Stories for June '23
(Fragment)Man Admits to Lying to FBI in Fake Paintings Case
Michael Barzman of North Hollywood, California, 45, a one-time auctioneer, has agreed to plead guilty to lying to FBI agents about the origins of paintings attributed to Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) that were seized last year from the Orlando (Florida) Museum of Art. Barzman has admitted in court papers that he ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Have Clock, Will Travel
Beneath the Surface
There is a saying in the antiques business that three is a collection, and that once you get three of anything, you just have to keep going. This must be the case with us and transporting tall clocks. We have collected the habit apparently. This time it started ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Endowed Curatorship in Honor of Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen
Shelburne Museum in Shelburne, Vermont, has endowed its curatorship of American decorative arts in honor of longtime trustee Alice Cooney “Nonnie” Frelinghuysen, herself a senior curator of American decorative arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
“Establishing this important position in Nonnie’s honor is in thankful recognition ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)FBI Launches Free App to Track and Report Stolen Art
Law enforcement agencies in the United States and around the world have submitted reports of stolen art and antiques to the FBI’s National Stolen Art File (NSAF), a database of stolen art and culturally significant property. The NSAF assists in law enforcement’s efforts to close cases and return pieces of ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Auction Prices Realized, June 2023
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)Seller of Counterfeit Art Extradited after 13 Years as a Fugitive
Angela Catherine Hamblin, 74, a citizen of the United Kingdom, was extradited April 21 from Germany to the United States to serve a prison sentence for selling fake works of art through a commercial auction website and in private transactions.
Hamblin pleaded guilty February 6, 2009, to two counts of mail fraud ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)The Clocks of S-Town
A Book Review
After the 1995 publication of Dava Sobel’s bestseller Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time, my clock-repair customers regularly asked me if I knew about this book. Even to the present day, they still want to repeat to ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London, June 2023
A few British salerooms have taken of late to declining to reveal the prices achieved in what are, in fact, public auctions, which makes rather a nonsense of the term, but plenty of other auctioneers continue to reveal what they have achieved in the way of sales, and it is ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Partners in Withington Auction Form New Entity
In the summer of 2021, it was announced that Hillsborough, New Hampshire-based Withington Auction, Inc., had added new partners: Kenneth Labnon, Gary Yeaton, and Mike Reopel. The three new partners added sales of general line antiques—American furniture, clocks, and decorative arts—to the auction house.
Marcia and Larry Leizure, owners of Withington ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Charity Auctions
Don Henley of the rock band Eagles no doubt saw what Heritage Auctions called the “staggering” images of lines of cars waiting in Dallas for donated meals in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. When asked to contribute a signed guitar for a Heritage-organized auction to benefit the North ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Colby Receives Significant Gift from Marin Family
The Colby College Museum of Art in Waterville, Maine, announced it has received 184 works of art from the estate of Norma B. Marin. Marin (1930-2022) was married to John Marin Jr, son of the Modernist painter John Marin.
Over the last 50 years, the Marin family has gifted to the ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Hanging with Mark Indursky of Lost Found Art
When M.A.D. recently bumped into Mark Indursky, he was visiting the Found Object Show: Art without Intent in Manhattan. As many collectors will do, he arrived early to peruse what might appeal.
Scoping out the show was certainly an easier endeavor than the time he fished out a crushed bucket from ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New York’s Investigation of Sotheby’s Expands
A court filing on April 21 reveals that the New York attorney general’s investigation into alleged improper use of resale certificates at Sotheby’s has expanded. In November 2020 New York Attorney General Letitia James filed a lawsuit against Sotheby’s, accusing the auction house of defrauding the state of New York ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Book Reviews
Florida Sculptors and Their Work: 1880-2020 by Deborah C. Pollack (Schiffer Publishing, 2022, 184 pages, hardbound, $65 plus S/H from Schiffer Publishing [www.schifferbooks.com] or [610] 593-1777).
