This Continental 18-karat yellow gold, silver, ruby, diamond and enamel zarf in a mosaic design sold for $134,200. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers. CHICAGO â Antique jewelry brought outstanding prices at Leslie Hindman Auctioneersâ March 25-26 auction, which featured the Zographos collection, highlighted by the unusual and much sought after gold, ruby, diamond and enamel zarf, estimated at $8,000-$12,000, brought $134,200.
The estate featured several standouts that far exceeded estimates. These included a rare example of Suzanne Belperronâs work in a carved chalcedony and diamond ring that achieved $36,600 and an antique 6.20-carat cabochon cut unheated Burmese ruby ring that sold for a strong $146,400.
In keeping with the current trend, fine colored stones fared well. An 8.50-carat natural unheated sapphire ring sold for $61,000, while an extremely large 59.00-carat antique emerald cut spinel brought $48,800.
Natural pearls also captured the publicâs attention as a pearl, platinum and diamond tassel necklace realized $26,840, and an important pair of diamond and drop pearl earrings sold for $43,920.
Important diamonds continue to have universal appeal as evidenced by several stones that far exceeded expectations. A pair of antique cushion cut diamonds weighing 25.75 carats total brought $280,000, while a pair of antique briolette cut diamonds sold for $67,100. An important Schlumberger ring containing a lozenge cut 4.70-carat diamond brought $134,200. Additionally, a 7.20-carat heart-shape diamond of D color, VVS1 clarity and the rare âGolcondaâ Type IIA distinction realized $448,000 after spirited bidding.
Leslie Hindman Auctioneersâ next fine jewelry and timepieces auction will be held June 10-11. Consignments are invited for upcoming auctions. Contact Alexander Eblen at 312-334-4233 for more information.
This Continental 18-karat yellow gold, silver, ruby, diamond and enamel zarf in a mosaic design sold for $134,200. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
An 18-karat white gold, sapphire and diamond ring. Price realized: $61,000. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
Important yellow gold, ruby and diamond ring containing one central oval cabochon cut ruby weighing approximately 6.20 carats surrounded by 16 old mine cut diamonds weighing approximately 4.40 carats. Price realized: $146,400. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
Pair of Victorian diamond briolette pendants, designed as earring components, containing two briolette shape rose cut diamonds. Price realized: $67,100. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
Two antique cushion cut diamonds, weighing approximately 13.37 carats and 12.38 carats, accompanied by gold ring settings. Price realized: $280,000. Image courtesy Leslie Hindman Auctioneers.
French executioner Fernand Meyssonnier no doubt would have enjoyed getting his hands on this actual hangman’s noose, which came from a museum in Tombstone, Ariz. The noose, used to hang convicted robber and murderer ‘Red’ Sample in 1884, sold at Heritage Auctions in November for $9,000 plus the buyer’s premium. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Heritage Auctions. PARIS (AFP) â Rights groups Wednesday attacked as “shocking and immoral” the planned auction of an arsenal of torture devices dating back three centuries, collected by one of France’s last executioners.
Some 350 deathly objects, from a hand-crusher to cuffs and hanging ropes and written death sentences, collected by Fernand Meyssonnier up until his death in 2008, are slated to go on sale next Tuesday in Paris.
A former chief executioner in French-ruled Algeria, Meyssonnier carried out 198 executions between 1957 and the country’s independence in 1962, devoting the rest of his life to a peaceful retirementâand his pet torture collection.
French auction house Cornette de Saint Cyr is organizing the sale for the benefit of the Meyssonnier family.
But the ACAT-France Christian anti-torture group, Amnesty International France, the Human Rights League, the Movement Against Racism (MRAP) and the Primo Levi association issued a joint statement condemning the auction.
Denouncing what they called the “commercialization of torture,” they called on the French stateâwhich abolished the death penalty in 1981âto to remove the lots from sale, if necessary by acquiring them for national museums.
“What shocks us is that torture is still practiced in half of all countries,” said Eleonore Morel, director of the Primo Levi association, calling the sale “extremely degrading for all the victims of torture.”
“We refuse to see people make 200,000 euros on the sale of such morbid objects,” Henri Pouillot of the MRAP told AFP, who called the planned auction “perverse and macabre.”
“If they have any historical value, these objects should be kept in a museum.”
Pouillot said he was was particularly alarmed by Meyssonnier’s connection to Algeria, where French forces are acknowledged to have practiced torture during the war of independence from 1956 to 1962.
The auctioneer, Bertrand Cornette de Saint Cyr, told AFP in response that “no objects concerning the Algerian war” were being offered for sale.
