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Now showing 5600-5700 of 9822 result(s)
(Fragment)Patrick Rooney Discovered Dead, Apparent Suicide
The subject of the document theft report in last month's issue on page 10-A, Patrick Rooney, 55, was discovered dead in his Colchester, Vermont, apartment on February 11. An autopsy has been ordered, but no further information was available.
Rooney had pleaded not guilty in Vermont Superior Court on January 21, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)NRA Weighs In on Ivory Ban
Antiques dealers and collectors concerned about the national ban on ivory picked up a powerful partner with plenty of lobbying muscle: the National Rifle Association.
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 ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Chinese Warrior on Horseback Captures Twenty-Eight Grand
This 41/2" x 61/2" Chinese silk painting mounted in a wide gold brocade mat led the auction at $28,750. Thomaston Place photo.
This circa 1960 large sternboard eagle by Rockland, Maine, carver Harold Simmons sold for $13,800.
Although the silver market spot price peaked in late 2011, the antique silver market has ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Rock Solid Results for Rockwell and Others
Paris Theater by Everett Shinn (1876-1953) sold on the phone to a Connecticut dealer for $231,000 (est. $50,000/70,000). The 201/4" x 24" oil on canvas is in a Newcomb-Macklin frame. Schinto photo.
Park Promenade with Bridge by Lesser Ury (German, 1861-1931) sold on the phone for $79,950 (est. $20,000/ 30,000). The ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Julia Gets $4.7 Million in Four Days
Thirteenth-century reliquary chest or chasse with six enameled figures, $183,675.
Some selections from the archive of paper, photographs, and militaria from Luis Emilio, captain of the 54th Regiment, Company E, Civil War, divided into two lots that sold for $59,250 and $148,125.
Pair of 19th-century Chinese cloisonne censers, 34" high, with lotus ... (Read More)
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(Auction)William F. Cody Family Collection of Photographs
Cody family photo album including personal and professional portraits, Wild West shows, and Western scenery, 301 images on black album paper, $23,500. Garlow collection.
Indian chiefs and U.S. officials, including William F. Cody, at Wounded Knee, large-format photo, imprint of John C.H. Grabill of Deadwood, South Dakota, 93/4" x 123/4", light ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Original Semi-Annual York Antiques Show Continues to Impress
Gene Rappaport of Strasburg, Pennsylvania, asked $55,000 for the hanging Haida Northwest Coast blanket.
Dealers Harry Hartman and Oliver Overlander II of Marietta, Pennsylvania, asked $38,000 for their paint-decorated miniature Soap Hollow lift-top chest dated "1856."
This hooked rug of a horse, chickens, and hearts, dated "1902," with initials "SG," was $18,500 ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)R.S. Prussia Tankard Sells for $28,600
Ex-Barlock, a 101/2" Spring Season bowl, the only one known, brought $14,300. "Eileen was the only person who had a full set-all four seasons-in that bowl," Clark said.
The auction listing noted that the tankard had small chips to the base and a red mark. It sold for $28,600, an auction ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Staffers Leave Troubled Auction House, Form New Company
Two senior staffers at Ivey-Selkirk, the St. Louis, Missouri, auction house, gave their notice on January 27, resigning from the firm in order to start a new St. Louis auction company. Five other former Ivey-Selkirk employees also resigned.
