Thomas Walker’s ‘A Treatise Upon the Art of Flying’ is illustrated in this print, which folds out of the 1810 volume. The rare book measures 8 1/4 by 5 inches. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.
SAN FRANCISCO – PBA Galleries’ Sale 420 will feature nearly 500 examples of antique cartography before riding into uncharted territory of the Gene Gammel Collection of cowboy toys and memorabilia. The auction will be conducted Jan. 21 beginning at 11 a.m. Pacific. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
Included are important accounts of Colonial and early U.S. history, maritime exploration, overland emigration, maps of America, historic prints including lithographs of native Americans by George Catlin, political ephemera and much more, notes Scott Evans, president of PBA Galleries.
A 17th-century map that made Europeans aware of early settlement of America is Willem Blaeu’s reissue of Jodocus Hondius Jr.’s map of Virginia. Blaeu purchased the original plate in 129, updated the map and published a more attractively engraved map in 1640. The map offered by PBA Galleries could possibly have been printed as late as 1655. It measures 15 inches by 19 inches and has a $3,000-$5,000 estimate.
Also from the 17th century is a first edition of Historia Conquista de Mexico by Antonio de Solis, which was published in Madrid in 1684. It is considered the most important work of Solis, a Spanish historian, dramatist, statesman and King Philip IV’s private secretary. Bound in full red morocco and measuring 10 3/4 inches by 7 1/4 inches, the book is expected to sell for $4,000-$6,000.
Walker’s Treatise Upon the Art of Flying is a 67-page book published in 1810 that examines the natural principles by which birds fly. Making this first edition so intriguing are author Thomas Walker’s “plans for making a flying car with wings, in which a man may sit, and, by working a small lever, cause himself to ascent and soar through the air.” It contains a foldout illustration of the bird-like flying machine. The estimate is also $4,000-$6,000.
A book published in 1885 by the U.S. Printing Office titled Report on the Internal Commerce of the United States contains a fascinating examination of the cattle industry. The 562-page book is considered to be among the most important of the “Big Four” cattle books of the period. It measures 9 inches by 5 3/4 inches and contains five folding color lithograph maps at the end. It has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate.
Charles Wilkes was a 19th-century American naval officer who commanded exploration expeditions to the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii and Antarctica. He documented the expeditions in Narrative of US Exploring by Wilkes 1838-42. The six-volume set, which includes an atlas, offered by PBS Galleries is a third edition in original blind- and gilt-stamped cloth. It contains 64-steel-engraved maps. Published in 1845, the set has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate.
The Gammel Collection of cowboy toys features vintage items relating to Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, the Cisco Kid, the Lone Ranger and other cultural icons of the mid-20th century.
For details phone 415-989-2665.
To view the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
The map titled ‘Rage and Ranch Cattle Area,’ which is shaded green, encompasses much of the western half of the United States. It is contained in ‘Report on the Internal Commerce of the United States,’ published by the Government Printing Office in 1885. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries. ‘Part of the Island of Hawaii’ is one of 64 steel-engraved plates contained in Charles Wilkes’ six-volume set titled ‘Narrative of US Exploring,’ published from 1838 to 1842. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries. Willem Blaeu refined Jodocus Hondius Jr.’s 1618 map of Virginia and published it in Amsterdam in 1640. This copy may have been printed as late as 1655. The copper-engraved, hand-colored map measures 15 inches by 19 inches. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries. The Hopalong Cassidy bicycle by Rollfast is considered the pinnacle of any Hoppy collection. This unrestored girls model with 24-inch wheels has a $2,000-$3,000 estimate. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.
19th-century Austrian-made Osler chandelier with emerald-green molded and cut glass, originally made for the Maharajah of Udaipur, purchased through LiveAuctioneers.com for $82,350 on Jan. 14, 2010 in Guernsey’s Tavern on the Green sale. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive and Guernsey’s.
NEW YORK (ACNI and AP) – For the second day in a row, bidders participating online through LiveAuctioneers.com proved to be formidable competitors at Guernsey’s Jan. 13-15 sale of the contents of New York’s Tavern on the Green, claiming 38.8% of the goods offered in the Jan. 14 session.
Because of its worldwide renown, Tavern on the Green’s decorative objects and mementos have spurred unprecedented online bidding interest, said LiveAuctioneers’ CEO Julian R. Ellison.
“The postsale statistics from Guernsey’s Tavern on the Green sale – in terms of dollar value and bidder participation across the board – are the strongest we’ve seen since launching our independent bidding platform,” Ellison said. “In the first two days, alone, online bidders using LiveAuctioneers, including those using the company’s iPhone live-bidding app, have purchased 231 lots totaling well over half a million dollars. Those numbers will only increase after the final auction session on Friday.”