He said the house had decided to remove the mock guillotine from the sale, saying it was a modern replica at odds with the bulk of the collection, made up mostly of historical documents dating from the 16th century to the 1930s, or the stocks used as physical punishment in the 18th and 19th centuries.
“The objects evoke the Spanish Inquisition, mediaeval times,” he said of the collection, which is to go on display from Saturday ahead of the sale at the Salomon de Rothschild mansion in Paris.
Pair of painted ‘Fat Ladies’ pottery figures from the Tang Dynasty (617-906 A.D.). Courtesy Courage and Joy.
NEW YORK – Asia Week New York concluded its nine-day run on March 24 and was met with great enthusiasm from the multitude of international collectors, curators, scholars and Asian art aficionados who descended upon New York to see an extraordinary array of treasures from every corner of Asia. The thirty-three Asian art specialists from England, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, and the United States reported strong sales to known and new buyers, from here and abroad, with many works on reserve by museums. To date, the combined sales realized by these galleries, together with several highly successful auctions, total over 170 million US dollars.
“Asia Week New York 2012 wrapped up its robust season over the weekend after an extraordinary week of openings, events, gallery exhibitions, lectures and auctions,” said Henry Howard-Sneyd, Chairman of Asia Week New York 2012 and Sotheby’s Vice chairman of Asian art, Americas. “Almost every significant art form and country in Asia was represented, often in depth, across the city. The dealer participants reported consistent visitor traffic throughout, with many saying that they had sold better than last year. The auctions reported record high prices in many categories with New York maintaining its ranking among the top-selling centers of the world. ” According to Howard-Sneyd, classical Chinese paintings have returned as a leading element of the Asian art market after more than 10 years’ absence.
“This was the busiest New York Asia Week we’ve seen in many years,” reported James Lally, of J.J. Lally & Co. “Our exhibition was a great success, with approximately 75 percent of the items in our catalogue now sold, including a few items to museums, but private collectors were dominant, as usual.” According to Lally, he received confirmation from the Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, of the museum’s acquisition of a rare Sogdian Parcel-Gilt Silver Fluted Cup, dating to circa 700 A.D. “Chinese art is currently enjoying a ‘boom’, with many new collectors and dealers coming from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China. Chinese art of every kind and every period is more popular around the world now than ever before in history. We sold items to American, Japanese, European and Chinese buyers, with American buyers making the most purchases by a wide margin.”
“The overall exuberance and acquisitive atmosphere were reminiscent of Asia Weeks of the late 1990s,” said Joan Mirviss, who reported that the response from collectors and enthusiasts to her exhibition “Approaching the Horizon: Important Japanese Prints from the Collection of Brewster Hanson” was exhilarating. “By the close of Asia Week’s openhouse weekend, we had sold nearly 60% of the exhibition (which included sixty-eight prints). In terms of attendance and participation, this year’s Asia Week was tremendous and far exceeded those in recent memory.”
“Our ‘Portraits & Pantheons’ exhibition of 20 Korean paintings garnered an energetic and positive response,” said Jiyoung Koo of KooNewYork. “A number of these rare works are now officially ‘on reserve’ for museums but I also have a wait list of other curators for pieces.What surprised me the most was the great interest in two particular scroll portraits of scholars-one dated 1924 and the other from the Annexation Period (1910-1945) -even more than the paintings dated earlier. This may reflect the long-sighted vision of various curators re-looking at the tumultuous period of the turn of the 19th/20th century with a fresh eye now that we’re in the 21st century. Additionally, these paintings help to shed historical light on the birth of Modern and Contemporary Korean Art that is in the spotlight these days.”
“We are overjoyed by the positive response to our Asia Week exhibition,” said Carlton Rochell, who specializes in Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian art. “It has been one of the most successful shows for us to date, with over 30 top-quality works of art selling to at least four American and international museums, as well as to private collectors from around the world. We have seen unprecedented numbers of people here at the gallery, many of whom we have met for the first time. Asia Week New York continues to be the premier destination for museums, collectors, and dealers worldwide and we were thrilled to be a part of it.”
According to Edith Dicconson, the director of the Chinese Porcelain Company, the Sackler Museum of the Harvard University of Art Museums acquired Summer Mountain After Rain, an ink on silk painting by Tai Xiangzhou (b. 1968). “We are pleased to report that Tai Xiangzhou ink paintings are now in six important private U.S. collections, and one in Hong Kong,” said Dicconson.
“This has been my best-attended exhibition in years and has had amazing sales from day one with great interest from museums and private collectors,” said Michael C. Hughes who exhibited Chinese and Indian art. “I am very pleased.”
