Philadelphia portrait artist John Neagle painted a grandmother and granddaughter in May 1851. The oil on canvas, 36 inches by 28 1/4 inches, has a $7,000-$10,000 estimate. Image courtesy New Orleans Auction Galleries.
NEW ORLEANS – Nearly 1, 500 lots of antiques and fine art will be sold at New Orleans Auction Galleries’ Winter Sale on Nov. 21-22. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Fine Continental furniture will be some of the many highlights. A grand Italian mahogany secrétaire à abattant, made in the first quarter of the 18th century, carries a $12,000-$18,000 estimate. It features a case fitted with a frieze drawer over a drop front, centered by an elaborate inlaid intarsia panel of musical and foliate patterns. The interior is fitted with an arched galleried platform centered by a gilt putto and with a mirrored back. Supported by dolphin-head feet, the case stands 66 inches high, 42 inches wide and 21 inches deep.
A Regency mahogany and ebony-inlaid sideboard from the first quarter of the 19th center is a large and impressive piece. The sideboard, which measures 39 inches high by 99 inches long and 28 inches deep, disassembles for ease of transportation. It has an $8,000-$12,000 estimate.
Art will include fine old paintings as well as contemporary works. A standout example of the former is by John Neagle (American, 1796-1865), Portrait of Mrs. Negus and Her Granddaughter Susan Negus. The oil on canvas, 36 inches by 28 1/4 inches is dated 1851. Neagle was born in Boston, but worked most of his career in Philadelphia where he had success as a portrait artist. He was influenced by Thomas Sully, another leading Philadelphia portrait painter, and eventually married Sully’s daughter. The painting has a $7,000-$10,000 estimate.
Haystacks by Moonlight, an oil on canvas measuring 18 inches by 22 inches is the work of Jean Charles Cazin (French, 1841-1901). Presented in an exhibition frame affixed with a brass plaque bearing the name of the artist and the title, the painting has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. It is signed at the lower right “C. Cazin.”
George Rodrigue (American/Louisiana, Contemporary) is famous for his Blue Dog artwork, and New Orleans Auction Galleries has two prints for the Winter Auction. Sometimes I Feel Like a Blue Dog is a limited edition silkscreen print, 24 inches by 21 1/2 inches. It is signed and dated “7/90.” The estimate is $3,000-$5,000.
The two-day auction will contain many lots of sterling silver and estate jewelry.
For details on any lot in the sale, call 504-586-8733.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
‘Sometimes I Feel Like a Blue Dog,’ a 1990 silkscreen print by George Rodrigue, measures 24 inches by 21 1/2 inches. It has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy New Orleans Auction Galleries. Intarsia mosaics, one depicting a fanciful cityscape, adorn this Italian secrétaire à abattant. It stands 66 inches high and 42 inches wide. Its estimate is $12,000-$18,000. Image courtesy New Orleans Auction Galleries. This large Regency mahogany and ebony-inlaid sideboard disassembles for ease of transport. It has an $8,000-$12,000 estimate. Image courtesy New Orleans Auction Galleries.
SULZBURG BEI FREIBURG IM BREISGAU, DEUTSCHLAND – Die diesjährigen Herbstauktionen bedeuten für Karlheinz Kaupp und sein Team die größte Versteigerung in der Geschichte des Auktionshauses. Erfolgreicher denn je zuvor hat Kaupp eine ungewöhnliche Bandbreite von Kunstobjekten zusammengetragen, die nahezu alles umfasst, was man sich als Sammler wünschen kann. Erstmals präsentiert das Auktionshaus zudem seinen Katalog in vier aufwendig produzierten Bänden. Der großen Nachfrage folgend erhält auch die Moderne und Zeitgenössische Kunst einen eigenen Katalogband. Dank zahlreicher höfischer Einlieferungen – unter anderem aus der Villa Douglas bei Konstanz, dem ehemaligen Besitz der Gräfin Marie von der Goltz, einer geborenen Gräfin Douglas, sowie den Häusern von Brauchitsch und derer von Rom, werden vom 26. bis 28. November nahezu 2800 einzigartige Kunstgegenstände aus acht Jahrhunderten unter den Hammer kommen. Neben einer umfangreichen süddeutschen Privatsammlung von über 80 Sammlerteppichen kommt zudem eine Auswahl von mehr als 170 erlesenen Schmuckstücken und Armbanduhren aus dem Nachlass einer Nürnberger Patrizierdynastie zum Aufruf.