Susan Kime and Terry Beye have founded Link Auction Galleries, named after architect ... (Read More)
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(Auction)The Ralph Esmerian Sale
This 111/2" x 9" needlework sampler has been given the title from the worked words "Adam and Eve in Paradice" [sic] and was made by Lydia Hart in Boston in 1744. The stitched inscription reads, "Adam and Eve in Paradice That Was The/ir Pedigree They Had A Grant Never To/ ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Bird Hunting on Madison Avenue
Plate 26, Carolina Parrot, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Bonnie Parker's Pistol Fires National Attention
This item became a story picked up by national media. The .38 Colt Model 1902 pistol had been found on the body of Bonnie Parker at the Conger Funeral Home in Arcadia, Louisiana, after the law caught up with the infamous pair in 1934. Very well documented for outlaw memorabilia, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Crowded Ferrell Southern Stoneware Sale
"Phoenix/ Factory 1840" is written in fine script on the shoulder of this 191/2" stoneware jar. Master potter Thomas Chandler was employed at Phoenix in 1840 and may have turned this jar. Phoenix Factory went out of business in 1850. At $90,000, this was the sale's top lot (est. $50,000/70,000). ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Winter Antiques Show 2014
Library table and two chairs, Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company, New York City, 1891-93, made of primavera (similar to satinwood) and American ash with elaborate floral carving, varicolored wood, and metal micromosiac inlay; the chairs have glass ball and brass claw feet; $1,330,000 from Associated Artists. David Parker believes Samuel ... (Read More)
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(Auction)$767,000 Decoy Tops Sotheby's Americana Auction
John James Audubon (1785-1851), Say's Squirrel, inscribed in pencil: "2 female 1 male April 9 '43 Female and male facing in long leaves of grass; St. Louis, MO,"watercolor, 14" x 193/4", 1831, tears, creases, and soil, sold on the phone for $137,000 (est. $80,000/120,000). The proceeds went to a ... (Read More)
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(Show)Under New Ownership, the Armory Antique Show Holds Its Own
One of the first things visible to incoming shoppers was this hooked rug offered by folk art dealers Robert Snyder and Judy Wilson of Wiscasset, Maine. The semicircular circa 1930 work was $2850 and provided a graphic picture of Americana. Its eagle is surrounded by stars and stripes.
The first thing ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Maritime Paintings and Decorative Arts
Emma Heather by William Pierce Stubbs (1842-1909) depicts the three-masted schooner Emma Heather, built in 1871 in Milton, Delaware, and sunk in a gale off the Delaware Breakwater in 1893. Stubbs's work and the work of so many other artists flattered and idealized its subject. She was a coal carrier! ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Miami Show
Puchstein Promotions will launch a new show in January. The Miami Antiques Extravaganza will be held January 24 through 26, 2014, at the Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds, located on the west side of Miami, Florida. The majority of the approximately 400 exhibitors will be inside the air-conditioned Arnold Hall and Coliseum; ... (Read More)
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(Show)Winter Weather Fails to Dampen Round Top Show
Gorgeous, rich greens come together in this Haitian painting from the 1970's. Fred Cain of Naples, Florida, called it Children of Paradise and priced it at $1800.
"Whoever buys it gets to figure out how to open it!" Nancy B. Cooper of Austin, Texas, said of the secret drawer in this ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Americana Week
This scalloped-top Philadelphia tea table from the Eric M. Wunsch estate, probably made in the shop of Benjamin Randolph, with carving attributed to Richard Butts, brought $905,000. Christie's photo.
This eider drake decoy from the legendary McCleery collection, from a rig probably made by an unidentified maker on Monhegan Island, Maine, ... (Read More)
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(Feature)American Silver, Furniture, Folk Art, and Chinese Export Art Bring $10.44 Million
The silver brandywine bowl, one of only two known with the mark of Cornelius Vander Burch, New York, circa 1690, has six lobed panels and a domed center with an embossed and chased flower head. The two cast scroll handles have caryatids and beading, and the body is engraved ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Americana at Bonhams
The highest Americana price of the day belonged to a carved and inlaid automaton hall clock commissioned from Tiffany & Co. and delivered in April 1901. Estimated at $40,000/60,000, it went at $100,000 to a phone bidder.
A phone bidder on the line with Madelia Ring ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Metro Show 2014
Ricco/Maresca, New York City, asked $35,000 for renowned palmist Marianne Raschig's collectionof original vintage palm prints that she collected between 1925 and 1935 ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Leigh Keno's Americana Week Business
The players in the drama of the sale of the Continental Congress document that sold for $912,500 at Keno Auctions on January 26. From left: Leigh Keno, the auctioneer; Dr. James Kerr, president of the Morris-Jumel Mansion board of trustees; Carol Ward, director of the Morris-Jumel Mansion; Emilie Gruchow, the ... (Read More)
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(Show)The New York Ceramics Fair 2014
Cliff Lee (b. 1951) of Stevens, Pennsylvania, asked $40,000 for this piece of porcelain he called a Double Dragon vase. There is an incised dragon on the body of the vase and a dragon with ruby eyes on the lid. He said it was very difficult to put on the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Vermonter Charged with Library/Historical Society Theft, Again!
