The Detroit Pistons basketball team upset the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one to win the NBA title in 2004. This official championship ring has a $4,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.

DuMouchelles presents all-star lineup in Valentine’s weekend auction

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The Detroit Pistons basketball team upset the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one to win the NBA title in 2004. This official championship ring has a $4,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.

The Detroit Pistons basketball team upset the Los Angeles Lakers four games to one to win the NBA title in 2004. This official championship ring has a $4,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.

DETROIT – Fine art, antiques and collectibles totaling more than 1,500 lots will be spread over three sessions during DuMouchelles’ Feb. 12-14 auction. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

The action will begin Friday at 6:30 p.m. at DuMouchelles’ gallery at 409 E. Jefferson Ave. in the heart of the Motor City.

Sports fans will be competing for a 2004 Detroit Pistons NBA Championship ring, which is estimated at $4,000-$5,000. The 10K white gold ring is channel set with 56 round brilliant diamonds totaling approximately 1.03 carats. The inside of the ring is engraved with the name a team associate, not a player. It comes with a presentation box and certificate of authenticity.

An “Official League” baseball autographed by St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame pitcher Dizzy Dean will also be offered Friday evening. Ironically the ball will be sold in Detroit, where Dean tamed the Tigers in the 1934 World Series, winning Games 1 and 7. The ball and autograph are in good condition. It has a $1,000-$1,500 estimate.

Saturday’s session, which begins at 11 a.m. Eastern, will feature a fine neoclassical French figural clock marked “Courvoisier & Comp.” The circa 1840 clock has a marble plinth embellished with bronze ormolu and surmounted by a silver figure of Mercury resting on a rocky formation over a cylindrical clock, holding a gilt-bronze lidded torchere. The clock has no bell or pendulum. It is estimated at $5,000-$7,000.

An American Federal mahogany banjo clock, circa 1810, with colorful eglomaise glass panels and a brass eagle and sphere finial has an $800-$1,500 estimate.

Sunday’s session will get under way at noon with a rare Art Deco mosaic enamel and doré Art Deco bronze clock by Tiffany Furnaces. The model no. 360 clock, 5 inches high by 5 inches wide, is from the early 1920s. Marked “Tiffany and Co.” on the face, the clock has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate.

Painting will include an oil on canvas by Dame Laura Knight (British, 1877-1970) titled Sennen Cove, Cornwall, England. The view of the seaside village is 16 inches by 20 inches and carries a $20,000-$40,000 estimate. It was once in the collection of Monsignor Edward J. Hickey, one of Detroit’s prominent Catholic pastors.

The estate of W.A. Warrick of Plymouth, Mich., includes original book illustrations by Arthur Rackham, Norman Ault, L. Grabham and Carton Moore-Park as well as British paintings by Frederick Thomas Daws and Frank William Warwick Topham. A watercolor and gouache by Rackham (1867-1939) titled Midsummer Night’s Dream, 4 7/8 inches by 3 1/2 inches, in a bronze Art Nouveau frame, has a $2,000-$4,000 estimate.

German-born Edmund Henry Osthaus (1858-1928) immigrated to America in 1883. By 1886 he had become principal of the Toledo Academy of Fine Art. An avid outdoorsman, he was known for his depictions of sporting dogs. His pencil, watercolor and gouache on artist board of one such animal is included in the auction. The 23- by 27-inch work, from a prominent collector in Toledo, Ohio, has a $12,000-$16,000 estimate.

An 18th-century Aubusson floral carpet, 23 feet 2 inches by 14 feet 9 inches, was formerly in the collection of Arthur E. Summerfield, of Flint, Mich. Summerfield was postmaster general during the Eisenhower administration. The room-size carpet having a central gold cartouche design, with floral and leaf motifs in each corner, has a $6,000-$8,000 estimate.

Agathon Léonard’s 17-inch doré bronze and ivory sculpture of a young woman, standing, with a look of contemplation. The face, neck and arms are carved ivory and the rest of the figure is gilt bronze. The base is also bronze and is incised “A. Leonard.” The figure has a $15,000-$20,000 estimate.

For Valentine’s Day, bidders will have their pick of a 3.86-carat emerald-cut diamond and platinum ring among the more than 80 lots of jewelry.

For details call 313-963-6255.

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

Click here to view DuMouchelles’ complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

‘Louis C. Tiffany Furnaces Favrile 360’ is marked on this mosaic enamel and doré Art Deco bronze clock, model no. 360. Produced circa 1920, the clock has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.

‘Louis C. Tiffany Furnaces Favrile 360’ is marked on this mosaic enamel and doré Art Deco bronze clock, model no. 360. Produced circa 1920, the clock has a $4,000-$6,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.


Edmund Henry Osthaus, a gifted artist famous for sporting paintings, did this portrait in pencil, watercolor and gouache laid on artist board. It is 23 inches by 27 inches and has a $12,000-$16,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.

Edmund Henry Osthaus, a gifted artist famous for sporting paintings, did this portrait in pencil, watercolor and gouache laid on artist board. It is 23 inches by 27 inches and has a $12,000-$16,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.


Dame Laura Knight (British, 1877-1970) painted 'Sennen Cove at Cornwall, England' circa 1917. The 16- by 20-inch oil on canvas has a $20,000-$40,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.

