July 2011 - Page 3 of 18 - Auction Central News

Bail set for presidential historian charged with document theft

Baltimore police mugshot of presidential historian Barry Landau.

BALTIMORE (AP) – The FBI is unraveling a yearlong plot by two New York City men to sell valuable historical documents they stole from archives around the country, a Baltimore prosecutor said Tuesday at bail hearings related to the alleged theft of $6 million in documents.

Bail was set at $500,000 for presidential historian Barry Landau, 63, and $750,000 for his 24-year-old assistant Jason Savedoff. Both had been held without bail since their arrest on charges of theft over $100,000 earlier this month. Their attorneys dispute the charges.

The men were arrested July 9 after a Maryland Historical Society employee saw Savedoff take a document out of the library, prosecutor Tracy Varda said. When officers arrived at the historical society, Savedoff was in the men’s restroom and shreds of paper were seen in the toilet after he left, leading investigators to believe he may have flushed documents, she said.

Investigators found 60 historical documents, many of them signed out by Landau, inside a locker Savedoff was using at the library, Varda said. They include papers signed by President Abraham Lincoln worth $300,000 and presidential inaugural ball invitations and programs worth $500,000.

“He shows zero respect for the history of this country. The documents he has stolen represent the heritage and history of this country,” Varda told the judge, adding that when considering whether Landau was a flight risk, this behavior may translate to a lack of respect for the court system, too.

Landau’s attorney, Andrew C. White, a former federal prosecutor, argued that the case before the judge was a non-violent, attempted theft case with no loss and he suspects the actual value of the documents will turn out to be significantly lower. Landau, who appeared in a disheveled blue and white striped button-down shirt and khakis, is very well known in his field and is not likely to be able to walk into a library at this point, he said.

The FBI is involved in the investigation under a federal statute that covers museum thefts, but no federal charges have been filed. So far, the FBI has found that the men have been taking documents from archives including the National Archives, Vassar College, presidential libraries and historical societies in New York and Connecticut over the last year, Varda said. When the FBI examined the documents, investigators found a list of historical names — including Presidents Harry S. Truman, Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew Jackson and President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis — with values next to them, believed to be the value of documents the men were looking for, she said.

Documents found at Landau’s mid-town Manhattan apartment were taken to the National Archives to be cataloged. Investigators believe one of those recovered documents, an April 1780 letter from Benjamin Franklin to John Paul Jones about acquiring military supplies and worth about $100,000, was taken from the New York Historical Society in March, Varda said. Investigators also believe that Landau and Savedoff took a set of inaugural addresses signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt from the Roosevelt presidential library in December and later sold them to a New York dealer for $35,000, she told the judge.

FBI investigators also found typewritten library catalog cards they believe the men took so libraries would not know the documents were stolen, she said.

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania told The Associated Press that it received information last week that Landau may have tried to sell a letter signed by George Washington that went missing from the society’s collection. Records show that in the weeks before it was offered for sale, Savedoff checked out a box that contained the letter during one of the duo’s 17 visits to the archive in Philadelphia. But after the dealer contacted the society to see if it was missing from their collection, the society said the letter was mailed back anonymously.

The FBI doesn’t know who Savedoff is and is unsure of his citizenship, a pretrial services representative told the judge, noting that Savedoff had used multiple aliases. Savedoff, who appeared in a bright yellow jumpsuit, has dual American and Canadian citizenship, his attorney, Larry Nathans said, adding that he has a sociology degree from the University of Canada and is an accomplished violinist, he said.

Savedoff’s mother flew in from Canada and planned to get an apartment in the area if Savedoff was granted bail, Nathans said. Noting that Savedoff was hunched over with his head down, Judge Stuart Berger asked if he was having medical problems. Nathans said Savedoff suffers from Crohn’s disease, which has been causing him significant stomach problems that he has not been able to regulate by adjusting his diet in jail.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Ancient gold bell found in Jerusalem Old City sewer

The tiny gold bell was apparently lost near Jerusalem’s Second Temple, depicted here in a scale model. Image by Ariely. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

JERUSALEM (AP) – A tiny golden bell pulled after 2,000 years from an ancient sewer beneath the Old City of Jerusalem was shown Sunday by Israeli archaeologists, who hailed it as a rare find.