Patrick Rooney, 55, of Colchester was arraigned in Vermont Superior Court in Burlington on January 21 on charges of petty larceny and sale of stolen property. He pleaded not guilty and was scheduled to return to court on February 19.
Rooney holds an unusual place in recent Vermont history. He's the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The Proposal for a National Ban on Ivory
You won't be able to import or export ivory or rhino horn, and you won't be able to sell ivory or rhino horn, if a ban currently under consideration becomes law. These are the rules of The Proposal for a National Ban on Ivory.
The December 16, 2013, public meeting of ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Jewish Folk Art: Samplers Embroidered with Hebrew and Jewish Symbols, 1750-1900
Size: 171/2" x 15"
Date: At the bottom left is a rectangular border in gold thread with "1813."
Maker: According to Sasha Makuka, assistant registrar at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, it does not have the maker's name but only the maker's initials "SGM" in Hebrew at the ... (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)Strong Sales at Three East Coast Auction Houses
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
Holiday auctions abounded in the second week of December 2013, ringing in the season with all sorts of bangles and baubles, as well as simple, elegant, fun, and quirky antique and vintage jewelry. Bonhams, New York City; Skinner, Inc., Boston; and Doyle New York all reported strong ... (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.
British Portrait Miniatures: The Cleveland Museum of Art by Cory Korkow (The Cleveland ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Free Software: The Good and the Bad
Java software update screens of computer technology giant Oracle have a checkbox that must be unchecked to stop installation of unrelated software.
Computer Column #302
John P. Reid, E-mail: jreid@dca.net
Free software is a nice idea, but it is fraught with risks. Some free software is so-called open-source, meaning it is designed by ... (Read More)
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(Auction Law and Ethics)Out of Sight, Out of Mind
Auction Law & Ethics
So what's not to like? The answer can be plenty.
A few of the things that I most dislike include (a) mean people, (b) rude people (especially when driving), (c) arrogant people, (d) annoying people, (e) standing in line (anywhere), (f) greed (think gasoline), (g) banks and insurance ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London
Ian McKay, ianmckay1@btinternet.com
Chinese works of art and Russian pictures play a prominent part in this month's selection, something almost inevitable where the London market is concerned, but this "Letter" also includes a belated Christmas Carol from Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a portrait of Jane Austen, a costly chess piece, a Constable ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)2013: The Year in Review
The Young Collector
This column seems to have become an annual tradition, one that's much more pleasant to reflect on than resolutions. It shows how each year seems to bring such dramatic changes. Nat, who was a little pink lump (an adorable lump but a lump nonetheless) this time last year, ... (Read More)
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(The Art of Marketing)Social Media and Evaluating Antiques Shows
The Art of Marketing
Last month I covered the topic of relationship marketing. Now it's time to change gears and move on to another vital topic: utilizing social media to build your business.
Social media is very tricky. Regardless of what you hear, there are very few antiques businesses gaining much, if ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)John Keith Russell, South Salem, New York
Russell in the revolving armchair. "It's the first time I've sat in it," he said.
New Lebanon revolving armchair-the only one known. It was made in the 1860's, and all the joints are carefully pinned. Russell thinks it may have been a concept chair with which the Shakers were working out ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)The Threat from D.C.
Editorial
Two issues under consideration in Washington, D.C., could have a major- and possibly devastating-impact on the art and antiques market in America.