Dame Laura Knight (British, 1877-1970) painted ‘Sennen Cove at Cornwall, England’ circa 1917. The 16- by 20-inch oil on canvas has a $20,000-$40,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.


The enamel dial on this neoclassical French figural clock reads ‘Courvoisier & Comp.’ It stands 33 inches tall and has a $5,000-$7,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.

The enamel dial on this neoclassical French figural clock reads ‘Courvoisier & Comp.’ It stands 33 inches tall and has a $5,000-$7,000 estimate. Image courtesy of DuMouchelles.

Lorton Meteorite. Photo by Chip Clark, Smithsonian.

Space rock worth thousands stirs ownership debate

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Lorton Meteorite. Photo by Chip Clark, Smithsonian.

Lorton Meteorite. Photo by Chip Clark, Smithsonian.


WASHINGTON (AP) – An out-of-this world rock has become the center of a down-to-earth dispute over who its rightful owner should be.

The tennis ball-sized meteorite plummeted through the roof of a Virginia medical office just after dusk on Jan. 18, the same time as people reported seeing a fireball in the sky. It plunged through the ceiling of an examination room and landed near the spot where a doctor had been sitting a short while earlier.

“I’m the most likely person to be sitting in that place where it hit,” Dr. Marc Gallini said. “It just wasn’t my time, I guess.”

He and fellow practitioner Dr. Frank Ciampi say their first thought was to give the rare find to the Smithsonian Institution, which offered $5,000 for it. Within days, it was sent to the National Museum of Natural History for safekeeping.

The doctors are worried, though, that their longtime landlords plan to stake their own claim to the space rock. The collectors market for meteorites can be lucrative.

Gallini, who has run his family practice in Virginia, since 1978, said he notified his property owner, Erol Mutlu, of plans to hand the object over to the Smithsonian, which holds the world’s largest museum collection of meteorites. Gallini says he got Mutlu’s permission. Later in the week, though, Mutlu sent the doctors an e-mail warning that his brother and fellow landlord Deniz Mutlu was going to the Smithsonian to retrieve the rock, Gallini said.

He wouldn’t share the e-mail exchange with The Associated Press, but The Washington Post reported that Erol Mutlu wrote that “it’s evident that ownership is tied to the landowner.”

“The U.S. courts have ruled that a meteorite becomes part of the land where it arrives through ‘natural cause’ and hence the property of the landowner,” the e-mail said.

Deniz Mutlu later appeared to back away from the claim, saying the family was making no such demands and the meteorite is safe for now at the Smithsonian. He added, however, that he didn’t know how long it would remain there.

A lawyer representing the landlords would not comment Tuesday.

The doctors hired their own lawyer and demanded the Smithsonian not release the meteorite until the ownership question was resolved. The lawyer plans to ask a court to rule.

“We really want this to end up in the right place,” Gallini said. The doctors plan to donate the money from the Smithsonian to Haiti earthquake relief, he said.

The Smithsonian won’t comment on ownership and said in a statement that it will “retain possession of the ‘Lorton Meteorite’ until a legal owner has been established.”

The Smithsonian collection includes about 15,000 meteorites; of those, 738 were gathered shortly after they fell from the sky. The Lorton meteorite came from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, curators said.

It has a blackened outer surface from burning through the atmosphere, said Tim McCoy, a mineral sciences curator at the Smithsonian. Inside are flecks of metal and thousands of tiny rocks containing “the primitive stuff left over from the birth of the solar system,” he said.

That material allows scientists to look back about 4.6 billion years, McCoy said.

The last meteorite known to strike a building was in New Orleans in 2003, said Linda Welzenbach, the museum’s meteorite collections manager. There were other finds that year in the Chicago area.

Space rocks can fetch thousands of dollars from collectors. Meteorite hunters descended on Washington’s Virginia suburbs to look for other remnants of the Lorton meteorite.

One was Steve Arnold, co-star of the new Science Channel TV show, Meteorite Men. Arnold estimates the Lorton meteorite could bring $25,000 to $50,000 on the open market, unless more pieces turn up. But he said Tuesday that none turned up from his search around the doctors’ office.

Meteorites have been the subject of legal disputes before. In the early 1900s, the Oregon Supreme Court ruled a 15-ton meteorite belonged to the landowner on whose property it likely landed, not the person who found it.

The doctors’ attorney Marvin Miller said Virginia law differs and favors the tenant.

As of Tuesday, the land owners had made no formal demands, but Miller said he would soon ask a court to decide.

“That’s the fairest way to deal with things for everybody’s sake,” he said.

___

On the Net:

National Museum of Natural History: http://www.mnh.si.edu/

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

AP-CS-02-03-10 0817EST

‘The Lesson’ is a rare early 20th-century stained glass window by Tiffany Studios. In its original bronze frame the window is 48 inches high by 20 inches wide. It has a $50,000-$75,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.

Beauty, muscle meet at Great Gatsby’s auction Feb. 6

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‘The Lesson’ is a rare early 20th-century stained glass window by Tiffany Studios. In its original bronze frame the window is 48 inches high by 20 inches wide. It has a $50,000-$75,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.

‘The Lesson’ is a rare early 20th-century stained glass window by Tiffany Studios. In its original bronze frame the window is 48 inches high by 20 inches wide. It has a $50,000-$75,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.

