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Now showing 7800-7900 of 9822 result(s)
(Auction)"An Excellent Adventure:" A Fitting Tribute to Bowmanville Show Founder
A late 18th- or early 19th-century burl bowl, ex-Gordon Baker collection and illustrated in Howard Pain's The Heritage of Upper Canadian Furniture, figure 582,sold for $6050. Thompson photo.This watercolor portrait of James Gauntley, Bowmanville, circa 1835, was the top lot of the sale at $15,400.A mid-19th-century glazed corner cupboardfrom Millbrook, ... (Read More)
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(Feature)"Miss Edgerton's Ye Colonial Shoppe" or Women in the Trade, Part Two
by Jeanne Schinto"You've sold all my things. You've sold my mother's china. You sold the rugs. You sold the portraits. You've made a business out of it-selling the past. What kind of a business is that-selling the past?"-from "Publick House," John Cheever, The New Yorker, August 16, 1941The cover of ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Editorial: Maine Shuts the Door
Losing isn't easy. When Maine lost two court rulings in Virginia regarding a broadside copy of the Declaration of Independence, it stung.In July 1776, the Massachusetts Executive Council ordered that copies of the Declaration be printed and delivered to ministers of all churches in Massachusetts so it could be read ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Country Sale in the North Carolina Mountains
The top furniture lot and the second-highest lot of the sale was a two-piece French cabinet with scrolled and carved crown, open shelves, and two doors above. Below were one small drawer, two angled doors, and a carved skirt. It sold for $1485. The top lot of the sale at ... (Read More)
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(Show)Burk Show Rolls Into Its 40th Year
The pillar and scroll shelf clock from Allentown, Pennsylvania, had a Black Forest movement from Europe. The dial and tablet were original and on tin. It was priced at $12,500 from New Oxford, Pennsylvania, dealer Kelly Kinzle. The Severin Roesen still-life painting was $55,000, and the inlaid cutlery box was ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Strongest Painting Sale Ever---without a Fitz Henry Lane
At the Grand Prix by Childe Hassam (1859-1935), an 111/2" x 81/4" (sight size) pastel and graphite on paper/board, brought the top price of the day, $699,000 (est. $150,000/200,000). Signed "Childe/Hassam," it was inscribed "given to me by A.L.A. for Victorian Room" on a label from the Worth Avenue Gallery, ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Merchandise Mart International Antiques Fair
Moylan-Smelkinson/The Spare Room found a way to solve the universal case crunch dilemma. Faced with showing 21 Chrysanthemum pattern plates by English maker Herculaneum, they mounted themon a wall. From about 1810, the plates were $17,000 for the lot or $850 each.Merchandise Mart seller Richard Norton brought a set of ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Antiquing Around the World--On Line
The Woolloongabba Antique Centre in Brisbane, Australia looks like something you might find anywhere in the U.S.Computer Column #260by John P. Reid, e-mail: jreid@dca.netIn the past six months, this column has discussed serious stuff-software for dealers and antiques malls, inexpensive office software, running Windows programs for antiquers on a Macintosh ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)A Farm Animal Shelter in Western New York Saves Historic Site
by Fran KramerCracker Box Palace, a farm animal haven in Alton, New York, is well underway to saving an essential piece of Shaker history.Alasa Farms, on the site of what was the Sodus Shaker community from 1826 to 1836 (the Sodus Shakers then moved 90 miles southwest to Groveland and ... (Read More)
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(Show)Tales of a Wayside Inn Show
Samuel Herrup Antiques, Sheffield, Massachusetts, brought a circa 1760 cherry high chest from the Hartford,Connecticut, area, priced at $14,000. The English or Dutch William and Mary dressing table in oak was $4800. The pair of armchairs, late 17th-century Chinese,in elm wood, was tagged $9500. On the wall, the circa 1820 ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)The Teitelman Collection: More Than a Good Catalog
A Book Reviewby Lita Solis-CohenSuccess to America: Creamware for the American Market, featuring the S. Robert Teitelman Collection at Winterthurby S. Robert Teitelman, Patricia A. Halfpenny, and Ronald W. Fuchs II, with essays by Wendell D. Garrett and Robin EmmersonAntique Collectors' Club, 2010, 303 pages, hardbound, $75 plus S/H from ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Greg Hamilton Chosen VADA's Interim President
The spring meeting of the Vermont Antiques Dealers' Association was held at the South Station Restaurant in Rutland on June 7. The board accepted, with regret, the resignation of James Dunn, who has guided VADA for the past three and a half years. Dunn will remain on the antiques show ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Antique Toys, Advertising, and Americana Auction
Marklin gauge I red locomotive passenger train set, comprising an American Steam profile 0-4-0 clockwork engine with maker's emblem on boiler front, brake lever, and whistle chain, in very scarce maroon and red colors (some paint chipping and paint peeling from the boiler); a four-wheel tender with rear hinged compartment; ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Los Angeles Antiques Show
