June 2012 - Page 9 of 20 - Auction Central News

Art of the brew -- Edouard Manet's (French, 1832-1883) 'La serveuse de bocks' ('The Waitress'), painted 1878-1879, depicting a woman serving beer. From the collection of Musee d'Orsay, Paris. Image from The Yorck Project.

Michigan brewing company’s assets to be auctioned

June 19, 2012/in Collectibles & Pop Culture/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

Art of the brew — Edouard Manet’s (French, 1832-1883) ‘La serveuse de bocks’ (‘The Waitress’), painted 1878-1879, depicting a woman serving beer. From the collection of Musee d’Orsay, Paris. Image from The Yorck Project.

WEBBERVILLE (AP) – An auction is planned for Wednesday to sell off assets of Michigan Brewing Co., known for making beers including musician Kid Rock’s own Badass Beer.

The Lansing State Journal reports brewing equipment and other assets including the Webberville-based brewery’s name are expected to be sold. The sale is to satisfy a Detroit-area creditor.

Bobby Mason, who founded the brewery roughly 17 years ago, says he’s trying to save what he can.

An on-site restaurant drew customers in recent years and its craft beers won medals. But Mason was evicted in April following foreclosure on the brewery.

Michigan Brewing had an agreement to brew Badass Beer. A statement on Kid Rock’s website earlier this month said an announcement is planned soon on a new brewer for Badass Beer.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Art of the brew — Edouard Manet’s (French, 1832-1883) ‘La serveuse de bocks’ (‘The Waitress’), painted 1878-1879, depicting a woman serving beer. From the collection of Musee d’Orsay, Paris. Image from The Yorck Project.

A 1928 American LaFrance fire truck. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Firefighter donates 1927 hose truck to firehouse museum

June 19, 2012/in General Interest/by Tom Hoepf

A 1928 American LaFrance fire truck. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

FLINT, Mich. (AP) – Firefighter Rico Phillips recently sat behind the wheel of a red 1927 American LaFrance hose truck as it was hoisted onto a large flatbed, making its way to a new home on the state’s east side.

It’s not the last time the 19-year veteran of the Flint Fire Department will see the vehicle, but it’s the final time it will roll out of the former Fire Station 2 on Martin Luther King Avenue.

“It’s in remarkable shape,” said Matt Lee, executive director of the Michigan Firehouse Museum in Ypsilanti, of the 22-foot-long, 13,000-pound vehicle donated to Phillips. “The city took good care of it.”

Phillips said he received the truck in 2005, when a Metamora, Mich., resident contacted him about making a donation toward the Flint Firefighters Historical Society, a museum that was planned to honor the history of the city’s fire department.

Those plans dissolved with a downward turn in the economy and a break-in at the building housing the vehicles in late 2011, which led the building’s owner to give Phillips until June 1 to find a new home for the antique fire truck, as well as a 45-foot-long 1968 American LaFrance fire truck, 1980s Buick City industrial fire truck and other historical items.

Lee said he has more than 60 fire trucks, ranging from an 1834 rig to a 1982 truck out of Scio Township near Ann Arbor, which rotate three times a year at the 10-year-old museum started by Howard and Norma Weaver.

“Matt came up and saw it,” Phillips said of the antique truck. “He was really excited it came from Flint.”

As he looked at the three-speed, 150-horsepower vehicle, Lee discussed plans to replace parts on the vehicle—lantern bracket, bell mount, water pump—which he said eliminated horse-drawn stations between 1915 and 1925.

“I look forward to playing with it,” he said. “It’s going to have a good home.”

Phillips said he never took the opportunity to ride the fire truck, as opposed to the 1968 vehicle he purchased from the city in 2003 and drive in parades and other events.

“This one is so old, I was scared to drive it,” he said. “I didn’t want to venture out and crash this old truck.”

