May 17, 2010 - Auction Central News

London Eye: May 2010

An extremely rare Bow porcelain duck tureen and cover, circa 1755-58, to be shown by specialist ceramics dealer Robyn Robb at the Art Antiques London fair in Kensington Gardens. Image courtesy Robyn Robb and Art Antiques London.

As an unpronounceable volcano in Iceland continues to belch clouds of ash across European airspace, interrupting flight schedules from Reykjavik to Rome, it is not only holiday makers who are looking with trepidation toward an uncertain summer. This June, London is hosting a string of new and established high-end art and antiques fairs whose organizers will be hoping to attract a significant influx of buyers from Europe, North America and beyond. Clear blue skies would help those aspirations.

Intrepid dealers and collectors who manage to fight their way through the dust clouds will find plenty of good reasons to stay in London for the month of June, the most significant being the venerable London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia, June 4-13, the new Art Antiques London fair at Kensington Gardens, June 9-16, and the new Masterpiece fair at the former Chelsea Barracks, June 24-29.

The June jamboree kicks off with the London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia, the focal point this year being Modern British Masters — a loan exhibition of 15 rarely seen paintings from the collection of rock star and former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry. Ferry was an art student before he began warbling for Roxy Music so one expects to see a collection reflecting a cultured eye. The exhibition includes works by Sir William Orpen and Augustus John, confirming Ferry’s preference for the early 20th-century British avant-garde.

This year’s Olympia fair will also be notable for being the first event under the directorship of new owners David and Lee Ann Lester, who are seeking to breathe fresh energy into what had by broad consensus become a rather tired and uninspiring event, now in its 37th year. Some 150 dealers have signed up for the fair so it will be fascinating to see whether the new brooms will bring in better business. Volcanoes aside, there is also a recession to wrestle with.

Mid-June, meanwhile, sees the launch of the new Art Antiques London fair, organized by seasoned fairs impresarios Brian and Anna Haughton and set to take place in a custom-built marquee opposite the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington. This is an interesting site for a number of reasons, not least of which is its proximity to the original site of the Great Exhibition of 1851 — the locus classicus of all fairs. More importantly, if it is successful, Art Antiques London could help set a new template for the South Kensington precinct, which is currently being transformed into what promises to be a new pedestrian-friendly, museum-rich cultural quarter.

The new fair also incorporates the International Ceramics Fair and Seminar. Given its location a few minutes stroll from the Victoria & Albert Museum’s new ceramics galleries, this could turn Art Antiques London into a must for ceramics lovers. Specialist ceramics dealers such as Robyn Robb and Paul Reeves will be among the many dealers unveiling prize pieces for the inaugural fair and doubtless hoping the crowds will materialize too.

A panel of encaustic tiles by Robert Minton Taylor, designed by Edward Welby Pugin for Stanbrook Abbey, Worcestershire, circa 1870, which will be on show with specialist ceramics dealer Paul Reeves at Art Antiques London. Image courtesy Paul Reves and Art Antiques London.

Phase 2 of the V&A’s Ceramics Galleries — the Study Galleries — will open to the public on June 10, coinciding with the fair. Fairgoers holding an Art Antiques London ticket will have a unique opportunity to see the new Ceramics Study Galleries at a special preopening viewing as part of the Members’ Preview Day on June 9, 10 a.m-5:45 p.m.

The Masterpiece event is arguably the most interesting of the three big June fairs. It has been organised by four London dealers — Harry Apter of London furniture dealers Apter Frederick, Simon Phillips of Ronald Phillips, Robert Procop of Asprey, and Thomas Woodham-Smith of Mallett — who have put their heads together to try and fill the vacuum created by the demise of the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair.

Their new event seeks to break the rather staid mold of traditional fairs by embracing luxury goods such as fine wines and classic cars as well as the usual art and antiques. For example, a highlight of this inaugural event will be a 1932 Bugatti from classic car specialists Fiskens and Coys, which will be for sale at an eye-watering £3 million ($4.35 million). Elsewhere the spread of objects on offer is broadly typical of the sort of thing one sees at the TEFAF fair in Maastricht every March, with many of the same exhibitors. It will be fascinating to see whether the fair’s organizers succeed in establishing a unique ambience that will set Masterpiece apart from its competitors. London Eye will be there to report on their efforts.

One other interesting June fair is the Russian, Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair at London’s Park Lane Hotel, June 10-12. Given that some 400,000 Russians are currently domicile in London, one expects this to be reasonably well attended, particularly since the volcanic ash has not yet had an adverse effect on taxi travel.

Max Rutherston, who is responsible for the Japanese activities of leading London-based Asian art dealer Sydney L. Moss, writes to tell us of his optimism about this year’s Park Lane event. A fluent Russian speaker, Rutherston has conducted a significant amount of business in the Russian-speaking world in recent months, specifically in the Ukraine, where he says there is particular interest in Japanese art, especially netsuke, swords and sword fittings. Given Sydney L. Moss’s established reputation in the field of netsuke, Rutherston is expecting lively business on the firm’s stand, where prices will range from £200 to £20,000 ($290 to $29,000).

London-based Asian art specialist Sydney L. Moss will be showing this 18th-century ivory netsuke of an ox and its calf signed by Tomotada, Kyoto, circa 1760-80, 2 3/8 inches long, at the Russian, Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair. Image courtesy Sydney L. Moss.

