October 2010 - Page 6 of 16 - Auction Central News

Slotin Folk Art Auction brimming with 1,200 lots at Nov. 13-14 sale

Devil face jug by the renowned Lanier Meaders, tobacco-spit glaze with gorgeous drips. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art Auction.

BUFORD, Ga. – Over 1,200 lots of self-taught art in a variety of forms – from face jugs to paintings, quilts to pottery – will be offered the weekend of Nov. 13-14 by Slotin Folk Art Auction at the Historic Buford Hall, located at 112 E. Shadburn Ave. The dates have been pushed back from the originally scheduled Nov. 6-7, but not because of a lack of inventory.

“No, it was just the opposite,” said Amy Slotin of Slotin Folk Art Auction. “So many unbelievable last-minute consignments came in, we had to postpone the event a week to put together this incredible sale. We hope everyone will be able to join us November 13 and 14.”

She added a 140-page color catalog will soon be available. To order one, call 770-532-1115.

Online bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.

Featured at the auction will be outsider art, antique and anonymous folk art, Southern folk pottery, vernacular photography, quilts, canes, African-American decorative arts, circus works, oddities, industrial molds, the strange, the unusual, the vanishing America. Headlining the two-day auction will be the prestigious Howard Campbell Americana Collection.

Following is just a handful of what bidders will see cross the block as they settle in for a weekend of self-taught art in a spirited environment of buying and bidding.

Imagine owning an original Eli Whitney cotton gin, all hand-carved and assembled wood with all original parts, in near-mint condition. Such a cotton gin will be offered (est. $25,000-$45,000). This amazing piece of American history was previously on display at a museum in Owensboro, Ky. It features metal cotton cutting blades and metal wire seed separating brushes.

“Cedar Creek” Charlie Fields (1883-1966) – so-named because he hailed from Cedar Creek, Va. – not only created folk art, he lived it. He literally painted everything he owned – his house, furnishings and clothes – in polka-dots. And now, the front door and side panels from his famous house in Cedar Creek (115 inches by 77 inches) will be auctioned (est. $5,000-$10,000).

Billy Ray Hussey (North Carolina, b. 1955) grew up in the pottery business. He turned a keen interest and talent for sculpting into highly acclaimed, skillful and imaginative figural works. Offered at auction will be a pair of beautifully sculpted and glazed matching dogs (est. $2,000-$3,000). The pieces are 9 inches by 6 1/2 inches each, initialed by Hussey and in mint condition.

Of all the folk potters to come out of Georgia over the last 200 years, Lanier Meaders (1917-1998) is perhaps the most revered. Inspired by his mother, the talented Arie Meaders, Lanier became famous for his spooky face jugs. One such jug, a beautiful tobacco-spit glaze with gorgeous drips and a devil face (9 inches tall, circa 1970s) will be offered (est. $3,000-$4,000).

Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980) was an evangelist living in New Orleans who painted in order to create visual tools for her teachings. Today, her work is highly collectible. Her paint, pencil and watercolor on artist paper titled New Jerusalem (est. $10,000-$15,000) will come under the gavel. The work is signed and titled. In the frame, it is 25 inches by 20 inches.

Some exciting “New Discoveries” (artists who are talented but have so far flown under the radar among collectors) will be in the sale. One of these is John Niro (N.Y., 1906-1989), who painted infrequently until his retirement in the 1970s. His 1973 signed oil on canvas, The Sheet Metal Workers (est. $2,000-$4,000), 28 inches by 22 inches, is a rare find and in mint condition.

An important piece of civil rights history will change hands when Larry Godwin’s signed oil canvas titled Lookaway, Lookaway (1965, est. $3,000-$5,000), comes up for bid. The painting depicts a nude Mrs. Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white civil rights activist who was murdered, holding newspapers with the headlines “Coleman Acquitted” and “Wilkins Free” (her alleged killers).

M.B. Mayfield (1923-2005) was a black custodian for the art department at the University of Mississippi in the late 1940s, where he listened to art lectures from a broom closet and applied what he learned to his own craft. In 1986, an exhibition of his work was held at Ole Miss. His 1983 paint on Masonite work titled Avon Lady (est. $1,000-$3,000), signed, will be in the sale.

