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Now showing 5500-5600 of 9822 result(s)
(Auction)Americana Auction of the Jane Murphy and Ken Erwin Estates
There were plenty of animal weathervanes to choose from-a horse, a pig, a beaver. Nothing came close to this gilt-copper full-bodied running fox that sold for $15,600. From the early 20th century, it was 32" long. It had six bullet holes and typical weathering.
Some of the Shaker furniture stood out ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Internet and Phones are Big Winners at Couture and Vintage Fashion Auction
The fashion house Irfe is unknown to us, which was obviously not the case with a woman who sat one row ahead of us and kept her paddle raised for this outfit until the hammer went down for $12,000 (est. $600/800), after which this woman quickly exited the premises. Her ... (Read More)
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(Feature)The Forster Flag Sells Privately
Doyle New York photo.
Pots of time and money was spent bringing the Forster flag to market. In the end, it was sold privately for a confidential price to a buyer who wishes to remain anonymous, said a spokesman for Doyle New York.
When the auction began, precisely at 10 a.m. on ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Sold: Copy of the Law that Made the Dollar Almighty
An Act Establishing a Mint, and Regulating the Coins of the United States, signed by Thomas Jefferson, sold for $118,750 (est. $50,000/75,000). Five pages on three 15" x 93/4" sheets, produced by the press of Francis Childs and John Swaine in Philadelphia on April 2, 1792, it is a first ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Man Convicted for Trying to Sell Fakes
Counterfeit Damien Hirst spin painting.
On April 8, a jury found Kevin Sutherland, 46, guilty of attempted grand larceny for attempting to sell counterfeit artworks he falsely claimed were by British artist Damien Hirst. Included were "spin" paintings and "dot" limited-edition prints worth tens of thousands of dollars if they ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Bonhams Sells Treasures from the Caren Archive for $1.3 Million
Paul Revere (1735-1818), The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King-Street Boston on March 5th 1770..., engraved, printed, and sold by Paul Revere, but printed by Edes & Gill around March 28, 1770, engraving on laid paper with hand-coloring, laid down, with restored losses, matted and framed, sold for $100,000 (est. $25,000/35,000). ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Missouri Attorney General Shuts Down Ivey-Selkirk Auctioneers
In our March issue (p. 10-A), we told you that the senior staffers at the venerable St. Louis, Missouri, auction house Ivey-Selkirk left in January to form a new firm, Link Auction Galleries. We can now add to that news.
In February, the doors of Ivey-Selkirk closed, and Malcolm Ivey, president ... (Read More)
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(Show)Downtown's "Shadow Show" Makes Its Mark
Eager shoppers at the entrance to the show before the opening.
Brooklyn Books wanted $1500 for this 1916 illustrated promotional booklet for the TE Ranch of William "Buffalo Bill" Cody (1846-1917) in Ishawooa, Wyoming. It was signed by Cody in pen on the title page.
Our Firemen: A History of the New ... (Read More)
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(Show)Lights! Heat! Action!
Peter Storey Pentz of Woodinville, Washington, enjoys bringing higher-end American country furnishings to display and, he hopes, to sell. He knows that many customers who attend the show are looking for other wares but still enjoys presenting items that could be called "the good stuff" so that people will know ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The John and Lil Palmer Americana Collection
The high lot from the Palmer collection was this folk art decorated stoneware jar attributed to James Miller of Alexandria, Virginia, and Georgetown (Washington, D.C.). The salt-glazed ovoid-form jar is boldly decorated with a single spreadwing, shield-breasted Federal eagle. The cobalt image is brushed and slip-trailed. The circa 1825 jar ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Scottsdale Art Auction
Blue Bonnet Landscape, a 24" x 331/2" oil on board by Jose Arpa (1858-1952), signed lower right and inscribed "San Antonio, Texas," sold for $322,000 (est. $30,000/60,000). This impressionistic image exemplifies why Arpa was known as the "Sunshine Man." His love of and skill at handling bright light in his ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Eldred's Americana and Decorative Art Auction
Delivering the New Hat by British artist Edmund Blair Leighton went to the New York trade for $70,800.
