Paul DeLamerie sterling silver coffeepot. Image courtesy of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc. will conduct the first auction of the year on Monday, Jan. 16, at 6 p.m. at their auction premises in West Palm Beach. Several fine and important estates from South Florida and the Palm Beaches will be featured in the sale.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Starting off the year with the winter auction and antiquing season is the property removed from Villa del Sud, located at 2570 Flamingo Road, Miami Beach. The 1935 Miami Beach historic home was designed by Victor Hugo Nellebogen, a Hungarian-American architect known for his Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival designs during the first half of the 20th century on Miami Beach. Among his notable buildings are the Granada Apartments and Savoy Plaza Hotel in Miami Beach and the Breakers Casino in Palm Beach. The consignors had been living in the home for the past 30 years, and after much consideration have sold the property to retire to their other home in Rhode Island.
Furniture in the auction includes lot 246, a Lalique Cactus table; lot 46, an English 19th-century William IV mahogany three-tier server; lot 249, Philip and Kelvin LaVerne bronze and pewter Chan Boucher large round polychromed low table; lot 87, a French Louis XVI-style three-piece giltwood salon set; lot 187, fine English 19th-century Victorian inlaid credenza; lot 160, a pair of Italian 19th-century half-reeded carved oak and walnut columns.
Highlighting the auction is an assemblage of outstanding English 18th- and 19th-century silver with pieces from the great English silversmiths Paul DeLamarie, Paul Storr and Eliza Godfrey. In particular is Lot 261, a George IV silver gilt cup and cover, circa 1827, amazingly worked with bacchic figures and grapevines, and a spectacular horse and jockey finial from the makers Emes and Barnard. The cup and cover is inscribed “Lambert & Rawlings Fecit, Goldsmiths to HRH the Duke of Clarence, London” on the pedestal. Lot 110 is a unique Paul Storr silver figure of a classical maiden, circa 1815. Lot 243, a rare and important Paul DeLamarie silver coffeepot, circa 1714, is one of the earliest pieces to ever come on the market by one of the world’s most important silversmiths. DeLamarie pieces are difficult if nonexistent in the market. Lot 183 is a Paul Storr silver gilt wine cooler, circa 1820.
The selection of 18th-, 19th- and 20-century works of art is strong with paintings and prints by John Gadsby Chapman, Diego Rivera, Pablo Picasso, Roy Lichtenstein, Mario Sironi, Larry Rivers, E. Chalmers Leavitt, Giovanni Segantini, Maurice Bompard, Wilson Bigaud, Max Papart, Robert Natkin, P.J. Redoute, Pedro Pablo Oliva, Carl Locher and many others.
The gallery preview will begin Wed., Jan. 11, and runs through the weekend until the day of the auction on Monday. For details contact the gallery at 561-805-7115 or visit the auctioneer’s website at www.agopb.com. Absentee and phone bidding is available or bid live on-line with LiveAuctioneers.com.
Bill Traylor, Untitled, circa 1939–1947, poster paint, pencil, colored pencil, and charcoal on cardboard, 10⅝ x 7¼ inches, High Museum of Art, T. Marshall Hahn Collection, 1997.115.
ATLANTA – The High Museum of Art in partnership with the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts of Montgomery, Ala. has organized “Bill Traylor: Drawings from the Collections of the High Museum of Art and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.”
This exhibition will feature some of the best examples of Traylor’s work, rarely seen outside of the southeastern United States, with more than 60 works drawn from both collections. Opening in Atlanta on Feb. 4, the exhibition will remain on view through May 13, before traveling to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tenn., the Mingei International Museum in San Diego and other national venues to be announced.
“The High is deeply committed to folk and self-taught art. We are the only major museum in North America to have a curatorial department specifically devoted to the field,” said Michael E. Shapiro, the Nancy and Holcombe T. Green Jr. director of the High Museum of Art. “We believe that Traylor’s work is sure to excite visitors with its energy, whimsy and wit.”
The exhibition features representative works from Traylor’s various genres, including human and animal figures and depictions of his memories of plantation life—complex images in which he often combines several figures with abstract constructions. Although he worked largely in anonymity during his lifetime, Traylor became one of America’s most respected self-taught artists after his exposure to a larger public in the groundbreaking 1982 exhibition “Black Folk Art in America, 1930–1980,” held at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C.
Traylor began drawing when he was 85 years old and, in a prolific decade of art-making, produced more than 1,200 drawings in graphite pencil, colored pencil, poster paint, charcoal and crayon. Many of his drawings were created on shirt cardboard, cast-off signs or other shaped supports. The unusual forms of these materials often influenced his designs. Unanchored by ground lines, his figures float in space. As early as 1939, the pared-down forms of Traylor’s energetic drawings struck a chord with observers accustomed to the formal reductions of modernism. This made him one of the first African American vernacular artists to attract the notice of the art establishment in the 20th century.
The exhibition features 33 Traylor drawings from the High and 30 from the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts. The two institutions hold the world’s largest museum collections of Traylor’s work. Both acquired their first 30 Traylor drawings in 1982 directly from the artist Charles Shannon, a member of the New South cultural center who had befriended Traylor and saved his drawings. The exhibition will also highlight Shannon’s efforts to preserve and promote Traylor’s legacy, displaying Shannon’s preliminary sketch of Traylor for a portrait mural at the New South and an original block- or screen-printed brochure from Traylor’s 1940 New South exhibition.
