MIAMI – Recently published statistics indicate that revenue from online auctions and e-commerce experienced astounding growth at a cumulative rate of 469% from 2000 to 2009, outperforming most retail sectors and making the category the third-fastest-growing industry behind only VoIP and search engines. The pattern is expected to continue, with a 125% growth rate projected for online auctions and e-commerce through 2019.
Among the Internet sites leading the sector are Manhattan-based LiveAuctioneers.com and the Miami, Fla., company eBid.net.
LiveAuctioneers.com, headed by CEO Julian R. Ellison, has seen its corporate revenues increase by 205% from 2004 to 2010. “Knowing how to generate traffic that directly results in bids being made in our clients’ auctions has been a key element to our success,” said Ellison. “During the first quarter of 2011, there were more than 7.1 million visits to LiveAuctioneers.com. This was an increase of nearly 87% over the comparable quarter of 2010.”
The 67% increase in online affiliate marketing program investments in 2010 is viewed as having been a reaction to the uncertain job market. Many individuals are opting to start independent, Web-based businesses, and such marketing programs are essential to their success.
The online auction site eBid (http://www.ebid.net), announced today that it is preparing the launch of a new affiliate marketing program with Commission Junction, the largest pay-for-performance marketing network in the world. Commission Junction will provide eBid affiliates with trusted third-party tracking, real-time reporting and monthly commissions.
“The online auction and e-commerce market is a $95 billion industry, with healthy growth projected,” said eBid co-founder Gary Sewell. “Connecting millions of people around the world since 1999, our position as the leading eBay alternative online auction site, coupled with our new program, gives affiliates a solid foundation and an unmatched opportunity to earn high-paying commissions. Sewell said the partnership will allow eBid to reach affiliate marketers, entrepreneurs, work-at-home-moms and opportunity seekers in a broader fashion. Their concept is simple: drive traffic to eBid and get paid for it.
Ellison said the LiveAuctioneers business model is structured from top to bottom with traffic generation as the goal. “It’s what drives our various revenue streams, and it’s challenging because it’s not a static concept,” Ellison said. “The Internet is endlessly self innovative. It changes every day, and we make sure we change right along with it.”
Remains of sanctuaries at the ancient Dacian fortress Sarmizegetusa, currently under reconstruction. The solid circular object made of stone pavers is a solar disc. 2007 photo by Fdominec, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
BUCHAREST (AFP) – Romania has recovered more of a priceless ancient treasure, stolen years ago from the archaeological site of Sarmisegetusa Regia, the head of the national history museum said Wednesday.
A total of 232 artifacts, including a gold bracelet, two iron shields and gold and silver coins were bought back from a German collector, Ernest Tarnoveanu told a press conference.
The 933-gram (two pound) bracelet is the 13th such artefact recovered since 2005, Tarnoveanu said, stressing that 11 more bracelets, all dating from the 1st century BC, are still missing.
“These bracelets are the most spectacular Dacian artefacts handed down to us,” Tarnoveanu said.
The Dacians, an Indo-European people conquered by the Romans in the 1st century AD, are the ancestors of the Romanians.
After the treasure of Pietroasele, which includes gold figurines weighing more than 19 kilos, “this is the most important find made on Romanian territory,” Tarnoveanu said.
The 13 beautifully decorated golden spiral bracelets recovered so far were among 24 stolen between 1998 and 2001, when the Sarmisegetusa site in southwest Romania was plundered.
Elements of the hoard have been recovered from American, German and Swiss collectors who had bought them in good faith, prosecutor Augustin Lazar said.
Lazar said 28 Romanians have so far been indicted for plundering Sarmisegetusa, part of UNESCO’s world heritage. Thirteen of them received prison sentences of between seven and 12 years in December 2009.
Interpol and law enforcement authorities of Austria, Britain, Belgium, France, Germany, Serbia, Switzerland and the United States helped with the investigation, Lazar said.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Remains of sanctuaries at the ancient Dacian fortress Sarmizegetusa, currently under reconstruction. The solid circular object made of stone pavers is a solar disc. 2007 photo by Fdominec, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic and 1.0 Generic license.
Forbidden City Imperial Guardian Lions. Jan. 18, 2003 photo by Allen Timothy Chang, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
BEIJING, May 11, 2011 (AFP) – Police in Beijing Wednesday detained a 28-year-old man suspected of stealing several items from the Forbidden City, in a rare theft at China’s ancient imperial palace museum, state media reported.
