November 2008 - Page 5 of 6 - Auction Central News

Swiss to return stolen antiquities to Italy

November 7, 2008/in Antiques/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) – Officials say Switzerland has agreed to return 4,400 antiquities stolen from archaeological sites in Italy.

Prosecutor Thomas Homberger says the artifacts include ceramics and bronze figures dating back to the Roman and Etruscan periods.

Homberger says the items were seized at an art dealership in northeastern city of Basel in the 1990s. The married couple running the shop failed in their legal efforts to stop the transfer of the artifacts back to Italy.

Russian masterpiece fails to sell at NYC auction

November 6, 2008/in Art, Design & Architecture/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

NEW YORK (AP) – On Day 2 of the fall auction season, a Russian masterpiece expected to sell for up to $3 million at auction did not find a buyer Wednesday, further underscoring the impact of the global financial crisis on the art market.
Not one hand went up when View of St. Petersburg by Alexei Petrovich Bogoliubov was offered at Sotheby’s morning sale of important Russian works from the impressionist and modern periods.

Many other works sold at or below their pre-sale estimates; others did not sell at all. Final results were unavailable because sales were still under way.

It was the second day of lackluster bidding at the annual fall art season. On Monday, Sotheby’s kicked off the season with masterpieces by Edgar Degas, Kazimir Malevich and Edvard Munch that fetched impressive prices. But a high percentage also went unsold – 25 works did not sell while 45 did.

Oil-on-canvas portrait of George Washington, 19th century, American school, red jacket may have Masonic connection. Measures 29 inches by 25 inches. Estimate $12,000-$18,000. Image courtesy Morphy Auctions.

Americana, Washington memorabilia in Morphy’s Nov. 22 no-reserve sale

November 6, 2008/in Upcoming Auctions/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

Oil-on-canvas portrait of George Washington, 19th century, American school, red jacket may have Masonic connection. Measures 29 inches by 25 inches. Estimate $12,000-$18,000. Image courtesy Morphy Auctions.

DENVER, Pa. – Morphy Auctions, a subsidiary of Geppi’s Entertainment, will take a sizable step forward into the field of American fine art and historical antiques with its Nov. 22 no-reserve sale of the Arthur Richmond Collection. Amassed over a 39-year period, the Arthur Richmond Collection is an extraordinary testament to history, from its early clocks, mirrors, needlework and blacksmith-forged ironware to its collection of American paintings, including an appealing selection of George Washington portraits.

“We’ve offered interesting examples of American furniture and art in many of our past sales, but this sale is very different,” said Morphy Auctions’ chief operating officer, Dan Morphy. “The entire auction inventory is from a single consignor who is an avid antiquarian and American history scholar. For the past 16 years Mr. Richmond has lived in an 18th-century house of great significance, in Loudoun County, Virginia, an area that has produced many important early American treasures.”

President William McKinley was called the Napoleon of Protection because of his high tariffs. These 1896 political pitchers are shaped like McKinley or Napoleon. The tallest pitcher is 10 1/2 inches high. The four sold as a group for $757 at a September 2008 Mastro auction.

Kovels – Antiques & Collecting: November 2008

November 5, 2008/in Kovel/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

President William McKinley was called the Napoleon of Protection because of his high tariffs. These 1896 political pitchers are shaped like McKinley or Napoleon. The tallest pitcher is 10 1/2 inches high. The four sold as a group for $757 at a September 2008 Mastro auction.

Presidential campaigns in the past were no different from how they are today. Caricatures, gossip, even lies and scandal were part of the campaign, although the information traveled slowly without TV or radio.

Grover Cleveland, in the 1884 presidential race, was accused of having an illegitimate son. He admitted it and won the presidency because voters admired his honesty. Other 19th-century presidential candidates were accused of buying underpriced stock in return for favors, taking loans with no interest from oil companies and making deals to influence the Electoral College.
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Cezanne exhibit to have only one stop: Philadelphia

November 5, 2008/in Museums/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Philadelphia is preparing for an exhibit of works by postimpressionist painter Paul Cezanne and the artists he influenced.

The show is called ‘Cezanne and Beyond’ and will open at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in February. It will be the exhibition’s only world viewing.

The show includes about 60 Cezanne paintings, plus paintings by Picasso, Matisse and others who were influenced by Cezanne.

