Silver cigar cutter/ashtray by Tiffany with ‘JPM’ Monogram in the likeness of the Morgan yachting crest Image courtesy of Boston Harbor Auctions.
BOSTON – Boston Harbor Auctions is having an incredible sale May 1 showcasing J. Pierpont Morgan’s personal possessions, many from his yacht Corsair.
LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding for the 375-lot auction, which will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern.
J.P. Morgan, still synonymous with financial greatness in America today, was an American tycoon and most important financier of his time. He orchestrated the first Wall Street bailout, nearly single-handedly and rubbed elbows with the most prominent Americans of the day such as President William H. Taft, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Teddy Roosevelt. It is said that when he strolled down the streets of Manhattan people cleared his path to let him by as they would a king. Morgan financed the experiments of Thomas Edison and had the first house in New York that was completely wired for electricity.
Now, Boston Harbor Auctions has some of the finest pieces of American history for sale on May 1. These former possessions of J.P. Morgan were the finest that could be procured in the 19th century.
The importance of the yacht Corsair of 1890 is two-fold. During the Gilded Age of decadence, steam yachts were a luxury only afforded by those of the highest levels of affluence and wealth known the world over. Considered a floating palace, Corsair was a 240-foot-long steam yacht outfitted in velvet, silk and mahogany, providing every princely comfort Morgan desired. Second, Morgan became commodore of the New York Yacht Club in 1897 and subsequently Corsair became flagship of the club, overseeing races and holding annual cruises for members. Following his election to commodore, Morgan donated three lots of land on West 44th Street for the New York Yacht Club to build a new clubhouse. His mark on the world of yachting is still felt today.
Most yachtsmen and sailors create their own personal flag to be flown exclusively on their boat. The Morgan house flag is a red field with a white crescent moon accompanied by a single star. Morgan liked to use this symbol on many of his personal possessions including his china, linens and decorative fixtures.
Morgan once publicly declared: “No price is too great for a work of unquestioned beauty.” Highlights in the May 1 sale include:
225 pieces of china from Corsair when she was flagship of the New York Yacht Club in 1897
a 30-foot port side tender from Corsair
300 ivory poker chips from Corsair set into a mahogany and velvet lined box by Black, Starr & Frost
a bottle of vatted scotch whiskey from J. Pierpont Morgan’s private cellar
many silver accessories once owned and used by J. Pierpont Morgan, some by Tiffany
a silver cigar cutter/ashtray with JPM Monogram, by Tiffany
a 17th century map once used on Corsair
a silver lamp in the likeness of the Morgan crest from the late 19th century
The auction will be take place in Boston Harbor Auctions’ 99 High St. tower. Entrance to the gallery is on the Purchase Street side of the tower in the Financial/Waterfront district of Boston.
Previews will be Thursday, April 28, noon-7 p.m.; Friday, April 29, noon-7 p.m.; Saturday, April 30, 11a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, May 1, 8 a.m.- 10:30 a.m.
For more information please contact Larry Lannan (617) 451 2650 or (617) 549 2881, e-mail info@bostonharborauctions.com or go to the website: www.bostonharborauctions.com
A selection of flagship china from J. Pierpont Morgan’s steam yacht Corsair when she was flagship of the New York Yacht Club in 1897. Image courtesy of Boston Harbor Auctions.Cover of poker chips box. Mahogany with sterling Corsair letters and New York Yacht Club burgee crossing staffs with the Morgan house flag emblazoned on front Image courtesy of Boston Harbor Auctions.‘JPM’ Monogram from silver cigar cutter/ashtray by Tiffany Image courtesy of Boston Harbor Auctions.
Aus der Kollektion von Dolf Selbach bei Villa Grisebach, eine Öl, Wasserfarbe und Tinten Arbeit; Papier auf Leinwand, von Friedensreich Hundertwasser, 1957. Foto mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Vila Grisebach. Frühling bringt in der deutschsprachigen Welt auch immer den Wunsch mit sich, an zwei Orten gleichzeitig sein zu können. Verführerische Auktionen finden fast jedes Wochenende statt aber leider es ist unmöglich, alle gleichzeitig zu besuchen.
Seit der Eröffnung in 2001 haben Kunsthistorikerin, Auktionärin und Besitzerin Carolin Bergner und ihre Partner hart gearbeitet, um das Auktionshaus „Von Zezschwitz Kunst und Design“ als Spezialist für Art Deco, Jugendstil, Modernes Design und zeitgenössische Kunst zu etablieren.
Die Auktion vom 14. April diesen Jahres in Ihrer Münchner Galerie, hat mit der Versteigerung von Objekten des Art Deco, Jugendstil sowie der Angewandten Kunst des 19. und 20. Jh. nicht enttäuscht.
Schwerpunktmäßig wurden 600 verschiedene Objekte Wiener Einrichtungsgegenstände angeboten, einschließlich mehrere Stücke des Designers Josef Hoffmann. Nachdem das Patent der Thonet Brüder zum Einsatz von Bugholz gegen Ende des 19. Jh. auslief, war Hoffmann einer derjenigen, welche damit begannen, dieses Holz für ihr Design zu nutzen. Von besonderem Interesse ist Hoffmann’s Bugholz Schreibtisch mit Messingnieten in Schwarz und Grün von ca. 1901, hergestellt durch Jacob und Josef Kohn, Wien. Dieser Schreibtisch, hier Positionsnummer 551, wird für geschätzte 18.000 € ($ 25.632) verkauft.
