Variety marks Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches sale Jan. 11

Carved during the 18th century, this large white jade mountain group is raised on a 20th-century carved giltwood base. It carries a $14,000-$18,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.
Carved during the 18th century, this large white jade mountain group is raised on a 20th-century carved giltwood base. It carries a $14,000-$18,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.
Carved during the 18th century, this large white jade mountain group is raised on a 20th-century carved giltwood base. It carries a $14,000-$18,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The estates of Palm Beach County and South Florida are the bread and butter of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches, but the company’s Jan. 11 sale consists of an especially delectable spread. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding for the sale, which begins at 6 p.m. Eastern.

“We have great variety for this auction – jade, sterling silver and fine art,” said Brian Kogan of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches. “One of the estates is from Boca West, an affluent community near Boca Raton.”

“This sale should be a good prelude to the antique shows opening next week,” added Kogan.

Topping the jade items is large white mountain, which is deeply carved on two sides with figures on ledges and pavilions in the background, along with pine trees protruding among the rocks and a bridge across a river. The 9-inch-high stone is raised on a carved giltwood base made by Edward I. Farmer. A New York City art dealer in the 1920s, Farmer specialized in Chinese works and was known for mounting jades into his decorative accessories, rendering each piece unique. The white jade mountain on its stand is 13 1/4 inches high and has a $14,000-$18,000 estimate.

An important piece in the sale is a William IV sterling silver salver by Paul Storr, London, 1834. The circular tray, 20 1/4 inches in diameter, is raised on pierced foliate feet. It is stamped “Storr & Mortimer 213.” The central decoration consists of a coat-of-arms surrounded by engraved scrolls and flowers. Weighing 110 troy ounces, the salver is expected to bring $15,000-$20,000.

An excellent pair of George IV sterling silver wine coolers complete with liners and collars has the maker’s mark of F.W. & D., Sheffield, 1827. The coolers stand 10 inches high and have a $20,000-$25,000 estimate.

With a following from New York and Palm Beach, the Orville Bulman (American, 1904-1978) painting titled Charivari is expected to fetch $20,000-$30,000. The 18- by 24-inch oil on canvas depicts moonlit revelers outside the farmhouse of newlywed couple.

“It’s one of his magical scenes,” said Kogan, of the self-taught artist born in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Another outstanding painting in the sale is an 18th- or 19th-century Chinese School View of Canton harbor. The oil on canvas measures 17 3/4 by 23 1/2 inches and has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate.

Also worth noting is a large collection of glass toasting goblets and roemers, many decorated in jeweled enamel. Several other goblets are gilt-decorated topographicals in ruby glass. Another is Favrile glass by Tiffany.

English and European porcelains will also be sold at the auction including a large KPM plaque of Mary Magdalene after Battoni, which is estimated at $4,000-$5,000.

For details phone 561-805-7115.

To view the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

Click here to view Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.’s complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Crafted in Sheffield, England, in 1827, these George IV sterling silver wine coolers are in excellent condition. The have a $20,000-$25,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.
Crafted in Sheffield, England, in 1827, these George IV sterling silver wine coolers are in excellent condition. The have a $20,000-$25,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.

This important William IV Paul Storr sterling silver salver has a $15,000-$20,000 estimate. Made in London in 1834, it is stamped “Storr & Mortimer 213.” Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.
This important William IV Paul Storr sterling silver salver has a $15,000-$20,000 estimate. Made in London in 1834, it is stamped “Storr & Mortimer 213.” Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.

Orville Bulman’s ‘Charivari’ depicts an old-fashioned shivaree, a noisy mock serenade to a newly married couple. The oil painting is expected to reach $20,000-$30,000. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.
Orville Bulman’s ‘Charivari’ depicts an old-fashioned shivaree, a noisy mock serenade to a newly married couple. The oil painting is expected to reach $20,000-$30,000. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.

‘View of Canton’ is an unsigned Chinese School work from the 18th or 19th century. Relined and with minor inpainting in the sky, the oil on canvas painting has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.
‘View of Canton’ is an unsigned Chinese School work from the 18th or 19th century. Relined and with minor inpainting in the sky, the oil on canvas painting has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc.