In December 2013, the Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking, a group formed to advise and assist the Presidential Task Force on Wildlife Trafficking, held a public meeting in our ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Antiques Roadshow 2014 Destinations
Antiques Roadshow, PBS's most-watched prime time series, has announced its summer 2014 tour destinations: Bismarck, North Dakota, May 31; Santa Clara, California, June 7; Birmingham, Alabama, June 21; Austin, Texas, June 28; Albuquerque, New Mexico, July 19; Chicago, Illinois, July 26; New York, New York, August 9; and Charleston, West ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Grant Awarded to Digitize New York Silver Collection
The Museum of the City of New York has been awarded a $150,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation for a two-year project to catalog and digitize its collection of historic New York silver. The collection includes 2200 pieces of civic, domestic, religious, and presentation hollowware, flatware, and accessories made ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New York City Law Modernizes Recordkeeping for Secondhand Dealers
One of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's last acts in office was to sign legislation that will modernize the recordkeeping practices of pawnbrokers and certain secondhand dealers in New York City. The legislation will make records that pawnbrokers and secondhand dealers are already required to keep more readily available for review ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Maryland Chapter of American Antique Arts Association
The Charles County (Maryland) Chapter of the American Antique Arts Association, a nonprofit devoted to the appreciation, study, and preservation of American antiques, architecture, arts, crafts, and local history, voted to donate money to three local organizations. The Maryland Veterans Memorial Museum, the Southern Maryland Carousel Group, and the Port ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Merchandise Mart Cancels Annual Antiques Fair
Citing a "fractured market," management at Chicago's Merchandise Mart (also called the Mart) has canceled its annual International Antiques Fair, scheduled for April 24-27, 2014.
"We decided it is best to take a step out," Lisa Simonian, vice president of marketing for Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI) and its consumer and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Rules for Deaccessioning in New York
New rules for the de-accessioning of objects from New York collecting institutions and regulation of the use of the funds from disposed items are the highlights of legislation being sponsored by Assemblyman Steve Englebright. The bill would require collecting institutions to adopt and publish a binding collection management policy and ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Time Capsule of Chinese Export Material
Pair of monumental China trade oil on canvas panoramic landscapes, attributed to Youqua (active 1840-70), circa 1840, $768,000 (est. $150,000/250,000) to collectors in the room. Tibbits collection.
According to the catalog, the first oil depicts "the hongs at Canton with a bustling harbor scene in front displaying hundreds of Chinese boats ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Signed "Sgt. Pepper's" Album Sells for $175,698
A copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, signed by all the Beatles, sold on line for $175,698 (includes buyer's premium) on January 15 at RR Auction, based in Amherst, New Hampshire.
The first issue mono pressing of the album by U.K. Parlophone Records was signed on the full-color ... (Read More)
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(Auction)January Firearms Auction Earns $1.8 Million
Selling for nearly double its high estimate at $19,200 was a Smith & Wesson .44-caliber revolver known as the No. 3 First Model. Made in the early 1870s prior to the advent of the Colt six-shooter, these popular guns were carried by both lawmen and law-breakers. Its serial number is ... (Read More)
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(Show)Washington Winter Show
Doug and Bev Norwood of Timonium, Maryland, trade as Norwoods' Spirit of America. Their booth always offers unusual and interesting pieces of Americana. Here are a group of violin-related items. The 19th-century trade sign offering lessons was priced at $2800. The violin on the left has a handwritten fingering chart ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Winterthur Acquires the Pastor Frederick S. Weiser Collection
Religious text by Andreas Kolb, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, circa 1785. Winterthur Museum purchase with funds provided by the Henry Francis du Pont Collectors Circle; photo, Jim Schneck. This extraordinary fraktur is a masterpiece from the hand of Andreas Kolb, a Mennonite schoolmaster and fraktur artist who taught in Montgomery and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Not Keeping a Promise in Texas Costs $1.2 Million Plus Interest
The untitled 93 1/8" x 80 1/8" oil on canvas by Mark Rothko, signed and dated 1961.
Is it reasonable to expect that the chain of provenance can be kept secret when a major work is consigned to auction? How about when the piece in question is a humongous (93 1/8" ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Mixed Bag at Gamage Auction, but Mene Bags Nearly Six Grand
This bronze sculpture by Pierre-Jules Mene of a country gentlewoman on her mount sold for $5750.