Gerade am ersten Tag der Auktion beweist Karlheinz Kaupp, dass sein Haus nicht nur in der Malerei bestens aufgestellt ist. Aus dem Privatbesitz einer Verlegerfamilie entstammt etwa eine beeindruckende Sammlung von Meissner Porzellan des 18. Jahrhunderts: Ein Deckelhumpen mit Kakiemon-Dekor startet bei 12.000 € (Abb. 77860), eine Deckelterrine mit Fabeltieren von Adam Friedrich Löwenfinck bei 2800 € und eine um 1780 entstandene Tabakdose mit Landschaftsmalerei wird mit 3800 € offeriert. Auf einen Entwurf des Direktors der Meißener Porzellanmanufaktur, Johann Gregorius Hoeroldt, geht ein Henkeltopf mit Chinoiserie-Dekor zurück (Limit 4000 €).
Sammler edlen Glases sollten sich den 26. November rot im Kalender anstreichen – die Kunsthandwerk-Auktion wartet mit stolzen 180 Sammlerstücken auf, die zu über 90% aus einer süddeutschen Privatsammlung stammen. Spitzenstücke hierbei sind ohne Zweifel ein Deckelglas mit bekröntem Wappen aus der Zeit um 1744 (Limit 600 €) sowie ein Becherglas von 1610 (Limit 400 €). Darüber hinaus runden zahlreiche prachtvolle Fadengläser, Schnapsflaschen und Wappenbecher das Glasangebot zu absolut moderaten Limitpreisen ab.
Ebenfalls am ersten Auktionstag präsentiert Kaupp eine erlesene Auswahl russisches Kunsthandwerk, so beispielsweise eine Reihe bedeutender Ostereier der Kaiserlichen Porzellanmanufaktur St. Petersburg. Mit einem Startpreis von 5500 € wird ein exquisites Osterei mit dem Abbild des Hl. Antonius aufgerufen. Ein um 1870 entstandenes kunstvolles Ei dieser Sammlung zeigt eine wunderschöne Ansicht der Alexander-Newski-Kirche in Potsdam und soll mindestens 4500 € einbringen. Bei den russischen Cloisonnéarbeiten begeistern besonders ein schöner Kelchbecher von Fedor Rückert (Abb. 77749), der mit 10.500 € veranschlagt ist, sowie eine Moskauer Fußschale aus der Zeit der Jahrhundertwende von Nikolai Vasilevich Alexeev (Limit 3800 €).
Eines der Highlights im Kapitel Jugendstil und Art Déco ist die signierte, um 1910 gefertigte Tischlampe «Double-Poinsettia» von Louis Comfort Tiffany (Limit 25.000 €, Abb. 77326). Die Bronze-Vase «Schneekönigin» von Louis Chalon, auf der die unbekleidete Namensgeberin mit Eiskristallen im langen Haar zu sehen ist, ist dagegen schon ab 400 € zu haben.
Der Bereich Schmuck und Uhren erhält in dieser Auktionswoche ebenfalls einen eigenen Katalog und begeistert mit erlesenen Einlieferungen. Neben einem äußerst seltenen höfischen Perl-Diamant-Ensemble mit silberweißen Naturperlen (Limit 5000 €, Abb. 76874) und zahlreichen ausgefallenen Art Déco-Schmuckstücken ist der mit 25.000 € taxierte Höhepunkt zweifelsohne eine museale Prunkpendule mit Darstellungen aus der Geschichte von Atala und Chactas (Abb. 77011). Eine Allegorie auf den Handel mit den Kolonien und das Ideal des edlen Wilden ist die seltene Pendule à Negre, die einen lässig auf einen Tabakballen gestützten Matrosen zeigt (Limit 16.000 €). Zwei weitere besondere Glanzstücke sind eine im 17. Jahrhundert von dem berühmten Ulmer Zunftmeister Johann Sayller gefertigte Horizontaltischuhr (Limit 18.000 €) sowie eine weitere fein gearbeitete Horizontaltischuhr aus dem 17. Jahrhundert des Augsburger Meisters Christoff Müller (Limit 11.800 €).
