Stories for December '22
(Issue Story)Finds
Finds are a highlight of collecting. Because of the many definitions, gradations, and nuances, I am unsure that agreement exists on what one is, but collectors know when such a discovery takes place.
To some a find is a treasure a collector discovers unexpectedly. To other collectors spending the day going ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Man Arrested in Antiques Shop Thefts
Between September 14 and October 5, the Camp Verde Office in Verde, Arizona, received reports of an older man allegedly committing thefts from local antiques stores. This man entered the stores during business hours and allegedly took several thousand dollars’ worth of jewelry and other high-end merchandise without paying for ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, December 2022
A couple of pictures are at the very top of the price lists in this month’s somewhat curious selection.
The most expensive of them, at over $450,000, is Johan Zoffany’s very late 18th-century portrait of the comic actor Edward Townsend singing “The Beggar”from Merry Sherwood, or Harlequin Forrester, an entertainment based ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)It’s the Little Things
Beneath the Surface
The last few years have recalibrated our lives. They have shifted our sense of community, our work culture, our economy. As “history people,” although we can acknowledge that this wouldn’t necessarily be a time period we would have chosen, it is undeniable that we are in the midst ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)A Chance of a Lifetime!
On page 82 of The New Fine Points of Furniture: Early American, Good, Better, Best, Superior, Masterpiece (1993), Albert Sack pictured a 1770-90 Philadelphia comb-back Windsor armchair, proclaiming it a “Masterpiece.” He likened it to a “thoroughbred,” calling it “one of the supreme examples of the Windsor chairmakers’ art.” He ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Williamsburg Buys Its Earliest Piece of American Silver
A caudle cup struck with the marks of Robert Sanderson Sr. (c. 1608-1693), his partner John Hull (1624-1683), and their apprentice Jeremiah Dummer (1645-1718) offered at a Heritage Auctions’ coin sale in Dallas, Texas, August 22 was acquired by Colonial Williamsburg.
Made by the first silversmiths working in what is now ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Show in Denville, New Jersey
The Denville Historical Society and Morris Catholic High School have partnered with D. Turi Antique Shows to present a new show, Christmas Antique & Design Market on December 3 and 4.
The show will be held at Morris Catholic High School in Denville, New Jersey, and will benefit the school’s scholarship ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Auction Prices Realized, December 2022
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)William Reese Company Has New Owners
The William Reese Company, the world’s leading antiquarian bookseller of printed and manuscript Americana, has been sold to new owners. James Cummins Bookseller, based in New York City, and London bookseller Peter Harrington have acquired the company, which will continue to operate at its existing premises at 409 Temple Street, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Hanging with Chuck Auerbach
When M.A.D. caught up with Chuck Auerbach of Akron, Ohio, he was in his car picking up his two grandchildren, who live in Nashville, Tennessee. He and his wife had made the eight-hour drive the day before in order to help their older son, Dan, who is the lead singer, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Ann Comes Home after More Than 50 Years
It took more than 50 years, but there’s a happy ending on Staten Island.
In November 1970, Richmondtown Restoration, a town and farm museum complex on Staten Island now known as Historic Richmond Town, suffered a break-in and theft. Four paintings were discovered missing—portraits of John Totten (1771-1846) and his wife, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions, December 2022
Ammi Phillips (1788-1865), portraits of Dirck D. and Annatje Eltinge Wynkoop.
