September 25, 2008 - Auction Central News

Distinguished Bloomfield Hills estate headlines Midwest’s Oct. 4-5 auction

Image courtesy Midwest Auction Galleries.

OXFORD, Mich. – On Oct. 4 and 5, Midwest Auction Galleries Inc. will conduct a 1,000-lot Fine Arts and Antiques auction featuring the estate of Mr. and Mrs. John McHugh, of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

The McHugh collection includes 14 important artworks by Louis Icart, as well as an exceptional 19th-century carved mantel adorned by full-size maidens.

Many oil paintings will be offered, including works by Anton Otto Fischer, Charles Fazzino, Sidney Richard Percy, Louis Van der pol, George Thompson Pritchard, Salvador Dali and Louis Apol. Additionally, a selection of 19th-century etchings is consigned.

Always popular with bidders, paintings on porcelain consigned to the sale include examples by KPM and Limoges.

Tate Modern to open major Rothko show Friday, Sept. 26

Mark Rothko Untitled, Mural for End Wall 1959 National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc. 1985.38.5 © 1998 by Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko 265.4 cm x 288.3 cm

LONDON (AP) – The light is low, unusual for a museum. There are no sounds. The walls of the serene room seem to glow with a mysterious power.

There are 14 oversized murals here, slowly coming into focus in the dim light, each playing off the other, drenched in colors and shapes that seem to vibrate.

The effect is powerful but not troubling.

For the first time, Mark Rothko’s ‘Seagram’ murals are on display together at a Tate Modern exhibit of his dark, brooding later works.

The murals – usually scattered in museums in London, Washington D.C., and Sakura, Japan – were originally part of a series commissioned for display at New York’s Four Seasons restaurant in New York’s landmark Seagram building.

F+W glass and bottle guides now on DVD

IOLA, Wis. – The antiques group of F+W Media has made two new antiques identification and price guides available on DVD: Warman’s Fenton Glass Identification and Price Guide, Second Edition, and the Antique Trader Bottles Identification and Price Guide, Fifth Edition.

“At Antique Trader, we try to bring antiques enthusiasts information that will help enrich their enjoyment of the hobby,” said Antique Trader associate publisher Scott Tappa. “For so long that information has been delivered in print, and more recently via the Internet. Now we are offering digital products, and we think collectors of bottles and Fenton glass will enjoy the searchability, image-enlarging capabilities, and tutorials offered on DVD.”

University in England announces degree course in auctioneering, property valuation

Image courtesy University of Wolverhampton.

WOLVERHAMPTON, England – Aspiring auctioneers will be bringing the gavel down on an innovative degree course at the University of Wolverhampton, in England’s West Midlands region.

The new Foundation Degree in Auctioneering and Valuation is believed to be the first of its kind in the UK. Students will be taught how to value and auction personal property, including antiques and real estate.

The course has been developed with industry leaders and is designed to meet growing demand for a recognized university qualification in the field of auctioneering and valuation.

Dr. Felix Hammond, Lecturer at the University’s School of Engineering and the Built Environment, said: “The course will cover subjects such as business skills, auction law, auction economics, auctioneering methods and techniques, valuation principles and applications as well as sales and marketing of goods and services.

“The foundation degree is a joint initiative by the National Association of Auctioneers and Valuers (NAVA) and The National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), with the endorsement of the British Property Federation (BPF) and the University of Wolverhampton, and we are delighted to be working together on this innovative course.”

Princess Diana’s letters to nanny in upcoming London sale

LONDON (AP) – Several letters that Princess Diana wrote to her former nanny, including one comparing her own dancing skills to those of an elephant, will be auctioned in London next week, and they are expected to sell for thousands of dollars.

Diana once famously danced with actor John Travolta at the White House. But as a teenager, she wrote in a 1978 letter to her former nanny that she loved dancing but that, “Watching me dance is like watching an elephant, so no one does!”

James Grinter, an auctioneer with Reeman Dansie, the house selling the four letters and two cards next week, said Tuesday he expects them to go for up to $18,000.

Edvard Munch’s ‘Vampire’ to be auctioned Nov. 3 in NYC

NEW YORK (AP) – Edvard Munch’s Vampire, a dark, brooding painting of a woman with cascading red hair kissing a man’s neck, may set a new record for the Norwegian artist when it goes on the auction block this fall.

The 1894 work, which has been in private hands for more than 70 years, is expected to bring $35 million at Sotheby’s on Nov. 3. In May, Munch’s Girls on the Bridge sold for $30.8 million, setting a record for the artist.

The Vampire painting, also known as Love and Pain, caused a stir when it was first exhibited in Berlin in 1902. It was part of a 20-work project called Frieze of Life that explored themes of love, betrayal, death and sex and included his masterpiece, The Scream.

“Like ‘The Scream,’ it distills extraordinarily intense feelings,” Simon Shaw, head of Sotheby’s impressionist and modern art, said Tuesday. “The lovers, locked in their dark embrace, evoke love’s paradox as a source of tenderness and pain.”

An avid Munch collector bought Vampire in 1903. In 1934, it was purchased by a private collector, who has owned it since. It was on loan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art for about 10 years.

Vampire will be the highlight of Sotheby’s sale of impressionist and modern art.

AP-ES-09-23-08 1149EDT

Sept. 27 appraisal fair to help Virginia’s Historic Battersea mansion

PETERSBURG, Va. (AP) – Historic Battersea and the city of Petersburg are holding an appraisal fair to raise money for the conservation of the 18th-century mansion.

The appraisal event will take place Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the lawn of the Colonial plantation house along the Appomattox River.

People are encouraged to bring clocks, pocket watches, silver, porcelain and military-related items from the Revolutionary War through World War II. They can also bring art and any other antiques they would like to have appraised by a number of experts. For items too large to transport, owners can bring in multiple detailed photographs.
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Information from: Richmond Times-Dispatch,http://www.timesdispatch.com

AP-ES-09-23-08 0648EDT

Geppi’s Entertainment launches new Web site for its family of companies

YORK, Pa. – Geppi’s Entertainment has launched a new Web site, www.GeppisEntertainment.com, which serves as a gateway to its family of companies’ existing websites. The site is now live.

Offering the latest news on company activities, profiles of projects and employees, and a review of press coverage of Geppi’s Entertainment company activities, this new site showcases the diverse array of entities focused on documenting, promoting, and delivering vintage pop culture collectibles to the collecting public and informing the general public about the industry.

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