As was the case in the opening-day’s session, Internet bidders proactively pursued the spectacular chandeliers that illuminating Tavern’s dining areas. A 19th-century Austrian-made Osler chandelier of emerald-green molded and cut glass, originally created for the Maharaja of Udaipur, went to an online bidder for $82,350. A Baccarat chandelier with beaded drop pendants also sold through to a Web bidder, for $64,050.
It wasn’t just the Internet buyers who positively impacted the sale’s bottom line. Underbidders played a significant role, as well. During the Wednesday and Thursday sessions, participants using LiveAuctioneers were the underbidders on 47.9% of the lots auctioned. These all-important online underbids (second-highest bids) were responsible for adding $104,850 to the gross.
A fabled Manhattan dining establishment located at the western end of Central Park, Tavern on the Green’s fairyland quality and over-the-top décor had long drawn celebrities and out-of-towners to its six glitzy dining rooms. Past patrons who regularly frequented the Tavern included New York City Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia and actresses Grace Kelly and Fay Wray, among many others.
The beloved landmark served as the finish line of the New York City Marathon, and many Broadway shows held their opening-night festivities there.
On New Year’s Eve 2009, the restaurant prepared its last meal and closed its doors after 75 years, its faded magnificence buckling to the recession. Just three years ago, it was still one of the world’s highest-grossing restaurants, plating more than 700,000 meals a year and taking in about $38 million annually. It was the second-highest-grossing independently owned American restaurant, trailing only The Venetian’s Tao Room in Las Vegas.
Mired in debt, Tavern on the Green filed bankruptcy in 2009 and consigned its entire collection to auction. Everything goes – from the kitschy chandeliers of capitalism to a banner touting the motto of communism.
A former sheepfold off Central Park West, Tavern sits on city property. Warner LeRoy, son of Hollywood producer/director Mervyn LeRoy, took over its operating license in 1973, refurbishing the restaurant with whimsical objects purchased around the world. From the Soviet Union came a red velvet banner with the image of Lenin, inscribed in the Cyrillic Russian alphabet with the international communist motto, “Workers of all nations, unite!”
LeRoy died in 2001 and his daughter, Jennifer LeRoy, became the establishment’s CEO.
“The food was kind of mediocre, but that’s not why you came here,” said Frances Rickard, a real estate broker tickling the ivories of a Yamaha grand she was considering. “When you wanted to be kitschy, you brought your out-of-town relatives here for a little bit of bizarreness.”
Rickard said she had to be careful about what she might buy “because there’s not much here that would fit into my Manhattan apartment. It’s all so grandiose.”
The restaurant’s most precious item – its name – is not on the block. The moneymaking words “Tavern on the Green,” valued at about $19 million, are in court. A federal judge is to decide whether Dean Poll, the restaurateur who is taking over the space, can call his new business by its famed old name.
View the fully illustrated catalog for the Jan. 15 session of the Tavern on the Green sale and bid live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
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ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Baccarat chandelier with beaded drop pendants, sold to a LiveAuctioneers bidder for $64,050 on Jan. 14, 2010 in Guernsey’s Tavern on the Green sale. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers Archive and Guernsey’s.
Autographed photo of Abraham Lincoln taken by C.S. German, sold for $35,000 + buyer’s premium at Cowan’s Auctions, June 7, 2007.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Indiana State Museum officials said Wednesday that a fundraising campaign devoted to caring for a large collection of Abraham Lincoln artifacts, including the last portrait Lincoln sat for, raised nearly $7 million in its first six months.
Campaign co-chairman Ian Rolland said he and his colleagues were advised to wait until after the recession before asking donors for the $12.5 million deemed necessary to conserve, exhibit and endow a fund for the collection’s long-term maintenance.
Rolland said the fundraising response to date – $6.9 million in gifts or pledges from individuals, businesses and foundations from around Indiana – shows Lincoln “holds a special place in the hearts” of the residents of the state known as his boyhood home.
“Abraham Lincoln spent a good share of his early days here in Indiana and the acquisition of this collection gives Indiana its proper place in terms of the Lincoln history,” he said.
Nearly half the money pledged so far, $3 million, came from Lilly Endowment.
Museum officials said the collection, valued at about $20 million, was once the nation’s largest privately held collection of Lincoln memorabilia.
Lincoln National Corp., which moved from Fort Wayne to Philadelphia in 1999, began amassing the memorabilia of Lincoln’s personal and presidential life in 1928. It includes campaign materials, about 300 documents signed by Lincoln and 5,000 photographs – many of which belonged to the Lincoln family.
In late 2008, the company donated the collection to Indiana. The collection is housed both at the downtown Indianapolis museum and the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne.
Tom King, the state museum’s interim president and CEO, said that while the collection has been seen by many Fort Wayne residents and visitors to that city, it will be getting wider exposure at the museum.
“These remarkable treasures are just waiting to be discovered by the citizens of Indiana and visitors here,” King said during a news conference.