His chance behind the wheel will come during the July 27-28 Great Lakes International Antique Fire Apparatus Association’s Annual Antique Fire Engine Muster in Frankenmuth, Mich., when Lee plans to unveil it following restoration efforts.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Phillips of the move. “But what’s cool about it is (the truck) will get its due chance to be displayed.”___

Information from: The Flint Journal, http://www.mlive.com/flint

AP-WF-06-18-12 0809GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

A 1928 American LaFrance fire truck. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Joseph Heller at the Miami Book Fair International in 1986. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Joseph Heller’s writing tools on display at university library

June 19, 2012/in People/by Tom Hoepf

Joseph Heller at the Miami Book Fair International in 1986. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Students more accustomed to computer screens than manual typewriters are getting a chance to sit at author Joseph Heller’s stained wooden desk and type on the battered Smith-Corona he used to compose his acclaimed novel Catch-22.

A small exhibit at a University of South Carolina library displays the desk, typewriter and lamp used by Heller as he wrote many of his major works. The university library has one of the largest collections of his papers, manuscripts and other memorabilia available to researchers, library officials said.

“We acquired this with the expectation that students would type on the typewriter and experience sitting at his desk,” said Elizabeth Suddeth, director of the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections at the Ernest F. Hollings Library on the Columbia campus, where the display is located.

The display is available for students and library visitors until late December, Suddeth said.

Heller died in 1999, and during the past year his widow, Valerie, added his desk and lamp to USC’s collection, Suddeth said. Catch-22 was his first novel and is often hailed as one of America’s best novels about World War II and questions of sanity, warfare and hypocrisy.

The typewriter was acquired in 2003 through the efforts of the late USC English professor Dr. Matthew Bruccoli, who urged the university to buy a collection of Heller’s manuscripts, and who also passed along many books from his own Heller collection, Suddeth said.

The well-worn desk is covered with coffee cup rings and other stains. Its veneer is chipped, there’s a hole in the right drawer, and it bears scars at knee height where chairs apparently bashed against it. The small, portable typewriter has dark green keys that respond with a solid “thunk” when struck.

Heller wrote in his autobiography Then and Now about acquiring the typewriter, which he bought at Macy’s in New York. He ordered a special “writer’s keyboard,” which had punctuation marks in lower and upper case to make typing easier, he said. “It made no difference,” he wrote.

“It’s very unfamiliar. You don’t hold your hands the same way as you would with a computer,” said Jessica Dowd, 25, who tried the machine out after noting she’d never used a manual typewriter.

Dowd graduated from the USC school of library science and works in the rare books department.

“It’s exciting to be able to touch what Heller touched,” she said.

The display reflects how Bruccoli wanted his students to learn about literature, said Dr. Park Bucker, an associate professor of English at USC’s Sumter campus.

“He taught his classes in the library. He wanted students to be surrounded by writer’s stuff. He was a very hands-on person and wanted a library to be a living collection,” Bucker said.

Bucker said his own students “think a typewriter is a museum piece. They need to know that writing was a completely different process before the computer.”

Bucker said some students enjoy Heller’s dark humor in Catch-22, while others may find its “episodic nature” and changes of time frame frustrating.

The professor said Bruccoli invited Heller to visit the University of South Carolina several times, where he participated in writer’s workshops and delivered the main address at a university’s celebration of F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1996.

“Heller enjoyed his time here. That a big reason why we have his papers,” Bucker said.

The exhibit is on display through Dec. 20th in the Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections section. The library is open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. EDT on weekdays on the Columbia campus.

AP-WF-06-17-12 1455GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Joseph Heller at the Miami Book Fair International in 1986. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

US sues to force return of dinosaur to Mongolia

June 19, 2012/in Crime & Litigation/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

NEW YORK (AP) — The fossil of a dinosaur that roamed the earth 70 million years ago should be turned over to the United States by an auction house so that it can be returned to its home in Mongolia, a lawsuit brought by the U.S. government demanded Monday.

The nearly complete Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton was imported from Great Britain to Gainesville, Fla., in March 2010 with erroneous claims that it originated in Great Britain and was worth only $15,000, according to the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

It sold at auction on May 20 for more than $1 million even though Mongolia’s president had obtained a temporary restraining order from Texas State Civil District Judge Carlos R. Cortez prohibiting its auction, the suit said. The completion of the sale was made contingent upon the outcome of any court proceedings. The suit did not identify the buyer.

