May 2010 - Page 2 of 14 - Auction Central News

Rookwood ready to pick up pottery auctions’ torch June 5-6

Rare and important, this 14 3/8-inch Overbeck vase is carved with the profiles of three women walking amid stylized flowers. The work of sisters Elizabeth and Mary Frances Overbeck, the vase is estimated at $12,000-$17,000. Image courtesy of the Auctions at Rookwood.

CINCINNATI – The Auctions at Rookwood will present art pottery and art glass treasures with Keramics 2010 on Saturday, June 5, and Rookwood XX on Sunday, June 6. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding for both auctions, which begin at 10 a.m. Eastern both days.

This marks the first time the annual sales will be sponsored by and conducted at Rookwood Pottery Co. at its facility near downtown Cincinnati. Last November Rookwood Pottery assumed the art pottery auctions conducted for many years by Cincinnati Art Galleries.

“It’s very good sale and we’ve tried to be conservative with the pricing. We hope customers appreciate that and come spend some money,” said Riley Hummler, director of auctions at Rookwood Pottery.

As in past Cincinnati auctions, the first day will be devoted to art pottery other than Rookwood. In recent years art glass has been added to the mix.

An outstanding Overbeck pottery vase carved with the profiles of three women walking amid stylized flowers will come up early in Saturday’s auction. Done by Elizabeth and Mary Francis Overbeck, the 14 3/8-inch vase bears the incised Overbeck logo along with the artists’ incised initials. In excellent original condition, except for light crazing, the vase has a $12,000-$15,000 estimate.

A rare Weller vase, based on a painting by Childe Hassam, pictures a nude female bather on a rocky seaside cliff done in Hudson Perfecto or Silvertone colors. The 11-inch vase bears an impressed Weller mark in block letters. It carries a $6,000-$8,000 estimate.

“The figure and background are three dimensional and may be cast but we have never seen another example. We do not know if Weller made more of these but this is the sole example that we have encountered,” states the auction catalog.

An impressive Daum Nancy cameo glass lamp, the shade and base exhibiting frilly cockscomb flower heads, the blooms supported by woody stems lined with foliage, will also be sold Saturday. The shade measures 12 3/4 inches in diameter and displays the Daum Nancy signature with the Cross of Lorraine. The wrought iron arms are each tipped with a single ginkgo leaf. The lamp is 20 inches high and has a $15,000-$20,000 estimate.

A fine paperweight vase created by Mark Peiser in 1979 is an example of the contemporary glass at the auction. Fashioned from Wisteria blue glass, the vase features a tropical theme showing two palm trees on the front and a solitary palm tree on the obverse. The trees tower over a speckled sandy shore graced by tiny white and yellow flowers peeking through tall grasses. Within the bottom of the vase, a pool of cobalt blue imitates a pool of water. The early signed Peiser vase carries a $10,000-$15,000 estimate.

Headlining Rookwood XX is a rare Iris glaze vase with Art Nouveau tulip decoration done by Kataro Shirayamadani in 1900. Its yellow flowers, done in heavy slip, are nicely contrasted against the milky white ground. Marks include the Rookwood logo and flames indicating 1900 along with special shape number S 1656. There are also remnants of the red acquisition numbers used by the Cincinnati Art Museum for pieces on loan from Rookwood. “Rookwood thought enough of this vase to lend it to the CAM and it is also possible that it may have made its way to Paris for the 1900 Expo,” notes the auction catalog. In excellent original condition with a bit of crazing, the 13 1/8-inch vase is expected to sell for $9,000-$12,000.

Large white poppies adorn an 8 1/2-inch Iris glaze vase decorated by noted Rookwood artist Carl Schmidt in 1904. This vase has a $3,000-$4,000 estimate.

The sale will take place at Rookwood Pottery, 1920 Race Street, in the historic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood near downtown Cincinnati.

Hummler said he expects to encounter some logistical and emotional hurdles in staging the auctions at a whole new venue, but with the customers’ patience believes the sale will go smoothly.

More than 500 lots are included in the Keramics 2010 auction Saturday. The Rookwood XX sale on Sunday has approximately 400 lots.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Kataro Shirayamadani decorated this rare Iris glaze vase with Art Nouveau tulips early in his career at Rookwood. The 13 1/8-inch vase is dated 1900 and is estimated at $9,000-$12,000. Image courtesy of the Auctions at Rookwood.