As first-time exhibitors at this show, but specializing in antique barometers for over 40 years, Derek and Tina Rayment Antiques, Farndon, Cheshire, U.K., displayed a collection of wonderful and decorative barometers from 1780 to 1940. Prices ranged from $250 to $20,000, making a barometer affordable to either a beginner or ... (Read More)
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(Feature)In the Trade: Alan Green, American Jazz, Ossining, New York
Alan Green with all he needs to do a show in Europe.A "bell and hammer" game from the third quarter of the 19th century complete with cards, dice, counters, hammer, and directions in English, French, and German. It's $500. Green said, "This is a common type game. There were many ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Fake Rose Valley Table Exposed
"Rose Valley" table as shown in Freeman's April 19 catalog. Freeman's photo.These genuine Rose Valley chairs sold at Freeman's on November 19, 2005. They are signed and dated (1902) and have a provenance of descending in the family of well-known Philadelphia architect Charles Klauder (1872-1938). One chair (right) has the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Twain Manuscript Sells for Record $242,500
Photo courtesy Sotheby's.by Jeanne SchintoAn unpublished manuscript by Mark Twain, titled "A Family Sketch," sold at Sotheby's in New York City on June 17 for $242,500 (includes buyer's premium). The price is a new world auction record for any autograph manuscript by Twain, Sotheby's press office stated. The buyer in ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Rockport Art Association's Biggest Auction
Aldro Hibbard (1886-1972), Winter Stream, oil on canvas, 24" x 30", $17,250, the star of this auction. Collectors are fussy concerning the Hibbard paintings for which they will pay five digits. For example, a winter logging scene with plenty of snow and in Hibbard's style, but without a sparkling stream, ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
by M.A.D. StaffThese 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.Modern Women: Women Artists at the Museum of Modern Art, edited ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Collecting 50 Years Ago
Arrow-back plank-seat chairs. Price in 1957: $10 for two. The going price in shops in 1957 was usually about $10 each.Queen Anne chair bought from a doorstep.Cast-iron clock. Price in 1957: $3.50. In 2010 it still works and bongs the hours.by Dave KrashesCollecting antiques 50 years ago was not like ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Historic Firearms and Early Militaria
Henry Bowers's engraved New York map powder horn with some highlights in red, 16" long, 2" crack at the bottom, very light scratches, $23,000.Pattern 1872 enlisted cavalry dress helmet, black wool body, brass planchet, plume holder with yellow horsehair plume, original white braided cords, wool surfaces heavily worn, $10,925.First Model ... (Read More)
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(Show)Spring Show Is Well Established but Lacked Sales
This period ladder-back side chair was a low $85 from Stevens, Pennsylvania, textile dealer Wendy Christie. The folding tub stand was $125, and the lard tin underneath, $65. The yarn balls were $10 each, and the "tobacco hands" were $25 each. They are "organic relics," remarked Christie, in reference to ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Former Fruitlands Museum Executive Sentenced to Prison for Embezzling $1.3 Million
by Jeanne SchintoOn June 28, Peggy Kempton, the one-time deputy executive director and chief financial officer of the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard, Massachusetts, was sentenced to state prison and ordered to pay restitution after pleading guilty to stealing $1.3 million from her former employer. Worcester Superior Court Judge Richard T. ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Book Review: Art in Clay: Masterworks of North Carolina Earthenware
A Book Reviewby Lita Solis-CohenCeramics in America 2009Edited by Robert Hunter and Luke BeckerditeThe Chipstone Foundation, distributed by University Press of New England, 2009, 232 pages, hardbound, $65 plus S/H from University Press of New England, (800) 421-1561 or (www.upne.com).Ceramics in America 2009, like the 2007 Ceramics in America journal ... (Read More)
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(Show)Attendance Was Up, and Furniture Sold
Kay G. Previte Antiques, Aurora, Ohio, offered this 1790-1810 one-drawer table in its original black tar-paint finish for $650. With Hepplewhite legs, a scalloped apron, and dovetailed drawer construction, it was held together with wood pins. The scallopedged hand-painted tole tray with a central motif of a fountain and flowers ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Skinner Sells Unprecedented Horological Tool Collection
Skinner, Inc., Marlborough, Massachusettsby Jeanne SchintoPhotos courtesy SkinnerAfter the tools and books, a section of clocks from various consignors went up, including some from the Crom estate. The top lot of the day, a circa 1815 nine-month duration regulator by Jean Joseph Lepaute (1768-1846), clockmaker to Napoleon I, was Crom's. ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)New President of AAWR