The orb half an inch in diameter has a small loop that appears to have been used to sew it as an ornament onto the clothes of a wealthy resident of the city two millennia ago, archaeologists said.

When Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority shook it Sunday, the faint metallic sound was something between a clink and a rattle.

The bell’s owner likely “walked in the street, and somehow the golden bell fell from his garment into the drainage channel,” Shukron said.

The relic was found last week. Shukron said it was the only such bell to be found in Jerusalem from the Second Temple period, and as such was a “very rare” find. The Second Temple stood from about 515 B.C. until A.D. 70.

The biblical Book of Exodus mentions tiny golden bells sewn onto the hem of the robes of Temple priests, along with decorative pomegranates. The artisans in charge of making the priestly clothes and implements, according to the Bible, “made bells of pure gold, and attached the bells around the hem of the robe between the pomegranates.”

It was not known whether this bell was attached to a priestly garment. It is engraved with a pattern of circular channels starting at the top.

The bell was found inside the Old City walls, a few paces from the site of the Jewish Temples – the sacred compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary. The compound is home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the golden-capped Islamic shrine known as the Dome of the Rock.

The excavation of the sewer is part of the City of David excavations in the oldest section of Jerusalem, which lies just outside the current city walls and underneath the Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan. In the past, Palestinians have objected to Israeli excavations in that area.

The sewer, which Jewish rebels are thought to have used to flee the Roman legionnaires who razed Jerusalem and its Temple in A.D. 70, is set to open to the public later this summer.

AP-WF-07-24-11 1854GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Unique items in Michaan’s Aug. 7 Estate Auction

Phillip Moulthrop, ash leaf maple late turned hollow vessel. Estimate: $3,000-$5,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

ALAMEDA, Calif. – Michaan’s Aug. 7 Estate Auction will feature more than 900 lots of property sourced from private collections, estates, institutions and other sellers. Each monthly Estate Auction includes collectibles such as paintings and prints, jewelry, Asian works of art, rugs, silver, American and European furniture and decorative arts, with estimates ranging from $150 to $20,000 per lot.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

The Jewelry Department showcases two beautiful necklaces with inventive design sensibilities, unique and ingenious in their own right. The first is an amethyst, diamond, 9K yellow gold necklace cleverly pieced together by an independent jewelry designer. The dangle-style necklace features an approximately 36-carat amethyst hanging from a gold floral motif piece accented with gemstones. The redesign of the Victorian pendant and brooch pieces makes for a surprisingly fresh, cohesive look, creating a one-of-a-kind piece not to be missed (lot 188, $1,800-$2,500).

Lot 260 features a necklace with a contemporary take on Edwardian style producing an ornate, romantic item with a renewed and current feel. The lush and feminine curving motifs apparent in filigree work of the time are echoed, but with a more streamlined and clean aesthetic. The sapphire, diamond, 18K white gold necklace is then completed by a fine white gold chain and is being offered at a $6,500-$7,500 estimate.

Presented in the Asian Art portion of this sale is an attractive collection of decorative items. Worthy of mention are two ivory carvings of an emperor and empress (lot 371, $4,000-$6,000), a 20 1/2-inch ivory Guanyin (lot 373, $1,200-$1,500), a pair of Famille Rose-enameled porcelain ginger jars (lot 315, $300-$500) and a carved dark wood stand inset with a marble top (lot 409, $600-$800).

A strong showing of decorative items is also seen from the Furniture and Decorative Arts Department. From a personal estate collection located in the Los Angeles area come two lots with a similar and interesting history. Lot 562, a Chinese export armorial porcelain platter ($1,000-$1,500) and lot 563, a Chinese export Famille Rose covered tureen ($1,500-$2,000) were created for upper crust landed gentry by craftsmen in China. The combination of Asian artistry playing to an English and French audience makes for appealing décor and definite conversation pieces as well.

Fine Art presents a diverse selection of art; Artists represented include Gail Sherman Corbett (American), Joan Miro (Spanish), E. Charles Lucas (French) and Owen Wilson (Irish). Particularly noteworthy is a watercolor from Russian artist Pyotr Petrovich Konchalovsky. Hay Harvest is being offered as lot 758 ($4,000-$6,000). Konchalovsky commissioned the majority of his still life pieces and landscapes during a period when he first began to truly come into his own as an artist. A prolific painter, Konchalovsky is known to have created more than 5,000 works in his career. Founder and leader of the Jack of Diamonds artist group, Konchalovsky is regarded as one of the Russian greats.