“Kapoor Galleries is thrilled at and thankful for the support of our distinguished clientele, one of whom flew in his personal jet to view the exhibition, prior to its official opening,” said Suneet Kapoor. “We have had tremendous interest and kind praise from collectors, curators and colleagues for the high quality works on display.” According to Kapoor, the highly important earliest known signed and dated Nepalese paubha of a Vasudhara Mandala sold for over two million dollars.
Additional sales at Kapoor Galleries included: Krishna & Arjuna Hunting, attributed to Manaku, from the mid 18th century sold to a European private collector; a Basohli painting depicting Krishna quelling the naga Kaliya, attributed to Fattu, circa 1765; along with a magnificent sculpture of Vishnu, circa 10th-11th century sold to an American private collector; a lovely leaf from the Sundar Shringar series of paintings, depicting Radha in conversation with her mother in law, as well as Prince Climbing a Rope a marvelous Mughal painting from the 18th century sold toa distinguished New York collector.
Carol Conover of Kaikodo, specializing in both Chinese paintings and works of art and Japanese art, was happy to report that the gallery sold several of their most important classical Chinese paintings to American cultural institutions. Other works of art, in the six- and seven-figure category, were sold to American, Chinese and European collectors.
According to Peter Kang, of Kang Collection, specialists in Korean ancient and contemporary art, a number of museums have reserved or shown strong interest in acquisitions from their exhibition this year. “This was our strongest year since we started three years ago, and we expect our sales to quadruple,” said Kang. “We had the highest volume of pedestrian traffic from all over the world, including people who had never visited our gallery.”
“I’ve had a very busy Asia Week, lots of steady foot traffic throughout the week,” reported Joe-Hynn Yang of Courage and Joy. “Clients and collectors were very pleased with the focus on Tang and Song ceramics, and they were glad that that market is being supported by dealer exhibitions. I have sold my pair of Tang ‘fat ladies’ in the range of $150,000; as well as a number of bronzes and sculpture that were not included in the catalogue, but shown privately to those who came into the gallery.”
“I have had a very successful week,” said John Eskenazi, of John Eskenazi Ltd. “Many of my good clients came back and the general mood has been buoyant, and noticed many European buyers were in town. We also detect a strong interest from Far Eastern collectors venturing outside of the Chinese art market.”
“We have had a very positive response to our fifth annual exhibition of Indian Painting in New York, and many collectors, new and old, and museum curators-American, Asian and European-have been in to view the exhibition,” said Brendan Lynch of London-based Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch Ltd. Sales included A Prince Inspecting Manuscripts in a Palace Library, attributed to Manohar, Mughal India, circa 1600, sold to a European museum; A Raja Dressed for Puja, Deccan, India, circa 1760, sold to a museum in Asia; A Lady With a Tambura, Kishangarh, India, circa 1760, sold to an American private collector. The Hour of Hour of Cowdust, attributed to Fattu, Basholi, circa 1760, sold to a private European collector; Krishna on a Terrace, leaf from a Bihari Sat Sai series, Kangra, circa 1785, sold to a private European collector; and Radha and Krishna on a Palace Terrace at Dawn, Kangra, circa 1800, sold to a private art museum in Asia.
“I was very pleased to have sold over half of my exhibition in the first four days of Asia Week” said Eric Zetterquist. “The most notable sale was a guanyao celadon vase made for the imperial court in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279). I was delighted to meet many new collectors.”
Tibetan and Indian textile expert Carlo Cristi of Milan, Italy said his exhibition of Central Asian textiles was well attended with a good flow of visitors. “Interest in ancient textiles has been consistent,” he reported. Among Cristi’s sales were a very large silk canopy (52 Ÿ by 32 Âœ inches), woven in red, blue, green and golden colors, and a large deep red fragment with bulls marching in rows, 7th-9th century.
Jewelry from India, Burma, Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Indonesia was featured at Sue Ollemans Oriental Art. Ollemans reported that sales were up over last year with an increase in museum interest for her pieces. Sold were a pair of diamond flower earrings from Jaipur, circa 1950 and a diamond and ruby pendant, also from Northern India.
“We had more visitors both Asian and Western than we recall in any Asian Week past,” said Stephen Chait of Ralph M. Chait Galleries. “Selling was strong — mostly sculpture, pottery, and works of art. Asia Week was a great success.”
Pace Prints, a first-time participant, was pleased with its inaugural year in Asia Week New York. “Through the combined participation of the leading institutions and specialists in Asian art, we have been able to expand our client base and our knowledge of the current Asian art market here in New York City,” said Kristin Heming, Director of Pace Prints. “We have experienced increased interest in our Asian contemporary artists and are looking forward to building further relationships as a result of our involvement in this event.”