This 18th-century Boston silver pear-shaped cann with a double scrolled handle decorated with an acanthus leaf, a molded flared rim, and circular splayed foot was marked with a cursive "P.R.," a mark similar ... (Read More)
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(Show)Chester County Historical Society Show
Roger Winter of Solebury, Pennsylvania, offered this George III pedestal dining table with two original leaves. It seats 16 comfortably. It was $39,000. The eight George III chairs with Marlborough legs were $16,500.
Donald Cresswell of the Philadelphia Print Ship offered Currier and Ives's popular Winter in the Country, 1864, for ... (Read More)
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(Show)Oglebay Institute's 60th Annual Antiques Show & Sale
The miniature writing desk featuring four interior cubbies and fantastic inlay work was 18th-century Italian ($6500); the miniature desk/stationery box having ivory decoration could be had for $2200. Both were offered by Paul Fischer and Dannie Chandler of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Sold out of the booth of Sorisio's Antiques, Leechburg, Pennsylvania, was ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Aetna Reverse-Painted Glass Sign Sells for $51,300
Aetna Insurance Co. reverse-painted glass sign with mother-of-pearl inlay, $51,300.
"That Aetna sign was one of the most impressive reverse glass signs we've ever seen, just beautiful," said Mike Eckles of Showtime Auction Services.
Eckles was speaking of an Aetna Insurance Company reverse-painted glass sign with mother-of-pearl inlay, 34" square, in excellent ... (Read More)
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(Show)"The Jewel in the Crown"
Frontispiece of the first edition of an early (1665) treatise on tobacco, Commentarius De Abusu Tabaci... by Danish physician Simonis Paulli (1603-1680). Priced at GBP3250 (or $5390) by Sokol Books, London, the book also includes sections on tea, coffee, and chocolate and was at the forefront of the debate over ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Elijah Pierce Carving Breaks Auction Record
Presidents and Convicts, 1941, sold for $87,500 (est. $10,000/15,000), setting a record auction price for carver Elijah Pierce. Born in 1892 to a former Mississippi slave, Pierce eventually settled in Columbus, Ohio. He was a barber, a lay minister, and a wood carver and is best known for his religious ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The ADA On-Line Show
There were no lines, no traffic, no bad weather, no tickets, no dealer-to-dealer preshow buying, and no standing in line at the bar. The Antiques Dealers' Association of America (ADA) on-line show could be experienced anywhere-on a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone. This on-line-only show ran ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The George D. Horst Fine Art Sale
Gustaf Edolf Fjaestad (Swedish, 1868-1948), Pool in Winter, inscribed "G Fjaestad 13" on the bottom left. It also retains on the back a label with "The Swedish Exhibition 1916" and "Panama-Pacific International Exposition San Francisco 1915." Horst bought the 47 3/8" x 573/4" oil on canvas from a Swedish exhibition ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Freeman's Sale of the Horst Collection Is "Perfect Storm"
Winter Sunlight by Edward Redfield, oil on canvas, 381/4" x 50", $710,500. Photo courtesy Freeman's.
Marshes of Long Point by Frank Benson, oil on canvas, 36" x 44", $662,500. Photo courtesy Freeman's.
On Sunday, March 30, Freeman's in Philadelphia sold the George D. Horst collection of 63 European and American 19th- and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Plenty of Variety at Cottone's March Sale
This 16" x 201/4" signed oil on canvas genre painting by Felix Schlesinger (German, 1833-1910), in original condition and its original frame, opened at $10,000 and went all the way to $39,100 (est. $15,000/25,000) to a Pennsylvania buyer.
This appealing 11" x 14" signed oil on canvas by Cornelius David ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Boston Blockfront Chest Leads Willis Henry Sale
This 18th-century Boston mahogany blockfront chest of drawers sold on the phone for $73,160.
A bidder favorite was Harbor Mists, a view of Gloucester harbor with vessels under sail, by Swedish-American artist John F. Carlson. It sold on the phone for $8260. The painting retained labels from the Grand Central Art ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Pier Antique Show
David Allen Fine Arts, Arlington, Virginia, had a lot of traffic. Allen "usually sells $20,000 to $30,000 here at the show," and sometimes sells things for a lot more. He offered a port wine server with spigot, stamped Tiffany, that he found in Italy, for $3500 (middle shelf, second from ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Three Maud Lewis Paintings Bring $38,200
Can$15,400 (US$13,959).