An 18th-century ivory netsuke of a shishi and cub, signed Tomotada, Kyoto, circa 1760-80, 2 inches long, will be on the stand of London dealer Sydney L. Moss at the Russian, Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair. Image courtesy Sydney L. Moss.

One notable exception upwards of that price bracket is the superb 18th-century ivory netsuke of a boar by Masanao of Kyoto, which Rutherston has priced at £80,000 (around $115,400).

This exquisite Japanese ivory netsuke of a boar by Masanao of Kyoto, circa 1750-1780, will be on the stand of Sydney L. Moss at the Russian, Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair at London's Park Lane Hotel, where it is priced at £80,000 (around $115,400). Image courtesy Sydney L. Moss. — This exquisite Japanese ivory netsuke of a boar by Masanao of Kyoto, circa 1750-1780, will be on the stand of Sydney L. Moss at the Russian, Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair at London’s Park Lane Hotel, where it is priced at £80,000 (around $115,400). Image courtesy Sydney L. Moss.

Twenty years ago, a cloud of volcanic ash might have done a lot more damage to the art and antiques trade than it is doing today. Now, of course, we have the Internet. But let’s not forget the trusty old telephones, which remain a stalwart part of saleroom technology, as was demonstrated recently at the Salisbury salerooms of Woolley & Wallis. Their early May silver and jewellery sale was notable for two items in particular.

The first of these was an elaborate George IV silver-gilt presentation vase and stand, made by the celebrated silversmith Philip Rundell for Sir Henry Russell in honor of his work with the Indian army. Despite having lost its cover, this beat beat an estimate of £30,000-£40,000 when a telephone bidder offered £95,000 ($137,200).

This George IV silver-gilt presentation vase and stand by Philip Rundell fetched a hammer price of £95,000 ($137,200) at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury, despite having lost its cover. Image courtesy Woolley & Wallis.

The second item was a superb Lalique diamond and plique à jour enamel pansy collar pendant (Fig. 7), the fifth important piece of Lalique jewelry offered by Woolley & Wallis in recent seasons. At first, the Salisbury firm were concerned that their jewelry expert Jonathan Edwards might not make it to the sale, having been stranded in the Far East due to the volcanic ash cloud. Happily, however, he managed to make it back just in time to see the pendant sell for a hammer price of £40,000 ($57,750), demonstrating that solid prices can generate healthy business for provincial firms as other sellers step forward.

A fine Lalique diamond and plique à jour enamel pansy collar pendant that brought a hammer price of £40,000 ($57,750) at Woolley & Wallis's Salisbury salerooms in May. Image courtesy Woolley & Wallis. — A fine Lalique diamond and plique à jour enamel pansy collar pendant that brought a hammer price of £40,000 ($57,750) at Woolley & Wallis’s Salisbury salerooms in May. Image courtesy Woolley & Wallis.

Staying on the silver theme, the Sir John Soane Museum is joining forces in June with specialist silver dealers Koopman Rare Art to stage The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840, an exhibition that will include loans from the Royal Collection, the National Trust, Lloyds of London and other museums and private collections.

This George III silver cup and cover, London 1770-71, from the Akzo Nobel Collection at the Courtauld Institute of Art, will be among the objects on view at 'The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840' at Koopman Rare Art in London, June 3-25. Image courtesy the Courtauld Institute of Art and Koopman Rare Art. — This George III silver cup and cover, London 1770-71, from the Akzo Nobel Collection at the Courtauld Institute of Art, will be among the objects on view at ‘The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840’ at Koopman Rare Art in London, June 3-25. Image courtesy the Courtauld Institute of Art and Koopman Rare Art.

A three-light candelabrum, 1774-75, by John Carter, designed by Robert Adam, loaned by Lloyd’s of London to the exhibition 'The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840' at Koopman Rare Art in London from June 3-25. Image courtesy Lloyds of London and Koopman Rare Art. — A three-light candelabrum, 1774-75, by John Carter, designed by Robert Adam, loaned by Lloyd’s of London to the exhibition ‘The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840’ at Koopman Rare Art in London from June 3-25. Image courtesy Lloyds of London and Koopman Rare Art.

This superb soup tureen, from a silver-gilt dinner service commissioned from the Royal Goldsmith Thomas Heming in 1789-90, probably to commemorate George III’s recovery from illness, has been loaned by the Royal Collection to the exhibition 'The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840' at Koopman Rare Art in London, June 3-25. Image courtesy the Royal Collection and Koopman Rare Art. — This superb soup tureen, from a silver-gilt dinner service commissioned from the Royal Goldsmith Thomas Heming in 1789-90, probably to commemorate George III’s recovery from illness, has been loaned by the Royal Collection to the exhibition ‘The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840’ at Koopman Rare Art in London, June 3-25. Image courtesy the Royal Collection and Koopman Rare Art.

The main exhibition takes place at Koopman’s premises at 53-64 Chancery Lane, London, June 3-25, and there will also be a publication to coincide with the exhibition written by curator Christopher Hartop, as well as a conference on neo-classical metalwork on June 19 at the Royal College of Surgeons in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.

The Sir John Soane Museum is, of course, the ideal museum to partner with Koopman on this project, being the spiritual home of 18th-century neoclassical taste in London. Not only is the museum a shrine to Soane’s antiquarian interests and one of London’s most intriguing and deeply atmospheric museums, it is also the repository of a world-class collection of 9,000 drawings from the office of the great neoclassical architects and designers Robert and James Adam, some of which will be loaned to the exhibition.