James T. Hayes Jr., head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in New York, said criminal smugglers misrepresented the fossil to customs officials when they illegally imported it into the United States.

Jim Halperin, co-founder of the Heritage Auctions, a defendant in the lawsuit, said: “We auctioned the Tyrannosaurus bataar conditionally, subject to future court rulings, so this matter is now in the hands of lawyers and politicians.”

He added: “We believe our consignor purchased fossils in good faith, then spent a year of his life and considerable expense identifying, restoring, mounting and preparing what had previously been a much less valuable matrix of unassembled, underlying bones. We sincerely hope there will be a just and fair outcome for all parties.”

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a news release that the skeletal remains are “of tremendous cultural and historic significance to the people of Mongolia, and provide a connection to the country’s prehistoric past. When the skeleton was allegedly looted, a piece of the country’s natural history was stolen with it, and we look forward to returning it to its rightful place.”

The release included a quote from Tsakhia Elbegdorj, Mongolia’s president, saying he was thankful for the legal action to recover the skeleton, calling it “an important piece of the cultural heritage of the Mongolian people.”

He added: “Cultural looting and profiteering cannot be tolerated anywhere and this cooperation between our governments is a large step forward to stopping it.”

The lawsuit said the dinosaur’s remains were believed to have been discovered in the Gobi Desert between 1995 and 2005. An auction house catalog listing of the skeleton said it measures 24-feet long and 8-feet tall, the suit said.

A June 5 examination by at least five experts specializing in bataars resulted in unanimous agreement that the skeleton was a Tyrannosaurus bataar and almost certainly originated in the Nemegt Basin in Mongolia.

One expert, Khishigjav Tsogtbaatar, head of Paleontological Laboratory and Museum in Mongolia, said in a document filed with the lawsuit that it appeared some part of the skeleton’s skull and postcranium were destroyed by poachers who lacked professional knowledge about proper excavation techniques.

U.S. authorities said Tyrannosaurus bataars were first discovered in 1946 during a joint Soviet-Mongolian expedition to the Gobi Desert in the Mongolian Omnogovi Province. Since 1924, Mongolia has enacted laws declaring fossils to be the property of the government of Mongolia and criminalizing their export from the country.

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The Carpeteria genie all the way from California welcomes visitors to the American Sign Museum. Photo courtesy dennygibson.com.

Genie’s out of the box at relocated American Sign Museum

June 18, 2012/in Museums/by Tom Hoepf

The Carpeteria genie all the way from California welcomes visitors to the American Sign Museum. Photo courtesy dennygibson.com.

CINCINNATI (AP) – A brightly painted, 20-foot-tall fiberglass genie towering over the entrance of a renovated 1912 Cincinnati factory gives visitors just a hint of the nostalgic icons awaiting them inside a new showcase spanning nearly a century of American signs.

The gigantic genie that was used to advertise a carpet company in 1960s Los Angeles is only one of nearly 500 signs and other items included at the new home of the American Sign Museum, which opened Saturday in Cincinnati.

The new $3.3 million, 20,000-square-foot museum is more than four times the size of the original museum, which could no longer accommodate the growing collection.

“We ran out of space almost as soon as it opened,” founder and president Tod Swormstedt said of the Cincinnati site where the nonprofit museum debuted in April 2005.

New 28-foot-high ceilings now provide space for huge signs like a 1963 McDonald’s restaurant in Huntsville, Ala., that wouldn’t fit in the former museum. The 26-foot tall, 3,800-pound sign advertising 15-cent hamburgers features McDonald’s original Speedee mascot—a small figure wearing a chef’s hat and appearing to be running thanks to some rapidly moving neon lights.

Wooden panels from a Lanesville, Ind., barn that was painted with the slogan “Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco” also made it out of storage, covering almost an entire wall of the museum’s event area which will be rented out for conferences, wedding receptions and other private events.