Von Zezschwitz plant eine Auktion für Design und Murano Glas am 15. April. Diejenigen unter Ihnen, welche an moderner und zeitgenössischer Kunst interessiert sind, sollten sich den 19. Mai im Terminkalender vormerken. Die Kataloge können online angesehen werden, unter www.von-zezschwitz.de.
Dr. Fischer Kunstauktionen, ansässig im Trappenseeschlößchen im Heilbronn, ist bekannt für Glas Auktionen. Aber sie haben sich außerdem mit der Versteigerung russischer Ikonen und Kunstwerke eine ganz spezielle Nische geschaffen. Zur Auktion am 14. April werden reichlich Silber, Porzellan, Glas und andere handwerkliche Objekte russischer Herkunft angeboten. Das schließt russische Posterkunst genauso ein, wie auch Gemälde die einen flüchtigen Blick auf russische Landschaften und Kultur erlauben.
Die in brillianten Farben und goldenem Glanz erstrahlenden Ikonen russisch orthodoxer Religion, nehmen einen zentralen Platz in dieser Auktion ein. Am oberen Ende der Skala rangiert Objekt Nr. 102, eine 68 x 56 cm große Ikone, welche die Taufe Christi zeigt (entstanden um 1600). Die traditionelle, vertikal 3-geteilte Komposition mit Christus im Zentrum, gehalten von Johannes dem Täufer zu seiner Rechten und drei Engeln zu seiner Linken. Diese Arbeit hat einen Schätzpreis von 22.000 € ($31.328).
Wie auch immer, es existiert eine große Preispanne zwischen diesem Kunstwerk und kleineren, neueren Ikonen. Startpeise liegen hier bei 120 € bis 150 € ($171- $214) pro Objekt.
Dr. Fischer Kunstauktionen hat die nächste Kunst- und Antiquitätenauktion für den 14. Mai 2001 geplant. Die Kataloge können online angesehen werden, unter www.auctions-fischer.de
LiveAuctioneers heißt neue Mitglieder willkommen
„Wir haben mit großen Auktionshäusern wie Dorotheum und Christie’s genauso so zusammengearbeitet wie mit Privatkunden und haben uns nun entschieden, auch online Auktionen auszuprobieren.“, erklärt Simon Jahn, Eigentümer von The Jahn Gallery, Paul-Ehrlich-Gasse 23, Wien.
Die in 2007 eröffnete Galerie vertritt Künstler aus Europa, den USA, Bali und Indonesien auf Auktionen weltweit. Jetzt planen sie Aktionen für ihre nicht künstlerischen Kunden über www.LiveAuctioneers.com abzuhalten. Die Eröffnung der neuen Ausstellungs- und Auktionsmöglichkeit ist für Oktober in Wien geplant. Ihre website. www.jahngallery.com, soll ab Mai nutzbar sein.
Bevorstehende Auktionen
28. April bis 12. Mai – Hermann Historica oHG, versteigert 7.700 Objekte einschließlich Antiquitäten, Waffen, Handwerkliches, Jagdartikel und Militärisches. www.hermann-historica.com
3. und 4. Mai – Quittenbaum Kunstauktion, München, zweitägige Auktion bietet Jugendstil, Art Deco und moderne Kunst; Metal, Silber, Schmuck und Bronzen wird am 4. Mai angeboten. www.quittenbaum.de
13. Mai – Die Lempertz Frühlings Kunstgewerbe auktion in Köln ist angefüllt mit Porzellan, Möbeln, Schmuck, Miniaturen und mehr. www.lempertz.de
14. Mai – Ketterer Kunst bietet „moderne Kunst mir der Sammlung Schiefler“ in München. Diese Auktion konzentriert sich auf Expressionismus einschließlich Arbeiten von Emil Nolte und Erich Heckel. www.kettererkunst.de
26. bis 28. Mai – Bassenge Kunst- und Buchauktionen, Berlin, führt dreitägige Auktion für Druckgraphiken aus dem 15. bis 19. Jh., Gemälde Alter und Neuerer Meister /
Zeichnungen des 15. bis 19. Jh., und moderne Kunst, www.bassenge.com
26. bis 28. Mai – Villa Grisebach, Berlin, bietet Auswahl der Sammlungen von Dolf Selbach. Willi Baumeister, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Paul Wunderlich, Pablo Picaso, Andy Warhol und andere zeitgenössische Künstler. www.villa-grisebach.de
28. Mai – WestLicht Auktion, Wien, bietet eine köstliche Auswahl von antiken und zeitgenösischen Fotos, einschließlich der außergewöhnlichen Daguerreotypie Porte Notre Dame von Auguste Rosalie Bisson, 1842, geschätzt auf 60.000 – 80.000 Euro ($86.716 – $115.621). www.westlicht.com
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Bugholz Schreibtisch entworfen von Josef Hoffmann, ca. 1901. Foto mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Zezschwitz Kunst und Design.Hermann Historica’s Losnr. 3630, ein eisernes Schwert aus Norddeutschland von ca. 1640. Schätzpreis 12.000 Euro ($ 17.344). Foto Urheberrecht Hermann Historica, 2011.Diese russische Ikone zeigt die Taufe Christi, gemalt um 1600, Schätzpreis 22.000 € ($ 31.328). Foto mit freundlicher Genehmigung von Dr. Fischer Kunstauktionen.Eine frühe Daguerreotypie Porte Notre Dame von Auguste Rosalie Bisson, 1842, geschätzt auf 60.000 bis 80.000 Euro ($ 86.716 – 115.621) bei WestLicht. Foto mit freundlicher Genehmigung von WestLicht Auktion.