Battle flag preservation efforts hit by money woes

Civil War 47th Regiment flag stamped Gettysburg and Fredericksburg. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Burchard Galleries.
Civil War 47th Regiment flag stamped Gettysburg and Fredericksburg. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Burchard Galleries.
Civil War 47th Regiment flag stamped Gettysburg and Fredericksburg. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Burchard Galleries.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – They made it through Shiloh, Antietam and Gettysburg, but many of the Civil War battle flags sitting in the nation’s state-owned collections might not survive the budget battles being waged in some statehouses.

Preservation work on deteriorating banners carried in some of the war’s bloodiest battles has been eliminated, scaled back or ignored by state budget planners focused on finding money for basics such as education, health care and transportation.

In New York, home to the nation’s largest state-owned collection of Civil War battle flags, money for a preservation project is being cut from Gov. David Paterson’s proposed budget. Indiana’s funding for flag conservation has been returned to the state’s general fund. Ohio hasn’t provided government funding for its 400-plus Civil War battles flags in nearly a decade.

Another recent budget casualty is Pennsylvania’s allocation for maintaining the battle flag collection it preserved in the 1980s.

“Thank goodness we did it back then,” Ruthann Hubbert-Kemper, executive director of the Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee, said of the project that conserved all of the Keystone State’s nearly 400 Civil War battle flags.

The lack of funding for flag preservation could hurt efforts to promote the 150th anniversary of the Civil War.

Battle flags are commonly used in Civil War exhibits, but usually only after lengthy preservation work that can cost tens of thousands of dollars, depending on a banner’s size and condition. Staging publicity-generating events using the flags may be more difficult in the run-up to the Civil War sesquicentennial in 2011, advocates say.

“This isn’t the time to be cutting this. It’s the time to be increasing it because it will be bring in tourism dollars,” said Ed Norris of Lancaster, Mass., head of the battle flag preservation committee for the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War.

The total number of battle flags in state-owned collections isn’t clear, but it’s likely several thousand, only a fraction of which have been preserved. Some have deteriorated into mere fragments and fringe, victims of neglect or exposure to light, heat and humidity.

“Time,” Hubbert-Kemper said, “is the enemy.”

New York began its battle flag preservation project a decade ago, with the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in charge of conserving nearly 2,000 banners.

Conflicts from the War of 1812 to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are represented, but the bulk – more than 800 – are Civil War flags.

With New York facing a budget deficit in the billions of dollars, the state is dropping its $100,000 annual funding for flag preservation, said parks agency spokesman Dan Keefe.

The project has focused on preserving the collection’s Civil War flags – many of them made of silk – because they represent the collections oldest and most fragile banners, said Christopher Morton, assistant curator at the State Military Museum in Saratoga Springs, where many of New York’s flags are stored.

Civil War buffs and historians consider battle flags, especially those damaged by shot and shell, to be among the most compelling artifacts to survive the war. Flags were used to mark a regiment’s location on the battlefield, and flag bearers made prominent targets. Some of the banners are stained with blood.

“There are many flags that were carried in battle heroically by soldiers who died in doing so,” Morton said.

In the South, several states rely on donations from re-enactment groups and descendants of Confederate soldiers to fund flag preservation.

The Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va., is home to the largest Civil War battle flag collection in the South with more than 500 banners. John Coski, a historian at the museum, called flag preservation “a universal problem.”

Edward McNatt Butler, former commander of the Tennessee division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, called the battle-scarred banners “flags of honor.” The group has raised money to help the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville preserve six of its more than 60 Civil War flags, museum officials said.

“Some of them are in pitiful shape,” Butler, a 66-year-old retiree from Cookeville, Tenn., said Tuesday. “Those people are tickled that we’re able to donate the amount of money we’re able to donate on an annual basis so they can do their job.”

___

On the Net:

NYS Military Museum: http://www.dmna.state.ny.us/historic

Ohio Historical Society: http://www.ohiohistory.org

Pennsylvania Capitol Preservation Committee: http://cpc.state.pa.us

Tennessee State Museum: http://www.tnmuseum.org

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-01-05-10 1412EST

Iraqi police seize artifacts amid smuggling fears

BAGHDAD (AP) – Iraqi police on Tuesday seized a small cache of ancient statues and other artifacts in the south of the country that officials said were set to be smuggled abroad and sold.