“As he sat under the awning near the pool hall on Monroe Avenue, Traylor took the raw material of his origins at the fertile intersection of African and European cultures and worked at shaping his life experiences into a meaningful story,” says Susan Crawley, the High’s curator of folk art. “And he put them in a form he could look at and hold in his hands.”
William Traylor was born into slavery in Lowndes County, near Benton, Ala., sometime between 1852 and 1856, and was freed by emancipation in 1863. For more than 50 years he worked as a field hand on the plantation where he was born. By 1928 he had moved to the nearby city of Montgomery, where he spent his nights in the back room of a funeral parlor and, later, a shoe repair shop. He spent his days sitting on the city sidewalks, where he drew scenes from both his memories of plantation life and the street life around him. In 1939, he met the painter Charles Shannon. Recognizing Traylor’s talent, the younger artist and his colleagues from the New South cultural center provided Traylor with art supplies and preserved much of his work. Traylor had a one-man show at New South in 1940 and in 1941 his work was exhibited in New York City. He spent the war years living with his children in the North and returned to Montgomery in 1945, when he resumed drawing. In 1947 he moved in with his daughter in Montgomery, but a decline in health soon forced him into a nursing home, where he died in 1949. Traylor’s short career was prolific: he produced more than 1,200 works in graphite, colored pencil, poster paint, charcoal and crayon. In addition to the exhibitions held during his lifetime, Traylor’s work has been represented in at least 30 solo exhibitions and 85 group shows since the late 1970s.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Bill Traylor, Untitled, circa 1939–1947, poster paint, pencil, colored pencil, and charcoal on cardboard, 10⅝ x 7¼ inches, High Museum of Art, T. Marshall Hahn Collection, 1997.115.Bill Traylor, Untitled, circa 1939–1942, tempera and pencil on cardboard, 13⅜ x 7⅜ inches, High Museum of Art, Purchase with funds from Mrs. Lindsey Hopkins Jr., Edith G. and Philip A. Rhodes and the Members Guild, 1982.92.Bill Traylor, ‘Man, Woman,’ circa 1940–1942, watercolor and graphite on cardboard, 14⅛ x 21⅝ inches, Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Gift of Charles and Eugenia Shannon, 1982.4.28.Bill Traylor, Untitled, circa 1939–1947, poster paint and pencil on cardboard,16½ x 21⅛ inches, High Museum of Art, T. Marshall Hahn Collection, 1997.116.
DENVER (AP) – A county court judge has reduced bond for a woman accused of attacking a famous painting at Denver’s new Clyfford Still Museum from $20,000 to $5,000 after a defense attorney argued she was not a risk to the community.
Denver District Attorney Mitch Morrissey charged 36-year-old Carmen Tisch with criminal mischief after she was accused of scratching, punching and leaning against a painting valued at more than $30 million. Officials say it will cost about $10,000 to restore the painting.
Tisch stood in leg irons Friday as the prosecution told the judge she endangered museum visitors and employees. Her mother, Mary Thompson, said her daughter is an alcoholic.
Still is credited with pioneering the abstract expressionism movement. The Clyfford Still Museum, which is dedicated to Still’s work, opened in late November.
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Detail from a 19th- or 20th-century window in Eyneburg, Belgium, showing detailed polychrome painting of a face. Image by Lusitana. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) – No one knows who made the first stained glass windows. Some of the earliest examples date to the first century.
And while the materials have improved since then, the tools used by stained glass artists have changed very little.
“We had an artist once who told me that if you brought a stained glass artist from the 1600s and set him down at my bench, he would feel right at home,” said Carl Iverson, special projects manager for Reinarts Stained Glass Studios Inc. in Winona, Minn. “It’s one of the few industries that still does it a lot of the way it was done in the past.”
Reinarts has worked in many churches in central Illinois, including St. Joseph Catholic Church after a 2005 fire destroyed one window behind the alter and badly damaged another. A third window was also redone so it would match the two newly restored panels.
“When the windows get heated up too much, it actually makes the glass brittle,” Iverson explained. “When you take the glass out of the lead, it actually disintegrates.”
Workers used the resulting piles of glass to select new glass when they re-created the windows. Matching old glass is tricky because each batch of glass varies. In addition, there are types and colors made 100 years ago that aren’t produced today.
“It’s not like paint where you can say, ‘Mix me this color up,’” Iverson said. “Glass is manufactured differently today. There’s less hand-blown glass and more mechanically made glass.”
The windows Reinarts re-created for St. Joseph were figure windows, with the images of Matthew and Mark painted on the glass. They were made by an artist using a special type of paint which, when heated in a kiln, fuses to the glass. The process creates nuanced images and forms that would be impossible to make with cut glass and leading.
“The paint is actually made of glass,” Iverson said. “You paint it on and then you take off what you don’t want. When you’re working with a figure, especially on a face, you may fire it 10 times. The painting is created in stages.”
“That’s why figure windows are more expensive,” Iverson said. “There’s more time and skill involved.”