Police seized the suspect, Shi Baikui, Wednesday evening in southwest Beijing and he had confessed to the theft, Xinhua news agency said.
Some of the items had been recovered and the investigation was continuing, it said. Shi was from the eastern province of Shandong but no further details were released about him.
Officials at the Forbidden City earlier told police that seven items belonging to an exhibit on loan from a private Hong Kong museum and valued at up to 10 million yuan ($1.5 million) were stolen on Sunday, the Beijing News reported.
Police said a “suspicious” man had fled after being stopped by a palace museum worker, Xinhua said. Several items were later discovered to be missing from the temporary exhibition.
The stolen items, which date from the early 20th century, include jewelry boxes and women’s make-up cases, reports said.
The items were taken from the Zhai Gong exhibit hall in the northeastern part of the sprawling palace, where the display was to continue until June 27, the Beijing News said. The section was closed to tourists following the incident.
The exhibit was on loan from the Liang Yi Museum, which is owned by a Hong Kong collector identified as Feng Yaohui, the paper said.
In the most recent theft attempt at the heavily guarded Forbidden City, police in 1987 captured a man identified as Xiang Dexiang, who was unsuccessful but was still sentenced to life in prison, the Global Times reported.
According to police records, only four thefts have been recorded at the Forbidden City between 1949 and 1987, the paper said.
Located in central Beijing, the Forbidden City was first built in the early decades of the 15th century and served as the imperial palace of China’s Ming and Qing Dynasties. It was transformed into the Palace Museum in 1925 after the fall of the Qing.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Forbidden City Imperial Guardian Lions. Jan. 18, 2003 photo by Allen Timothy Chang, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
NEW YORK (AFP) – Anyone with a taste for toasting the rich, famous and incarcerated might want to know about this: fraudster Bernard Madoff’s wine cellar is coming to the auction block.
Morrel and Company, a New York concern, will hold the sale May 18 on the Internet.
Up for grabs will be 58 lots running from the very upmarket bottle of 1975 Chateau Petrus worth an estimated $700-$1,000 dollars to a more mundane bottle of Cinzano vermouth expected to fetch perhaps $60.
“The proceeds from the sale of these items will go towards the general recovery effort,” a company statement said.
“As artifacts of history they are unique, which is why we have chosen to offer all of the bottles seized, including those which normally wouldn’t pass muster and make it into our auction. Some of the bottles are better viewed as conversation pieces rather than valued for their contents, but conversation pieces they are,” it added.
Madoff, 72, who touted himself as one of New York’s most successful money managers, was arrested in late 2008 and sentenced in June 2009 to 150 years in prison in what was described as one of the biggest pyramid schemes ever.
His victims, including charities, major banks, Hollywood moguls and savvy financial players, entrusted him with tens of billions of dollars over more than two decades.
Gen. Robert E. Lee, photographed in 1863. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – It’s an enduring myth of the Civil War: Robert E. Lee surrendered his sword to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, and his Union counterpart refused the traditional gesture of surrender.
“Lee never offered it, and Grant never asked for it,” said Patrick Schroeder, historian at Appomattox Courthouse National Historical Park.
In an historical twist, though, Lee’s French-made ceremonial sword is returning to Appomattox 146 years later, leaving the Richmond museum where it has been displayed for nearly a century.
The Museum of the Confederacy in downtown Richmond is delivering one of its most-treasured pieces to Appomattox for a new museum that it’s building less than a mile from where Lee met with Grant to sign the document of surrender on April 9, 1865. The Army of Northern Virginia’s formal surrender followed three days later, effectively drawing to a close the Civil War that left about 630,000 dead.
The sword, scabbard and the Confederate gray uniform Lee wore to his fateful meeting with Grant, are all destined to be displayed about 75 miles west of Richmond when the museum opens next spring.
Senior curator Robert F. Hancock said the Lee sword remains one of the Confederacy museum’s biggest attractions.
“It’s a one-of-a-kind piece,” he said. “There’s really no replacement so you can’t put a value on it. It’s like putting a value on the Mona Lisa. It can’t be done.”
Wearing white gloves, Hancock lifted the glittering sword and its scabbard from a metal case, both freshly conserved after years of polishing had erased much of the gold gilt from the brass. With the gold gone, the sword’s elaborate hilt had turned a dull ocher.