For detail log on to www.slotinfolkart.com or call (770) 532-1115.

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

Actual front door and side panels from the famous home of 'Cedar Creek' Charlie Fields. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art Auction. — Actual front door and side panels from the famous home of ‘Cedar Creek’ Charlie Fields. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art Auction.

Beautifully sculpted and glazed matching dogs by Billy Ray Hussey (North Carolina, b. 1955). Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art Auction.

Original oil on canvas painting by John Niro (New York, 1906-1989), titled ‘The Sheet Metal Workers.’ Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art Auction.

Original oil on canvas painting by Larry Godwin, titled ‘Lookaway, Lookaway,’ done in 1965. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art Auction.

Original paint on Masonite work by M.B. Mayfield (1923-2005), titled ‘Avon Lady’ (1983). Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art Auction.

Clark’s Fine Art opens new gallery with auction Oct. 23

Etienne Hajdu (French, 1907-1996) untitled, 1961, carved rose marble sculpture with green veins, 26 inches tall, 16 1/2 inches wide, mounted to 1 1/4-inch rose marble base. Provenance: Galerie Pringer, Berlin; David Bright Collection. Est. $20,000-$30,000. Image courtesy of Clark’s Fine Art & Auctioneers Inc.

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. – Clark’s Fine Art & Auctioneers Inc. will celebrate the opening of their new building on Califa Street with an auction Saturday, Oct. 23, beginning at noon Pacific. Doors will open for preview at 10 a.m.

Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.

The featured lot is an Etienne Hajdu (French 1907-1996) carved rose marble sculpture from 1961, which has a $20,000-$30,000 estimate.

Additional featured items are from the David E. Bright Collection, the Broadway Collection and Beverly Hills and Laguna Beach collections. Included are sculptures by Ibram Lassaw, Sabatino de Angelis, Dimitri Hadzi and Oreland C. Joe; paintings by Robert Frame, Malcolm Furlow, attributed to Guiseppe Capogrossi, Harold James Cleworth and Frank Faulkner; prints by Ellsworth Kelly, Sam Francis, Charles Arnoldi, Joan Miro and rare Salvador Dalis; a fine collection of California paintings including Clarkson Dye, and many Modern and Contemporary pieces.

The new location is at 14931 Califa St. in Sherman Oaks, CA 91411.

A preview is scheduled Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For details visit Clark’s Fine Art & Auctioneers’ website at www.estateauctionservice.com or phone 818-783-3052.

Regional fair displays adapted American Indian traditions

A vintage Choctaw basket is crafted with double wall construction and natural cane on a square-form base. Image courtesy of Neal Auction Co. and LiveAuctioneers archive.

OHATCHEE, Ala. (AP) – Juanita Gardinski can still remember speaking her family’s native Choctaw language growing up on a sharecropping farm in western Tennessee.

Using the same hands that harvested crops about half a century ago, she formed dough into small buns, dipped them in flour and rolled them flat to fry beneath a tent at Janney Furnace Park. Gardinski, with the help of her husband, Joe, was using the fried flatbread, a traditional American Indian food, to make what she called Indian tacos for visitors at the park’s first American Indian festival, a three-day event last week.

She used a flour-based dough and vegetable oil to make the bread, but she said her ancestors would have likely used a hand-ground cornmeal base and animal lard. Gardinski said she doesn’t mind using modern methods to make a fresh interpretation of the traditional food because it helps make her culture part of the 21st century.

“(It’s good) to kind of share your culture with other people,” she said. “If you don’t, you lose it.”

The festival included about 30 American Indian craftsmen, demonstrators and vendors, many of whom, like Gardinski, have an interest in sharing their culture. They also have an interest in sharing history about how American Indians, especially those from the southeastern United States, lived.

“Most people think all the Indians wore headdresses and lived in tepees, but they didn’t,” said Tim Moon, director of the Janney Furnace Civil War and Indian Artifact Museum.

Inside the museum are arrowheads, chips of pottery and trading pipes that have been churned up to the surface of the northeast Alabama soil. Many of the artifacts on display have been donated by local collectors like David Brown, who developed an interest in local Indian artifacts when he began gathering arrowheads as a child.

“I like for people to see what people of old had to work with and how ingenious they were, and what great craftsmen they were,” Brown said.

