1986 gold Liberty $5 NGC PF68 ultra cameo coin. Image courtesy of Affiliated Auctions.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Affiliated Auctions and Realty, a catalog auction company and real estate brokerage serving a global clientele, has announced the beginning of their three-day holiday sale beginning Dec. 3 and running through Dec. 5. The sale, the largest auction of the year for the company, is set to feature everything from rare artwork and currency to valuable jewelry, antique firearms and militaria.
LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
“Our holiday sale allows us to showcase some of the spectacular products we have available,” said John Whitworth, Affiliated Auctions president. “Additionally, this also gives us the opportunity to really highlight what we have to offer as a company. While we are known as one of the premier military and gun auction sites, www.affilliatedauctions.com, we also handle everything from real estate and art to jewelry – single pieces to large collections, estate and even business liquidations.”
Affiliated Auctions & Realty’s Holiday Sale will feature specifically: original artwork by Henri Toulouse Lautrec; rare artwork by Auguste Rodin; art pieces by Yankel Ginsburg, Bruce Ricker and others; valuable jewelry including an 18K yellow gold diamond ring with a 4.10-carat round brilliant cut diamond of I color and S12 clarity; a lady’s platinum two-piece wedding set consisting of a platinum stamped mounting of cathedral channel design; one princess brilliant cut diamond, 1.69 carats in weight and a clarity of IF (internally flawless) and a color grade F. Rare currency, coins and bullion; antique firearms – from swords to military rifles; and militaria including uniforms, memorabilia and gear.
“We look forward to this amazing once-a-year sale,” says Whitworth. “And to having the opportunity to not only showcase these amazing items but demonstrate why Affiliated Auctions continues to enjoy a reputation for excellence.”
For additional information on any lot in the sale, call Affiliated Auctions at 850-656-5486 or e-mail Johnw@affiliatedauctions.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.LiveAucvtioneers.com.
3.4 carat diamond heart pendant. Image courtesy Gray’s Auctioneers. CLEVELAND – Gray’s Auctioneers has announced a festive selection of auctions for the holiday month of December, starting with a Fine Jewelry & Rare Coins auction on Dec. 9, 2010. The auction will commence at 1 p.m., with Internet live bidding provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.
The glittering array of fine jewelry features two stunning rings: lot 9, an 18K yellow gold and 5.18 carat diamond ring; and lot 8, a ladies platinum and 3.31 carat diamond ring. Another eye-catching jewel is lot 39, a ladies platinum and 3.4 carat diamond heart-shape pendant, which is suspended from a 14¾ inch 18K yellow gold chain.
This auction will also include rare coins and paper money. A few coin lots of note are: lot 125, an 1894-P U.S. silver dollar in very good condition; and lot 133, a 1903-S $20 gold Liberty Head coin, also in good condition. An additional numismatic highlight is lot 135, a $500 U.S. Federal Reserve Note, 1928 “Redeemable in Gold” bill.
For those who like the unusual, Gray’s will offer an Art Deco silverplate airplane smoker’s companion by Deutches Reich Gebrauchsmuster. The body of the plane forms a cigar case, with a match compartment complete with strike cover at the front. The plane has a cigar cutter propeller and two circular ashtrays as well as a detachable cigarette case wings and detachable wheeled undercarriage.
For additional information on any lot in the sale, please call Gray’s Auctioneers at 216-458-7695.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
MIAMI BEACH (AP) – South Beach is ready to host a huge art party.
Art Basel Miami Beach organizers chose about 250 galleries from more than 700 applications to show their art during the fair, which kicked off for VIPs on Wednesday. It opens for the public today, Dec. 2, 2010, and ends on Sunday.
Gallery owners at the Miami Beach Convention Center are hoping to sell works ranging from Spain’s Pablo Picasso and Colombia’s Fernando Botero to Argentina’s Mondongo group and New York-based Kehinde Wiley. Collectors from around the world walked through the booths, with some strictly browsing and others ready to buy.
Organizers have also planned for fairgoers to visit Miami art museums, talk to artists, see outdoor art projects, attend receptions and even visit artists’ studios.