American wood-turner Philip Moulthrop’s focus on classic design and natural beauty creates wooden vessels in lucid and elegant silhouettes that highlight the intrinsic characteristics of wood grain patterns and colors. Perhaps the most striking wood used by Moulthrop is the ash leaf maple with its streaks of vibrant red in beautiful ribbon patterns. A second-generation wood-turner, Moulthrop is considered a major artist of the American Craft Movement and his work has been featured in important public collections at the American Craft Museum, New York Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum and the White House Collection of American Crafts.

An excellent example of a Moulthrop ash leaf maple vessel is being offered as lot 786 at an estimate of $3,000-$5,000. Along with the Moulthrop piece are over 60 lots of American Craft Movement and Native American vessels up for auction.

For a full listing of upcoming auctions or to view a complete catalog, please visit www.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.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Sapphire, diamond,18K white gold necklace. Estimate: $6,500-$7,500. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

Ivory carvings of an emperor and empress. Estimate: $4,000-$6,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

Chinese export Famille Rose covered tureen. Estimate: $1,500-$2,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

Pyotr Petrovich Konchalovsky (Russian Federation, 1876-1956) ‘Hay Harvest,’ watercolor on paper. Estimate: $4,000-$6,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.

Historic London Tube stations get protected status

Big Ben towers above the sign for Westminster Tube station. Image by Yottanesia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

LONDON (AFP) – Sixteen London Underground stations were given protected status Tuesday in recognition of their historic and cultural value to Britain.

Oxford Circus and Covent Garden, two of the capital’s busiest Tube stations, which date back more than 100 years, were among those to receive the Grade II listing.

The certificate is given to buildings of exceptional architectural or historical interest and means no changes can be made to them without special permission.

“Tube stations are great examples of the capitals hidden heritage,” said Britain’s Tourism and Heritage Minister John Penrose.

“Although listing does not mean these stations will remain unchanged for all time, it does mean that any redevelopment plans will have to take the sites heritage value into account, which will ensure the best of design is preserved for the future.”

The listed stations include several of those designed by English architect Leslie Green, renowned for their iconic “ox-blood” red tile facades.

Three suburban stations—Arnos Grove, Oakwood and Sudbury Town—were upgraded to a higher protective status, reserved for buildings deemed of particular importance. They were designed by modernist British architect Charles Holden in the 1930s.

Simon Thurley, chief executive of the English Heritage conservation body, said: “The London Underground not only set the standard for progressive transport systems, but has displayed a remarkable commitment to quality and consistency of design.

“The stations awarded listed status today are as valuable to London’s architectural story as many more-famous buildings like the Houses of Parliament.”

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Oxford Circus is one of the London Tube stations to receive protected status. Image by David Boyle. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Transportation museum running on empty

Downtown Cumberland, Md. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) – A transportation museum in downtown Cumberland will close because of spending cuts.

The Cumberland Times-News reports that Allegany County will end financial support for the Queen City Transportation Museum at the end of the year. The museum chronicles the area’s transportation history and includes some of the scores of antique carriages collected by area resident James Thrasher.

A local historical society manages the museum as well as one in nearby Frostburg that displays more of Thrasher’s collection. But the society says it will not continue to manage the Frostburg museum. It’s unclear who will take over and what will happen to the Cumberland collection, which the county acquired in 1987.

Officials say most of the vehicles need restoration work and that the collection requires better storage conditions.

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Information from: Cumberland (Md.) Times-News, http://www.times-news.com/timesnew.html

AP-WF-07-25-11 1525GMT

Texas town toasts its mineral water heritage

Sam A. Joseph apparently used Mineola’s well water to distill whisky. This small stoneware jug sold for $900 in 2006. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Burley Auction Group.

MINEOLA, Texas (AP) – Before indoor plumbing went mainstream, Mineola residents, like many others during the turn of the century, gathered at the city water well.

