Hall at the opening of the 2016 Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Maine Files Suit against Brewer Auctioneer
The Maine Board of Licensing of Auctioneers within the Department of Professional and Financial Regulation recently referred a number of cases to the Maine attorney general’s office for disposition. In response, the attorney general’s office has filed a civil action in Kennebec County Superior Court against Maine auctioneer Jeffrey S. ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Rago Expands into New York and Connecticut
Rago Arts and Auction Center, a full-service auction house in Lambertville, New Jersey, with annual sales of $33 million, is expanding its reach into Westchester County, New York, and Connecticut by adding a dedicated representative to the region.
Jennifer Pitman, formerly head of sale, silver, at Christie’s in New York City ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Patricia Kane to Receive ADA Award of Merit
The Antiques Dealers’ Association of America (ADA) has announced that the 2017 Award of Merit will go to Yale University Art Gallery Friends of American Art Curator Patricia E. Kane. She will receive the flame finial prize at a dinner on Friday, April 21, at the Philadelphia Antiques Show at ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)An Ohio Childhood: 200 Years of Growing Up
At the landing of the stairwell on the second floor of the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio, past three brightly colored kites that seem to lead the way, visitors step into An Ohio Childhood: 200 Years of Growing Up. Curators Andrew Richmond and Hollie Davis, known to Maine Antique Digest ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Producing an E-Book
Computer Column #336
John P. Reid, e-mail: [email protected]
Let’s write a book. Book writing, publishing, and marketing has drastically changed since the arrival of the computer, word processors, the Internet, and online selling. Antiques dealers and auctioneers produce catalogs as books. Books about antiques are written by knowledgeable collectors and dealers.
Eight of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Calendar of Rare Canadian Antiques
The Bytown Antique and Bottle Club (BABC) of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada has published a 2017 calendar in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday. The 32-page calendar features color photographs of rare Canadian antiques from local Ottawa collections, some of which have never been published before. Many of the antiques featured in ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Kenos Fail to Honor Settlement with Kamelot
Update: This suit and all others have been settled and dismissed. "Kamelot has received payment in full," said attorney Anthony Gallia. For more: http://www.maineantiquedigest.com/news/kenos-resolve-all-legal-matters
On October 11 lawyers for Kamelot Auction House in Philadelphia filed papers in the Court of Common Pleas in Philadelphia charging that appraisers and dealers Leigh and Leslie ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions, December 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)Wes Cowan of Cowan's Auctions, Cincinnati, Ohio
Head of the House
Photos courtesy Cowan’s Auctions
“Head of the House” is a new feature that explores the founder, forte, and future of major American auction houses. In his or her own words, the current president is asked to explain how the business began, which specialties have been most successful, and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Margot Johnson Is Back
Eight years after Margot Johnson closed her gallery at 65th Street and Lexington Avenue and announced her retirement, she is back in New York City with a new gallery at 17 East 70th Street specializing in furniture and decorative arts made for the Gilded Age in the last half of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Trove of Emily B. Waite Artwork Sold
Artwork by Emily Burling Waite (1887-1980) brought record prices during an online auction by Everything But The House (EBTH) on October 26 in Worcester, Massachusetts. The 162 lots totaled $68,396.
“This collection was kind of a landmark for us,” said Graydon Sikes, director of artwork for EBTH. “We pretty much blew ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Some Icons Return to Market
Pook & Pook, Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Pook & Pook
Pook & Pook’s Americana sale on October 7 and 8 was a big one. The 847 lots covered the full range of American furniture, ceramics, metalware, advertising, and paintings, collected by the last two generations of collectors. The sale provided a barometer ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 2016 Main Line Antiques Show
Radnor, Pennsylvania
The Main Line Antiques Show is a benefit for Surrey Services for Seniors. Surrey supports independent living by providing companions, nurses, short-term care, live-in 24/7 care, house cleaning, money management, and help with insurance claims for those in need. Last year Surrey provided 79,000 hours of home services, 28,000 ... (Read More)
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(Show)Vermont Antiques Week: Antiques in Vermont
Manchester Center, Vermont
On one day only, Sunday, October 2, the largest show of Vermont Antiques Week, the 32rd annual Antiques in Vermont event, was held with 80 dealers.
