Stories for February '21
(Fragment)Assets of Harold Cole to be Sold in Bankruptcy Auction
On February 13 the assets of longtime dealer Harold Cole will sell in an unreserved online auction. The sale will include antiques, paintings, weathervanes, decoys, and ceramics, according to court papers.
The auction, ordered by the United States Bankruptcy Court, will be conducted by the Hamilton Group, LLC, Clinton, Connecticut, and will be conducted ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Four Auctions, One Winner: Life of a Small-Pocket Collector
In baseball terms, my interest in four items in four different recent auctions resulted in two passed balls, a missed swing, and finally a line-drive hit. All the action, as you can imagine, happened online (in my case, via LiveAuctioneers.com). But none of my decision making would have been possible ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Sotheby's Seeks Dismissal of False Claims Lawsuit
On December 18, 2020, Sotheby’s filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James alleging that Sotheby’s had violated New York’s False Claims Act. The case revolves around a collector using a false resale certificate to avoid paying sales tax (see M.A.D., January, p. ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Troyan Living Trust Sues to Recover Collection
“Without Bob, all of this couldn’t have happened. I put all my trust in him,” Mitzi J. Troyan said on December 11, 2011, at the National Arts Club in New York City. The occasion was an exhibition of the work of artist Matthew Troyan (1913-2007), her late husband.
“Bob” referred to ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, February 2021
The Aeneid, the 16th-century epic poem by Virgil, provided the inspiration for an extraordinary series of coloured enamel panels that feature in one of this month’s reports—one that also includes a painted figure of the Virgin Mary that brought a much higher than expected sum.
A piratical painting, buried treasure, and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Stoneware Donation to New York State Museum
Stoneware authority William C. Ketchum Jr., author of Potters and Potteries of New York State, has donated his research library and notes plus 14 pieces of New York decorated stoneware from his personal collection to the New York State Museum in Albany.
Among the donated pieces are several early pieces from ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)To Price or Not to Price
The Young Collector
Even as you read this, doctors and nurses are administering vaccines. We can finally begin to believe that there is a life out there beyond the toilet-paper-hoarding fugue state that we have all been brumating in for nearly a year now. That life had stopped seeming like a ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Auction Prices Realized, February 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)New Dates for Fort Worth Show
The Fort Worth Show of Antiques, Art & Jewelry has changed the dates of the 2021 show from March to April. Formerly slated for March 5-7, the event will now take place April 9-11.
According to promoter Andrea Canady, “After consulting with our exhibitors and attendees, the April date was highly ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Rehs Galleries Nears Completion of Julien Dupré Catalogue Raisonné
Rehs Galleries Inc., New York City, is nearing completion of a virtual catalogue raisonné on Julien Dupré (1851-1910).
The project began in 1991 when gallery owner Howard Rehs noticed a lack of biographical information about the 19th-century artist Julien Dupré, whose paintings he was handling. According to Rehs, “As the artist’s ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)COVID Cancels a Consignment
In December 2020 federal Judge Denise Cote ruled that the COVID-19 pandemic was a “natural disaster” and thus allowed auction house Phillips to terminate a contract to sell a Rudolf Stingel painting consigned by JN Contemporary Art LLC.
The contract, signed on June 27, 2019, called for the painting to be ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)United Flea Markets Acquires Texas Flea Market
Denver-based United Flea Markets, owner of the largest portfolio of flea markets in the country, has acquired a controlling interest of Cole’s Antique Village and Flea Market in Pearland (Houston), Texas. This acquisition marks United Flea Markets’ 15th property and the company’s first flea market in Texas.
In mid-November, the company ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Hanging with Marion Harris
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)Bingham Secretary Gifted to Chipstone
Folk art dealer Allan Katz has given the so-called Bingham secretary to The Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee. “We made an unconditional gift, knowing it’s in good hands,” Katz said.
The Bingham secretary is a fake made by dealer Harold Gordon of Templeton, Massachusetts. Gordon sold it to Katz, and at the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Photograph of Ty Cobb Stealing Third Base Sells for $390,000
Charles Conlon’s 1910 original photograph of Ty Cobb sliding into third base sold for $390,000 (includes buyer’s premium) at Robert Edward Auctions in an online auction that closed on December 6, 2020.
$390,000. Photo courtesy Robert Edward Auctions.
According to the auction house, the consignor had acquired it at auction nearly three ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Jewelry Sold at Nye & Co.
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Nye & Co.