Am dritten Auktionstag gibt es neben einem reichen Angebot an Bronzeskulpturen auch für Liebhaber von Sammlerobjekten gute Gründe nach Sulzburg zu kommen: dazu zählt eine auf 3400 € taxierte seltene Elfenbein-Bacchantengruppe aus der Zeit des Rokoko, die dem französischen Bildhauer Claude Michel Clodion zugeschrieben wird. Eine schöne venezianische Elfenbeindose aus dem 17. Jahrhundert ist schon ab 1000 € zu haben. Aus einer Schweizer Privatsammlung bietet Karlheinz Kaupp eine um 1830 gefertigte, in 18 Karat-Gelbgold gefasste Mikromosaik-Brosche an, die das Pantheon in Rom abbildet (Limit 2500 €), sowie eine fein gearbeitete Mikromosaik-Dose mit einer Darstellung des römischen Kolosseums (Limit 3800 €, Abb. 77859).
In der Malerei des 15. bis 18. Jahrhunderts besticht unter anderem «Mädchen mit Taube», wohl ein Gemälde des bekannten Rokoko-Meisters François Boucher, das durch einen Kupferstich von Jean Jacques Flipart belegt wurde und mit einem Limit von 15.000 € angeboten wird. Aus der Werkstatt des Peter Paul Rubens stammt das eindrucksvolle Gemälde «Allegorie der Schrecken des Krieges» (Limit 12.000 €, Abb. 75520).
Einer der vielleicht hochrangigsten Namen des französischen Rokoko ist Jean Antoine Watteau – die ihm zugeschriebene «Galante Versammlung» könnte ein bislang verschollenes Gemälde sein und wird mit einem attraktiven Limit von 2000 € sicher für spannende Bietgefechte sorgen.
Im Bereich der Malerei des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts belegt das Auktionshaus erneut seinen Status als Treffpunkt für Spitzweg-Liebhaber mit drei Hauptwerken des berühmten Biedermeiermalers. «Auf der Bastei» geht mit einem Limitpreis von 350.000 € an den Start (Abb. 75607), gefolgt von «Die Scharwache» (Limit 200.000 €, Abb. 75608) und «Das Ständchen» (Limit 120.000 €, Abb. 75606).
Auch jenseits von Spitzweg-Werken bietet der dritte Auktionstag auf Schloss Sulzburg gute Gründe, sich in den Bieterkreis zu begeben: beispielsweise für 28.000 € ein Giovanni Boldini zugeschriebenes Portrait der legendären französischen Varieté-Tänzerin Cléo de Mérode, die unter anderem auch Edgar Degas Modell saß. Hans Thomas «Heimkehrende Kühe», das sich ehemals in der Sammlung Georg Schäfer in Schweinfurt und zuletzt in einer Schweizer Privatsammlung befand, wartet ab 25.000 € auf einen neuen Besitzer. Eines der Hauptwerke des Briten Arthur Trevor Haddon «Arabische Krieger» (Limit 30.000 €, Abb. 75893) oder eine reife Darstellung eines Hühnerhofes des in Offenburg geborenen Carl Jutz d.Ä. (Limit 6000 €) spiegeln die große Bandbreite im Bereich der Gemälde wider.
Der aktuellen Marktsituation angepasst stellt die Moderne und Zeitgenössische Kunst mit einem Sonderband den krönenden Abschluss der Herbstauktionswoche bei Kaupp dar. Zahlreiche prominente nationale und internationale Namen finden sich unter den angebotenen Losen: Rupprecht Geiger (Limit 35.000 €, Abb. 75858), Arnold Topp (Limit 28.000 €, Abb. 75841), Ida Kerkovius (Limit 2200 €), Otto Dill (Limit 9500 €) oder Gerhild Diesner (Limit 1200 €). Lovis Corinth ist mit einem seiner berühmten und vielgefragten Walchensee-Gemälde (Limit 130.000 €, Abb. 75844) vertreten.
