January 28, 2013 - Auction Central News

Browning Centennial set hits target in Cordier firearms sale

Browning Centennial Set: $7,500. Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

HARRISBURG, Pa. – A rare four-piece collector’s edition Browning Centennial set realized $7,500 and a name-inscribed Remington New Model Army Conversion saw $5,500 in Cordier Auctions & Appraisals’ firearms and militaria auction held on Dec. 2. Internet live bidding was provided by LiveAuctioneers.com.

Prices were described as being very strong in the sale, which featured 375-plus lots in categories including antique and modern firearms, collectible and military firearms, edged weapons and other military collectibles. The auction was held in Cordier Auctions’ salesroom located at 1500 Paxton St. in Harrisburg. Prices realized do not include the buyer’s premium (10 percent-15 percent).

The sale began with handguns. Two name-inscribed revolvers generated strong interest. A Remington New Model Army Conversion realized $5,500. The brass tang at the back of the revolver’s grip was inscribed “S.E. Stilwell” for Simpson Everett “Jack” Stilwell. He served as a post guide for troops at Fort Dodge, Kan., and later headed to the Indian Territories with Gen. George Custer’s expedition, including service as a post guide at Fort Sill, as inscribed on the bottom of the revolver’s grip. Another revolver was a Civil War soldier inscribed Colt model 1851 Navy that sold for $3,250. The brass tang at the back of the revolver’s grip was inscribed, “T.H. BISCOE 5th LA. VOL.” Biscoe was a soldier in the 5th Louisiana Infantry Regiment during the Civil War.

In the always popular military handgun group, a German Luger with holster and two magazines hammered down at $1,300, while another without the holster brought $900. Colt 1911 pistol sales continued to be strong. An early model from 1918 sold for $1,000 while two 1911 A1 Army models made in 1943 sold for $1,300 and $1,700.

Collectible firearms were a highlight, most of them in new in box condition and part of a 150-piece collection from the estate of a private gun dealer. Among modern handguns, Colt Diamondback revolvers were well represented from the collection. Two 6-inch engraved Diamondbacks in .22 caliber sold for $3,500 each (one with a nickel finish and the other with a blued steel finish). Additionally, a 6-inch Diamondback in .22 caliber and a 6-inch Diamondback in .38 caliber with blued steel finishes hammered down at $1,700 each. Two nickel-plated versions of the revolver in .22 caliber, one 4-inch and the other 6-inch, sold for $2,900 each. Another nickel-plated Diamondback in .38 caliber with a 6-inch barrel realized $3,000 while the same revolver in 4-inch brought $2,100. All sold above estimate.

Other Colt handguns were popular as well. A Colt Python revolver experienced aggressive bidding, selling for $2,100. A 1976 Bicentennial set with display case hammered down at $2,600 while a 1986 Double Diamond set with display case brought $4,200.

Representing another significant portion of the auction were antique, military and modern collectible and sporting long arms, including a rare collectible set from Browning that was the top lot of the sale. Called the Centennial Set, it included the Centennial over-under rifle/shotgun, a high-power pistol, a B92 lever- action rifle, a flintlock Mountain rifle and thee knives, all of which were in presentation cases. A bidder in the room won the set with a bid of $7,500 on an estimate of $6,500-$8,500.

Browning dominated the long gun category. A high grade Model 71 rifle sold at the high estimate of $1,200 while an Auto-5 Classic Light 12-gauge shotgun with engraving sold within estimate for $1,700. The Browning B-SS shotgun series was well represented. A 12- and 20-gauge grade I sporter both realized $1,600, while a Grade II brought $2,000. Additionally, a B-SS Sidelock in 20 gauge hammered down at $3,700 while its 12-gauge counterpart sold for $3,000, both within estimate. An engraved German Drilling with 12 gauge barrels over a .30-06 rifle barrel was also popular, bringing $2,800.

The highlights of the edged weapon category were a Japanese sword and pre-Civil War saber. The Japanese sword was an army officer’s signed Shin Gunto sword in World War II army mounts and metal scabbard with tassel that realized $800. The pre-Civil War “N STARR” marked Calvary Saber came with a white buff leather belt marked “DINGEE” and realized $1,100. A surprise in this category was a U.S. World War M-1 trench knife that hammered down above the estimate at $700.

Military collectibles were popular once again, including a World War II 65 Mission-decorated A-2 flight jacket that sold for $1,200. The jacket belonged to Hershey, Pa., native Joseph Gould, who was a captain in the Air Force from 1942-1945. He served in the 447th squadron/321st bombing group as a bombardier based in Corsica, Italy. As fate would have it, Capt. Gould was grounded during the 66th mission due to illness, a mission from which his fellow crew members and plane did not return.