He said some of the fundraising campaign will be used to digitize the entire collection to make it available online to Lincoln scholars and anyone else who wants to see it.
Museum officials announced the campaign success with one of the collection’s choice pieces – the final portrait that Lincoln sat for – as a backdrop.
Lincoln sat for artist Matthew Wilson in February 1865, when the Civil War still was raging. Wilson finished the painting after Lincoln was assassinated two months later.
Rolland, who is Lincoln National’s former chairman, recalled that when the portrait was acquired in the 1980s he and a colleague never left the side of the crate carrying the painting, even taking it with them into the dining car.
Dale Ogden, the museum’s chief curator or cultural history, said the collection includes more than 30,000 objects, as well as about 220,000 newspaper clippings from the mid-1800s to the present about Lincoln.
Among its choice pieces are rare signed copies of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution abolishing slavery, and the chair in which Lincoln sat for some of his most famous presidential photographs.
The museum will showcase some of the collection in an exhibit that opens Feb. 12. The same day, a traveling Library of Congress exhibit on Lincoln also opens at the museum.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – A long-running antiques show in Memphis has been postponed indefinitely this year because of a lack of vendors.
The Madonna Circle Memphis Antiques, Garden and Gourmet Show has been held annually for 34 years. According to The Commercial Appeal, it has attracted garden, food and antiques lovers from throughout the Mid-South in the past.
Madonna Circle, the largest Catholic women’s association in Memphis, was unable to secure enough antiques vendors. Normally up to 65 such vendors came from as far away as New York, Canada and Europe.
The show had been scheduled for Feb. 25-28 at the Agricenter.
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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.commercialappeal.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) – A Florida man has been sentenced to just under two years in federal prison for trying to sell stolen artworks by Picasso and Chagall.
Marcus Patmon of Miami was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Delaware on Wednesday to 23 months behind bars and ordered to pay restitution. He pleaded guilty in October to mail fraud, attempted wire fraud and the interstate transport of stolen goods.
According to court papers and attorneys, Patmon was inspired by an episode of Antiques Roadshow to steal and resell art to regain the lifestyle he lost after a 2001 assault conviction.
Patmon admitted selling a Chagall lithograph and Picasso etching he stole from a Washington gallery in 2007. When he tried to sell Picasso etchings from a Palm Beach, Fla., gallery, a dealer notified police and a Delaware-based federal agent posed as the dealer’s employee.
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Information from: The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal, http://www.delawareonline.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The latest screen incarnation of Sherlock Holmes opened on Christmas Day 2009. The film focuses on the sometimes prickly relationship between Holmes and Watson as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law. The duo makes use of brains and brawn in foiling a mysterious threat against the English government. Category: 19th Century British Pop Culture.
Question: Name three Victorian literary characters that are still hot topics in the 21st Century.
If you answered, “Alice in Wonderland, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes,” you win the prize.
Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930), the creator of the famous detective in that trio, was a prolific writer of novels, short stories, and nonfiction articles. His successful literary career eventually eclipsed the medical profession for which he had trained. In the course of supporting his family, he invented many characters for his adventure stories and historical novels, some of which were very popular in their day. But even he did not predict that it would be Sherlock Holmes who would live on through the centuries.
As Doyle issued short stories and novellas featuring Holmes between 1887 and 1927, the art of the cinema grew from a novelty to an industry. A major boost for the popularity of this cultural icon was the public demand to see the character brought to life not only on the stage but on the screen. Interpretations varied – one actor would portray Sherlock as a keen thinker and eccentric violinist, another might play the role as man of action or master of disguise.
One of the earliest films was an American Vitagraph 8-minute movie called The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1905. The most recent is the Christmas 2009 release Sherlock Holmes directed by Guy Ritchie with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in the lead roles of Holmes and Watson. In the best physical condition of his career, Downey comes out swinging as a very active detective who tears around London like Jason Bourne.
While some fans might complain this is not their conception of Holmes, it is true that the famous duo are young men when they first meet in their initial adventure, A Study in Scarlet. At one point, Watson lists Holmes’ pluses and minuses. The doctor notes his exceptional intelligence, some very odd habits, and the fact that Holmes is an “expert singlestick player, boxer, and swordsman.”
In another story, the detective straightens out an iron poker bent double by the villain. And fighting for his life against nemesis Dr. Moriarty, Holmes overcomes him in the end with the use of Japanese martial arts. Based on these statements in the canon, the new movie is justified in its muscular interpretation of the character. Holmes as “action hero” will certainly attract new generations of readers.
Given this long-term relationship between Holmes on the page and screen, it is not surprising that serious enthusiasts have focused their collecting efforts on first editions and movie memorabilia. The first appearance of Holmes, A Study in Scarlet, was published as the lead story in Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887. Another novella-length story, The Sign of Four, featuring Holmes and Dr. Watson was published in magazine form in 1890.