As industrialism picked up in the 20th century, these wells and meeting places were sealed over and replaced with piped networks of water systems. However, one Mineola woman is bringing the town’s old well and Aermotor windmill back to life.

Sharon Chamblee, Mineola Historical Museum board chairwoman, spearheaded the museum’s newest exhibit, which she said recreates an integral part of Mineola’s past.

“I thought it should go back to where it needed to be,” she said. “You don’t think of Mineola without the water tower—it’s so much a part of our history.”

East Texans are invited to a “windmill raising” Aug. 6 at the museum on Pacific Street.

Along with the railroad, Mineola was well-known for its water and was referred to as “the forks of the river.”

With the Sabine River, Lake Fork Creek, Big Sandy and Little Sandy creeks, Wood County is interlaced with flowing streams.

While some homes in the mid-1880s had private water supplies, the city’s most famous was a public well at the intersection of U.S. Highway 80 and Johnson Street, near the current chamber of commerce office.

Soon after opening the well, Mineola quickly became known for the mineral water found in it, which was uncovered by men drilling for salt circa 1890 after the salt dome in Grand Saline was discovered.

In 1896, community leaders decided to install a windmill to tap into the water to address the town’s growing water needs. They constructed a 60-foot tower and a 3,000-gallon cypress tank, as well as a watering trough for livestock.

Henry Beaird drilled the well 150 feet deep, according to museum research.

Around 1906, the city council voted to put a bell on top of the well, Mrs. Chamblee said.

If there was a fire, someone would run downtown and ring the bell to alert the public, she said.

In January 1913, the water was analyzed has having “sodic-bicarbonate-alkaline-saline content” that was believed to help acid dyspepsia, indigestion, rheumatism, gout and diabetes, according to museum research. It contained silica, iron, aluminum, calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, carbonate radical, bicarbonate, sulphate, nitrate and chlorine.

While locals took advantage of the water’s healing properties, the Texas and Pacific railroad crews would use it to replenish their tanks and people from the country journeyed for miles to fill jugs. At one time, the city shipped its mineral water across the country.

Although the modern-day replica will be half the size, about 32-feet-tall, Mrs. Chamblee said people driving on U.S. highways 80 or 69 through town will be able to see the windmill spinning from the southeast corner of the museum.

The exhibit’s Aermotor windmill was purchased for $5,000 from a residential development in Fredericksburg and the cypress tank was milled and cut in Dekalb, Texas.

Mrs. Chamblee said the recreation is as close to the original as they can get.

“It’s not exact, but it will explain the history of what it meant to Mineola,” she said.

J.C. Norris, chairman of the Mineola Meredith Foundation, which made the project possible, said the new exhibition “sounded like a good thing to remind people of how it used to be.”

“All of the pictures you see of the old city in the times past have the water well in it,” Norris said. “We hope it helps to bring the memory for people passing through of what it used to live like.”

He said any project that promotes Mineola is a good project.

Mrs. Chamblee said the water well was an integral part of Mineola’s past and even served as a gathering place for the community.

However, as time went on, the well was capped in 1924 and brick was laid over the intersection.

“There’s no telling where the pieces went or what they did with her,” Mrs. Chamblee said. “But we’re going to bring her back to life.”

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Information from: Tyler Morning Telegraph, http://www.tylerpaper.com

AP-WF-07-24-11 1858GMT

Bierstadt paintings total $4 million at auction

RENO, Nev. (AP) – Two oil paintings by Albert Bierstadt featuring majestic mountains of the West have sold at auction for a total of $4 million.

Bierstadt’s 1898 Mount Rainier fetched $2.1 million while his 1863 Lander’s Peak, Wyoming went for $1.9 million. They were the highest-selling pieces at the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction on Saturday in Reno, said Mike Overby, an organizer of the event.

The annual auction, which began in 1984, is billed as the world’s largest Western art sale. This year’s event drew roughly 300 bidders from across the country.

Two paintings by Montana artist Charles M. Russell—his 1892 Water for Camp and 1924 A Dangerous Sport—rustled up nearly $1.5 million each. The former depicts a group of American Indians getting water from a stream, while the latter portrays two cowboys on horseback focused on a mountain lion.

The Russell paintings were acquired by the same private collector, while the Bierstadt paintings went to separate private collectors, Overby said.