ATLANTA – Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions, purveyor of rare and unusual antiques and art for more than 20 years, has another top-notch lineup for their Feb. 6 auction. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding on everything from a Tiffany Studios stained glass window to 1966 Corvette convertible powered by a 427 big-block engine.

The circa 1900 Tiffany window, titled The Lesson, depicts a teacher with her student. It demonstrates Louis Comfort Tiffany’s talent for creating three-dimensional depth through the use of triple layers of art glass. The window is also an excellent example of work by Tiffany’s master craftsman Frederick Wilson, as shown in the painted faces of both subjects. The window, which measures 48 inches by 20 inches, has a $50,000-$75,000 estimate.

Chevrolet added more muscle to the 1966 Corvette Sting Ray with an optional 427-cubic-inch engine. The convertible model in Great Gatsby’s auction has matching numbers and its original side exhaust pipes. The Corvette has a starting bid of $65,000 and an $80,000-$120,000 estimate.

A 17th-century carved oak English Jacobean grand hall bench reputed to have been a gift from Britain’s greatest poet, John Milton (1608-1674), to his wife, Mary, has a $25,000-$45,000 estimate. It features a scrolling pediment top with relief carved designs flanking a pair of arched panels with carved busts depicting Mercury and Vulcan. The backrest has the carved inscription “A Ryghte Joyouse and Kyndly Welcome Too Ye All” over a relief carved Greek classical battle scene with the inscription “Ye Amazons doing Battel With Ye Greek Warriors”, and below this “Seeke Ye All After Goode and Doo Ye Goode and Bee Ye Kynde Too All.” Also carved in the back is the maker’s date “1648.” On the apron of the bench appears the dedication “John Milton Mary.” The bench is 74 inches high by 82 inches wide by 27 inches deep.

A pair of massive marble Art Deco eagles, after those mounted on the Federal Reserve Building in Chicago, will be sold. Fully carved front and back, the statues stand 84 inches high by 72 inches wide by 45 inches deep. The pair is estimated at $30,000-$40,000.

An exact architectural scale model of Atlanta’s historic Swan House, a 1928 Second Renaissance Revival Style mansion, will be sold. The highly detailed model is 29 inches high by 71 inches wide by 52 inches deep. The roof lifts off to reveal a full interior, complete with winding staircase, fireplace mantels and bathroom fixtures. It has an $8,000-$12,000 estimate. The Atlanta Historical Society acquired the actual Swan House and most of its furnishings in 1966.

The auction will begin Saturday at 2 p.m. Eastern at Great Gatsby’s facility at 5180 Peachtree Industrial Blvd. in Atlanta.

For details call 770-457-1903.

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 Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions’ complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Hartmann Luggage of Milwaukee produced this five-piece set in genuine American crocodile leather as a special order in the mid-20th century. The set is expected to arrive at $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.

Hartmann Luggage of Milwaukee produced this five-piece set in genuine American crocodile leather as a special order in the mid-20th century. The set is expected to arrive at $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.


Reputed to have belonged to English poet John Milton, this 17th-century carved oak Jacobean grand hall bench features the carved inscription ‘A Ryghte Joyouse and Kyndly Welcome Too Ye All.’ The 82-inch-wide bench is estimated at $25,000-$45,000. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.

Reputed to have belonged to English poet John Milton, this 17th-century carved oak Jacobean grand hall bench features the carved inscription ‘A Ryghte Joyouse and Kyndly Welcome Too Ye All.’ The 82-inch-wide bench is estimated at $25,000-$45,000. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.


Dore' bronze winged lions support a pietra dura inlaid marble tabletop measuring 60 inches in diameter. The table has a $25,000-$40,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.

Dore’ bronze winged lions support a pietra dura inlaid marble tabletop measuring 60 inches in diameter. The table has a $25,000-$40,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.


Marquetry inlay adorns this 8 1/2-foot-long pub bar. A wooden canopy connects the mirrored back bar with the marble-top serving counter. It has a $15,000-$25,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.

Marquetry inlay adorns this 8 1/2-foot-long pub bar. A wooden canopy connects the mirrored back bar with the marble-top serving counter. It has a $15,000-$25,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Great Gatsby’s Antiques and Auctions.

Photo by Robert Lememeyer, courtesy Art Gallery of Alberta.

Rebuilt Art Gallery of Alberta an ultra-modern architectural gem

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Photo by Robert Lememeyer, courtesy Art Gallery of Alberta.

Photo by Robert Lememeyer, courtesy Art Gallery of Alberta.

EDMONTON, CANADA – The newly reconstructed Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) in downtown Edmonton opened to the public on Jan. 31, 2010. The 85,000 square foot gallery, designed by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout, features three floors of exhibition space to showcase historical and contemporary Canadian and international art. The opening marked a major milestone in the AGA’s New Vision project and fulfills its goal of creating an art gallery of national significance for the Province of Alberta.

“It is the AGA’s dream that a rebuilt, renewed Art Gallery of Alberta will serve as a cultural centre of excellence for the Alberta community today and beyond, for generations to come,” said Allan Scott, Chair, AGA Board of Directors. “Our new building was planned, designed and constructed by an extremely talented and dedicated project team and the tireless AGA staff. The team deserves a great big thank you from everyone.”

