Utah lawmaker wants inventory of state-owned art

PROVO, Utah (AP) – From paintings to sculptures, a state lawmaker says Utah needs a better accounting of its state-owned art so that valuables won’t be tossed out or given away.

Eagle Mountain Republican Sen. Mark Madsen’s Senate Bill 10 would create an online database of all state-owned treasures held at universities, museums, courthouses and other locations.

Utah owns an estimated tens of thousands of pieces of art worth millions of dollars, but there is no central database that catalogs the works.

Vern Swanson, director of the Springville Museum of Art Director Vern Swanson said many state-owned works have been destroyed because maintenance workers didn’t know the value of the pieces.

According to Swanson, an author of Utah art books who has cataloged some 10,000 pieces, among the losses were a a sculpture on the former Utah Valley State College campus and several paintings by Maynard Dixon which were stored in a closet with broken frames, but were still worth hundreds of thousands. The paintings were burned, Swanson said.

Some paintings have reportedly been carried off by retiring state administrators, Madsen said.
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Oklahoma DA requests probe into $70K auctioneer’s check

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP and ACNI) – State authorities are being asked to investigate ex-Commissioner Brent Rinehart’s office after county officials found an undeposited check for more than $70,000 in the desk of a former employee.

The Oklahoman reported Thursday that Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater sent a letter to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation and the State Auditor’s office asking for a probe. Prater also wants investigators to look into the disappearance of a computer and two monitors valued at about $2,400.

The check for $71,185 was from auctioneer Mike Graham of Marlow, Okla., for the proceeds of a District 2 surplus property auction in 2007. It apparently was never deposited and sat for nearly two years in the desk of Jim Marshall, Rinehart’s former deputy. At this point there is no allegation of impropriety on the part of either the employee or the auction company, which has an excellent reputation.

According to Mike Graham Auctioneers’ Web site, owner Mike Graham has been in the auction business for more than 22 years, working for prestigious companies throughout the nation. He has managed auctions with values ranging from $50,000 to more than $10 million. In his four years of working with the Association of County Commissioners of Oklahoma, Graham has sold more than 3,000 pieces of equipment, grossing more than $20 million.

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Information from: The Oklahoman, http://www.newsok.com. Auction Central News International also contributed to this report.

Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WS-02-05-09 1338EST 

Kovels – Antiques & Collecting: Week of Feb. 9, 2009

This Raphael Tuck valentine postcard printed about 1900 is one of a set of 12 cards, each based on a sign of the zodiac. July's sign is Leo, but the card mentions a stork, not a lion. The set brought $58 at an Alderfer Auction sale of postcards in Hatfield, Pa.
This Raphael Tuck valentine postcard printed about 1900 is one of a set of 12 cards, each based on a sign of the zodiac. July's sign is Leo, but the card mentions a stork, not a lion. The set brought $58 at an Alderfer Auction sale of postcards in Hatfield, Pa.
This Raphael Tuck valentine postcard printed about 1900 is one of a set of 12 cards, each based on a sign of the zodiac. July’s sign is Leo, but the card mentions a stork, not a lion. The set brought $58 at an Alderfer Auction sale of postcards in Hatfield, Pa.

The custom of sending valentine cards is not new. It goes back to the 17th century. The English author Samuel Pepys mentioned valentines in his diary on Valentine’s Day in 1667. In those days, a valentine was homemade. By the 1750s, the handwritten note could be put on gilt-edged paper found in markets. A few commercial valentines could be found between about 1800 to the late 1830s, but it was England’s 1839 Penny Postage Act that made store-bought valentines popular. Each card could have a matching envelope and, in the United States in the 1840s, needed 5 cents postage. Elaborate, often hand-assembled cards were sold, and all sorts of unusual 3-D and mechanical cards were also made. But it was at the beginning of the 20th century that valentine postcards became so popular they were preferred to the earlier lacy styles. Chromolithographed cards were made by the millions in Germany and England. Raphael Tuck & Sons of England and, later, New York made many of them. Cards were sent to friends, relatives and, of course, sweethearts. “Vinegars” or “penny dreadfuls” were sent to disagreeable people who seemed to deserve them. Collectors today want all types of old cards. Save the most interesting new ones, too. Cards with cartoon figures, trains, cars, planes, phones or any modern item that in the future will help date the cards will be valuable. So will cards related to a political event or a war. But best will always be a card that expresses the valentine theme of love.

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