Rookwood’s Carl Schmidt decorated this 8 1/2-inch vase with large, flamboyant white poppies. The Iris Glaze vase is dated 1904 and has a $3,000-$4.000 estimate. Image courtesy of the Auctions at Rookwood.

Standing 20 inches high, this impressive cameo glass lamp is signed Daum Nancy with the Cross or Lorraine. It has a $15,000-$20,000 estimate. Image courtesy of the Auctions at Rookwood.

The scene on this rare Weller 11-inch vase is based on a painting by American Impressionist artist Childe Hassam that pictures a nude female bather on a seaside cliff. Marked ‘Weller’ in block letters, the vase, has a $6,000-$8,000 estimate. Image courtesy of the Auctions at Rookwood.

Mark Peiser created the decoration for this 1979 paperweight vase using Wisteria blue glass. The 9 1/2-high signed vase has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of the Auctions at Rookwood.

Vase-like sculpture planned for Huron River

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) – A porous, vase-like sculpture of bronze rods is planned for the Huron River in the University of Michigan’s Nichols Arboretum.

Artist William Dennisuk’s sculpture is scheduled to be installed next week on the river in Ann Arbor. He says it draws attention to “our relationship with water, and by extension, the larger environment.”

Dennisuk spent eight months tailoring the project to meet city and state environmental standards.

The sculpture is part of Dennisuk’s three-phase Vessel Project. In late April, the first phase was installed outside the College of Engineering on North Campus. A second is being installed Wednesday afternoon in Gallup Park.

The sculptures will be on display through October.

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Online:

University of Michigan: http://www.umich.edu

AP-CS-05-25-10 2140EDT

Divers explore sunken ruins of Cleopatra’s palace

Head of Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (69 B.C.-30 B.C.) , last pharaoh of Egypt, from the Altes Museum Collection, Berlin. Photo by Louis le Grand, Wikimedia Commons.

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) – Plunging into the waters off Alexandria Tuesday, divers explored the submerged ruins of a palace and temple complex from which Cleopatra ruled, swimming over heaps of limestone blocks hammered into the sea by earthquakes and tsunamis more than 1,600 years ago.

The international team is painstakingly excavating one of the richest underwater archaeological sites in the world and retrieving stunning artifacts from the last dynasty to rule over ancient Egypt before the Roman Empire annexed it in 30 B.C.

Using advanced technology, the team is surveying ancient Alexandria’s Royal Quarters, encased deep below the harbor sediment, and confirming the accuracy of descriptions of the city left by Greek geographers and historians more than 2,000 years ago.

Since the early 1990s, the topographical surveys have allowed the team, led by French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio, to conquer the harbor’s extremely poor visibility and excavate below the seabed. They are discovering everything from coins and everyday objects to colossal granite statues of Egypt’s rulers and sunken temples dedicated to their gods.

“It’s a unique site in the world,” said Goddio, who has spent two decades searching for shipwrecks and lost cities below the seas.

The finds from along the Egyptian coast will go on display at Philadelphia’s Franklin Institute from June 5 to Jan. 2 in an exhibition titled “Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt.” The exhibition will tour several other North American cities.

Many archaeological sites have been destroyed by man, with statues cut or smashed to pieces. Alexandria’s Royal Quarters _ ports, a cape and islands full of temples, palaces and military outposts _ simply slid into the sea after cataclysmic earthquakes in the fourth and eighth centuries. Goddio’s team found it in 1996. Many of its treasures are completely intact, wrapped in sediment protecting them from the saltwater.

“It’s as it was when it sank,” said Ashraf Abdel-Raouf of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, who is part of the team.

Tuesday’s dive explored the sprawling palace and temple complex where Cleopatra, the last of Egypt’s Greek-speaking Ptolemaic rulers, seduced the Roman general Mark Antony before they committed suicide upon their defeat by Octavian, the future Roman Emperor Augustus.

Dives have taken Goddio and his team to some of the key scenes in the dramatic lives of the couple, including the Timonium, commissioned by Antony after his defeat as a place where he could retreat from the world, though he killed himself before it was completed.

They also found a colossal stone head believed to be of Caesarion, son of Cleopatra and previous lover Julius Caesar, and two sphinxes, one of them probably representing Cleopatra’s father, Ptolemy XII.

Divers photographed a section of the seabed cleared of sediment with a powerful suction device. Their flashlights glowing in the green murk, the divers photographed ruins from a temple to Isis near Cleopatra’s palace on the submerged island of Antirhodos.