Finally, some good news for lovers of Baroque painting. A fine work by the great 17th-century Baroque artist Domenichino entitled Saint John the Evangelist, dating from the 1620s, has been saved for the nation. The painting had been sold to an oversea buyer for just over £9 million ($13 million) at an auction in December, but the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest placed an export licence deferral on the painting, owing to its outstanding aesthetic importance. Happily, a new collector came forward to acquire the painting and thereby keep it in the UK. It will be on display in the National Gallery’s Baroque rooms for 18 months.

Considered one of the greatest works by the Italian Baroque master Domenichino (1581–1641), this painting of St. John the Evangelist has been saved for the nation and will go on public display at the National Gallery, having been acquired by an anonymous private collector.

National Gallery Curator Dawson Carr said, “It is undoubtedly the best work by the artist remaining in private hands and its export would have been lamentable for the representation of Italian Baroque painting in this country.”

Gallery Report: May 2010

A Judy Kensley McKie bronze jaguar bench sold for $73,200 at a sale of Early 20th Century Design and Modern held April 24-25 by Rago Arts & Auction Center in Lambertville, N.J. Also, a Franco Campo and Carlo Graffi Millepiedi table soared to $67,100; an Arthur Hennessey Marblehead panther bowl made $61,000; a Wharton Esherick cherry sheet music stand realized $48,800; a Phil Powell sculpted walnut credenza breezed to $45,140; and a T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbons Widdicomb Mesa coffee table hit $42,700. Prices include a 22 percent buyer’s premium.

Europe’s largest Basquiat retrospective on through Sept. 5

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1984 acrylic and mixed media on canvas. Low-resolution image appears in compliance with fair-use guidelines to provide visual context to commentary on the artist's work and may not be reproduced without permission of the copyright holder.

GENEVA (AP) — A Swiss museum will present what it says is the broadest retrospective ever seen in Europe of the work of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

The ambitious show hosted by the Beyeler Foundation features over 100 paintings, drawings and objects by Basquiat, with many borrowed from private collections, the foundation said Friday.

Basquiat’s career started in the New York underground graffiti and music scene before he became one of the most prominent American artists of the 1980s, praised for his strong use of color and the social commentary in his work.

He died of a drug overdose aged 27 in 1988.

The exhibition at the museum in Riehen near Basel marks the 50th anniversary of his birth.

Brooklyn-born Basquiat had no formal training and started his career scrawling graffiti on SoHo buildings and train wagons with a friend, Al Diaz. The two signed their work Samo, followed by a copyright symbol.

Basquiat was a close friend of Andy Warhol’s and the two collaborated on a series of works in 1985 that featured cartoon characters and corporate logos.

Basquiat also worked together with artists Keith Haring and Francesco Clemente. He appeared in public with pop star Madonna in the early 1980s and with Debbie Harry of the group Blondie.

His paintings, featuring angular figures, symbols and words, are included in the collections of the New York Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Basquiat created around 1,000 paintings and over 2,000 drawings in the space of eight years. His work had a heavy influence on the art scene in the 1990s.

The exhibition, set up with the support of Basquiat’s estate, will open on Sunday and run through Sept. 5.

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SMU museum checking paintings identified as Nazi loot

DALLAS (AP) – Southern Methodist University’s Meadow’s Museum has learned that three of its well-known paintings were among the millions of artworks Nazis Germany stole from Jewish families more than 65 years ago.

The founder of the Dallas-based Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art discovered the paintings’ connection to World War II plunder while doing research for two books.

Robert Edsel said he came across a black and white photo shot in Germany in 1945 that showed a painting he thought looked “eerily like one” he had seen at SMU’s museum. It was the Saint Justa, half of a famous pair of paintings by the Spanish artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo. Edsel later spotted its companion piece, “Saint Rufina,” in another photo.

“They’re not just treasures of civilization, but they’re representative of families who lost their lives and had everything stolen from them,” Edsel said.

Edsel estimated that the Murillo paintings were valued at least between $10 million to $15 million for the rare pair, after discussions with various auction houses.

“These are two of the finest works of art by this artist, one of Spain’s most important painters ever,” he told The Associated Press on Friday.

Beyond confirming that the paintings were valued in the millions, the Meadows Museum declined to state their exact dollar amount or purchase price, citing insurance and security reasons.

Each of paintings bore a now faded number on the back of their wooden stretchers. The Nazis used number codes to inventory stolen art, Edsel said. The R1171 on the Santa Justa meant that it came from the French Rothschild collection and was the 1,171st item from that collection inventoried by the Nazis, according to a story Friday on Dallas television station WFAA’s Web site.

The Nazis stole more than 6,000 items from the French Rothschild estate, Edsel said.

SMU’s Meadows Museum has had the Murillo masterpieces for 38 years. The museum bought the paintings at a New York gallery in 1972 and didn’t know of the link, said Nicole Atzbach, the museum’s assistant curator.

The museum is working with consultants in London and Paris to trace the art works’ chain of custody and verify ownership. Documents show that the paintings were initially returned to the French government, but the experts are trying to determine whether France gave the paintings back to the Rothschild family before the Meadows Museum acquired them.