Der Amerikaner Edward Alfred Cucuel, dessen Schaffen durch einige Studienaufenthalte in Europa stark vom Stil der französischen Impressionisten beeinflusst wurde, ist mit zwei Werken ab je 6000 € vertreten. Auch für Liebhaber moderner Skulptur kann Kaupp mit fünf musealen Werken des Bildhauers Ludwig Kasper aufwarten, die mit Startpreisen von 5000 bis 20.000 € zum Aufruf kommen werden (z.B. Abb. 75716).
Wie gewohnt offeriert das Auktionshaus Kaupp auch in den anderen Sparten einmal mehr ein breites Spektrum von ausgesuchten Sammlerstücken bis hin zu exquisiten Raritäten. Edles Silber, seltene Bücher sowie Alte und Moderne Graphik runden das umfangreiche Angebot ab. Nicht zuletzt wird eine hochrangige Auswahl besonders qualitätvoller Möbel vom Barock bis zum Biedermeier das Herz der Sammler höher schlagen lassen.
Zur Vorbesichtigung im Schloss Sulzburg wird von Dienstag, 17. November 2009, bis Montag, 23. November 2009, zwischen 11:00 Uhr und 19:00 Uhr eingeladen. Am Donnerstag, 19. November 2009, ist für alle Kunden und Interessierte bis 21:00 Uhr geöffnet. Die Herbstauktionen finden Donnerstag, 26.11.2009, ab 15:00 Uhr, Freitag, 27.11.2009, ab 15:00 Uhr und Samstag, 28.11.2009, ab 10:00 Uhr statt.
Darüber hinaus bietet das Auktionshaus Kaupp auch die Möglichkeit, den gesamten Katalog mit zahlreichen Farbabbildungen, umfangreichen Beschreibungen und Limitangaben vollständig im Internet unter www.kaupp.de anzusehen.
Abbildungen zu den im Text erwähnten Objekten finden Sie in einer Flash-Übersicht der Pressebilder unter http://www.nodesign-server.com/kaupp. Ein Download der Abbildungen ist möglich. Falls Sie noch Fragen haben oder zusätzliches Bildmaterial benötigen, kontaktieren Sie bitte:
Audrey Jones Beck Building – Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Photo by Judson Dunn, courtesy Wikimedia Commons. HOUSTON (AP) – A jury has affirmed the charity-benefiting will of Houston oilman Alfred Glassell Jr. and rejected a challenge by his daughter. On Monday the jury ruled against 52-year-old Curry Glassell’s attempt to break the 2003 will, in an estate estimated at $500 million. Attorney Joe Jamail, representing the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, told the Houston Chronicle that his client’s evidence “refuted every one of their insinuations, accusations and innuendoes.” Curry Glassell’s lawyers had contented that her father was demented at the time he signed his last few wills.
Glassell Jr. was 95 when he died in October 2008. He founded Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp. and the Glassell School of Art. The museum aligned with his widow, the Glassell Family Foundation, and Curry’s brother Alfred Glassell III, who is the executor. Curry Glassell said she was disappointed with the ruling. A foundation attorney says Curry Glassell has an estimated $15 million. ___ Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com AP-WS-11-17-09 0837EST
1933 photograph of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882-1945), 32nd President of the United States. Public domain image in USA.
WASHINGTON (AP) – The last great archives of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency may soon be available to researchers and the public – 14 boxes of handwritten notes, gifts and correspondence, including a letter from Italian dictator Benito Mussolini congratulating him on his 1933 inauguration.
The House on Monday approved a bill to clear the way for the memorabilia to be donated to Roosevelt’s presidential library and museum in Hyde Park, New York.
While the House bill is identical to legislation the Senate passed in October, it will still have to return to the Senate for one more vote before it goes to the president.
The boxes have been sitting sealed at Roosevelt’s presidential library since July 2005, tied up in an ownership dispute between the government and a private collector.
Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Louise Slaughter – both Democrats from New York – promoted bills that would make clear the government has no claim to the papers. This would allow the donor to claim the full tax deduction for turning the collection over to the library.
