Stories for June '25
(Issue Story)Jim Crow Meets Bluebeard: Imagination and Humor in the Staffordshire Potteries
The Collector’s Find
The story, or perhaps the journey, began at Elinor Penna’s home on Sunday, October 1, 2023. That was the day members of the Staffordshire Figure Association (SFA) had the opportunity to purchase figures from Penna’s vast collection of Staffordshire figures, numbering in the thousands. Penna, a well-known collector ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Collector Discipline
For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories. —Plato
Collectors need many attributes if they are to build a collection over time that they are proud of. Patrick Bell of Olde Hope names three. Passion and knowledge are two. (And of course money never hurts.) ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions, June 2025
Manufactured by Thomas W. Jones, New York, peacock weathervane, 20" x 27½", circa 1885, copper. Private collection.
—Through June 8 —Waterville, Maine
Into the Wind: American Weathervanes at the Colby Museum of Art dives into the history of weathervanes, exploring their symbolism, use, and manufacture and what their designs advertised as they ... (Read More)
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(Show)Another Way: The High Point Antique & Design Center
High Point, North Carolina
High Point, North Carolina, was once the furniture capital of the world. Its first factory opened in 1888. Aided by cheap labor, an abundance of hard woods, and a tradition of cottage-industry furniture makers, by 1900 High Point and the surrounding Piedmont region had 44 furniture factories. ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Bloody Massacre Sells for $200,000
Paul Revere’s engraving The Bloody Massacre is one of the most familiar images related to the American Revolution. The event depicted, commonly referred to as the Boston Massacre, took place in the evening of March 5, 1770, and is considered one of the seminal moments that solidified Colonial resistance to ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Spirit of Spring: Modern American Art at Christie’s
Christie’s, New York City
Photos courtesy Christie’s
Female Modernists occupied some of the real estate in Christie’s 99-lot modern American art sale April 17 in New York City. The live auction, which attracted over two dozen attendees, totaled $14,228,382 and had an 84% sell-through rate. Christie’s reported that 18% of the buyers ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Bierstadt’s Old Faithful Tops Decorative Arts Auction
Doyle, New York City
Photos courtesy Doyle
Auctions are unpredictable. Sales depend on estates that must be settled and downsizing by collectors who change their focus. In these times of economic and political chaos, consignors were cautious as they watched the middle market settle down to lower values and saw sectors once ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Hilliard’s Eclectic Sale Lives Up to Its Name
Hilliard & Co., Madison, Virginia
Photos courtesy Hilliard & Co.
One of the realities of the post-COVID-19 online antiques auction world is the move toward targeted sales. We now see an increasing number of sales that consist of lots grouped so as to appeal to specific genres or collecting categories—Asian ceramics, 20th-century ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Tiffany and More
Rago, Lambertville, New Jersey
Photos courtesy Rago
Tiffany Studios enameled copper cabinet vase with mushrooms, circa 1905, just 2¼" high x 2½" diameter, sold online for $82,550 (est. $10,000/15,000). “It turned up on Antiques Roadshow in Oregon, and the owner said she bought it for less than a dollar at a garage ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Spring Sale of Americana at Horst
Horst Auctioneers, Ephrata, Pennsylvania
Photos courtesy Horst Auctioneers
Horst Auctioneers’ spring sale in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, began Friday, April 4, at 2 p.m., lasted until 6 p.m., continued on Saturday, April 5, starting at 9 a.m., and was over by 2 p.m. All 805 lots found buyers, and the sale brought a total ... (Read More)
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(Auction)African American Art at Swann Galleries
Swann Auction Galleries, New York City
Photos courtesy Swann Auction Galleries
Swann Auction Galleries, New York City, held its customary spring African American art sale Thursday, April 3, a day after the stock market reacted negatively to the Trump administration’s announcement of widespread tariffs. Nevertheless, the 193-lot sale totaled $1,797,755 (including buyers’ ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Tremont Attracts International Interest and Sales
Tremont Auctions, Sudbury, Massachusetts
Photos courtesy Tremont Auctions
Tremont Auctions featured several large collections in the March 30 sale in the Sudbury, Massachusetts, gallery. American and European paintings attracted interest, and a large portion of the artwork was headed overseas. A large collection of Asian objects came from upstate New York, and ... (Read More)
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(Show)Stellar Gate and Growth for Hudson Antique Show
Canfield, Ohio
The Hudson Antique Show held March 8 and 9 at the Canfield Fairgrounds Event Center (a.k.a. the Michael Kusalaba Event Center) in Canfield, Ohio, recorded the largest gate in the history of the show. Dealers and shoppers alike pulled show manager Steve Sherhag aside to state variations of ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Original 184th Semi-Annual York Antiques Show & Sale
York, Pennsylvania
On January 31 and February 1 the York Fairgrounds Convention & Expo Center in York, Pennsylvania, opened with a rush of eager buyers looking for the best in Americana and folk art. The Original Semi-Annual York Antiques Show & Sale is attended by people from multiple nearby states because ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Selling the Future
A 200-vendor group shop in North Tonawanda, New York, entered into an agreement in November 2024 with Flow Capital Funding LLC to provide capital. Those funds came at a high cost—almost 50%.
It wasn’t a loan. According to paperwork filed in a Monroe County, New York, courtroom, the shop sold future ... (Read More)
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