Just in time for holiday shopping, Nye & Co., Bloomfield, New Jersey, held its jewelry and fine art auction on December 2, 2020. The sale was highlighted by a Short Hills, New Jersey, and San Francisco, California, collection that produced many of the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Thanksgiving Americana and Fine Jewelry
Garth’s Auctions, Columbus, Ohio
by Don Johnson
Photos courtesy Garth’s Auctions
The annual Thanksgiving sale is a tradition at Garth’s Auctions. Held on Black Friday (and in previous years, that Friday and Saturday), the event brings a crowd to Garth’s gallery and is one of the strongest sales of the year for the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Shaker and Sand Art Highlight Americana Sale
Skinner, Marlborough, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Skinner
This sand art bottle by Iowa artist Andrew Clemens (1857-1894), with patriotic and geometric designs, a heart, a hand, and a mortar and pestle, was a presentation piece, dedicated to Dr. Prosper Harvey Ellsworth of Hot Springs, Arkansas, “From Two Friends.” Ellsworth had been a Union ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Grogan & Company “Does Better” at Fall Auction
Grogan & Company, Boston, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Grogan & Company
Visitors to the Grogan & Company gallery in Boston to preview the November 15, 2020, auction were greeted by plywood across the front door. During the Black Lives Matter protests last June, the door had been spray-painted “#BLM Do Better, Art World!” ... (Read More)
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(Show)A Virtual Version of Rhinebeck
Fall Antiques at Rhinebeck
We have known promoter Frank Gaglio of Barn Star Productions for decades, have covered dozens of his shows, and are always amazed by his innovations. We thought he had used up his bag of ideas by now, but he found one of his best for the November ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Thomaston Place Ends 2020 with a Four-Day Sale
Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, Thomaston, Maine
From November 12 to 15, 2020, it was four days of continuous selling at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries in Thomaston, Maine. With 1730-plus lots up for grabs altogether, about 1350 successfully found new homes over the four-day affair. Day one presented the lower end of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Double Portrait and Dwarf Clock Lead at Evans
Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Mt. Crawford, Virginia
Photos courtesy Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates
Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates held its 39th semiannual premier Americana auction November 12, 13, and 14, 2020, at the firm’s gallery in Mt. Crawford, Virginia. The three-day event kicked off on Thursday with an auction of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Fall Sale Marathon Ends with $2.3 Million Total
Bertoia Auctions, Vineland, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Bertoia Auctions
Antique and collectible toys galore once again filled gallery space during Bertoia’s annual fall sale, held November 12 and 13, 2020. Loads of consignments made up this two-day event along with items from the collections of Bob Merck, Jay Schoedinger, and Larry Brethauer. ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Small Sale of Americana
Freemans’s, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Freeman’s
If these were normal times, Freeman’s sale of 191 lots of Americana on November 10, 2020, might have been part of its annual fall Americana sale. That auction has traditionally taken place a few days after the Delaware Antiques Show, when dealers and collectors are in ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Pennsylvania Country Antiques from Old-Time Collection Excel
Horst Auction Center, Ephrata, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Horst Auction Center
Horst Auction Center held a 526-lot sale that grossed $221,880 (including buyers’ premiums) at its auction house in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, on November 6 and 7, 2020. In an age when auction houses need to be as competitive as ever, Horst does not ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Time Times Two: Clocks and Watches at Auction
Skinner, Marlborough, Massachusetts, and Schmitt Horan & Co., Windham, New Hampshire
Photos courtesy Skinner and Schmitt Horan & Co.
Horology buyers had plenty of choices in a pair of October 2020 New England auctions. The results were surprisingly strong for both. Each auction house posted well-illustrated and well-described online catalogs, each offered ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Auction Features Cleveland School Artists
Rachel Davis Fine Arts, Cleveland, Ohio
Photos courtesy Rachel Davis Fine Arts
In-person anything remains a huge unknown because of COVID-19, but online-only auctions continue to chug along. Rachel Davis Fine Arts has been utilizing the online auction option for years but always paired with in-house gallery bidding. Eliminating on-site bidding has ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Fortieth Anniversary Sale for California and Western Art Department
Bonhams, Los Angeles, California
Photos courtesy Bonhams
Bonhams’ California and Western art auction on October 13, 2020, in Los Angeles marked the 40th anniversary of the department. Department director Scot Levitt, who has been with the department since 1984, wrote an introduction in the catalog about the landmark and about how the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Arader's Blockbuster $18.6 Million Sale
Arader Galleries, New York City
Photos courtesy Arader Galleries
W. Graham Arader III, a dealer in historic prints, maps, books, and paintings who has held auctions since 2007, recently launched his own auction platform, Arader Live. On Saturday afternoon, October 10, 2020, 192 lots of natural history and cartography were offered on ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Richard and Valerie Tucker's Collection of Shooting Gallery Targets
Soulis Auctions, Lone Jack, Missouri
Photos courtesy Soulis Auctions
There’s something to be learned by zeroing in on Richard and Valerie Tucker’s collection of shooting gallery targets offered by Soulis Auctions on September 26, 2020, in Lone Jack, Missouri.
It wasn’t the quality or quantity of the collection; that was already well known. ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Furniture, Folk Art, and Decorative Arts
Cowan’s Auctions, Cincinnati, Ohio
Photos courtesy Cowan’s Auctions
Painted by Matthew Harris Jouett (1788-1827) circa 1818, a portrait of Isaac Shelby (1750-1826), the first governor of Kentucky, realized $112,500 (including buyer’s premium) to highlight the sale of American furniture, folk art, and decorative arts held by Cowan’s Auctions of Cincinnati, Ohio, September ... (Read More)
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