This sterling silver tea set of two teapots, a creamer, and sugar and weighing in at 55.2 troy ounces sold for $960.25.
This beautiful pair of mahogany knife boxes, probably George III, late 18th or ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Garth's Americana Auction
English spatter plate, paneled yellow border with a red-outlined tulip, second quarter of the 19th century, 81/2" diameter, repaired outer edge, $4920.
English rainbow spatter pitcher in five colors with shell spout, second quarter of the 19th century, 9" high, with a 3" to 4" line in the body, a spout ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Robert Foster Opens the New Year
Two mahogany tall-case clocks produced widely divergent prices. The darker clock above stopped at $550, but the lighter one on the right sailed all the way to $5170.
What made this $550 Native American Shasta basket most interesting was the original Hudson Bay Fur Co. label. A gentleman named Moritz Gutmann ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Maud Lewis Tops New Year's Day Auction
A small (10" x 14") painting by folk artist Maud Lewis (Canadian, 1903-1970) was the highlight of a New Year's Day auction at the King's Theatre in Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, when it sold for Can$11,500 (US$10,807). The buyers, a couple who recently made Nova Scotia their home, were ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Mesda Launches On-Line Craftsman Database
On January 1, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) at Old Salem Museums & Gardens in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, launched its full-text, on-line Craftsman Database, a powerful resource for historians, collectors, and those researching their family histories.
MESDA's database contains information about artisans gathered through primary research in public ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Emerald Expositions to Acquire George Little Management
Emerald Expositions, Inc. has agreed to acquire George Little Management LLC (GLM) from Providence Equity Partners for $335 million. The deal was announced on December 20, 2013.
U.S. Antique Shows, a division of GLM Shows, produces nine antiques shows, including the Miami National Antique Show, the Armory Antique Show, the Original ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Historical Documents of "Distinguished American Collector"
The sale's top lot, a huge archive (nearly 140 letters) of George III correspondence addressed to the 2nd Earl of Shelburne, sold for $159,900 (est. $40,000/60,000) to an American bidding on the Internet.
This two-page letter signed big and bold by John Hancock as president of the Continental Congress sold for ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Twentieth-Century Design
Rembrandt Bugatti (1885-1916) created Elephant d'Asie en marche (grand modele) circa 1909. Of patinated bronze this is number "1" from an edition of five, 173/4" x 27" x 81/2", and signed "R. Bugatti 1909," with stamp "Cire Perdue A.A. Hebrard" and numeral "1" and with a plaque inscribed "To William ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Institutions vs. Collectors and Dealers at Poster Auction
A sought-after genre of vintage posters advertised cigarettes back when consumers hadn't a clue to the detrimental effects of tobacco on the human body. Erich Muller (dates unknown) designed this 24" x 351/2" condition B+ poster for the Hansom Cigarette. The repeated motif of a well-dressed woman, in this case ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Design Sale at Sotheby's
Paul Evans, Sculpture Front wall panel with welded signature, lacquered and gilt steel, 481/2" x 593/4" x 51/4", 1974, executed by Paul Evans Studio, Plumsteadville, Pennsylvania, sold for $149,000 (est. $50,000/70,000). It sold at Sollo/Rago on October 25, 2004, for $35,250.