Harris and Sons Auctions sold three paintings by Canadian folk artist Maud Lewis (1903-1970) in its March 29 auction at the Kings Theater in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, for a total of Can$38,200 (US$34,625) (with buyers' premiums).
A view of a train station, sight size 12" x 111/2", that was ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Doll Sells for Whopping $302,400
A circa 1916 French character doll by sculptor Albert Marque sold for $302,400 (includes buyer's premium) at a March 29 sale in Naples, Florida, conducted by Theriault's, an Annapolis, Maryland, auction house that specializes in dolls.
The Marque doll was purchased by private collectors who will be sending it for ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The End of the Winter that Wouldn't Die
This ship portrait of the Charles Dennis, built in Richmond, Maine, in 1873, sold for $4715.
Coastal Maine eider duck decoy, $4600.
Chinese dreamstones represent a harmony between man and nature. Nature creates the scenes, but it takes the hand of man to reveal them. The series of ten marble dreamstones was ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Tools Ply the Atlantic
When Francis Nicholson, America's first known specialist plane-maker, died in 1753, his son John and his freed slave Cesar Chelor continued the trend he had set in producing distinctive plows in yellow birch with square arms mortised in the fence and held fast by wedges. More efficient wooden thumbscrews as ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Season Opener Rises to the Occasion at $1.2 Million
Gunthermann (Germany) Gordon Bennet coupe racer, the medium-size edition of a treasured trio of speedsters, ex-Dr. Malcolm Kates, 83/4" long, $9940.
Marx (U.S.) "Butter and Egg Man," 1934, lithographed tin, 73/4" high, $2242. Not shown: a Marx Red the Iceman with ice tongs and wooden block of ice, 81/2" high, ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Star of Boston's First Annual Design Week
Lots of effort went into transporting Center Street Studio's printing press to the Cyclorama building to demonstrate the print process. It attracted much interest.
Stephanie Bond, principal of Childs Gallery, Boston, is pictured with Sean Flood, whose Winter Morning on Newbury Street, 2014 (40" x 30") and Summer Rain on Boylston ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Slave Collar, a Stargazer's Almanac, and Other Rarities at African-Americana Sale
This first-edition presentation copy of A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South by Anna Julia Cooper sold to an absentee bidder for $15,000 (est. $6000/8000)-a new record for the title. Published in 1892 with a portrait frontispiece, the book has a pencil note in Cooper's ... (Read More)
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(MAD News)Eric Caren Is Selling Again
Addicted collectors sell periodically in order to continue their hunt. Eric Caren is one of them. He began collecting at age five and by age 11 discovered old newspapers and periodicals. After college he went to London to work for a book dealer and then came back to the U.S. ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Sunburst Snuff Jar Sells for $57,330
Sunburst snuff jar, made 1815-30 by Keene (New Hampshire) Marlboro Street Glassworks, sold for $57,330. It was the top lot of the auction. The rare bottle with a deep yellowish color and in excellent condition had come from the collection of Clarissa Vanderbilt Dundon, the daughter of pioneer collector Merritt ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Grant Wood's Original "Radical" Brings $284,800
The Radical by Grant Wood sold for $284,800 to a phone bidder. The original drawing still had the Vincent Price collection labels from Sears, Roebuck and Co. on the reverse. Pennington photo.
A phone bidder paid $6000 (est. $500/700) for this lot. On the left is a red transfer-printed 1790-1810 creamware ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Morphy's Moves All Sales to Weekends
Morphy Auctions in Denver, Pennsylvania, is moving all of its auctions to weekend time slots. The first of the company's sales to make the changeover will be Morphy's weekly auctions. Previously held on Tuesdays, the weekly auctions will now be conducted on Sundays, starting with the March 23 advertising and ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Connecticut Spring Antiques Show: Another Beauty
Greg K. Kramer & Co., Robesonia, Pennsylvania, always brings a ton of good stuff to shows. The McIntire school Massachusetts Classical carved mahogany sideboard, 68" long, was $32,500. Behind it is a Federal Classical giltwood mirror with size and presence enough to complement the strong sideboard; it was $3850.