Iraq, home to relics of the world’s most ancient urban civilizations, has had its priceless heritage plundered and sold to collectors abroad in the chaotic years since the U.S.-led invasion.

The 39 artifacts were discovered stashed in a hole near a shrine outside the southern city of Nasiriyah, said a police official. They included statues and shards with writing on them dating back to the ancient Sumerian civilization, which is more than 4,000 years old.

He said a tip-off led police to believe the pieces were going to be smuggled to Iran.

Pictures of the pieces released by the Iraqi police showed images of animals, men and women carved into flat tablets, a necklace and a carving of a head and torso.

A government official who works with the archaeology department confirmed the seizure.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.

Iraqi law says all artifacts over 200 years have to be handed over to the Iraqi government for inspection. The country is dotted with ancient archaeological sites that have little or no protection.

The U.S. military was heavily criticized for not protecting the National Museum’s treasure of relics and art following Baghdad’s fall in 2003. Thieves ransacked the collection, stealing or destroying priceless artifacts that chronicled some 7,000 years of civilization in Mesopotamia, including the ancient Babylonians, Sumerians and Assyrians.

Iraqi and world culture officials have struggled to retrieve the treasures but met with little success. Up to 7,000 pieces were still believed missing when the museum reopened last year.

A U.S. military officer said the sale of stolen antiquities believed to have helped finance Iraqi extremist groups.

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-01-05-10 1137EST

Tenn. officials want historical Crockett document returned

Public domain image of Davy Crockett.
Public domain image of Davy Crockett.
Public domain image of Davy Crockett.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – It’s not exactly the Alamo, but Davy Crockett is at the center of a battle between two states.

Officials in Tennessee want a Hillsborough County, Fla., judge to enforce a Tennessee order that 90-year-old Margaret V. Smith turn over Crockett’s original marriage license application, which the Tampa woman says she inherited.

Lura Hinchey, archive director for Jefferson County, Tenn., said the county has repeatedly asked Smith for the license application of Crockett and Margaret Elder. Officials learned years ago that Smith had the document when she wrote the county clerk asking how to preserve it.

“I asked for it when she came to the courthouse” in about 1999, Hinchey said.

“She just said she had sent a copy and wondered why it wasn’t in the museum,” Hinchey said. “I told her the original belonged to our county because it was one of our permanent records. She said it belonged to her and she was going to keep it. … She had already been asked by the county historian, and I believe the county clerk asked her for it.”

Smith’s son said his mother inherited the document from her father, who died in the 1950s.

“The state had never asked for it back until apparently my mother went on the TV program Antiques Roadshow,” said Vance Smith, who is a lawyer. “They knew she had it because she had loaned them a copy of it. They found out it had some significant money value. … She said it was hers and she wasn’t giving it up.”

Smith said he hadn’t seen the legal action, which was filed last week in Hillsborough County.

When Margaret Smith took the document to Antiques Roadshow in 2005, the appraiser valued the 1805 license application at $25,000 to $50,000, and commended her for how well it was preserved.

Crockett and Elder never married, although the legendary frontiersman from Tennessee later married someone else. Crockett died in 1836 while defending the Alamo against Mexican forces.

Smith told the appraiser her uncle rescued the document when someone was cleaning out the courthouse in Dandridge, Tenn.

“They were throwing away everything they thought was unimportant,” Smith said, according to a transcript on the television show’s Web site. “This document never happened – David Crockett didn’t marry this woman. … So they felt that it had no value whatsoever, and therefore it was going to be pitched out.

“And my uncle, my dad’s elder brother, saw it, and being a fan of Crockett, he grabbed it right quick,” the transcript quotes Smith as saying. “And it’s been in the family ever since.”

But Jefferson County officials question that account.

“That dog just won’t hunt,” Tennessee Judge Allen Wallace said in issuing his November ruling.

“The circumstantial evidence is a member of Mrs. Smith’s family took that document. It’s Jefferson County’s document,” Wallace said. “The title is in Jefferson County, period. She’s got to return it.”

Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-ES-01-05-10 0546EST

Ireland’s Waterford Crystal factory for sale – minus machinery

Waterford has been synonymous with fine crystal, including glass chandeliers. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery and Live Auctioneers archive.
Waterford has been synonymous with fine crystal, including glass chandeliers. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery and LiveAuctioneers archive.
Waterford has been synonymous with fine crystal, including glass chandeliers. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery and LiveAuctioneers archive.

DUBLIN (AP) – Ireland’s historic Waterford Crystal factory is for sale one year after its parent company went bankrupt and sold its brands and many assets to an American private equity firm, the plant’s liquidators confirmed Tuesday.

Bankruptcy officials shut the debt-crippled factory in January 2009, ending more than 60 years of lead-crystal production in the southeast city of Waterford. The new owners of the Waterford brand, KPS Capital Partners of New York, have already shifted production to Germany and Eastern Europe.

KPS did not buy the factory itself in Waterford, where local business and tourist chiefs had hoped that a white-knight investor might step in to revive production on the 38-acre site.

David Carson, the Irish accountant overseeing the demise of Waterford Crystal’s Irish operations, said the factory is being offered for sale as a development site rather than as a continuing operation.

The decision follows a November Internet auction of the vast bulk of the plant’s manufacturing equipment to bidders from Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The centerpiece of the factory, a furnace capable of holding 50 tons of molten glass, remains unsold.

Irish real-estate experts say the site and buildings are worth between euro 10 million and euro 20 million ($15 million to $30 million) – but could lie idle for years given Ireland’s moribund market for commercial property.

KPS continues to employ about 50 people at the Waterford site in the city at its visitors center and product-marketing offices. But more than 1,800 former Waterford Crystal employees have lost their pensions as part of the company’s collapse.

The city of Waterford has been particularly hard hit by Ireland’s recession. Several other major city employers, including U.S. contact-lens maker Bausch & Lomb and Israeli drugmaker Teva, also announced major layoffs in 2009.

___

On the Net:

Waterford equipment,

http://www.mckay.ie/mckay/auctiontenderdetails186.asp

Map of crystal plant,

http://www.mckay.ie/common/auctiontender/files/waterford/Lots.pdf

Copyright 2010, Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

AP-WS-01-05-10 0546EST

Fine figural furniture on the wing at North Georgia Antique Auction Jan. 8

The best R.J. Horner clock money could buy was this nine tube oak grandfather clock no. 10. Standing 10 feet high, this clock has its original finish and a $65,000-$85,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.
The best R.J. Horner clock money could buy was this nine tube oak grandfather clock no. 10. Standing 10 feet high, this clock has its original finish and a $65,000-$85,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.
The best R.J. Horner clock money could buy was this nine tube oak grandfather clock no. 10. Standing 10 feet high, this clock has its original finish and a $65,000-$85,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. – Beautiful full-bodied women carved from hardwood and cast in bronze will be the featured attractions at North Georgia Antique Auction’s debut sale Jan. 9. The auction house will present what is described as the rarest collection of antique figural furniture from one estate ever offered for sale to the public. The auction includes furniture and accessories from such makers as R.J. Horner, Karpen, Belter, Tiffany and the Shop of the Crafters.

LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

“The large majority of the figural pieces came from a longtime dealer-collector from Pennsylvania. It is the rarest and cleanest collection of furniture that I’ve ever encountered. The owner was extremely picky in what he bought,” said Vincent Lindley, owner of North Georgia Antique Auction and 20-year veteran of the auction trade.

A no. 10 R.J. Horner nine-tube grandfather clock, considered to be the best of the best in tall case clocks, could be the top item in the 400-lot auction. Standing 10 feet tall, the clock features carved griffins framing the movement along with mermaid-like full figures flanking the case and a draped woman crest. The works are signed Walter Durfee and play Whittington and Westminster chimes. The face is marked J.E. Caldwell & Co. The clock is in working order and carries an estimate of $65,000-$85.000, although other no. 10 Horner clocks have sold for as much as $125,000.

A smaller (98 inches high) nine-tube Horner griffin grandfather clock in a highly carved mahogany case has an estimate of $15,000-$20,000. It has full-bodied women flanking the clock face, draped women down the sides and winged griffins on the base.