An official ribbon-cutting ceremony followed more than 10 years of planning and three years of construction. The Art Gallery of Alberta’s New Vision building project has been funded by an $88 million capital campaign, with major support from all three levels of government as well as tremendous private sector donations.

The hour-long private opening ceremony was led by the chairman of AGA’s Board of Directors, Allan E. Scott. Also in attendance were Canada’s Minister of Public Works and Government Services, The Honourable Rona Ambrose; Minister of State, Western Economic Diversification, The Honourable Lynne Yelich; Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, The Honourable Norman L. Kwong; Minister of Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, The Honourable Lindsay Blackett; and His Worship Mayor Stephen Mandel from the City of Edmonton, as well as the gallery’s architectural team, Randall Stout Architects Incorporated.

“As we open our doors to our new facility, we embrace a most ambitious agenda. It is an auspicious day for Edmontonians and Albertans as the AGA takes its place amongst great Canadian art museums with enormous enthusiasm and tremendous capacity,” says Gilles Hébert, AGA Executive Director. “We are committed to being leaders in the field and to providing our visitors with exceptional experiences. And this facility is perfectly suited to the bold future we envision.”

Celebrating its prominent location on Sir Winston Churchill Square in the heart of the Arts District in downtown Edmonton, the design of new AGA extends the Gallery into the community, welcoming visitors to experience art first hand. The design takes inspiration from the city of Edmonton’s unique northern environment and urban grid. Angular windows are juxtaposed against a winding 190-meter steel ribbon that references the forms of the North Saskatchewan River and Aurora Borealis. The movement of this continuous stainless steel structure through the gallery’s interior and exterior reinvents the museum’s public spaces, continually connecting visitors with their downtown surroundings.

The building is crafted from three key materials: patinaed zinc, high performance glazing, and stainless steel. These materials reflect Edmonton’s dramatic weather pattern and the extreme contrast of the long days of summer and the short days of winter, allowing the building to transform in response to its natural surroundings.

Randall Stout Architects, Inc. (RSA) was selected from 25 international submissions during the spring of 2005, to redesign the former gallery building originally designed by Edmonton architect Don Bittorf in 1969. The RSA design was chosen by a selection committee and announced on October 15, 2005. The new building has nearly doubled the area of the former gallery and its environmental controls meet the highest museum standards.

The new AGA also includes an expanded education facility, the Singhmar Education Centre for Art Education, as well as upgraded art-handling facilities and celebratory public event spaces. Highlights include a fully outfitted theater; a museum store, Shop AGA; a ‘floating’ room, the Borealis Lounge; a relaxed fine dining establishment, Zinc; as well as the L1 Espresso Bar and 3rd floor Terrace Café. The AGA is directly accessible from Edmonton’s underground light rail transportation system (LRT) entrance.

Inaugural exhibitions feature significant works by artists from Alberta, Canada and beyond, including masters Edgar Degas and Francisco Goya, celebrated Canadian photographers Yousuf Karsh and Edward Burtynsky and internationally renowned Canadian artists Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller. The new AGA also includes The BMO World of Creativity, an interactive children’s gallery that will focus on the theme of architecture for the opening year with the exhibition Play on Architecture! Two outdoor spaces have been added to the Gallery, which will feature sculpture by Alberta artists Ken Macklin and Peter Hide. A wide-range of public programs, including family activities, late night events, lectures, films and more, will animate exhibitions at the new AGA.

About the Art Gallery of Alberta:

Founded in 1924, the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) is the oldest cultural institution in Alberta and the only museum in the province strictly devoted to the exhibition and preservation of art and visual culture. Serving both the city of Edmonton and the province of Alberta, the Gallery maintains a collection of nearly 6,000 objects. The AGA is focused on the development and presentation of original exhibitions of contemporary and historical art; on building national and international curatorial partnerships for the creation of new exhibition projects; and on the development and delivery of a program of touring exhibitions that disseminate contemporary and historical art within Alberta and across Canada.

The AGA is a not-for-profit organization that relies on the generous support of its Members, donors, sponsors and government. The Art Gallery of Alberta is grateful for the generous support of the many public and private donors and sponsors who have made the AGA’s New Vision possible, as well as the ongoing support of the City of Edmonton, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, The Canada Council for the Arts and our Members.

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Prosecutors: Informant in artifacts case is clean

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – The undercover operative in a federal bust of artifact trading collected around $7,500 a month for secretly recording transactions with collectors and sellers across the Southwest for more than two years, new court papers say.

Ted Gardiner, a Utah antiquities dealer, got an initial $10,000 payment before the sting operation began in earnest, then collected regular monthly payments throughout 2007 and 2008, according to FBI disclosures in court files.

Gardiner is still being paid for helping agents prepare for nearly two dozen court cases, and he will receive more money if he testifies, according to papers in one of the cases. Gardiner had received $162,000 in payments plus expenses, for a total of $224,000, when most of the arrests were made in June.

The operative has no felony or misdemeanor convictions or charges pending against him nor immunity, U.S. Attorney David Gaouette in Colorado said in papers filed in the case of Robert B. Knowlton, a former used-car salesman caught up in the dragnet.

