Stories for January '21
(Fragment)Pandemic Forces Outsider Art Fair to Adopt Hybrid Model
The Outsider Art Fair (OAF) will move to a hybrid model offering live gallery exhibitions and an online viewing room when it is held January 28-February 7.
The fair utilized a similar model for its Paris edition held in October 2020.
The OAF, founded in 1993, has been owned since 2012 by ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Case Auctions Opens Chattanooga Office
On November 30, 2020, Case Antiques Inc. Auctions & Appraisals opened a consignment office in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It is the third branch for the Knoxville-based company, which John and Stephanie Case (pictured) opened in 2005. Other offices are located in Nashville and Kingsport, Tennessee.
“We’re grateful to be attracting an increasing ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Riley Humler Joins Toomey & Co.
Riley Humler has been appointed head of the ceramics department at Toomey & Co. Auctioneers, Oak Park, Illinois. Humler has over 30 years of experience in the auction business, beginning with Cincinnati Art Galleries and then as founder of Humler & Nolan, a Cincinnati auction house specializing in American and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Magda Grigorian Heads to Phillips
Magda Grigorian has been appointed chief communications officer for Phillips. Based in New York City and reporting to chief executive officer Edward Dolman, Grigorian will drive the auction house’s global communications and public relations strategies and oversee all aspects of internal and external communications, the auction house said.
Magda Grigorian.
Grigorian has ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Birds, Bugs and Butterflies Wins 2020 American Ceramic Circle Book Award
The American Ceramic Circle (ACC) Book Award, established in 2005, recognizes English-language publications that advance the study of ceramics, present new scholarship and interpretations, and, in doing so, become important and standard references in the field.
The ACC Book Award committee identified the 2020 winner as Birds, Bugs and Butterflies: Lady ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)All We Have
The Young Collector
In trying times, we find joy in small or unexpected places. One of our unexpected joys in the past seven months (which have felt like three and a half decades) is a weekly video chat that our younger child has with his cousin by cell phone. She is ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New York Sues Sotheby’s Over False Tax Exemption Certificates
In early November 2010, during a conversation at the Manhattan coffee bar Sant Ambroeus, an unnamed collector asked his Sotheby’s key client manager (KCM)—only three years out of college—why some people did not pay sales tax when they bought art. That’s according to a lawsuit filed in November 2020 by ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, January 2021
This latest “Letter” features something rather out of the ordinary, a monster machine called the “Super Lion,” and an old French shoe and a reminder of Madame Guillotine. Here, too, you will find oak furnishings and a dog collar keeping company. There are ivory models produced as a guide to ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Auction Prices Realized, January 2021
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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(Fragment)“Net to You” Contract Spurs Lawsuit
At 5:45 p.m. on Sunday, October 27, 2018, at the TEFAF show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City, Hirschl & Adler Galleries sold a full-length portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart—the so-called Munro-Lenox portrait. The price was $12,000,000.
The venerable New York gallery didn’t own the 95" ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Gustav Stickley House Restoration Project Receives Grant
The Greater Syracuse Land Bank has received a $500,000 matching grant from the Department of Interior, National Park Service (NPS), funded through the Historic Preservation Fund and the Save America’s Treasures grant program, for the interior restoration of the Gustav Stickley House at 438 Columbus Avenue in Syracuse, New York.
Gustav ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Hanging with Allis Ghim, CEO of Bidsquare
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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(Fragment)New York City in January
For decades Americana Week has brought passionate collectors and curators to New York City in search of the best the market offers. They look forward to auctions, shows, and the ancillary events: museum visits, auction previews, lectures, cocktail parties, and dinners. They see it as a time to test the ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Collectors’ Angst: What Will I Do with My Collection?
“To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven.” – Ecclesiastes 3:1
When in Manchester, New Hampshire, for Antiques Week in 2019, I talked with lots of collectors awaiting show openings. In my informal discussions one theme repeatedly emerged. Beloved objects that make up collections have ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Help on the Way
As Lita Solis-Cohen notes on pp. 126-127, the Americana Week auctions in New York City in January certainly have some delectable offerings. While bidding will be live online, at this time there’s no plan to have in-house bidders. For all of us who love the dynamics and drama of a ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Craft in America Awarded $100,000 Prize by Decorative Arts Trust
On December 8, 2020, Matthew A. Thurlow, executive director of the Decorative Arts Trust, announced that Craft in America was the recipient of the inaugural Prize for Excellence and Innovation. Established in 2020, the $100,000 prize recognizes scholarly endeavors undertaken by a nonprofit organization to advance the public’s appreciation of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Record for a Lozowick Print
Swann Galleries’ November 12, 2020, sale of prints in New York City was led by New York, a scarce 1925 lithograph by Louis Lozowick (1892-1973) that sold for $81,250 (includes buyer’s premium), an auction record for any print by the artist. The buyer was a collector.
New York, circa 1925, 113/8" ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Strong Sale of American Arts and Crafts Jewelry and More
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Toomey & Co.