Widespread popularly for the sleuthing pair arrived 1891 when George Newnes’ The Strand Magazine began running a series of 12 short stories, later gathered together and published as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. The accompanying illustrations by artist Sidney Paget gave the public their first look at a visual interpretation of the character. His drawings of Holmes, his clothing and props became a template for actors playing the role in the future.
Doyle never considered Holmes his life’s work; his attention in the 1890s was focused on writing historical novels, such as Micah Clarke (1888) and The White Company (1891), books now largely forgotten. The author consented to do a second magazine series of Holmes tales, The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, but killed off the detective in the last issue, leaving Dr. Watson and his readers inconsolable.
A set of bound copies of The Strand containing the Adventures and Memoirs sold at Bloomsbury Auctions in London in January 2008 for $1,450. A first edition of the collected Memoirs, published as one volume by George Newnes in 1894, brought $1,800 at Bloomsbury New York in June 2008.
Fortunately for fans, public demand brought Holmes back from the dead. The Hound of the Baskervilles, the best-known mystery solved by the detective, appeared in The Strand in 1901 and was published in book form the following year. Always desirable, the tale of the ghostly hound sold at Bloomsbury New York for $2,640 in December 2008. Doyle was persuaded to write three more collections of stories and another novella. The last collection, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, appeared in 1927.
Auction Central News spoke with Richard Austin, director of Bloomsbury Auctions in New York, about the market for Holmes. Referring to past sales, he explained, “These lots are the first collected editions of the stories. The stories that were issued in The Strand were later collected in book form. That was a fairly common occurrence in the 19th century. Poe, for instance, and Hawthorne had stories that were issued in magazines first and then collected in books.
“Copies of Sherlock Holmes are fairly steady sellers because they are important not only for Sherlock Holmes collectors but also for mystery collectors,” Austin continued. “There’s a fairly broad audience for the material. What people want are The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Sign of Four and the Memoirs and Adventures. We usually offer copies of the Adventures and Memoirs every year, and we usually sell one or two copies of The Hound of the Baskervilles in New York.”
Asked what is considered the Holy Grail for Holmes’ collectors, Austin replied, “The first Sherlock Holmes book is A Study in Scarlet, a great rarity that doesn’t come up very often. A great copy of A Study in Scarlet would be a wonderful thing. I don’t think there’s more than a dozen complete copies of that book out there. And even the first American edition, a little paperback, is fairly scarce.”
As far as the new movie is considered, Austin said, “He has been portrayed on the stage and screen for over a hundred years now.” But he added, “Anytime there’s a film connected to literature – Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings – if the film’s a huge hit, there’s a short-term rise in value for the books they are based on.”
For collectors at the highest level, the market occasionally turns up original illustrations for the stories by Sidney Padget or even Doyle’s autograph manuscripts of Holmes’ adventures. In May 2004, Christie’s in New York devoted a sale to the personal papers of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The following month, they set a record for a Sherlock Holmes manuscript, selling The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire, circa 1924, for $399,500.
No collection would be complete without a few posters of actors in the role of Holmes. An excellent overview of Holmes’ appearances in dramas is provided by the reference Starring Sherlock Holmes by David Stuart Davies. Memorable portrayals included William Gillette on stage, John Barrymore in silent films, the classic Basil Rathbone movies that began in 1939 and continued during World War II, and Peter Cushing’s version for Hammer Films in England.
Beginning in the 1980s, Jeremy Brett became the definitive Holmes for television viewers on both side of the Atlantic.
The strongly defined character of the detective has also been the subject of cinematic spoofs, such as The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes’ Smarter Brother with Gene Wilder (1975) and Without a Clue starring Michael Caine (1988).
Of all these, Basil Rathbone’s Holmes perhaps most perfectly embodied the sleuth’s combination of cerebral and physical skills. Collectors seek out posters from his two films for Fox and many appearances later in movies at Universal. Grey Smith, poster expert for Heritage Auctions in Dallas, said, “Collecting posters is a nostalgic pastime – we want to own the characters we remember. The Rathbone posters are the most readily available. If you go back to John Barrymore’s one entry, it’s so hard to find that material.”
In November 2008, Heritage sold an insert poster from The Hound of the Baskervilles, the first appearance of Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, for $10,755. Smith said, “It is really desirable. I called it $8,000-$12,000, so it fell in the middle of that. The problem with the posters from that film is that Rathbone is not really pictured – Sherlock Holmes is shown in silhouette. Rathbone was billed second and Richard Greene got top billing.”
Smith continued, “It wasn’t until The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the next one that Fox made, that Basil Rathbone was prominently pictured. We sold a six sheet for the movie in March 2007 for $31,070 – it’s probably the most expensive piece featuring Holmes we’ve sold to date. With the second film, they showed Holmes full length with gun pointed. The six sheet was done in stone lithograph – it’s really a tremendous poster. I estimated it at $10,000-15,000 and it doubled the high estimate. I think it’s the only known copy.”