Maynard Dixon’s 1944 Sculptured Sandstone, was purchased for $351,000 by a Lake Tahoe collector.

A total of more than 300 works were sold at the Silver Legacy Resort Casino for a total of about $17 million. The figure represents an improvement from the $9.2 million in sales last year and $11.7 million in sales in 2009, but is short of the $37 million in sales in 2008 before the recession began.

“The last couple of years the art market, like everything, has been tough,” Overby told The Associated Press on Sunday. “This is a big jump up for this. We’ve seen the light at the end of the tunnel.”

The auction has specialized in the sale of Russell paintings over the years, having secured eight of the top 10 auction prices for them, Overby added.

At the 2008 auction, a Russell painting depicting a stagecoach holdup sold for $5.2 million and a Russell bronze sculpture of two Indians on a buffalo hunt went for $4.1 million.

At the 2005 auction, Russell’s mythic Piegans image of Indians on horseback went for $5.6 million—more than double his previous auction high.

AP-WF-07-25-11 1253GMT

More from Comic-Con, abuzz with ‘Pan Am,’ ‘Captain America’

Sideshow Collectibles, which offers licensed products from a number of companies, is one of the show’s big exhibitors. Their selection of new and upcoming material this year includes this bust of Spider-Man’s foe, The Green Goblin. Photo by Michael A. Solof.

Following the opening on Preview Night on Wednesday, Comic-Con International: San Diego, which was only open to vendors, professionals and attendees who had purchased a pass for the subsequent four days in advance, it was clear that the convention had lost none of its luster.

As with every year for the past five, there were many pronouncements in the entertainment media that 2011 would be remembered as the year that the movie studios deserted Comic-Con. While there are indeed fewer potential blockbuster films among the exhibitions, the increase in television shows – both new and returning – on display more than puts lie to the dire predictions.

One of them, which in particular might be of interest to aviation memorabilia collectors, is the new ABC series Pan Am, which is set in the 1960s and slated to debut this fall. With a booth staffed by stewardesses in period uniforms, they gave away hundreds if not thousands of modern replica Pan Am flight bags. As a result, the famous and once-ubiquitous Pan Am globe logo found itself being carried into panel discussions for Star Wars, into food and beverage lines at the snack counters, and ended up being stuffed with the day’s purchases by many collectors. It was an inspired bit of advertising for the show, whether all who saw them are yet aware or not.

The demographic shift of Comic-Con, once almost a boys-only club, continues. The trend in recent years has turned it into a family event, with a solid mix of men, women and children, though it’s still a tough grind for most young children and both programming and other opportunities for them are limited.

Tapping into Comic-Con’s enthusiasm for the Friday, July 22, release of Marvel Studios’ Captain America: The First Avenger, Metropolis Collectibles and Comic-Connect.com unveiled what they dubbed “The Super Soldier Collection,” a collection of rare, vintage Captain America Comics and related titles with an estimated value in excess of $1 million.

The collection consists of more than 250 Golden Age (1940s-1950s) comic books in mid to high grades and includes a number of highest graded and second-highest graded copies, including a CGC-certified 7.0 copy of Captain America Comics #1, the character’s first appearance.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Dark Horse Comics President Mike Richardson, who has expanded his reach into Hollywood with properties such as The Mask, announced a new line of horror-themed comics including one by director Guillermo Del Toro (‘Pan’s Labyrinth’). Photo by Michael A. Solof.

Continuing the cooperation seen in the popular Super Bowl commercial with the little Darth Vader, artist Ken Lashley was in the convention hall’s Star Wars pavilion, working on illustrating the outside of a Volkswagen Passat in ‘Star Wars: Attack of the Clones’ livery. Photo by Michael A. Solof.

At the front of the San Diego Convention Center, the crowd arrived on foot, via shuttle busses from the local hotels, and on local rail. A veritable hive of activity throughout the course of the day, the area was almost impassable at opening and closing. Photo by Michael A. Solof.

Record-setting appraisal at Antiques Roadshow’s Tulsa stop

Antiques Roadshow appraiser Lark Mason with the collection of Chinese rhinoceros-horn cups appraised at the TV show's stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Image copyright Antiques Roadshow, used by permission.