Competition can be keen for rarely seen forms, such as this large bowl (dia. 11½ inches) which sold for $1,422 at a June 2008 20th Century auction. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.
Spring has arrived, Easter decorations fill the shops, and art pottery collectors might find their noses twitching for seasonal dinnerware. The perfect accent on a holiday table could be Dedham Pottery’s rabbit-bordered dishes. The pieces are colorful, attractive, and easy-to-find at auction.
Working in the potteries was a strong tradition in the Robertson family. After managing a firm in northern England, James Robertson brought his family to America in 1853 and settled in the Boston area. Led by son Alexander, the family first founded a pottery in Chelsea, which became known as the Chelsea Keramic Works and continued in various forms until 1896.
Under the management of another son, Hugh C. Robertson, the pottery then moved to Dedham, a small township southwest of Boston. Robertson had been strongly influenced by Asian ceramics glimpsed at the Philadelphia Centennial of 1876. His experiments with glazes took him in several artistic directions.
At his Dedham Pottery, Robertson rediscovered the formula for an intense red Chinese glaze sometimes called “Dragon’s Blood” through a process of trial and error. He used this hue alone and in combination with other vivid colors. His 1896-1899 line called “Volcanic Ware” used multiple firings to produce special glaze effects, and the best of these pieces are very collectible. These interesting experiments were not a financial success, however, and the lead in the glazes led to the potter’s death in 1908.
Fortunately, Hugh Robertson had also perfected a cream-colored crackle glaze, based on Asian prototypes. He used this for a line of dinnerware, which proved to be the pottery’s financial salvation and ensured its continuance – under a son and grandson – until 1943. The dishes were decorated with hand-painted blue borders featuring repeated motifs from the natural world, mostly commonly rabbits.
In a Miller’s Guide to American Art Pottery, ceramics expert David Rago wrote: “The crackle-glazed dinner plates and serving pieces, adorned mostly with cobalt blue bunnies on a cream ground, have preserved Robertson’s legacy. However, he probably would not find such a prospect appealing, considering his predilection for extreme glazing. But the financial success of the bunny ware enabled him to continue his kiln experiments for several decades, into the 20th century.”
While examples of Dedham Pottery turn up everywhere, Skinner Inc. in the Boston area is an important source for both the basic items and rare serving pieces needed to form an extended service. Jane Prentiss, head of 20th Century sales at the auction house, says, “We do get a lot of it. I love all of that pottery because it’s so whimsical and cheerful. I have a big collection of rabbits coming up in the June 25th sale.”
The rabbit border pattern was Dedham’s most popular, and the famous bunny profile was even incorporated in the pottery’s trademark. Prentiss emphasizes its heirloom status: “It was the most made and the most kept. When we go into homes, we often find it. When they had whole services, they tended to use the bunny border for the dinner set and the other borders for plates to display on the hutch.”
Although rabbits were most common, many other designs decorated Dedham’s crackle ware dishes. Collectors can find borders of elephants, ducks, and polar bears as well as irises, magnolias, and mushrooms. There are also hand-painted floral compositions that cover an entire plate. Values rise with rarity, and the search for unique examples can be fascinating.
Jane Prentiss often consults a reprint of an old Dedham Pottery catalogue – copies appear for sale online – which lists the wide range of forms offered for sale. She says, “You can assemble whole rabbit dinnerware sets with serving bowls, pitchers, and coffee pots. The original buyers tended to get the cups and saucers and dinner plates first. If they had a little bit of extra money, they would buy the serving pieces and those pieces tend to be more valuable and difficult to find.”
Skinner’s June 25th sale will offer many forms to help round out a dinner service including cups and saucers, a coffee pot, creamer and sugar bowl, and a handsome rectangular platter. Collectors should note that the cobalt blue border can vary in color from piece to piece. Buyers are also selective about the appearance of the crackled background glaze, which was produced by rapidly cooling pottery hot from the kiln.
Of course, Dedham was not the only art pottery to use rabbits as a decorating motif. Prentiss notes, “One of the things I’ve been doing is a map of Boston at different periods of time, and around 1905 there were a ton of potteries in Boston.” Last December, Skinner’s sold two plates painted by the Saturday Evening Girls group of female decorators – one with rabbit border, one with goose border – for $1,659. At the same sale, a child’s bowl with a rabbit from the Paul Revere Pottery in Boston brought $326.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide the Internet live bidding for Skinner’s June 25, 2011 auction. Watch for the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Competition can be keen for rarely seen forms, such as this large bowl (dia. 11½ inches) which sold for $1,422 at a June 2008 20th Century auction. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.The Paul Revere Pottery in Boston would personalize children’s dishes with the owner’s name. This 1937 rabbit-decorated bowl with the inscription “Jon Heller – His Bowl” sold for $326 last December. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.An unusual and very useful serving piece, this Dedham round tray with rabbit border (dia. 13½ inches) sold for $999 in 2006. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.With an eye on auction offerings, collectors can gradually assemble a large service of Dedham rabbit-bordered pottery. This lot of 6 bread and butter plates went for $382 at a December 2007 sale. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.The female decorators of the Saturday Evening Girls Pottery in Boston also edged services with animal borders. These plates – one surrounded by stylized rabbits, one by geese – date to 1913 and 1911 respectively; the pair brought $1,659 at Skinner’s in December 2010. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.This coffee pot, creamer, and sugar bowl are among the many pieces of Dedham pottery to be offered in the June 25 Skinner sale. The three items also show the variations in hue of the cobalt blue border found among rabbit-bordered dishes. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.Highly desirable to collectors of the ware, this attractive rectangular platter comes up for sale in June. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.The distinctive Dedham rabbit from the popular dinnerware border was also part of the stamped mark that identified the pottery’s products. Note also the characteristic crackle glaze found on all pieces in the line. Image courtesy Skinner Inc.