The first thing you should do with Deborah C. Pollack’s Florida Sculptors and Their Work: 1880-2020 is flip through its pages to scan the images ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)A Curious Plan
How does a relatively new museum get objects? In Tennessee, two legislators want to raid the Tennessee State Museum’s storage area.
On January 30 a bill was introduced in the Tennessee State Legislature that would require the Tennessee State Museum to turn over all artifacts relating to the Confederate States of ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Quest for the Chest: Madeline Yale Wynne’s Masterpiece
Photographs by Penny Leveritt, courtesy Historic Deerfield
An inadvertent encounter with an unassuming turn-of-the-20th-century photograph of a 1903 bride’s chest, tucked in among hundreds of other images, prompted a two-decades-long search to bring the chest home. The improbable, against-all-odds hunt led eventually to a fund-raising campaign for the linen-style chest’s acquisition ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Minardi Named New Editor of Americana Insights
Scholar, author, and curator Lisa Minardi will serve as the new editor of Americana Insights, a publication focused on 18th- and 19th-century Americana and American folk art. Minardi succeeds founding editor Robert Shaw, who retired at the start of 2023.
Minardi serves as executive director of Historic Trappe and its Center ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions, June 2023
Angelo Testa, IBM Disks, 1952-56, linen plain weave, screenprinted, 51¾" x 104¾". Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Costume Council Fund. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA.
—Through July 2 —Los Angeles, California
Coded: Art Enters the Computer Age, 1952-1982 at Los Angeles County Museum of Art explores how the rise of computer technology, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Rare Reward Poster Brings $166,375
The first printing of the reward poster for the capture of John Wilkes Booth and two other conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln was auctioned by Nate D. Sanders Auctions for $166,375 (includes buyer’s premium) April 27. Bidding began at $100,000.
Photo courtesy Nate D. Sanders.
The poster was issued ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)The Wolf Family’s Jewelry Collection
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
The April 20 sale of exceptional jewels from the Wolf family collection at Sotheby’s in New York City was a highly anticipated event. The presale buzz beckoned to us, including an episode of “Frank’s Files” by Frank Everett of Sotheby’s. “Frank’s Files: The Wolf Collection,” ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Collection Proceeds Go to Local 4-H
Photos courtesy Iroquois Auctions
The mocha and spatterware collection of Carl and Janie Hinkle of Truxton, New York, was sold April 14 and 15 at Iroquois Auctions in West Monroe, New York. Carl (1935-2021) founded Atlantic Inland, a home inspection company, and Janie (1934-2015) was a schoolteacher.
A top price for mocha ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Successful Spring Sales at Hilliard
Hilliard & Co., Madison, Virginia
Photos courtesy Hilliard & Co.
There have been several significant changes at Hilliard & Co. since we last visited. Although none of the changes affects the firm’s business model or the way in which it conducts its auctions, Hilliard is heading in the right direction toward creating ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Spring African American Art Sale
Swann Galleries, New York City
Photos courtesy Swann Galleries
Swann Galleries held its spring African American art sale April 6, the Thursday before Easter weekend. The sale, which offered 213 lots, was helmed by two teams of auctioneers and specialists and conducted online.
Swann’s fifth- and sixth-floor space at 104 East 25th ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Goddard Family Collections
Bonhams Skinner, Marlborough, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Bonhams Skinner
All prices include the buyer’s premium.
A single-owner sale of the collections of the Goddard family of Providence, Rhode Island, drew buyers and lookers to the Marlborough, Massachusetts, gallery of Bonhams Skinner for previews of the collections. The 252-lot sale was online only and closed ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Oddities Flea Market
Chicago, Illinois
From the inky skull stamped on the back of your hand upon entry to the pounding sound of goth metal music, it was clear this was a different kind of show. The Oddities Flea Market in Chicago April 1 and 2 opened with a line of people who paid ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Scarlett Fever
Barridoff Auctions, South Portland, Maine
Photos courtesy Barridoff Auctions
Barridoff Auctions held a small, approximately 145-lot sale of art Saturday, April 1, at its comfortable facility in South Portland, Maine. The sale included paintings, prints, sculpture, and photographs. It was 90% sold.