Among the massive limestone blocks toppled in the fourth century was a huge quartzite block with an engraving of a pharaoh. An inscription indicates it depicts Seti I, father of Ramses II.

“We’ve found many pharaonic objects that were brought from Heliopolis, in what is now Cairo,” said Abdel-Raouf. “So, the Ptolemaic rulers re-used pharonic objects to construct their buildings.”

On the boat’s deck, researchers displayed some small recent finds: imported ceramics and local copies, a statuette of a pharaoh, bronze ritual vessels, amulets barely bigger than a fingernail, and small lead vessels tossed by the poor into the water or buried in the ground as devotions to gods.

Alexandria’s Eastern Harbor was abandoned after another earthquake, in the eighth century, and was left untouched as an open bay _ apart from two 20th century breakwaters _ while modern port construction went ahead in the Western Harbor. That has left the ancient Portus Magnus undisturbed below.

“We have this as an open field for archaeology,” Goddio said.

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Online:

The Franck Goddio Society: http://www.franckgoddio.org

The Franklin Institute: http://www.fi.edu

AP-CS-05-25-10 1301EDT

World records set in Skinner’s $3.9M Fine Paintings auction

Childe Hassam, At the Grand Prix, $699,000. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.

BOSTON – Skinner Inc. today announced exceptional results from its American & European Paintings & Prints auction, held last Friday, May 21. Several world records were set, with the sale grossing $3,982,398, including buyer’s premium (18.5% to $200,000; 10% above that amount).

The auction’s top lot was At the Grand Prix by Childe Hassam. One of only approximately eight pastels created by Hassam between 1887 and 1889 while in Paris, it had been in the same private collection for several decades. Estimated at $150,000 to $200,000, it sold for $699,000. This price marks the second-highest price for a pastel paid at auction.

Irving Ramsey Wiles’ A Walk Along the Harbor Shore, which descended through a New England family collection, also did exceptionally well. Estimated at $50,000 to $75,000, it sold for $490,000, setting a world record.

Another hit out of the park came from Yves Tanguy’s Un peu après (A Little Later). The 1940 work had been hidden since the 1970s when it was last shown and came to Skinner from the estate of Mary Lee Ingbar of Cambridge, Mass., who acquired it from her parents. Estimated at $300,000 to $500,000, it sold for $688,000.

According to Robin Starr, director of Fine Paintings at Skinner, “The success of last week’s sale was based on the fact that we had fantastic works of extremely high quality that were very fresh to the market. The Wiles, Tanguy and Hassam works had literally all been hidden away for decades. The quality of the material is reflective of our continued commitment to bring best-of-class material to auction,” Starr continued. “Independent of what’s going on in the market, this sale is evidence that great material will bring extraordinary prices.”

Two William Alexander works presented the biggest upsets, with one selling at nearly 100 times its estimate. A View of Part of the Great Wall of China, Called by the Natives Van-lee-ching, or Wall of Ten Thousand Lee, Taken Near the Pass of ‘Cou-Pe-Koo’ plate XXIV was estimated at $1,000 to $1,500, but sold for $100,725. Chinese Barges of the Embassy Preparing to Pass Under a Bridge plate XL from Sir George Staunton’s An Authentic Account of An Embassy from the King of Great, also estimated at $1,000 to $1,500, sold for $82,950. A world record and the second-highest record were set respectively with the sale of these paintings.

Skinner galleries are located in Boston and Marlborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit www.skinnerinc.com.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

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Irving Ramsey Wiles, A Walk Along the Harbor Shore, $490,000. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.

Yves Tanguy, Un peu après, $688,000. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.

Furniture Specific: Sifting through Piles of Leaves

This is the famous "Jupe’s pattern table" seen at M. S. Rau Antiques in New Orleans.

The solution to extending the eating surface of a dining table beginning in the 16th century was the addition of extra surface space in the form of leaves. These ingenious extra parts could either be withdrawn from under the table top or attached to the main surface and could be raised or lowered – the famous “drop leaf.” Everything after that was pretty much based around how to support the drop leaf when it needed to be raised.

While the solutions were clever, including the butterfly support, the gate leg and the swing leg, the fact remained that the extension leaf itself was still a part of the table. Although suspended in some fashion, hanging off an edge or side, it was still attached to the table. That made a seemingly small table, when the leaves were not extended, extremely heavy for the useable surface area. Why not just solve that problem by removing the leaf from the table until it was actually needed?

