Stories for September '20
(Fragment)Colonial Williamsburg Reopens with Expanded Museum and New Exhibitions
Colonial Williamsburg has reopened with a newly expanded building that houses both art museums and five new special exhibitions, with more on the way. A new wing in the DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum and the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum adds 65,000 square feet to the museum building, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Auction Prices Realized, September 2020
Here are a few notable prices of antiques sold recently at auction, as provided by press releases. All prices include the buyer’s premium when charged. We’re always looking for news of prices realized at auctions, particularly unusual or top lots. Send pictures, complete descriptions, and information to A.P.R., Maine Antique ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)Experience vs. Outcome
The Young Collector
As this isolated strangeness grinds on, more and more we realize that we do not miss many big things. What we miss are the little things—shaking hands, seeing smiles, giving hugs. You know, the good old days of being able to run errands without masks, sanitizer, wipes, and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)TEFAF New York 2020 Canceled
TEFAF New York 2020, originally postponed from this spring to this fall, has been officially canceled. “We have concluded that, despite our efforts, it will not be possible to host TEFAF New York 2020,” a July 17 press release stated. The show was to be held from October 31 to ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Museum of the American Revolution Reopens
A masked, socially distanced visit to a museum is a real picker-upper these days when quarantine makes it hard to remember if it is Wednesday or Thursday because every day seems the same. The Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia is set to reopen to the general public on ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Route 32 Auctions Buys Showtime Auctions
For the second time in less than a year, Kevin and Jill Parker, owners of Route 32 Auctions in Crawfordsville, Indiana, have expanded their business. In June they purchased Showtime Auctions of Ann Arbor, Michigan. They had previously acquired the Boone County Treasure Hunt (which includes the Indy Antique Advertising ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Hartford’s Hockey Stick Stands
Candlestands made in Connecticut and elsewhere in America for many decades spanning the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries commonly had a central turned column, or standard, to which a top was fastened with a cleat and three legs attached at the base (fig. 3).
Figure 3. Candlestand, Windsor ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Appeals Court Reinstates Art Defamation Lawsuit
On May 22 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling and reinstated an art defamation lawsuit filed by Gerald Peters Gallery and Gerald Peters against Peter Stremmel, Stremmel Galleries, Mike Overby, and Coeur D’Alene Art Auction of Nevada. “We conclude that the district court erred in ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Speaking Walls and Well-Mannered Dogs
A Book Review
The history, design, production, and architectural application of wallpaper to interiors has interested me since childhood. Early on, I focused my attention on the 19th-century French panoramic papers that appeared around 1800 and were inspired by mural paintings, tapestries, Chinese painted wallpapers, English wallpapers depicting fine art and architectural elements, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, September 2020
Letter from London
by Ian McKay, <[email protected]>
Astrolabes and Venus, handbags, timekeepers and beekeepers, along with Medusa the Gorgon and an unusual mirror all feature in this month’s “Letter,” as do complex and costly automata. There is also an old tablet that bears the name of a Sumerian brewery worker—thought to be ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Delaware Antiques Show Goes Virtual and Winterthur Terminates 27 Staff
“When the members of Winterthur’s Collectors Circle, many of them big buyers, said they would not travel to attend the Delaware Antiques Show, and the caterer said we had to serve box suppers, and the lender to the loan show backed out, we knew we were in trouble. Then forty-nine ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Fiddlers at the Fairgrounds Show Sold
In February 2020 the long-running Fiddlers antiques show made a major move east to the new Expo Center at Nashville’s Fairgrounds, as reviewed in the June 2020 issue of M.A.D. Now that transformation has been followed by another big change announced by show owner Doug Supinger on the website: “Doug ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Hanging with James R. Boening
We are all spending much more time now in our houses and apartments because of COVID-19. Because we all might enjoy staring at someone else’s walls for a change, this column gives our readers an idea of what some of their colleagues, fellow collectors, and other readers surround themselves with ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Bill du Pont: Impassioned Collector and Connoisseur
William “Bill” Kemble du Pont, impassioned and very private collector of American antiques, died tragically in a tractor accident on July 4, leaving the Delaware Valley antiques world without its number one supporter. Over more than six decades, du Pont bought antiques from a battalion of dealers, collectors, and auctioneers ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)A Welcome Respite
Shortly after arriving at the Deerfield Fairgrounds for Gurley Antique Shows’ annual event, part of Antiques Week in New Hampshire, happening live, I was speaking with Timothy Libby, husband of co-promoter Rachel Gurley.
I told Libby that on my way driving to the show, I noticed the first yellow “Antiques Show” ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Baltimore Show Rescheduled to 2021
The 2020 Baltimore Art, Antique & Jewelry Show, postponed from August to November, has now officially been rescheduled to 2021. The original event was rescheduled following the City of Baltimore’s executive order to cancel public events through August 30. However, recent updates from government officials regarding the use of the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Grueby Vase Brings $431,250 at Record-Setting Design Auction
Two collectors bidding by phone for a Grueby vase with a butterscotch glaze set a new record for Grueby pottery, $431,250 (includes buyer’s premium), after a 45-minute bidding battle on July 30 at Sotheby’s. The price far exceeded the vase’s $7000/9000 estimate.