From the collection of Dolf Selbach at Villa Grisebach, an oil, watercolor and ink work, paper on canvas, by Friedensreich Hudertwasser, 1957. Photo courtesy Villa Grisebach. Spring in the German-speaking world is always a time when you wish you could be two places at once. There are tempting auctions almost every weekend, and it is unfortunately impossible to visit all of them simultaneously.
Since their beginnings in 2001, art historian, owner and auctioneer Carolin Bergner and her partners have worked hard to make Von Zezschwitz Kunst und Design a specialty auction house for Jugenstil, Art Deco and Modern Design, as well as contemporary art. The April 14 auction at their Munich gallery, featuring Art Deco, Jungenstil and Applied Arts of the 19th and 20th century, does not disappoint.
The focus of the 600 offered lots is Viennese furnishings, including several items by designer Josef Hoffmann. Hoffmann was among the designers to begin to incorporate the technique of bent wood into his pieces after the Thonet Brothers patent expired in the late 1800s. Of special interest is Hoffmann’s bentwood design writing desk with brass rivets in black and green, circa 1901 and crafted by Jacob and Josef Kohn, Vienna. The desk, lot 551, is estimated to sell for 18,000 Euro ($25,632).
Von Zezschwitz has a Design and Murano Glass Auction planned for April 15. Those who enjoy modern and contemporary art should mark their calendars for their auction on May 19. To view online catalogs, visit www.von-zezschwitz.de
Dr. Fischer Kunstauktionen, located in the fairytale Trappensee-Schlößchen in Heilbronn, is known for their glass auctions. But they have also carved out a specialty niche for themselves with their Russian Art and Icon Auctions. Their sale on April 14 is rich with Russian silver, porcelain, glass and other handcrafted objects. It includes Russian poster art as well as paintings that provide a glimpse into the country’s landscape and culture.
The Russian religious icons, with their brilliant color and glints of gold, take center stage at this auction. At the top end of the scale is lot 102, a large (27.2 x 27.4 inches) icon showing the baptism of Christ, painted around 1600. The traditional three-band vertical composition places Christ in the center balanced by John the Baptist on the left and three angels on the right. The work has an estimated price of 22,000 Euro ($31,328).
However, there is a great price range to these lovely art works, and smaller, newer icons in the auction start out at estimated prices of 120 to 150 Euro ($171-$214).
Dr. Fischer Kunstauktionen has scheduled their next art and antique auction for May 14. To view their online catalogs, visit www.auctions-fischer.de
LiveAuctioneers welcomes new member
“We have worked with large auction houses like the Dorotheum and Christie’s as well as private customers and decided to try online auctions with LiveAuctioneers,” said Simon Jahn, owner of The Jahn Gallery, Paul Ehrlichgasse 23, Vienna.
The gallery, which opened in 2007, represents artists from Europe, the USA and Bali, Indonesia at exhibits worldwide. They now plan to hold auctions for their nonartist clients through www.LiveAuctioneers.com The Jahn Gallery’s new exhibition and auction facility is scheduled to open in Vienna in October. Their website, www.jahngallery.com, should be operational in May.
Upcoming Auctions
April 28 to May 12 – Hermann Historica oHG, Munich, auctions 7,700 objects including antiques, weapons, handcrafts, hunting items and militaria. www.hermann-historica.com
May 3 and 4 – Quittenbaum Kunstauktionen, Munich, two-day sale has Jugenstil, Art Deco and Modern Art on May 3; Metal, Silver, Jewelry and Bronzes will be auctioned on May 4. www.quittenbaum.de
May 13 – The Lempertz spring arts and crafts auction in Cologne is filled with porcelain, furniture, jewelry, miniatures and more. www.lempertz.com
May 14 – Ketterer Kunst hosts Modern Art with Collection Schiefler in Munich. The focus of the auction is Expressionism, including works by Emil Nolde and Erich Heckel. www.kettererkunst.de
May 26 to 28 – Bassenge Kunst und Buchauktionen, Berlin, three-day sale features Print Graphics from the 15th to 19th century; Old and New Master drawings and paintings from the 15th to 19th century; and Modern Art. www.bassenge.com
May 26 to 28 – Villa Grisebach, Berlin, offers selections from the collection of Dolf Selbach. Willi Baumeister, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Paul Wunderlich, Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol and other contemporary artists are highlighted. www.villa-grisebach.de
May 28 – WestLicht Auction, Vienna, has a delectable selection of antique and contemporary photographs, including an unusual early Daguerreotype Porte Notre Dame by Auguste Rosalie Bisson, 1842, estimated at 60,000-80,000 Euro ($86,716-115,621). www.westlicht.com
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Bentwood writing desk designed by Josef Hoffmann, circa 1901. Photo courtesy Von Zezschwitz Kunst und Design.This Russian icon featuring the baptism of Christ, painted around 1600, is estimated at 22,000 Euro ($31,328). Photo courtesy Dr. Fischer Kunstauktionen.Hermann Historica’s Lot 3630, an iron cutwork sword from North Germany, circa 1640. Estimate 12,000 Euro ($17,344). Photo copyright Hermann Historica 2011.An early daguerreotype Porte Notre Dame by Auguste Rosalie Bisson, 1842, estimated for 60,000-80,000 Euro ($86,716-$115,621) at WestLicht. Photo courtesy WestLicht Auction.