The preview included drinks and donuts, and managers Phyllis Carlson and Tim Stevenson exhibited as well. Held in the Riley Rink at Hunter ... (Read More)
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(Show)Vermont Antiques Week: Weston Antiques Show
Weston, Vermont
Fall in Vermont has its own allure—foliage, food, festivals—but in-the-know antiquers time their visits with one four-day “weekend” at the end of September/beginning of October when Vermont Antiques Week is held in five different venues: a theater, a ski lodge, another ski lodge, a community center gym, and an ... (Read More)
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(Show)Vermont Antiques Week: Antiques at Stratton Mountain
Bondville, Vermont
Opening on October 1 for a two-day run was Antiques at Stratton Mountain, the heir to the long-running Bromley Mountain Antiques Show. Stratton is a showy resort with European-style architecture for its lodging. The antiques show was held inside the base lodge, under the direction of dealer Greg Hamilton, ... (Read More)
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(Show)Vermont Antiques Week: The Ludlow Antiques Show
Ludlow, Vermont
The third show to open during Vermont Antiques Week was the Ludlow Antiques Show, which has been running for 52 years. It opened on Friday, September 30, and ran through Saturday, October 1, at the Ludlow Community Center next to the Black River High School, just a few miles ... (Read More)
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(Show)Vermont Antiques Week: The Okemo Antiques Show
Ludlow, Vermont
September 30 was the opening for the 23rd annual Okemo Antiques Show in Ludlow, Vermont, about ten miles north of Weston. It has been held at the Okemo Mountain ski resort for many years. This year the show saw new managers: Steven Sherhag of Canfield, Ohio, who manages the ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Skinner Features the Nancy and Gilbert Levine Antique Jewelry Collection
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Skinner, Inc. held its September 27 fine jewelry auction in Boston. A large portion—96 of the 718 lots—was dedicated to the sale of the Nancy and Gilbert Levine collection, donated to the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) and now selling “to benefit future acquisitions,” according to Skinner. ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Bierstadt's Washington Monument Leads Potomack Sale
The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia
Photos courtesy The Potomack Company
The Potomack Company held a big two-day antiques and fine arts catalog auction on September 24 and 25 at the firm’s Alexandria, Virginia, gallery. The sale consisted of more than 800 lots at the two-day live auction and another 300 lots during ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Diamonds Are an Auctioneer's Best Friend
Cottone Auctions, Geneseo, New York
Photos courtesy Cottone Auctions
At the September 23 and 24 auction at Cottone Auctions, Geneseo, New York, the top lot of the sale of 700-plus lots was a vintage Kashmir sapphire and diamond ring that sold for $103,500 (includes buyer’s premium) to a New York City collector. ... (Read More)
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(Auction)"Anemones in a Glass Jar" Tops Sale in Boston
Skinner, Inc., Boston, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Skinner, Inc.
Robin S.R. Starr, the paintings department director and an auctioneer at Skinner, Inc., summed up the September 23 paintings sale in the Boston gallery when she said, “Overall, we are pleased, given the vagaries of the current market.” Those vagaries make for volatile sales ... (Read More)
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(Show)A Bit of Everything
Springfield Extravaganza, Springfield, Ohio
Apparently, Elvis had left the building.
Late on the first day of the Springfield Extravaganza, held September 16-18 at the Clark County Fairgrounds in central Ohio, The King was gone. His image had been there Friday morning at the start of the show—the rock-and-roll legend on black velvet. ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Adirondack Antiques Show and Sale
Blue Mountain Lake, New York
The Adirondack Antiques Show and Sale at the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, New York, was held Saturday, September 17, and Sunday, September 18, with 33 dealers from South Carolina to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Attendance was clocked in at 1601 patrons, and the dealers ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Collection of Nan Gurley
Gurley Auction Co., Parsonsfield, Maine
Nan Gurley (1943-2016) was a powerful force in the New England antiques business and was well known and highly respected as a show promoter and dealer. She didn’t turn to show management until the 1980s, when she ran venues in Deerfield and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Portland, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Selling of Kovels' Collectibles: Part One of Many
Rachel Davis Fine Arts, Cleveland, Ohio
Photos courtesy Rachel Davis Fine Arts
“I really won’t mind if you say the sale was not that good” is not the comment one expects when interviewing the main consignor after her auction has taken place.
But not everyone is Terry Kovel.
For the record, the prices realized by ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Henry Clay Gold Medal Tops Lincoln Auction
Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas
Photos courtesy Heritage Auctions
Isn’t it interesting that Abraham Lincoln is one of our country’s most beloved presidents? He was shy and reserved and not a blowhard or attention-junkie by any means, and surely his “everyman” ways struck a chord. It definitely has where collecting anything related to ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Chinese Teacups Soar at Quinn's
Quinn’s Auction Galleries—Central Virginia, Louisa, Virginia
Photos courtesy Quinn’s Auction Galleries
Quinn’s Auction Galleries—Central Virginia held its fall fine and decorative arts auction at the firm’s galleries in Louisa, Virginia. The sale on September 17 offered a good mix of American and Continental antiques, fine art, ceramics, modern three-dimensional art, and Asian ... (Read More)
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(Show)Antiques in 2 Barns
Hilliard, Ohio
This one was different. It was a risk. And at the end of it all, promoter Jennifer Sabin was perplexed.
