Stories for February '13

(Feature)

Exhibitions
by M.A.D. Staff

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)

(Issue Story)

Editorial: Sign and Sell
by Clayton Pennington

Editorial Sign and Sell Dan Miller, the controller for Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, should heed a judge’s ruling and sign an auction contract allowing the deeply indebted city to auction off the Western artifacts it owns. In 2011, the city council voted to sell what remained of the $8.3 million worth of objects that former ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Heavyweight Bible Stolen from Church Recovered by Dealer
by David Hewett

by David Hewett A church in St. Louis, Missouri, that had been the victim of numerous thefts over the past two years got nailed again just before Christmas. Thieves took material intended for needy neighborhood families, cash and gift cards worth $1100, and food items from St. John’s Lutheran Church on ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Wedgwood Exhibit at Thayer Public Library
by

The Thayer Public Library in Braintree, Massachusetts, has an exhibit of Wedgwood ceramics through February. Installed by Ron Frazier, a former president of the Wedgwood Society of Boston and a former president of the Braintree Historical Society, the exhibit features Wedgwood from the company’s earliest production in the 1750’s to ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

New Book and Ephemera Fair in Philadelphia
by

<p>Flamingo Eventz, LLC will launch a new vintage book and  ephemera fair in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show will be held at the  Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown Hotel on February 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.</p><p>&quot;We've wanted to run a show in downtown Philly for a number  of years,&quot; said Tina ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Heavyweight Bible Stolen from Church Recovered by Dealer
by David Hewett

by David Hewett A church in St. Louis, Missouri, that had been the victim of numerous thefts over the past two years got nailed again just before Christmas. Thieves took material intended for needy neighborhood families, cash and gift cards worth $1100, and food items from St. John’s Lutheran Church on ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Lily-Pad Pitcher Brings $40,900
by

From left: $40,900 and $11,200. A medium blue circa 1852 Lancaster Glass Works type 1 crossed lily-pad pitcher, 8¼" high, sold for $40,900 (includes buyer’s premium) when Glass International closed its latest absentee auction on December 1, 2012. According to the auction house, the price is the highest paid to date ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Museum to Lose 212 "Gifts" of Esmerian Folk Art to Bankruptcy Pool
by David Hewett

by David Hewett On December 26, 2012, bankruptcy liquidation trustee Jay Teitelbaum filed documents in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, that, if approved by Judge Robert Drain, would quiet the multiple claims of ownership of approximately 363 pieces of folk art, most of which are now in ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Philip Weiss Auctions Rebuilds after Hurricane Sandy
by

Both the business and the residence of Philip and Emily Weiss on Long Island, New York, were hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. Philip Weiss Auctions had staged monthly auctions out of its Oceanside gallery for more than 25 years. “The business took a direct hit, and our home sustained a good ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Patrick Orbe Joins Morphy Auctions
by

Patrick Orbe. Art dealer Patrick Orbe has joined Morphy Auctions as special consultant to the company’s fine art department. Orbe will oversee all fine art consignments, assessing and cataloging works for authenticity, attribution, condition, and value. Also, he will manage all consignor and buyer relationships that pertain to fine art ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

MAM and NEMA Partner for Joint Membership Program
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Maine Archives and Museums (MAM), Maine’s only membership organization dedicated to promoting and supporting the state’s collecting institutions, has announced a new membership collaboration with the New England Museum Association (NEMA). Any all-volunteer organization that is a member of MAM is entitled to a one-year complimentary membership at NEMA. The ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

"Antiques Roadshow" 2013 Tour Announced
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Antiques Roadshow, PBS’s highest-rated ongoing prime time series, has announced its summer 2013 tour and that it is increasing the tour by two cities and the overall number of new episodes in its 18th season to 35. “By adding more cities to this year’s tour, Roadshow’s fans will get their fill, ... (Read More)

(Young Collectors)

The Young Collector: 2012: The Year in Review
by Hollie Davis and Andrew Richmond

Another year gone already? Wow, they go so fast, especially when one notes that this time last year the small person who lives in the house was the only small person, unable to walk, unable to use fork or spoon, and able to say only about a dozen words. Now, ... (Read More)

(Auction Law and Ethics)