—Through December 18 —New Paltz, New York
Acquisitions and Re-acquisitions at the Dubois Fort Visitor Center at Historic Huguenot Street (HHS) celebrates the return of two portraits by itinerant painter Ammi Phillips, stolen 50 years ago and recently returned by the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Corson Doll Collection Is 100% Sold at Withington
Photos courtesy Withington Auctions
The Carol Corson doll collection was 100% sold at a live auction held October 20 by Withington Auctions at the DoubleTree by Hilton in Nashua, New Hampshire. The hammer total of the sale was $780,000 (buyers paid a premium of 15% or 18% depending on how they ... (Read More)
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(Show)Fall Antiques at Rhinebeck
Rhinebeck, New York
October means picking (apples), taking rides in the countryside (for fall foliage), and going to a historic town near the Hudson River to a spot for great antiques and art. The twice-a-year Antiques at Rhinebeck by Barn Star Productions is held inside large buildings on the Dutchess County ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Russum’s Sells Benjamin Franklin’s Book on Electricity for $153,400
Photos courtesy Russum’s Furniture Auctioneers
In these days of the Internet, when a rarity turns up in a small auction in a remote part of the country, it is not a secret. Sometimes the prices for these discoveries at out-of-the-way country sales are higher than those at well-publicized auctions held in ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Three-Day Sale Brings $2.5 Million
Pook & Pook, Inc., Downingtown, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Pook & Pook
It took three days for Pook & Pook to sell 1408 lots in its Americana and international auction October 5-7. The 1372 sold lots brought a total of $2,518,924 (with buyers’ premiums); the hammer total (without premiums) was at the top ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Selection of Americana Sold in Los Angeles
Bonhams, Los Angeles, California
Photos courtesy Bonhams
The estimates for Bonhams’ “Home and Interiors” auctions in Los Angeles are lower than those for their European, English, and American furniture and decorative arts sales—most are under $5000. The range of collecting categories is large—furniture, silver, rugs and tapestries, pictures, sculpture, and works of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Estate of Peter H. Tillou
Brunk Auctions, Asheville, North Carolina
Photos courtesy Brunk Auctions
In a 2002 article in Antiques & Fine Art, Peter H. Tillou (1935-2021) said that there was a common denominator to his love affair with dealing and collecting. In everything he acquired as a curious eight-year-old and as an adult, there was an ... (Read More)
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(Auction)One-Owner, One-Artist Collection Highlights Hindman Auction
Hindman Auctions, Chicago, Illinois
Photos courtesy Hindman Auctions
Hindman Auctions in Chicago always rolls out the big guns for its seasonal fine arts sales, but the September 27-29 sales added a blitz of high power.
Bidders accustomed to a traditional series of American and European art, postwar and contemporary art, plus prints and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Tiffany Zodiac Panels Top Sale
Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas
Photos courtesy Heritage Auctions
A collection of six rare Tiffany Studios mosaic glass panels representing zodiac symbols led Heritage Auctions’ September sale of masterful works of Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and art glass.
The sale, highlighted by works from Tiffany Studios, was part of the Dallas-based auction house’s introductory ... (Read More)
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(Show)Original 179th York Antiques Show and Sale
York, Pennsylvania
The Original 179th York Antiques Show and Sale at the York, Pennsylvania, fairgrounds September 23 and 24 was a shadow of what it once was but still a “great dealers’ swap meet.”
Reduced to only 50 dealers from the 75 advertised, and down from 98 in its heyday, the show ... (Read More)
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(Show)Back To Our Roots Antique Show
Dayton, Ohio
Concentrating on early country antiques and primitives, the Back To Our Roots Antique Show was held September 24 on the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Dayton, Ohio. The semiannual event featured a full slate of 44 dealers in a comfortable indoor setting.
The show began in 2015 in Medina, Ohio, south ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Quality Jewelry at a Fair Price
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Chiswick Auctions
Chiswick Auctions, headquartered in Chiswick, London, presented a jewelry auction on September 22 “which sold 87% of the lots for 95% of their estimates,” according to Raphaëlle Godfrey, acting director of jewelry. Godfrey had been covering for Sarah Duncan, head of the jewelry department, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)$7 Million Total for Two Days
Rago/Wright, Lambertville, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Rago/Wright
Rago/Wright’s September 22 early 20th-century design sale and September 23 modern design sale in Lambertville, New Jersey, were the company’s first post-COVID-19 live sales and the first after Toomey & Co. joined the company and moved its business from Oak Park, Illinois, to Wright’s headquarters ... (Read More)
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(Show)There is a Lot to See at Battersea
Battersea Antiques Show and Historic Trades Fair, Petersburg, Virginia
The third annual Battersea Antiques Show and Historic Trades Fair was held at the historic Petersburg, Virginia, site on the Appomattox River September 17 and 18. Dealers and exhibitors set up in the ground-floor rooms of the Battersea mansion and on the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Sale of Elmer’s Auto & Toy Museum Brings $8.5 Million
Mecum Auctions, Fountain City, Wisconsin
Photos courtesy Mecum Auctions
Up Elmer’s Road, through hundreds of discarded cars, to Eagle’s Bluff—one of the highest points on the Mississippi River—lay a slice of Americana, the kind of quirky attraction that has long drawn people to Wisconsin. There, stacked to the rafters of barns, were ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Collection of Trish and Don Herr
Horst Auctioneers, Ephrata, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Horst Auctioneers
For years collector and author Dr. Patricia “Trish” Herr cataloged textiles for Horst Auctioneers in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, so it was not surprising that when her husband, Dr. Donald “Don” M. Herr, died in 2021, she downsized and sent a group of things to Horst ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Surprises and Disappointments in Sacramento Auction
Witherell’s, Sacramento, California
Photos courtesy Witherell’s
Witherell’s September 16 “Luxury Asset” auction in Sacramento, California, “met expectations,” said CEO Brian Witherell, “but with that said, there were surprises and disappointments throughout the sale.”