The Artists Archives of the Western Reserve has appointed Herbert Ascherman Jr. as its president. Ascherman is a fourth-generation Clevelander and the city's most prominent portrait photographer. A highly regarded artist, lecturer, writer, and photo-historian who has published and exhibited internationally, he brings more than 35 years of business acumen ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Letter from London
by Ian McKay, e-mail: This time of year, as has always been the case, sees my files of "Letter from London" selections-the certainties, probables, and possible-grow ever larger, and in writing this column at the end of June, I find myself still wanting to include material from sales held in ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Lesson from Grogan & Company: Start Low, Aim High
The sale's top lot, Study of a Woman by Adolf von Menzel (1815-1905), sold on the phone for $32,200 (est. $3000/5000). The 81/4" x 51/2" pencil and charcoal on paper was initialed and dated "92."The Little Love God by Charles E. Mills (1856-1956) made $7475. This 60" x 48" oil ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Pristine Willard Clock Turns Up
Photos courtesy Gary Sullivanby Lita Solis-Cohen"I bought an Aaron Willard tall-case clock with a spectacular Boston-made dial depicting a fisherman in the lunette, a fine old surface, and with a mint paper label inside the door and a fine old surface," said Sharon, Massachusetts, dealer Gary Sullivan on the phone, ... (Read More)
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(Show)Ann Arbor Antiques Market
Mad Anthony Books, Lowell, Michigan, has been a mainstay at Ann Arbor for many years, carrying the latest antiques reference books. Here dealer Carole Chenevert is shown reaching for an Arts and Crafts furniture book for a customer.Alice Dewey Antiques, Temperance, Michigan, always has interesting things for the home. The ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Puff Piece: A Look at Japanese Folk Tobacciana
Only 3" tall but packing a 1000-watt stare, this Daruma tonkotsu (Japanese tobacco box) has a body made of paulownia wood.The Zen monk's fine-grained face allowed the artisan to show details, including a five-o'clock shadow. The eyes are mother-of-pearl, and the body is inlaid with a stylized pipe and a ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Man Indicted in Connection with Stealing Antiques from Hospital
Paul Galzerano, 58, of Groveland, Massachusetts, a former associate vice president for Beverly Hospital in Beverly, Massachusetts, has been indicted in connection with stealing antiques from the hospital. An Essex County Grand Jury returned sealed indictments against Galzerano on March 26. Those indictments were unsealed on June 30.According to authorities, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Dawson and Wyeth Top Maine Auction
Erastus Salisbury Field (1805-1900) oil on canvas, once used as a fireboard, $26,450.Montague Dawson (1895-1973) oil on canvas of The Lofty Trader "The ScottishMoors," $71,875.Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, Thomaston, Maineby Mark SiscoThe cover lot for the Thomaston Place Auction Galleries auction on May 22 and 23 in Thomaston, Maine, was ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Record Price Paid for Early American Glass
The two-piece cut-glass footed vase, signed and dated on the base of the vase "Bakewell Page/ Bakewells/ Pittsburgh/ 1825 [or 29]," has a copper-wheel-engraved view of the Chateau de la Grange-Bleneau in a cartouche at the center. The neck is composed of alternating concentric rings. The body of the restored ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Bronzes in Lenox
Andrew DeVries and Innocence, a life-size sculpture that defies gravity: a horizontal female nude held aloft by her hairHuntington, Massachusetts, sculptor Andrew DeVries has installed 25 of his largest figurative bronze sculptures around the historic district of Lenox, Massachusetts. The outdoor exhibit will continue through November 1.This public display gives ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Financial Reform Legislation and the Art Market
by Daniel GrantThe financial reform legislation currently before Congress may require the usually secretive art financing companies and auction houses to make public their loan agreements to would-be art buyers, according to congressional staffers for Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) and Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CT), as well as outside lawyers who ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)Top Ten Reasons Young People Should Buy Antiques
The Young Collectorby Hollie Davis and Andrew RichmondSometimes in life you become an expert by default. This can be a useful skill, especially in terms of parenting, when anything, even complete non sequiturs like "Santa Claus likes broccoli," can bluff the opposition if said with enough conviction and an air ... (Read More)
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(Feature)In the Trade: Victor Weinblatt, South Hadley, Massachusetts
by Frank DoneganVictor Weinblatt is shown standing in front of a circa 1890 midwestern carnival game wheel. It's red, yellow, black, and white. The spots on the "dominoes" are thumbtacks. It's $4850.Gosh. For the second time in three months, we're writing about a Harvard guy in this space. Who knew ... (Read More)
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(Feature)What Does It Cost to Win a Lawsuit Concerning Art?