An early auction success, even for $75. I recently had the opportunity to participate in an auction, not in person but by phone. It had been almost 30 years since I actually bought something at an auction, not counting the cattle I accidentally bought at a livestock auction when I worked for the U.S. Department of Agriculture when I was college. That purchase was voided by a gracious auctioneer – but that’s another story entirely.
The only prior real purchase was at an auction Gail and I attended in the early 1980s. It was mostly an oak auction filled with Golden Oak chests and tables that dealers had acquired on the circuit in the Midwest during the summer. But this sale was in Florida in November and was attended largely by seasonal visitors from – of all places – the Midwest. They loved that Golden Oak stuff and bought carloads of it to take back home after Easter when they went north.
But we found a mahogany Empire sleigh bed, circa 1840, in good condition and promised ourselves we would not pay more than “X” dollars for it, a substantial sum at the time for us. We registered and got a bidder number. When the lot came to the block I eagerly entered my opening bid of $50. I apparently either misunderstood what the auctioneer said next or did not understand the process. He was asking for the next bid of $75 but I thought he said he had $75, so I upped my bid and won the lot against my own bid of $50 for $75. It was well worth the price and is still in use today. So far my outcomes at auctions had not been especially outstanding. Maybe I would have better luck next time.
About 25 years ago, early in our restoration business we redid a china cabinet for a customer, and when our efforts to get her to adopt us so we could inherit the cabinet turned to naught we began to look for one. We initially found several likely candidates, but the asking price was far out of our league. Over the years as I covered auctions for the trade press and wrote press releases for my auction clients we saw many similar cabinets, but they were not exactly what we wanted or the price was again out of our ballpark.
Once the auction business turned to the Internet, Gail entered our key words in an online service that notifies us of things coming to auction in the near future that match our key words. For several years she weeded out false starts, mislabeled items and wishful thinking until one day recently she yelled up the stairs “I found it!” And so she had. It was the cabinet of our dreams it appeared and it was being offered by an auctioneer in a distant state whose auctions I had covered in the past. I called him to ask him his presale estimate. With the “brown goods” market in the shape it’s in it was less than half what we were willing to spend so I registered as a phone bidder.
On auction day at the appointed time, a representative of the auction house called me at home and helped me through the bid procedure. All I had to do was to say “yes” as long as I could stand it. Turned out, as I learned after the sale, there was a dealer on the floor bidding for a customer who really wanted that cabinet. But apparently not as much as I did. I just kept saying “yes” until the dealer dropped out. I ended up paying slightly more than the presale high estimate but still comfortably within my price range even with the buyer’s premium and the shipping. Now I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of our “new” cabinet.
Although I did not actually attend the auction in person I could hear the auctioneer on the phone over the helpful assistant and I could follow the chant. It helped to have acquired a little vocabulary and knowledge about auctions since my early missteps and maybe some key words will help you at your next auction or perhaps even inspire you to attend one if you haven’t gone recently. Some but not all of these terms also apply to online auctions which are not conducted in real time.
First some presale terms of importance –
CONDITIONS OF SALE – This is the fine print seen in most auction ads and catalogs. It sets out the various house rules of the sale such as buyer’s premium, convenience fees, discounts, acceptable lines of credit, check acceptance policies, terms of delivery, etc. Be sure you are familiar with the conditions if you intend to bid.
RESERVE – This is the minimum price the owner/consignor of a piece of merchandise will accept at auction for the merchandise. This amount may or may not be disclosed before the sale; it usually is not. The owner is not legally obligated to accept any bid lower than the reserve but may do so at his/her discretion. Unless a sale is expressly advertised as an “Absolute Auction” or as “Without Reserve” it is normally understood that a sale has reserves on the items.
ABSOLUTE AUCTION – This is a sale at which there are no established reserves and every item offered for sale is sold to the highest bidder, no matter the price.
AS IS, WHERE IS – A term used by auction houses to expressly not guarantee that the item for sale is anything other that what you see in the place where you see it. It is a reinforcement of the “buyer beware” conditions that apply at all auctions and usually will appear in the CONDITIONS OF SALE notice.
ABSENTEE – This is a term that refers to someone who is not actually at the auction but who wishes to bid on an item. In this case they will have left a written bid expressing the highest price they will pay for an item. If the bidding does not reach or exceed their bid (called a “left bid”) they win the item for the next bid increment above the highest onsite bid that does not exceed their maximum price.
PHONE BID – In this case the bidder is participating in real time but is on the phone relaying his bid to an auction house representative.
During the sale –
LOT – This is what individual items for sale are called. A lot may also be a group of items to be sold together or offered for a “choice” bid.
BID INCREMENT – The informal amount by which successive bids increase during a sale. Higher priced items usually have higher bid increments. If the auctioneer is accepting bids increasing in $50 increments, say from $150 to $200, he may be unwilling to “split the bid” and accept a bid of $175. But then again he may. It’s up to the auctioneer.
JUMP BID – A tactic used to intimidate less committed buyers. A bidder may substantially increase the current bid over the bid increment to force out other bidders.
PASSED – What happens when an item does not reach its reserve price. It is “passed” or withdrawn from the sale.
BOUGHT IN – When it appears that an item will not reach a certain price, the “house” enters a bid so that it appears the item was sold but it actually was withdrawn at the auctioneer’s discretion to be offered for sale another time.
ONE MONEY – The price the auctioneer is seeking when a lot has multiple items – a pair of chairs for example for one price for the pair.