Newsom & ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Lichtenstein and the Cleveland Connection
Salvador Dali (Spanish, 1904-1989), St. George and the Dragon, etching, 1947, signed in pencil, edition of 250 plus 10, the Print Club of Cleveland publication no. 24, print club stamp reverse, 173/4" x 111/4", $11,800.
Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997), Western Figures on Horseback, mixed media on paper, 1952, signed "Lichtenstein" lower right, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Wooten & Wooten Celebrates First Anniversary with Major American Map Find
The John Melish 1816 "Map of the United States with the Contiguous British and Spanish Possessions" is a rare, early depiction of the United States within the context of the entire continent. It was sold for $48,000. Wooten & Wooten photo.
This very rare 1855-60 Edgefield stoneware face vessel, attributed to ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Internet Strikes Back
One swallow does not a summer make, so it is risky to generalize from one sale where the Internet dominated. ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Preview of the Philadelphia Antiques Show and More
The City of Philadelphia, Currier & Ives, drawn on stone by Charles Parsons and Lyman Atwater, published 1875, color printed lithograph, 221/2" x 32 3/8". Arader Galleries photo.
The Philadelphia Antiques Show is in late April this year. The 53rd edition of this spring show will set up at the Philadelphia ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions
Maine Antique Digest includes, as space permits, brief announcements of exhibitions planned by galleries, museums, or other venues. We need all press materials at least six weeks in advance of opening. We need to know the hours and dates of the exhibit, admission charges, and phone number and Web site ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Ivory Law Introduced in New York; Sotheby's and Christie's Announce Opposition
Legislation to close New York state as a market for ivory sales to help prevent elephant extinction and to reduce funding sources for terrorists has been introduced by Assemblyman Robert K. Sweeney. The bill was passed 28-0 by the Environmental Conservation Committee.
Following a January hearing in New York City, legislation ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Two Specialists Shine Light on the Antique Jewelry Market
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Two auctions in February offered prices from the low hundreds to a few hundred thousand dollars, in all manner of styles, and targeted those in the mood for finding a token of love for Valentine's Day. Sotheby's, New York City, held its February 6 sale of Important ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London
... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
These are brief reviews of books recently sent to us. We have included ordering information for publishers that accept mail, phone, or on-line orders. For other publishers, your local bookstore or mail-order house is the place to look.
The American West in Bronze: 1850-1925 by Thayer Tolles and Thomas Brent ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Susanne Davino of Eustace & Zamus Antiques, Hudson, New York
Susanne Davino.
Davino's shop at 513 Warren Street in Hudson. Before she took it over ten years ago, it was occupied by dealer Benjamin Wilson.
A partial interior view of the shop.
Davino carries a nice selection of porcelain. This is a sampling.
This maple tall chest with pad feet from Deerfield, Massachusetts, has ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Who Made My Clock? Clue: He Worked with Rittenhouse
Fig. 1. The subject tall-case clock. Photo courtesy clock owner.
Fig. 2. Hood detail showing shallow navigational star terminals. Photo courtesy clock owner.
Fig. 3. Hood with absent colonnettes. Photo courtesy clock owner.
Fig. 4. Hood detail showing mitered joint where colonnettes would have attached. Note that the joint is on the side ... (Read More)
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(The Art of Marketing)Micro-Targeted Marketing
The Art of Marketing
This month our topic is the utilization of psychographic profiling techniques for delivering micro-targeted marketing. Traditional marketing has been actively targeted and marketed to the different generations. With the current rise of the social Web, these groups of people are getting smaller. They're so small and fragmented, ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Apps for Tablets
A map app on a 7" tablet computer provides turn-by-turn visual and voice navigation to a convention center where antiques shows are sometimes held.