“Part of the reason why Art Basel came to Miami Beach in the first place is because it is a gateway to the Latin American countries, and for many years we have been hoping that would catch on creating more opportunities for galleries to come,” said fair co-director Annette Schonholzer.
Sean Kelly, who owns a New York-based gallery, said he has already sold some of the 40 works he brought. The pieces range from $8,000 to $500,000.
“I think everybody feels it’s going to be a very strong year,” he said.
Kelly said he believes that collectors are now more willing to put money in art because they’re less confident about having financial instutitions guide their investments.
“We are benefiting from the trust being placed in us,” he said.
At the NeugerRiemschneider gallery’s booth, Tim Neuger was also hopeful he would profit from the fair. Works at the booth included nine plastic and metal sculptures by Pawel Althamer, which resembled modern versions of bandaged mummies.
“We see the fair as platforms, advertising billboards,” he said. “We focus on the greatest installation we could have.”
Fair organizers said they are expecting a better turnout than in previous years because the Art Basel fair in Switzerland in June was very strong.
“Of course, the blue chip work, the work that if you don’t buy it now you’ll never have access to again, will move, in the same way of course that some young artists will be favored,” said fair co-director Marc Spiegler. “But, I think, what we have seen in the last two years, with the economy being different, is that people are really focused as much on the midcareer artists as the young artists.”
But, in the end quality always sells, he said.
South Florida collector Norman Braman, chairman of the fair’s host committee, agreed.
“What the fair brings is excellence and collectors. We’re always looking for something that will improve our collection, that will raise our level,” he said. “I think what the recession has done is positive in one sense that it’s brought those prices down to a realistic level.”
Collector Jutta Kraus came from Munich, Germany. She collects modern German paintings, but she said she doesn’t anticipate buying anything unless the price is good and painting is appealing.
“I don’t think we will buy, but you never know,” she said.
Pat Davidson flew down from New York City “to visit the things I would like to have bought.”
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Online: http://www.artbaselmiamibeach.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Italian painted fresco fragment, transposed to a textile support, 15th century A.D., depicting the death of St. Francis. Estimate: $70,000-$95,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions. LONDON – Magnificent Swedenborg Hall in Bloomsbury is confirmed by this third Ancient Coins & Antiquities Auction as the preferred venue for TimeLine Auctions’ popular sales. But although the location is fixed, the variety of lots seems to expand with each event. Dec. 16 brings opportunities for the hammer to fall for as little as $60 up to as much as $95,000. And the 600-plus lots on offer span much of world history – from Bronze Age to Post-Medieval – so no visitor to Bloomsbury, or to the live online bidding provided by LiveAuctioneers, should return home empty-handed.
Undisputed top spot surely goes to a 15th-century Italian painted fresco fragment (lot 630) depicting St. Francis on his deathbed surrounded by four figures in conversation. The mounted and framed work measures 46 x 35 inches and its estimated hammer price is $95,000. Equally eye-catching is lot 417, a Roman bronze statuette of winged fertility god Eros, with silver inlaid eyes and a rounded, full-featured face. In very fine condition, this lovely piece is expected to reach $38,000.
With more than 60 gold finger rings from Greek to Post-Medieval cataloged in the sale, selecting a choice example proves difficult – until reaching lot 326: a double bezel gold, garnet and sapphire specimen from the Greek Hellenistic period, second or first century B.C. Set with a round cabochon sapphire, this large and impressive ring has a high bid estimate of $45,000. Another ring (lot 594) spans the Roman to late-Medieval ages with its 16th-century gold hoop and bezel set with a Roman sapphire intaglio displaying a bust of Constantius I (A.D. 250-306). A hammer price of $24,000 is anticipated.
The Anglo Saxon and Viking Ages are represented by silver bracelets, torcs, other jewelery, an array of weaponry; and by a magnificent natural gold crystal in quartz from a ninth century Viking grave. The anticipated estimate for this piece (lot 566) is $8,000. The Medieval Age offers jewelery and religious relics in gold, silver and bronze. Two eye-catching carved French limestone Madonna figurines from the 14th-15th centuries should draw bids up to $34,500.