The National Archives and Records Administration, which oversees presidential libraries, has said it owns some of the documents in the collection, which was amassed by Roosevelt’s secretary, Grace Tully.
Specifically, the Archives claimed it already owned Roosevelt’s notes to Tully that he attached on White House memos and correspondence. “That’s the interesting part of the collection for researchers,” said Cynthia Koch, the presidential library and museum’s director.
The Sun-Times Media Group Inc., formerly Hollinger International Inc., bought the collection in 2001 for $8 million and wants to give all of it to the library, Schumer’s office said. But because the National Archives has claimed ownership to some of the materials on behalf of the government, the company cannot get the full tax benefit it says it is due.
Schumer said the legislation offers a fair solution.
“The FDR library will now have one of the most valuable private collections of FDR papers in its hands, and the former owners will get a fair tax deduction for their generous donation,” Schumer said when the Senate passed the legislation.
Slaughter said passage of the bill will “provide unique insight into the life of one of our nation’s greatest presidents.”
Koch said the collection features about 5,000 documents, including 110 letters to Roosevelt with his own notes of response written on them. Tully also kept letters Roosevelt received from Cabinet officials and dignitaries.
Other items were personal to Tully, such as photos, books and other gifts from the president and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. She also saved letters the first lady sent her regarding family matters.
___
On the Net:
Congress: http://thomas.loc.gov
FDR Presidential Library and Museum: http://www.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-CS-11-16-09 1730EST
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Franklin D. Roosevelt (front row, center) at 1945 Yalta summit with Winston Churchill (left) and Joseph Stalin (right). Public domain image.
STOCKHOLM (AP) – With a solemn ceremony in Stockholm’s antiquities museum, Sweden marked the return of 22 skulls looted from a native Hawaiian community more than a century ago.
The symbolic ceremony on Saturday – attended by guests from Hawaii and the Nordic countries’ own indigenous Sami population – was part of Sweden’s increased efforts to return indigenous remains collected by scientists across the world.
The Swedish government in 2005 ordered its museums to search through their collections, and has since returned more than 20 human remains, mainly to Australia.
The Hawaiian skulls had been returned privately earlier Saturday so that the Hawaiian delegates could perform a ritual according to traditional customs.
Museum director Lars Amreus said he hoped the return would help “fulfill the spiritual circle” of those whose graves had been violated by the Swedish scientists.
“We know that they were collected, although by today’s standards: they were looted,” Amreus said.
Greeting Amreus at the ceremony with the traditional nose-to-nose – or breath-of-life – greeting “Ha,” Hawaiian delegation head William Aila thanked the Nordic country for helping to recover the remains of their ancestors.
“I cannot adequately express the thankfulness… for a very, very worthy endeavor, and that is to greet our ancestors and accompany them home,” Aila said in a speech during the ceremony in the museum’s round-walled “Gold Room.”
Five of the skulls were returned by the museum itself, while 17 came from Stockholm’s medical university Karolinska Institutet. They were not on display during the ceremony.
Aila said the skulls would “be reburied in the soil of their birth” back in Hawaii.
Of the 22 skulls, at least 15 had been taken from the Pacific islands by Swedish scientists in the 1880s during an expedition around the world. The museum received five of them through a donation in 1997, while it was unclear when Karolinska received its collection.
On Wednesday, Sweden will return to New Zealand a near complete skeleton, a skull and three skeleton parts all believed to have been from the indigenous Maori population. A similar ceremony involving representatives from the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, is planned.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Photo by Mick Stephenson. Permission granted through GNU Free Documentation License.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – A California wine keeper has pleaded guilty to setting a fire that destroyed a warehouse filled with 6 million bottles of wine, and illegally selling wine – including at auctions – that he was supposed to be storing for customers.
Attorney Mark Reichel says his client, 61-year-old Mark Anderson, admitted guilt on 19 federal charges including arson, mail fraud and tax evasion Monday in an agreement with prosecutors that helps him avoid a possible sentence of life in prison without parole.
The October 2005 fire caused an estimated $250 million in losses at the Wines Central warehouse, which stored bottles for about 95 Napa Valley wineries and collectors.