X TIMES THE MONEY – The opposite of “one money.” The bids are for one item only. If there are two items the final price is two times the bid, for three items, three times the bid, etc.
CHOICE BID – When there are multiple items in a lot, the auctioneer may ask for a choice bid meaning the winner gets his choice of any item in the lot for the winning bid. The auctioneer will then go the second highest bidder, the back up bid, and ask if he wants the any other item for the same money – if not the bidding starts over again for each item in the lot.
PHANTOM BID – Also known as a “chandelier” bid or an “off the wall” bid. This is a bid announced by the bid caller even though there is no bid of this amount. It is a device sometimes used by bid callers to keep the bid alive and moving upward.
FAIR WARNING – A phrase used by many auctioneers just before the hammer falls to indicate that he is about to accept the last bid and bidding on the item will cease. It serves notice that the sale is about to be over.
HAMMER PRICE – The winning bid.
After the sale you need to know –
BUYER’S PREMIUM – Known in the trade as “the juice,” it is the amount, expressed as a percentage of the winning bid, that is added to the final cost of the item. For example, with a buyer’s premium of 10 percent, an item that received a winning bid of $100 would cost the buyer $110 plus any applicable sales or use taxes.
CONVENIENCE FEE – This a charge imposed by some auction houses on sales which are paid for with a credit card as a way to recover the fees charged by the credit card companies. In some states this is against the merchant agreement so instead of charging a specific “convenience fee” the auction facility charges a higher buyer’s premium but discounts it for cash or check, leaving the credit card user still paying a higher fee.
Now all you have to do is pay the man and collect your merchandise.
Visit Fred’s website at www.furnituredetective.com.His book How To Be a Furniture Detective is available for $18.95 plus $3 shipping. Send check or money order to Fred Taylor, P.O. Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423.
Fred and Gail Taylor’s DVD, Identification of Older & Antique Furniture ($17 + $3 shipping) and a bound compilation of the first 60 columns of Common Sense Antiques by Fred Taylor, ($25 + $3 shipping) are also available at the same address. For more information call 800-387-6377, fax 352-563-2916, or e-mail info@furnituredetective.com. All items are also available directly from the website.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
An early auction success, even for $75.My ‘new’ auction prize, minus all the contents
NEW YORK (LAPRS) – First-quarter results for LiveAuctioneers.com indicate continued forward momentum for the Manhattan-based company, which now provides Internet live-bidding services to more than 1,000 auction houses worldwide.
Quarterly statistics confirmed a dramatic upsurge in bidder signups, unique visitors and catalog page views. Additionally, there was a spike in the number of European auction houses using LiveAuctioneers.com for the first time. In particular, a flurry of requests to try LiveAuctioneers’ Internet live-bidding platform and support services was received during the first quarter from fine art auction houses in Germany.
“The word is out, and European auctioneers want the same advantages for their sales that have benefited their American counterparts for so long,” said LiveAuctioneers Sr. VP Sales Scott C. Miles. “In the first quarter, we welcomed eight new auction-house clients from Germany alone, and the trend indicates that the interest is spreading into Scandinavia, Italy and the Far East, as it continues to sweep across Germany. Right now, our growth pattern internationally is the strongest it has ever been.”
During the first quarter of 2011, there were more than 4.5 million “absolute unique” visitors to LiveAuctioneers.com, where both current and archived auction catalogs are readily available to view. This figure reflects a 92.77% increase over the comparable quarter of 2010.
There was also a sizable jump in the number of overall visits to the LiveAuctioneers site, soaring from 3.8 million in Q1 2010 to 7.1 million in Q1 2011.
“According to our research, many bidders now prefer to view auction catalogs online. It’s cost-effective, it offers an immediately available search function that is a great timesaver, and it’s a ‘green’ solution, as well,” said LiveAuctioneers CEO Julian R. Ellison. “In the first three months of this year, we recorded more than 55 million catalog page views on the site, as compared to 31.9 million in the corresponding quarter of 2010 – an increase of more than 72 percent. This is just the tip of the iceberg. On Saturday, April 9th, LiveAuctioneers.com reached a milestone when it recorded more than 1 million page views within a single 24-hour period – that’s phenomenal.”
Ellison added that a sizable flow of traffic is being redirected to LiveAuctioneers on a regular basis through search engines. “During the first quarter 2011 there were almost 4 million search-engine referrals to LiveAuctioneers – a 73.25% increase over the comparable quarter of 2010,” Ellison said. Additional statistics showed that during Q1 2011 LiveAuctioneers.com attracted 44,544 new-bidder signups.
“Our user base just keeps on growing, as does the suite of services LiveAuctioneers makes available to its auction-house partners,” said Ellison. “During the first quarter we expanded our popular in-house PR agency, LiveAuctioneers PR Services, by launching a design department. Now auctioneers who require professionally designed ads, e-newsletters, e-mail blasts or other graphic products can come to us and know that they will receive prompt, professional service.”
“Overall, these are exciting times for the LiveAuctioneers family of companies, with our greatest growth still ahead of us,” Ellison said. “We are actively reaching out to the European fine-art community and inviting auction houses there to become our partners and experience the advantages our platform and global database of quality bidders can bring to their businesses.”
Visit LiveAuctioneers online at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
The schooner Western Union docked in Key West harbor in 2006. Image by Marc Averette. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) – Key West residents celebrated on Saturday the restoration of a schooner believed to be the world’s only surviving sailing cable ship.
Full refurbishment of the 72-year-old, 130-foot Western Union cost $1.25 million and took more than three years to complete. It was spearheaded by a local organization formed to preserve the vessel and keep it home-ported in Key West, where it was originally assembled.