Another new Asia Week New York participant, Francesca Galloway of London, noted: “The response to our exhibition and to Asia Week New York, in general, was phenomenal. We were extremely busy with a non-stop flow of people and sold fifteen paintings including the Nainsukh, the two important Fraser Album pages, as well as a masterpiece of Sikh painting: a detailed depiction of the Dessehra festival that celebrates Rama’s conquest of Ravana. Eight additional paintings are under offer to museums and private collectors.”
Asia Week New York 2013 will take place from March 15-24.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Pair of painted ‘Fat Ladies’ pottery figures from the Tang Dynasty (617-906 A.D.). Courtesy Courage and Joy.Sogdian parcel-gilt silver fluted cup, circa 700 A.D., width with handle 3 1/2 inches (8.9 cm); height 2 1/2 inches (6.3 cm). Courtesy J.J. Lally & Co.‘Summer Mountain After Rain,’ ink on silk painting by Tai Xiangzhou (b. 1968). Courtesy Chinese Porcelain Company.
OLIVE HILL, Ky. (AP) â Officials say an event in eastern Kentucky to display and sell mining memorabilia such as carbide lamps, âturtle shellâ caps and metal lunch pails was successful.
It was the first meeting that the Eastern Mining Collectors Association held at Carter Caves State Resort Park in Olive Hill, but organizers told The Independent that it won’t be the last. They are already planning another event for next April.
Organizers say if it becomes an annual event, it would be only the second such show in the Eastern United States.
Dozens of collectors from around the nation attended the event Saturday. Event organizer Colin Gatland said the group was excited by the attendance, as well as the reception from the community and the reaction from collectors.
âIt’s a pretty good turnout,â he said. âThe caliber of collectors we have here are top tier collectors. Folks here have some of the largest collections anywhere of mining artifacts.â
Brothers Mike and Tim Adkins of Olive Hill said it was nostalgic to see the items, many of which were used by their grandfather, who was a miner.
âThe really great part of this is we have a connection to all of this,â said Tim Adkins. âWe see the miners lunch pails and we connect it to people we knew. I’m a retired boilermaker and used a lot of this equipment when we were teenagers.â
Collector Tony Moon of Albuquerque, N.M., said he traveled to the event âhoping to find something I couldn’t resist.â He won’t go home empty handed. Moon purchased a carbide lamp with a name he hadn’t seen before from another collector.
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Information from: The Independent, http://www.dailyindependent.com
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The SS United States docked in Philadelphia. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) â The SS United States Conservancy is planning to compile an inventory of the furnishings, equipment, ephemera and other artifacts of the legendary ocean liner that still exist.
The conservancy made the announcement Monday on its website, which has a survey for owners of items such as light fixtures, dishes, advertisements and souvenirs, ship models, log books, lifejackets and menus.
The nonprofit group owns the historic ship and is working to redevelop it. The conservancy stressed that the survey doesn’t mean it’s looking for collectors to donate their treasures. It said the goal is to eventually make the information available for researchers and historians, connect fans of the ship and identify potential sources of future loans for exhibitions and displays.
âAt this stage, we are simply trying to create a comprehensive record of how the SS United Statesâ legacy endures in material culture and memory,â the conservancy said in a statement.
After decades of false starts and shifting owners, the SS United States Conservancy last year bought the five-block-long ship, known to fans as âBig U,â from Norwegian Cruise Lines and its parent for $3 million.
The estimated $200 million cost to renovate the ship will come from for-profit entities. The conservancy is exploring possible partnerships with as yet unnamed investors in New York and Miami to redevelop the liner as a stationary entertainment complex with a hotel, restaurants, retail, educational and museum components.
Also Monday, the conservancy announced a new partnership with real estate advisory firm New Canaan Advisors LLC to assist in advancing its development plans.
Decommissioned in 1969, towed from port to port for decades, the largest passenger vessel ever constructed in the U.S. has been moored since 1996 at a Delaware River pier in South Philadelphia.
On its 1952 maiden voyage from New York to Le Havre, France, the liner’s 268,000 shaft horsepower engines set a trans-Atlantic speed record: 3 days, 10 hours, 42 minutes. That beat the previous pace by about four hours, setting a record that still stands for a conventional passenger ocean liner.
Built as a joint venture between the Navy and ship designer Gibbs & Cox, the $78 million liner was never called to battle, but could have been converted in a single day to transport 14,000 soldiers.
Instead, it carried heads of state, royalty and celebrities in its 400 round trips. Passengers included Presidents John F. Kennedy, actress Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco, and England’s King Edward VIII. Then-Rhodes scholar Bill Clinton traveled tourist classâone step above the crewâon his way to Oxford University in 1968.
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Online:
SS United States Conservancy: http://www.ssusc.org
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-03-26-12 1957GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The SS United States docked in Philadelphia. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.
