Stories for April '25
(Fragment)The Catalog of a Once-in-a-Lifetime Assemblage
A Book Review
Valley Culture: Constructing Identity Along the Great Wagon Road is the catalog for the special exhibition that celebrates the fifth anniversary of the Center for Pennsylvania German Studies at Historic Trappe in Trappe, Pennsylvania. This gathering of painted boxes, cupboards, chests, and fraktur that enriched the daily lives ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)American Antiquarian Society Receives Paine Collection
The American Antiquarian Society (AAS), Worcester, Massachusetts, has received a gift of more than 18,000 pieces of 18th- and 19th-century ephemera. The collection, assembled over several decades by Stephen Davies Paine (1932-1997) and given to AAS in his memory, is one of the largest and most pristine of its kind.
The ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Lost in Flooding
Asheville, North Carolina
A collection of 50 mostly southern high chairs, often lent to museums for exhibitions on life in Appalachia.
An elaborately carved 19th-century Buddha cabinet from Shanxi Province, China, for worship and honoring ancestors. A medieval suit of armor.
Antiques dealers and collectors typically think of themselves as custodians of items ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Auction Prices Realized, April 2025
AHere 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)Garth’s Bonds Divvied Up, Receiver Wrapping Up Dissolution
On February 19 Judge Kim Brown of the Franklin County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas ruled in the case of two $25,000 auctioneer bonds—one on behalf of Richard “Jeff” Jeffers and the other on behalf of Garth’s Auctions, Inc.—issued by the Cincinnati Insurance Company. The total of $50,000 is to ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)50 Years of Sommer
In 1975, when Phyllis Sommer first opened her doors at Pumpkin Patch Antiques in Searsport, Maine, little did she know that 50 years later she’d still be opening those doors at the same location. Her 50th season begins on April 12.
According to Sommer, as a history major in college, her ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Coopertition
Beneath the Surface
We feel like foreign correspondents these days, with many of the observations you read here written on the go, what with scratching odd bits on the back of reading schedules and permission sheets, regularly scrounging around under ketchup packets and outdated registration cards for crusty pens and stubby ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Hyland Granby Antiques Offers Seven Paintings from the Lewis Collection
In this fast-changing world, more collectors and executors of estates have been consigning works of high quality to the trade for sale rather than sending them to auction. “The buyers pay more money at auction with the high buyer’s premium, so the sellers can do better with a private sale ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Revealing F. Edwin Church
The F. Edwin Church Catalogue Raisonné Project and North Shore Historical Museum in Glen Cove, New York, will present a retrospective on F. Edwin Church (1876-1975), a New York Impressionist painter prominent in the first quarter of the 20th century. This exhibition is in honor of the 50th anniversary of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)“Unpretentious Personality and Inherent Dignity”: A Collection of Chinese Furniture
A Book Review
This self-published volume illustrating a portion of the author’s collection of Chinese furniture is more than a photographic album, more than a catalog, more than a lesson on the genre. The Nobility of the Everyday is the author’s intimate exposé on Chinese furniture that he has collected over ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions, April 2025
Photograph by Rafael de la Uz, 2024.
—Through April 13 —Anchorage, Alaska
Nuestra Huella (Our Footprint) at the Anchorage Museum examines the many ways the Latino community has contributed to Alaska’s culture and history. Visitors will learn about traditions, beliefs, and histories from Alaska-based Latinx communities through photographs, community stories, historical research, ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Public Financing for Art
An interesting bill has been introduced in the Washington state legislature. House Bill 1841 would establish an art purchase program by providing interest-free or low-interest loans from the state to buy art. The bill, dubbed “Own Your Own Art Purchase Program,” is modeled after Tasmania’s art purchase program.