Never too late: Cops crack 25-year-old case of clock theft

November 5, 2008/in Antiques/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

JERUSALEM (AP) – It took time, but Israeli police detectives have cracked one of the country’s greatest crimes – the legendary heist of a priceless clock collection from a Jerusalem museum a quarter century ago.

The 1983 theft, the costliest in Israel’s history, saw 106 timepieces worth millions of dollars disappear from the L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art. Among them was a pocket watch made for French queen Marie Antoinette that museum officials value at more than $30 million.

Although the stolen clocks had no connection to Islamic culture, they were displayed in the museum because they had originally belonged to the father of the museum’s founder.

The heist baffled police for more than two decades. But detectives now blame Naaman Diller – a notorious Israeli thief who fled to Europe and died in the United States in 2004.

Investigators got their first break two years ago, when the museum informed them it paid some $40,000 to an anonymous American woman to buy back 40 of the items, including the Marie Antoinette timepiece made by famed watchmaker Abraham-Louis Breguet.

Rachel Hasson, the museum’s artistic director, calls the gold and rock crystal watch “the Mona Lisa of the clock world.” Also recovered were a Breguet creation from 1819 known as the “Sympathiques” and a clock shaped like a pistol from the same period.

Police forensics experts were allowed to examine the clocks, and detectives questioned the lawyer who negotiated the sale. The trail led to an Israeli woman in Los Angeles named Nili Shamrat, who police identified as the widow of Diller – a notorious criminal in Israel after a string of bold thefts in the 1960s and ’70s.

From there the mystery began to unravel, police say. Diller apparently confessed the crime to his wife on his deathbed. When Israeli police and American law enforcement officials arrived at her home last May to question her, they found more of the stolen clocks.

Police placed a gag order on the case, but lifted it last week after Israeli media violated the order.
Diller’s widow refused to answer questions from The Associated Press when contacted Saturday, and did not answer her phone Sunday and Monday. Her Israeli lawyer, Hila Efron-Gabai, also refused to discuss the case.

Oded Yaniv, one of the investigators who broke the case, said about 40 clocks are missing, but police are pursuing tips on where Diller scattered the goods around the world.

Yaniv called the investigation a “once in a lifetime” experience, filled with international intrigue in the murky world of art dealing and antiquity trading.

Diller was renowned in Israel for daring break-ins and an ability to keep one step ahead of the law. He meticulously researched sites for hours and used innovative techniques that earned him the admiration of the same people who were trying to stop him.

“He was a legendary robber. He was very different, very intelligent, and had a unique style,” Yaniv said. “We are all disappointed that we don’t have the chance to sit and talk to him and investigate him. We feel like we missed out on that.”

According to police, Diller used a crowbar to bend the bars on a back window of the museum the night of April 15, 1983, and behind the cover of a parked truck climbed inside with a ladder. Having staked out the museum, he knew the alarm was broken and the guard was stationed in front.

Police spokesman Shmulik Ben-Ruby said Diller was very thin and able to slither in and out of the opening unnoticed throughout the night. He said the clocks were generally small enough to easily pass through and Diller had the expertise to take others apart if needed.

The spokesman said police had thought of Diller as a possible suspect in 1983 but found nothing to link him to the robbery. In addition, police thought the heist was the work of a gang of at least three robbers. Yaniv said he and his colleagues were shocked to discover Diller acted alone.

Diller later moved to Europe, where he operated under several identities and was briefly jailed before moving to Los Angeles, where he died of cancer.

Hasson said she was ecstatic to get at least part of the collection back and plans to have the clock display open again within the two months. She said the museum purchased the watches back for a “symbolic” fee after Diller’s widow tried to sell the stolen goods elsewhere and failed.

“The clocks are so well-known that nobody would buy them,” she said.
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Associated Press researcher Randy Herschaft in New York contributed to this report.
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On the Net:
L.A. Mayer Museum for Islamic Art:http://www.islamicart.co.il/default-eng.asp
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In memoriam: George W. Breckenridge Jr., co-founder of Atlanta Antique Gallery

November 5, 2008/in People/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

George Breckenridge Jr.

ALPHARETTA, Ga. – George W. Breckenridge Jr., who co-founded one of the country’s premier retail antiques establishments – the Atlanta Antique Gallery in suburban Chamblee, Ga. – died on Nov. 4, 2008 as a result of heart failure. He was 68 years old.