by David HewettOn April 8 Roger L. Hunt, chief judge for the United States District Court, District of Nevada, ruled that Judy Goffman Cutler was "the true owner of the painting" by Norman Rockwell titled Russian Schoolroom.We've covered the story before, about how art dealer Jack Solomon sued Cutler, who ... (Read More)
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(Computer Article)Software for Antiques Malls
Computer Column #259by John P.
Reid, e-mail: jreid@dca.netA reader in Connecticut asked for suggestions about software for her group shop. I realized that this important topic has not been covered here for four years.
Managers of group shops, antiques malls, and co-ops have an enormous paperwork burden. Computers can save ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Carving a Niche with Its Largest Sale So Far
Repousse to the max, this Baltimore coffee and tea service with castles in relief was marked by 20th-century maker Schofield Co. and brought $7945. Case photo.The most important furniture lot in the sale was this cherry press that came out of Horseshoe Bend Plantation in< grainger county in eastern tennessee. ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Harnett Biennial of American Prints
The 2010 Harnett Biennial of American Prints is the ninth competitive national exhibition organized by the University of Richmond Museums. Open to all forms of prints, the exhibition is presented as a celebration and examination of contemporary printmaking by artists throughout the United States. The Harnett Biennial will be on ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Auction and Show Worlds Collide in Santa Fe and Chicago
by Lita Solis-CohenAt the second annual SOFA West: Santa Fe, a leading contemporary decorative arts and design fair in Santa Fe, New Mexico, held July 8-11, a large banner in the booth of dealers Garth Clark and his partner Mark Del Vecchio called for consignments to the upcoming 20th-century contemporary ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Finder's Fee Lawsuit Filed in Maine over Million-Dollar Map
A Virginia collector bought the map of the siege that was prepared ten days after the Battle of Yorktown by French Lieutenant Colonel Jean Baptiste Gouvion (1747-1792). It consists of three sheets of paper joined together and has suffered from some minor condition problems such as small tears and holes ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Will Norman Schaut Do It Again?
by Lita Solis-Cohen"Back in 1986 when Norman Schaut called his Atlantique City show management company Brimfield Associates, we laughed and said, 'How can he do that?' But he did it. Atlantique City was like Brimfield-without the mud and without the rain. It had a glorious run. Now it looks like ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Joseph French Collection Highlights Decoy Auction
Shortly into the second day of the auction, this exceptional Robert Elliston (1849-1915) mallard hen with a turned head sold for $100,625 (est. $12,000/15,000). It had been recently discovered in the attic of a house in rural Indiana and retained strong original paint with minor wear. Although it was highly ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Prices Hold Steady at Kaufman III Toy Auction
A Tipp & Co. (Germany) 1932 Mickey and Minnie motorcycle lithographed tin clockwork motorcycle, 91/4" long, more than doubled its estimate to sell on the phone for $65,550 to a New York City collector.The 1920's Gray Dunn (England) motorcyclewith sidecar biscuit tin, 10" long, marked the last, but not least, ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Variety Makes for a Great Cane Event
Tradewinds Antiques, Peabody, Massachusettsby Susan MellishPhotos courtesy Tradewinds AntiquesHaving an 18k gold octagonal handle with such a long inscription that the engraver had to run three words down the side of the handle, this cane, presented to John Q. Adams, sold for $9775. Selling with a biographical paper detailing the ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Sailors' Knotted Knacks
Becket with carved wooden bracket. The rope work is 8" long.An 8" knotted toggle, an uncommon variation of the common becket for sea chests.Small (9") complexly knotted boat fender.A 61/2" fid made from bone with diamond and heart carved top decoration. Note the tightly knotted macrame sleeve.A 25" bow fender, ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Defamation and the Art World
by Daniel GrantUnder the law in Massachusetts, an "art dealer must pay...monies due from the sale of the consigned work within 90 days of receipt of payment. The art dealer incurs fines for payments not made within 90 days, and the penalties increase again after 180 days." If the dealer ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Getman Announces New Cape Cod Show
