Ceremonial uniforms of Sir Edward Carson as Solicitor General of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, estimate $75,000-$105,000. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Whyte’s. DUBLIN, IRELAND – A unique collection of elaborate court uniforms worn by Sir Edward Carson (later Lord Carson of Duncairn), the Dublin-born lawyer and Anti-Home-Rule leader, is expected to make $75,000-$105,000 when auctioned at Whyte’s on Nov. 14, 2009. They comprise one of 500 lots of historical and literary collectibles to be sold by the well-known Dublin auctioneers of Molesworth Street, with Internet live bidding provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.
Edward Carson, famous for his prosecution of Oscar Wilde and for his leadership of the Irish Unionists, was appointed Solicitor General by Queen Victoria in 1900, and these uniforms were his official court dress. Included in this lot are the official documents of appointment and both morning and evening wear uniforms along with specially made shoes and hat, as well as silk stockings.
The uniforms were inherited by Lord Carson’s second wife Ruby, who auctioned them in the 1970s. A Belfast collector has had them since. Most of the rest of Carson’s personal memorabilia was sold to Dr. Ian Paisley. He is believed also to have been offered the uniforms at the time but couldn’t fit them in his car and regrets to this day not having gone back for them.
There is great interest in Northern Ireland in these heirlooms of Ulster Unionism’s greatest hero, and both Dr. Ian Paisley, First Minister, and his son Ian Paisley Jr. are anxious that they come back to a public collection in the province. On the other hand there are wealthy collectors in the Republic of Ireland who might want this distinguished Dubliner’s relics.
The sale features a collection of other scarce items from Unionist history, including two flags from the first parade of the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1912, which are expected to make $3,000-$4,500. There are also several photographs, posters, medals and militaria from the Anti Home Rule Movement from the 1890s to the 1920s.
The rest of this fascinating sale is an eclectic mix of historical and literary manuscripts, printed ephemera, militaria and memorabilia. Fans of the Irish television series The Tudors might like to see a vellum manuscript signed in 1557 by an implacable enemy of King Henry VIII and his daughter Queen Elizabeth I – Pope Paul the Fourth (Giovanni Pietro Carafa, 1476-1557), who was a zealous proponent of the Inquisition and supporter of Queen Mary. This beautifully handwritten 550-year-old document is an appointment of a cardinal by the Pope and bears his signature and seal and the signatures of 28 cardinals. It is expected to fetch $7,500-$10,000.
A fantastic discovery of immense Irish academic and musical interest is a book of original lyrics and music in the hand of Ireland’s greatest lyricist, Thomas Moore (1779-1852). Comprising 176 pages, mainly in the composer’s own hand, this amazing manuscript, now valued at $15,000-$22,500, was found in a job lot of antiquarian books in Wiltshire, England, near where Moore ended his days. Perhaps it will now find its way to an Irish institution for the benefit of scholars of this great Irishman.
For further information on any lot in this sale, call Whyte’s in Dublin at 011-35-31-676-2888 or e-mail iw@whytes.ie. View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
One of many hand-written manuscripts in a bound volume of original manuscripts of lyrics and music by Thomas Moore (1779-1852), estimate $15,000-$22,500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Whyte’s. Two flags from the first parade of the Ulster Volunteer Force of 1912, estimate $3,000-$4,500. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Whyte’s. Pope Paul IV (1476-1559) signed manuscript appointing a cardinal, estimate $7,500-$10,000. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com and Whyte’s.
A perfectly chosen, simple wood frame, almost certainly the original, enhances this untitled 1945 landscape by American regional painter Marvin Cone (1891-1964). In September, the framed oil sold for $156,400 at a Leslie Hindman auction in Chicago. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
Choosing the right frame for paintings and prints enhances both appearance and value, but choosing the wrong frame does an artwork no favors.
Frames are rather like film stars’ dresses on the Red Carpet. The perfect one flatters the celebrity model and makes headlines. A bad choice is dissected by the Fashion Police. Like the unfortunate starlet, a painting can be underdressed, overdressed, or simply surrounded by something that is not “age appropriate.”
Auctioneers recognize how frames affect fine art lots on the podium. Leslie Hindman in Chicago emphasizes that the artwork is the most important element, but “a bad frame is jarring and it takes away from the painting.”
“I think private individuals appreciate when a work comes with a very nice frame,” Hindman continued. “If you have something that is good and it is framed in a nice period frame, it can add to the value.”