The 40 1/2-inch sword now sparkles, from the lion head on its pommel to the gilded relief on its steel sword. It has an ivory grip.
One side of the blade, in raised letters, reads: “Gen. Robert E. Lee CSA from a Marylander 1863.”
The Lee admirer who had it commissioned in Paris by Louis-Francois Devisme is not known, Hancock said.
The other side of the blade reads: “Aide toi dieu l’aidera.” Translated, it means, “Help yourself and God will help you.”
The scabbard is made of blued steel.
“This would have been very expensive to produce and purchase,” Hancock said of the sword. “It’s the only one like this I’ve ever seen and the fanciest one I’ve ever seen from a Confederate officer.”
The museum claims to possess the world’s largest collection of Confederate artifacts, including battle flags, military gear, uniforms and domestic items.
Russell Bernabo, a fine object conservator, was selected by the museum to restore the piece to its original luster. He considered 12 different samples of gold before settling on a match: 23-karat Italian gold in tissue-thin sheets, used to restore gilt to the engraved text on the blade, the hilt and pommel.
Bernabo approached the job with reverence.
“For an object of this iconic significance, the most important consideration is to not do anything that is too intrusive,” he said. “This sword is of the very highest workmanship. This is absolutely top notch.”
Bernabo was also mindful of the man whose hand once grasped its ivory grip.
“At no moment did I ever consider this to be a burden,” he said. “It was an effervescent treat to be working with such an object. It truly had an energy of its own.”
The sword was intended for ceremonial use. There is no evidence Lee used it in battle.
Lee surrendered after his forces were blocked near Appomattox Court House.
The Virginian returned to Richmond after the surrender and then became president of what is now Washington and Lee University; he died on Oct. 12, 1870 and is buried in the university’s chapel.
Lee’s descendants permanently loaned the sword to the Museum of the Confederacy in 1918. The family bequeathed the sword and scabbard to the museum in 1982.
The museum is sharing its collection – a fraction of which is on display at the Richmond facility, which will remain open – at three planned centers in Virginia. Besides Appomattox, others are planned in the Fredericksburg area and in Hampton Roads.
“I’ll miss not seeing it every day,” Hancock said of the Lee sword. “It’s such an important icon for Lee and the South and the war, and specifically Appomattox. I think any disadvantage of it not being in Richmond will be far outweighed by its presence in Appomattox.”
As for Schroeder, he’s thrilled to have it in the neighborhood. He said it’s a powerful metaphor for the day in 1865 when Grant, who was born of modest means, and the patrician Lee met.
“Lee represented what the country had been, and Grant represented more of Lincoln and what the future would be – that now the common man has a chance to make something of himself,” Schroeder said.
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Online:
Museum of the Confederacy: www.moc.org
Russell Bernabo: www.russellbernabo.com
Appomattox Courthouse National Historic Park: www.moc.org
Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-10-11 1751GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Gen. Robert E. Lee, photographed in 1863. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Leroy Neiman signed serigraph, artist proof, ‘Harry’s Wall Street Bar,’ matted and framed, art measures 38 inches wide x 25 1/4 tall. Estimate: $400-$600. Image courtesy of Auctions Neapolitan.
NAPLES, Fla. – A collection of antique pocket watches, “loads” of hickory-shaft golf clubs and several noteworthy works of art should make Auctions Neapolitan’s offering Saturday, May 14, especially appealing to men.
LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet bidding for the 369-lot auction, which begins at noon Eastern.
“It’s guy stuff,” said Auctions Neapolitan’s owner Kathleen Pica. “It’s a lot of fun, affordable gentlemen’s things.”
Reviewing the preliminary online bids, she pointed to a pair of highly sought-after items. One is a 17-jewel railroad standard pocket watch made by the Ball Watch Co. in an open-face silver case. Another is a Leroy Neiman signed serigraph titled Harry’s Wall Street Bar. The artist proof print is in a frame 49 inches wide by 38 inches high and has a $400-$600 estimate.
A framed Audubon chromolithograph, Wild Turkey, measuring 39 1/2 inches high by 29 inches wide, carries a $4,000-$6,000 estimate.
The auction will also feature clocks, art pottery, sports items and collectibles.
For details visit Auctions Neapolitan’s website www.auctionsn.com or phone 239-262-7333.