Other highlighted items included a World War II German Battle Uniform that realized $1,500 and two Japanese Uniforms that each sold for $1,000, all above estimate. These were among a group of seven uniformed mannequins, which were part of collection from Maryland. A surprise came in the form of a NSDAP Air Traffic Controller’s gorget, which after intense bidding sold to an Internet bidder for $950. Another item that brought spirited bidding was an Imperial German Napoleonic Era Standard which smashed the estimate of $200-$300 and sold for $2,000. Additionally, a WWI German Medal Bar, two Iron Crosses and Merenti brought $800 while two German Close Order Combat Clasps realized $700. A Civil War trunk from the 10th Regiment, West Virginia hammered down at $800.

Cordier’s next firearms and militaria auction is set for the spring. Consignments including antique and modern firearms, edged weapons and military collectibles are currently being accepted. Questions may be directed to Cordier Auctions & Appraisals at auctions@cordierantiques.com or by calling 717-731-8662.

View the fully illustrated catalog from Cordier’s Dec. 2 firearms and militaria auction, complete with prices realized, at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

S.E. Stilwell-inscribed Remington New Model Army Conversion revolver: $5,500. Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

Colt Diamondback engraved revolver, blued: $3,500. Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

Colt DiamondBack Engraved Revolver-Nickel: $3,500. Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

Colt 1986 Double Diamond Set: $4,200. Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

Browning B-SS Sidelock shotgun in 20 gauge: $3,700: Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

Pre-Civil War calvary saber: $1,100. Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

World War II 65 mission-decorated A-2 flight jacket: $1,200. Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

Imperial German Napoleonic era standard: $2,000. Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

Civil War trunk from the 10th Regiment, West Virginia: $800. Cordier Auctions & Appraisals image.

Reading the Streets: Fine Art in the Street

Borrowed Time by Kosbe, New York. Photo by Kelsey Savage.

NEW YORK – Street artist Kosbe’s work is the current featured display on the Project Space. The outdoor panels, owned by Woodward Gallery, highlight street artists and offer them a legal space to work.

Kosbe, a self-taught artist, has made the most of the opportunity – stretching outside the stickers and sketches seen plastering New York and Brooklyn and demonstrating pieces rich with depth and a frenzy of color and energy. Not that his more hasty street art doesn’t reflect Kosbe’s years of experience at the practice, honed during his youth in Chicago, or lack originality and vitality.

His works are often character-driven and comic-book influenced, adding a unique bright aesthetic to the places they appear.

Kosbe has become more devoted to his oil painting and fine art over the years, but cites graffiti as the way he has developed his pieces. The panels at Project Space merge the two tracks. Close up, they reveal faces and bodies of figures often looking tortured and pained underneath streaks of colors. The effect, as if portraying humans existing underneath colorful chaos is not unlike the environment of the Lower East Side. Kosbe’s Borrowed Time will remain through February.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

No free rides on pricey Marklin carousel at Noel Barrett auction

Exquisitely detailed circa-1910 Marklin carousel, crank or steam driven, top lot of the sale, $218,500. Noel Barrett Auctions image.

NEW HOPE, Pa. – It took more than a brass ring to claim ownership of an exquisite Marklin carousel that topped prices realized at Noel Barrett’s $1.3 million Winter Auction. The circa-1910 German-made toy commanded $218,500 (inclusive of 15% buyer’s premium) at Barrett’s Nov. 16-17 event, selling to a US buyer against stiff competition from collectors on both sides of the Atlantic.

A toy fit for royalty, the carousel had surfaced during the disposition of an estate in Phoenix, and to Barrett’s great surprise, was in “astoundingly original condition.” Lavishly festooned with colored glass balls, mirrors, pennants, cartouches and metal embellishments, the cloth-canopied carousel could be operated either as a crank or steam-driven toy. It featured eight girl and four boy riders on diminutive hide-covered horses and in vis-à-vis chariots. Entered as the star lot of the sale, it carried a pre-auction estimate of $75,000-$100,000.

A rare and most impressive toy, the carousel will be in good company alongside a folk-art “Amor L Jones” loco and tender that was offered together with a photo of a young girl for whom the train may have been created. Selling price: $907.50. “The same person bid successfully on both the carousel and the Amor Jones train. He likes to buy the best of every category, and although the train was not one of the more expensive toys in the sale, it was definitely the best train in the folk art category. To me, this approach to buying proves the buyer has an eye, not just a pocketbook,” said Barrett.