Edsel told The Associated Press Friday that that document is “a missing link to title ownership.”

Even so, he and the university said they believe the museum’s ownership of the works will be validated. The museum has shown the artworks internationally and published them in catalogs without anyone else claiming to own them.

“Given that these paintings are so widely known, their loan history … and the fact that the Rothschilds were closely tied to the art world I don’t see how they would not” have spoken out to claim them if they had not already gone through proper channels, Atzbach said.

After Edsel contacted SMU, the museum checked every painting in its collection and discovered that another painting it had, Portrait of Queen Mariana by Diego Velazquez, was also taken from the Rothschild estate and bore a Nazi inventory number.

But a receipt proved that it had been returned to the family before it was sold.

Edsel said all museums should follow SMU’s lead and check their collections for the telltale inventory numbers that could help restore more art to its rightful owners.

Edsel started his foundation in 2007 to honor and continue the work of the more than 300 men and women from 13 nations who helped Allied forces protect cultural treasures during World War II. After the war, they began trying to find the rightful owners of pieces of art looted by the Nazis, hundreds of thousands of which are still missing.

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Information from: WFAA-TV, http://www.wfaa.com

AP-WS-05-14-10 1833EDT

Even a volcanic eruption couldn’t derail Bertoia’s Kaufman III sessions

Bertoia Auctions’ owner, Jeanne Bertoia, with a Tippco Mickey and Minnie Motorcycle toy that realized $65,550 in the opening session of the April 16-17 sale; and Jeanne’s son, Michael Bertoia, with a Unique Art Howdy Doody lithographed-tin store display – perhaps the only known example – which sold for $17,250. Bertoia Auctions image.

VINELAND, N.J. – Auctioneers have learned to cope with a myriad of meteorological challenges year round, from bone-chilling blizzards to terrifying tornados, but the last thing Jeanne Bertoia and her team expected to deal with over the weekend of April 16-17 was a volcanic eruption.

A cloud of ash drifting from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland, which had erupted twice in less than a month, enshrouded much of Europe in the 48 hours prior to Bertoia’s sale of the Donald Kaufman collection, part III. The volcanic ash forced the cancellation of many flights and disrupted air traffic across northern Europe, stranding thousands of passengers. Among them were toy collectors with plans to attend the 3,700-lot sale at Bertoia’s Vineland, N.J., gallery.

“Most of the Euros made it out just before the cancellations, although [noted author and toy historian] David Pressland was one of the travelers stranded in London,” said Jeanne Bertoia. “Fortunately, we were able to move quickly to accommodate anyone who requested a last-minute phone line. Many others bid live via the Internet [through LiveAuctioneers.com], so no one was left out.” The auction went on to gross $2.38 million; all prices quoted in this report include 15% buyer’s premium.

This was the first Kaufman auction to feature comic character toys, a category that has been somewhat soft in recent years. Buyers reacted to the introduction of fresh, top-quality comic character toys from a long-held collection with unbridled enthusiasm. Europeans bidding remotely on German examples from the collection gave new impetus to the comic toys, especially those made by Distler, Gunthermann, Eberl and Tippco, the latter being the company that produced a circa-1932 Mickey and Minnie Mouse motorcycle that sold for $65,550. “That’s almost as much as the one that sold with a box!” a voice in the audience piped up after the hammer fell on the lot.

A collector favorite, a circa-1932 Distler Mickey Mouse organ grinder with a miniature Minnie that “dances” atop the barrel organ was presented with its original, profusely illustrated box. Estimated at $10,000-$12,000, it easily scampered to $19,550 and into the hands of a bidder in the room.

Early automotive toys continued the winning streak evident in previous Kaufman sales. A rare circa-1920 clockwork fire pumper made by Germany’s premier toymaker, Marklin, sped past its estimate to settle at $48,587.50; while a boxed 1896 Faivre (French) rendition of a Panhard Levassor, nearly doubled its high estimate at $26,450. An exceptional example of a four-seat tourer, a Bing tinplate double phaeton, 13 inches long with composition chauffeur, rolled serenely to $25,300.

A circa-1900, 12-inch French tourer with robin’s-egg-blue racer-style body, two bisque-head figures and original box fetched $27,600; but the top lot of the early European tin category was another Marklin production – a circa-1903 hand-painted four-seat tourer with white body and mango-colored, faux-tufted seats. Against a high estimate of $35,000, it earned its bragging rights at $55,200.

A circa-1924 American National Packard coupe pedal car with wicker-style door panels and a fancy eagle hood ornament was the subject of considerable interest at the preview. It ended up selling over the phone for $43,700. A 1920s American National pedal fire truck with full rack of original ladders garnered an above-estimate price of $32,200.

Choice examples of figural biscuit tins from the Kaufman collection included a very rare Gray Dunn blue motorcycle with red sidecar. Against an estimate of $8,000-$10,000, it soared to $18,400.

There is no underestimating the role this auction series has played in reigniting camaraderie within the international toy community. In the cafe adjacent to the main gallery, collectors engaged in animated conversations over sandwiches and soft drinks. Ray Cassatta, a former concert promoter from Chicago who now manufactures replacement headlights for toy autos, commented: “It’s a good hobby to be in. I love that you can make new friends at auctions like this one. It beats babysitting rock stars.”