The skills are so specialized that each window is created by a team of artisans. At Reinarts, one person paints just the hands and faces. Another artist paints the robes and background details. Another person does the design and layout, and yet another selects the glass and assembles the window.
That’s the main reason why stained glass windows are so expensive, Iverson said.
“There is no margin for profits,” he said. “Everything is done by hand, and labor has gone up over the years.”
Expense was an important factor to the Rev. Larry Zurek when he took on the task of restoring Sacred Heart Church in 2005-06. The restoration, done shortly before the church’s 100th anniversary, undid an earlier renovation from the 1960s.
At that time the building’s original stained glass windows, in need of repair, were instead replaced with modern stained glass.
“It was the trend to make things look new,” Zurek said.
Pastor at both Sacred Heart and St. Joseph Catholic churches, Zurek has a deep admiration for beautiful stained glass windows. They not only create colored light, but also tell a story.
“It’s a way of sharing the faith,” he said. “We say a picture paints a thousand words. In the Middle Ages, when people couldn’t read or write, the windows told a story.”
Because stained glass windows are more expensive than ever, during the restoration at Sacred Heart, Zurek had to make some compromises. He decided the majority of the church’s new windows be made in a simple style by a company out of St. Louis, while three windows in the choir loft were created in the more expensive figural style by a company in England.
“I went there during the process,” Zurek said. “I was really worried about the faces. That’s where the art is. The higher quality artist is the one who does the face.”
Zurek was quite pleased with the way the windows turned out, but he still speaks of his other church when talking about magnificent stained glass.
Built in 1879, St. Joseph is the oldest Catholic Church in Peoria. In the early 1900s, the congregation, mostly German immigrants, ordered elaborate windows from an art glass studio in Munich, Zurek said.
Like many churches, the congregation could only raise enough money initially to build the structure. The more ornate windows came later to replace the less complex windows installed when the church was built.
Several of the original windows are still in use above the front doors and in the choir loft. The three windows rebuilt after the 2005 fire are also original, Zurek said.
While the church’s oldest windows are nice, those made later in Germany are masterpieces. Each tells a story, depicting the important events in the life of Jesus Christ – the joyful, sorrowful and glorious mysteries of the Rosary.
“It’s amazing,” said Zurek as he stood recently in the empty sanctuary of St. Joseph gazing at the image of Jesus in the manger. “A lot of time, a lot of love, were put into these windows. We are so fortunate that we didn’t lose them in the fire.”
Closing the church was considered after the fire, Zurek said. Once filled with a vibrant congregation, the church is surrounded by a deteriorating neighborhood and has, in recent years, lost attendance.
The windows were one of the reasons leadership chose to go ahead with the $1.3 million repair of the building. Zurek believes it would likely have been razed if the windows had not survived the fire.
While attendance during a normal service is small, on Christmas Eve the old building once again overflows as family members return to celebrate in the church of their youth.
“An old church speaks more to them than a modern place,” Zurek said.
Some days Zurek comes to the empty church to pray the Rosary. While gazing at the old windows he occasionally discovers details in the intricate designs he hadn’t noticed before. As the light filters through the colored glass, Zurek enjoys a feeling of reverence.
“It’s not just another building. It’s a sacred place,” Zurek said.
The stained glass windows are a big part of that.
“It’s kind of like heaven breaking into our world.”
___
Information from: Journal Star, http://pjstar.com
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Detail from a 19th- or 20th-century window in Eyneburg, Belgium, showing detailed polychrome painting of a face. Image by Lusitana. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
This soda fountain was part of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. It became a part of the Schmidt museum in 1976 and will be included in the March 24-25 auction.
ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. – The biggest and oldest items from the prestigious Schmidt Museum of Coca-Cola Memorabilia will be included in the museum’s next auction, which is set for March 24-25, 2012. Proceeds will go to a charitable foundation being set up by the Schmidt family.
The first auction, held in September, established a new benchmark for a Coca-Cola memorabilia sale by bringing in more than $3 million for 650 items. Several pieces went for more than $100,000 each – unprecedented for an auction of advertising art.
“A big difference between the first auction and the second is that the next will have several marquee items that appeal to more than just Coke collectors,” says Larry Schmidt, head of the family-owned museum, which is home of the largest privately owned Coke collection in the world.
Items in the next auction include a 19th century soda fountain, the side of a barn from the 1930s, large illuminating outdoor signs, rare bottles, and a treasure trove of posters, banners, serving trays, lights and toys. There’s even an 1880s mirror from the pharmacy in Atlanta where Coke’s original formula was developed. It says “French Wine of Cola – Ideal Nerve Tonic.”
The centerpiece of the auction is a soda fountain manufactured by the Liquid Carbonic Company for the 1893 Chicago Columbian Exhibition. Made of marble and onyx with exquisite veining, the soda fountain is extremely ornate. It’s actually two pieces – a customer counter and a back bar. With each piece 24ft. in length, it is among the largest items in the museum.
“This is a piece of history that goes beyond Coke memorabilia,” says Schmidt. “It could attract potential buyers from around the world.” The assessed value of the soda fountain is between $75,000 and $125,000.