Another outstanding piece by Horner is a quartersawn oak desk with a hand carved shields on the slant front, which is supported by full-body standing soldiers on each side. In original finish, this 1890s desk has a $6,000-$8,000 estimate.

Carved from solid mahogany, a Man in the Mountain bookcase attributed to R.J. Horner has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate. It measures 66 1/2 inches high by 63 1/2 inches wide by 18 1/2 inches deep, and is in excellent original condition.

Also in the collection, a museum-quality Renaissance Revival credenza by Pottier & Stymus, New York City, is one of the finest the auctioneers have ever handled. It features signed “GPG” (G.P. Giru foundry, New York) bronze plaques depicting women on the doors and bronze draped women on both sides. Made of Rosewood with 18K gold incising, a marble top and bird’s-eye maple interior, the 6-foot-wide credenza has a $20,000-$30,000 estimate.

The New York City shops of John Henry Belter produced a laminated rosewood étagère in the Rosalie pattern, which has its original marble top base. The étagère is 85 inches high, 60 inches wide and 15 inches deep. In excellent condition, it carries an $18,000-$20,000 estimate.

An authentic Tiffany Studios three-light Lilly Lamp with its original LCT-signed Pulled Feather shades in original condition – no chips or cracks – has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate. The base is signed, “Tiffany Studios New York #319.”

Two slag glass lamps produced by Apollo Studios in New York, which was started by a longtime Tiffany Studios employee, will be offered. A floor lamp (estimate $4,000-$5,000) that has its original glass and brass overlay is 74 inches high. A similar table lamp that stands 21 inches high and has a 15-inch slag glass shade has a $2,000-$3,000 estimate. Lindley said that a leading Tiffany lamp dealer has authenticated the Apollo lamps.

From the Shop of the Crafters in Cincinnati, a scarce pair of prints of lions in oak frames fitted with iron bars to resemble cages, 33 1/2 inches high by 43 inches wide, has a $2,500-$3,500 estimate.

A rare Karpen bat-wing Morris chair that features drop-leaf armrests is made of solid mahogany. It retains the original label that reads: “Karpen Guaranteed Upholstered Furniture, Chicago.” With later upholstery, the 1880s chair has a $1,500-$2,500 estimate.

Numerous paintings by listed artists will be offered. One standout is a maritime scene titled Clipper at Full Sail by Danish-American artist Antonio Nicolo Gaspara Jacobsen (1850-1921). The 12- by 24 1/4-inch oil on canvas carries a $4,000-$8,000 estimate.

The sale will be conducted at North Georgia Auction Gallery, 31 Successful Way in Dawsonville, which is a 30-minute drive north of Atlanta. For details phone 706-265-9000.

To view the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

Click here to view North Georgia Antiques Auction’s complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

It’s rare to find a large Pottier & Stymus figural Renaissance Revival credenza in such outstanding condition. This one made of rosewood with 18K gold incising and a marble top is 72 1/2 inches wide. It has a $20,000-$30,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.
It’s rare to find a large Pottier & Stymus figural Renaissance Revival credenza in such outstanding condition. This one made of rosewood with 18K gold incising and a marble top is 72 1/2 inches wide. It has a $20,000-$30,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.

J.H. Belter’s laminated rosewood étagère is from the popular Rosalie pattern. It is 85 inches high, by 48 inches wide. In excellent condition, the étagère has an $18,000-$20,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.
J.H. Belter’s laminated rosewood étagère is from the popular Rosalie pattern. It is 85 inches high, by 48 inches wide. In excellent condition, the étagère has an $18,000-$20,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.

Johann Hamza (German, 1850-1929) painted this oil on canvas titled ‘Introductions in an Interior.’ The 29- by 39-inch signed painting has a $12,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.
Johann Hamza (German, 1850-1929) painted this oil on canvas titled ‘Introductions in an Interior.’ The 29- by 39-inch signed painting has a $12,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.

Apollo Studios, New York, produced this slag glass and brass overlay floor lamp, which stands 74 inches high. The rare lamp has a $4,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.
Apollo Studios, New York, produced this slag glass and brass overlay floor lamp, which stands 74 inches high. The rare lamp has a $4,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of North Georgia Auction Gallery.