British actor Ian Richardson in his foreword to Starring Sherlock Holmes wrote, “Offer any actor in the world the part of Sherlock Holmes, and I am willing to wager that you will get an affirmative response. No matter whether they be too short, too old or too fat, the lure of the Great Detective is irresistible.”
As one actor who succumbed to this temptation, he noted, “When you think of Holmes in visual terms, it is always the original Paget illustrations that come first into your mind. The tall, deerstalkered figure with the long sensitive fingers, aquiline profile, and the dark piercing eyes. Next probably comes into your head all those qualities in the person of Basil Rathbone.”
Richardson watched his films as a young man and recalls, “I thought Basil Rathbone the most wonderful actor I’d ever seen. Much, much later, when I played Sherlock Holmes myself, it was always he that I had in mind, try though I might to get out of his shadow.”
The success of the new Sherlock Holmes film, which surpassed $150 million in sales three weeks into its run, demonstrates the continuing appeal of one of the greatest literary characters ever created.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Basil Rathbone made his first appearance as Sherlock Holmes in the 1939 film version of Arthur Conan Doyle’s best known story, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles.’ Heritage sold this poster in July 2008 for $10,755. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson received top billing in ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ (1939). The rare six sheet poster for the film was sold by Heritage in March 2007 for $31,070. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions. A first edition of ‘The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes’ (London:George Newnes Ltd., 1894) sold at Bloombury Auctions in New York in June 2008 for $1,800 with buyer’s premium. The collection of 11 adventures includes ‘Silver Blaze,’ ‘The Musgrave Ritual,’ ‘The Crooked Man,’ and ‘The Final Problem,’ in which Holmes appears to meet his death at the hand of Dr. Moriarty. Image courtesy of Bloomsbury Auctions, New York Oft dramatized on stage and in film, ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’ with its eerie setting on the English moors remains the best known of all Sherlock Holmes tales. This 1902 first edition with its beautifully designed cover and illustrations by Sidney Paget sold in December 2008 for $2,640. Image courtesy of Bloomsbury Auctions, New York
The London Art Fair opened this week, with sizeable crowds flocking to the opening night, despite freezing temperatures. Photo ACN.London may still be in the grip of the harshest winter since 1963, but this week brought further signs that the art market may be finally emerging from the chill of recession. That said, it is conceivable, given the icy temperatures outside, that the crowds flocking into the Business Design Centre in Islington for the private view of the London Art Fair were attracted more by the promise of complimentary Jack Daniels cocktails than by the art on display. But alongside the red noses were quite a few red dots, so perhaps lethal bourbon cocktails did the trick in persuading punters to purchase pictures. The recession seemed a thing of the past judging by the number of visitors at the opening night of the London Art Fair. Photo ACN.
Gallerists were optimistic for the week ahead. “We didn’t have a recession; we had our best year ever in 2009,” said Sarah Goldbart of Millennium Gallery, a Cornwall-based contemporary art dealership. “This is always a really good fair for us where we do a lot of business.”
Millennium is typical of the sort of art business that has surfed ahead despite the troubled economic undercurrents, largely thanks to a roster of active corporate clients and super-rich collectors such as Princess Firyal of Jordan. One of Millennium’s most sought-after artists is Cornish sculptor Simon Allen whose meticulously crafted wall-mounted and free-standing sculptures covered in gold and silver leaf are finding homes in a variety of up-scale locations.
Work by sought-after contemporary sculptor Simon Allen was on the stand of Millennium Gallery at the London Art Fair this week. Photo ACN.
Goldbart said, “We sold several of Simon Allen’s pieces to the Connaught Hotel in London, which is being refurbished, while other works by Simon have sold to Lloyd Dorfman, founding chairman of Travelex, and to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich who has ordered two of Simon’s sculptures for his new super-yacht, the Eclipse, currently under construction.”
Another gallery that has weathered the economic maelstrom is Eyestorm, the online retailer of limited edition prints. Eyestorm is owned by and, curiously enough, based in the offices of, the London Mayfair-based private equity and hedge fund group Duet Partners. That robust source of funding helped Eyestorm to a successful debut outing at the Scope Fair in Miami this year, according to Angie Davey, who looks after Eyestorm’s Artist Liaison department. There was plenty of activity on their stand at the London Art Fair, where British celebrity artist and TV comedian Vic Reeves was showing his recent paintings, and Eyestorm-published limited edition prints to his showbiz friends.
Away from the glitzy glamour of contemporary art, the rather sedate museum world has supplied some of the more noteworthy news items this month. Last week, the Victoria and Albert Museum opened its new Medieval and Renaissance galleries to universal acclaim. It seems only a short while ago that the museum’s superb collection of Renaissance treasures were crammed into a singularly unprepossessing corridor adjacent to the cafeteria at the rear of the building. Now, however, those dark ages are behind us and this world-class collection has taken up residence in a beautifully refurbished new wing.