The biggest disappointment was a Louis Vuitton steamer trunk estimated at $5000/10,000 that sold for $3150 (includes buyer’s premium). In ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Americana Auction
John McInnis Auctioneers, Amesbury, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy McInnis Auctioneers
It’s been a summer-long extravaganza at John McInnis Auctioneers in Amesbury, Massachusetts, that culminated in a live auction September 10 at which John McInnis and his staff sold over 600 lots of Americana. On our approach to the gallery, the degree of available ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Heckler Finds the Perfect Recipe for Auction Success
Norman C. Heckler & Company, Woodstock Valley, Connecticut
Photos courtesy Norman C. Heckler & Company
What makes a great auction? Where historical glass is concerned, buyers get excited when items from a well-known collection come to the auction block. The opportunity to purchase what has been off the market for some time ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Flying Pig Sells 311 Lots
Flying Pig Auctions, Westmoreland, New Hampshire
Photos courtesy Flying Pig Auctions
Flying Pig Auctions of Westmoreland, New Hampshire, filled its August 29 auction with antiques of every variety. The contents of the estate of Henry Armand Millon (1927-2018) and Judith Rice Millon (b. 1934) were replete with enviable mid-century objects—including two tables ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Online American Art Sale
Bonhams, New York City
Photos courtesy Bonhams
An online-only summer sale of American art filled with works depicting water was offered for the first time by Bonhams American art department. At the end of the 67-lot sale, which began at 2 p.m. Thursday, August 24, the auction house had realized $494,303 and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Modern-Day Old Country Auction
Laughlin Auctions, Edinburg, Virginia
Photos courtesy Laughlin Auctions
A friend recently posed a rhetorical question: “Is there any such thing as a little country auction anymore?”
My knee-jerk response was that there are not and something to the effect that online auctions have supplanted them. Upon reflection, I wish to walk that back ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Connoisseur’s Sale
Marion Antique Auctions, Marion, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Marion Antique Auctions
Frank McNamee and David Glynn of Marion Antique Auctions, Marion, Massachusetts, billed their August 6 sale “The Connoisseur’s Sale,” and it was that. Their auctions, held in their quarters at 13 Atlantis Drive, the former Marconi transmitter building, are reliable sources of ... (Read More)
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(Show)End-of-Day Antiquing at Zoar
Zoar Antiques Show & Artisans’ Tent, Zoar, Ohio
As a reporter who attends and writes about antiques shows, my goal is to get to the show early in order to see the “good stuff” before it is scooped up by those first through the doors and to speak to dealers possibly ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Eldred’s Two-Day Sale
Eldred’s, East Dennis, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Eldred’s
Celebrating its 75th anniversary, Eldred’s auctions on Cape Cod in East Dennis, Massachusetts, offered its annual two-day summer sale July 26 and 27 beneath the tent on the terrace outside the viewing rooms. The firm is now run by the third generation of Eldreds. The ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Wyeth Material Tops Sale
Caza Sikes, Cincinnati, Ohio
Photos courtesy Caza Sikes
Items from a small grouping of material by Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009), including artwork and negatives of unpublished photographs depicting the artist at work, brought the top interest during the auction of fine and decorative art held by Caza Sikes in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 16.
The ... (Read More)
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