How Do You Feel?
by Steve Proffitt

Auction Law & Ethics By Steve Proffitt Remorse can be a good or bad thing. The answer is often a matter of circumstance. Bidding and buying at auction is not such a circumstance—more on that shortly. The dictionary defines “remorse” as “a gnawing distress arising from a sense of guilt for past wrongs.” ... (Read More)

(Feature)

Letter from London
by Ian McKay

by Ian McKay, [email protected] Filing copy pretty much on Christmas Eve for this issue, I find my files bursting with good things for report over the coming months, but the two principal items in this “Letter” feature original book illustrations for the exceptional collection formed by film director Michael Winner, and ... (Read More)

(The Art of Marketing)

Marketing: Getting Started
by Al Kenney

The Art of Marketing by Al Kenney What exactly is marketing? The short answer: marketing is an activity that should be constant, evolving, and at the same time constantly experimental. Marketing involves research, strategy, pricing, promotion, and more. It’s promoting your product or service so potential customers find out about it by ... (Read More)

(Feature)

David Petrovsky, Claverack, New York
by Frank Donegan

David Petrovsky. Petrovsky uses two-thirds of the depot in Claverack, New York, as his showroom and the rest for storage. Petrovsky attributed this armchair to architect Leopold Eidlitz, who worked on the New York State Capitol in Albany. He says he has seen a line drawing by ... (Read More)

(Issue Story)

December Sales: A Dizzying Array of Dazzling Jewelry
by Mary Ann Hensel

Antique Jewelry & Gemology Photos courtesy Skinner, Inc., Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Rago Arts and Auction Center, Bonhams, and Doyle New York It wasn’t easy to keep track of antique jewelry auction results in December. They happened in rapid succession throughout the holiday season. They happened while I was preparing to go on vacation! ... (Read More)

(Book Review)

Books Received
by M.A.D. staff

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 mail-order house is the place to look. Mahogany: The Costs of Luxury in Early America by Jennifer L. Anderson (Harvard ... (Read More)

(Computer Article)

Computer Column for Antiquers: Making Posters
by John P. Reid

Computer Column #290 by John P. Reid, [email protected]   A poster being designed in free Scribus page layout software. Posters are useful to antiquers. A poster in a show booth can publicize a dealer’s Web site, Facebook account, or merchandise too large to bring to the show. A collector might make a poster with ... (Read More)

(Fragment)

Woman Pleads Guilty in Connection with Theft of Franklin Bust
by

Andrea Lawton, 46, of Mobile, Alabama, pleaded guilty in federal court in Philadelphia on December 18, 2012, to one count of interstate transportation of stolen property in connection with the theft on August 24, 2012, of a rare bust of Benjamin Franklin by Jean-Antoine Houdon, valued at approximately $3 million. Lawton ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Art at Sotheby’s
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Two phone bidders and a bidder on line competed for Homesickness by Jared French (1905-1987). It is signed lower right and signed and titled on the reverse. The 9½" x 7¼" egg tempera on panel was painted in 1942 and sold on line for $92,500 (est. $15,000/20,000). Another magic realism ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Paintings at Bonhams
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), Little Caldwell's Island, 1940, signed lower right. The 32" x 40" tempera on panel was estimated at $1,000,000/1,500,000 and sold for $722,500 to John Driscoll of Driscoll Babcock Galleries, New York City. The view is of Little Caldwell’s Island from Caldwell’s Island (Knox County, Maine) at low ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Art at Christie’s
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Arthur Dove (1880-1946), Car. The signed 13¼" x 22" oil on canvas was painted in 1931. It sold on the phone for $686,500 (est. $200,000/300,000). It was consigned by Laughlin and Jennifer Phillips and was a gift to them from Duncan Phillips, founder of The Phillips Collection in Washington, ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Americana at Auction
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Sold to benefit the Lee B. Anderson Memorial Foundation, this circa 1869 View of Belfield, a 28 1/8" x 36 1/8" oil on canvas laid on panel, attributed to Rubens Peale, brought $40,625 (est. $15,000/25,000). Inscribed on the stretcher is “View of Charles W. Peale Homestead Near Germantown/ Copied from ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Americana Sale on Cape Cod
by Jackie Sideli