The Tasmanian program ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Jitterbugs V Dances to the Top at Potomack
The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia
Photos courtesy The Potomack Company
The Potomack Company held its first suite of 2025 sales the week of February 10 to 14. The online-only sales consisted of ten targeted groupings offering a total of 1395 lots. A separate catalog was published for each sale. Over the week ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Silver and Modern Pottery Draw Bidders
Andrews & Andrews, Northport, Maine
On a frosty February 8 the Blue Goose Center in Northport, Maine, was full of browsers, bidders, and buyers. The occasion was an approximately 300-lot auction conducted by Daniel and Elsie Andrews, longtime Maine auctioneers who call their business Andrews & Andrews. Elsie serves as vice-chair ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Collection of Patricia Scipio-Brim
Swann Auction Galleries, New York City
Photos courtesy Swann Auction Galleries
Swann Auction Galleries held a single-owner estate sale on February 6 that according to the auction house achieved a sell-through rate of 98%, with only two out of the 82 lots unsold. The sale totaled $1,210,195 (includes buyers’ premiums).
“Abstract Beauty: The ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 71st Winter Show
New York City
For 71 years during the last ten days of January the great drill hall at the armory on Park Avenue between 66th and 67th Streets has been filled with the finest objects, paintings, books and manuscripts, textiles, and jewelry that the exhibitors can muster. This year, from January ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Tiffany Lamps Shine at Fontaine’s
Fontaine’s Auction Gallery, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Fontaine’s Auction Gallery
If loving Tiffany lamps is your jam, one stop that needs to be added to the itinerary is Fontaine’s Auction Gallery, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where numerous online events offer outstanding examples of this genre. The total for the company’s two-day fine and decorative ... (Read More)
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(Show)Nameless Art + Design Show 2025
New York City
The second iteration of Nameless Art + Design Show opened the evening of January 31 and spilled into the first weekend of the month, February 1 and 2, enticing collectors and those curious to see what the event was about. The show is held in a gallery space ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Carole Carpenter Wahler Collection
Crocker Farm, Sparks, Maryland
Photos courtesy Crocker Farm
“It was the highest-grossing single-owner stoneware and redware auction of all time,” wrote Brandt Zipp in a follow-up email after the sale of the Carole Carpenter Wahler collection. The total gross for the 302-lot sale was $1,338,810 (including buyers’ premiums). All lots were sold ... (Read More)
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(Auction)“Americana Week” Auction
Bonhams Skinner, Marlborough, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Bonhams Skinner
The Bonhams Skinner “Americana Week” auction on January 31 was held live in Marlborough, Massachusetts, and online, tying into the annual Americana Week in New York City. Some 219 lots of antiques crossed the block, giving old and new collectors a shot at ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Sandy Smith’s Collection
Stair Galleries, Hudson, New York
Photos courtesy Stair Galleries
The January 30 sale of art and antiques from the estate of show promoter Sanford “Sandy” Smith (1939-2024) brought a total of $604,648.88 (including buyers’ premiums) for 160 lots of folk art, figural shooting gallery targets, marine paintings, bronze sculptures, Grenfell hooked rugs, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Sale of the Millhiser Collection
Freeman’s | Hindman, New York City
Photos courtesy Freeman’s | Hindman
Freeman’s | Hindman sold 26 lots that included American furniture, needlework, a set of four Georgian silver candlesticks, and three Oriental rugs in 39 minutes on January 27 at the New York City gallery at 32 East 67th Street.
The collection sent ... (Read More)
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(Show)New Bern Antique Show & Sale
New Bern, North Carolina
Twenty-three vendors including 15 returnees populated The Maola at Riverside in New Bern, North Carolina, January 23-26. As with the 37 previous annual shows, this show’s proceeds benefited the New Bern Preservation Foundation.
Two days before opening day, a storm left 4" of snow on the town. Downtown ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Outsider Art Sale at Christie’s
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
The 2025 edition of Christie’s Outsider art auction moved to Americana Week and was first up during the schedule of auctions held January 22-26 in New York City during bitter cold temperatures.
