ALAMEDA, Calif. – Michaan’s Auctions will conduct their monthly estate auction Jan. 6 beginning at 10 a.m. PST. The sale will feature fine art, decorative arts, Asian art and jewelry. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

Over 90 lots from 19th to 21st century artists will comprise the fine art portion of the auction. The majority of the lots are from American and European artists, with a diverse selection that includes oil paintings, lithographs, engravings, watercolors, etchings and serigraphs. Two particular works in the auction hold interesting features, almost certain to peak collector interest. Lot 089 is a collection of four works from renowned artist Dong Kingman. The ink and marker on paper collection contains images of San Francisco, titled Market Street, Renato Shoe Repair, La Beatrice & Downtown, and Santa Barbara Savings ($800-1,200). An Oakland native, Kingman emerged rapidly as one of America’s leading artists as well as a pioneer of the California Style School of painting. Since his death in May 2000, Kingman has also been honored with several major exhibits spanning his artistic career. Dated July 20-22, 1984, the pieces for auction are accompanied by certificates of authenticity as well as a letter from Monte James representing the Estate of Dong Kingman. James is regarded as a leading private art dealer with over 30 years of involvement in distinguished fine arts.

Also of note in the sale is a Jack Baker work from a private estate collection in Alameda. Overlooking the Arno, A Balcony in Florence measures 30 x 24 inches and will be offered as lot 065 at an auction estimate of $400-600. The piece was gifted to the current owner by the artist in the 1960s. The portrait is executed in layers of vibrant tones, expertly juxtaposed by shading variations.

The jewelry department features a range of outstanding pieces in the January estate auction. From the varied selection of jewelry lots is a glamorous emerald, diamond and platinum bracelet. The piece is quite substantial as it holds nine oval cut emeralds weighing a total of approximately 7.00 carats. The emeralds are then accented by an ornate setting containing approximately 220 full cut diamonds weighing a total of approximately 2.00 carats (lot 244, $2,500-3,500). Also available is an enamel and 14K gold masonic fob of San Francisco origins featuring a double headed yellow and white gold eagle (lot 365, $600-900), a classic sapphire ring centering a 2.00-carat stone surrounded by 11 old European cut diamonds (lot 255, $300-500) and a garnet and diamond drop pendant of the Beaux Arts period. The pendant holds two pear-shape, deeply hued garnet cabochons set in a decidedly feminine, articulated mounting of 29 rose cut diamonds (lot 345, $500-700).

Also from the Beaux Arts period is a beautiful Belle Époque aquamarine, diamond, pearl and platinum necklace (lot 294, $1,500-2,000). The necklace is dated to 1910-1920 and is a prime example of the period, fashioned in an elegant Festoon style. The piece features seven aquamarines of ideal color and brilliance in three different cuts, weighing a total of approximately 7.50 carats. The stones are then enhanced by nine round cut diamonds, further accented by several seed pearls. Refined scallop work is seen throughout and the necklace remains in excellent, original condition.

The Asian department presents over 120 lots in the January estate auction including jades, furnishings, scrolls, porcelains, paintings, decorative objects and Chinese and Japanese textiles. Quite an unusual item is found in an ornamented Japanese hibachi offered as lot 527 ($350-500). The box-shaped heating device features a lidded compartment in which to put coal, alongside a vented compartment where generated heat escapes. A small, medium and large drawer are fashioned to hold supplies and further vent slices are seen on the front and back to prevent combustion. The hibachi is ornamented by stylized, gold tone floral motifs and symbols set upon a chocolate brown lacquer finish. These types of decorative hibachi boxes have often been sought out by the modern day collector for display purposes and even for use as a whimsical smoking device.

Over 60 lots of silver will be offered among the furniture and decoration department’s 200-plus lot sale, including a wide array of collectibles and furnishings. A private collection of 24 lots of exceptional silver pieces of Japanese, Scandinavian, Danish, Russian, Chinese and U.S. origins will also be auctioned in the January sale. The variety of items from the grouping is quite extensive, with an assortment that includes holloware, tea service pieces, cocktail implements, decanters, a dresser set and formal flatware. Highlighting the private collection offerings are three Japanese silver lots at a range of price points, fashioned with decorative bamboo sprays framing a full moon. Lot 582 is a four-piece silver tea service set complete with matching tea tray estimated at $8,000-10,000. Lot 584 contains a silver cocktail shaker with six matching cups and an associated flask at an estimate of $2,000-3,000. Completing the theme reflected in the highlighted lots is lot 586, consisting of a hand wrought silver cake tray and matching pie server at an estimate of $1,800-2,000. All of the pieces are in excellent condition and bear original silver stamp markings as well.

For general information call 510-740-0220 ext. 0 or e-mail info@michaans.com.

Internet live bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

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NEW YORK – Guernsey’s will conduct the first of three auctions Jan. 18-20 to sell the stunning Dr. Hans Sachs Poster Collection. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

The Sachs collection is universally described as being the most significant collection of its type in existence. Descriptions that have appeared in the press include “the greatest prewar collection of posters,” and “thousands of the rarest posters.” One need only search for Sachs’ name on the Internet to find hundreds of references to the compelling story behind this unrivaled collection.

The auction, which is unreserved, will be take place at the Bohemian National Hall on E. 73rd St. in New York City. Those unable to attend this landmark event can participate online at LiveAuctioneers.com where images and descriptions of the 1,233 posters being sold at this event are already pictured and described. A second and third auction of equal numbers of posters from the collection will be sold later in 2013.