“There has been a huge amount of interest in this full-plate daguerreotype,” said a member of the Eldred staff before the auction began. The circa 1845 image was big and colorful––four men in uniform, standing before crossed American flags. The flags were hand-colored by the photographer, according to catalog notes. ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Antique Toys at Auction
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Althof, Bergmann & Co. Santa in a sleigh pulled by goats, 9" high x 20" long, is the fourth one to turn up. Each is slightly different because they were made before the advent of mass production. This one had been the prized possession of a New York state family. ... (Read More)

(Show)

Traditional Art Scoops Contemporary for a Change
by Jeanne Schinto

The show’s coproducers, Robert Four (on left) and Tony Fusco. An Early Snow by Walter Launt Palmer (1854-1932) was painted in 1887. The 22½" x 26½" oil on canvas was offered for $445,000 from Avery Galleries. Richard Rossello said it had been exhibited at the Chicago World’s Fair. Boston-based Colleene Fesko, an ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Americana at Freeman’s
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Three phone bidders wanted this Federal carved mahogany high-post bed with feather-carved reeded posts, made in Charleston, South Carolina, circa 1815. It sold for $26,250 (est. $8000/12,000). Five phone bidders competed for this Tiffany Favrile aquamarine paperweight vase with yellow narcissi with orange and black centers and green stems and leaves. ... (Read More)

(Auction)

American Daguerreotype Camera Sells at Benefit Auction
by Jeanne Schinto

The auction’s top lot, going to Mike Robinson at $14,300, was this mid-19th-century American daguerreotype camera in a rosewood-veneered bellows box that is stamped “Palmer & Longking, Manufacturers of Daguerreotype Apparatus, Newburg & New York.” It was designed by William Lewis and his son William H. Lewis, whose manufactory ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Shenandoah Valley Clock Leads Evans Sale
by Walter C. Newman

This Virginia walnut tall-case clock proved to be the high lot of the Evans sale. The circa 1800 clock is a rare signed example from the short-lived partnership of Woodstock, Virginia, clockmakers Jacob Fry and Caleb Davis (working 1796-1800). The hood features a broken-arch pediment with simple turned rosettes and ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Buddha Transcendent at the New Brunk Auctions
by Pete Prunkl

Brunk Auctions, Asheville, North Carolina by Pete Prunkl Photos courtesy Brunk Auctions Asian antiques dealer Jeffrey Wong of New York City and China was eager to pose during the preview with this Chinese cast bronze standing figure of Buddha. The 22" x 9" x 6¾" figure was the top lot of the ... (Read More)

(Show)

The 49th Delaware Show
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Montgomery County walnut schrank with replaced brasses and original feet and shelving, 82½" x 56½" x 25", ex-collection J. Stogdell Stokes, deaccessioned by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, $52,000 from Philip H, Bradley of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. The walnut wing chair with Russian leather covering from the Moravian Community workshop, ... (Read More)

(Show)

The Salon Art + Design
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Galerie Downtown, Paris, specialists in 20th-century furniture, installed furnishings from a private house in Montmartre. “Charlotte Perriand was close to the owners, Jean and Huguette Borot, and for thirty years designed for them. It was one of her last private commissions,” said Hélin Serre, director of the gallery. He ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Crowell Black-Bellied Plover Stands Out in Easton
by Karl H. Pass

This “humpback” model goldeneye hen with “paddle tail” and turned head by the Ward brothers, in original scratch paint, sold just over low estimate for $80,500 (est. $75,000/95,000) to a private collector from New Jersey. “It had everything you look for in an early Ward brothers working decoy,” remarked one ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Eclectic Ceramics Sale
by Karl H. Pass

Opening the sale was this very early ovoid two-gallon stoneware jar with vertical open handles and cobalt pomegranate decoration in remarkable condition. Attributed to the Kemple Pottery of Ringoes, New Jersey, circa 1750, the jar is one of the earliest examples of Colonial American stoneware known. It was recently ... (Read More)

(Feature)

The Art of the Hunt: Martha’s Vineyard Decoys
by Jeanne Schinto

The museum gallery on opening night of the exhibition. Photo courtesy Martha’s Vineyard Museum. Chris Murphy, guest curator of the exhibition. Penny ­Uhlendorf photo. Courtesy Martha’s Vineyard Museum. “I went to go look at a few decoys that someone called me about recently,” Chris Murphy said. The person ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Modern Sale at Rago
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Designed by Paul Evans for Directional in 1972, this metal cabinet is bronze composite, painted wood, and metal, and has a slate top. The 32" x 97½" x 22" cabinet is signed “PE 72.” It sold for $25,000 (est. $9000/12,000). This 1965 hanging wall case by George Nakashima is made from ... (Read More)