Ball Watch Co. produced this standard railroad pocket watch in an open-face silver case. The size 18 watch carries a conservative $50-$100 estimate. Image courtesy of Auctions Neapolitan.Framed Audubon chromolithograph ‘Wild Turkey,’ marked ‘ … J. Bien, New York 1858,Monumental 19th century oil painting depicting soldiers, peasants and royal travelers in a landscape background, no apparent signatures, frame measures 80 inches x 58 inches. Estimate $2,000-$3,000. Image courtesy of Auctions Neapolitan.‘Brillo’ poster after Andy Warhol, color screen print, unsigned, published for the Warhol exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of Art in 1970, 30 inches x 26 inches. Estimate: $600-$800.
America’s beloved “Singing Cowboy” Gene Autry in a digitized version of a photo sourced through the California Masons. Photographer unknown. Fair use of a low-resolution, unique historic image.
LOS ANGELES – America’s beloved “Singing Cowboy,” Gene Autry, will be in the spotlight once again on Sunday, May 22, at Abell Auction Company’s Los Angeles gallery. In addition to fine art, antiques, fine jewelry and silver, Abell’s 500-lot Spring Fine Art and Antique Sale includes property from the Estate of Gene Autry to benefit the Autry National Center. Abell will introduce Internet live bidding to their customers for the first time, with LiveAuctioneers.com providing the service.
Gene Autry was in the public eye as a singer and actor for more than three decades. He began his career on the radio during the 1930s, later making the transition into movies and television. An astute businessman, Autry was owned the Los Angeles/California Angels Major League Baseball team, a television station and several radio stations in Southern California.
Although Autry’s signature song was Back in the Saddle Again, he is best remembered today for his Christmas songs: Here Comes Santa Claus (which he wrote), Frosty the Snowman, and his biggest hit, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
Abell will be auctioning many fine custom furniture pieces from Autry’s Studio City estate, as well at the 1949 Steinway & Sons Model L grand piano on which Autry wrote Here Comes Santa Claus, estimate $10,000-$15,000. Other highlights from the Autry estate include a Watling Big-Six five-cent oak slot machine (est. $7,000-$10,000), a collection of contemporary Western paintings and bronzes; and personal memorabilia.
The May 22 auction also includes important French furniture from Santa Barbara and Dana Point estates, as well as a collection of 24K gold candlesticks, figures and reproduction coins sold on behalf of an educational institution.
From the Santa Barbara estate, Abell will be selling a Louis XV chinoiserie commode stamped L. Boudin (est. $20,000-$30,000) and an exquisite Regence provincial carved fruitwood commode (est. $6,000-$8,000), plus wonderful hall mirrors and a collection of occasional tables and chairs. From the Dana Point estate, Abell secured a pair of 19th-century ormolu-mounted figural pedestals (est. $8,000-$12,000), an elaborately carved American walnut dining suite in the Renaissance style (est. $4,000-$6,000), and a collection of 19th-century Old Master-style paintings.
From other Southern California estates, Abell will be offering a pair of life-size Venetian carved and polychrome blackamoors (est. $10,000-$15,000); a French dore bronze and malachite salon table (est. $15,000-$20,000); and a collection of 19th-century clocks, bibliotheques, commodes and other impressive furnishings.
Abell will also be presenting a collection of gold items including two gold candlesticks with gold fineness testing at or above 22 karats and weighing approximately 6,160 grams (est. $200,000-250,000), a set of six 24K Southeast Asian-style heads of Buddha with a total weight of approximately 1,400 grams (est. $45,000-$60,000) and a lot of 24K gold casting grains weighing approximately 2,430 grams (est. $78,000-$85,000).
In addition, Abell is offering an early 20th-century silver and enameled Russian kovsh with the mark of the 11th Artel, Moscow, circa 1908-17 (est. $15,000-20,000), a chased and cast Gorham sterling tea and coffee service with applied cherub heads ($15,000-20,000), and other Regency and Victorian silver coffee and tea services. Sterling flatware sets including Jensen Pyramid, International Royal Danish, Wallace Sir Christopher, and Reed & Barton Florentine Lace round out the selection.
Five bronzes by Harriet Frishmuth are entered in the sale, including Crest of the Waves ($15,000-$20,000) and Reflections ($10,000-$15,000), as are paintings and works on paper signed or attributed to Edouard Cortes, Camille Bombois, Hans Zatska, Theo Tobiasse, Karl Benjamin, Andy Warhol, Milford Zornes and many others.