Show promoter Marvin Getman of New England Antique Shows has announced a new show, Antiques on Cape Cod, which will take place August 28 and 29 at the new Hyannis Youth and Community Center in Hyannis, Massachusetts."I've been looking for the right venue for a show on the Cape for ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)What Wasn't Repatriated Sold at Hindman's
by Daniel GrantThis story begins where most end. In 2007 John Sisto of Berwyn, Illinois, a small-time antiques dealer who was born in Italy but became a naturalized U.S. citizen, died at the age of 78. Inside his home, however, was the stuff of a new story. There were more ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Estate Tax Uncertainty
by Daniel Grant"If people begin to get used to the idea of no or low inheritance taxes, it does take a tool out of my toolbox," said Museum of Fine Arts, Houston director Peter Marzio. That tool is the lure of reducing an heir's tax liability with the deduction that ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Waugh, Rungius, and Eichholtz Lead
This oil on canvas of a Alaskan fjord scene by Frederick Judd Waugh brought $27,500.Frederick Judd Waugh (1861-1940), oil on board, 20" x 30", $4070.Frederick Judd Waugh, Sunlit, oil on canvas, $6600.Etchings by Carl Rungius (1869-1959). Each sold for $3630.Bruce Gamage Auctions, Rockland, Maineby Mark SiscoThe heart of Bruce Gamage's ... (Read More)
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(Show)42nd Annual Spring Original Round Top Antiques Fair
Ray and Mary Key of The Mustard Seed, Houston, Texas, asked $495 for this birdcage, made in northern France in the 1930's or 1940's.This solid oak railroad bench, 7'3" long, was installed in a station in Fayetteville, Texas, between 1900 and 1920. It was priced at $1250 by Randy Nicholson ... (Read More)
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(Show)Rifle Hall Americana Antique Show & Spring Jubilee
Round Top, Texasby Steve BrooksKaren and Charley Buckingham of Burleson, Texas, offered this hooked rug from Texas, circa 1880, for $2800. The rug was hooked from old clothing, most of it cotton, and the loops were left intact, rather than clipped. "They recycled old clothing," said Karen. "They couldn't afford ... (Read More)
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(Show)Sterling McCall Antiques Showcase
This silverware set was custom made for William K. Vanderbilt, grandson of tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, in the late 19th century. It was priced at $29,500 by Phil Dreis of Antique Cupboard, Waukesha, Wisconsin.These production pottery pieces were made around 1940 by the Roseville Pottery Co., Zanesville, Ohio, which mold-cast and ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Chicago Botanic Garden Antiques & Garden Fair
Business was brisk at the booth of Gladstone Jones, Philadelphia, which was filled with botanical prints.We snapped a photo of London seller Robert Bloch in his booth. The French 19th-century drapery table is $6600. Behind it, the French bistro mirror measures 59" x 74" and is $6500. The mid-19th-century French ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Leigh Keno Will Chair Antiques in the Gardens
Dealer, auctioneer, and Antiques Roadshow personality Leigh Keno will be the honorary chair for the Antiques in the Gardens show, held at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens in Boothbay, Maine. The show is produced by the Maine Antiques Dealers Association. Keno will be in attendance at the gala preview event ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)The Passed-Lot King?
by David HewettAntique Place in Hallandale, Florida, may be a possible record holder for passed lots. It has had four Live Auctioneers sales in 2010. The auctions ranged in size from 215 lots to 270 lots. So far this year it has offered a total of 956 lots. According to ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Rare Southern York County, Pennsylvania, Paint-Decorated Chest Surfaces at Small Household Sale
by Karl H. PassIt was not a typical Tuesday evening sale for Wehrly's Auction Service Inc. on May 11. The small rural Glen Rock, Pennsylvania-based company sold an unusual paint-decorated southern York County, Pennsylvania, lift-top chest for $11,000 (includes buyer's premium) to a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, private collector."We believe it ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Paint and Provenance Power Auction
William Jurian Kaula landscape of the Pemigewasset Valley of New Hampshire, $10,925.Delaware Valley ladder-back armchair, $10,350.Spectacular open-top pewter cupboard, probably from the Margaree Valley region of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It had an array of detailed decorative carvings, ranging from a reticulated dentil cornice, to pinwheel rosettes and quarter sunburst ... (Read More)
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(Auction Law and Ethics)Who Did That to You?