Sally Kaufman, wife of the late Donald Kaufman (co-founder of K-B Toys, who passed away on Oct. 12, 2009), attended the sale together with members of her family, and graciously chatted with bidders. After the auction, she was guest of honor at the fete Bertoia’s hosted to pay tribute to Donald Kaufman. “There was a hospitality bar, wonderful food, and a special video about Don, plus everyone had a chance to share toy-collecting memories of him. We wanted it to be a celebration of Don’s life, and everyone must have thoroughly enjoyed it, because it ran quite late,” said Jeanne Bertoia.

“Sally was delighted to see a 14-year-old toy collector bidding from the front row,” Jeanne continued. The boy’s father had taken him to the first Kaufman sessions in spring 2009, purely as an observer. There he was able to speak personally with Don Kaufman, which inspired him to return as a buyer. “It was bittersweet that he had written a letter to Don, which he was going to present to him at this sale. He didn’t realize that Don had died. He did have his picture taken with Sally and even bought a lot containing two Hubley toys. He was the youngest collector at the sale, and Sally was intrigued by him,” Jeanne said with a smile.

After the auction, Jeanne turned her attention to helping the Europeans who had attended the event but now found themselves unable to secure a return flight home. Among them were Swiss airline pilots Markus and Uta Staub; and a trio of friends who had attended all three Kaufman sales: Paul Lang and Peter Stierli, both from Switzerland; and their German friend Georg Kaul.

“They didn’t care where in Europe they got a flight to because they knew they could get a rental car or train home from just about anywhere on the Continent,” Jeanne said. “I invited them all to my house to use my computer, my speakerphone and anything else they needed to try to book a flight and extend their car rentals.’

“We also kept them entertained by taking them out to dinner and an antique show in Philadelphia,” Jeanne continued. “On Monday we had an impromptu birthday celebration for Georg, who had missed his own party that was supposed to take place in Germany.”

Fortunately, everyone was eventually able to secure a flight home. Lang, Stierli and Kaul were able to book seats on a plane out of JFK a few days after the auction. No doubt they had plenty to tell their families and fellow collectors in the days that followed.

“We had estimated the sale would do $2 million, which it well exceeded, and even though it wasn’t a $4 million sale like the Kaufman debut, line by line and item by item, it was the best sale we’ve ever had,” Bertoia Auctions associate Rich Bertoia summarized. “Sometimes in an auction there are high and low fluctuations from one lot to the next. This was a very smooth, steady sale with interest in every single item. The auctioneers didn’t have to work to get the opening bids they wanted. One very advanced cast iron collector came up to me and said, ‘Can I leave some bids for you to execute?’ I said to him, ‘Why would you want to leave now?’ and he replied, ‘I can’t buy a thing.’”

On the other hand, Rich said there were several absentee bidders who left what they felt were very competitive bids, but who also asked him to reserve a phone line for them, “just in case.” In the end, Rich said, it was the in-house bidders who claimed the majority of the auction’s contents. “After the sale, the showcases were bare,” he remarked.

As statistics go, the auction earned its place in the record books. Combined with the gross figures from Kaufman I and II, the April 2010 sessions pushed the cumulative total for the Kaufman series so far to $9.3 million – easily the highest amount ever achieved at auction by a single-owner antique toy collection. And there’s still more to come.

Bertoia Auctions will present the fourth sessions featuring the Donald Kaufman collection on Sept. 24-25, 2010. As with all Bertoia sales, LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding throughout. To contact Bertoia’s, call 856-692-1881 or email toys@bertoiaauctions.com. Visit them online at www.bertoiaauctions.com.

Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

French museum-quality 1896 Panhard Levassor clockwork tinplate open auto, $26,450. Bertoia Auctions image.

Bing (German) double phaeton four-seat tourer, 13 inches with composition chauffeur, $25,300. Bertoia Auctions image.

Members of the late Donald Kaufman’s extended family attended the auction and subsequent celebration of Mr. Kaufman’s life hosted by Bertoia’s. Shown left to right are: Deborah Kaufman Mager, Sally Kaufman, Sadie Mager and Mary Ellen Simon. Photo copyright Catherine Saunders-Watson.

Boxed circa-1932 Distler (German) tinplate wind-up toy of Mickey Mouse Organ Grinder with dancing miniature Minnie, $19,550. Bertoia Auctions image.

Rare circa-1903 Marklin (German) tinplate four-seat tourer, 13 inches, clockwork, known to have been one of Donald Kaufman most highly prized acquisitions, $55,200. Bertoia Auctions image.

Bertoia family members and staff skillfully managed the heavy influx of phone and Internet bidding. Many remote bidders were Europeans who had their hearts set on repatriating rare antique German toys, for which the Kaufman collection was so well known. Photo copyright Catherine Saunders-Watson.

Extraordinary circa-1920 Marklin (German) clockwork fire pumper with vertical boiler, 11½ inches, $48,587.50. Bertoia Auctions image.

Circa-1924 American National Packard coupe pedal car with wicker-style door panels and eagle hood ornament, $43,700. Bertoia Auctions image.

Gray Dunn (England) biscuit tin replicating a motorcycle with sidecar, 10 inches, $18,400. Bertoia Auctions image.

LiveAuctioneers' CEO, Julian R. Ellison, previews toys prior to the auction. Photo copyright Catherine Saunders-Watson. — LiveAuctioneers’ CEO, Julian R. Ellison, previews toys prior to the auction. Photo copyright Catherine Saunders-Watson.