Judy Kensley McKie, Faces cabinet, signed "JHM/ 1991" with copyright, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Appeals Court Rules that Auctioneer's Name Satisfies New York Law
"The big issue, of course, is not so much the secrecy of the consignor; the big issue is that you cannot use the statute of frauds to defend a fraud." Auctioneer William Jenack of Chester, New York, made that comment on December 17, 2013. On that cold December morning, the ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Modern Design Auctions Bring $11.1 Million
Alexandre Noll (French, 1890-1970) created this rare circa 1945 dining table and set of ten chairs of mahogany. The table is 281/4" x 98 5/8" x 341/2"; each chair is approximately 341/4" x 16" x 17". They sold for $905,000 (est. $400,000/600,000). Noll was not an interior decorator; he was ... (Read More)
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(Auction)20th-Century Decorative Arts at Bonhams
William Morris (b. 1957), Artifact: Shard with Bone Pins, 1995, cast glass, 17" x 24" x 2", together with iron mount, sold on the phone for $62,500 (est. $20,000/30,000). William Morris produced several series of glass sculptures that have come to be regarded as iconic examples of his work, including ... (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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(Book Review)Books Received
Our thumbnail reviews are shorter than usual this month to allow us to squeeze in as many books as possible. Whether you're looking for last-minute gifts or just some good reading to curl up with in the next snowstorm, you'll find many interesting choices below. We have included ordering information ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)In Defense of Robert J. Sim
Fig. 1: 1850 Middlesex County, New Jersey, original surveys, by J.W. Otley & J. Keily. Published by Lloyd Van Derveer, Camden , New Jersey. Source: Rutgers University Library.
Fig. 2: Bissett sherd, Period 1, with wavy line. MCHA Collection.
Fig. 3A: Motif I.
Fig. 3B: Motif II.
Fig. 3C: Motif III.
Fig. 3D: Motif ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Letter from London
Ian McKay, ianmckay1@btinternet.com
The timing of the sale is unfortunate, in that this issue will already have gone to press before it takes place, but a Sotheby's auction of December 10, 2013, does allow me to include a couple of jolly Christmas images with this month's "Letter" and, as usual, to ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)A Modern World
A Book Review
A Modern World: American Design from the Yale University Art Gallery 1920-1950
by John Stuart Gordon, with an introduction ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Transferware and Browsers
Cobalt blue is the dominant color on this collectors club Web site, reminiscent of the pottery that members treasure.
Computer Column #301
John P. Reid, jreid@dca.net
Internet browser preferences have changed significantly in the past few years, and we will update the standings. But first, here is an antiques-related Web site that is ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Americana Week Calendar of Events
Note: Check Web sites for auction previews and to confirm auction times.
Friday, January 17 * 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Edward Thorp Gallery, American Folk Art, curated by Fred Giampietro.
Saturday, January 18 * 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Edward Thorp Gallery, American Folk Art, curated by Fred Giampietro.
Monday, January 20 * 10 a.m.- 5:30 ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Americana Week in New York City January 2014
Federal red polychrome paint-decorated yellow pine slant-front desk, circa 1835, ex-Ralph Esmerian, attributed to Johannes Braun, Mahantongo Valley, Pennsylvania, estimated at $300,000/500,000. Sotheby's photo.
Chippendale carved mahogany scallop-top tea table, probably the shop of Benjamin Randolph (1737-1791), with carving possibly by Richard Butts, Philadelphia, circa 1770, approximately 28" high x 321/4" ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Otto Jakob, a Stellar Year, and a JAR Exhibit
Antique Jewelry & Gemology
This month we break all the rules of writing about the antique jewelry market and hardly mention antiques at all. Instead, we feature news of the sale of Otto Jakob contemporary jewelry at Auctionata and an exhibition, Jewels by JAR, from private collections and not for sale ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)An Attitude of Gratitude
The Young Collector
Facebook is a quirky place. In many ways it embodies the Internet, which is probably why some people find it by turns addictive, amusing, educational, and annoying. You can watch trends just blip across the cultural radar. They range from small things such as "Sibling Week" (where if ... (Read More)
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(Auction Law and Ethics)Commissionectomy: A Final Look
Auction Law & Ethics
We've been considering a seldom-discussed and extremely unpleasant issue in auctioneering-the "commissionectomy." This is the term I use when a seller chisels an auctioneer out of a commission earned in order to keep the money for herself. The seller's grab is done in breach of the parties' ... (Read More)
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(The Art of Marketing)Relationship Marketing
The Art of Marketing
Last month I discussed effective selling. Now it's time to change gears and move on to another vital topic and the next step in the sales process-relationship marketing (RM). Relationship marketing can be defined as attracting, maintaining, and enhancing customer relationships. RM activities are aimed at developing ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Greg Hamilton, Stone Block Antiques, Vergennes, Vermont
Greg Hamilton.