Several train-related lots landed in the top 10, including a circa-1909 to 1919 Marklin PLM coupe-vent passenger set with pictorial box, which sold for $46,000. It had been shipped to Barrett’s gallery from Buenos Aires by the nephew of the original owner, who received the train as a young girl around 1920. “Apparently she preferred playing with dolls, so the train was packed up and stored away. It spent the next 90 years virtually untouched. It was in near-mint condition when it arrived to us,” said Barrett.

Other train highlights included a lithographed tin Grand Central Station made for the American market, $28,750; and a fully functional 89-inch-long live-steam model of the Empire State Express, whose detailed construction was covered in the May 1976 issue of Live Steam Magazine. It was bid to $27,600. A Carette 2350 gauge 1 live-steam loco and tender that appeared in the manufacturer’s 1911 catalog with the description “Latest design (an original scale model)” changed hands for $16,100; while a Marklin Washington Pullman observation car more than tripled its high estimate at $13,800.

One of the most popular toys in the 932-lot sale was a wonderful Althof-Bergmann Santa Sleigh drawn by two goats wearing royal blue and gold saddles with matching pairs of bells. For years the only known examples of this particular toy were those belonging to pioneer collector Bernard Barenholtz and another trailblazer of the toy hobby, Leon Perelman, founder of the Perelman Antique Toy Museum in Philadelphia. A third Althof-Bergmann Santa Sleigh with goat team was later confirmed in the collection of the Margaret Strong Museum. The sleigh in Barrett’s sale became the fourth, and quite likely will be the last, Santa Sleigh to emerge, Barrett said, noting that only the Barenholtz sleigh and the one in his sale are considered totally original. An iconic toy with immense charm, the sleigh sold for $97,750.

The auction included a fine array of high-end European and American toys, bolstered by selections from the renowned Athelstan and Kathy Spilhaus antique toy collection and the Rick Ralston collection of trains and trolleys. The two anchor collections were complemented by numerous attic discoveries and choice single pieces from several consignors.

A cloth-dressed clockwork Tambourine Player from a series of four African-American clockwork toys produced in the last quarter of the 20th century by Jerome Secor easily surpassed its estimate to ring up $17,200. Another American beauty, The Pittsburgh House was an extravagantly detailed circa-1890 architectural model formerly in the collection of the Toy Museum of Atlanta. It achieved $18,400 against a $6,000-$10,000 estimate.

Cast-iron mechanical banks made their mark in Barrett’s sale, as well. An excellent to near-mint J. & E. Stevens Clown on Globe made $18,400 against an estimate of $6,000-$8,000; and an exceptional example of a Stevens Cat & Mouse bank streaked past its $3,000-$5,000 estimate to settle at $9,775.

Other highlights of Noel Barrett’s Winter Auction included Gerald Wingrove hand-made scale models of a 1924 Hispano-Suiza No. 3 and a 1933 Derham Tourster Duesenberg. Each was estimated at $7,000-$9,000 and each realized $16,100.

After the sale, Barrett commented that it had been “quite the international event. We shipped toys to sixteen countries. A brand new customer from the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe bought twelve items, and two pieces from the top ten were purchased by collectors who knew me but who never laid eyes on the toys they bid on. They felt confident that our descriptions were accurate and thorough.

To contact Noel Barrett Auctions, call 215-297-5109 or e-mail toys@noelbarrett.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog for Noel Barrett’s Nov. 16-17, 2012 auction, complete with prices realized, at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Althof Bermann hand-painted tin Santa in Sleigh, one of only two known examples considered 100% original, $97,700. Noel Barrett Auctions image.

Gerald Wingrove hand-made scale models of a 1924 Hispano-Suiza No. 3 (top) and a 1933 Derham Tourster Duesenberg. Auctioned for $16,100 each. Noel Barrett Auctions image.

Ives Girl on Swing clockwork toy, patented July 2, 1873, $8,625. Noel Barrett Auctions image.

Edison phonograph doll with tin torso, bisque head, original ‘talking’ mechanism, $7,260. Noel Barrett Auctions image.

Complex sun orrery with seven arms and multiple globes, marked ‘Benjn. Pike Jr. 294 Broadway New York,’ $9,200. Noel Barrett Auctions image.

Marklin PLM coupe-vent passenger train set with box, $46,000. Noel Barrett Auctions image.

Marklin Washington Pullman observation car, $13,800. Noel Barrett Auctions image.

The Pittsburgh House, circa 1890, ex Toy Museum of Atlanta collection, $18,400. Noel Barrett Auctions image.

Patti Smith’s photo exhibition opens in Toronto Feb. 9

'Self-Portrait, NYC,' Patti Smith, 2003, gelatin silver print. Courtesy the artist and Robert Miller Gallery, New York. Image credit: © Patti Smith.