Grueby vase, $431,250. Photo courtesy Sotheby’s.
The 6¾" high vase was ... (Read More)
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(Auction)There Is No Substitute for Americana
Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Mt. Crawford, Virginia
Photos courtesy Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates
In unsettled times it is said that we instinctively return to that which is both familiar and secure. And in these times of uncertainty it is not surprising that we enthusiastically return to Americana. If the 38th ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Daniel Buck Has a Prior Engagement
Daniel Buck Auctions, Lisbon Falls, Maine
Daniel Buck’s June 27 auction in Lisbon Falls, Maine, was one of those sales that could be divided neatly into two parts. Part A, the Prior-Hamblen school painting, and Part B, everything else. There were lots of good buys in art, furniture, folk art, and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Art at Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s American art sale at the end of June was smaller than usual and tightly edited. Offering 48 lots, the online June 26 sale totaled $9,103,750 with a sell-through rate of 75%. Three lots featured in the catalog were withdrawn before the sale. Of the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Books, Artifacts, and Ephemera from the Hopkinson Family
William Bunch Auctions and Appraisals, Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Bunch Auctions
A red, white, and blue designating flag from the 2nd Army Corps of the Potomac engaged in repulsing Confederate Major General George Pickett’s charge at Battle of Gettysburg, a book of Virgil’s poems from the renowned Baskerville press given by ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Core Collections and an Abundance of Antique Jewelry
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Skinner, Inc.
Skinner’s June 23 sale of important jewelry was characteristically filled with antiques, well attended (virtually), and exciting to watch online. We’ve been reporting that the jewelry auction market has been holding steady and even gaining steam since the beginning of the pandemic. When I ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Art Pottery at Rago
Rago Arts and Auction Center, Lambertville, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Rago Arts and Auction Center
David Rago said his sale of art pottery on Saturday, June 20, was one of his very best ever. He offered some of the finest works of the period, fresh to market, much of it off the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Strong Prices at Pook and Pook
Pook and Pook, Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Pook and Pook
Bidders seemed hungry to bid at Pook and Pook’s Americana sale on June 20. It was the first sale with a catalog since the COVID-19 pandemic caused Pook in March to cancel all live sales. There were just 35 bidders in reserved ... (Read More)
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(Show)A Bit of Normalcy Returns
A Country Gathering, Elizabethtown, Indiana
A few years ago, an article about an antiques show I had covered drew the ire of the promoter. A bit of flavor woven into the story, detailing the rural setting and an overnight storm, was seen as negative coverage. The promoter took an “if you ... (Read More)
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(Auction)New Platform Hosts Early Summer Sale
Arader Galleries, New York City
Photos courtesy Arader Galleries
Graham Arader launched his own auction platform in time for his early summer sale on June 13, offering potential bidders a $100 credit for registering with the new platform or $250 if a buyer asked for the money to go a charity. Of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Lamp Base Brings $50,150
William A. Smith, Inc., Plainfield, New Hampshire
Photos courtesy William A. Smith, Inc.
“It was a terrific sale. We have attracted many new customers, and our regular customers are still very active, as well as phone, absentee, and Internet customers,” said Lori Vallari, a principal at William A. Smith, Inc., in Plainfield, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Spring Sale Successfully Navigates a Different Kind of Storm
New Orleans Auction Galleries, New Orleans, Louisiana
Photos courtesy New Orleans Auction Galleries
Early in the year, followers of the sales at New Orleans Auction Galleries (NOAG) received a magnificent catalog for its regular spring estates auction scheduled for March 28 and 29. The pages documented almost 1100 lots, which were beautifully ... (Read More)
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(Auction)North American Decoys at Auction
Guyette & Deeter, St. Michaels, Maryland
Jon Deeter may have created a new paradigm for the auction world. Realizing that a pandemic launched the idea is something else.
The concept came after Guyette & Deeter, Inc., the auction house he heads with Gary Guyette, moved its established spring auction from St. Charles, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Senator Claims Medal of Honor Is Dishonored by Sale in Germany
Private Thomas Kelly (d. 1920) of Company H of the U.S. Army’s 21st U.S. Infantry was one of about 112 American soldiers to receive a United States Medal of Honor for his actions in the Battle of San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War, a distinction he shares with then-Lieutenant ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Russell and Doris Evitt’s Collection of Historical Flasks and Antique Bottles
Norman C. Heckler & Company, Woodstock Valley, Connecticut
Photos courtesy Norman C. Heckler & Company
“Fresh to market” is an overused term in the antiques industry, but there are times when it is applicable. The term was appropriate for the Norman C. Heckler & Company auction featuring important historical flasks and antique ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Scottish Gold Center Bowl Tops Sale
Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas
Photos courtesy Heritage Auctions, HA.com
In the midst of the pandemic and diminishing interest in sterling silver flatware and decorative pieces, at least by young people, Heritage Auctions’ sale of fine silver and objects of vertu highlighted bidder enthusiasm and bested sales estimates.
The May 5 sale in Dallas, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Furniture and Decorative Arts
Skinner, Marlborough, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Skinner
By March 10, when Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker declared a state of emergency because of the coronavirus, the writing was on the wall at Skinner in Marlborough. Plan B was required for the American furniture and decorative arts auction. Originally scheduled for April 4, the sale ... (Read More)
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