Computer Column #304
John P. Reid, jreid@dca.net
Many of the things antiquers do on smartphones are so much easier on a tablet computer. Here are some examples to ... (Read More)
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(Auction Law and Ethics)Integrity and Courage
Auction Law & Ethics
An old, blind woman went to see a lawyer about having a will drafted. He discussed with her what she wanted to accomplish with her will. Her estate was meager, and the lawyer quoted a fee of just $100 to do the work. As she got up ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)A Practical Defense of an Old House
The Young Collector
Hollie woke up in the night recently, because her "out of the covers" arm had cooled to a temperature that made her think the house might be getting too cold. She got up to check the stove, realized that Andrew would be up in a hour, so she ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Witherell Buys Grass Valley Old West Antiques Show
Dealer Brian Witherell of Witherell's Art and Antiques, Sacramento, California, has purchased the Grass Valley Old West Antiques Show from Mike and Sally Butler. It's a homecoming of sorts. Witherell's father, Brad, and two partners started the show in 1984. The Butlers bought it in 1999. The price was not ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Show for Newtown
Barn Star Productions and the Newtown Historical Society will collaborate to produce the Newtown Antiques Market. The new one-day outdoor antiques show will be held on June 21 in Newtown, Connecticut, at the Fairfield Hills Campus facility and will present 100 exhibitors in an informal environment of tents and pop-up ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Peter Lang Joins Doyle New York
Peter Lang has joined Doyle New York as a senior vice president and the director of English and Continental furniture and decorations. He will be the specialist in charge of auctions in that sale category and a senior appraiser for estates and collections.
Kathleen M. Doyle, chairperson/CEO of Doyle New York ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Bravo, Senator Linares
Editorial
One politician understands investing in antiques, or rather, investing in the antiques business.
Connecticut state Senator Art Linares, a 25-year-old Republican, has sponsored a bill to boost the Connecticut Spring Antiques Show, the 65-dealer affair that will be held March 22 and 23 in Hartford. Linares's bill would appropriate $50,000 from ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Two Philadelphia Institutions Name New Leaders
The Board of Councilors of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) announced that Dr. Page Talbott was ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)American Royalties Legislation Introduced
Artwork may cost 5% more if legislation introduced by U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and Ed Markey (D-MA) and Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) is passed.
The "American Royalties, Too (ART) Act of 2014" would establish copyright protections for the intellectual property of visual artists.
Under current copyright law, visual artists-painters, sculptors, and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Joshua Lane Named Curator of Furniture at Winterthur
Joshua W. Lane has been appointed the Lois F. and Henry S. McNeil Curator of Furniture at the Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, succeeding Wendy Cooper, who retired in June 2013.
Lane received his B.A. in American studies from Amherst College and his M.Phil. from Yale. He worked at the Connecticut ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)H.A. Cooper to Retire From Yale
Dr. Helen Achbar Cooper, the Holcombe T. Green Curator of American Paintings and Sculpture at the Yale University Art Gallery, will retire in May.
"Helen Cooper has served the field of American art as one of its finest curators for almost forty years, leading the Yale University Art Gallery's department of ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Country Americana
Room-size Heriz rug, red field with a blue border, 20th century, 12' x 15', good condition, fringe loss on one end, $9300.
Tella Kitchen (1902-1988), painting signed on the stretcher, "The barn I've admired for years. At Delmont Crossing. Fairfield County Ohio. Tella Kitchen 1975," oil on canvas, 20" x 24" ... (Read More)
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(Auction)"Bud" Hill Sale
Fifteen Mexican silver figural bowls by Jose Marmolejo, Mexico City, sold for $2750. The mid-20th-century handled bowls, each about 41/4" wide including handles, are shaped like swans. Note the gilt coating inside each.
This partial set of sterling silver by International in the Wedgwood pattern, 167 pieces, including 14 serving pieces ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Great Jewelry Jump Up
At $21,240, the sale's highest-dollar painting was The Flower Seller (overall, 651/2" x 433/4") by Gaetano Bellei. Its estimate was $20,000/40,000.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt had this Crawford expansion band watch on his wrist when he died in 1945 at his retreat in Warm Springs, Georgia. The watch along with ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Arms Race
Cased and engraved 28-gauge over-under Boss game gun, serial number 9019, $207,000. Julia photo.
This English Boss game gun, a 28-gauge sidelock ejector single side-by-side gun, was made as a small-bore companion piece to the over-under Boss gun and has serial number 9018. It has similar markings to the Boss over-under ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 57th Annual Fox Valley Antiques Show
Sam Scott of Denise Scott Antiques, East Greenwich, Rhode Island, is shown checking the drawer of a $1675 pine stepback open-top cupboard with original paint. Redware on the lower shelf ranged from a $145 bundt pan to a $65 pie plate and an $875 loaf pan.