Launched in 1939, Western Union is a traditional American coasting schooner that served the Western Union Telegraph Co. for 35 years as a cable repair ship. Years later, it operated as a local tour vessel, but maintenance and renovation costs forced the previous owners, Historic Tours of America, to cease the ship’s operations.
Fearful the ship would leave, a group of locals formed the Schooner Western Union Preservation Society and Museum, and the owners agreed to donate the ship to the group as long as it was restored and remained in Key West.
The Monroe County Tourist Development Council contributed $405,000 and the Historic Foundation of the Florida Keys gave $300,000 for repairs. The rest of the funding came from donations from local residents and businesses, and a bank loan.
Key West Mayor Craig Cates, whose grandfather Cecil Cates worked as a mate on the vessel, presided over Saturday’s ceremonies.
“Our maritime history runs deep in Key West, so this is a special day for us and especially for my family, since my grandfather worked on the vessel,” said Cates. “They used to go out and pick up the cable, check it for leaks and repair it.”
Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Western Union is believed to be the world’s only surviving sailing cable ship, according to local maritime historians.
Restoration efforts included replacing numerous hull, transom and deck planks, and refitting all electric, plumbing, engine and steering mechanisms.
The Western Union now carries visitors on day sails, sunset cruises and charters.
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Online:
Schooner Western Union Preservation Society, http://www.schoonerwesternunion.org
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-04-09-11 2135GMT
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The schooner Western Union docked in Key West harbor in 2006. Image by Marc Averette. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
The Acropolis Museum, Athens, as seen at sunset. Sept. 9, 2010 photo by Maarten Dirkse, licensed under the Creative commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
ATHENS (AFP) – The Acropolis Museum was Greece’s top tourist draw in 2010, eclipsing for the first time the ancient Athens citadel whose sculptures it showcases, official data showed on Monday.
Over 1.3 million people queued to visit the country’s newest museum between January and December last year, the Greek statistics authority (Esa) said.
Designed by Franco-Swiss architect Bernard Tschumi, the ultra-modern building lies within sight of the ancient Acropolis citadel and showcases sculptures from the golden age of Athenian democracy in the fifth century B.C.
By comparison, the Acropolis citadel itself drew just over 990,000 people last year after being hit with several strike shutdowns in a broader protest movement against unpopular austerity cuts imposed by the debt-hit government.
Inaugurated in June 2009, the new museum includes a section reserved for the disputed Parthenon Marbles, currently at the British Museum in London.
Greece has long pursued a campaign for the return of the priceless friezes, removed in 1806 by Lord Elgin when Greece was occupied by the Ottoman Empire, which the British Museum refuses to repatriate.
The Greek statistics authority said overall attendance in 2010 had increased by 11.5 percent at the country’s museums and fallen by 7.1 percent at archaeological sites.
Museum income increased by 31.7 percent compared to the same 12-month period in 2009 while site revenues dropped by 8.8 percent, Esa said.
Tourism proceeds are a major source of income for Greece which is battling to emerge from recession after a narrow brush with bankruptcy last year.
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The Acropolis Museum, Athens, as seen at sunset. Sept. 9, 2010 photo by Maarten Dirkse, licensed under the Creative commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
An example of a Tiffany stained glass church window. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archives and Quinn’s Auction Galleries and Waverly Auctions. BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) – As he looks over the sanctuary from his seat in the chancel at First United Methodist Church, the Rev. Chris Andrews says the people and the stained-glass windows are what he sees.
“For me, the people and the windows are First Methodist Church,” said Andrews, the church’s senior minister. “It’s impossible for me to think of our church and not think of those windows. They capture the soul of what the church is.”
The brightly colored windows, installed a short time after the sanctuary was dedicated in 1926, depict different aspects of the life of Jesus through events in his ministry.
“The culmination is in the Last Supper,” Andrews said. “That’s the big window over the north part of the sanctuary.”
The windows are priceless. However, Alan Brock, longtime chairman of the church’s Building and Grounds Committee, began to see deterioration in their condition over the years.
“We noticed real problems with bulging glass and cracking,” he said. “There was even a rag stuffed in place of one missing piece.”
The leadership of the church discussed the window situation for several years and concluded that repairs had to be made.
“The sanctuary windows have been compromised by heat and dirt,” Andrews wrote to his congregation. “The glass panes are in jeopardy because of chipping and hardening of the substance that holds glass to frame. And the windows have accumulated many years of dust and grime that come with urban living.”
After a study, the Building and Grounds Committee contracted with Bovard Studio, of Fairfield, Iowa, to chemically clean and repair the windows.
“They had the best credentials of anyone we looked at,” said Brock, who is overseeing the project.
Alfredo “Fred” Reyna, field crew supervisor for Bovard, said that one of the biggest problems is that in the 1960s, the windows were covered with Plexiglas.
“It was not a ventilated system,” he said.
The area between the Plexiglas and stained glass would heat up, and the stained glass, being the weaker of the two, suffered damage, Reyna said.
The Bovard project includes removing the Plexiglas, cleaning and repairing the windows from the inside and out and replacing the Plexiglas with a protective covering, quarter-inch clear plate-glass.
“It is a huge project,” Andrews said. The church has 79 stained-glass windows including seven large sanctuary windows. Cost of the six-week project is $165,000.
“We first thought we would have to take a staged approach,” Andrews said. “But we were able to come up with the money to do it in one fell swoop.”