Ship model museum finds safe harbor on Illinois prairie

Charles Lozar opened the National Museum of Ship Models and Sea History in 2002. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

SADORUS, Ill. (AP) – If you must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, and all you ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by … well, you’ll usually be out of luck in landlocked central Illinois.

Unless, that is, you book passage for the small burg of Sadorus, adrift in an ocean of corn and beans about 12 miles east-northeast of Bement as the seagull flies. Here, riding at anchor in a 132-year-old former store on Market Street, is the National Museum of Ship Models and Sea History, believe it or not.

How a museum of ship models and sea history winds up marooned 1,000 miles from the nearest ocean usually is question one for the occasional visitors as they come aboard and are greeted by their captain and museum owner, Charles Lozar.

“Actually, it’s kind of ironic, as we went to California, thinking we would do a ship model museum somewhere along the coast,” Lozar said. “We were in San Francisco, and there was a huge model museum there, and in the bookstore they had a book called Maritime Museums of North America. I flipped through it and found California actually had 39 maritime museums, so they probably didn’t need another one.”

An architect with a doctorate in urban planning who once taught at the University of Illinois, Lozar is familiar with navigating the Central Illinois landscape and knows a good harbor when he sees one. Back living in this area, he spotted the derelict circa 1878 store for sale in quiet Sadorus and, as he was looking for a place to moor his growing fleet of model ships and could easily handle the remodeling, thought why not?

“I needed a place with 14-foot ceilings because of the masts on the ships, and this building was also very, very cheap,” Lozar said. “I told the city of Sadorus we would have this place open in three months after we finished the interior, but it opened three years later, in 2002.”

Accomplishing anything good always takes time, however, and the jaw-dropping collection docked into every available bit of the 9,000-square-foot museum’s two floors is the result of 50 years of trolling the globe for treasures. Some of the most amazing stuff was bought while he was a student at the University of California at Berkley and got access to the studio back lots and the unwanted models that had had starred in movies from Hollywood’s glory years.

Sail the cramped byways of the museum, and you will discover the 11-foot-long Roman barge model used in the 1963 movie Cleopatra, starring Richard Burton as Marc Antony and, of course, Elizabeth Taylor in the title role. “If you rent the movie, the model is in the first scenes off the harbor of Alexandria,” said Lozar, who reveals a complex gear system inside the wooden vessel.

“They put the barge on railroad tracks under the water and, as it goes along, a gear rotates on an eccentric path and moves oars attached to hangers so the oars make a circular motion like people rowing,” he explained.

Anchored nearby is a ship model that was burned in a dramatic battle scene from the 1959 movie Ben Hur, starring Charlton Heston. Over there is a little tanker ship used in the 1970 Pearl Harbor movie Tora! Tora! Tora!, over here a spectacular, almost 12-foot-long Titanic used in promotional material from the 1997 Titanic blockbuster, the model ship precisely accurate, even down to the little lifeboats. “They could have used a few more on the real thing,” Lozar commented dryly.

We move on to a submarine model from the 1990 Hunt for Red October, a model of the British flagship HMS Victory from a 1938 movie about Admiral Nelson’s extramarital maneuvering with Lady Hamilton, and a Tugboat Annie Sails Again prop from an early movie starring Ronald Reagan. Tinseltown treasures are everywhere you look.

“With Universal Studios, for example, I had negotiated to buy the models they didn’t want anymore,” said Lozar, recalling happy days of plain sailing when the Hollywood execs hadn’t woken up to the fact these things were valuable bits of celluloid history.

“Five years later, they called me up and said, ‘We want them back,’ and I said, ‘No way,’” Lozar added.

The movie models are only a small part of the museum’s 300-strong fleet, however, which comes in all shapes and sizes. There’s a an 11-foot-long, 3-foot-tall model of a captured German World War II submarine built as a workshop exercise by sailors at the Navy’s Great Lakes Naval Training Station. And don’t miss the 100-year-old, 9-foot-long wooden scale model of a Dutch galleon, with a fine network of precise rigging that is a complex joy to the eye in all its meticulous detail.

Some models are tiny, such as the 7-inch-long re-creation of the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, which has a sailor working on its decks who would stand barely knee-high to an ant. Other models are truly vast: How about a 27-foot-long scale replica of the ocean liner Queen Mary, made entirely of toothpicks? Lozar explained that the Chicago man who built it used a million toothpicks and had to construct it in three 9-foot sections.

“He built it in the living room of his sixth-floor apartment,” he added. “And he had to make sure he could get the sections out of the room. But he did such a nice job.”

Lozar’s patient wife, Ginger, has known her husband since he was 15, and even though he grew up on the west side of Chicago, she said the sea runs in his blood like a fever.

She said they sold all their furniture when moving from California to Central Illinois so there would be room to ship the models that were destined to find a home in the museum, which, by the way, is now listed in Maritime Museums of North America.

She said her husband loves history, too, and digested much of it while studying architecture. “And history is very much tied to boats and how people got around and discovered the world,” she added. “Charles has always felt a real close affinity to the sea; I don’t know that he wonders if he isn’t a reincarnated ship’s captain.”