Stone Block Antiques.
Naive oil on canvas of a man and woman in a landscape done in pointillist style by Justine Fuller. It retains its original frame. "She died in 1951," Hamilton said. The piece is $2500.
Mid-19th-century Dutch cupboard, $3500. It's filled with a collection of French faience priced at ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Hindman Opens Another Florida Auction Facility
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers has opened a new auction facility in West Palm Beach, Florida. The new salesroom is located at 1608 South Dixie Highway and will hold regularly scheduled auctions.
"Since opening our office in Palm Beach two years ago, we have been very impressed with the quality of fine jewelry, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Outsider Art Fair Changes Dates
The 2014 Outsider Art Fair will be held May 8-11 at Center 548 in Chelsea, New York City, the producer of the show, Wide Open Arts, has announced. The new spring dates reflect a major shift for the fair, which has been held in late January since its inception in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)"M.A.D. Cats" to Sell at Pook & Pook
Photo courtesy Pook & Pook.
"M.A.D. Cats" is the name for a hooked rug featured in the catalog American Classics: Hooked Rugs from the Barbara Johnson Collection. The catalog was for the 1988 exhibition at the Squibb Gallery on the Bristol-Meyers Squibb corporate campus in Princeton, New Jersey. The rug will ... (Read More)
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(Issue Story)Native American History Sold Abroad
Editorial
Twice, the U.S. ambassador to France has urged the delay of the sale of Native American objects in France. Twice, he's failed.
On December 9, 2013, the auction house Eve in Paris sold 32 objects, including Katsinam masks, which are considered sacred by the Hopi tribe, for approximately $1.6 million. This ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Historic Deerfield Undergraduate Summer Fellowship Program
Historic Deerfield, Inc. invites applications from college juniors and seniors to take part in an intensive, nine-week summer fellowship program in history and material culture. Undergraduates who will be enrolled as either juniors or seniors as of January 1 are eligible for seven openings in the program, which is designed ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)RISD Appraisal Class During Americana Week
The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) continuing education department will present an appraisal class in New York City, January 25 through 27, during Americana Week. Antiques show manager, dealer, and writer Jackie Sideli will guide students through three days of intense exposure and interactive learning that will cover all ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Matthew Thurlow Appointed Executive Director of Decorative Arts Trust
Matthew Thurlow, a decorative arts historian and museum professional, currently serves as assistant director of development, major gifts, and planned giving at the Winterthur Museum, Library, and Garden. Thurlow will take over as executive director of the Decorative Arts Trust from Penny Hunt, who has had held the position for ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New Stenton Guidebook
Not since Sarah Logan Wister Starr (1873-1956) wrote a short History of Stenton in 1938, telling of its importance in American history and citing her grandmother and other relatives as sources, has Stenton had a guidebook. That need has now been remedied with the publication of Stenton: A Visitor's Guide ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Veterans Reach Out to a Young Collector
"The kindness and generosity of M.A.D.'s subscribers and readers continues to amaze me," said Celia Lash Briggs. Walter Fleming, a tinsmith from New York state, read "The Birth of a Collector" (M.A.D., Dec. 2013, p. 10-B) and contacted us about sending the gift of a 20th-century sugar bowl to young ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Skinner Appoints New Director of Fine Oriental Rugs and Carpets
Lawrence Kearney is the new director of the fine Oriental rugs and carpets department at Skinner, Inc.
Kearney comes to Skinner after more than three decades as a dealer in antique carpets and textiles. "Considered an authority in the field, he possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of regions, periods, and genres, from ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Numbers Stack Up Quickly at Auction of American Brilliant Cut Glass
Even without an advertised pattern, a signature on a desired shape can edge bidding way above the highest estimate, as was the case with this signed Hawkes 6" tall and 113/4" wide punch bowl without stand from the collection of the Reverend Young. However, an ACGA member later identified the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Quinn & Farmer Sell Indian Camp Plat by Jefferson
This document brought $35,400. Photo courtesy Quinn & Farmer.