TORONTO – This winter the Art Gallery of Ontario will offer a glimpse into the world of legendary musician and artist Patti Smith through an intimate exhibition featuring over 75 works of photography, objects and film, on view from Feb. 9 to May 19. Best known for her profound influence on the nascent punk rock scene in the late 1970s and ’80s, the exhibition will provide a rare opportunity to experience a different side of this rock icon through her inspired expression in the visual arts.

The first presentation of Smith’s works in Canada, “Patti Smith: Camera Solo” will highlight the continual connections between Smith’s photography and her interest in poetry and literature. The exhibition, originally curated by Susan Talbott, director and CEO of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Conn., features approximately 70 black and white photographs taken with Smith’s vintage Polaroid camera, presented here as gelatin silver prints. Sophie Hackett, AGO assistant curator of photography, will oversee the exhibition’s installation alongside Talbott.

“This highly nuanced and intimate exhibition gives visitors the opportunity to peer through the unique lens of the multitalented Patti Smith,” says Matthew Teitelbaum, director and CEO of the AGO. “‘Camera Solo’ is a collection of works that pay homage to a variety of artistic traditions and figures, while remaining staunchly original and personal. I’m delighted to have the opportunity to showcase this side of such a formidable artist.”

For more than four decades, Smith has documented sights and spaces infused with personal significance. Her visual work possesses the same unfiltered, emotional quality prevalent in her poetry and music lyrics. The allure of her works lies in their often dreamlike imagery; their modest scale belies their depth and power.

“In the era of digital imaging and manipulation, Smith’s works champion the use of photography in its most classical sense: as a tool to document a ‘found’ moment,” said Talbott. “Their diminutive scale and diffused lighting emphasize the subtleties and the importance of each subject, as in Arthur Rimbaud’s Utensils or Robert’s Slippers, where the objects are tightly-cropped and detached from their surroundings.”

The exhibition will also feature Equation Daumal, a short film directed by Patti Smith and shot by Jem Cohen on 16mm and super 8 film.

Of the more than 70 photographs included in the exhibition, most are from Patti Smith’s personal collection, with a few from the collection of Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art and some loans from private collectors. Several objects from the Patti Smith archive will also be on display, including Pope Benedict XV’s slippers and Smith’s Polaroid Land 250 camera.

This exhibition was organized by the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Conn. An accompanying catalogue, co-published by the Wadsworth Atheneum and Yale University, will be available at shopAGO.

“Patti Smith: Camera Solo” opens to the public on Feb. 9, 2013, and is included in the price of general admission.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

'Fender Duo-Sonic, NYC,' Patti Smith, 2009, gelatin silver print. Courtesy the artist and Robert Miller Gallery, New York. Image credit: © Patti Smith. — ‘Fender Duo-Sonic, NYC,’ Patti Smith, 2009, gelatin silver print. Courtesy the artist and Robert Miller Gallery, New York. Image credit: © Patti Smith.

Fashion designer’s home searched in art heist investigation

One of the paintings stolen from the museum was 'Waterloo Bridge, London' by Claude Monet, 1901. Rotterdam police photo. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

BUCHAREST, Romania (AFP) – Romanian police investigating the spectacular October theft of seven masterpieces from a Rotterdam museum searched the home of a fashion designer on Monday, a police source said.

They searched the home of Catalin Botezatu and were also “interrogating him in the framework of the inquiry,” the source said without elaborating.

Botezatu, 46, who has taken part in several Fashion Weeks including New York, was being questioned by the prosecutor’s office dealing with organized crime, which would decide whether to charge him.

Three Romanians arrested last week in connection with the theft of the masterpieces, including works by Monet and Picasso, claimed their innocence in court on Friday.

The men, charged with conspiracy and aggravated theft, have been linked to at least two of the artworks – a Matisse and a Gauguin – which they allegedly tried to sell in Romania.

Their defence lawyers told the court at a bail hearing that they were innocent even though one of them twice visited the museum where the seven masterpieces, estimated at between 100 and 200 million euros ($135 million and $270 million), were stolen.

However, the court denied the suspects bail.

Botezatu’s name did not come up during that hearing.

Eugen Darie told the court he visited Rotterdam Kunsthall museum at around the time of the theft last October but never laid eyes on the stolen paintings he and his co-defendants allegedly tried to sell.

“I didn’t see the paintings,” he said. “I only looked at bronze statues. I am innocent.”

Fellow suspect Radu Dogaru also told the court he had nothing to do with the heist, one of the most spectacular in the art world in the last 20 years, even though prosecutors say he was present when two of the works were offered to a Romanian businessman in the presence of an art expert.