As part of the plea agreement, federal prosecutors agreed not to ask for more than 15 years and eight months in prison, Reichel said.
“We can go in and ask for a lot less than that and we plan to do that,” he said.
Reichel said Anderson has already spent three years in the Sacramento County Jail awaiting a trial, which was scheduled to begin Tuesday.
An exhibit accompanying the plea deal says Anderson began embezzling wine from his clients, selling and shipping it to premium wine merchants and auction houses around the country.
It says on Oct. 12, 2005, Anderson used gasoline-soaked rags to start the fire in Wines Central warehouse, wiping out virtually its entire contents of wine and sugar.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Anderson failed to report more than $800,000 in income from selling the wine he stole, evading more than $290,000 in taxes.
A Jan. 26 hearing date was set for a judge to rule on the deal.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Samuel Rosenberg’s career as a painter and teacher spanned six decades. His ‘Emergence II’ is oil on canvas, 30 inches square. It has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Concept Art Gallery.
PITTSBURGH – Modern and contemporary fine art and 20th-century furniture and design will comprise Concept Art Gallery’s auction Nov. 21. Included in the 344-lot sale will be an award-winning work by Pittsburgh artist Samuel Rosenberg (1896-1972). The sale will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern at the gallery in Regent Square, 1031 S. Braddock Ave. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Rosenberg’s Emergence II, an abstract oil on canvas, won the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Carnegie Institute Prize in 1954. The 30- by 30-inch signed painting carries a $10,000-$15.000 estimate. It is pictured in Barbara Jones’ book Samuel Rosenberg, Portrait of a Painter. Rosenberg taught drawing and painting at Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University). One of his students was Andy Warhol, whom Rosenberg reportedly saved from expulsion in 1947.
An Andy Warhol Vegetarian Vegetable Soup serigraph made in 1969 will be featured at the sale. The print measures 35 inches by 23 inches and is marked “L” from an edition of 250 plus 26 artist’s proofs lettered A to Z. It is signed “Andy Warhol” in ballpoint pen. In a black wooden frame, the work is estimated at $8,000-$12,000.
A painting to watch is Theo Tobiasse’s Maternité au Chat, a 21 1/2- by 18-inch oil on canvas that has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. The painting done in 1967 is described as a signature-style Tobiasse painting of a mother holding a child with a cat in the foreground. Tobiasse (Israeli, b. 1927) was raised in Paris, where his Jewish family hid away in an apartment from the Nazis during World War II. Since 1961 Tobiasse has enjoyed ever- increasing recognition and popularity across the globe, with one-man shows in New York, Paris, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Caracas to name a few, notes the auction catalog.
The sale will open with a nice selection of designer furniture. One of the highlights is a Thin Edge rosewood buffet cabinet that George Nelson designed for Herman Miller Furniture Co. The Model 5720 has four drawers and two shelved cabinets. It measures 32 3/4 inches high by 80 inches long by 19 3/4 inches deep. Showing normal wear, the unit is estimated at $3,000-$6,000.
Numerous pieces of studio pottery will be sold at the auction. A Pablo Picasso pitcher titled Little Headed Yan is red earthenware with glazed and incised decoration. It is and stamped “Madoura” and inscribed “Edition Picasso 195/300 V101.” The 10 1/2-inch-tall vessel has a $2,000-$4,000 estimate.
For details phone 412-242-9200.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Theo Tobiasse’s ‘Maternite au Chat’ is an oil on canvas, 21 1/2 inches by 18 inches. It has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Concept Art Gallery. Paul Aizpiri (French, b. 1919) titled this oil on canvas ‘Arlequin.’ The 1954 painting, 17 by 12 inches, has a $7,000-$12,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Concept Art Gallery. A serigraph of Andy Warhol’s 1969 ‘Vegetarian Vegetable Soup’ is signed in ballpoint pen. An artist’s proof from an edition of 250, the print has an $8,000-$12,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Concept Art Gallery. The Herman Miller Thin Edge Buffet Cabinet Model 5720 by George Nelson is 6 feet 8 inches long. It carries a $3,000-$6,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Concept Art Gallery.