The museum traces the evolution of American signs, from elegant hand-painted gold leaf on glass in the late 1800s and early 1900s and the first electric signs in the early 1900s, to neon signs from the 1920s through the 1960s. Plastic signs that emerged from World War II also are among the displays.

Visitors entering the new museum are greeted with a burst of motion and color. Some of the most eye-catching displays include a rotating 6-foot-diameter metal globe encircled by a Saturn-like ring of neon cars that advertised a 1950s auto painting company in Compton, Calif., and a spinning Sputnik replica that welcomed visitors to the Satellite Shopland shopping center in Anaheim, Calif., in the 1960s.

Nostalgia remains a key attraction for many visitors who say the signs bring back childhood memories.

But Swormstedt says the museum is more than flashing neon lights or the “warm and fuzzy memories” it evokes.

“It’s an educational experience,” Sworrnstedt said. “It’s a fun, colorful way to learn about American history and culture and track our technology and design trends.”

Experts in signs and urban landscape issues say the museum’s importance shouldn’t be overlooked.

“It’s a national treasure; there’s no doubt about that,” said John Jakle, co-author of several books on American roadside history and a professor emeritus of geography and landscape architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“I don’t know any other place where you can go and get a firsthand look at what others of us write about in books,” Jakle said.

Patty Herbin, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Signage Foundation Inc., said the expanded museum is “a point of celebration for the on-premise sign industry” because it allows people to see how the industry has progressed.

Herbin also praised the museum’s Main Street section, complete with vintage storefronts and a cobblestone square. Most of the faux storefront windows are used for displays, but one storefront is an actual working neon shop where visitors can watch as signs are created and restored.

“It’s really cool,” she said.

AP-WF-06-17-12 1716GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

The Carpeteria genie all the way from California welcomes visitors to the American Sign Museum. Photo courtesy dennygibson.com.

What looks like a montage of signs is an actual image of one area of the museum. Photo courtesy dennygibson.com.

An overview of Main Street during the sneak preview event.

Greg Pond of Neonworks plies his craft as museum visitors look on.

Tom Wartman of Neonworks ‘reflects’ the craft of tube bending for neon signs, as it has been done for generations. Photo courtesy Scott Beseler.

Award-winning British artist Jonathan Wright, who has just begun a prestigious residency at Verbier. Image courtesy of Jonathan Wright.

UK’s Jonathan Wright wins coveted residency at Verbier sculpture park

June 18, 2012/in People/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

Award-winning British artist Jonathan Wright, who has just begun a prestigious residency at Verbier. Image courtesy of Jonathan Wright.

VERBIER, Switzerland (ACNI) – British contemporary artist Jonathan Wright has added another distinction to his already long list of awards and honors. Wright has been selected for a prestigious residency at the Verbier 3-D Sculpture Park in Switzerland. His progress will be documented through a continuing blog on AuctionCentralNews.com.

Underwritten by government grants and corporate sponsorships, the atmospheric mountainside gallery at Verbier is a free public showcase for three-dimensional art. All of the sculptures on view at the park were created by artists during their sponsored residencies.

Wright said that residencies, in general, allow artists to develop works in an atmosphere of support and encouragement.

“Works produced during a residency are inspired, in part, by the location. The 3-D Verbier Foundation offers a wonderful example of such an opportunity, being in a remarkable location high in the Swiss Alps,” Wright said. “Its organizer, Kiki Thompson, is a sculptor herself and has constructed the residency with a view to ensuring that all the artists’ needs are met and catered to.”

Wright said he regards the Verbier residency as an important milestone in his career.

“Being invited to participate in any residency reflects an artist’s growing position in the art world. It sparks a determination within the artist to convince the selectors that their choice was warranted. Verbier is no exception,” Wright said.

Previously the recipient of a grant from the LiveAuctioneers Arts and Charitable Fund, Wright was introduced to Verbier’s organizers by LiveAuctioneers’ CEO Julian Ellison. After submitting a resume and examples of his past work, Wright was notified that he had been chosen for a residency.