The windows were designed by A.A. Leyendecker. “He was from a family of artisans in Bavaria,” said church member Ronald Garay, author of a church history, A Cross at River’s Edge: First United Methodist Church Baton Rouge, published in 2009.
The windows were crafted at the Kansas City Stained Glass Co. in Kansas City, Mo.
The six side windows in the sanctuary cost $750 each. The window depicting the Last Supper cost $1,500. They were originally given as memorials by prominent members of the congregation.
C.W. Meier accompanied the windows to Baton Rouge and supervised their installation.
Meier explained in a State-Times interview published on Sept. 4, 1926, that the windows are genuine stained glass “because no painting is done except in the features of the figures.”
“The rich shading is baked into the glass by passing it through two fires,” Meier said. “The rippling of garments or waving of hair is produced by increasing the thickness of the glass at the point desired.”
The rippling and layering of the glass is similar to the method used in the famous Tiffany windows.
“That’s what made Tiffany unique. They used glass instead of painting,” Reyna said. “We commented on that. We wondered if the windows were Tiffany.”
The colors in the windows are particularly brilliant.
“If you look at the accompanying glass in the windows, you can see that it really sets off the color of the central image,” Garay said. “The windows contain lots of flowers, a lot of symbolism.”
The Rev. Susie Thomas, an associate pastor at First Methodist, said that historically elaborate windows were put in churches “to tell the experience of the Christian faith to a mainly illiterate society.”
They were considered part of the experience of worship.
“The human experience is such that we yearn for connections and realize that words wouldn’t do that for us, so artistic symbols came as a way to express the deeper selves, the deeper journey between ourselves and God,”Andrews said.
The project has made the colors in the windows even more vivid. More light now pours into the sanctuary. The congregation can see how priceless and irreplaceable the windows are.
“When you think of sanctuaries, none are designed in a very efficient way,”Andrews said. “They were designed for an experience, entering into the largeness of God.”
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Information from: The Advocate, http://www.2theadvocate.com
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Punta della Dogana e Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, Italy. Photo from Flickr licensed through Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
VENICE, Italy (AFP) – Grotesque heads, an American brothel and a life-sized headless horse star in a new Venice exhibition drawn from French billionaire fashion tycoon Francois Pinault’s personal collection.
“In Praise of Doubt” is the latest contemporary art exhibition at the Punta della Dogana gallery, a former Venetian Republic Customs House located at the center of the lagoon on the Grand Canal, just across from Piazza San Marco.
The eclectic collection, inspired by “uncertainty and convictions about identity,” features 19 established and up-and-coming artists, from minimalist Donald Judd to playful Jeff Koons and self-declared clown Paul McCarthy.
The 15th-century gallery, with its wooden-beamed ceilings and tall windows looking out over passing gondolas, was transformed after Pinault won a contest in 2007 to create a brand new contemporary art centre in the floating city.
The self-made art buff, who owns the Gucci Group – including Yves Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, and Alexander McQueen – as well as Christie’s auction house, has given Venice’s Guggenheim modern art museum a run for its money.
In 2007 Pinault called in Japanese architect and former boxer Tadao Ando to renovate the space and unveiled the gallery to great fanfare two years later.
Along with its sister gallery, the Palazzo Grassi – which Pinault has owned since 2005 – the Punta della Dogana draws in around 1,000 visitors a day, nearly matching the prestigious Guggenheim in the popularity stakes.
“We have around 350,000 to 400,000 (people) come through each year. Almost as most as the Guggenheim and markedly more than the Accademia art museum,” Martin Bethenod, the gallery’s director, told AFP.
74-year old Pinault bought the Grassi – which had stood empty since its former owner, Fiat’s Gianni Agnelli, died – after an ambitious project to build a museum on the Ile de Seguin outside Paris came to nothing. Within a year, the luxury goods tycoon had transformed the Grand Canal palace into a contemporary museum to house his 2,500 or so artworks, many of which are then put on show for six to 18 months at a time in both galleries.
“In Praise of Doubt” runs until December 31, 2012. The new exhibition stars controversial Italian Maurizio Cattelan’s headless taxidermied horse, which hangs in mid air from a wall as if it is trying to leap through the concrete, and Jeff Koon’s large red Hanging Heart.
Koons, an ex-broker who was married to an Italian pornstar and is known for his large stainless steel blowups, said he worked “with objects and images that come from the everyday world, as references to acceptance of our environment.”
“Once you do experience acceptance, it takes away any anxiety and stops you judging other people,” he told AFP.
Cattelan’s stark take on environment and mortality is captured in All, a white marble sculpture made up of nine draped corpses – one visibly pregnant – which dominates one of the gallery’s cavernous rooms.
Themes of sexuality and identity are explored in Paul McCarthy’s bulbous, leering male head on the body of a naked woman, and in David Hammons’ haunting ivory wedding gown, suspended in the air in Forgotten Dream.
Edward Kienholz’s Roxys, a throwback to a 1940s American brothel, features prostitutes grotesquely assembled from worn and withered everyday objects, waiting for their wartime clients, while a jukebox churns out tunes in the background.
“There is a theory… that creativity died a couple of decades back and that everything that is produced now is a fraud. I find that very depressing and negative,” Pinault told AFP ahead of the exhibition opening on April 10.
“There are, and always will be, greatly talented and creative artists in the world,” said Pinault, whose investment in contemporary art saw him shoot to the top of ArtReview Magazine‘s 100 most powerful list in 2006.
“Despite the claims of certain critics, artistic creation is not dead.”
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Punta della Dogana e Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, Italy. Photo from Flickr licensed through Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