Auction Law and Ethicsby Steve ProffittHow do we get into the bad spots that we do? We usually do it to ourselves. We "sell" ourselves into the predicaments that haunt and harm us.Take my cousin, Junior, over in Boaz, Alabama, a real intellectual and crack negotiator too. Cross Gomer Pyle ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Books Received
by M.A.D. StaffThese 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.A Force for Change: African American Art and the Julius Rosenwald ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Energy and Interest at California and Western Paintings Auction
Woman in a Garden Sewing by Joseph Kleitsch (1882-1931), 24" x 30", sold to a Bay Area private collector for $230,000. The painting was one of several offered from the estate of Nancy M. Daly, a Los Angeles collector who was married to L.A. mayor Richard Riordan. "Kleitsch is one ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Editorial: The Forgotten
EditorialIs the antiques business a shadow economy? Sometimes, like the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, it gets no respect.Local legislation in Massachusetts that was aimed at protecting the public has brought serious unintended consequences. On Cape Cod this spring, some well-meaning selectmen, aided by law enforcement, managed to get a socalled ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Early 20th Century and Modern
Rago Arts and Auction Center, Lambertville, New Jerseyby Lita Solis-CohenPhotos courtesy RagoA Judy Kensley McKie patinated bronze jaguar bench, 1992, inscribed "11 of 12/ copyright JKM 1992," 261/2" x 57" x 17", sold for $73,200 (est. $30,000/40,000) on the phone. A phone bidder paid $31,720 (est. $15,000/20,000) for a Judy ... (Read More)
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(Show)P.T. Promotions Completes Its 20th Season
Robert "Bob" Foley of Gray, Maine, offered for $155 a small concrete sculpture of a woman dozing on a park bench. She was guarded by a $255 pair of red-eyed owl andirons.Weatherwise, it was a fine day, but not everybody was "out raking." Barbara Boyland, Polly Thibodeau, and JanDurham of ... (Read More)
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(Show)AD20/21: Growth by Design
Seated in an exhibition space shared by Boston Architectural College (BAC) and Dakota Jackson Inc. are Chala Hadimi (left), director of the college's foundation program, and Dave Harrison, head of the school of interior design. To the right of the unidentified standing man is Jackson's two-piece A*ra*besque cocktail table set, ... (Read More)
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(Young Collectors)Nurturing the Nature of Young Collectors
The Young Collectorby Hollie Davis and Andrew RichmondAfter quite some thought and careful consideration, we've decided that converting young collectors is a very slow process. We've arrived at the conclusion that it might be faster to make them. As a result, sometime around Labor Day (insert wisecrack here), we'll be ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Maritime Paintings and Shipbuilders' Models
Bonhams, New York Cityby A.J. Peluso, Jr.Photos courtesy BonhamsIt's simple, Bonhams offered a sprawling 137-lot sale focused on ship models and paintings of the highest quality in New York City on April 14 and voila, $1,385,298 (includes buyers' premiums). Add that to its January take, $441,701, and voila, $1,826,999. For ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Barn Star's Manchester Shows Stay at the Furniture World Building
Barn Star Productions' two shows during Antiques Week in New Hampshire (the Manchester Pickers Market on Monday, August 9, and Mid-Week in Manchester on Wednesday and Thursday, August 11 and 12) will once again be held at the Furniture World building, located at 1300 South Porter Street in Manchester (Exit ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)A Million-Dollar Snuff Bottle
A Beijing enamel European-subject snuff bottle, Imperial, palace workshops, 1736-60, Qianlong blue-enamel mark and of the period, sold forHK$9,280,000 (approximately US$1,191,580).A 4.22 cm high (approximately 1.66") Chinese snuff bottle made for the Imperial Court of 18th-century China sold for HK$9,280,000 (approximately US$1,191,580, including buyer's premium) at Bonhams Hong Kong on ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Tools Get Hammered Down
The top lot of the auction was a Type 1 Miller patent plow plane by Stanley that sold for $8360.Another item that exceeded the estimate, this handled adjustable cabinet scraper, with dual brass adjustment arms and a cast-iron frame, finished at $1980 (est. $600/1200). Martin J. Donnelly photo.A simple hammer ... (Read More)
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(Auction)A Bleecker Street Antiques Shop Turns Out Its Lights
One of the sale's top lots, a pair of 291/2" tall Chinese Famille Verte with black ground vases, fetched $3540 on theInternet (est. $1500/2000). Grogan photo.Three Chinese porcelain gilt-decorated powder blue vases sold to another Internet bidder for $2950 (est. $300/500). A phone bidder bought a Chinese oxblood vase-form lamp ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Keno Auctions' Inaugural Sale