Leading all sales was a 40" x 49 1/8" oil on ... (Read More)
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(Show)April Fools’ Day and the Greater Rochester Spring Antique Show
Henrietta, New York
There were no “fools” and no “fooling around” at the Greater Rochester Spring Antique Show, produced April 1 by the Genesee Country Antique Dealers Association (GCADA). The collectors and dealers who came and the exhibitors who exhibited were savvy, serious, and smart. At 10 a.m. the huge overhead ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Tiffany Windows Shine
Cottone Auctions, Geneseo, New York
Photos courtesy Cottone Auctions
Cottone Auctions held a small 218-lot sale March 31 in Geneseo, New York. Almost every lot sold, and the total was almost exactly $3 million. “There may have been about five lots that passed,” said Matt Cottone. “It was a great sale.”
Tiffany ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Ring Flask Rings Up $204,000 at Crocker Farm
Crocker Farm, Sparks, Maryland
Photos courtesy Crocker Farm
“There are still great objects resurfacing and coming onto the market,” remarked Mark Zipp of Crocker Farm following the Zipp family’s spring sale. This was one of the questions when starting out 20 years ago—how to find the material over time, sale after sale. ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Found Object Show
New York City
Objects whose original purposes have morphed over time and space were displayed March 24-26 at the second edition of The Found Object Show: Art without Intent. The show was held over the last weekend in March in a gallery on West 26th Street, in the heart of New ... (Read More)
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(Show)A Grassroots Antiques Show
Elverson Antique Show & Sale, Elverson, Pennsylvania
The parking lot was full, and there was a big crowd waiting for the doors to open at 10 a.m. at Twin Valley High School in Elverson, Pennsylvania, for the spring edition of the Elverson Antique Show & Sale March 25. There were dealers ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Folk Art and Americana: The Brandegee Collection
Garth’s Auctions, Columbus, Ohio
Photos courtesy Garth’s Auctions
A single-owner sale of Americana and folk art that ranged from a William and Mary one-drawer stand to a Howard Finster metal sign brought a strong response at Garth’s Auctions March 18, indicating there’s no lack of interest in fresh goods with the right ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Roadside Attractions: The Susann Craig Collection
Hindman Auctions, Chicago, Illinois
Photos courtesy Hindman Auctions
Assuming that an adage in the auction world is true—that single-owner sales reflect the personality of the individual who selected the goods—then it stands to reason that the Susann Craig collection sold at Hindman Auctions in Chicago March 9 would come across as colorful, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Maritime Auction
Eldred’s, East Dennis, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Eldred’s
Cape Cod auction house Eldred’s put together a two-day marine sale February 28 and March 1 in East Dennis, Massachusetts. Drawn from an array of maritime collections such as that of Chuck and Jan DeLuca, Michael Gill, Richard Kelton, and Stephen D. Weinroth, the objects ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Robert Ellison’s Collection
Rago, Lambertville, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Rago
Robert A. “Bob” Ellison Jr. (1932-2021) saw ceramics as an “enduring non-verbal language which has been used throughout the world since before recorded history right up through the present,” wrote his wife, the artist Rosaire Appel, in an essay for the catalog for Rago’s February ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Decoys and More at Copley
Copley Fine Art Auctions, Hingham, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Copley Fine Art Auctions
From the Hingham, Massachusetts, offices, Stephen B. O’Brien Jr. and his Copley Fine Art Auctions brought 657 lots of decoys and fine art to market in an online auction February 24 and 25 that brought more than $2.2 million and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Live Auction with Good, Solid Antiques
William Smith Auctions, Plainfield, New Hampshire
Photos courtesy William Smith Auctions
Notable for its breadth and depth, the William Smith Auctions’ February 22 sale was replete with American art and furnishings, Chinese art, fine rugs, and other good, solid antiques. Held live in the Plainfield, New Hampshire, gallery, the sale drew the ... (Read More)
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