Gaouette disclosed a wealth of information on Gardiner, including a copy of his FBI contract. In Utah, lawyers representing 21 of the original 26 defendants have complained that authorities here have yet to give up the information.

Gaouette wrote in court papers that Gardiner had used drugs and abused alcohol in the past, but has nothing worse than minor traffic citations on his record. The FBI and U.S. Bureau of Land Management obtained his cooperation without any inducements other than payments, and without any threats, the U.S. attorney said.

Knowlton, 66, who ran a Web site from Grand Junction, Colo., called Bob’s Flint Shop, was accused of selling three items taken from federal land to Gardiner: a pipe, a Midland knife point and a Hell Gap knife. He has pleaded not guilty, and a trial is set for March 29.

Knowlton recounted for investigators how he got involved in the business _ with a major setback. He made his first serious purchase in 1997 from a Colorado antique dealer.

“I spent probably close to $25,000 and they were all fakes, the whole bunch of them,” he said, according to an interview by Bureau of Land Management agents that was made part of his court record. He then sought an education in artifacts to avoid getting scammed again.

The federal investigation, one of the largest of its kind, peeled open the black market trade in artifacts taken from federal or tribal lands in the Four Corners region. The relics, some believed to be thousands of years old, can sell for thousands of dollars apiece. Federal authorities say they often end up in the homes of wealthy collectors in the Southwest and beyond.

Gardiner, who ran an artifacts business called Gardiner Antiquities, provided federal agents at the outset with all of his business records, access to his Web site and computers and a list of dealers and collectors, according to the court papers released last month. He spent $335,000 buying artifacts for the government, consulting the FBI before on how much to pay for each item.

Gardiner’s largest paychecks ended last summer, but the FBI has continued to pay him “small” amounts for his cooperation, the U.S. attorney in Denver said. When asked about it, the FBI in Salt Lake City refused to confirm Gardiner was still on the payroll.

Knowlton’s is the only case scheduled for a trial. Last week, lawyers in Utah told a federal magistrate that a handful of the defendants were expected to settle charges with plea bargains. Others defendants are fighting charges.

Two of the 26 defendants – one a Santa Fe, N.M., salesman, the other a prominent Blanding, Utah, physician, James Redd – committed suicide after their arrests.

Separately, Redd’s wife and daughter surrendered their own vast collections, pleaded guilty and were sentenced last summer to terms of probation. The rest of the defendants have pleaded not guilty.

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

AP-WS-02-01-10 1646EST

Left to right: Mark Del Vecchio, Wes Cowan, Garth Clark. Image courtesy Cowan's Auctions.

Cowan’s Auctions forms partnership with two top ceramics scholars

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Left to right: Mark Del Vecchio, Wes Cowan, Garth Clark. Image courtesy Cowan's Auctions.

Left to right: Mark Del Vecchio, Wes Cowan, Garth Clark. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions.

CINCINNATI – Wes Cowan, president and principal auctioneer of Cowan’s Auctions, and Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio, both of Clark + Del Vecchio Gallery in Santa Fe, N.M/, have announced a partnership to bring modern and contemporary ceramics to the international art market through focused, selective and scholarly semiannual auctions. LiveAuctioneers.com provides Internet live bidding for all Cowan’s sales.

The planned 20th-century and Contemporary Ceramics auctions will blend Cowan’s stellar reputation as an auction house with Clark and Del Vecchio’s impeccable credentials as writers, critics, historians, curators and consultants to leading museums, as well as 30 year’s experience as top ceramics dealers. The first of the new auctions, scheduled together with a daylong seminar on the ceramics marketplace, will take place sometime in the fall.

“The decision to have this happen outside New York was guided by two factors,” Clark said. “We did not want to live in the shadows of the New York modern and contemporary art sales and we needed a venue with historical connections to ceramic art. In 1876 Cincinnati became the birthplace of modern ceramic art in America. What could be more apropos?”

The auctions will be focused around studio pottery and ceramic sculpture from 1918 to the present, but will not include art pottery.

“We’re very excited about this unique opportunity,” said Cowan. “We’ve all been thinking about an auction venue focusing exclusively on 20th-century studio and other ceramics, which has never been done before. It’s the perfect storm. Cowan’s has the reputation for honesty and integrity that Garth and Mark have been looking for in an auction house, and from my standpoint, I’ve rounded up the foremost scholars on the subject.”

Consignments for the inaugural auction will be accepted through August, with generous terms offered.

*   *   *

About Cowan’s Auctions, Inc.

As one of the nation’s leading auction houses with sales approaching $20 million, Cowan’s has been helping individuals and institutions build important collections for more than a decade. The company’s four divisions of American History, American Indian and Western Art, American and European Fine and Decorative Art, and Historic Firearms & Early Militaria hold semiannual cataloged sales that routinely set records for rare offerings.

Through its extensive mailing list of more than 33,000 collectors, dealers and institutional clients, each Cowan’s auction typically attracts more than 1,000 bidders from across the globe. To learn more about Cowan’s visit our website at www.cowans.com.