In contrast to the fashionable tendency to focus on thematic display, the new galleries have placed the emphasis on history, providing a clear chronology from what used to be called the Dark Ages – but which emerge here as surprisingly sophisticated and enlightened – to the Renaissance. Those familiar with the collection will be thrilled to see their old favorites subtly lit and enjoying acres of space.
talian sculpture Giovanni Pisano depicted the prophet Haggai in Carrara marble circa 1285-1297. It is on view in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s new Mediaeval and Renaissance galleries. Image courtesy V&A Images. This tiny ivory figure of the crucified Christ from the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection, will be on display at the museum’s new Mediaeval and Renaissance galleries. Image courtesy V&A Images. This 16th-century enameled and gold pendant in the form of a salamander is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum’s refurbished Mediaeval and Renaissance galleries. Image courtesy V&A Images.
The galleries also contain plenty of computer terminals giving access to the collection in digital form. The new galleries represent another significant step in reaffirming the V&A’s status as one of the greatest museums in the world. The museum may have missed out on its daring Liebeskind extension that never happened, but instead it has forged ahead with new glass galleries, refurbished ceramics galleries, a marvelous sculpture display and now the impressive new Medieval and Renaissance galleries. Taken together these add up to a major achievement for director Mark Jones.
It is not only in London that the V&A is reasserting itself. It was announced this week that the Scottish city of Dundee is to get its own Victoria & Albert Museum. The “V&A at Dundee,” as it is being described – a £47 million research center and exhibition venue – is scheduled to open in 2014 on a site south of Craig Harbour in Dundee’s redeveloped waterfront. An international architecture competition will be launched for the new building, which will enable the London V&A to share its collections and will also be home to specialist collections of Scottish contemporary design. The project is expected to bring 500,000 extra visitors to Dundee, while creating up to 900 local jobs.
Antiques fair organizers up and down the country will be praying for an end to the snow and freezing temperatures that have dogged the UK in recent weeks. Travel has been particularly difficult with transport authorities recommending people make only “essential journeys.” Visits to antiques fairs surely qualify as such. One group who will be keeping their fingers crossed for an upturn in temperatures are the 25 exhibitors hoping to show at the Tortworth Court Antiques and Fine Art Fair at the Tortworth Court Four Pillars Hotel in Wotton-Under-Edge in the Cotswolds on the weekend of Feb. 26-28.
Two George III mahogany armchairs in the French Hepplewhite style, circa 1780, are priced £8,750 ($14,200) by Guy Dennler Antiques & Interiors at the Tortworth Court Antiques and Fine Art Fair in the Cotswolds on Feb. 26-28. Photo Antiques Dealers Fair Ltd. ‘Clothilde de Surville,’ a sculpture by Jean Gautherin, circa 1875, priced at £27,975 ($45,500), from Garret & Hurst Sculpture at the Tortworth Court Antiques and Fine Art Fair in South Gloucestershire on Feb. 26-28. Photo Antiques Dealers Fair Ltd. Catherine Hunt Antiques will be offering this rare Kangxi blue and white lidded jar with European and Buddhist designs, circa 1700, at £1,950 ($3,200) at the Tortworth Court Antiques and Fine Art Fair on Feb. 26-28. Photo Antiques Dealers Fair Ltd.
It has become fashionable to hold antique fairs in spa hotels in the hope of encouraging dealers to combine business with pleasure. The Tortworth Court Four Pillars Hotel, which has its own leisure center and gym, is set in 30 acres of private parkland. If that’s not enough to coax collectors out of their winter lethargy, perhaps they’ll be attracted by the rarities on offer at the fair.
At the Chester Antiques Fair on Feb. 11-14, Alan Dawson of Odyssey will be showing this ancient Greek spherical pottery ‘aryballos,’ or olive oil container, priced at £250 ($405). Image Alan Dawson. This large and impressive Roman military tile fragment bearing the stamp of the famous 20th Legion, which was stationed at Chester for nearly 200 years late in the first century, is for sale at £550 ($895) at Alan Dawson of Odyssey at the Chester Fair. Image courtesy Odyssey.
The same holds true for the Chester Antiques Fair to be held Feb. 11-14 at the County Grandstand at Chester Racecourse. Although eschewing the carnal luxuries of a spa hotel, the Chester event is nevertheless regarded as the premier event for collectors in the northwest and hosts more than 50 dealers from across the country, offering objects at all price levels from £50 to more than £20,000.