Spring Hill Farm Antiques, Broadhead, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Wayne Holt's World
The top lot of the sale was a signed Louis Comfort Tiffany table lamp on slender arched legs. Signed on the shade and base with a "396," it sold to the phones for $15,400.
This early 19th-century painted blanket chest with lift top originated in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. It was tucked ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Winterthur's Philadelphia Furniture Forum: What Was Learned?
The Cadwalader family-John; his wife, Betsy Lloyd; and daughter Anne-by Charles Willson Peale in its traveling frame had just returned from a six-month trip to two museums in Korea and one in Australia. Bret Headley made the frame because the original frame was too fragile to travel, and it had ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Few Fireworks but One Rarity Discovered at Americana Auction
"Paul Revere, patriot, silversmith, engraver, and artist?" That was the question some viewers asked auctioneer Steven Fletcher prior to the sale, he said. He told us that he answered them with, "Of course he was an artist. How do you think he laid out the designs on the many pieces ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Lion-Decorated Pitcher from Manhattan Sells for $115,000
This early Manhattan, New York, ovoid stoneware pitcher with an incised standing lion sold for $115,000 (est. $20,000/30,000). This fresh-to-the-market discovery was a highlight of the large sale.
The watch spring decoration seen here on this one-gallon jug is often associated with Cheesequake, New Jersey, stoneware manufacturer Captain James Morgan, based ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Rago Brings in $5.6 Million
University City porcelain gourd vase, exterior glaze in green, University City, Missouri, 1912, signed "UC 12," 93/4" x 3". It sold for $26,250 (est. $10,000/ 15,000). Lillian Hoffman had bought it from Martin Eidelberg in 1976.
Martin Brothers stoneware frog tobacco jar, England, 1895, base signed "Martin Bros." and head signed ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Doyle Mines Jewelry Sales
This circa 1900 Arts and Crafts gold, diamond, and pink button pearl ring with a 7/8" wide center sold for $5313 (est. $2000/3000). Doyle New York.
This antique silver, lapis cameo, and diamond brooch realized $3125 (est. $800/1200). Doyle New York.
This group of jewelry including a child's jade bangle, carved jade ... (Read More)
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(Auction)"The Fireman" Leads $2.4 Million Sale
This color study for The Fireman by Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) sold for $216,000 (est. $50,000/100,000). The 14"x 11" oil on paperboard was sold along with a photograph of the sitter, Howard Lewis.
The inscription on the Rockwell photograph says, "To Howard Lewis/ the fireman who came to my rescue/ sincerely/ Norman/ ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Fruit-Eating Rat Leads Potomack Company Sale
The high lot of the Potomack sale was this Chinese ink on paper on scroll. The artist is Qi Baishi (Chinese, 1864-1957). He is known for what are often described as "whimsical" works in watercolor. This 31" x 91/2" piece fits that description. The image shows a rat sitting on ... (Read More)
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(Show)Marin Show: Art of the Americas
New York City dealer Ross Traut, a known minimalist, was asking $8500 for this circa 1890 Navajo textile. He reported he'd sold "lots of small stuff" and that Marin show attendees had shown interest in "more important textiles."
Dealer Jeff Voracek of Penryn, California (Sacramento/Reno, Nevada, area), was offering this 1865-68 ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Exhibitions
Maine Antique Digest includes, as space permits, brief announcements of exhibitions planned by galleries, museums, or other venues. We need all press materials at least six weeks in advance of opening. We need to know the hours and dates of the exhibit, admission charges, and phone number and Web site ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)The Antique and Vintage Jewelry Market, According to Schwind
Bill Schwind told me this Art Deco bracelet in diamonds and platinum has a geometric centerpiece in each bar with a marquise diamond and open work on the wrist. "It's quiet, which means it doesn't scream at you. You're not looking like Diamond Lil. It's not too glitzy." He said ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)Taking Care of Business
The Young Collector
Years ago, when we had our first Christmas together while we were in graduate school in Delaware, we put up a Christmas tree. It was by just about any standards a Charlie Brown tree. We didn't have much money to spend, so when we needed a tree topper, ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
These are brief reviews of books recently sent to us. We have included ordering information for publishers that accept mail, phone, or on-line orders. For other publishers, your local bookstore or mail-order house is the place to look.