About Clark + Del Vecchio

Garth Clark and Mark Del Vecchio founded Garth Clark Gallery in Los Angeles in 1981 and opened a second space in New York in 1983, at 24 West 57th Street. They were soon established as the preeminent international dealers in 20th-century ceramics and have organized eight major international symposia on ceramic history and criticism, published numerous books and catalogs and received a number of prestigious awards, both lifetime achievement and honorary doctorates. In addition Clark was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Art, London, and was the only practicing dealer to receive the College Art Association’s Mather Award for distinguished achievement in art journalism.  They now live in Santa Fe and work as private dealers. They are in the process of organizing two traveling exhibitions, Christine Nofchissey McHorse and Diego Romero. Clark is in the process of finishing two books (his 52nd and 53rd), Lucio Fontana Ceramics and Homage To R. Mutt: Writing on Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain since 1917. To learn more about Clark + Del Vecchio visit www.clarkdel.com.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Left to right: Mark Del Vecchio, Wes Cowan, Garth Clark. Image courtesy Cowan's Auctions.

Left to right: Mark Del Vecchio, Wes Cowan, Garth Clark. Image courtesy Cowan’s Auctions.

This Tiffany pottery vase kicked off Rago’s Early 20th Century Design auction, selling for $50,020. The rare cabbage-shaped vase, which measured 8 1/2 inches by 8 inches, was a flea market find. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.

Rare Tiffany art pottery vase tops Rago’s $3 million auction

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This Tiffany pottery vase kicked off Rago’s Early 20th Century Design auction, selling for $50,020. The rare cabbage-shaped vase, which measured 8 1/2 inches by 8 inches, was a flea market find. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.

This Tiffany pottery vase kicked off Rago’s Early 20th Century Design auction, selling for $50,020. The rare cabbage-shaped vase, which measured 8 1/2 inches by 8 inches, was a flea market find. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.

LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. – A rare Tiffany art pottery vase – discovered at a New York City flea market – sold for $50,020 to open Rago Arts and Auction Center’s 20th Century Design Weekend, Jan. 16-17. The two-day auction totaled $3.28 million inclusive of the buyer’s premium.

The Louis Comfort Tiffany cabbage-shaped vase in mottled polychrome matte glaze more than doubled the high estimate. The circa 1900 vase turned up at the 23rd Street Flea Market in New York City recently, literally falling off a truck into the arms of a dealer, who bought it immediately.

“It is the best example of Tiffany pottery – when both glaze and form are considered – to come to market in three decades,” said Rago. The same form sold five years ago at a Christie’s sale, but the glaze was not as good. A better form, the fern basket, has been in the market, but again the glaze was not at this level, noted Rago.

“Solid property priced conservatively continues to draw attention and generate bidding. The auction wasn’t crazy, as the Modern was in 2007/2008 or settled, as the Early 20th Century market has been. It was active and spirited, and there were few weak spots,” said Rago. “I’m particularly pleased with the performance on Sunday by designers like Parzinger and Adnet and with the glass – a market we’ve worked very hard to build.”

The Early 20th Century sale on Saturday was notable for the Tiffany, the lamps, the furniture and the European pottery, said Rago.

Every piece of Stickley furniture and metalwork sold, totaling $303,700 against a low estimate of $217,850. Included was a Gustav Stickley plant stand with a Grueby tile top that sold for $17,080.

A Rookwood Iris vase by Kataro Shirayamadani sold for $31,720; a Saturday Evening Girls tile with tulips, $14,640; a Moorcroft red flambé vase, $18,300; and an Edward Stellmacher Amphora vase with lizard, $9,760.

A Tiffany Studios table lamp with acorn shade made $28,060, while a Dirk Van Erp hammered copper floor lamp finished at $19,520.

A 1903 Charles Rohlfs carved blanket chest hit $32,940.

Topping the high estimate in Sunday’s Mid-Century Modern auction was a John Lewis blue painted glass bench, which sold for $24,400. The California glass artist’s work can be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Lewis, who explores cast glass as in designs both sculptural and functional, created the case glass bench in 2007. It measured 18 inches by 54 inches by 14 inches.

A signed and dated 1982 Dale Chihuly Macchia glass vessel, 11 3/4 inches by 15 1/4, inches, sold for $12,200. A Dan Dailey and Linda MacNeil bust of etched glass, brass and vitrolite, titled Accoutrements, soared past the $3,000-$4,000 estimate to sell for $30,500.

A 78 1/2-inch-tall Vasa acrylic column sculpture created in 1988 by Velizar Mihich (Yugoslavian) reached $9,150.

Furniture highlights included a pair of Tommi Parzinger lacquered chests and hanging cabinet that sold for $11,590; a 1967 Paul Evans deep relief patinated steel credenza, $34,160; six conoid dining chairs by George Nakashima, $48,800; Nakashima conoid walnut dining table, $31,720; Jacques Adnet pair of stitched leather and brass lounge chairs, $19,520; Poul Kjaerholm, E. Kold Christiansen daybed of brushed steel, $19,520; and a Karl Springer freeform stainless steel coffee table, $17,080.

A carved wooden table lamp by James Mont with a woven shade made $5,490.

For details phone 866-724-6278.

Click here to view Rago Arts and Auction Center’s complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Tommi Parzinger’s pair of lacquered oak chests and a matching hanging cabinet with original milk-glass panels sold for $11,590. The chests measured 31 1/2 inches high by 42 inches wide by 18 inches deep. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.