The museum’s collection is divided into historical sections, ranging from the time of ancient Egypt through today. Ship models are supplemented by all kinds of related artifacts and antiques, some treasures dating to the 15th century. It’s a spectacular flotilla that Lozar hopes will let you hear the wind in the rigging and feel the swell of the ocean as visitors rediscover the courage of they who go down to the sea in ships.

“Capturing the wind in sails and knowing everything had to work right because your life depended on it,” he said, gazing at a model of a sailing ship in full sail. “It’s a fascinating endeavor.”

___

Information from: Herald & Review, http://www.herald-review.com

AP-CS-05-15-10 0101EDT

Kovels – Antiques & Collecting: Week of May 17, 2010

Ornate Victorian designs worked well for wicker furniture. This labeled well-preserved Heywood-Wakefield rocking chair sold recently at Neal Auction Co. in New Orleans for $7,552.

Wicker furniture has been made since the days of ancient Egypt. The cradle for the first American baby born to the Pilgrims was made of wicker. But the glory days of wicker furniture in America started on the docks of Boston in 1844. Cyrus Wakefield, a grocer, noticed volunteers taking away the rattan used to tie the ship’s cargo. He thought it would be a good material for furniture, so he experimented with the rattan and found it worked for chair parts and seats. He started importing rattan and selling it to others. The business grew and Wakefield began importing cane, the strips of bark from the rattan palm tree stalks and rattan. Wakefield continued to experiment and made furniture with bentwood and rattan fancywork. He worked with a machine that split the bark and used it for chairs, tables and other furniture. He was the country’s leading maker of wicker furniture by the 1870s.

Cyrus Heywood, a 19th-century chair-maker, began using wicker, too. He owned a loom that wove cane into sheets to make set-in seats. The two companies were rivals until they merged in 1897. The popularity of ornate Victorian styles and Japanese designs helped increase sales of wicker furniture. But tastes changed in about 1900. The straight lines of Arts and Crafts furniture, the introduction of forced-air home heating, which dried out wicker, and new furniture styles created by Austrian designers changed the way manufacturers used wicker. By the 1930s, wicker furniture was scorned and Heywood-Wakefield was making light-colored wooden furniture in new simple modern designs. Wicker did not regain its popularity until the 1990s.

Q: I have a blue-and-white cup and saucer I received as a wedding gift. The pieces each have a stamped mark on the bottom with “R & M Co.” inside a diamond. They are decorated with pictures of musicians and composers. Haydn, Gounod, Wagner and Meyerbeer are on the cup, and Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, Handel, Chopin and Mendelssohn are on the saucer. Can you tell me when the cup and saucer were made and how much they’re worth?

A: Souvenir plates and cups were very popular from the 1890s until World War I and picture famous people or show scenes of famous places or historical events. They are often marked with the maker’s name, the importer’s name or both. Your cup and saucer were originally sold by Rowland & Marsellus, a New York City importing company in business from about 1893 to 1937. Rowland & Marsellus imported plates, cups, saucers, vases and other items from different potteries in the Staffordshire district of England, but the items were marked only with the Rowland & Marsellus mark. Your cup and saucer are worth about $100.

Q: When was the first Frisbee made? I collect plastic Frisbees with advertising or other decorations.

A: The metal pie tins used by the Frisbie Pie Co. of Bridgeport, Conn., were the inspiration for the toy we know today. It is said that bakery workers took breaks and went outside and played catch with the tins. Soon some college students also played with the tins. But perhaps the real beginning of the Frisbie came in the mid 1940s. Walter Morrison and Warren Franscioni started Pipco in Los Angeles and made disks of plastic they called Flyin’ Saucers. They began demonstrating the toy on beaches and started selling it, but money problems closed the company. In 1953 Morrison formed his own company and sold a similar toy named the Pluto Platter Flying Saucer. The Wham-O company made a deal with him and began to sell the toy. College kids called them Frisbees, and eventually the name stuck. The plastic disc sold by Wham-O changed its name to Frisbee in 1956. Since then, millions of Frisbees have been sold and Walter Morrison became rich. He died in February at the age of 90.

Q: I found several old stock and bond certificates in my attic and wonder if they are still worth anything. The stock certificate is for 20 shares of Polish American Navigation Corp., issued in 1920. There are two $50 bonds that were issued by the National City Bank of New York for the Republic of Poland in 1920 and due in 1940. Are these still worth something, or are they valuable just as collectibles?

A: The Polish American Navigation Corp. operated cargo and passenger ships between New York and Danzig (now Gdanz), Poland, between 1919 and 1921. The company closed in January 1922. The National City Bank of New York is now part of Citigroup. Your stock and bonds probably have minimal value as collectibles since they are not ornately decorated, elaborately engraved or signed by a famous person. There are companies that specialize in researching old stocks and bonds; they charge a fee. They also may be interested in buying the stocks and bonds. You can do the research yourself, if you’re ambitious. Try your library. Look in the Directory of Obsolete Securities (Financial Information Inc.) or Capital Changes Daily (Commerce Clearing House). You also can contact the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at SEC Headquarters, 100 F St. NE, Washington, DC 20549 or online at www.sec.gov/answers/oldcer.htm. Even if the certificates cannot be redeemed, they may have value as decorative art.

Tip: Don’t dry your china and crystal with a cloth that has been laundered with fabric softener. The softener may leave a film.

Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or e-mail addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

Need more information about collectibles? Find it at Kovels.com, our Web site for collectors. Check prices there, too. More than 700,000 are listed, and viewing them is free. You can also sign up to read our weekly Kovels Komments. It includes the latest news, tips and questions and is delivered by e-mail, free, if you register. Kovels.com offers extra collector’s information and lists of publications, clubs, appraisers, auction houses, people who sell parts or repair antiques and much more. You can subscribe to Kovels on Antiques and Collectibles, our monthly newsletter filled with prices, facts and color photos. Kovels.com adds to the information in our newspaper column and helps you find useful sources needed by collectors.

CURRENT PRICES

Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.

The Karo Cook Book, soft cover, spiral bound, Karo Syrup recipes, 125 pages, 1981, $13.
Kewpie tobacco felt, Rose O’Neill Kewpie riding a fish, wearing red flag bow, turquoise background, sky, clouds and waves, 1914, 6 x 4 3/4 inches, $30.
Disney Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck alarm clock, see-through movement, Mickey and Donald ring yellow bell for alarm, Bradley, $125.
Walt Disney School Bus lunchbox and Thermos, metal with dome top, Disney characters, 1968, 8 x 9 inches, $140.
Sasha Schoolgirl doll, blond hair, dressed in school uniform, cotton blouse, gymslip with sash, long socks, 1970s, 17 inches, $300.
Quilt, flower baskets, blue-and-brown cotton, pink tinted ground, 1920s, 82 x 70 inches, $330.
Meissen porcelain platter, square, hand-painted floral spray, gilt trim, open handles, shell corners, marked, 1920s, 15 3/4 inches, $400.
Soapine washing powder hanging sign, die-cut, image of company’s black whale trademark, two men washing whale with long-handled mops, 19 x 6 inches, $440.
Tin squirrel cage, house form, dome roof, sliding door on side, rotating wheel, wooden base, soldered joints, mid-19th century, 16 x 31 x 10 1/2 inches, $480.
Biedermeier-style sleigh bed, maple, ebonized accents, scrolled head and foot boards, ebonized rondels, block plinth feet, 1950s, 47 x 96 x 81 inches, $1,015.

Give yourself or a friend a gift. Kovels’ Advertising Collectibles Price List has more than 10,000 current prices of your favorite advertising collectibles, from boxes and bins to trays and tins. More than 400 categories are organized by brand name, company name, product or collectible. Plus 300 photographs, logos and trademarks. A 16-page color insert features important advertising collectibles. Clubs, publications, resources and a full index. Available at your bookstore; online at Kovels.com; by phone at 800-571-1555; or send $16.95 plus $4.95 postage to Kovels, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.

Reyne Gauge: Consumer Trends for 2010

Photo credit - Matt Burkholz, Route 66 Antiques

I love reading reports on the economy (this is a tongue-in-cheek statement by the way). One says we’re on the road to recovery, another claims we’re too quick when thinking it’s over. They constantly contradict themselves and I never seem to know if I should pull my wallet out, or put it away for another couple of months. Who am I kidding? It’s not like I could put the wallet away for long!

When speaking to dealers I find most claim business is good. I find that to be a true sign of the state of the economy. We sell luxury goods; things people don’t necessarily need, yet want. When buyers start spending freely at the auctions, shows and shops, I feel stronger about the end being near.

The other day I watched a report on Trendhunter.tv that I believe lends to my theory. They listed the Top 20 Consumer Trends for 2010. It amazed me how many of these trends involved collecting. I’m not going to list them all, just the ones that I saw relevant:

1. Peacocking came in at the no. 18 slot. I had never heard the word before so of course I went to Dictionary.com – low and behold it was a word but really had nothing to do with their description. Alas, I like the concept. According to them, “peacocking” is the use of bright colors that make a statement against the dark and dreary recession. The use of color in art, clothing and accessories. Art is a given and I’m all about promoting the sales of art of all styles. Clothing and accessories – I’m foreseeing strong sales of vintage couture, costume jewelry, Bakelite bracelets and oh, what about a great bright red Hermes bag?!

2. Rental Culture came in at no. 17 – Apparently renting clothing and fine art during the recession has fueled this movement. I think in the first “Sex and the City” movie we saw the discussion of renting designer handbags. Check out Bag, Borrow or Steal (www.bagborroworsteal.com). You can also rent/rent to own designer jewelry by going to Bling Yourself (www.blingyourself.com) or you can choose to buy gently used (secondhand) at Portero (www.portero.com).

3. Nostalgia Marketing was no. 12 on the list. “Trends in photo shoots for commercials and other advertising seeking refuge from your past – nostalgic” – promotion of vintage toys, T-shirts with iconic images of things we remember from our childhood.

Photo credit - Reyne Haines — Photo credit – Reyne Haines

4. Greenpliances was no. 6 – Antiques have always been green. Vintage kitchen gadgets, canisters, mixers, refrigerator boxes etc., are making a comeback without the help of Martha Stewart this time!

Photo credit - JustGlass.com — Photo credit – JustGlass.com

5. Finally, the no. 1 consumer trend for 2010 “Next Besting” (another interesting term) which means showcasing vintage couture and furnishings instead of newer expensive items. I think they have it backwards though; I’d say vintage couture is the best, and then if you can’t afford the vintage, you can buy a next best thing, which is a newer expensive (yet worthless) reproduction.

At the end of the day, all I know is that I’m glad to see the vintage world so highly sought after by consumers.

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