Learning the cultural distinctions among American Indian tribes who lived in the southeastern United States is part of what the event is about. To help with those efforts, Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw and Seminole Indians all took part in the event.

They were making pottery, weaving baskets, crafting beadwork, telling stories and selling clothing. The event included bow-and-arrow, blowgun and spear-throwing demonstrations.

One of the craftsmen is Dan Townsend, who grew up in the Florida Everglades as a member of the Muscogee nation of Florida. He began practicing the American Indian tradition of carving symbols into stone as a child and today travels across the United States demonstrating his art.

Like Gardinski, Townsend has found modern methods to reproduce old traditions. Using an electrically powered tool fixed with sharp dental attachments, he carves symbols into pieces of a marine gastropod’s shell.

Buck Humphries first developed his decades-old interest in collecting when his mom gave him two arrowheads as a child. He said that seeing the items crafted as they would have been when Europeans arrived amazed him.

“By having this live demonstration, we know exactly how it was done,” said Humphries, just after watching a demonstrator craft an arrowhead from a small stone.

AP-CS-10-20-10 2050EDT

Reyne Haines heads up Michaan’s 20th Century Arts sale, Nov. 8

Rare Tiffany Studios four-panel table screen, 16 1/2 inches x 9 3/4 inches. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auction.

ALAMEDA, Calif. – Devotees of 20th century art glass, lighting, pottery, jewelry, fine art and architectural elements won’t want to miss the inaugural 20th Century Decorative Arts sale to be held Nov. 8 at Michaan’s Auction. Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.

The sale will be headed up by 20th Century Design expert Reyne Haines.

“All of us here at Michaan’s Auctions are thrilled to be collaborating with Reyne Haines in the creation of the first of a series of 20th Century Decorative Arts sales that we believe will eventually become the most important auctions in this field on the West Coast,” said Allen Michaan, owner of Michaan’s Auctions.

In the heart of the Bay Area, Michaan’s Auction is centrally located between San Francisco – with its many Art Deco architectural masterpieces – the Arts & Crafts mecca of Berkeley, and the moneyed Silicon Valley, a region known for its Mid-Century modern homes. This geographical position puts Michaan’s within striking distance of the best of northern California’s estates and collections.

Fine art highlights of the Nov. 8 sale include a Leroy Neiman Charlie “Bird” Parker silkscreen created expressly for Hugh Hefner, a rare Salvador Dali print from the Marquis de Sade portfolio, photographs by Ezra Stoller and Margaret Bourke-White, and watercolor studies by Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Tiffany Studios will be well represented by several windows, leaded lamps, desk accessories, glass, and a few particularly rare designs: a four-panel tea screen and an enamel-over-copper vase.

Also featured will be a floral bouquet leaded glass lamp from the studio of Joseph Porcelli. The 20-inch lamp, which rests on a bronze and metal vase-shaped base, includes renderings of roses, trumpet lilies, crocus, gloxinia, azalea, tulips and campanulas in a variety of strong colors, surrounded by a bed of green foliage and a background of midnight blue art glass.

Other studios whose coveted artworks are to be auctioned in Michaan’s sale include Rene Lalique, Emile Galle, Muller Freres, Daum, Quezal, Venini, Steuben, and Duffner & Kimberly.

The jewelry category is led by one of the finest collections of Bakelite seen in some time, with such inclusions as a Philadelphia bracelet, a Greco-Roman head, and green and red Josephine Baker profile bracelets.

Other jewelry highlights include an array of Mexican silver by such premier artists as Hector Aguilar, Los Castillos, Damasco Gallegos and Erica Hult de Corral; and Modernism pieces by Ed Weiner, Bill Tendler and Anton Mikkelson. Additional jewelry categories include early French paste and a beautiful assortment of KJL, Hattie Carnegie and Miriam Haskell designs.

Rounding out the sale is a collection of Modernism furniture and design. Among the highlights are Marcel Breuer lounge chairs, a Mobier rocker, an Edward Wormley desk and cocktail table, a Vistosi table lamp, and a Paavo Tynell table lamp.

“It has been exciting watching the sale come together,” said Haines. “I think this is going to be the start of a wonderful thing.”