Mihai Alexandru Bitu, the third suspect, also denied involvement.

His lawyer, Daniela Dede, told AFP that her client “just received a call from his co-defendant Dogaru who asked him to find a buyer for some objects. He didn’t know it was these paintings.”

The suspects, all in their 20s, have been detained for questioning since their arrest on Jan. 22. Under Romanian law, they can be held for 29 days.

The heist gripped The Netherlands and the art world as police apparently struggled to piece the crime together, despite putting 25 officers on the case.

Dutch police released grainy security camera footage of the theft, whichtook place around 3 a.m. The footage showed two apparently young males entering and leaving the museum in central Rotterdam within barely 90 seconds.

The works stolen include Picasso’s Tete d’Arlequin, Monet’s Waterloo Bridge and Lucian Freud’s Woman with Eyes Closed.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Kovels Antiques & Collecting: Week of Jan. 28, 2013

The calligraphy characters on each drawer of this Korean medicine chest identified a type of herb used as medicine. It sold for $1,778 at a Skinner auction in Boston that featured Asian furniture. Photo courtesy of Skinner Inc., www.skinnerinc.com.

Korean medicine dates back thousands of years. Sharp bone needles once used for acupuncture have been unearthed in Korea. But it was not until the end of the 19th century that doctors in the United States and other parts of Asia began to consider using the unfamiliar medical methods of another country.

Koreans practicing medicine 600 years ago used herbs and other natural substances, like ground deer horn or insects. These “medicines” were stored in large cabinets with many small drawers. The herbs were mixed with other substances and administered as salves, drinks, washes or even aromatic environments. While American physicians treated a person’s symptoms, Koreans treated a patient’s emotions. In recent years, American doctors have begun prescribing meditation, heat, aromatherapy, acupuncture or Asian herbs along with antibiotics and painkillers. And the herbs often are stored in new wooden cabinets. Korean medicine chest drawers are marked with a Korean letter or word.

Collectors often use them to hold small objects, like political buttons, coins or marbles. The chests are treated like expensive furniture and are kept in the hall or living room. A Korean medicine cabinet made of jujube wood sold for $1,778 at a recent Skinner auction in Boston. The 20th-century cabinet, about 5 feet tall and 4 1/2 feet wide, has 96 drawers.

Q: I’d like some information about a rotary eggbeater that I bought at an estate sale. It’s 5 1/2 inches long and has a wooden handle. The wheel is marked with the letters “A & J” in a triangle, “Pat. Oct. 9, 1923,” and “Made in U.S.A.” Can you tell me if it has any value?

A: The patent was issued to Charles E. Kail of Binghamton, N.Y., assignor to A & J Manufacturing Co. of Binghamton. Kail’s patent was for “new and useful improvements in egg beaters.” He claimed his design made egg beaters more durable and less expensive to manufacture. A & J Manufacturing Co., founded in 1909, was bought by the Edward Katzinger Co. in 1929. Your eggbeater was made in the 1920s. Value today: $25 to $35.

Q: I have a toy metal drum major that was given to my brother about 75 years ago. On the back it reads “No. 27 Drum Major, Made by Wolverine Supply & Mfg. Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.” Is this toy worth anything?

A: Yes. Several versions of your toy, with the drum major’s jacket in different colors, were made by the Wolverine Supply and Manufacturing Co. Wind up the boy, and he beats his drum. The patent for the drummer boy was granted to Howard N. Barnum of Cleveland. He assigned the patent to Wolverine in 1932. Wolverine was founded in Pittsburgh in 1903. It became a subsidiary of Span Industries in the late 1950s, and its name was changed to Today’s Kids in the 1970s. The company is no longer in business. The value of your drummer boy depends on its condition and the color of the jacket. Auction prices range from $40 to $125.

Q: I have a Lambert typewriter in a wooden case marked with the patent date, Oct. 21, 1884. It has a felt inkpad. Is it valuable?

A: The Lambert Typewriter Co. was located in New York City. Frank Lambert (1851-1937) immigrated to the United States from France in 1876. He worked on developing a “type writing machine” for 17 years before being granted a patent in 1884. The first Lambert typewriters were sold in 1902. They had a keyboard with an attached circular plate that was turned to print each letter. The keyboard on the earliest model could be turned in either direction to make letters that slanted like italics. The next model had a fixed keyboard and a shift key that made capital letters. Lambert made three typewriter models, and sold more than 8,000 in the three years they were made. The last Lambert typewriter was manufactured in 1904. After typewriters with movable type and qwerty keyboards were invented in about 1903, sales of “index” typewriters like Lambert’s declined, and Lambert’s machines were no longer made. At a sale that included other typewriters and vintage office equipment, your Lambert might sell for more than$1,000.