In previous centuries, frames were often carefully selected by the artist. Preserving the original frame on an artwork – like an original finish on antique furniture – bolsters value. The borders chosen by an artist may be plain or elaborate, but they are part of the object’s history and integrity.
Joe Standfield of Hindman’s Fine Art Department cited the case of an untitled 1945 landscape painting by regional American painter Marvin Cone (1891-1964) that sold in September for $156,400. “For this particular painting, pretty much everyone we spoke with who were potential buyers – museums, private collectors, galleries – commented on the fact that it appeared to be the original frame,” he said.
“That particular painting had been in the family for an extremely long time; the provenance was impeccable. The great provenance and the original frame were the two things that enhanced the value of this beautiful painting.”
On the other hand, Stanfield noted, “A more ornate gilded frame would certainly make more sense on a 19th-century French painting.” Frames should be appropriate for the artwork’s period and style, not a reflection of current fashions in interior design. In June 2009, Leslie Hindman held an auction devoted to period frames.
Jerry Holley, vice president of Dallas Auction Gallery, agrees that frame selection can have a subtle but sizable effect on a lot’s appeal to customers. “You see nice little Southwestern paintings from the 1920s or 1930s that are in their very simple original period frames,” he explained. “Everybody makes a big deal out of it and comment on the frames.”
“It does seem to affect value. If you see that same painting in an ornate gilt frame that doesn’t fit it at all, people just don’t have the same perception of the painting. Sometimes people don’t really realize what the problem is, but – if you had them side by side in the two different frames – it would be obvious.”
“It can work the other way too,” Holley continued. “ A good Victorian painting that originally had an ornate carved gilt frame on it – if you see it now in a plain black modern frame, that would do nothing for it at all. No doubt about it, it can have a very significant effect on the look of a painting and – at auction – on the value of paintings.”
If the original frame for a painting or print is badly damaged, owners have several options. Restoration by a qualified conservator is ideal although may prove expensive. An alternative solution is replacement of the original with an appropriate duplicate. The original frame, however, should always be retained because it is part of the history of the artwork.
Fortunately for collectors, there are firms that specialize in frame conservation and restoration. Even better, they can supply harmonious period frames for works that have been mis-framed or lost their borders altogether.
Eli Wilner & Company in New York City is one of the best known of these specialists. Wilner is an author, lecturer, and frame crusader who has worked with major public and private collections around the country.
The expert edited the important reference, The Gilded Edge: The Art of the Frame, in which he noted in the introduction: “Although picture frames have been studied and appreciated in Europe for many years, the connoisseurship of American picture frames has been negligible…. American picture frames provide us with a unique view of American art and creativity that draws upon past centuries and national expressions from a decidedly different perspective than their predecessors.”
Eli Wilner’s workshop recently took on the challenge of creating a copy of the original frame for an iconic American artwork, Emanuel Leutze’s 1851 depiction of Washington Crossing the Delaware, which has been in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for over a century.
In a recent conversation with ACN, Wilner said, “This is a project that Carrie Barratt [Curator of American Painting and Sculpture] at the Met and I have been looking at since 1990. It was such an important painting that we didn’t feel we could just wing it and get close to what was appropriate. We were waiting for some historical data, and we got exactly what we wanted.”
“We know that Leutze actually designed a specific frame for this painting. Matthew Brady took a photograph of it in 1864 at a fair in New York City. That was only discovered two years ago by a curator at the Met who was doing research at the New York Historical Society.”
Even with this photo as a guide, the process was complex, in part because of the paintings dimensions, more than 21 feet by 12 feet. Frame construction or restoration involves the skills of many specialists including woodcarvers, moldmakers, and gilders.
“The entire crest with the eagle was carved in wood,” Wilner said. “We cast the leafy ornamentation on the top end and inside edge; everything else was carved. And then the frame was gilded and burnished. The most difficult process is the carving, but the gilding and finishing is crucial.”
“We’ve completed our end of the project. It’s at the Met, crated up, and waiting for them to complete construction of the new wing,” Wilner concluded. “The new wing will have a 300 foot long hallway where the Leutze painting will be hanging at the very end.” The work should go on view in Spring 2011.
Wilner remains devoted to his cause: “I always say that if you can’t find the proper frame for a painting, show the painting without any frame. It changes the aesthetic appreciation so much. You can really hurt any painting – I don’t care how good a painting it is – if you put an inappropriate frame on it. It changes the entire visual appearance. My whole job is to teach the world about frames.”