All forms of bidding will be available for the Nov. 8 auction including live gallery bidding, phone, absentee and Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com. For additional information on any lot in the sale, call 510-740-0220, ext. 122 or email reyne@michaans.com.

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

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

LeRoy Neiman (b. 1927), circa 1956, ‘Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker,’ ink and gouche on paper, 24 inches x 19 inches. Estimate: $6,000-$8,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auction.

Leaded glass table lamp, Joseph Porcelli, 23 1/2 inches high, shade 20 inches diameter. Estimate: $12,000-$14,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auction.

Carmen Miranda-inspired Bakelite consisting of a carved strawberry necklace, a carved strawberry pin, a carved pin with five carved oranges, an orange peel pin, and a fan-shape pin with multicolor drop berries. Estimate: $800-$1,200. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auction.

Pair of Marcel Breuer lounge chairs. Estimate: $800-$1,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auction.

Thirty nights at the museum

The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago will have an overnight guest for the next month. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

CHICAGO (AP) – A Chicago theater artist has begun her month-long stay at the Museum of Science and Industry.

Kate McGroarty moved into the South Side museum Wednesday morning.

She beat out 1,500 other applicants to win the Month at the Museum competition.

McGroarty is a Minnesota native who lives on Chicago’s North Side. Museum officials say she wowed the judges with her curiosity, creative spirit and wit.

She’ll live at the museum 24 hours a day until Nov. 18. She’ll have access to museum exhibits and sleeping quarters.

She’ll also receive $10,000 for interacting with visitors, and blogging, tweeting and posting videos about the experience.

The four other finalists received consolation packages and a $100 retailer gift card.

___

Online:

www.monthatthemuseum.com

AP-CS-10-20-10 0403EDT

Police arrest men in connection with comic books theft

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – An unassuming 77-year-old bachelor who had hoped to sell a valuable comic book collection and leave the money to his family was robbed by a Rochester businessman’s thugs, was roughed up and hours later died of a heart attack, authorities said.

Homer Marciniak got his first comic book when he was 6 years old and hoped to leave his sisters and nephew with the proceeds from the collection, valued at $40,000 to $100,000, said Jose Avila, police chief in Medina, in rural western New York between Rochester and Buffalo.

That quest took him to several comic book shops in the Rochester area – and to Rico Vendetti, the owner of a tavern and a restaurant who once owned a collectibles business, the police chief said.

“I think he ran into the wrong person, and this person thought, ‘This is something I can get from this guy,’” Avila said.

Marciniak, who wasn’t married and had no children, was a “very well-known, very quiet churchgoing man” around Medina who had worked as a janitor at a bank, said Avila, the police chief.

Thieves broke into his home around 4 a.m. July 5 and hit him in the face. He was treated at a hospital, returned home that afternoon and was interviewed by police, and died of the heart attack after officers left, the police chief said. He had a heart condition, authorities said.

The case broke Thursday night when a woman charged with prostitution in Rochester gave investigators information that led to the arrest, Orleans County District Attorney Joseph Cardone said.

Police charged Vendetti, 41, and Juan Javier, 17, with burglary. They are not charged with beating Marciniak and will not be charged with murder, Avila said, but more charges are pending against them and more arrests are expected.

Vendetti was freed after posting $100,000 bail Friday. Javier was arraigned Monday and jailed on $100,000 bail. Messages left with their lawyers weren’t immediately returned. Messages left for Vendetti at his two Rochester businesses – Papa Van’s Restaurant and Al’s Green Tavern – also went unreturned.

The comic books haven’t been recovered, and the exact connection to the woman charged with prostitution wasn’t clear.

Elizabeth Mielcarek, the victim’s 83-year-old sister, would say only that she was surprised and pleased about the arrests.

In addition to the comic books, some of which dated to the’30s and’40s, the thieves made off with cash, coins and firearms, authorities said.

Avila said that in the weeks afterward, he and his wife spent Sundays visiting flea markets and garage sales, hoping a comic book dealer would have a tip that could lead to an arrest, Avila said.

“I was hoping to get a lucky break for Homer,” Avila said. “He could not handle losing those comic books. To him, they were priceless.”