Q: I have a white glass cup just under 4 inches high that has a picture of a log cabin on the side. The glass is also decorated with wording that reads, “General Grant’s log cabin built by him in 1854, St. Louis World’s Fair, 1904.” It also has a mark on the bottom and the words “Victoria, Carlsbad, Austria.”

A: Many souvenir items picturing Ulysses S. Grant’s log cabin were sold at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. They commemorated the log cabin that Grant built in White Haven, Mo., in 1856. It was Grant’s first home, but his family lived there for only three months. The log cabin changed hands several times and was eventually bought by the C.F. Blanke Tea & Coffee Co., which moved it to the site of the company’s display at the St. Louis World’s Fair. In 1907 it was bought by August A. Busch and moved to its present site, about a mile from its original location. Your cup was made by “Victoria” Schmidt & Co. Porcelain Factory, which was founded in 1883.

Tip: Rubber bands will stain silver even through several layers of paper wrapping.

Take advantage of a free listing for your group to announce events or to find antique shows and other events. Go to Kovels.com/calendar to find and plan your antiquing trips.

Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or email addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.

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.

Celluloid rattle, baby’s head, googly eyes, c. 1910, 3 1/2 inches, $45.
Pluto figure, Disney, Fun-e-Flex, wooden body, blue collar, poseable, 1930s, 7 1/2 inches, $115.
Morris chair, adjustable back, turned spindle supports, cushions, 25 x 17 inches, $120.
Handcuffs, wrought iron, barrel lock, chain lug, links and turn-buckle, screw key, 9 1/4 inches, $120.
Sewing box, mahogany, inlay, pincushion lid, fitted interior, circular tray, porcelain feet, 1800s, 6 x 11 inches, $305.
Mechanical bank, cast iron, cat, dog, monkey, organ, turn handle and monkey lowers coin, 1882, 4 x 7 1/4 inches, $420.
Toy milk truck, Borden Farm Products, wood and tin, cream and brown, No. 274, 12 3/4 inches, $510.
Marble carving, woman’s profile plaque, gilt frame, inscribed “Margaret F. Foley,” Rome, c. 1870, 16 inches, $1,675.
Derby figurine, putto, standing, holding bow, reaching for arrow, alligator at his feet, c. 1790, 5 inches, $2,510.
Tavern sign, Raven & Ring, two-sided, die-cut, carved black bird with ring, 1900s, 47 1/2 x 32 1/2 inches, $8,295.

Contemporary, modern and midcentury ceramics made since 1950 are among the hottest collectibles today. Our special report, “Kovels’ Buyers’ Guide to Modern Ceramics: Mid-Century to Contemporary” identifies important pottery by American and European makers. Includes more than 65 factories and 70 studio artists, each with a mark and dates. Works by major makers, including Claude Conover, Guido Gambone and Lucie Rie, as well as potteries like Gustavsberg, Metlox and Sascha Brastoff, are shown in color photos. Find the “sleepers” at house sales and flea markets. Special Report, 2010, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, 64 pp. Available only from Kovels. Order by phone at 800-303-1996; online at Kovels.com; or send $19.95 plus $4.95 postage and handling to Kovels, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Chinese artists work up-close to copy old masters

'Portrait of Francisco Goya' by Vincente Lopez y Portana (1826), oil on canvas, is one of the paintings the Chinese painters are copying as part of their training. Museo del Prado, Madrid.

MADRID, (AFP) – With brushes and paint-splotched palette, Chinese artist Yang Feiyun adds the finishing strokes to his latest work: a portrait of the moustached 17th century Spanish King Felipe IV.

An untrained eye would fail to tell the difference between Yang’s canvas and the original by the Spanish master Velazquez, hanging inches away in a crowded gallery at Madrid’s Prado Museum.

“I have been painting my whole life, ever since I was a child, and Velazquez is a master among painters. He is known in China for his great depth,” Yang tells AFP.

A respected artist in China, where he is head of oil painting at the state Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing, Yang is now leading 17 other specialists on a pilgrimage to the Spanish capital.

Their mission: to make firsthand copies of some of the jewels of European oil painting and take them home to use in training curious Chinese artists.

“Our aim is to learn a lot and have these works as teaching material in China,” Yang told AFP.

“There is not a long history of oil painting in China – just the past 100 years or so. We are in a learning period.”

In other halls of the vast museum, their walls heaving with masterpieces by Titian, Rubens, Goya and El Greco, Yang’s companions work quietly at their easels under the curious gaze of visitors.