“I am now enjoying producing a monumental piece of work that will sit in the Alps for the year to follow,” Wright said. “It is a truly wonderful experience.”

During their residencies at Verbier, artists do not have to worry about anything except being creative. They are given a budget for materials and a studio space in the village of Verbier.

Local residents, students and tourists are given the opportunity to view the sculptures in progress, with the artists’ studio doors left open daily from 6 to 8 p.m. expressly for that purpose. After a sculpture is completed, it is cut to size so it can be fitted onto a base of natural stone, then airlifted by helicopter and permanently positioned. They are installed in such a way that, if they were ever removed, there would be no trace that they had ever existed.

Motor vehicles are not allowed to enter the area, but there are many other ways in which to arrive at the sculpture park, which is located at the midpoint of the mountain. Options include trekking or downhill, off-piste or cross-country skiing. Another option is via dogsled.

To learn more about the Museum without Walls in Verbier, Switzerland, visit www.3-dfoundation.com.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Artists at Verbier 3-D Residency and Sculpture Park in the Swiss Alps have breathtaking vistas from which to draw inspiration. This sculpture titled ‘Samsara’ was created by a former artist-in-residence, Kiki Thompson. Photo copyright Kerry-Jane Lowery, 3-D Foundation.

Large-size Fontainebleu porcelain clock. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches image.

Trophy is top prize at Auction Gallery of Palm Beaches, June 25

June 18, 2012/in Upcoming Auctions/by Tom Hoepf

Large-size Fontainebleu porcelain clock. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches image.

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – The Kentucky Derby Trophy is horse racing’s most desired prize, and on Monday, June 25, horse racing’s “Run for the Roses” will be sold at Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc. The auction will sell at public auction the 1991 Kentucky Derby Tophy won by Calumet Farms’ Strike the Gold. Live Internet bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.

The trophy from the Palm Beach Estate of B. Giles Brophy is certainly the gallery’s most recognized lot to be offered to date. Gallery president Brian Kogan commented that “having the trophy for auction is like having a very special and one-of-a-kind jewel. There is only one trophy made for the breeders of the horse and no additional copies are made.” The auction will take place at 6 p.m. EDT at the gallery’s premises at 1609 S. Dixie Highway, Suite 5, West Palm Beach.

The Kentucky Derby Trophy is believed to be the only solid gold trophy awarded annually to the winner of an American sporting event. It is a created from a brick of 14K gold and the horse and jockey finial is 18K. The solid gold trophy is made by the New England Sterling, weighs 62 ounces and is 16 3/4 inches. To complete the trophy by April, craftsmen begin the process during the fall of the previous year and literally work hundreds of hours. The entire trophy is handcrafted with the exception of the horse and rider that are both cast from a mold. The horseshoe, fashioned from 18K gold, had pointed downward on each of the trophies since 1924. Strike the Gold went on to place third at the Belmont that same year and had a racing career with winnings over $3.5 million before being sold to the Jockey Club of Turkey for breeding. The trophy is estimated at $100,000-$150,000.

Additionally, the auction will include a selection of English, American, European and Oriental antiques; English, American and Chinese sterling silver; fine art; bronzes; ivory, chandeliers/sconces; and jewelry from estates and individuals in South Florida and the Palm Beaches. Over 350 lots will be offered including lot 325, an impressive English George IV sterling salver by Robert Garrard London 1816, 20 3/4 inches in diameter and weighing 126 ounces; lot 319, a late 19th century French Fountainbleu porcelain figural clock adorned with a standing almost 30-inch-tall classical lady with wreaths and bouquets of exotic flowers; lot 295, a superb Chinese white jade vase with cover subtly carved with rooster mask; lot 263, a 284-piece Coalport china service in the Hong Kong pattern; lot 224, a natural yellow fancy 2.4-carrat diamond ring; and lot 76 an American 18th century mahogany Chippendale inlaid extension dining table; and lot 154 a 1947 Seeburg Symphonola kukebox.

Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches Inc. is recognized as having been one of the first auctions to sell on-line, in 2003. Over the past nine years the gallery has become recognized as the leader in the selling of estates in Palm Beach and South Florida. The gallery preview will begin on Wednesday, June 20, and run daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Telephone, absentee, and Internet live bidding is available. Visit the auctioneer’s website at www.AGOPB.com for details or email the gallery at info@agopb.com. For condition reports contact Leslie Baker or Brian Kogan at 561-805-7115.

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

Large-size Fontainebleu porcelain clock. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches image.

1991 Kentucky Derby 14K/18K gold trophy. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches image.

George IV sterling silver salver. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches image.

White jade vase and cover. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches image.

Natural fancy yellow diamond ring. Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches image.

William Trost Richards (American, 1833-1905), ‘The Otter Cliffs, Mount Desert Island, Maine,' 1866, oil on panel backed canvas. Sold amount: $235,600 (All results are inclusive of buyer's premiums). Keno Auctions images.

Leigh Keno’s fine art auction achieves $1.51M

June 18, 2012/in Auction Results/by Tom Hoepf

William Trost Richards (American, 1833-1905), ‘The Otter Cliffs, Mount Desert Island, Maine,’ 1866, oil on panel backed canvas. Sold amount: $235,600 (All results are inclusive of buyer’s premiums). Keno Auctions images.

NEW YORK – Keno Auctions’ Important American and European Paintings sale, the first auction conducted June 12, 2012 at the company’s headquarters, achieved a total of $1.51 million, exceeding the high estimate by $300,000. The auction was 73 percent sold by lot (including after sales), with 49 buyers; 11 of whom were successful online through LiveAuctioneers.com.

The Otter Cliffs, Mount Desert Island, Maine, 1866, by William Trost Richards, which was purchased more than 60 years ago as a sleeper at a Vermont country auction by the consignor, was the sale’s highest selling lot achieving the price of $235,600 (est. $40,000-$100,000) after several minutes of fierce bidding in the room and telephone.

Jean-Paul Riopelle, a member of the Canadian artists group Les Automatistes, created the dynamic painting Folâtre in 1957. The oil on canvas clearly shows the master at the peak of his creative genius. The picture was eagerly sought by a multitude of bidders, 14 clients on the telephone and several others bidding through the Internet and in the room, before selling to an international collector for $173,600 (est. $80,000-$20,000) on site.

The auction offered a number of fresh to the market 20th century pictures from an Arizona collector, with an important contemporary work Topologie de Illusion, 1990, which fetched $99,200 (est. $50,00-$100,000). The artwork, a large scale vivid, abstract painting by renowned Latin American artist Roberto Matta, attracted an international audience with electric bidding in the room, on the telephone and online. The painting sold to a Florida-based dealer/collector on the floor.

Leigh Keno, president of Keno Auctions, said: “We are very pleased with today’s result, especially for the prices achieved by visually exciting works such as David Johnson’s Sunset on the Unadilla River, New York, 1856, which hammered at $167,400 (est. $50,000-$80,000) that a dealer bought for more than the high estimate. Morning Fishing Boats at Anchor, a masterpiece by a leader of the Hague School, Hendrik Willem Mesdag, sold for a strong $198,400 (est. $40,000-$80,000), and is a work we thought had remarkable potential and inspired competition between collectors worldwide. We are delighted to see the caliber of new and established clients in the sale who bid decisively on the best examples of artworks. We had a large number of modern and contemporary works in this auction and we are looking forward to offering more of this type of artwork in the future.”

Highlights from the Important American and European Paintings Sale included:

– Lot 18, William Trost Richards (American, 1833-1905), The Otter Cliffs, Mount Desert Island, Maine, 1866, signed and dated lower right “WM T Richards / 1866,” oil on panel backed canvas, 36 1/4 x 29 inches. Sold amount: $235,600 (Estimate: $40,000-$100,000).