TULSA, Okla. – On Saturday, July 23, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, PBS’s Antiques Roadshow recorded the highest-value appraisal in the series’ 16 years of production. Veteran Roadshow Asian arts expert Lark Mason identified a collection of five late 17th/early 18th-century Chinese carved rhinoceros-horn cups and valued the set at $1 million to $1.5 million.

The second highest-value appraisal recorded by Antiques Roadshow was for a collection of Chinese carved jade bowls, estimated to be worth as much as $1.07 million, discovered at the event in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2009.

The rhino-horn cups were brought to the Tulsa Convention Center by one of approximately 6,000 ticket holders. The owner, who prefers to remain unidentified, told Mason he started collecting cups inexpensively in the 1970s and had no idea of the collection’s current value. Because of today’s strong market for Chinese antiques and antiquities, the collection’s value has increased dramatically since its original purchase.

Antiques Roadshow Executive Producer Marsha Bemko commented on the record-breaking find: “As we continue our 16th season production tour here in Tulsa, we couldn’t be more excited about such an extraordinary, rare treasure, and we look forward to sharing it with the nation!”

Tulsa was the fourth stop on Antiques Roadshow’s six-city 2011 production tour. The three episodes produced from the Tulsa event will air as part of Roadshow’s sixteenth season, from January to June 2012.

Antiques Roadshow’s summer 2011 production tour will continue in Atlanta on August 6 and wrap up in Pittsburgh on August 13. Tickets to Roadshow events are free, but have already been distributed. Additional tickets are not available.

More information about Antiques Roadshow’s summer 2011 production tour is available online at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/faq_02.html

Nine-time Emmy® Award-nominated Antiques Roadshow is produced for PBS by WGBH Boston. Executive producer is Marsha Bemko.

Antiques Roadshow is sponsored by Liberty Mutual and Subaru. Additional funding is provided by public television viewers.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Collection of five late 17th/early 18th century Chinese carved rhinoceros-horn cups appraised for $1M to $1.5M on PBS's Antiques Roadshow. Image copyright Antiques Roadshow, used by permission. — Collection of five late 17th/early 18th century Chinese carved rhinoceros-horn cups appraised for $1M to $1.5M on PBS’s Antiques Roadshow. Image copyright Antiques Roadshow, used by permission.

Expert Lark Mason (left) breaks the good news to the anonymous owner of the Chinese rhino-horn cups that his mini trove is worth $1-$1.5 million. Image copyright Antiques Roadshow, used by permission.

Personal effects of Confederate officer led Brunk auction

Brunk Auctions devoted an entire page in the color catalog to Edward Atkinson Hornel’s Music in Japan, a 24 ¼” X 15-7/8” oil on canvas painting of a seated shamisen player. The 1894 painting opened at its reserve of $22,000 and sold to a phone bidder for $114,000. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. – The four lots consigned by the last remaining descendant of a young Civil War officer were, quite possibly, the most personal in Brunk Auctions July 16-17 sale. Richard Kidder Meade Jr. (1835-1862) was a U.S. Army lieutenant during the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumter, April 12-13, 1861. Two weeks later, Meade, a native Virginian, resigned his commission and joined the Confederate Army. The West Point graduate helped defend Fort Fisher, near Wilmington, N.C., and in early 1862, was promoted to major and assigned to Gen. Robert E. Lee’s staff. The young officer died of typhoid fever on July 31, 1862.

Included in the Meade collection was a handwritten condolence letter from Lee to Meade’s mother expressing his sorrow at “the untimely death of your gallant Son,” a man Lee called a “noble young patriot.” The one-page signed letter dated Aug. 9, 1862, sold for $15,600 (est. $4000-$8000). All selling prices include a 20 percent buyer’s premium.

It was the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia infantry battle flag that many wanted. Possibly given to Maj. Meade’s family or acquired by him during his three battles, the hand-loomed natural dyed wool flag was the iconic symbol of the Confederacy. Phone and on-site bidders carried the flag into battle and raised it to $84,000, far above its $5,000-$10,000 estimate.

The Meade collection also included a fragment of the garrison flag that flew over Fort Sumpter ($3,120) and a Meade family archive of letters, books and paintings ($9,000). The archive sold to an on-site bidder, a collector of North Carolina history.