The December 14, 2013, sale at Quinn & Farmer Auctions, Charlottesville, Virginia, included several lots from the estate of Robert W. Daniel Jr. (1936-2012) of Brandon Plantation, Prince George, Virginia. Daniel had served Virginia as a member of the U.S. House of ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Rutz Clovis Point Sells to Texas Collector for $276,000
The Rutz Clovis point of sea-green obsidian, 93/4" long, was discovered by Les Ira Kreis in the early 1950's in a wheat field on Badger Mountain near the community of Badger Creek Springs, Washington. It had been in a family collection ever since until it sold for $276,000. Photo courtesy ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Native American Art
This 9" tall San Ildefonso sienna and black lidded vase by Tony Da (with a hand-carved wooden finial on the lid) sold to a private collector for $18,750 (est. $8000/10,000).
This 223/4" high Apache olla, decorated with geometric, human, and animal figures, sold for $22,500 (est. $10,000/15,000) to dealer and basket ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists
Fairfield Porter (1907-1975), Morning after a Storm, signed and dated "Fairfield Porter '73" bottom left, also signed and inscribed with title, medium, dates, and dimensions on the back, oil on board, 18" x 22", sold on the phone for $158,500 (est. $80,000/120,000).
William Trost Richards (1833-1905), A Long Island Beach, signed ... (Read More)
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(Fragment) Olympic Gold Medal Sets World Record
An Olympic gold medal presented to Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics broke an auction record at SCP Auctions in Laguna Niguel, California, on December 8, 2013, It was one of the four Olympic gold medals that were presented to athlete Jesse Owens at the 1936 games, held in Hitler's ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Maine Primitives and Southern History
"The finest example of cooperage we have ever seen. As tight as the day it was crafted," was how Gould's listing described this blue-gray-painted firkin with a double ring of locking bands on the upper rim, a single ring at the 9" diameter bottom, and square side buttons attaching the ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Jewelry Show at Pratt Mansions
JMK Shows held its winter jewelry show at Pratt Mansions across the street from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
"Pins are coming back," said Jacob Gipsan of Jacob's Diamond & Estate Jewelry, Los Angeles. He displayed these Victorian, Art Deco, and mid-20th-century coral and shell cameos of scenes and portraits. They ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Greenwich Winter Antiques Show
This silver-gilt royal presentation racing trophy was offered by Robert Lloyd, New York City, for $85,000. It is the Brighton Gold Cup from 1833 with a maker's mark of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell. On the wall behind the cup are some of the original oils painted for Guinness advertisements in ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Dylan Goes Electric to the Tune of $965,000
On display at Christie's were Dylan's Fender Stratocaster, its case, and some of his lyrics. The guitar, which is dated May 2, 1964, still has its original flat-wound strings. On the wall is a photo of Dylan holding the guitar at a concert at Forest Hills Stadium, Queens, New York, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)William Morris's Press Goes to a Museum, and Newton's Principia Sets a Record
William Morris, when contemplating "what should be the thing most to be longed for" in life, said he thought it should be, first, "a beautiful House" and then "a beautiful Book." "To enjoy good houses and good books in self-respect and decent comfort seems to me to be the pleasurable ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Federalist Papers Top Lot at Mebane
The sale's top lot was displayed in a glass case at the front of the gallery. Although the so-called Federalist Papers were published in two volumes, this lot consisted of two copies of volume one of the 1788 document. One volume was complete, while the other lacked the first six ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Steam Locomotive Photography Leads Ephemera Sale
A gargantuan archive of photographs and related material documenting the era of American steam locomotives was the top lot of the sale, selling to a dealer for $40,000. The lot included several thousand vintage photographs of locomotives in various formats, thousands of pages of meticulously detailed and organized typed notes, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Christie's American Art Sale
Edward Hopper (1882-1967), East Wind Over Weehawken, signed "E. Hopper" (lower right), oil on canvas, 34" x 501/4", sold for $40,485,000 (est. $22/28 million). Painted in 1934, it was acquired in 1952 from the Frank K.M. Rehn Galleries in New York by the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. It ... (Read More)
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