– Lot 39, Hendrik Willem Mesdag (Dutch, 1831-1915), Morning Fishing Boats at Anchor, signed lower right “HW Mesdag,” inscribed with title on a label affixed to the stretcher, oil on canvas, 24 x 51 inches, sold amount: $198,400 (estimate: $40,000-$80,000).

– Lot 70, Jean-Paul Riopelle (Canadian, 1923-2002), Folâtre, 1957, signed lower right ‘Riopelle,’ oil on canvas, 23 1/2 x 28 1/2 inches. Sold amount: $173,600 (estimate: $80,000-$120,000).

– Lot 14, David Johnson (American, 1827-1908), Sunset On the Unadilla River, 1856, signed and dated lower left, “D Johnson 1856,” inscribed and titled on a label affixed to the frame, oil on canvas, 19 x 28 1/8 inches. Sold amount: $167,400 (estimate: $50,000-$80,000).

– Lot 66, Roberto Matta (Chilean, 1911-2002), Topologie de Illusion, 1990, signed lower right, acrylic on canvas, 78 x 84 inches. Sold amount: $99,200 (Estimate: $50,000-$100,000).

– Lot 22, George Henry Hall (American, 1825-1913), A Plea for Peace, 1861, signed and dated lower left “G.H. Hall/1861,” oil on board, 18 3/4 x 15 inches. Sold amount: $86,800 (Estimate: $25,000-$45,000).

– Lot 27, Hamilton Hamilton (American, 1847-1928), Sierras, 1873, signed and dated and inscribed with title lower right “Hamilton Hamilton ’73 / Sierras S****” (indistinct), oil on canvas, 18 x 29 7/8 inches. Sold amount: $74,400 (Estimate: $20,000-$40,000).

– Lot 63, Esteban Vicente (American, 1903-2001), On Space, 1987, signed, dated and inscribed with title verso “Esteban Vicente,”’ oil on canvas, 54 x 64 inches. Sold amount: $65,100 (Estimate: $30,000-60,000).

– Lot 59, Charles Demuth (American, 1883-1935), Two Men and a Woman on the Beach, 1912, signed and dated lower right “C. Demuth 1912,” watercolor over pencil on paper on board, 8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches (sight). Sold amount: $58,280 (Estimate: $12,000-18,000).

Keno Auctions’ next sale is scheduled for Oct. 2 and includes an impressive collection of fresh-to-the market fine European and American paintings, furniture and decorative arts. Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.com.

Keno Auctions, a premier full-service auction house headquartered at 127 E. 69th St. in Manhattan specializes in fine art, jewelry, furniture and decorative arts, Asian works of art, and a variety of specialty categories.

For more information visit Kenoauctions.com or phone 212-734-2381.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

William Trost Richards (American, 1833-1905), ‘The Otter Cliffs, Mount Desert Island, Maine,’ 1866, oil on panel backed canvas. Sold amount: $235,600 (All results are inclusive of buyer’s premiums). Keno Auctions images.

Jean-Paul Riopelle (Canadian, 1923-2002), ‘Folâtre,’ 1957. Sold amount: $173,600. Keno Auctions images.

David Johnson (American, 1827-1908), ‘Sunset On the Unadilla River,’ 1856. Sold amount: $167,400. Keno Auctions images.

Roberto Matta (Chilean, 1911-2002), ‘Topologie de Illusion,’ 1990. Sold amount: $99,200. Keno Auctions images.

George Henry Hall (American, 1825-1913), ‘A Plea for Peace, 1861,’ Sold amount: $86,800. Keno Auctions images.

Hamilton Hamilton (American, 1847-1928), ‘Sierras,’ 1873, Sold amount: $74,400. Keno Auctions images.

Esteban Vicente (American, 1903-2001), ‘On Space,’ 1987. Sold amount: $65,100. Keno Auctions images.

Charles Demuth (American, 1883-1935), ‘Two Men and a Woman on the Beach,’ 1912. Sold amount: $58,280. Keno Auctions images.