NYC celebrity art dealer pleads guilty to $120M swindle

NEW YORK (AP and ACNI) – A Manhattan art dealer who catered to celebrities and artists’ heirs has admitted bilking about $120 million from clients through bogus art investment opportunities and sales of pieces he didn’t own.

Lawrence B. Salander has pleaded guilty in New York’s State Supreme Court to 28 counts of grand larceny and scheming to defraud in a case that swept up tennis star John McEnroe and the estate of actor Robert De Niro’s artist father as victims.

The 60-year-old Salander has been promised a prison term topping out at a range of six to 18 years. Salander must also pay his victims restitution to the tune of $120 million.

The former art gallery owner admitted swindling McEnroe out of about $2 million after the retired athlete invested in Arshile Gorky’s Pirate I and Pirate II paintings. The Associated Press reported in March that Salander had sold McEnroe a half-interest in one of the Gorky paintings, but in a twist of fate, McEnroe later learned the painting was displayed on someone else’s wall.

In another example of Salander’s illegal business dealings, several artworks by Robert De Niro’s late father, the abstract expressionist painter Robert De Niro Sr., were sold by executives at the now-defunct Salander O’Reilly Galleries without the film star’s permission. The mother of Beastie Boys star Mike D also reportedly fell victim to the scam, costing her $6 million.

Salander, who was arrested last March and again in July, has been free on $1 million bail. Bloomberg.com reported today that Assistant District Attorney Micki Shulman requested a change in bail conditions, relevant to “‘reports’ of Salander’s alcohol abuse and the postponement of the plea from earlier in the month ‘because of his physical condition.’” Salander’s defense lawyer told the court that his client had been hospitalized following a stroke.

In March, Salander admitted in court that he sold investors shares in artworks that amounted to more than 100 percent, inflated the prices backers paid to buy in, and lied about having lucrative deals lined up to resell the pieces.

Meanwhile, he said he kept sale proceeds he should have given to artists’ families and others who entrusted him with pieces to sell. Sometimes he used their artworks to satisfy his own debts in a life prosecutors have said was rife with such perks as private jet travel and a 66-acre country estate.

“Lawrence Salander’s desire for an extravagant lifestyle turned longtime friends and trusted business colleagues into his personal piggy banks,” Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement following Salander’s March court appearance.

Meanwhile, the process of dismantling Salander-O’Reilly Galleries LLC continues to play out in bankruptcy court. Some consigned artworks have been returned to their owners, while creditors have hashed out a plan to sell off thousands of other pieces the gallery held, said Robert J. Feinstein, a lawyer for the creditors.

The gallery, established in 1976, advertised works by artists ranging from Gorky to 19th-century master Gustave Courbet.

The criminal investigation began in October 2007 after allegations arose that the gallery was stealing its wealthy clients’ art and money. Soon afterward, a judge halted sales and ordered the gallery’s contents seized.

Click to read Auction Central News’ previous coverage of this case:

Former New York art dealer admits to nearly $100M fraud

NYC art gallery owner charged in $88 million theft

NYC art gallery owner indicted again

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600 museums offer military families free summer admission

The Museum of Modern Art, New York City, is one of the more than 600 museums offering free admission to military families this summer. 2005 photo by hibino, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License. Courtesy Wikipedia.

WASHINGTON (AP) – More than 600 museums nationwide are offering free admission to military families all summer in a new partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

The list includes some of the nation’s premier art museums, including New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Art Institute of Chicago, as well as science centers, children’s museums and other sites in all 50 states.

The program, called Blue Star Museums, is being announced Monday in San Diego, where 14 museums will participate. The offer for active duty military personnel and their families runs from Memorial Day through Labor Day.

It was the brainchild of Kathy Roth-Douquet, chairwoman of the group Blue Star Families. Her husband, Marine Corps Col. Greg Douquet, is on his third deployment to Afghanistan.

“You can feel a little alone in America right now, being part of the 1 percent that’s involved in fighting these wars,” she said, adding that the recession has changed priorities for many people. “When the kids and I go to museums this summer, we know we’re being welcomed. It will make us feel less alone.”

Roth-Douquet, who lives in Parris Island, S.C., said military bases are sometimes far from cultural centers, though museums can be a good escape.

The Defense Department is helping to promote the offer, and Roth-Douquet said some military bases may coordinate bus trips.