Coin collectors will surely admire lot 143, a rare English Civil War siege piece dating from the defence, in 1644, of Scarborough Castle by Royalist forces opposing attacking Parliamentarians. The garrison’s offices cut up the castle’s silver plate to make crude coins to pay the soldiers. This is an example of the emergency money – a 5-shilling piece stamped with an image of Scarborough Castle. Presale interest suggests it might surpass its estimated $15,000 price. At the other end of the scale bidders can take a punt on lot 670: a Southeast Asian unopened and intact hoard pot dating from the 12th century. Its weight suggests it might contain more than 2,000 coins – but that will be for the winning bidder to find out. Bids of around $650 are expected.
Brett Hammond, TimeLine Auctions CEO, said, “Growth was our aim when we commenced our auctions at the Swedenborg Hall in March this year. We have gone from strength-to-strength. In fact we are now attracting so many consigned lots that the next auction, early in 2011, will spread over two days.”
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.LiveAucvtioneers.com.
For details contact Christopher Wren at +44 (0) 1708 222824.
Circa first century large bronze figure of a young winged Eros supporting a long-stemmed cornucopia. Estimate: $28,000-$38,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions.Medieval limestone Madonna with orb statuette, mid-14th to early 15th century, 14 3/4 inches. Estimate: $17,000-$23,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions.Greek Hellenistic double bezel gold, garnet and Sapphire ring, second or first century B.C. Estimate: $34,000-$45,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions.Stuart Scarborough siege piece, July 1644-July 1645, a uniface crown formed from a piece of flattened out domestic silver bearing a single, stamped impression of a depiction of the castle and the letters V below S (for 5 shillings). Estimate: $11,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of TimeLine Auctions.
Leonardo da Vinci (Italian, 1495-1498 A.D.), The Last Supper.
NEW YORK (AP) – A new multimedia installation in Manhattan will offer new ways to see and interpret Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper.
The Park Avenue Armory show reproduces the 15th century painting with a 40-minute sound-and-light show.
The “clone” painting is set within a full-scale replica of the 4,000-square-foot dining hall at Santa Maria Delle Grazie. The convent in Milan houses the original work.
“Leonardo’s Last Supper: A Vision by Peter Greenaway” opens on Thursday.
The work by the Welsh-born filmmaker and multimedia artist fills the armory’s cavernous former drill hall.
Transparent green moon flask glass vase with overlay decoration. Estimate: $4,000-$6,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.
OAKLAND, Calif. – Michaan’s Dec. 14 winter Asian Art Auction includes an exciting variety of high quality property from private collectors and estates across the United States. Highlighting the sale will be examples from the Ina and Sanford Gadient Collection of fine Chinese glass.
LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
Acquired over the past 40 years, the Gadient pieces exemplify the variety of sophistication and styles produced by Chinese artisans over the centuries. Many pieces from the Gadient’s’ collection have been exhibited internationally and illustrated in books.
The 304-lot sale includes Chinese ceramics, stoneware and porcelains from Neolithic period to the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Other Chinese highlights are jade and ivory carvings, scholar’s objects, classical furniture, textiles, and paintings by important artists.
A special section of religious art is centered by a large sandstone standing Bodhisattva Guanyin from Sui Dynasty (A.D. 580-618) The sensitively executed details of the graceful sculpture survived 1400 years. Michaan’s is confident that the quality, size, condition and conservative estimate will combine to generate bidding from all over the globe.
The sale will not only include fine Chinese works of art but also Japanese, Korean arts, and a few exquisite fine Indian and Persian miniature paintings.
For any further inquiry please contact Ling Shang at lingshang@michaans.com or Kim Jee at kim@michaans.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.LiveAucvtioneers.com.
The Golden Psalter, first edition, in the collection of St. Petri-Dom Museum, Bremen, Germany. Photo by Jurgen Howaldt, taken in 2008. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Germany license.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – He found it, of all places, in a small antique shop right here in Charleston. “It was serendipity, just happenstance,” he said. “I was looking for something else.”
It was an ancient Psalter, a book of psalms painstakingly handwritten in Latin by hermit monks in the Netherlands nearly 800 years ago.
Imagine.
“It’s my newest and most exciting acquisition. It’s not just rare. It’s unique. There is literally only one. It was quite a find for me.”
He wasn’t surprised that it hadn’t attracted a buyer. “There would be no market for it in Charleston. It’s mainly of interest to nuts like me.”