There were two bidders in the salesroom and two on the phones for the Beekman diminutive mahogany chest, 35" wide, with rococo carving on the feet, skirt, and the edge of its top, stop fluting on the canted corners, and some repairs to the rear feet. Estimated at $200,000/600,000 and ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)McInnis Sale to Be Held at Cliff House
Auctioneer John McInnis is going on the road this summer for a two-day sale. McInnis, who owns an auction gallery in Amesbury, Massachusetts, has rented the facility at the Cliff House Resort & Spa in Ogunquit, Maine, for a July 16 and 17 auction."I wanted to do something different in ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Chicago Botanic Garden Antiques & Garden Fair
Business was brisk at the booth of Gladstone Jones, Philadelphia, which was filled with botanical prints.We snapped a photo of London seller Robert Bloch in his booth. The French 19th-century drapery table is $6600. Behind it, the French bistro mirror measures 59" x 74" and is $6500. The mid-19th-century French ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Letter from London
by Ian McKay, e-mail: Valued at $4000 but sold for just over $1 million at Bonhams in April, will this portrait turn out to be a real Rubens?Everyone (Well, Almost) Loves a SleeperWhen the lawyers get involved, when salesrooms are challenged over their failure to get the best for their ... (Read More)
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(Auction)American Indian and Western Art Auction
Yavapai Apache figural olla, circa 1900, with 53 figures including dogs, deer, and people plus intricate banded motifs of triangles, 201/2" high x 181/2" diameter, with stitch loss around the shoulder and minimal stitch loss on the body, $41,125.Smoke Signal by Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953), oil on canvas, signed, 25" ... (Read More)
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(Feature)"into your hands..."
This watercolor on ivory, mounted as a brooch, depicts Ellen Louisa Tucker (1811-1831), firstwife of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The cashmere shawl in the background came to the museum with this note: "This shawl came from Aunt Mary's 252 Beacon Street Boston-and must be the shawl which belonged to the first ... (Read More)
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(Feature)How Do You Price a Promise When a $31 Million Rothko Is Involved?
by David Hewett
The untitled 93 1/8" x 80 1/8" oil on canvas by Mark Rothko, signed and dated 1961, sold for $31,442,500 at Sotheby's on May 12.
How do you keep secret a link in the chain of provenance of a major artwork that is to be sold at auction? Does ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)College Student Arrested for Stealing Documents
William J. Scott, 18, of Longmeadow, Massachusetts, an undergraduate student at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey, was arrested on March 14 by special agents of the FBI, charging him with theft of an object of cultural heritage from a museum. Scott is accused of stealing documents from the United ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Blue Star Museums
Blue Star Museums, a partnership with more than 750 museums across America, will offer free admission to active duty military personnel and their families through Labor Day. The complete list of participating museums is available on line (www.arts.gov)."America's museums are proud to join the rest of the country in thanking ... (Read More)
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(Auction)English Charger Brings $81,900
Pook & Pook, Downingtown, Pennsylvaniaby Lita Solis-CohenPhotos courtesy Pook & PookThis Mahantongo Valley, Pennsylvania, painted poplar dower chest has a center panel inscribed "John Kesler den/ 16 Junius 1814/ in under Mahantango/ Taunschip Schuhl Caunty," flanked by two panels of stylized tulips and a vase of flowers. The chest is ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Greenwich Antiques Show Canceled for 2010
The Greenwich (Connecticut) Historical Society will not hold the Greenwich Antiques Show in conjunction with its year-end fund-raiser, Antiquarius, in 2010.The historical society will continue to hold its popular annual Antiquarius House Tour and Holiday Boutique in early December and plans to add new fund-raising activities and programs to the ... (Read More)
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(Show)The 13th Annual Marburger Farm Antique Show
A Louis XVI 18th-century bookcase fromPorto, Portugal was $22,000 from Eric Vanpoucke of Antica Collection, Houston, Texas. Made of pioppo wood, with original paint and a rebuilt side, it was originally inserted in a pharmacy wall.Maggie Langdon of Austin, Texas, offered this display bin for nails and screws, from San ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)A Tough Task: A review of "J.E.Buttersworth: 19th Century Marine Painter"