(Auction)

The Christopher Forbes Collection
by Lita Solis-Cohen

The 51½" high side chair made by Dard Hunter for his own use before he went to work at the Roycroft Shops in 1904 is constructed of oak and has its original leather upholstery with copper tacks. It bears a coat of arms and a carved inscription on the ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Autumn Auction of 20th- and 21st-Century Design
by Lita Solis-Cohen

Frederick Hurten Rhead’s 20¾" square four-part tile panel with a peacock is one of two such panels that were a gift from Rhead to his friend, and Weller Pottery colleague, Levi Burgess for his Zanesville, Ohio, house. They were installed facing each other. This one was removed from the house ... (Read More)

(Show)

A Giant Opening Night
by Alice Kaufman

This circa 1920 wood weathervane of a dog resting on a shotgun, with untouched, original paint, from American Garage, Los Angeles, cost $13,500. Michael Ogle said business was “really good.” These late 19th-century Odd Fellows badges cost $2400 for the group at Galen Lowe Art and Antiques, Seattle. ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Cleveland Connection Attracts Collectors
by Susan Emerson Nutter

Clyde Singer (1908-1999), The Old Swimming Hole, 1937, oil on canvas, signed and dated lower left, 46" x 40¼", very good condition, $27,140. Exhibited: Clyde Singer’s America, Canton (Ohio) Museum of Art and Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, Ohio, 2008-09; Illusions of Eden: Visions of the Heartland, Columbus ... (Read More)

(Show)

The 38th Fall Fox Valley Antiques Show
by Danielle Arnet

As we stopped to admire the country cupboard with original paint from Raccoon Creek at Oley Forge, Oley, Pennsylvania, waves of lookers came to run their fingers over the surface and admire the bubble glass. Described as “High Country circa 1830,” the piece was $28,800. The scalloped bentwood folk ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Amorsolo and “Exceptional” Paintings Top Cobb Sale
by Mark Sisco

This 16" x 19" oil on canvas by Filipino artist Fernando Amorsolo, signed and dated “F. Amorsolo/ Manila 1941,” sold for $29,900. Oil on canvas horse portrait by Richard Stone Reeves of the racehorse Exceptional, sold for $10,350. Charlie Cobb noted, “This was one of his earlier paintings.” ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Heckler Sells More Flasks from Lane Collection at 100th Absentee Auction
by David Hewett

This “extremely rare” (McKearin description of 1941) decorative pint flask (GX-25) by the Pitkin Glass Works, Manchester, Connecticut, 1815-30, was the highest-priced piece in the sale. The vessel is medium yellow-olive color with medallions and diamond-shaped diapering, sheared mouth, and pontil scar. A highly collectible flask and probably the rarest ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Lamps Light Up, but Big Bird Doesn’t Fly
by Mark Sisco

A 25" x 30" oil on canvas of the rocky Maine shoreline by Newell Convers Wyeth was the top seller at $48,750. Tiffany Studios Venetian table lamp with a black-eyed susan shade, with a Tiffany Studios impression on the base, and a shade tag reading “Tiffany Studios New York” that the ... (Read More)

(Show)

New and Improved Los Angeles Antiques Show
by Blanche Moss

A first-time show exhibitor, Jon Eric Riis of Atlanta, Georgia, is a tapestry artist whose work is in major public and private collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan. With this opulent jacket—those are hundreds of pearls—using traditional and contemporary imagery, he crafted a stunning visual, priced ... (Read More)

(Show)

Optimism Reigns at the Shenandoah Antiques Expo
by Walter C. Newman

One thing you can always find at Fishersville is a piece of “project” furniture. This walnut blanket chest pushes the boundaries of just how much of a project one may be willing to undertake. It was in the booth of Larry and Linda Fox. The Foxes are from Valencia, ... (Read More)

(Auction)

Decorative Arts with a Dose of History
by Karla Klein Albertson

Top lot of the sale was the Shenandoah Valley bookcase on bureau. It sold for $93,600 to a private collector, edging out a southern museum, which had pursued the lot for its permanent collection. Sporting an old untouched surface, the case piece was attributed to the Frye-Martin cabinetmaking school ... (Read More)
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