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – A northern New Jersey man has been indicted on charges he stole a valuable Internet address and sold it on the eBay auction site to a former NBA player for $111,000.
A state grand jury on Monday indicted 25-year-old Union resident Daniel Goncalves on charges of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, computer theft, identity theft and falsifying records.
Authorities say he hacked into an account on the Go Daddy Group registration service in 2006, transferred the domain name P2P.com to his own Go Daddy account and sold it to former Los Angeles Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves forward Mark Madsen. Madsen didn’t know the Internet address was stolen.
New Jersey authorities arrested Goncalves in July.
Defense lawyer John A. Young Jr. hasn’t returned a telephone message seeking comment.
Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Circa-1909 Marklin No. 4157/11 overtype toy steam engine with intricate mechanism and detailing that puts it on par with a scale model. Size 20 inches by 16 inches. Estimate $3,000-$6,000. Image courtesy Dan Morphy Auctions. DENVER, Pa. – A 25-year private collection of steam toys amassed by New Mexico couple Pat and Lowell Wagner headlines a 3,100-lot holiday-themed Winter Sale to be held Dec. 10-12 at Dan Morphy Auctions’ gallery in Denver, Pennsylvania. Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.
The acclaimed 545-lot steam toy collection includes many great rarities, said Morphy’s CEO and owner, Dan Morphy. “The Wagners bought only the best pieces – like the steam-driven motorcycle with sidecar, and extremely desirable steam-driven boats,” Morphy said. “By anyone’s assessment, it’s a premier collection.”
Lowell Wagner, a former auctioneer, said he attributes his early interest in steam toys to his farming background. “Even though he used a gas tractor, my father was one of the last farmers in the area to thresh rather than using combines,” Wagner said. “Steam and threshing go together in history.”
The timeline in the Wagners’ collection runs from the 1870s to modern day, but most of the toys to be auctioned are pre-1925 examples in excellent condition, many of them boxed. The top-shelf entries are those made by Marklin, said Wagner. “Even though they were sold as toys, Marklin steam toys were so well made, they could be models. Part of their appeal is their robust construction.”
A sizable portion of the collection is devoted to steam toys made by the American company Weeden, with several examples that are seldom, if ever, seen in the marketplace. “Some of them were made in very low numbers or are prototypes that never went into production at all, particularly the steam trains,” said Wagner.
The European and British steam toys in the couple’s collection include designs by Bing, Ernst Plank, Doll et Cie., Carette and Butchers (England). Steam traction engine toys and steam rollers are represented by designs from Krauss & Mohr (Germany), Gisea (Italy), Cranko (New Zealand, 1935-1945), Scorpion (Australia), Mastrand (England), J. Falk, and two Swedish companies: ADE Traktor and H.A. Mobile.
Also to be sold are steam-powered boats by the French manufacturer Radiguet and American firms Ives, Blakeslee & Williams Co., and Weeden, which produced the sale’s rare Gloucester and merchant marine ship. From Boucher comes a live-steam outboard motor called the Polly-Wog.
Additional American productions include steam engines and toys by Edgar Side, Buckman, Peerless, Kenton (including two showroom models), Miller, IND-X, J. & E. Stevens, George Brown, Beggs, and Holly. A fascinating Doll et Cie. (German) steam toy accessory exhibits the processes for making cotton, i.e., ginning, spinning and weaving.
The Wagners also assembled one of the largest known collections of vintage Fisher-Price toys, which comprise 200+ lots in the December sale. “This collection spans the history of Fisher-Price from 1931 to the present,” said Morphy Auctions Chief Operating Officer Tommy Sage Jr. “There are several unique prototypes that never went into production – toys that people at the Fisher-Price factory had on their desks.” Paddle toy prototypes include a Hawaiian dancer, bulldozer and early plug-style telephone switchboard. The collection also includes numerous pre-1940 and early wind-up Fisher-Price productions, many with attractive boxes and labels.
A lineup of 75+ pressed-steel automotive toys will be ready to roll. A special highlight is the fleet of Metalcraft trucks, known for their crossover appeal to advertising collectors.