The Coast & the Sea: Marine and Maritime Art in America by ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London
Ian McKay, ianmckay1@btinternet.com
Few sales had taken place in London by the time this report had to be written and sent off for editorial scrutiny, so I have taken the opportunity to sweep away the last remnants of my 2013 files. The resulting cull did, however, leave me with an early ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Tablets
A tablet computer can browse Web sites of auction houses such as Christie's. Details and pictures are available at a touch.
Computer Column #303
John P. Reid, jreid@dca.net
Tablet computers have received favorable comments in this column in the past year. They can do many of the things antiquers do on desktop computers. ... (Read More)
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(The Art of Marketing)The Art of Marketing
Last month I began to cover the topic of utilizing social media. It's obviously a very broad topic, which I'm sure I will write more about in a future issue. This month I'd like to change gears and move on to another topic-branching out into new lines of business.
I've received ... (Read More)
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(Auction Law and Ethics)Subjective Compass, Objective Reading
Auction Law & Ethics
You're about to bid for a lot you want at an auction. The auctioneer introduces the piece and commences the chant for the offering:
"I'm bid five hundred...now a quarter...I'm bid five hundred here, now a quarter, five ana quarter, five ana quarter...now a half...five ana half, five ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)The Charm of 19th-Century Domescapes--Reality as a Vehicle for the Imagination
A Book Review
Under Glass: A Victorian Obsession
by John Whitenight
Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 2013, 288 pages, hardbound, $89.50 from (www.underglassvictorianobsession.com).
Let's go back in time to, say, London, on a mid-September afternoon in 1858. We're in the front parlor (on the second floor) of a row house in a prosperous upper-middle-class ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)After the Hunt: The Trompe L'Oeil Art of David Brega
David Brega with his elderly Shetland sheepdog, Rudy. The barn is at Worthington Pond Farm in Somers, Connecticut. The property is owned by Dan Roulier, a longtime friend of Brega and collector of both his and Douglas Brega's work. Photo credit: David Butler.
Glimpse of the studio/gallery. Schinto photo.
The wooden cart ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)George Champion, Woodbury, Connecticut
George Champion. Godzilla is not for sale; he's the shop mascot.
George Champion's shop on Main Street South in Woodbury, Connecticut. He said, "People are convinced it's an old schoolhouse, but it's a total fabrication." It was a cheese shop for years, and the previous owner, a metal sculptor, gave it ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Momentum
Editorial
Will 2014 be the year of American folk art? It's shaping up that way.
One couldn't ask for a better start. The Ralph Esmerian sale at Sotheby's was a blowout, bringing in $12.9 million for a folk art collection that was well published and coveted. The bankruptcy trustee overseeing the dispersal ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Bellamy Project Receives Large Gift
The work of Kittery Point, Maine, woodcarver John Haley Bellamy will come to life at Discover Portsmouth in 2014. The Portsmouth Historical Society has received a $55,000 grant from Mr. and Mrs. Pete Nicholas to support a new book and exhibit on Bellamy, famous for his iconic carvings of American ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)American Folk Art at Edward Thorp Gallery
A view of the spacious Edward Thorp Gallery on the sixth floor in the Baron building at 210 Eleventh Avenue in New York City.
This circa 1920 carved wood shelf with paint was from Maine and featured deer and birds. Measuring 18" x 28" x 7", it was priced at $19,500. ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)American Folk Art Museum Announces Acquisitions, a Touring Exhibition, and Staff Changes
At Sotheby's sale of the collection of Ralph Esmerian (see page 30-D), the American Folk Art Museum (AFAM), New York City, bought three lots. One is an early 19th-century copybook, 5" x 81/4", inscribed with the name Daniel Steele and with 40 pages of drawings and tune notations in ink ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Antique City Show Adopts Express Ticketing Procedure
Attendance at Antique City Fun Fair in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, increased by 63% last April. The line at the box office was an eighth of a mile long, according to promoter Norman Schaut, and two hours after the doors opened, the line still wrapped around the Lehigh University field house.