A Book Reviewby A.J. Peluso Jr.J.E.Buttersworth: 19th Century Marine Painterby Rudolph J. Schaefer. Revised and updated by Andrew W. German and Janet U. Schaefer, Mystic Seaport, 2009, 269 pp., hardbound, $150 plus S/H from Mystic Seaport, (860) 572-5386, (www.mysticseaport.org).Note the title of this new book. The incomparable original, published in ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)"A Stitch in Time" Gets More Time
Because of strong attendance, the Greenwich Historical Society in Greenwich, Connecticut, has extended its current exhibition, A Stitch in Time: Quilts from the Collection, to August 29. The exhibition was originally scheduled to close on June 13.A number of the historically significant quilts in the exhibition have never been shown ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Quiet Silver Sale in Texas
A George I silver gilt ewer (9" tall) and basin (10 7/8" diameter) by Paul de Lamerie, London, England, 1714-16, sold for $61,000.01 after the auction. This set is among the earliest extant examples of de Lamerie's work.The enamel and silver gilt clock, Carl Faberge, workmaster Henrik Wigstrom, St. Petersburg, ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Button, Button: Gwinnett Letter Sells for $722,500
Sotheby's, New York Cityby Jeanne SchintoThe Copley Library's Button Gwinnett autograph letter sold to an unidentified buyer for $722,500 (est. $500,000/700,000). A Sotheby's press office spokesperson said there was only one other bidder. The text is in the hand of Timothy Matlack, scribe of the final version of the Declaration ... (Read More)
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(Feature)Hooked Rugs: Rare Frost Rug Pattern in Farnsworth Museum Show
The original Frost pattern No. 171 is clearly marked with the E.S. Frost & Co. name. It has a basket tipping to the left in contrast with the Waldoboro rug at the right. It seems highly unlikely that two designers during the same time frame would come up with the ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Eames Photographic Archive Pulled from Auction, Subject of Legal Dispute
by Daniel GrantIn all other respects, the sale of 133 lots of furniture and decorative objects designed by husband-and-wife team Charles and Ray Eames at Wright auction house in Chicago on April 8 took place without a hitch. It did reasonably well, realizing $344,896 (includes buyers' premiums) for the sale ... (Read More)
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(Show)The Monroe (Washington) Antique Show: Definitely Not a Light Repast
This little (8" x 10" x 4") cabinet or doll bed from France, 1880-90, quickly sold for $195 on the first day of the show. Show promoter Loretta Johnson of Cobweb Antiques, Monroe, Washington, offered it and said she wasn't certain if it represented a cabinet bed or armoire but ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Secondhand Dealers Law Stopped and Passed on Cape Cod
by Clayton PenningtonArticle 37 on the warrant for the May 4 town meeting in Dennis, Massachusetts, was a seven-page proposed bylaw that, if passed, would have severely limited the antiques business in the town of approximately 16,000. Action by local dealers resulted in the article's being pulled from the town ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Minor Ordered to Pay Sotheby's
Multimillionaire art collector Halsey Minor, former head of CNET, has lost the latest skirmish in his ongoing war with the New York City auction houses.
In a March 31 judgment, Minor was ordered by U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones to pay Sotheby's $6,639,850.99. As of June 14, no payments had ... (Read More)
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(Book Review)Lockwood de Forest's Artistic Journey
A Book Reviewby Lita Solis-CohenLockwood de Forest: Furnishing the Gilded Age with a Passion for Indiaby Roberta A. MayerUniversity of Delaware Press, 2008, 238 pages, hardbound, $49.50 plus S/H from University of Delaware Press, (www2.lib.udel.edu/ udpress) or (302) 831-1149.Based on her doctoral dissertation, Roberta A. Mayer's book firmly places Lockwood ... (Read More)
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(Fragment)Daniel Horan Joins R.O. Schmitt's Clock Auction House
Daniel Horan (left) and R.O. "Bob" Schmitt at the April 24 sale in Manchester, New Hampshire.by Jeanne SchintoR.O. "Bob" Schmitt has announced that, while he is relocating his residence to Phoenix, Arizona, this summer, the clock auction house he founded in 1979 will continue to have its semiannual sales in ... (Read More)
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(Auction)Fine and Decorative Art Auction
Tiffany Studios Turtleback chandelier, early 20th century, green geometric leaded glass panels and a wide band of turtleback tiles, marked, 22" in diameter, one broken panel, a couple of cracked panels, missing the ceiling cap, $31,725.KPM plaque of Theodora, 6th-century Greek wife of Emperor Justinian, German, late 19th century, signed ... (Read More)
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