AP-ES-10-19-10 1706EDT

Coming soon: Google to bring Dead Sea Scrolls online

Fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls on display at the Archeological Museum, Amman, Jordan. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

JERUSALEM (AP) – The Dead Sea Scrolls, among the world’s most important, mysterious and tightly restricted archaeological treasures, are about to get Googled.

The technology giant and Israel announced Tuesday that they are teaming up to give researchers and the public the first comprehensive and searchable database of the scrolls – a 2,000-year-old collection of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek documents that shed light on Judaism during biblical times and the origins of Christianity. For years, experts have complained that access to the scrolls has been too limited.

Once the images are up, anyone will be able to peruse exact copies of the original scrolls as well as an English translation of the text on their computer – for free. Officials said the collection, expected to be available within months, will feature sections that have been made more legible thanks to high-tech infrared technology.

“We are putting together the past and the future in order to enable all of us to share it,” said Pnina Shor, an official with Israel’s Antiquities Authority.

The Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered in the late 1940s in caves in the Judean Desert and are considered one of the greatest finds of the last century.

After the initial discovery, tens of thousands of fragments were found in 11 caves nearby. Some 30,000 of these have been photographed by the antiquities authority, along with the earlier finds. Together, they make up more than 900 manuscripts.

For decades, access to 500 scrolls was limited to a small group of scholar-editors with exclusive authorization from Israel to assemble the jigsaw puzzle of fragments, and to translate and publish them. That changed in the early 1990s when much of the previously unpublished text was brought out in book form.

But even now, access for researchers is largely restricted at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, where the originals are preserved in a dark, temperature-controlled room.

Shor said scholars must receive permission to view the scrolls from the authority, which receives about one request a month. Most are given access, but because no more than two people are allowed into the viewing room at once, scheduling conflicts arise. Researchers are permitted three hours with only the section they have requested to view placed behind glass.

Putting the scroll online will give scholars unlimited time with the pieces of parchment and may lead to new hypotheses, Shor said.

“This is the ultimate puzzle that people can now rearrange and come up with new interpretations,” she said.

Scholars already can access the text of the scrolls in 39 volumes along with photographs of the originals, but critics say the books are expensive and cumbersome. Shor said the new pictures – photographed using cutting-edge technology – are clearer than the originals.

The refined images were shot with a high-tech infrared camera NASA uses for space imaging. It helped uncover sections of the scrolls that have faded over the centuries and became indecipherable.

If the images uploaded prove to be of better quality than the original, scholars may rely on these instead of traveling to Jerusalem to see the scrolls themselves, said Rachel Elior, a professor of Jewish thought at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.

“The more accessible the fragments are the better. Any new line, any new letter, any better reading is a great happiness for scholars in this field,” she said.

The new partnership is part of a drive by Google to have historical artifacts cataloged online, along with any other information.

“There are artifacts in boxes, in museum basements. We ask ourselves how much this stuff is available on the Internet. The answer is not a lot, and not enough,” said Yossi Matias, an official from Google-Israel.

Google has worked to upload old books from European universities and pictures of archaeological finds from Iraq’s national university. This project is different, Matias said, because access to the scrolls may spur new interpretations of the highly debated text and because the scrolls have a more universal appeal.

For the last 18 years, segments of the scrolls have been publicly displayed in museums around the world. At a recent exhibit in St. Paul, Minn., 15 fragments were shown.

Shor said a typical three-month exhibit in the U.S. draws 250,000 people, illustrating just how much the scrolls have fascinated people.

“From the minute all of this will go online, there will be no need to expose the scroll anymore,” Shor said. “Anyone in his office or on his couch will be able to click and see any scroll fragment or manuscript that they like.”

Much mystery continues to surround the scrolls. No one knows who copied these ancient texts or how they got there. The scrolls include parts of the Hebrew Bible as well as treatises on communal living and apocalyptic war.

Over the years, the texts have sparked heated debates among researchers over their origins.

Some believe the Essenes, a monastic sect seen by some as a link to early Christianity, hid the scrolls during the Jewish revolt of the first century. Others believe they were written in Jerusalem and stashed in caves at Qumran by Jewish refugees fleeing the Roman conquest of the city, also in the first century.