“I don’t know what to think,” she said.
She stood just outside two pole buildings that gave the day’s event its name, Antiques in 2 Barns. The show, held on Wednesday, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Tiffany Beatitudes Sell for $356,950
Fontaine’s Auction Gallery, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Fontaine’s Auction Gallery
Cleaning out the basement takes on a whole new meaning when you are John Fontaine, auctioneer and CEO of Fontaine’s Auction Gallery.
“I was on a call at a home outside of Brooklyn and found myself in the basement trying to figure ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Rare Willard Clock Tops Hap Moore Auction
Hap Moore Antiques Auctions, York, Maine
Hap Moore is willing to travel great distances to fill his York, Maine, auctions. But often his best selections come from close to home. His September 10 offering contained a good mix of items from both far and near.
Clocks by Ephraim Willard (b. 1755) are ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Country Americana
Garth’s Auctions, Delaware, Ohio
Photos courtesy Garth’s
“Some things are good, which are not pleasant, other things are pleasant, that are not good but to live in peace is both good and pleasant.” Text on a fraktur by the Ehre Vater Artist.
It came down to what was “both good and pleasant.” When ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Shaker Bench Brings $33,600
Willis Henry Auctions, Hancock, Massachusetts
Hancock Shaker Village in Hancock, Massachusetts, was the bucolic site of the Willis Henry Shaker sale on September 10 that drew a crowd to the tent just off the entrance to the village. Bidders and curious museum visitors studied objects for sale during the preview and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Mid-Century Furniture, Books, and Fine Art Highlight Quinn's Sales
Waverly Rare Books and Quinn’s Auction Galleries, Falls Church, Virginia
Photos courtesy Quinn’s Auction Galleries
On September 8 and 10, Quinn’s Auction Galleries conducted two separate sales. Both sales took place at the firm’s Falls Church, Virginia, salesrooms.
On September 8, the firm’s Waverly Rare Books division offered 402 lots covering a wide ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Rare Colors, Rare Forms, and a Food Jar Headline Absentee Auction
Norman C. Heckler & Company, Woodstock Valley, Connecticut
Photos courtesy Heckler
One of our best sales ever,” was how Norman C. Heckler, Sr. described the absentee Auction 141 hosted by Norman C. Heckler & Company, Woodstock Valley, Connecticut, that took place between September 5 and 14. Offered were excellent and some unique ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Court Cupboard Sells for $18,400
William A. Smith, Inc., Plainfield, New Hampshire
Photos courtesy William A. Smith, Inc.
It was a great day for lovers of period American furniture and fine jewelry at William Smith’s Labor Day antiques auction on September 5, held at the company headquarters in Plainfield, New Hampshire. The hall was packed full of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Little Girl and Lots of Cats at Foster's Auction
Robert L. Foster Auction Co., Newcastle, Maine
When Robert Foster runs his traditional end-of-summer auction in Newcastle, Maine, held this year on September 3 and 4, it’s a “clean the place out down to the walls” event. Unlike what happens at some other large Maine auctions, virtually everything sells. Of the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Bidding the Old-Fashioned Way on a Major Art Collection
Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, Thomaston, Maine
Over $1 million wouldn’t be a bad total for the entire Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ August 27-29 event in Thomaston, Maine. But $1.6 million was, by my estimate, the total for what Thomaston Place brought in from just a single midwestern consignor. It was a ... (Read More)
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(Show)"Pure" Antique American Indian Show Continues to Grow
Antique American Indian Art Show, Santa Fe, New Mexico
In Native American art parlance, the Antique American Indian Art Show’s origin myth starts decades before the show made its debut in Santa Fe’s El Museo in the Railyard. The show’s inspiration dates to 2014, when Kim Martindale, the man who started ... (Read More)
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(Show)Endless Treasures
Whitehawk Antique Indian & Ethnographic Art Show, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Once the pioneer of August antique Indian art shows in Santa Fe, New Mexico, then the gold standard, now the granddaddy, and still a strong contender, the Whitehawk Antique Indian & Ethnographic Art Show had a great run in Santa ... (Read More)
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(Show)Objects of Art Santa Fe Show
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Kim Martindale conjured the idea for his Objects of Art show years ago, which was “to display objects from different cultures and different time periods and present them as art,” or, to quote coproducer John Morris, “a very solid show where people can have very high odds ... (Read More)
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