A few steps from Yang, his companion Guo Zhangzheng is executing a smaller version of Titian’s Emperor Charles V at the Battle of Muehlberg, a three-meter portrait of the lance-wielding monarch on horseback from 1548.

The Chinese artists – from the state academy and another top fine arts school, the China Academy of Art – are due to stay for just over two weeks.

Each aims to produce a copy of two works from the Prado’s collection.

Yang’s first go at copying Velazquez has taken him just five days to render

virtually complete.

Paintings on the list for their first week’s work included The Three Graces by Peter Paul Rubens and Goya’s The Third of May 1808 in Madrid, a harrowing image of French occupying forces executing Spanish patriots by firing squad.

The copies will be exhibited in Beijing, the Prado said.

In a corner of one gallery Sun Wengong, 47, stands plying his brushes in front of Vicente Lopez’s grim-faced 1826 portrait of the painter Francisco de Goya in a gray-blue coat.

“When I’m in a museum in front of the originals, I always feel like I want to copy them or try and do my own version,” Sun says, the messy palette at his feet resembling that of the man in the portrait.

“It helps me a lot as a painter. I have seen lots of prints of the paintings, but prints are nothing like the originals. Being here in front of the originals, you have more direct and true contact with the artists,” he added.

“To be here copying the masterpieces of these painters is the best apprenticeship you could have.”

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Small-town movie theaters face death by digital

Four reels of 35mm film of the movie 'Scarface' and a metal shipping case. Image courtesy of LiveAuctoneers.com Archive and Antiques & Uniques Inc.

CASPER, Wyo. (AP) – Bob Rollings loved that robot, but it had to go.

It was a beloved, stubby R2-D2 from the original 1977 Star Wars movie. This version was a replica, a beverage cooler, a promotional item. But its sacrifice helped save the Ritz Theatre in Thermopolis, the place it called home.

The robot sold for $750. Only $69,250 left to go.

Rollings and his wife, Edie, owners of the Ritz, pushed on with fundraising, selling movie posters, 210 spaghetti dinners and auctioning cookie jars. A dollar here, a dollar there, piling up to the approximately $70,000 needed for a digital projector for the small one-screen theater in the central Wyoming town of 3,000.

The Ritz must surrender to digital projection soon. Movies on 35-millimeter film are near death, strangled by the rise of easy and cheap digital copies sent via hard drive from film distributors to exhibitors.

Nearly all movie theaters in the U.S., and most in Wyoming, have made the switch. But a handful of survivors in the state and elsewhere remain. They’re mostly small theaters, some historic, where theater workers spool up film in the projectionist booth, just like it’s been done for more than a century.

Edie Rollings says she can’t go anywhere in town without getting asked about the theater’s situation. She’s gotten $5 donations. The Ritz isn’t just a movie theater, she said. It’s a small-town destination, a place to rent movies, a safe spot for kids to hang out and play games.

“It’s an icon in this town, it really is,” she said.

Theaters such as the Ritz might be small-town centerpieces and signs of a bustling community, but they’ve run out of options.

The choice is clear: change or die.

Movie theater owners in Wyoming first caught a glimpse of cinema’s digital future slightly more than a decade ago.

Bill Campbell, owner of Centennial Theatre in Sheridan, recalls a trip to Denver in 1999 to get a look at the new technology of digital projection.

“It was in its infancy and it had some work to do, but you could see, yeah, it’s there,” he said.

The owners could see the potential of digital. It would certainly be less hassle: no film to thread in theater projection rooms, for example, and the movies would be more durable and easier to transport.

The cost at the time, though, was staggering: $150,000 per screen. It was hard for theater owners to justify that price when nearly all movies were still distributed on film and transported in large canisters.

“The studios, they were the ones that would save hundreds of millions of dollars in costs,” Campbell said.

The future was clear, but it was still the future.

The industry started a program to help pay the costs for theaters to switch from 35 mm film to digital. The National Association of Theatre Owners, a theater trade association, also formed its Cinema Buying Group, a purchasing cooperative to help small theaters get volume discount prices on parts and concession items.

But not every theater participated in the group, and the industry assistance program ended on Sept. 30.

Some theaters were left out in the cold or chose to hold out, hoping they would survive somehow, said Campbell, who is also the managing director of the NATO Cinema Buying Group.

As of December, 32,863 out of 39,777 screens in the U.S., or about 83 percent, had converted to digital, Campbell said. Of the remaining screens, most are in small theaters and “dollar houses,” which charge a small ticket price for movies nearly out on DVD and available for online streaming.