More than 200 lots of American and European trains represent the brands American Flyer, Lionel, Ives, Voltamp and Marklin. A star lot is a Stephen Girard train set in unrun condition with all original individual boxes and a crisp original set box – estimate: $10,000-$15,000.
Marble collectors will be gathering around the Wayne Sanders collection built over 50 years. “Over time, Mr. Sanders acquired some unbelievable hand- and machine-made marbles,” said Morphy. “We expect a big turnout for this 200-lot portion of the sale. The market for marbles seems insatiable.”
More than 100 mechanical and still banks will be waiting in the wings at Morphy’s sale. An all-original Roller Skating bank straight from a house in New York (estimate $40,000-$60,000); a superb Boy Stealing Watermelon with 99% original paint ($15,000-$25,000), and an Organ with Dancing Bear that Morphy described as “stunning, with unbelievable highlights” ($10,000-$15,000) lead the category.
A J. & E. Stevens Jonah and the Whale pedestal bank came to Morphy’s after a program about the auction house was rerun on national television. “We were featured on the CBS Sunday Morning show in 2007, after the $7.7 million auction of the Steckbeck mechanical bank collection,” said Morphy. “The original owner of the Jonah bank, who received it as a gift in the 1920s, saw the rerun of the show and asked her brother to drive it in from western Pennsylvania. It’s one of perhaps a dozen known examples and has an estimate of $25,000-$35,000.”
A diverse array of dolls awaits collectors, starting with 1960s/’70s Barbie dolls and 65 boxed outfits for the teen queen and her sidekicks Skipper, Francie and Ken. Among the German bisques are dolls by Kestner, ABG, B&P and Simon & Halbig (including an 1159 lady doll), plus a nice selection of baby dolls. French bisques are led by at least five Jumeau dolls and one original Tete Jumeau.
Other choice lots include an early Steiff teddy, a Schoenhut Humpty Dumpty Circus Tent with animals and performers; antique and vintage doll furniture and carriages. A highlight is the dealer stock and a sizable selection of mostly French and some German bodies and parts from priest and pioneer doll dealer the late Father William Crandall.
A timely inclusion in the December sale is the holiday antiques collection containing many charming belsnickles and Santas. An oversize (30-inch) Santa candy container with bisque face and blue coat was previously in a private collection in Germany. “This one is special. When a candy container stands 2½ feet tall, it’s not just a candy container but also a statue,” Morphy observed.
The Christmas grouping also includes many beautiful ornaments and an early 20th-century, 30-inch Santa in sleigh with reindeer. “Both the Santa and reindeer are nodders, which is unusual,” Morphy said. “This item was in a 1926 catalog issued by a toy company in Germany, which is where this particular consignment came from.”
Additionally, the sale includes 125+ PEZ lots, 90+ coin-operated gambling, penny arcade, slot and gumball machines; 200+ boxed cap guns, 85+ occupational shaving mugs, and 80+ figural silver napkin rings.
For additional information on any lot in the sale, call 717-335-3435 or e-mail dan@morphyauctions.com. View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet through www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Walter Emerson Baum (Bucks County, Pa., 1884-1956), oil-on-board winter scene with people, 28 7/8 inches by 29¼ inches. Estimate $30,000-$50,000. Image courtesy Dan Morphy Auctions. German Santa candy container in blue coat, 30 inches tall, with china face and rabbit-fur beard. Estimate $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy Dan Morphy Auctions. Circa-1900 Roth’s Pansy Gum dispenser, all original, in working order with key. Estimate $3,000-$5,000. Image courtesy Dan Morphy Auctions. Double Kate Greenaway silver figural napkin ring, girls on ladder. Near mint. Estimate $2,500-$3,500. Image courtesy Dan Morphy Auctions. Circa-1870 poupee peau fashion lady, 21 inches, with original kid body and bisque socket head by Emile Jumeau. Beautifully and appropriately redressed, including parasol and French poodle. Estimate $4,000-$5,000. Image courtesy Dan Morphy Auctions. Peppermint with mica marble, 1¾ inches diameter. Estimate $800-$1,200. Image courtesy Dan Morphy Auctions.
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