This year, the Chester event will feature a number of interesting ancient artifacts including a sixth century B.C. “aryballos,” or olive oil container, of the kind used in public baths in the ancient world. We are told this simple spherical pottery bottle was used for dripping oil onto the skin, which is then scraped off with a metal scraper. Slung from a string round the left wrist, it was the accepted way of cleaning the body in ancient Greece. This attractive and wholly intact antique version of soap-on-a-rope will be offered for sale by Alan Dawson of Odyssey at a perfectly accessible £250 ($405).
Alan Dawson will be showing this Greek terracotta ‘erote’ figurine at the Chester Fair. It is priced at £625 ($1,020). Image courtesy Odyssey.
And so to a couple of interesting items from the UK auction circuit. One might have assumed that the snowdrifts would impact on saleroom business down at West Country auctioneers Woolley & Wallis this month, but apparently not. These days, a bank of phones and some up-to-date Internet bidding technology is all that’s required to keep the bids coming in thick and fast.
Certainly this seems to have been the case in Salisbury with a fascinating and elaborate 18th-century wood and cut-paper maritime diorama, which was offered at Woolley & Wallis’s sale of works of art on Jan. 12. Featuring a fully rigged galleon complete with figures – including a hapless tar drowning in the briny – the appeal of this unusual item was further enhanced by the fact that it was inscribed: “A. Walker Invt. et Fecit, 1763.” The hammer duly fell at £7,500 ($12,200).
This 18th-century wood and cut-paper diorama fetched £7,500 ($12,200) at Woolley & Wallis’s January sale of furniture and works of art in Salisbury. Image Woolley & Wallis.
Finally, Woolley & Wallis are also poised to offer a very fine quality and prestigiously provenanced piece of English silver in the coming weeks.
William Beckford is arguably the most illustrious collector of the 19th century, turning his home at Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire into a kind of Gothick Wunderkammer, a camp citadel crammed with all manner of precious objects.
Among the treasures he accumulated over many years of insatiable and eclectic collecting was a pair of silver-gilt waiters decorated with strapwork and a range of heraldic motifs incorporating the famed Beckford arms. Closely resembling a large sideboard dish in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s collection, and by the same maker, the silversmith William Burwash, the waiters are estimated to make £15,000-£20,000 ($24,400-$32,500) on Jan. 27, reflecting their provenance to Beckford and Fonthill.
Formerly in the collection of the illustrious 19th-century collector William Beckford, this silver-gilt waiter is one of a pair expected to bring £15,000-20,000 ($24,400-$32,500) at Woolley & Wallis’s Salisbury rooms on Jan. 27. Image Woolley & Wallis.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Polish police say they have found a painting by French impressionist Claude Monet that was stolen from a museum in western Poland in 2000.
Poznan police spokesman Romuald Piecuch said Wednesday that officers detained a 41-year-old man in the southern city of Olkusz after the painting, Beach in Pourville, was found in his possession.
Piecuch says the suspect and the painting were being transported to Poznan.
The picture was stolen in September 2000 from the National Museum in Poznan. It was valued at $1 million at the time.
The thief cut the painting from its frame and replaced it with a copy painted on cardboard.
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A cossack, his woman and his horse are grouped in this Russian bronze by L. Gratchev. Marked ‘Fabr. C. F. Woerffel St. Petersburg,’ the bronze has an $8,000-$10,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Carl W. Stinson Inc.
NORTH READING, Mass. – Antiques and art from the estate of former Massachusetts Governor Frank G. Allen and the estates of other prominent families will be sold without reserve by Carl W. Stinson, Auctioneers and Appraisers on Jan. 17. The 500-lot auction will range from a fireplace mantel made by renowned Salem architect Samuel McIntire to an important Russian bronze figural group. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet Live bidding.
“Virtually every piece has a story behind it and we’ve tried to relate the information in the catalog,” said Doug Stinson of Carl W. Stinson Inc. “There is substantial interest in the Russian bronze. We’ve had calls from across the country and around the world,” said Stinson. “It’s a nice original, not a restrike or recast.”
The bronze is signed in Cyrillic “L. Gratchev” and is marked “Fabr. C.F. Woerffel St. Petersburg.” It depicts a cossack embracing a peasant woman while standing next to his horse. The bronze is 12 1/2 inches and rests on a separate marble base. While the estimate is $8,000-$10,000, Stinson noted that last year the auction company sold a Russian bronze for $65,000.
The fireplace mantel featured in the auction is from the estate of Katharine Whittier, who pictured it in her book titled Catching Shadows: Ancestors from North and South -Who They Were, Where They Lived (1999: Newbury Street Press). The fireplace was salvaged in the late 1940s from an 18th-century house in Beverly that was being demolished. The carved wooden McIntire mantel has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate.
An important Aaron Willard shelf clock from the former residence of Gov. Allen dates to about 1815. The stately clock is in a mahogany case that stands 34 inches high. The estimate is $10,000-$15,000.
“It’s a wonderful shelf clock – a rare example and fresh to the market,” said Stinson.