Other items creating diverse appeal are large outdoor signs. One measures 14ft. tall and features yellow and white neon lights with a clock in the middle. It’s from the 1930s and was displayed at the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Piqua, Ohio. The other large outdoor sign is simply the Coca-Cola script logo made of randomly blinking lights. Described as a glitzy, Times Square-type sign, it once hung from the top of a building in downtown Asheville, N.C.
“These types of signs often appeal to car collectors, [but] with some 700 items in the next auction, it will still be the event of the year for the most avid Coke collectors,” said Gary Metz, a renowned expert on Coca-Cola memorabilia who is working with the Schmidt family as an appraiser. “The sale will be exceedingly important,” he said, “because it has significant items in every category.”
The sale topper in the September auction was a mosaic, leaded-glass globe from the 1920s featuring Coca-Cola’s script logo. It went for more than $150,000 – five times the presale estimate. The next auction has two similar lights from the same era.
Metz says it’s been incredible combing through the museum’s vast collection, which includes some 80,000 items. Some of his favorite items chosen for the March auction are:
– Two embossed tin signs from 1898 and 1899, respectively
– A 1917 paper window display showing a man and woman on opposite sides of the window, each sitting on a swing – rare because it was made of paper and very few survived over the years
– A 5ft wide cardboard window display from 1922 depicting the four seasons, considered by many collectors the most beautiful display Coke every produced
“There’s certainly an aura around the Schmidt collection. And it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to collect these pieces,” said Metz. “One of the things I wanted to accomplish with this auction is to have a number of affordable pieces so that even the most modest of collectors would have a chance to own some of the best advertising art the world has ever seen.”
The Schmidt family’s connection to Coca-Cola goes back to 1901 when Frederick Schmidt became one of the first Coke bottlers in the country by opening a plant in Louisville, Kentucky. For four generations, the Schmidts ran bottling operations in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Their passion for collecting Coke memorabilia began nearly 40 years ago and led to the world’s largest privately held collection of its type. Earlier this year, the family announced it would close its museum and sell everything, with proceeds going to a charitable foundation being set up by the family.
It’s expected to take several years to divest the entire collection. Another auction is expected in September of 2012. “It’s bittersweet seeing these wonderful pieces of advertising art leave the family collection,” says Schmidt. “But it’s time to let others own pieces they’ve always wanted and to do so in a way that will benefit charity.”
# # #
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
This soda fountain was part of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. It became a part of the Schmidt museum in 1976 and will be included in the March 24-25 auction.The lights blink randomly on this large outdoor sign that was once a fixture atop a building in Asheville, N.C.1880s mirror that hung in the Atlanta pharmacy where John Pemberton developed the original formula for Coca-Cola.
Apollo 13 flown checklist book directly from the personal collection of Mission Commander James Lovell, signed and certified. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.com Archive.
MIAMI (AP) – NASA is questioning whether Apollo 13 commander James Lovell has the right to sell a 70-page checklist from the flight that includes his handwritten calculations that were crucial in guiding the damaged spacecraft back to Earth.
The document was sold by Heritage Auctions in November for more than $388,000, some 15 times its initial list price. The checklist gained great fame as part of a key dramatic scene in the 1995 film Apollo 13 in which actor Tom Hanks plays Lovell making the calculations.
After the sale, NASA contacted Heritage to ask whether Lovell had title to the checklist. Greg Rohan, president of Dallas-based Heritage, said Thursday the sale has been suspended pending the outcome of the inquiry. The checklist, he said, is being stored for now in the company’s vault.
Rohan said Lovell provided a signed affidavit that he had clear title to the ring-bound checklist, which is standard procedure. Heritage does robust business in space memorabilia and this is the first time NASA has ever raised questions about ownership of its items, he added.
“It’s one that is near and dear to our hearts,” Rohan said of the space collectibles business. “We, like a lot of people, consider these astronauts to be national heroes.”
The latest inquiry follows a federal lawsuit NASA filed last year in Miami against Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell seeking return of a camera he brought back from his 1971 moon mission. That lawsuit was settled in October when Mitchell agreed to give the camera to NASA, which in turn is donating it to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.
NASA spokesman Bob Jacobs said the lawsuit and Lovell inquiry do not represent an aggressive, broad new agency effort to recover space items.
“It’s a challenge to continually monitor the growing auctions community, which is usually how these items come to light,” he said in an email. “This latest issue demonstrates a need to reach out to former astronauts and other former agency personnel who may have these kind of items.”
Lovell, 83, lives near Chicago and owns a restaurant bearing his name in Lake Forest, Ill. In an email Friday to The Associated Press, the former astronaut said he is “seeking a meeting with NASA administration to clear up this misunderstanding.” He did not elaborate.
The Apollo 13 moon mission was aborted about 200,000 miles from Earth when an oxygen tank exploded on April 13, 1970, causing another tank to fail and seriously jeopardizing the three-man crew’s ability to return home. Astronaut Jack Swigert famously said “Houston, we’ve had a problem here” after the explosion.
The crew was forced to move from the command ship into the attached lunar landing module for the return flight. Lovell’s calculations on the checklist were key in transferring navigation data from the command craft to the lunar module.