Guernsey’s has just completed a comprehensive auction catalog depicting all the posters that are being sold in the first auction. Additional catalogs will be produced for the follow-up auctions resulting in a boxed set of three handsome books. The first catalog – available from Guernsey’s – contains the complete text of the unpublished autobiography of Dr. Sachs including the thrill of assembling his collection and the anguish when losing it to the Nazi

In the last years of the 19th century, a young German Jewish student, fascinated by the strong graphics applied in promotional posters, began a quest to collect. Thus began what is internationally regarded as the first recognized poster collection the world was yet to see. As the student graduated into the world of dentistry, so did his collection grow. Among the many categories of posters the young Sachs sought out covered the worlds of art, propaganda and politics, entertainment (from cabarets and dining to opera and early film), travel, sports, consumer products (from cigarettes to the first automobiles) to scenes of wa

With a keen eye for the very finest creations, Sachs acquired posters by such noted artists as Mucha, Steinlen, Cassandre, Cheret, Bernhard, Edel, Gipkens, Klinger, Carlu, Schnackenberg, Dufau, Grasset, Fennecker, Hohlwein, Kainer, Pechstein, Scheurich, Biro, Leyendecker, Christy, Flagg and many more. In time, his interest was so great that he organized the first poster collecting society and, in 1911, followed that by publishing Das Plakat (The Poster), an international magazine which quickly developed a devoted following. All the while, his collection grew.

By 1938, under the direction of Josef Goebbels, the Gestapo seized the collection, placing Sachs in a concentration camp. Although, with the help of family and friends, Sachs was able to gain his release from the camp, he never saw nor heard of his collection again. Just before the outbreak of World War II, almost penniless, Sachs escaped Germany and led his family to the United States. In time, he came to believe that his beloved collection was destroyed at the hands of the Nazis.

In 1960, the German government, recognizing the need to provide Sachs some restitution, offered him a relatively small amount for his loss. Without any other option, he accepted the offer. Sachs died a decade later. Following a long career as an airline pilot, Sachs’ son retired several years ago. While in retirement, Sachs’ son had time to search evidence from the past and discovered, amazingly, that his father’s poster collection, long thought lost to history, indeed existed in the vaults of a German national museum, located in what was once East Berlin.

The Sachs family’s efforts to retrieve their collection from the museum failed, leading to a well-documented legal battle. With the assistance of both German and American law firms, the collection became the focus of a case that rose through the German court system, eventually debated in the nation’s highest court. All the while, the epic case became the subject of countless news reports appearing throughout the global media.

In the end, the Sachs family was granted approval to recover the collection. Today, the nearly 5,000 posters in the collection constitute what knowledgeable experts view as the finest collection of its type. Indeed, many of the posters are believed to be the sole surviving example of those particular images.

Approximately two-thirds of the collection is of German posters; the balance being French, English, Italian, Austrian, Hungarian, Scandinavian, American and assorted other nationalities. Most importantly, it is clear that Hans Sachs exercised great judgment by selecting artistically thrilling images for his collection.

From both an artistic and historic perspective, Guernsey’s feels distinctly honored to have been chosen to represent the extraordinary Dr. Hans Sachs Poster Collection. To order the auction catalogue and for additional information about the collection and the coming auction, contact Guernsey’s, 108 E. 73rd St., New York, NY 10021, phone 212-794-2280 or email auctions@guernseys.com. Internet bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

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BOSTON – Skinner Inc. will conduct an auction of European Furniture and Decorative Arts on Saturday, Jan. 12. The sale presents an excellent assortment of European and American sculpture, Russian icons, English glass stemware and antique furniture. More than 300 lots of British ceramics will be offered as part of the sale. LiveAuctoneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

Over 200 lots of Wedgwood will be offered, including eleven full-size jasper Portland vases in dark blue and black. Notable selections include a black jasper Apotheosis of Homer vase and cover (lot 152, estimated between $3,000 and $5,000) and a Wedgwood & Bentley black basalt bust of Swift (lot 40, $4,000 to $6,000).

An important Mintons pate-sur-pate vase with white slip decorations by Marc-Louis Solon (lot 17, $20,000 to $30,000) depicts two maidens swinging a figure of Cupid, with the reverse depicting a large cherub. An assortment of 18th and 19th century English ceramics includes Dr. Wall Worcester, Cookworthy’s Plymouth porcelain, and a collection of Royal Worcester. Pottery selections feature 18th and early 19th century examples of white salt glaze stoneware, redware and creamware, early luster wares, and the later Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian wares.

Over 100 lots of European and American bronze and marble sculpture will be available, including a bronze horse sculpture after Pierre Jules Mene titled L’Accolade (lot 316, $2,000 to $4,000), a William Couper marble bust of Tennyson’s Princess (lot 478, $9,000 to $12,000), an ivory, cold painted, paste-set, and gilded bronze Egyptian dancer by Claire Jeanne Roberte Colinet (lot 502, $4,000 to $6,000), a marble figure of Cupid attributed to Affortunato Gory (lot 757, $3,000 to $5,000), and a large Italian school figure of a woman reading (lot 530, $6,000 to $10,000).

Featured Russian icons include depictions of the April Minyeia (lot 741, $800 to $1,200) and the translation of the relics of St. Nicholas (lot 321, $1,000 to $1,500). Examples of Continental porcelain are available including a Nast Paris porcelain tea service (lot 592, $4,000 to $6,000).

Furniture offerings include a pair of Queen Anne-style marble-top pier tables (lot 493, $800 to $1,200), an Italian baroque fruitwood cassone (lot 447, $800 to $1,200), a Louis XV-style bureau plat (lot 403, $2,000 to $4,000), and two Louis Vuitton trunks (lot 684, $3,000 to $5,000 and lot 685, $1,000 to $1,500).

Nearly 80 lots of 18th and early 19th century English glass stemware will also be offered, including examples of balustroid, air-twist, opaque-twist, color-twist and faceted stems.

For details contact Skinner Inc. at 508-970-3279.

Internet bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

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