Julian R. Ellison, CEO of LiveAuctioneers, expressed his delight over Abell Auctions’ decision to incorporate Internet live bidding into their sales, starting with the May 22 event.
“A.N. Abell Auction Company is an institution in Los Angeles. Their origins date back to World War I, and there are generations of families that have bought in their sales,” said Ellison. “We are extraordinarily pleased that Abell Auction has chosen LiveAuctioneers to provide Internet live-bidding services for their sales. It’s a first for them, and we’re very excited to be able to introduce such a distinguished company to our worldwide base of bidders.”
For additional information on any lot in the sale, call Joe Baratta at 323-724-8102.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Pair of 18K yellow gold candlesticks, total weight 198.07 troy oz., est. $200,000- $250,000. Abell Auction image.1949 Steinway mahogany-case grand piano on which Gene Autry composed the classic Christmas tune ‘Here Comes Santa Claus,’ est. $10,000-$15,000. Abell Auction image.California Angels team jacket, offered with two Angels paperweights. Provenance: Estate of Gene Autry, who was the team’s owner, est. $200-$400. Abell Auction image.Earl Bascom bronze of Turk Greenough, 18 1/2 inches tall. Provenance: Estate of Gene Autry, est. $1,000-$1,500. Abell Auction image.Louis XV ormolu-mounted chinoiserie bombe commode, stamped ‘L. Boudin,’ est. $20,000-$30,000. Abell Auction image.Pair of club chairs with horse-theme upholstery. Provenance: Estate of Gene Autry, est. $1,000-$1,500. Abell Auction image.Watling Big Six upright 5-cent slot machine with paneled oak case. Provenance: Estate of Gene Autry, est. $7,000-$10,000.Custom walnut office desk from the Estate of Gene Autry, est. $4,000-$6,000. Abell Auction image.Edward H. Bohlin jacket with Gene Autry’s name custom-embroidered on the front. Provenence: Estate of Gene Autry, est. $200-$400.Cowboy hat manufactured by Resistol and retailed by Nudies, North Hollywood. Provenance: Estate of Gene Autry, est. $200-$400.French gilt-bronze figural dresser mirror in the Louis XVI style, est. $1,000-$1,500. Abell Auction image.
Nineteenth century Chinese white jade ruyi scepter made with zitan wood with three white jade plaques, with original case. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of A.H. Wilkens Auctions & Appraisals.
TORONTO – A.H. Wilkens’ latest Fine and Decorative Arts Auction catalog has been released to LiveAuctioneers. The auction is scheduled for Tuesday, May 17, at 7 p.m. Eastern at their downtown Toronto gallery. The 380-lot auction features a broad selection of fine quality antiques, jewelery and art from private collections and estates from the region.
LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
“Our offering will certainly entice buyers from around the world. We are very pleased with the collection, most notably, the silver and Chinese art,” said Andrew Wilkens, one of two principals with the auction house.
Silver highlights include an Art Deco tea set and tray with ebonized attachments from the Dutch silver maker Christa Ehrlich for Zilverfabriek Voorschoten, William and Mary Trefid spoons, an A.E. Jones Arts and Crafts canister, an 18th century French silver ecuelle in pristine condition. A fine collection of Indian and Chinese colonial silver is among the other gems of Georgian, Victorian, Canadian and Continental silver.
A 19th century white jade ruyi sceptre with its original wood case, estimated at $10,000-$15,000 is the highest valued lot in the Chinese art. Other significant lots include a large pair of turquoise glaze lions, a Ming bronze Buddha from the Yongle reign, a pair of Claire de Lune dragon bottle vases and several lots of 18th century export porcelain and cloisonné.
The auction is rounded out with an interesting selection of jewelery, pottery and porcelain, glass, decorative accessories, furniture and fine art. A beautiful hand-made jadeite, diamond and gold bracelet commences the auction, followed by more gems and watches. A collection of 18th century porcelain including Nymphenburg, Worcester, Chelsea, Savona, 19th century Wedgwood jasper, Meissen and Sevres are highlighted. Fine Victorian tole, papier-mâché, pietre dure and a micro mosaic Doves of Pliny paperweight close the auction along with a Queen Anne long-case clock with original movement by Joseph Shepard. Being a Canadian auction house, no auction is complete without a spattering of fine art by the likes of J.W. Beatty, Alan Collier and Stanley Cosgrove.