Schaut said, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Gratz Joins Alderfer's
Sanford Alderfer Companies, Hatfield, Pennsylvania, has expanded its fine art division and has added to the staff Paul Gratz, owner and head conservator of the Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio, located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
Gratz said in a statement, "Over the years Alderfer's has set records for many New Hope school ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Robert C. Eldred Jr. Retires
Eldred at a July 2013 sale. Jackie Sideli photo.
Robert C. Eldred Jr., CEO of Robert C. Eldred Co., the auction house in East Dennis, Massachusetts, has retired after a career of more than 45 years.
Eldred joined the firm in 1969, after serving in Vietnam and working as a sales ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)A Collector Speaks Up
Opinion
I know I'm preaching to the choir when I say we collectors are a breed apart. We're not like most people, and that's fine. If everyone else shared our passion, there would be nothing left to collect. But that's no excuse for non-collectors to disparage us by calling us insane, ... (Read More)
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(Show)Heaviest Snowfall of the Year Fails to Deter Exhibitors at Cabin Fever Show
Susan Gault of Thetford Center, Vermont, brought the four-slat rocking armchair in flaking red paint, priced at $95. The stand, a cast resin stack of books, is a fun item that just caught her eye; it too was $95.
Mill Brook Antiques, Reading, Vermont, priced this 14" tall month and day ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Fine and Decorative Arts at Auction
U.S. House of Representatives chair attributed to Bembe and Kimbel, New York, circa 1857, oak, three-star Federal shield surrounded by oak leaves carved on the upper crest, original black leather upholstery, original finish, 401/4" high, $18,000.
A match race at Newmarket by Francis Sartorius I (English, 1734-1804), oil on canvas, 183/4" ... (Read More)
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(Show)A Healthy Heart Pumps Life into a Chilly Southern Weekend
Above a dry sink, B. Hannah Daniel of Athens, Alabama, placed this "Home for Thanksgiving" hooked rug for $1600 with its strong "over the river and through the woods" sentiment.
The folks from Dover House Antiques in Louisville, Kentucky, reported good results with a well-designed formal display. One important case ... (Read More)
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(Show)Back at the Fairgrounds Again
David Allan Ramsay and David Woody of Lake Worth, Florida and Cape Porpoise, Maine, backed their space with an appealing set of flower-decorated gates for $3300. The folk art hooked rug winding a path across the floor chronicled the family history of a 1740 Camden, Maine, homestead in museum quality, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Shadows Uplifted: A "Curated" African-American Fine Art Sale
Joseph Delaney (1904-1991), Harlem, Sunday Morning, 40" x 21", oil on masonite board, 1942, $40,000 (est. $15,000/25,000).
William H. Johnson (1901-1970) used pochoir (hand-colored stencils) and screens to create On a John Brown Flight. The 16" x 24" print on cream wove paper from 1942-45 sold to a collector for $81,250 ... (Read More)
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(Show)Fiddler's Antique Show: A Break in the Weather Benefits the Gate
John Melby of Eastport, Maine, has been coming to Nashville for 30 years and likes the homey quality at Fiddler's. He's learned how to completely transform his space into an attractive room setting. At center, a New Hampshire table with two-board top, rounded corners, and a deep skirt, just under ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Cyberstalking Charges in L.A.: A Cautionary Tale for 21st-century Citizens
The computer age has enriched and simplified the lives of many of us, but it also has opened up new opportunities for those with a criminal bent. The ability to engage in nearly anonymous contact may be appreciated by the would-be writers among us, but it's a dangerous tool in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The National Ivory Ban: What May Be Banned and How to Prove Antiquity
On February 11, President Barack Obama banned all import and export of African elephant ivory, except for "bona fide antiques." He said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (F&WS) would implement a nearly complete ban on commercial trade in elephant ivory.
"I'm opposed to the ban because it will be ineffective ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)U.S. Bans Commercial Trade of Elephant Ivory
On February 11, the United States announced a ban on the commercial trade of elephant ivory, prohibiting the import, export, or resale within the United States of elephant ivory "except in a very limited number of circumstances."
The new ban will:
* Prohibit commercial import of African elephant ivory: All commercial imports ... (Read More)
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