Tommi Parzinger’s pair of lacquered oak chests and a matching hanging cabinet with original milk-glass panels sold for $11,590. The chests measured 31 1/2 inches high by 42 inches wide by 18 inches deep. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.


John Lewis created this 54-inch-long cast glass bench in 2007. It sold at Rago’s auction for $24,400. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.

John Lewis created this 54-inch-long cast glass bench in 2007. It sold at Rago’s auction for $24,400. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.


Jacques Adnet was another recognized name in Rago’s Mid Century Modern auction. This pair of his brass and leather lounge chairs sold for $19,520. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.

Jacques Adnet was another recognized name in Rago’s Mid Century Modern auction. This pair of his brass and leather lounge chairs sold for $19,520. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.


American furniture maker Charles Rohlfs designed this blanket chest in 1903. It sold for $32,940 in Rago’s Early 20th Century auction Jan. 16. It features three pullout trays over a lower drawer. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.

American furniture maker Charles Rohlfs designed this blanket chest in 1903. It sold for $32,940 in Rago’s Early 20th Century auction Jan. 16. It features three pullout trays over a lower drawer. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center.

LiveAuctioneers' custom-designed app for Google's Android open-source mobile platform is now available.

LiveAuctioneers releases live-bidding app for Google Android platform

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LiveAuctioneers' custom-designed app for Google's Android open-source mobile platform is now available.

LiveAuctioneers’ custom-designed app for Google’s Android open-source mobile platform is now available.

NEW YORK – Smart-phone auction bidding is no longer a function confined exclusively to the iPhone and Blackberry. LiveAuctioneers.com, the Manhattan-based company that provides real-time Internet bidding capability to more than 900 auction houses worldwide, has released a custom-designed live-bidding app for use with Google’s revolutionary Android platform. The app, which is available free of charge, was created by LiveAuctioneers App Technologies to enable users to bid in auctions through mobile devices other than Apple’s iPhone and RIM’s BlackBerry.

“Last year LiveAuctioneers developed apps specifically for use with the iPhone and BlackBerry, but that still left out millions of people who use other brands of mobile phones and hand-held devices. Google’s open-source Android platform has made it possible for our technology to interface with many popular brands of mobile phones,” said LiveAuctioneers CEO Julian R. Ellison.

Billed as “the first free, open-source, fully customizable mobile platform,” Android is available on phones by such makers as Motorola, Samsung, Panasonic and Dell, using major network providers including Sprint, T-Mobile and Vodaphone. Motorola’s “Droid” phone was developed specifically with Android apps in mind and is available through Verizon.

Using the LiveAuctioneers Android app, bidders can view auction catalogs, leave absentee bids or bid in real time in any LiveAuctioneers-supported auction as it is taking place.

“The LiveAuctioneers Android app features virtually all of the same functionality as our iPhone app but has its own distinct look,” said Ellison. “Now if you’re away from your computer and want to bid in a LiveAuctioneers-supported sale, you don’t have to have an iPhone in order to do it. The Android app is a welcome addition to our ever-increasing roster of custom-designed apps.”

To download the free LiveAuctioneers Android app, click on the market logo on the Android platform of any compatible mobile phone or device and run a keyword search for “LiveAuctioneers” or download directly here.

Visit LiveAuctioneers online at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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About LiveAuctioneers.com:

Founded in November 2002, Manhattan-based LiveAuctioneers.com provides real-time Internet bidding capability to 906 auction houses in a dozen countries. LiveAuctioneers.com has opened up once-exclusive sales to the cyber community worldwide through online publication of auction catalogs, and universally accessible Internet live bidding. For further information, log on to www.liveauctioneers.com.

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J. D. SALINGER by Robert Vickrey, tempera on board, 1961, Sight: 43.8 x 29.8cm (17 1/4 x 11 3/4"), Frame: 66.4 x 49.2 x 4.8cm (26 1/8 x 19 3/8 x 1 7/8"), National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time magazine. © Robert Vickrey/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY NPG.78.TC723.

Vickrey portrait of J.D. Salinger on view at Smithsonian

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J. D. SALINGER by Robert Vickrey, tempera on board, 1961, Sight: 43.8 x 29.8cm (17 1/4 x 11 3/4"), Frame: 66.4 x 49.2 x 4.8cm (26 1/8 x 19 3/8 x 1 7/8"), National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time magazine. © Robert Vickrey/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY NPG.78.TC723.

J. D. SALINGER by Robert Vickrey, tempera on board, 1961, Sight: 43.8 x 29.8cm (17 1/4 x 11 3/4"), Frame: 66.4 x 49.2 x 4.8cm (26 1/8 x 19 3/8 x 1 7/8"), National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of Time magazine. © Robert Vickrey/Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY NPG.78.TC723.

WASHINGTON – On Feb. 1, 2010, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery installed a Robert Vickrey portrait of American author J.D. Salinger. The intensely reclusive writer died at his New Hampshire home on Jan. 27 at the age of 91.

The portrait of Salinger is displayed in a first-floor gallery designated for the remembrance of recently deceased individuals represented in artworks held in the museum’s collection.

Salinger had one of the great successes of all time with his 1951 novel of teenage angst, The Catcher in the Rye. In the Smithsonian’s portrait, the author is painted against a metaphorical amber wave of grain. The image appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1961.