Frank Martin collects medieval books. “Some men like fancy motor cars, I’ll pay a fortune for a good book. It’s a hobby and also a kind of passion. It enriches your understanding of history.”
An Alabama native who practiced law in Washington, D.C., Martin splits his time in retirement between Alabama and Charleston. “My daughter, Jessica Lane, lives here and we like the city,” he said in a noticeable Alabama drawl. “We could live anywhere. We live in Charleston by choice.”
His hobby started in 1987 with a visit to an old bookshop in Alexandria, Va. A student of Latin since high school, he spotted a crudely bound Venetian Bible printed in 1497 and “negotiated” a purchase.
“It was a beautiful book. And that’s when I fell in love.”
Along with its craftsmanship and age, he discovered a significant distinction. “This book was the first printed book ever to have a title page.”
He started shopping for old books in earnest, both in Alexandria and on the Internet. “If you’re interested,” he said, “things kind of pop up.”
The second step, his favorite part, is research. “It doesn’t take me long to buy a book. It takes a long time to figure out what it is. Nobody knows about this book,” he said, picking up one of his finds. “There is no date in it. You have to analyze the contents. It’s a tedious thing. But I’m mainly into that part of it, not the acquisition or possession.”
He had access to a rare book room at a seminary near his Virginia home. When working in Washington, he made frequent trips to the Library of Congress.
He searches for handwritten manuscripts and incunabula, a Latin word for “in the cradle” or “in swaddling clothes.” It refers to the infancy of printing, books printed before 1501. Gutenberg, the first to print a book with movable type, introduced printing in Germany in the 1450s.
“Any book printed in the first 50 years of movable type is valuable,” Martin said. “It was so long ago and there are so few of them. Through fire, water and war, so many were destroyed.”
Early printing methods could prove challenging. “Look at the print on this book. It’s microscopic by our standards. Imagine setting that type. You could only set maybe eight pages. Then you would break it up to set the next eight.”
His most valuable book is a New Testament volume printed in 1481, one generation after the invention of movable type. He found it at a book sale. “It belonged to a wealthy woman in California, Estelle Duhaney, who gave so much money to the Catholic Church that the pope made her a countess.”
In New York, inside a cigar box, he found a small square Bible five inches thick, an octavo. “You fold a sheet of paper to form eight leaves and you get the octovo,” he explained. “This one was all black and unbound. They didn’t know what they had.”
He had the book rebound in Magnolia Springs, Ala.
He discovered through research that the book was printed by a woman in 1549. “Experts for hundreds of years thought it was an incanubulum printed before 1500, but I found it was printed 50 years later by a woman in Paris, the widow of a famous printer.”
Bibles are the cheapest books for collectors to buy, he said, because there were so many of them. “Before we had books, we had scrolls. As long as people have written holy writ, there have been more Bibles because there is more demand. There are more Bibles printed every year than any other book.”
His collection includes a handwritten Ethiopian Psalm book. “You can’t read it. It’s all in the ancient language of Ethiopia. They didn’t develop printing until very late. They were doing liturgical manuscripts into the 18th century. This book isn’t so old, but it has these beautiful icons.”
All hand-painted on sheepskin, icons include the Ethiopian version of “The Madonna, Mary and Her Beloved Son,” with angels Michael and Gabriel standing watch on either side.
“And these are saints,” he said, carefully turning from one page to the next. “This fellow grew a beard so long he made clothes out of it. That’s an Ethiopian saint we don’t know anything about. And here’s a fellow who prayed so long his foot fell off. So God made him three sets of wings. An Ethiopian scholar told me that.”
The meticulous penmanship required of scribes hand-lettering liturgical tomes amazes him. “Think of the number of man-hours invested in a book. I don’t know how long it took. How many pages can a man do in a day? Two or three? They had one man who read from the original text and another man wrote it down.
“Then the Vikings would come and destroy all the books, and they had to start over again. That happened two or three times.
“A book used to be worth what a house was worth,” he said, “and now we just throw them away.”
Martin gives his ancient books extra special attention. He handles them gently, reverently. “And they go in a lockbox in the bank.”
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Information from: The Charleston Gazette, http://www.wvgazette.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