When her family was based in London for a time, she and her son and daughter spent an entire summer visiting museums because many were free. As a result, she said, her 8-year-old son Charlie now draws for hours each day.

This summer, they’re planning a road trip along the East Coast to visit museums. Normally, a $20 ticket to MoMA in New York might rule it out, she said. Now they could also stop for free at Washington’s Corcoran Gallery of Art or New York’s Jewish Museum.

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman said he was surprised by how many museums joined the effort, despite the poor economy, from the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum to the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Nebraska.

“I think it is good karma for the museums,” he said. “Long-term, it promotes museum-going and engagement with the arts.”

Also, over Memorial Day weekend in New York City, Sen. Kristen Gillibrand has announced more than 50 museums and historic sites will offer free admission to military personnel and veterans.

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Online:

National Endowment for the Arts: http://www.arts.gov/bluestarmuseums

AP-WS-05-23-10 1700EDT

Thousands of pieces of slave pottery found in S.C.

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – An archaeological dig has uncovered thousands of pieces of slave pottery and other artifacts at an industrial site on the South Carolina coast.

The Post and Courier of Charleston reports that archeologists digging at the Berkeley County site found 58,000 pieces of colonoware, a handmade pottery crafted by slaves. Officials say it is one of the largest concentrations ever found in the country.

Other artifacts include bone buttons, silver coins, pipe stems and porcelain doll heads.

In all, 125,000 artifacts were found at the site that used to be part of Dean Hall Plantation. The plant site is located where there once were 19 slave cabins.

Other items found during the dig included stoneware bowls, glass bottles, pipe stems and gold coins.

Archaeologist Ralph Bailey said the finds show that families lived on the site for 150 years.

The artifacts were found as part of a dig on land owned by DuPont where the company plans to build a Kevlar fibers plant. The work was part of a routine archaeological survey of the site before construction.

“We went into it not expecting this,” said Ellis McGaughy, the plant site manager. “We rearranged some work to allow archaeologists to do their work. When you hear archaeologists get excited, everybody else gets excited too.”

Some of the artifacts go on display next month at the Heritage Room at Cypress Gardens, a park near the site.

DuPont spent about $250,000 on the dig. Berkeley County, which owns Cypress Gardens, spent an additional $100,000 renovating what was a reptile house at the park to create the Heritage Room.

Only a small fraction of the items found during the dig will be able to be displayed, said Dwight Williams, the director of Cypress Gardens. He said the display will help tell the story of the gardens which were also part of the plantation.

The Kevlar plant begins operation in 2012.

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Information from: The Post and Courier, http://www.postandcourier.com

AP-ES-05-25-10 0957EDT

Langston anticipates memorable holiday auction May 31

This Queen Anne period American tiger maple highboy in original finish came from a Virginia estate. Dating to the mid-18th century, the highboy has a $6,500-$10,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Bobby Langston Antiques.

WILSON, N.C. – Veteran antique dealer Bobby Langston knows he has outstanding merchandise for his annual Memorial Day Auction. Now that everything is cataloged and ready to sell, he hopes for a strong response from bidders for the Monday, May 31 auction, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. Eastern.

“We have two or three estates with fantastic stuff,” said Langston. “I hope we have a lot of bidders come here or bid online.”

LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

Langston will sell a large selection of 18th- and 19th-century English, American and French antiques from estates in Goldsboro and Greensboro, N.C., in addition to items from several private collections.

The signature piece of furniture is a Queen Anne period American tiger maple highboy in original finish, which comes from a Virginia estate. Dating to the mid-18th century, the highboy has a $6,500-$10,000 estimate. “It has the original dark finish,” said Langston.

A Queen Anne period American tiger maple and bird’s-eye maple tea table, circa 1750-1760, in as-found condition in a Virginia estate, has a $1,200-$1,750 estimate.

English furniture includes a petite18th-century mahogany broken-arch top secretary, which stands 87 inches tall, 30 inches wide and 22 1/2 inches deep. The top door doubles as a mirror. It carries a $3,000-$5,000 estimate

An American continuous-arm Windsor armchair with a saddle seat has a $600-$900 estimate.

A set of 12 mahogany antique Hepplewhite shield-back chairs has a $3,500-$5,000 estimate.

Eight American banister-back chairs with woven seats from the early 1700s have an estimate of $1,400-$2,000. “You just don’t see them anymore,” said Langston.