A.H. Wilkens Auctions & Appraisals has quickly built up a reputation as being a knowledgeable and respected auction house in Canada. Since their inception in early 2010 they have become Toronto’s second-largest auction house. “Our areas of expertise include good antiques, fine art and Asian art,” said principal Andrea Zeifman. “We believe the Internet has strengthened the global community. Our goal is to keep on the cusp of new trends in the international marketplace.”
For details visit A.H. Wilkens’ website at www.ahwilkens.com or phone 416-360-7600.
Suzanne Valadon (1865-1938), oil on canvas, signed and dated 1926, 18 1/4 inches x 15 inches. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The market for Cuban art is strong, competitive and definitely mysterious in South Florida. On Monday, May 23, and Tuesday, May 24, Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches will offer to collectors a group of Cuban artworks that according to gallery president Brian Kogan, “is as far as I know is totally new and unseen to the auction market.”
LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
The problems in establishing authenticity are well known in the Cuban art market. With the political issues surrounding Cuban art and the some of the scandals that have ensued in Cuba and in Miami over the past 25 years, getting a Cuban work of art authenticated in writing is next to impossible. Aware of these difficulties the consignor decided to offer the works without any guarantee of authenticity and let the buyers establish how desirable and valuable the works are.
The collection is an array of Cuban artists including paintings and watercolors by Rene Portocarrero, Mario Carreno, Segundo Cabrera Moreno, Leopold Romanach and two bronze sculptures by Manuel Carbonell. There are two paintings by Rene Portocarrero, one an oil on canvas of the façade of the Cathedral de Madrid at night in his characteristic colorful palette and heavy impasoto, and a watercolor of a Harlequin musician dated 1960. The paintings by Segundo Cabrera Moreno are visually exciting with the imagery of farm workers wrangling horses. Both are signed and dated for 1964. There are two paintings by Leopold Romanch y Guillen of beach scenes and two figurative bronzes by Manuel Carbonell.
The May 23 auction will also feature an oil on canvas still life by French artist Suzanne Valadon dated 1926 from a Boca Raton private collection with provenance. Valadon is the mother of Maurice Utrillo (French 1883-1955), and there is a large and beautiful Le Pho oil on silk painting from a Fort Lauderdale collection with many other paintings and prints coming from a Boca Raton estate plus additional fine art by James Coignard, Franklin De Haven, Erte, Salvador Dali, Eugene Lami, Fritz Bultman and Robert Motherwell.
The auction will also have an array of Orientalia. As the market for Chinese and Oriental items is still ascending, the consignments from South Florida and the Palm Beaches continues to unearth remarkable objects. Featured is an important collection of jades to include a set of 10 19th century green nephrite book tablets with Imperial marks and a celadon nephrite archaistic Fang Ding censor with elephant handles. Also featured is a Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze bodhisattva with a Yung Lo (15th century) mark and an exotic 50 lot snuff bottle collection with some excellent examples in jade, enamel and ivory.
From the Boca Raton estate there is a Lalique “Cactus” table, a pair of 5-foot uncarved ivory tusks, a 19th century Chinese four panel screen, Paul Storr silver, Meissen 10-piece monkey band, R. Lalique, and a Russian five-piece silver and enamel tea service along with English, Italian and French furniture, carpets and lighting.
For more information and images see the auction house’s website at www.AGOPB.com or call 561-805-7115. In addition to Internet live bidding with LiveAuctioneers, absentee and phone bidding is available. Previews will be online and at the gallery, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday; noon–5 p.m. Sunday; and 10 a.m. to the start of the auction. The auction will start each day at 6 p.m. Eastern.
The Gallery is located at 1609 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 5, West Palm Beach, Florida 33401.
Faberge silver and enamel tea service (1908-1917) with imperial warrant. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches.Rene Portocarrero (1912-1986), oil on canvas, signed and dated ’63. The painting measures 39 1/2 inches x 29 1/2 inches. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches.Manuel Carbonell (b. 1918), bronze, signed, marked No. 3/8, dated ‘91,’ 36 inches high. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches.Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze Bodhisattva. Ming Dynasty. Yung-Lo mark, 1403-1424. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches.