AP-CS-10-20-10 0117EDT

Patriotic sand bottle flies high at Cowan’s American Scene Auction

Andrew Clemens sand bottle - realized $12,925. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.

CINCINNATI – Cowan’s Auctions continued to hone its Americana market by presenting the American Scene Auction on Oct. 9. Keeping Continental and Asian items to a separate, focused sale, the American Scene featured all things American – furniture, paintings, textiles and folk art, from the 18th to the 20th centuries. The 686-lot sale had total proceeds surpassing $520,000 and attracted over 400 bidders from 32 states and bidders from nine countries.

The highest selling lot of the auction was an oil painting by Dixie Selden titled The Pottery Vendor. The painting was estimated at $30,000-$50,000 and realized $36,250. Cincinnati native Selden, at the age of 26, dedicated her life to working as a professional artist and stayed committed to her art, exhibiting at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pennsylvania Academy. Cowan’s previously sold a Selden painting for the artist’s record of $62,100.

The sale’s second-highest selling lot was an Andrew Clemens sand bottle inscribed to “Ella.” The bottle more than doubled its $3,000/5,000 estimate, selling for $12,925. Clemens, a deaf mute who was dubbed “the portrait painter without a brush or paint,” died in 1894. Cowan’s has sold several of Clemens’ bottles for outstanding prices.

Paintings prevailed as a North Carolina logging scene by Glen Tracy, oil on canvas, fetched $11,162.50, bringing twice as much as its estimate of $3,000/5,000. A harbor scene by William M. Halsey realized $3,525, surpassing its estimate of $2,000/3,000, and 19th-century portrait of A Pony and Terrier by German artist Emil Volkers realized $4,700.

An E.& D. Kinsey (Cincinnati) coin silver presentation pitcher brought more than its estimate of $3,000/4,000, selling for $4,406. The pitcher’s presentation engraving, dedicated to a Cincinnati educator, was surmounted by an engraved eagle flanked by two American flags.

A Thomas Revere coin silver spoon surpassed its estimate of $600/800, selling for $1,410. Thomas, the younger brother of Paul Revere, apprenticed under his later famous brother until 1752 when he moved to Boston to practice independently as a silversmith.

A Shaker clothes press sold just above its estimate of $2,000, hammering at $2,468. A graduated stack of Shaker boxes realized $3,900, quadrupling its estimate of $500/1,000.

Additional items that greatly surpassed their estimates include a Gothic Revival mahogany tester bed that sold for $5,581, over its $2,500/3,500 estimate; and a late Classical cherry bed, which sold for $4,993.75 over its $1,200/2,000 estimate.

To learn more about Cowan’s visit the auctioneer’s Web site at www.cowans.com.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Dixie Selden's ‘The Pottery Vendor’ - sold for $36,975. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. — Dixie Selden’s ‘The Pottery Vendor’ – sold for $36,975. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.

Gothic Revival mahogany tester bed - brought $5,581. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. — Gothic Revival mahogany tester bed – brought $5,581. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.

Thomas Revere coin silver spoon - brought $1,410. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. — Thomas Revere coin silver spoon – brought $1,410. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.

A portrait of a horse and dog by Emil Volkers - realized $4,700. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. — A portrait of a horse and dog by Emil Volkers – realized $4,700. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.

Buddy L Coal Truck - realized $1,320. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. — Buddy L Coal Truck – realized $1,320. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.

Pook & Pook to sell Smiths’ lifelong Americana collection Oct. 30

Berks County, Pa., hanging cupboard, circa 1780, 27 1/4 inches high x 21 1/2 inches wide. Est. $50,000-$80,000. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.

DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. – Pook & Pook Inc. will sell the outstanding lifelong collection of Richard and Joane Smith on Saturday, Oct. 30, beginning at 9 a.m. Eastern. As veteran collectors, Richard and Joane amassed exceptional pieces of painted furniture and accessories, carvings, fraktur, textiles, baskets and pottery. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

The Smiths were known for their scholarship, historic community involvement and impeccable taste. Richard Smith passed away in 2001 and Joane in the summer of this year.

