(Issue Story)
An explosive rat and a pair of candlesticks fashioned from a stag’s feet are among the more bizarre entries in this month’s selection, while a giant cicada, a wine jug in canine guise, and a ceramic menagerie add to that zoomorphic theme.
A record-breaking “Midshipman” jug, a Pre-Raphaelite Queen of Hearts, ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)
The new year in the antiques world got off to an auspicious start with the launch on January 12 of Americana Insights, a new e-publication focusing on traditional American folk art and Americana that provides open access to original articles, research, and resources. A compendium of short-form scholarly essays on ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)
None of the 12 bidders competing for lot 56 at Freeman’s February 23 sale had traveled to Philadelphia to inspect Carl Moll’s painting White Interior. Eleven high-resolution images in the online-only catalog were enough to entice three of them to continue bidding past $3 million.
Auctioneer David Weiss opened the bidding ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)
Photos courtesy Sotheby’s, Christie’s, and Keno Auctions
The auctions and shows in New York City in January were probably seen by more people than ever before but not in person. They filled computer screens, tablets, and phones with an enormous number of pictures of some very good things accompanied by yards ... (Read More)
|
(Issue Story)
Photos courtesy Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg
A Philadelphia high chest made of mahogany, yellow pine, tulip poplar, and sabicu—sometimes known as horseflesh mahogany—that descended in the family of Sarah (Franklin) and Richard Bache, Benjamin Franklin’s daughter and son-in-law, is just one of more than 400 objects that Joseph “Joe” and ... (Read More)
|
(Fragment)
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)
|
(Issue Story)
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)
|
(Fragment)
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)
|
(Fragment)
“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)
|
(Issue Story)
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)
|