NASA has raised questions about title rights for three other space items Heritage had sold in the same November auction. Two were from Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweikart: a lunar module identification plate that brought more than $13,000 and a hand controller that received a $22,705 bid. The space agency also targeted a fourth item, a hand glove worn by Alan Shepard during training for Apollo 14, that brought more than $19,000.
In an email to Heritage, NASA Deputy Chief Counsel Donna M. Shafer said there was no indication the agency had ever transferred ownership of any of the items to the astronauts.
“Only NASA has the authority to clear NASA property for sale,” Shafer said in the email, which was provided by NASA to The Associated Press.
She said the matter has been turned over to NASA’s Office of Inspector General, adding that “there is potential risk of the items being seized by the government until title issues have been resolved.”
In the Mitchell lawsuit, his attorney argued prior to the settlement that NASA officials told astronauts long ago they could keep certain equipment from the missions, and many such items wind up on auction house lists. A 1972 NASA memo seems to back up that claim, requiring only that the astronauts provide the agency with lists of items in their possession.
Apollo 15 astronauts were reprimanded after they took unauthorized, special envelopes to the moon with stamps that were given a special postal marking shortly after their return in 1971. They had a deal with a German stamp dealer who later sold them for $1,500 each.
Last month, the NASA inspector general reported that since 1970, more than 500 pieces of moon rocks, meteorites, comet chunks and other space material have been stolen or gone missing. The report said NASA needs to keep better track of some 26,000 samples sent to researchers and museums or the agency runs greater risk they will be lost.
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Follow Curt Anderson on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Miamicurt
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-01-06-12 2111GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Apollo 13 flown checklist book directly from the personal collection of Mission Commander James Lovell, signed and certified. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.com Archive.
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers aerial view of the widespread flooding last summer of the Missouri River, this near the Fort Calhoun nuclear reactor in Blair, Neb., north of Omaha. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
PERCIVAL, Iowa (AP) – After months of worry and water, Finders Keepers Antique Mall & Coffee Shoppe is open.
The 13,000-square-foot mall in Percival features 152 display cases—a total off 900 pieces of glass—with thousands of antiques from a variety of dealers. The cases are full again, the vendors are back.
“Oh, we’re really excited to be here. This really means a lot to us,” said Alicia Chrastil, who owns the mall with her husband of 35 years, Jim. “It was a summer of uncertainty.”
In October 2004, the Chrastils—longtime antique collectors and dealers—opened their location at 2085 Crossroads Drive, just off Interstate 29 at the Iowa Highway 2 interchange. Alicia’s brother, Les Robbins, owns The Crossroads commercial and industrial business area off the interstate.
“One day I said, ‘You need an antique mall down here,’” Alicia remembered. “He said, ‘Why don’t you do it.’”
So they purchased a lot from him and began construction of the building. Along with antiques, Finders Keepers offers a coffee shop that serves baked goods, homemade soups, wraps and other items.
“We love antiques, of course. And we enjoy the people we’ve gotten to know. Our dealers are like family, and our customers are the best,” Alicia said.
During the summer of 2011, the waters of the Missouri River crept closer, along with fear. On May 30, county officials told the Chrastils they had a week to evacuate the building.
“It was surreal, someone calling you telling you to get out,” Alicia said. “I kept thinking it was a bad dream and I’d wake up. But I never did.”
The Chrastils and their dealers loaded three semi-trailers with antiques, with the help of family, friends and customers. The Chrastils contracted a company to construct an 8-foot berm around the property and added sandbags on top of that.
“Then we had to just wait it out,” she said. “It was a hard summer.”
Water reached the berm, settling about halfway up, after a levee in town broke on June 30. The floodwaters, however, never entered the building. There was some water damage, from heavy rains and groundwater seepage, though.
When the couple were finally able to return to the store in October they did so by boat.
“It was a mud mess,” Alicia said.
The Chrastils went to work cleaning Finders Keepers, including one clean-up job that took three weeks: the aforementioned glass. Dealers and customers helped get the building back to normal.
“They’d clean, bring us meals. Throughout the flood ordeal we’d get calls and messages from customers—‘We’re thinking about you,’ ‘We’re praying for you,’” Alicia said. “That was just priceless. We couldn’t have done this without them.”
On Nov. 26, the mall reopened its doors and a grand reopening and open house is planned on Feb. 9 from 4 to 6 p.m., including a ribbon cutting at 5 p.m. The mall is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily from October through March and from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily from April through September.
“We’re tremendously excited for them and our local economy. It’s great to have them reopen,” said Rebecca Turner with Nebraska City Tourism & Commerce.
“This is good for both sides of the river,” she said. “They’re great ambassadors for the community.”
Alicia joked that she says the mall’s “community” is Nebraska City, Neb.
“Our zip code is Percival, our phone number is Hamburg and we’re closest to Nebraska City,” she said.
They’re open, but the recovery continues. The Chrastils had flood insurance on the mall, but received no financial assistance from the government. Also, some dealers didn’t return and estimated it would take about five years to build business back to preflood levels.
“But we’re glad to be back,” she said.