Painted furniture still retains the unwavering attention of many collectors. One object that many bidders will be excited to see is the famous “Detuk” schrank. This highly important Berks County, Pa., painted schrank is inscribed “17 Philip Detuk 75”. The exceptional small size and vibrant blue, red, green, yellow and salmon original painted surface make it one of if not the finest example. Another Berks County piece that will attract many bidders is a decorated hanging cupboard. The raised panel door has tulip corners and a central stylized tulip tree, flanked by dark blue and red half columns and the single drawer has bold stylized flowers and salmon half columns. It is estimated at $50,000-$80,000.

A Pennsylvania walnut Dutch cupboard, circa 1780 makes a bold statement with its fluted pilasters, brass H hinges, ogee bracket feet and very pleasing small size (Est. $30,000-$50,000). A Lancaster County, Pa., Queen Anne walnut tall-case clock attributed to Mollinger is an outstanding piece. The flattop bonnet encloses a works with a painted iron dial, pewter chapter ring and spandrels over a case with a door inlaid “Anno 1755” above a marquetry bird perched on a flowering tree (est. $25,000-$35,000). Many other interesting furniture items are included in the sale from tavern tables to painted chests of drawers to Windsor chairs.

A variety of local carvings primarily from the 19th and 20th centuries will be offered. Richard Smith worked with the Machmers on the source book “Just for Nice” with documented Pennsylvania German folk art woodcarving and carvers. Parrots by “Schtockschnitzler” Simmons, roosters by John Reber, horses by Peter Brubaker, a Virginville Carver bird and two Deco-Tex birds are examples of some of these carvings.

The Smiths had a wonderful eye for those little small “gems” in many categories of Pennsylvania decorative arts including redware, stoneware, painted boxes, fraktur and baskets. The sale begins with one of three painted boxes by the “compass artist”. The first retains an unusual variation of tulip petals and pinwheels on a brilliant blue background. Another decorated box made by Jacob Weber for his great granddaughter Elisabeth Mosser is an important piece with stylized flowers and landscape with house and trees on a dark blue ground. A myriad of small vivid wallpaper boxes in fine condition will be offered. An unusual, possibly unique chalkware figural group of a fireman and his wife with original red, yellow and black decoration is estimated at $5,000-$10,000. Joane was known as the “basket lady” and many fine rye straw and split oak baskets with be offered. Figural redware was central to their collection. Highlights in this group will include a Pennsylvania redware recumbent dog clutching a whiskey jug, another with a basket in its mouth, a Pennsylvania sander in the form of a seated man with a dog at his feet and a Pennsylvania figure of an elephant with orange and yellow glazing.

Several pieces of bright cobalt decorated stoneware will attract attention. An impressive John Bell harvest jug inscribed “Waynesboro PA May 12th 1860” and stamped “John Bell” is an important piece to come on the market together with a presentation pitcher incised “Steve Simmons” and inscribed “Made by P.H. Groody April 16th 1877” with cobalt bird decoration.

Other little “gems” include betty lamps by Peter Derr, bold slipware, a charming Pennsylvania watch hutch, a small mermaid fraktur, Lehn boxes and many other objects.

For further information contact Pook & Pook by e-mail at info@pookandpook.com or call 610-269-4040.

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

Lancaster County, Pa., compass artist dome lid box, circa 1800, pinwheel design with unusual variation of tulip petals on a vibrant blue background, 5 3/4 inches high x 9 1/2 inches wide. Est. $20,000-$40,000. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.

Pennsylvania toleware coffee pot, 19th century, vibrant yellow and red floral decoration on a black ground, 10 1/2 inches high. Est. $5,000-$10,000. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.

Christian Mertel (southeastern Pennsylvania, 1739-1802)], Dauphin County ink and watercolor fraktur dated 1793 with central script flanked by rampant unicorns and tulip vines below a heart and two crowned lions, retaining a period faux bird's-eye maple decorated frame, 12 inches x 15 1/2 inches. Est. $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc. — Christian Mertel (southeastern Pennsylvania, 1739-1802)], Dauphin County ink and watercolor fraktur dated 1793 with central script flanked by rampant unicorns and tulip vines below a heart and two crowned lions, retaining a period faux bird’s-eye maple decorated frame, 12 inches x 15 1/2 inches. Est. $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.