A tall case clock in mahogany and with a moon phase dial by Walter H. Durfee, Providence, R.I., is estimated at $15,000-$18,000. Its mahogany cast stands 8 feet 5 inches tall. Another clock that will get a lot of attention is an early 1800s weight-driven banjo clock in the style of Willard. “It’s not signed, but it’s a fantastic clock of that age,” said Langston.

Ceramics in the auction include Staffordshire, Imari, majolica and Delft.

Paintings include a large 19th-century portrait of an English noblewoman. The oil painting, which measures 60 inches by 44 inches, has a $1,500-$2,500 estimate.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Bird’s-eye maple and tiger maple went into the making of this as-found Queen Anne period American tea table, which dates to circa 1750-60. It carries a $1,200-$1,750 estimate. Image courtesy of Bobby Langston Antiques.

Though unsigned, this early 1800s weight-driven banjo clock dates to the time of clockmaker Willard Simon. The clock appears to be in working order and has a $2,000-$30,000. Image courtesy of Bobby Langston Antiques.

‘R.A. Parker’ is clearly signed on this oil on canvas painting titled ‘A Winter’s Day.’ The painting is 58 1/2 inches by 41 inches.’ It has a $2,000-$3,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Bobby Langston Antiques.

Bidding is expected to reach $7,500-$15,000 for this 18th-century Georgian mahogany secretary with original top and antique hardware. Image courtesy of Bobby Langston Antiques.

Kruse International’s auction license revoked

INDIANAPOLIS (AP and ACNI) – The classic car auction house Kruse International has lost its license after a hearing held yesterday before the Indiana Auctioneer Commission. The commission also suspended owner Dean Kruse’s personal auctioneer’s license for two years.

The commission, which is part of the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, rejected a settlement proposed by the Indiana attorney general’s office, which would have resulted in a six- to nine-month license revocation, saying it didn’t come down hard enough on Kruse and his company.

The auction house has faced lawsuits saying it violated business agreements with at least 70 people who said they had not been paid for vehicles they consigned to auctions produced by Kruse in 2008 and 2009.

Dean Kruse claimed that all but eight or ten of the consignors in question were paid, although late, and that the actual amount still outstanding is only about $320,000.

Auburn-based Kruse International said the recession hurt his sales and that his company’s cash flow had been impacted by auction buyers who failed to pay for purchases totaling some $7 million. Kruse said he made “poor judgments” on customers and trusted buyers to pay him because of their long history of doing business with his company, some going back 30 years.

Kruse said he had mortgaged his home for $4.5 million and sold personal assets in an attempt to cover auction proceeds owed to his consignors.

Seven years must pass before the business entity Kruse International can apply for a new license. Following the two-year suspension of his personal auctioneer’s license, Dean Kruse will be on probation for three years. He agrees to pay a $35,000 fine within the next 27 months and repay all unpaid consignors within 18 months of regaining his license. Kruse will have to submit quarterly reports through a certified public accountant to report the updated status of monies owed to consignors. By accepting these terms, Kruse avoids permanent revocation of his license.

Kruse International was known as one of the world’s leading collector car auction houses. It was founded in Auburn, Indiana in 1952 by Russell Kruse after his graduation from the Reppert School of Auctioneering. The company began as a local auction company selling real estate, farms and personal property. Russell Kruse, along with his sons Dean, Dennis and Daniel Kruse, held their first collector car auction in Auburn on Labor Day in 1971. After the success of this auction, they were asked by Tom Barrett to conduct a sale in Scottsdale, Arizona, which was the first of the annual sales held there.

In addition to collector cars, the company has auctioned vintage aircraft, collectible tractors, factories, islands, zoos, railroads and three entire towns. The Kruses were the first to sell a car for a documented $1 million in cash – a 1934 Duesenberg Model SJ La Grande long-wheelbase dual-cowl phaeton. The Duesenberg was sold to Tom Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza and then owner of the Detroit Tigers.

The Kruse family is also noted for conducting the $41 million sellout of the fabled William F. Harrah automotive collection. The sale of this 1,000-car collection was dispersed over three auction sessions in 1985, 1986 and 1987. Because of the lucrative divisions that auctioned real estate and oil field equipment, ITT bought Kruse International in 1981, but the family bought it back in 1986. It was purchased in 1999 by online auctioneer eBay with Billpoint for $275 million. The company was purchased back from eBay by Dean Kruse in 2002.

Auction Central News International contributed to this report.

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