Information from: The (Council Bluffs, Iowa) Daily Nonpareil, http://www.nonpareilonline.com
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-01-07-12 0047GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers aerial view of the widespread flooding last summer of the Missouri River, this near the Fort Calhoun nuclear reactor in Blair, Neb., north of Omaha. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
This Renaissance Revival cabinet, made in the mid-19th century, couldn’t be made today because of laws protecting endangered species. And most homes are not built with high enough ceilings for a cabinet that’s more than 9 feet tall. This walnut, ebony and ivory cabinet sold for $7,200 at a Neal Auction Co. sale in New Orleans.
Some furniture styles are so popular that they are copied by cabinetmakers for hundreds of years. Some copies are easy to recognize as copies because their construction is modern—new nails, machine-made mortise-and-tenon joints holding drawer parts together, telltale marks made by modern saws rather than the marks left by antique hand tools.
Well-made used copies, sometimes more than 100 years old, are selling for almost as much as similar brand-new pieces. Decorators want the “look.” Serious collectors would like to have an authentic of-the-period antique cabinet to display antique porcelains, but it can be very expensive. They save money by buying a newer cabinet so they can spend money on antique porcelains.
A 2011 Neal Auction Co. sale in New Orleans offered a mid-19th-century cabinet in the Renaissance (1460-1600) style made of expensive Circassian walnut with ebony and ivory trim. Today’s endangered-species laws have banned the use of most types of ebony and elephant ivory. The cabinet was a good copy, heavy and rectangular. It had a base, columns, moldings, finials, carvings, paneled doors, elaborate decorations and about 15 drawers and four doors. Some experts say cabinets like this were made to resemble imaginary buildings. The cabinet sold for $7,200. A new cabinet similar to this would cost well over $10,000, and a 15th-century piece probably couldn’t be found for sale.
The collector’s rule is: Study the best there is in museums and buy the best you can afford.
Q: My hand-painted red-and-gold Limoges plate has two green marks on the back. One is “Limoges” with a line under it and the word “France” under the line. The other is a round green mark with “Limoges, France” on the circumference of the circle and “B. & H.” across the diameter. What can you tell me about its age and maker?
A: The first mark was applied under the glaze by the company in Limoges, France, that manufactured and decorated your plate. So far, researchers have been unable to identify the company that used the mark, or perhaps more than one company used it. The “B. & H.” mark, applied over the glaze, was used in the early 1900s by Blakeman & Henderson, a French exporting company with a reputation for selling high-quality porcelain. Depending on decoration and condition, Blakeman & Henderson plates sell for $100 to $200.
Q: I’ve been collecting beer mugs, old beer trays, beer advertising clocks and beer playing cards for my brother for years. All the items are old, and some of the brands don’t exist anymore. My sister-in-law says it’s all junk. Is this true, or are the items collectible?
A: What’s “junk” to some is collectible to others. Breweriana collectibles, which include anything relating to beer, are very collectible and easy to sell. Trays and clocks can sell for hundreds of dollars, but even labels, beer mats, playing cards and other paper items are collectible. Price depends on age, brand, rarity and condition. There are several clubs for collectors, including the Antique Advertising Association of America (www.pastimes.org), Brewery Collectibles Club of America (www.bcca.com) and National Association of Breweriana Advertising (www.nababrew.com).
Q: I am trying to help my grandmother figure out the value of a vintage Willie the Clown doll. Can you help?
A: Emmett Kelly (1898-1979) created his “Weary Willie” hobo clown character during the Depression. The sad-sack clown was a big attraction of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus throughout most of the 1940s and ’50s. Kelly played the same character in Cecil B. DeMille’s 1952 movie, The Greatest Show on Earth. Check any tags you can find on your grandmother’s doll. The best-known Willie the Clown doll was made in the 1950s by Baby Barry Toy Co. of New York. The doll was made in a few different sizes. We have seen the 21-inch version, wearing his original clothing, offered online for $75 to $100.
Q: We inherited an unusual liquor decanter when my parents died, and we would like to know more about it. It’s shaped like a knight’s helmet and is covered with leather. The leather is decorated with gold-colored lion’s-head fobs and gold-colored studs. It has a screw-type top and is 12 1/2 inches tall. The only mark or signature on it is the inscription on the bottom, “Brevettato, Made in Italy.” Can you tell us anything about this?
A: Your leather-covered decanter often shows up for sale on Internet sites. It evidently is one of a pair of decanters. The other one is a knight’s raised gloved hand holding a mace. A quick search turns up all kinds of things listed under “Brevettato,” including toys, lamps, pocket watches and clocks. “Brevettato” is the Italian word for “patented.” The maker of your decanter is unknown.
Q: I have a gold Mickey Mouse ring with sapphire eyes. I was told that it was made when Club 33 opened at Disneyland. Can you confirm?
A: Club 33, the private club located in Disneyland’s New Orleans French Quarter, has issued a lot of its own souvenirs since it opened in 1967. But all the Club 33 items we have seen are marked “Club 33” somewhere. Gold and silver (and gold-tone and silver-tone) Mickey Mouse rings have been made in abundance since Disneyland opened in Anaheim, Calif., in 1955 (and Disney World in Orlando, Fla., in 1971). Their collectible value is not as great as that of vintage Disney items made in the 1930s or ’40s. But if your ring is 14-karat gold, it’s worth its weight in gold.
Tip: Dry good glassware with a towel that has not been washed with fabric softener. The chemicals in the softener will leave a film.