Pennsylvania painted poplar two-piece corner cupboard, ca. 1780, retaining an old blue painted surface, the interior also retaining an original vibrant salmon paint, 90 1/2 inches high x 57 inches wide. Est. $10,000-15,000. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.

Pennsylvania redware figure of a reclining dog, mid 19th century, the base with impressed leaf border, 3 inches high x 5 inches wide. Est. $1,500-$2,500. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.

Peter Brubaker (Lancaster County, Pa., 1816-1898), carved and painted figure of a horse with dappled body and tin ears, 9 3/4 inches high. Illustrated in Machmer's ‘Just For Nice,’ figure 58. Est. $5,000-$9,000. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc. — Peter Brubaker (Lancaster County, Pa., 1816-1898), carved and painted figure of a horse with dappled body and tin ears, 9 3/4 inches high. Illustrated in Machmer’s ‘Just For Nice,’ figure 58. Est. $5,000-$9,000. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.

Five centuries of fine art to sell at Gray’s Auctioneers on Oct. 28

This 18-inch-high bronze lotus flower candelabrum is attributed to Chicago Arts & Crafts metalsmith Jessie Preston (American, 1873-1942). Her work, which includes lamps and jewelry, has a decided Art Nouveau quality. The candelabrum carries a $15,000-$20,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Gray’s Auctioneers & Appraisers.

CLEVELAND – Paintings, prints, drawings and sculptures will come up for auction at Gray’s Auctioneers & Appraisers on Thursday, Oct. 28, beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern. Auctioneer Deborah J. Gray has curated a marvelous array of artworks from the 16th century to the 20th century.

LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

Notable highlights of the auction include lot no. 20, an evocative hunting scene titled A Hunting Morning, oil on canvas by Heywood Hardy (1843-1933), a British painter well-known for hunting and sporting scenes. In this painting Hardy intimately captures the excitement and hubbub of the early morning meet.

In the sculptures section of the auction of particular note is lot 96, a rare bronze, three-arm floriform candelabrum attributed to Jessie M. Preston, the early 20th century Arts & Crafts metalsmith. With a hint of Art Nouveau, Preston has designed a lotus flower and lily pad motif elegantly arranged on three varying planes at the end of three sinuously intertwined arms, which rise from a circular base, encircled with a stylized koi fish and wave design. The candelabrum is estimated at $15,000-$20,000.

Lots 104-108 are a collection of five beautifully executed watercolors by the recently deceased artist Robert Verity Clem (1933-2010) featuring birds in their natural habitat. Often referred to as the Andrew Wyeth of birds, Clem captures the idiosyncrasies of the individual species in a realist manner.

A large oil on canvas by American Leon Berkowitz (1919-1987) is at lot 114. Berkowitz was among a small but innovative group of artists working in Washington, D.C., who became known as the Washington Color School. Berkowitz, however, resisted being confined to a group. He preferred to acknowledge the greater influences of poetry, music and physics rather than the formal emphasis on color for color’s sake. Russian-born abstract artist William Brui, who fled the Soviet Union in the 1970s, has an equally magnificent oil on canvas entitled Etrous at lot 113. Together with Berkowitz’s Corona #7 at lot 114, Brui’s Etrous are the largest works of art in the 167-lot auction, which also features drawings by Johann Evangelist Holzer (1709-1740), Jean-Jacques DeBoissieu and lot 25 a stunning study of Birds of Prey attributed to Melchior de Hondecoeter, estimated at $2,000-$4,000.

The auction will take place in the auction showrooms at Gray’s Auctioneers, 10717 Detroit Ave. in Cleveland. In addition to live online bidding provided by LiveAuctioneers.com, there will be telephone bidding and absentee bidding offered directly through Gray’s Auctioneers & Appraisers. The showrooms will be open for preview Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Saturday by appointment.

Gray’s Auctioneers & Appraisers is the only licensed, bonded and insured auction house in Cleveland holding monthly live auctions. Deborah J. Gray, auctioneer, opened her eponymous auction house in 2007 with her partner Serena Harragin, and together they have transformed the abandoned building that used to house a Citroen dealership into a driving force in the vibrant Cleveland Fine Art and Antiques auction market.

The complete illustrated catalog for this auction can be found on Gray’s Web site at www.graysauctioneers.com or call 215-458-7695 for additional information.

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

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