Born on Nov. 17, 1939 in Harrisburg, Pa., George William Breckenridge Jr. spent his childhood both in his hometown and in Pittsburgh. As a young adult, he moved with his family to the town of Maywood, in Bergen County, New Jersey. He subsequently attended Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J., earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Business.

The hairy paw foot is an integral part of the ambiance of this Empire drop-leaf table.

Furniture Specific: Creature Features

November 4, 2008/in Fred Taylor/by Tom Hoepf

The hairy paw foot is an integral part of the ambiance of this Empire drop-leaf table.

It’s hard to find a time in history when the everyday affairs of humans were not intertwined with those of animals, as poacher, as prey or as master. It didn’t take long in the development of the human brain for gifted artisans to depict the likenesses other creatures on the walls of the caves of Lascaux, usually in remote spots not normally occupied or scratched into rocks in high places. Were the images used as worship of the creatures depicted? Were they used as part of spell casting to help the hunters with greater harvests or perhaps to bless the creatures for greater fertility? Maybe they were to honor the creatures for what they provided or perhaps the artists just like drawing animals better than human figures.

Ancient civilizations took the creature feature to a higher level bringing examples of them into the home in three-dimensional forms incorporated into furniture. Abundant examples of Egyptian furniture have been discovered that reveal chair legs ending in the paws of a lion. One example that is at least 3,000 years old is in the British Museum. The basic form of the Egyptian bed remained unchanged for 2,000 years. Most of them had legs in the form of animal extremities ranging from heavy bull’s legs with hooves to elegant and graceful gazelle legs to feline legs with paw and claw. This last example perhaps was in keeping with the use of panther hides as bed coverings.

Queen Sissi of Hungary (1837-1898) is the subject of this large unsigned oil painting. It is estimated to sell for $8,000-$12,000 at Going Gone Auction Gallery's first auction, Nov. 8, in New York. Image courtesy Going Gone Auction Gallery.

Nov. 8 sale to launch Going Gone Auction Gallery in NYC

November 4, 2008/in Auction Houses/by Tom Hoepf

Queen Sissi of Hungary (1837-1898) is the subject of this large unsigned oil painting. It is estimated to sell for $8,000-$12,000 at Going Gone Auction Gallery’s first auction, Nov. 8, in New York. Image courtesy Going Gone Auction Gallery.

NEW YORK – After a two-year hiatus from the auction business Tom O’Connor has been drawn back to the trade he has known 25 years. “It’s like an addiction. I tried to stay away from it for a while, but it’s into your blood and you’re drawn back to it,” said the Irish-born auctioneer.

His new company, Going Gone Auction Gallery, will fill a niche on New York’s Upper West Side, specializing in antiques and estates. Auctions will take place in a former church now called The Landmark, at 160 Central Park West at the corner of 76th Street.

“It’s a beautiful and spacious setting for an auction,” said O’Connor, whose offices and warehouse are at 3906 Crescent St. in Long Island City.

Dutch museum confirms authenticity of two van Goghs

November 3, 2008/in Art, Design & Architecture/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) – Two portraits whose authenticity was in doubt have been verified as real van Goghs, the museum named for the Dutch master confirmed Friday.

One portrait is the face and torso of a woman in a hat. In the second, a lady sits with gloved hands folded in her lap.
Because the themes were so common in the 19th century and the paintings had little similarity to the rest of the work by Vincent van Gogh, their authorship was in doubt, said spokeswoman Natalie Bos of the Van Gogh Museum.

However, a review of physical and historical evidence showed van Gogh painted them, probably in the spring of 1886 while he was studying under the painter Fernand Cormon in Paris.

Chemical analysis showed the paint was identical to other works definitely attributed to van Gogh in that period.
On the back of one of the portraits was the stamp of a paint merchant near where van Gogh lived with his brother Theo at that time, the museum said in a statement.

The picture frames also were by the same manufacturer as other confirmed van Goghs of that period, Bos said.
A thorough review of van Gogh’s work turned up other pieces that were stylistically similar.

“The combined weight of all this evidence offers convincing grounds for the reattribution of these two female portraits to Van Gogh,” the museum said. The identity of the women “remains a mystery.”

Although van Gogh is now seen as one of history’s greatest painters, few recognized his talent during his lifetime, and he was increasingly troubled by mental illness. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 1890 when he was 37.

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