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CURRENT PRICES
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
Salt and pepper shakers, Anchor Hocking, frosted glass with painted apple-and-leaf design by Gay Fad Studios, 3 1/2 inches, $15.
Gibbon monkey plush toy, Steiff, long dangly arms and legs, goofy smile, dark-brown felt pads on hands and feet, long mohair fur, circa 1962, 6 x 12 inches, $60.
1939 New York World’s Fair souvenir chocolate candy tin, blue and orange, gold highlights, scenes from the fair, Bagatelle Miniature Chocolates, 2 7/8 x 6 3/4 inches, $65.
Advertising tape measure, celluloid, yellow cloth tape, one side pictures New England Furniture and Carpet Co. building in Minneapolis, other side pictures “Priscilla” as “The Maid of New England,” Parisian Novelty Co., Chicago, 1 3/8 x 2 inches, $95.
Esther Williams paper doll set, “A Look-Thru Book,” 20 outfits, dog Angie, suntan oil, crown, Merrill, 1950s, 13 x 11 inches, $175.
Fenton Apple Blossom Crest bowl, milk glass, fluted edge ranging from light pink to deep red, 10 x 4 inches, $225.
Toy violinist, tin windup, right arm moves bow, body vibrates, Toyplay Ltd., Japan, 1956, 5 1/4 inches, $385.
Dresser, oak, oval tilting mirror, two drawers, curved front, circa 1910, 71 x 42 inches, $495.
Katzenjammer Kids show poster, image of Hans & Fritz sleeping with Captain and Mama watching, linen, 1912, 40 x 29 inches, $695.
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This Renaissance Revival cabinet, made in the mid-19th century, couldn’t be made today because of laws protecting endangered species. And most homes are not built with high enough ceilings for a cabinet that’s more than 9 feet tall. This walnut, ebony and ivory cabinet sold for $7,200 at a Neal Auction Co. sale in New Orleans.
Alex Brown (American, b. 1966-), ‘Presence Chamber,’ 1998, 68 x 60 inches. Est. $6,000-$9,000. Clark’s Fine Art image. SHERMAN OAKS, Calif. – On Saturday, Jan. 21, Clark’s Fine Art of Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles), Calif., will conduct its first auction of 2012 – a 270-lot auction of premier modern and contemporary artworks from three significant collections, plus additional select consignments. Two of the featured collections are from the estates of Hollywood luminaries who played key roles in the production of TV and film classics known the world over. The third collection consists of contemporary works of art donated by supporters to the Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center, a Los Angeles nonprofit that will benefit from its portion of the auction proceeds.
One of the sale’s key collections was amassed by Harold Berkowitz, a prominent entertainment lawyer whose A-list clients included Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Jack Lemmon and even the canine superstar Rin Tin Tin. Maintaining offices in Beverly Hills and Paris to accommodate his international clientele, Berkowitz had a hand in the deals behind the Pink Panther movie series and 1975 horror-thriller Jaws, as well as many of television’s most enduring shows, including Lassie, Flipper, The Donna Reed Show and All in the Family.
“Mr. Berkowitz, who passed away in 2010, lived in Malibu and collected contemporary and modern art that suited the décor of his home. His refined taste is reflected in the artworks he personally chose for his collection,” said Clark Cierlak, owner of Clark’s Fine Art.
The second major art collection in the sale comes from the estate of Hollywood director Jerrold “Jerry” Bernstein (1930-1979), whose TV credits included The Flying Nun, Gidget, Nanny and the Professor, I Dream of Jeannie, and scores of other popular shows.
“Like Mr. Berkowitz, Jerry Bernstein favored contemporary and modern art. He also liked and, to a lesser extent, collected African art. His art collection has remained in the family for the past 32 years. We are honored to be presenting it at auction,” said Cierlak.
The contemporary art collection consigned by the Silverlake Independent Jewish Community Center blends perfectly into the trifecta of auction headliners. It is comprised of quality contemporary artworks that were gifts from generous supporters.
“The Silverlake center has been a respected institution within the Los Angeles Jewish community for more than 60 years and provides early childhood education and social programs for people of all backgrounds who have an interest in Jewish culture,” said Cierlak. “Over the years some very nice artworks have been donated to the center. There are paintings with previous appraisal values of $30,000 to $40,000 that we will auction with estimates of $4,000 to $5,000 each.”
One of the sale’s top highlights is a 1988 Monique Frydman (American, b. 1943-) pigment, color pastel and oil painting on canvas titled Jaune Majeur III. The 86 x 76 inch work is artist-signed and dated on verso, and comes with provenance from Galerie Baudoin Lebon in Paris. It is estimated at $12,000-$18,000.
Another fine American work is Alex Brown’s (b. 1966-) oil on canvas titled Presence Chamber. The 68 x 60 inch painting – titled, signed and dated “1998” on verso – renders a three-dimensional op art effect. With an appraised value of $37,000, it is cataloged with a $6,000-$9,000 estimate.
A wonderful cast-bronze sculpture titled Colloquio was created in 1962 by Italian sculptor Alfio Castelli (b. 1917-). The signed 60 x 40 x 48 inch depiction of two angular figures in a perpendicular arrangement was previously in the collection of the late David E. Bright and is estimated at $20,000-$40,000. Cierlak noted that David Bright was “a renowned collector who bequeathed 23 paintings to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where a wing was named after him. There are also 11 works from his estate at the Murphy Sculpture Garden at UCLA.”