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The Second Folio edition of ‘Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, published in 1632, is considered one of the landmarks of English literature. The well-known copy in PBA Galleries’ auction carries a $200,000-$300,000 estimate. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.

PBA Galleries to sell Shakespeare’s greatest hits on Feb. 8

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The Second Folio edition of ‘Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, published in 1632, is considered one of the landmarks of English literature. The well-known copy in PBA Galleries’ auction carries a $200,000-$300,000 estimate. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.

The Second Folio edition of ‘Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, published in 1632, is considered one of the landmarks of English literature. The well-known copy in PBA Galleries’ auction carries a $200,000-$300,000 estimate. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.

SAN FRANCISCO – PBA Galleries will feature an important collected edition of William Shakespeare’s works at its Feb. 8 auction. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding on this and 162 other rare lots in this auction.

Certainly the most widely read, most often published and most influential writer in the annals of English literature is William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon. His 36 plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Though a number of his plays were published during his lifetime – he died in 1616 at age 52 – it was not until 1623 that a collected edition of his plays was published, known as the First Folio.

Nine years later, another edition was called for, and in 1632 there was published the Second Folio of Mr. William Shakespeare’s Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies. It was essentially a page-for-page reprint of the First Folio, but with a very significant addition, John Milton’s “An Epitaph on the admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare.” It was the first appearance in print of any work of Milton’s. There were to be two more folio editions of Shakespeare’s Works published during the 17th century – the third folio of 1664 and the fourth folio of 1685.

The Second Folio to be offered by PBA Galleries is described as a “tall,” well-margined copy was rebound in full morocco in the middle of the 19th century by the firm of J. Leighton for the owner, Robert Curzon, 14th Baron Zouche, a noted traveler, scholar and collector. There is some restoration to the title page and final leaf, but overall a very choice copy, in eminently collectible condition. PBA Galleries estimates this monumental work will sell for between $200,000 and $300,000.

Another valuable work in the auction by a celebrated English author is Marlborough: His Life and Times by Winston S. Churchill. The four volumes are number 94 of 155 sets, which were sold by subscription and published by George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd. from 1933-1938. Churchill signed the set on the limitations leaf in Volume 1. The rare set has a $12,000-$15,000 estimate.

David Low (1786-1859), a professor of agriculture at the University of Edinburgh, was interested in the agricultural education of the common man as well as the landed gentry. Low’s Domestic Animals of the British Islands intended to educate anyone interested agriculture, from the common man to the landed. The two-volume set published in 1842 contained 56 hand-colored lithographed plates of farm animals. Complete copies are rare in the trade, often being disassembled for the plates. Bound in 19th-century green half morocco and marbled boards, the set has a $12,000-$15,000 estimate.

Two rare and important works about China will be available at the auction. One is a 15-volume complete set that forms an introduction to Chinese life in the 18th-century. The work of Jesuit missionaries, the set represents an important survey of Eastern life, philosophy and language. Having descended in the family of American naval officer Oliver Hazard Perry, the work is estimated at $15,000-$20,000.

The second work in the sale devoted to China, Jean-Baptiste Du Halde’s important Description of China … , was published in London in 1738-41 and features 64 copper-engraved maps, plans and plates, most of which fold. The two volumes also examine the geography and history of Korea and Tibet. The estimate is $8,000-$12,000.

The auction will begin at 1 p.m. Pacific at PBA Galleries, 133 Kearny St. – fourth floor.

For details call 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.

Click here to view PBA Galleries’ complete catalog.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

‘Low's Domestic Animals of the British Islands’ contains 56 hand-colored plates. Pictured is the Old English Black Horse, a breed that is now extinct. The two-volume set published in 1842 has a $12,000-$18,000 estimate. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.

‘Low’s Domestic Animals of the British Islands’ contains 56 hand-colored plates. Pictured is the Old English Black Horse, a breed that is now extinct. The two-volume set published in 1842 has a $12,000-$18,000 estimate. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.


Winston Churchill signed his limited edition – 155 copies – of ‘Marlborough: His Life and Times.’ This set in original orange morocco lacks the cardboard slipcases, and slight wear is noted at the spine ends. The estimate is $12,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.

Winston Churchill signed his limited edition – 155 copies – of ‘Marlborough: His Life and Times.’ This set in original orange morocco lacks the cardboard slipcases, and slight wear is noted at the spine ends. The estimate is $12,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.


Several Jesuit missionaries contributed to this an exhaustive work that introduced Chinese life to the Western World. Published in Paris in 1776-1791, the complete set of 15 volumes has an estimate of $15,000-$20,000. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.

Several Jesuit missionaries contributed to this an exhaustive work that introduced Chinese life to the Western World. Published in Paris in 1776-1791, the complete set of 15 volumes has an estimate of $15,000-$20,000. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.


Confucius, the most celebrated philosopher of China, is the subject of this plate in Jean-Baptiste Du Halde’s ‘Description of China and Chinese Tartary.’ The two volumes were published in London 1738-1741. The estimate is $8,000-$12,000. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.

Confucius, the most celebrated philosopher of China, is the subject of this plate in Jean-Baptiste Du Halde’s ‘Description of China and Chinese Tartary.’ The two volumes were published in London 1738-1741. The estimate is $8,000-$12,000. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.