Offering 145 lots, including property from the William Louis-Dreyfus Foundation and the Robert M. ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Art of the Americas Sale
Sotheby’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s
Sotheby’s held its “Art of the Americas” sale featuring the American West January 24 in two sessions. The sale was part of the auction house’s “Visions of America” weeklong event. Overall, the two sessions totaled $8,716,620. The first session offered 48 lots and had an ... (Read More)
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(Auction)19th-Century American and Western Art
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
Christie’s January 23 afternoon sale of 19th-century American and Western art sale offered 123 lots. The auction totaled $12,472,442 (including buyers’ premiums) and had an 85% sell-through rate. It followed the morning auction, “American Sublime: Property from an Important Private Collection.” With the two sales ... (Read More)
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(Auction)New England Art Paces Sale by PLD Auctions
PLD Auctions, Mechanic Falls, Maine
PLD Auctions, Inc., was formed years ago from the demise of the Cyr Auction Company. Three of the former Cyr employees, Pamela LaBonte, Louis Black, and David Kimball, picked up the pieces and formed their own auction company, combining their first initials as the new company ... (Read More)
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(Auction)“American Sublime”: A Private Collection at Christie’s
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
Twelve Christie’s specialists were on the phones taking bids for “American Sublime: Property from an Important Private Collection” on the morning of Thursday, January 23. The 43-lot sale, consigned by an anonymous collector with whom some of the American art dealers sitting in the saleroom ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Olde Hope’s Party before The Winter Show
New York City
For the last five years, Patrick Bell and Edwin Hild of Olde Hope have hosted a cocktail party at their New York City gallery at 115 East 72nd Street on the Wednesday of Americana Week. This year it fell on January 22. New Yorkers and collectors in town ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Winter Antiques and Art Auction
Meander Auctions, Whipple, Ohio
Photos courtesy Meander Auctions
Paintings by Ohio artist Clyde Singer (1908-1999) brought the two highest prices during the winter antiques and art sale held by Meander Auctions in Whipple, Ohio, January 18. Also topping the charts were a political-based ambrotype from the mid-19th century, appropriate two months after ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Online-Only Sale of the Estate of Craig Fisher
Davies Auctions, Brookston, Indiana
Photos courtesy Davies Auctions
Two-piece stepback cupboard in cherry with original red paint, Indiana, circa 1850, 86" high x 53½" wide, $32,200 (est. $4000/8000). The cupboard had sold at auction in 2002 for $40,000.
A two-piece stepback cupboard in cherry with old red paint sold for $32,200 (includes buyer’s ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Two-Day Sale at New England Auctions
New England Auctions, Branford, Connecticut
Photos courtesy New England Auctions
The first day of the two-day sale held by Fred Giampietro’s New England Auctions January 8 and 9 in the Branford, Connecticut, gallery, featured material from Ron and Penny Dionne, Allan and Kendra Daniel, and a Stonington, Connecticut, estate. On day two ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Three-Day Auction and an Expensive Bullet Hole
John McInnis Auctioneers, Amesbury, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy John McInnis Auctioneers
How often does a bullet hole turn up at auction? Ask John McInnis. The January 3, 4, and 5 sales at John McInnis Auctioneers, held live in the Amesbury, Massachusetts, gallery, featured a clapboard with a historical bullet hole that sold for ... (Read More)
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(Auction)California and Western Art
Bonhams, Los Angeles, California
Photos courtesy Bonhams
Megan Gallagher, the cataloger for Bonhams’ California and Western art department and a Los Angeles resident, told M.A.D. that although she lives in an evacuation warning zone for the recent fires, she is OK. “Everyone we checked in on got out, even if they had ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Reeling in the Big Ones
Morphy Auctions, Denver, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Morphy Auctions
Casting a line, waiting in anticipation, seeing the line go taut, battling the beast, and hopefully landing the catch: the allure of fishing is undeniable. There are many avid fishing enthusiasts. Those taking the next step of acquiring the history behind this sport—whether bamboo ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The Philadelphia Show
For 63 years, there has been an antiques show in Philadelphia providing a treasure hunt for the finest things money can buy. In its long history, this grand bazaar under a succession of show managers has moved from the 103rd Engineer Battalion Armory (now the Drexel Armory) to the Convention ... (Read More)
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