“It was very difficult to part with these items,” said the consignor after the sale. She is the last of the family line. “I tried last summer to put them up for sale, but couldn’t do it. This summer I thought this is the best way to reach people who would appreciate these objects.” She attended the sale with her husband and met the gentleman who purchased the family archive. “I can tell you she was surprised at the selling prices,” said her husband.

The sale’s top lot predated the Civil War by almost 100 years. It was an 18th-century map of North Carolina by Capt. John Abraham Collet. Collet, an aide-de-camp to William Tryon, royal governor of North Carolina, used survey data gathered by William Churton to complete his map. The exquisitely detailed map, 30 1/2 inches by 44 1/2 inches, served as the prototype for most maps of North Carolina for the 40 years following its creation. Brunk staffers found previous auction records for two of the 12 copies of the Collet map: 1967 at Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, and 1999 at Sotheby’s, New York. The map opened at its $36,000 reserve and, aided by active phone and on-site bidders, soared to $192,000 (est. $40,000-$60,000).

Six paintings were among the sale’s top 10 lots. The leader was Music in Japan, an 1894 oil on canvas by Edward Atkinson Hornel (Scottish, 1864-1933). Music opened at its $22,000 reserve and sold to the phones for $114,000 (est. $30,000-$50,000).

The second highest painting was a depiction of the journey of Evangeline, the Acadian exile in search of her lover, who was immortalized by poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The signed, dated (1884) and titled oil on canvas by Joseph Rushing Meeker (Missouri, 1827-1889) in its original 19th-century giltwood and composition frame, opened at its $9,000 reserve. It sold for $72,000, tripling its high estimate.

Two scenes of hunting dogs painted by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait (1819-1905) did well. Tait, America’s first important sporting artist, immigrated to the United States from England in 1850. His landscapes and wildlife paintings were realistic, detailed and colorful. A Close Point, a painting with two spaniels and grouse in a woodland scene, graced the front cover of the Brunk Auction catalog. The signed, dated (1885-6) and titled oil on canvas was illustrated in the 1986 Tait biography by Warder H. Cadbury and Henry F. Marsh. Point opened at $16,000 and sports collectors on the phone, in house and on-line chased it to $66,000 (est. $20,000-$30,000).

Another Tait painting, Prairie Shooting was also included in the Tait biography. Prairie Shooting depicted a bearded hunter, two dogs and two grouse. The reserve of $7,500 was easily met and the painting sold to a delighted phone bidder for $36,000 (est. $12,000-$18,000). A third Tait painting with an identical estimate, A Covey of Grouse (10 3/4 inches x 15 1/2 inches) brought $21,600.

The hunters in Ogden Minton Pleissner’s The End of the Day, Duck Shooting looked weary as they unloaded their flat boat after a successful outing. Ogden Pleissner (Vermont-New York, 1905-1983) loved nature, wing shooting and fishing, subjects he painted in oil and watercolor. Beginning in the mid-1920s he traveled to the Western United States in the summer and throughout New England and the South the rest of the year. At $43,200 (est. $20,000-$30,000), The End of the Day, Duck Shooting was the sixth highest lot of the sale.

“The market for fine antique and sporting firearms is strong,” said Auctioneer Bob Brunk. Of the 100-plus antique firearms and edged weapons in the sale, two were clear standouts. A Guilford County longrifle by William Lamb with curly maple stock, silver and brass inlay and leaf and floral engraving was the top rifle. Lamb was one of the early members of a longrifle school operating in Guilford County in the early 19th century. Similar rifles are illustrated in William Ivey’s new book, North Carolina Schools of Longrifles 1765-1865. The 1830-1840 rifle easily doubled its estimate to sell for $18,000.

Of the nine Colt revolvers in the sale, star billing went to a model 1873, .45 caliber “Peacemaker” with all its visible serial numbers matching. The revolver was accompanied by a leather U.S. Army holster and belt with brass buckle. The set hit the top of its estimate and sold for $12,000 (est. $5000-$10,000).

For information on future sales at Brunk Auctions, visit www.brunkauctions.com or call 828-254-6846.

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

ADDITIONAL ITEMS OF NOTE

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