Standing Nude Woman, a 70-inch-tall welded metal sculpture by Californian Gene Logan (1922-1999), comes with provenance from the Ankrum Gallery, which opened in 1960 and for decades was a favorite haunt for art collectors in LA. Estimate: $1,000-$2,000.
Alida Margolis (American, b. 1975) created the oval oil on canvas titled We Love You All. Signed and dated on verso, the 64½ x 106 inch painting has an appraised value of $20,000. It will be offered at Clark’s on Jan. 21 with an $8,000-$12,000 estimate.
Norwegian artist Haavard Homstvedt’s (b. 1976-) acrylic-on-linen wrapped over panel work titled Nudes (Double Step) measures 64 x 48 inches and was previously appraised at $35,000. Some sharp-eyed collector could take away a bargain if it sells within its estimate range of $4,000-$6,000.
Two signed multicolor acrylic columns by Yugoslavian artist Velizar Vasa (b. 1933-) will be offered individually in consecutive lots. Each incorporates a spectrum of colors – blue, green, yellow and purple – and measures 101 inches tall, inclusive of stand. The presale estimate on each column is $4,000-$6,000.
Clark’s Fine Art welcomes all forms of bidding for its Jan. 21 auction, including live at the gallery, absentee, by phone, or live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers.com. The gallery is located at 14931 Califa St., Space A, Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles), CA 91411. The auction will begin at noon Pacific Time. Preview 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16 through Friday, Jan. 20, and from 10 a.m. till noon on auction day.
For additional information on any lot in the sale, call 818-783-3052 or e-mail gallery@pacbell.net. View the fully illustrated catalog online at www.LiveAuctioneers.com. Visit Clark’s website at www.estateauctionservice.com.
Alex Brown (American, b. 1966-), ‘Presence Chamber,’ 1998, 68 x 60 inches. Est. $6,000-$9,000. Clark’s Fine Art image.
Alfio Castelli (Italian, b. 1917-), ‘Colloquio,’ cast bronze sculpture, 1962, 60 x 40 x 48 inches. Provenance: David E. Bright collection. Est. $20,000-$40,000. Clark’s Fine Art image.
Monique Frydman (American, b. 1943-), ‘Jaune Majeur III,’ 1988, 86 x 76 inches. Provenance: Galerie Baudoin Lebon, Paris. Est. $12,000-$18,000. Clark’s Fine Art image.
Iva Guerorguiva (Bulgarian/American, 20th century), ‘Gasoline the Sunlight,’ 2004, 77 x 87 inches. Provenance: Karl Berg Gallery. Est. $4,000-$8,000. Clark’s Fine Art image.
Haavard Homstvedt (Norwegian, b. 1976-), ‘Nudes (Double Step),’ 64 x 48 inches. Est. $4,000-$6,000. Clark’s Fine Art image.
Gene Logan (Californian, 1922-1999), ‘Standing Nude Woman,’ welded metal sculpture, 70 inches tall inclusive of hydra-stone base. Est. 1,000-$2,000. Clark’s Fine Art image.
Alida Margolis (American, b. 1975), ‘We Love You All,’ 64 ½ x 106 inches. Est. $8,000-$12,000. Clark’s Fine Art image.
Triple-angle view of Velizar Vasa (Yugoslavian, b. 1933-) multicolor acrylic column, two to be auctioned, 101 inches tall inclusive of stand. Provenance: Mrs. David E. Bright. Est. $4,000-$6,000 each. Clark’s Fine Art image.
ATHENS (AFP) – A painting personally gifted by Spanish-born master Pablo Picasso to Greece was stolen from Athens’ National Gallery early Monday along with two other important artworks, officials said.
“Woman’s Head,” a 1939 oil on canvas, had been given by Picasso to the Greek state in 1949 in recognition of the country’s resistance to Nazi Germany, the police said in a statement.
“Mill,” a 1905 oil painting of a windmill by Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian was also stolen, along with a sketch of St Diego de Alcala by 16th century Italian artist Guglielmo Caccia, better known as Moncalvo, the police said.
Authorities said the thief, or thieves, had knocked out the alarm system and forced open a balcony door at the back of the building, which is located across from one of Athens’ top hotels.
A guard told police that a burglar alarm went off shortly before 5:00 am and that he saw the silhouette of a person running from the building.
He told police that he ran after the thief, who dropped another Mondrian oil painting, “Landscape,” depicting a farmhouse and painted around 1905, according to the gallery’s website.
The break-in lasted only around seven minutes.
The police added that the guard had been distracted earlier in the evening by alarms that were triggered at various entry points, but when he went to investigate he found no one in the gallery.
The police said the theft occurred on the final day of an exhibition titled “Unknown Treasures” that included prints and etchings by Duerer and Rembrandt.
The gallery in the center of the Greek capital planned to close its doors following the exhibition for expansion and renovation work.
It has a vast permanent collection of post-Byzantine Greek art, as well as a small collection of Renaissance works and some El Greco paintings.