Copyright 2009 Auction Central News International. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
19th-century French frame. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. American late-Victorian frame. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. American mirror frame, circa 1900. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. American Eastlake frame. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. English 18th-century frame. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
Two 1930s watercolor pinups at top right and a Donald Rust alligator on the left bracket various works by Highwaymen and other artists in Bob LeBlanc’s booth.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Kay and Bill Puchstein, new owners of the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival, reported great attendance and brisk sales at the inaugural event of the season Nov. 6-8. An early buyers admission feature was popular and will become a permanent feature of the festival.
The next event, Dec. 4-6, will have a holiday theme. Special presentations will provide gift-giving ideas.
As has been the case since 1996, Bob LeBlanc will be set up displaying an extensive collection of Florida art with a heavy concentration on the Florida Highwaymen. The market for Highwaymen art has been cyclical in the recent past, and while LeBlanc says prices for the better works remain strong, current conditions in the market present a good buying opportunity for investors in that segment of Florida art.
LeBlanc claims to have handled the first Highwaymen work to sell for more than $10,000 and has bought and sold more than 3,000 Highwaymen paintings his career.
The Highwaymen are more popular than ever. There are now eight books available on these mostly African-American artists who sold their paintings of Florida scenes by the roadside. LeBlanc has two Internet sites. His regular website http://www.highwaymen-buy-sell-trade.com, where viewers can browse his inventory and find more information on the subject. His recently instituted blog at http://highwaymenart.blogspot.com/?zx=1aa981dfe3f5da4b presents a running commentary on events and ideas in the art world in general and Florida art in particular.
One of the entries in the blog concerns a work by Donald Rust, an artist whom LeBlanc carries in his inventory. Work by Rust has been purchased by the Smithsonian and has been featured in the National Gallery. Other featured Florida artists include Eleanor Blair, Gordon Hall, A.S. Eltemtamy and Walter Tate.
The inaugural presentation of the Florida Modernism Show will be held in conjunction with the January edition of the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival on Jan. 1-3. The show will feature more than 50 of America’s top dealers specializing in 20th-century design ranging from Art Nouveau to Mid-Century Modern and will include American and European furniture and accessories such as jewelry, art and glass.
The Americraft Expo Center at the South Florida Fair is located off Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach, 1.5 miles west of the Florida Turnpike and 1 mile east of U.S. Route 441/State Route 7.
Show hours are noon-5 p.m. Friday, Dec. 4; 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 5; and 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6.
Early buyers admission from 9 a.m. to noon Friday is $25 and is valid for the entire weekend. Adult daily admission is $7, seniors $6 with a 1$ discount coupon for adult admission available on the website. Anyone younger than 16 is admitted free. There is no charge for parking at the fairgrounds. For more information contact the West Palm Beach Antiques Festival at 941-697-7475, email info@wpbaf.com or visit the website at www.wpbaf.com.
Sporting fins fore and aft, the Lincoln Futura screams space-age styling. Made in Japan, this Alps brand toy has a working friction drive. With its original box the tin litho car carries a $2,000-$2,500 estimate. Image courtesy Lloyd Ralston Gallery.
SHELTON, Conn. – Veteran film editor Bob Blake, nominated for Emmys for his work on the sprawling TV series Dynasty and Bonanza, built an immense collection of toy cars and trucks to the point he has run out of room. Lloyd Ralston Gallery will sell part one of the Bob Blake Toy Vehicle Collection on Nov. 21. The auction will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Starting in the 1970s, Blake rounded up American cars and trucks by all manufacturers and all materials – cast iron, pressed steel, lithographed tin, die cast, rubber hard plastic and more.
Among the most impressive toys in his collection are the showy lithographed tin automobiles of the postwar era. A 1950 Cadillac convertible by Gama of West Germany is 12 inches long and carries two composition figures. Like new in the original box, which has minor wear, this friction-powered classic car has a $2,000-$2,500 estimate.
Another is the Lincoln Futura, made in Japan by Alps. This bubble-top beauty is 11 long and like new in its original illustrated box. It also has a $2,000-$2,500 estimate.
A fleet of Tootsietoy vehicles is included in the auction. A Tootsietoy Doodlebug counter display from 1933 contains a dozen no. 716 Doodlebugs in three colors. The original counter display box reads: “The Car of Tomorrow” and “As shown by the Briggs Manufacturing Company, Ford Motor Company’s Exhibit, World’s Fair, Chicago.” The set has a $5,000-$7,000 estimate.
Tootsietoy’s 450X Coppertoys set of 1938 is rated C5-7 in the original box. The set contains the 1045 Greyhound Bus, 1017 Jumbo Coupe (restored), 125 Lockheed Electra, 722 Transport Plane, 119 U.S. Army Plane (two propellers broken), and 1018 Jumbo Sedan, all in the color of copper. The scarce set has a $2,000-$4,000 estimate.