Toomey & Co., Oak Park, Illinois, held a jewelry, silver, and objects of vertu auction on November 12, 2020. A large portion of the sale was sourced from the Paul and Terry Somerson collection of 20th- and 21st-century metalwork and jewelry. John Walcher, ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Online Delaware Antiques Show
Wilmington, Delaware
For more than a decade the Chase Center in Wilmington has been the venue for the Delaware Antiques Show during the first week of November. The show is known for attracting a large crowd of collectors both local and from afar. During this year of the COVID crisis, the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Charles Collection Takes Top Billing in Americana Sale
Conestoga Auction Company, Manheim, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Conestoga Auction Company
Eugene “Gene” and Vera Charles of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, were longtime collectors and later dealers specializing in china and glass at regional shows. They bought at local farm sales and were always condition conscious. David Charles, their nephew, entrusted John Hess of the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Pennsylvania Sale
Freeman’s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Freeman’s
Freeman’s online-only Pennsylvania sale on October 28, 2020, demonstrated that selling things in the region where they were made is a good plan, and including 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century material in the same sale is a good idea, too. A well-advertised portrait of the Kitzmiller family ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Legend of the West: The T. Boone Pickens Collection
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
"This is a fantastic moment. We are delighted and honored to offer these works,” said John Hays, deputy chairman of Christie’s Americas, as he introduced the noon sale of 79 lots from the collection of T. Boone Pickens (1928-2019) on October 28, 2020.
The highest-selling lot ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Decorative Arts Sale
Treadway Gallery, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio
Photos courtesy Treadway Gallery
A Tiffany Studios Oriental Poppy table lamp sold for $87,500 (including buyer’s premium) to highlight the decorative arts auction held by Treadway Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, on October 25, 2020. The lamp was estimated at $65,000/75,000. The stained-glass shade, featuring a design that ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Collection of Clifford Sanborn Bonney
John McInnis Auctioneers, Amesbury, Massachusetts
As a nine-year-old boy, Clifford Sanborn Bonney (1945-2019) began a lifelong collection when he acquired an English pewter plate. A descendant of the early settlers of Newbury, Massachusetts, Bonney was a collector and a preservationist. When his collection came to auction in a single-owner sale on ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Virtual Fall Fox Valley Antiques Show
St. Charles, Illinois
When a show lasts for decades, it must be something special. The annual Fox Valley Antiques Shows each spring (60-plus years) and fall (46 years) stayed alive all those years by adhering to consistent and unbending standards, along with being customer and community friendly. That’s the way to ... (Read More)
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(Show)An Old-Style Antiquing Event
Virginia Pickers Antique & Collectables Show, Glen Allen, Virginia
The fall 2020 Virginia Pickers Antique & Collectables Show was held at the Gilman Farm in Glen Allen, Virginia, October 16-18. In its brief three-year history, the show has developed into a regional destination, with the majority of its vendors and patrons ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Admiral Tromp Marches to the Top at Fall Sale
Marion Antique Auctions, Marion, Massachusetts
Bidders at the Marion Antique Auctions sale in Marion, Massachusetts, had to wait until almost the end of the October 10, 2020, auction for a framed and glazed drawing by Dutch golden age artist Jan Lievens (1607-1674) to come on the block. The 17th-century drawing of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Americana Brings Fine Results at Pook & Pook
Pook & Pook, Inc., Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Pook & Pook, Inc.
Pook & Pook’s big, long Americana and international auction, held October 9 and 10, 2020, offered one estate after another in 874 lots and sold 855 of them for a total of $2,234,475 (including buyers’ premiums), well above the presale ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Potomack Company Howls with Its October Sale
The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia
Photos courtesy The Potomack Company
The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia, held an October suite of nine themed and targeted auctions beginning on October 6, 2020, with a “classic” sale, followed by eight sales scattered over the following weeks. In all, more than 1750 lots crossed the block. ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Glazer Collection Buoys Auction
New Haven Auctions/Fred Giampietro, New Haven, Connecticut
Photos courtesy New Haven Auctions
The first 100 lots of New Haven Auctions’ October 3, 2020, Americana sale came from the folk-art collection of dealers James and Nancy Glazer of Bailey Island, Maine. Even a casual observer could deduce from those first lots what fun ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Chinese Plaque Leads at Hilliard
Hilliard & Co., Madison, Virginia
Photos courtesy Hilliard & Co.
The October 3 antiques and fine art online auction presented by Hilliard & Co. from its Madison, Virginia, gallery offered an interesting mix of 347 lots. Selling in real time and executing bids from absentees, telephone bidders, and online bidders using LiveAuctioneers, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Sale of the Spanierman Collection
Rago, Lambertville, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Rago
“‘It costs you as much to frame a $1,000 painting as it does a $100,000 painting,’ Ira told me. ‘It costs you as much to photograph it, to store it, and to ship it out on approval. And you have to work just as hard ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Mueller Collection of Americana
Soulis Auctions, Lone Jack, Missouri
Photos courtesy Soulis Auctions
It’s hard to say what the main story was during the dispersal of the 30-year collection of Jerry and Cathy Mueller, held by Soulis Auctions in Lone Jack, Missouri, on September 19, 2020. It might have been the Lincoln pie safe or the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Design Auctions
Rago, Lambertville, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Rago
Rago Auctions kicked off its fall season with two days of 20th- and 21st-century design sales on September 11 and 12, 2020, in Lambertville, New Jersey. Fifteen in-house bidders, masked and socially distanced, and hundreds on four online bidding platforms and phones competed for 560 ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Sales of Modern Design
Sotheby’s, New York City, and Phillips, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s and Phillips
While New York City seemed like a ghost town this summer, with galleries and antiques shops closed, online design sales were heartily embraced at Sotheby’s on July 30 and at Phillips on July 29, and records tumbled.
Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s ... (Read More)
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