The governor’s Patek Philippe repeater pocket watch, which was estimated to bring $1,000-$2,000, had already generated 15 bids three days before the start of the live auction. The 31-jewel watch, serial no. 238106, is in an 18K yellow gold case marked “Shreve Crump & Low, Co. Boston.” It is monogrammed “FGA” for Frank G. Allen, who served as Massachusetts governor from 1929 to 1931.
A tall clock in a cherry Chippendale case by David Goodell of Pomfret, Conn., with works by Peregrine White, a silversmith and clockmaker from Woodstock, Conn., is considered a highlight of the auction. The case has elaborate fan, swag, bellflower and patarae inlay. The clock descended in the Grosvenor family of Pomfret, Conn. The clock’s provenance was written in 1910 by John P. Grosvenor and attached to inside of door. The clock, which has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate, stands 85 1/2 inches tall.
Fine art will include a beautiful portrait by Eastman Johnson (1824-1906) of young brothers William Watson Caswell and John Caswell of Prides Crossing Mass. The signed and dated 1878 oil on canvas measures 63 1/2 inches by 46 1/2 inches. The painting descended directly in the Caswell family from the estate of William Watson Caswell Jr., former head of the First National Bank of Boston, Havana Cuba. It has a $20,000-$30,000 estimate.
The auction will begin Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. For details phone 781-259-3200.
To view the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Maine native Eastman Johnson (1824-1906) painted this large portrait of William Watson Caswell and John Caswell in 1878. In excellent condition except for yellowed varnish, the painting is estate fresh. It has a $20,000-$30,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Carl W. Stinson Inc. Famed Salem, Mass., architect and carver Samuel McIntire crafted this mantel, which measures 55 3/4 inches high, 84 inches wide and 14 1/2 inches deep. It has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Carl W. Stinson Inc. Frank G. Allen, a Republican who served one term as Massachusetts governor during the Great Depression, owned this mahogany Aaron Willard shelf clock. It is expected to bring $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Carl W. Stinson Inc. Capt. John Work, a Revolutionary War soldier from Ashford, Conn., was the original owner of this Peregrine White tall case clock. The inlaid cherry Chippendale case was made by David Goodell. It has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Carl W. Stinson Inc.
Leaded-glass panel from Tavern on the Green’s Rafters Room, crafted entirely from Tiffany workshop glass, $32,940. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Guernsey’s.
NEW YORK (ACNI) – Potential bidders, including a scattering of celebrities, encountered long registration lines for yesterday’s opening session of Guernsey’s sale to liquidate the luxe contents of New York’s Tavern on the Green. One of New York’s best-known dining establishments since its doors opened in 1934, Tavern on the Green filed for bankruptcy last year.
The restaurant’s majestic 1870 premises located at the western end of Central Park featured six elaborately decorated dining rooms, mirrored hallways and a glittering décor. The Tavern’s entire collection was consigned to Guernsey’s three-day sale, which continues on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 14 and 15. The auction also includes a number of items from Maxwell’s Plum and The Russian Team, which at one time also belonged to the Tavern’s former owner, the late Warner LeRoy.
Internet bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com proved to be a powerful adversary for those who attended the Jan. 13 auction session in person. Eighty-nine lots, or 24.5% of the inventory, sold to online participants.
A clear preference was shown for Art Nouveau-style art glass light fixtures. The top three lots purchased via the Internet in yesterday’s session were made from glass that had been crafted in the Tiffany Studios workshop.
One of two floral-motif leaded-glass panels from the Rafters Room displayed distinctive Tiffany features, including mottled and “confetti” glass, thick and textural rippled glass, square frogs’ backs, and circular jewel pieces. The panels were fabricated especially for the Tavern by Franz Meyer Workshop, based on a design by Warner LeRoy and the restaurant’s design director Jeffrey Higginbottom. The 66-inch by 36-inch panel, which was estimated at $10,000-$50,000, attracted 827 visitors to the electronic catalog and sold through LiveAuctioneers for $32,940.
An Art Nouveau-style leaded-glass ceiling lamp crafted from Tiffany workshop glass, with a square “frog’s back” jeweled border, opalescent glass and marbleized glass measured 38 inches in diameter. A dazzling mélange of red, blue, purple and yellow tones, it flew past its $3,000-$6,000 estimate to settle online at $32,940.
Another Art Nouveau-style leaded glass ceiling lamp comprised of Tiffany workshop glass featured oval cartouches, white daisy-like flowers, and amber stones on the shade’s edge. The 32-inch (diameter) fixture had been estimated at $5,000-$10,000 but nearly tripled expectations with an online winning bid of $29,280.
The auction continues Thursday and Friday, Jan. 14 and 15, with Internet live bidding through www.LiveAuctioneers.com. View the catalog and sign up to bid live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers.com.