Wines from California's Napa Valley have caught on with Asia's growing number of vintage wine collectors. Photo by WPPilot, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Hong Kong wine auction a winner at $2.2 million

June 18, 2012/in Events/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

Wines from California’s Napa Valley have caught on with Asia’s growing number of vintage wine collectors. Photo by WPPilot, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

HONG KONG (AFP) – An auction of fine and rare wines realized $2.2 million in Hong Kong on Saturday, with a sell-through rate (by lot) of more than 90 percent, organizers said.

Christies Asia head of wine Charles Curtis said the sale “showed the vigor of the fine wine market in Asia.”

The sale raised HK$16.79 million ($2.16 million), Christie’s said in a statement.

“Confirming recent trends, there was competitive bidding for burgundy, for white wine and for Bordeauxs ‘super second’ growths, and ever-stronger results for Italian and Napa Valley wine,” Curtis said.

“Buyers eagerly snapped up both older vintages and large format bottles, again showing that collections here are broadening.”

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Wines from California’s Napa Valley have caught on with Asia’s growing number of vintage wine collectors. Photo by WPPilot, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Go-Gos lead singer Belinda Carlisle is now a designer and has released a line of home goods inspired by Indian art and culture, sold exclusively through Bergdorf Goodman.

Go-Gos’ Belinda Carlisle designs range of India-inspired home goods

June 18, 2012/in People/by Catherine Saunders-Watson

Go-Gos lead singer Belinda Carlisle is now a designer and has released a line of home goods inspired by Indian art and culture, sold exclusively through Bergdorf Goodman.

NEW YORK (AP) – Home-goods designer” was never a particular aspiration for Belinda Carlisle, the singer best known as part of the Go-Go’s. But, she says, she was spending so much time traveling, and especially traveling to India, where she was surrounded by beautiful textiles and glorious colors, that she had to figure out how to put all of it to use

“I guess I sort of had a knack for it,” Carlisle says.

Her new collection, called Belindia (yes, that’s a slight tweak of the spelling of her name), is being sold exclusively at Bergdorf Goodman. On a recent trip to New York, she made sure to pass by the retailer’s famous Midtown windows to see her blankets and tabletop items on display.

She wouldn’t have imagined it a few years ago. “It really started with three or four of us not knowing anything about how to start this sort of business, and one year and nine months later, we’re in store,” Carlisle says during an interview.

She added: “I was spending six months a year in India, and I thought, ‘I have to justify it.”’

Originally, she was drawn to India more as part of a spiritual journey that included yoga and charitable work, but as she “peeled away the layers of India,” she became more and more enchanted.

For the collection, she allowed her eclectic, unconventional tastes to take the lead, she explains. In her own home, it’s something ladylike here, something left over from her punk days over there. Nothing matches, she says, and that’s the way she likes it.

Carlisle is in the process of moving back to Los Angeles after making her home in France for many years. Her furniture and beloved collectibles and souvenirs will go back to the United States with her, but she’s sad that her favorite ride, a 1973 Citroen DS 23, probably will not. There’s a practical side to Carlisle, and, she says, she’s concerned that if anything were to go wrong with the car or it needed a new part, there’d be no help available.

Carlisle considers her bedroom the most important room of the house because she does much of her work, as well as her relaxing, on her bed, which she covers in throws and pillows.

She plans to put one of the original blankets from Belindia’s debut on the bed.

She’ll also put one of the tablecloths on her dining table, Carlisle says, but although she is making a table runner too, she doesn’t see much use for one.

It must be one of those things that people who throw elaborate dinner parties need, she says, but she’s definitely not one of those. “I don’t spend money on dinner parties. I’d much rather have a good loaf of bread and save my money for travel,” she says.

Her next planned big trip — after that U.S. move — is again to India, where she wants to go to even more remote places by train, carrying just a backpack. “It’s going to be a no-jewelry, no-makeup kind of trip.”

Some textile items from the Belindia label raise money for the Shuktara Project, an organization based in Calcutta, India, that cares for abandoned children with disabilities.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Go-Gos lead singer Belinda Carlisle is now a designer and has released a line of home goods inspired by Indian art and culture, sold exclusively through Bergdorf Goodman.