Some of the lower value toys have already attracted multiple online bids. Corgi’s GS 31 The Riviera, which includes a Buick Riviera, speedboat, trailer and two figures, one on water skis, is in the original box, which has some wear and minor tears. The set should exceed its $200-$300 estimate.
Likewise, a French Dinky 25 O Studebaker Nestle Milk Truck in its original box will likely top its $200-$300 estimate.
For details phone 203-924-5804.
View a fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Tootsietoy issued the 450X Coppertoys set in 1938. The six-piece copper-color set in its original box has a $2,000-$4,000 estimate. Image courtesy Lloyd Ralston Gallery. Briggs Manufacturing Co. built the Doodlebug for Ford Motor Co., which featured the streamlined compact at the Chicago World’s Fair. However, the Doodlebug did not go into production. This Tootsietoy counter display from 1933 has a dozen Doodlebugs and a $5,000-$7,000 estimate. Image courtesy Lloyd Ralston Gallery. Composition figures ride in style with this 1950 Cadillac convertible by Gama of West Germany. The 12-inch tin litho Caddy with working friction drive has a $2,000-$2,500 estimate. Image courtesy Lloyd Ralston Gallery. Ready for a day at the lake, Corgi’s GS 31 The Riviera set consists of a Buick, speedboat, trailer and two figures, one on water skis. Estimated at $200-$300, the set has churned up considerable interest. Image courtesy Lloyd Ralston Gallery.
Tutankhamun receives flowers from his queen, Ankhesenamun. The image is on the lid of a box found in Tut’s tomb. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. CAIRO (AP) – Egypt’s famous Tomb of Tutankhamun will undergo a five-year project to clean and restore the lavish wall paintings in the underground chambers of the boy king whose golden mask and artifacts have long awed the world.
The project to restore the country’s most famous tomb is the latest collaboration between Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities and the Los Angeles-based Getty Conservation Institute, which in the past restored nearby tombs and designed airtight cases to display Egypt’s mummies.
Since the small, four-roomed tomb and its famous golden burial mask were discovered in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter, observers have noted strange brown spots marring the wall paintings.
“I always see the tomb of King Tut and wonder about those spots, which no scientist has been able to explain,” said Zahi Hawass, the head of the SCA, in a statement.
“Now I am happy that the Getty will look at the tomb and preserve its beautiful scenes,” he added.
Thousands of tourists visit the underground chambers in the Valley of the Kings every month, bringing heat and humidity, which damage the more than 3,000-year-old tomb.
Tutankhamun wasn’t Egypt’s most powerful or important king, but his staggering treasures, rumors of a mysterious curse that plagued Carter and his team – debunked by experts long ago – and several books and TV documentaries dedicated to him have added to his intrigue.
Archaeologists in recent years have tried to resolve lingering questions over how he died and his precise royal lineage. In 2005, scientists removed Tut’s mummy from his tomb and placed it into a portable CT scanner for 15 minutes to obtain a three-dimensional image. The scans were the first done on an Egyptian mummy.
The results ruled out that Tut was violently murdered – but stopped short of definitively concluding how he died around 1323 B.C.
A recent highly publicized global tour of Tutankhamun’s artifacts drew more than 4 million people during its initial four-city American leg.
The conservation plan will involve a two-year research period to determine the causes of deterioration, followed by three years of implementation. The SCA said it had yet to decide how long the tomb would be closed during that time.
The Getty Conservation institute works to advance conservation techniques for art, particularly ancient sites, around the world.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
KULM, N.D. (AP) – Fire has destroyed the museum at the Whitestone Hill Battlefield State Historic Site near the southeastern North Dakota town of Kulm.
The Edgeley Volunteer Fire Department says no one was hurt in the Monday morning blaze, which was reported by a hunter. Authorities say the museum was destroyed. The state Historical Society is checking on the status of about 20 artifacts.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation. The building did not have electricity, and Deputy Fire Marshal John Elstad says the fire is suspicious.
Whitestone Hill Battlefield is where U.S. Cavalry troops under Brig. Gen. Alfred Sully battled with Sioux warriors on Sept. 3, 1863. The state Historical Society says it was the last major battle between soldiers and American Indians east of the Missouri River. Twenty-two soldiers and more than 100 Indians died.
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Information from: The Jamestown Sun, http://www.jamestownsun.com
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