“So now these people are kind of out on their own,” he said.

But there’s a ticking clock on how long the last few film theaters can hang on. While Campbell says studios have yet to set a hard deadline for the switch to digital, film is dying by strangulation. The studios are making fewer and fewer copies of movies on film, shrinking the number of options for film theaters. After all, most movie theaters use digital now.

Those left are the survivors of film.

There’s some hope the cost of conversion will drop. Projectors are getting cheaper, for example.

But those theaters yet to convert know their time is very, very short. And while the cost to convert is lower than the $150,000-per-screen price tag Campbell remembers from 1999, it’s still a sobering expense. Theaters owners in Wyoming quote per-screen prices from $65,000 to $85,000.

“It’s still a pricey proposition for the theaters to come up with money,” Campbell said. “And now, it’s now on them.”

The Rollingses in Thermopolis are rallying the community to save the Ritz theater. Edie Rollings reports the theater has had success selling naming rights for the seats in the theater: Pay a donation of at least $50 and get your name engraved on a plaque on the back of the seat.

In late December, she estimated they’ve raised about $13,000 – far short of the $65,000-$70,000 conversion cost, but a good start and one that shows the community is behind the project.

In Douglas, The Princess Theatre owner Kara Koss considered the seat-naming idea. She’s also considering placing stars engraved with the names of donors in the sidewalk in front of the theater.

Koss will partially cover the conversion cost through bank financing, and then will likely pass on the cost to her patrons, although she’d like to avoid that. Concessions might have to cost more, followed by at most a $1 per ticket price bump.

“I’m going to do everything I can to not raise tickets,” she said.

The Princess will turn 100 years old in 2014. It’s new heart, the digital projector is getting installed tonight.

Brian Feraud, owner of Washakie Twin Cinemas in Worland, is eying refinancing his house to get the money. He’s got two screens to convert.

Ticket prices are probably going to have to go up, he said. Yet that’s better than the alternative.

“What I’ve heard from others around the country is they’re going to have to shut their doors,” he said.

It’s a loss those in each theater’s community could feel dearly. In wide-open Wyoming, a shuttered local theater means at least a long drive for a Friday night movie. But a closed theater is also sign of a town in decline, whether or not it’s truly failing.

Thermopolis resident Jacky Wright has a 12-year-old child, and she has fond memories of attending the cinema at the same age – one of the first places she was allowed to go on her own.

“The cinema is a vital piece of the community, it’s just another of the amenities that makes this a good town to live in,” she said. “If it disappears, it’s another reason not to live here.”

Wright doesn’t want that. Neither do the Rollingses. Neither does anyone who wants a bit of Hollywood magic to light up their community.

“There are a lot of prayers going up that we’ll be able to save our theater,” Edie Rollings said.

R2-D2, the lovable movie robot first shown via 35 mm film, was just the start.

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Information from: Casper (Wyo.) Star-Tribune, http://www.trib.com

AP-WF-01-25-13 1635GMT

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Walter Anderson Museum expansion nearly complete

Walter Inglis Anderson (American/Mississippi, 1903-1965), 'Portrait of James 'Mac' McConnell Anderson, Brother of the Artist,' oil on canvas. Image courtesy LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Neal Auction Co.

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. (AP) – Rosemary Roosa and her staff at the Walter Anderson Museum of Art in Ocean Springs are awaiting the completion of the museum’s $750,000 expansion project.

Roosa, the museum’s executive director, says the end of January is the deadline.

Groundbreaking on the project was in July.

The project is being paid for through a $700,000 federal grant and $18,000 from Jackson County. The remaining cost will be absorbed by the museum.

The expansion will add some 1,800 square feet of space to the museum, including a new entrance, gift shop area and two new galleries.

The museum opened its doors in May of 1991 and attracts about 29,000 visitors per year. It is located next to the city’s community center where the walls contain murals by Walter Anderson.

The museum is dedicated to the art and legacy of Walter Inglis Anderson (1903-65) and his brothers Peter Anderson (1901-84), master potter and founder of Shearwater Pottery, and James McConnell Anderson (1907-98), painter and ceramist.

The two new galleries created by the expansion will be dedicated to Walter Anderson’s work, while the existing gallery space will be used for rotating exhibits from other artists.

“I started Aug. 20,” Roosa tells The Mississippi Press.” Two weeks later, Hurricane Isaac came through. The decision was made to take down all of the artwork. That was a project itself.

“I haven’t had a normal day yet at the museum. Every day is an adventure.”

Once the project is complete, Roosa said the museum will host a ribbon-cutting and celebration for the expansion.

“I tell people every day we are here to preserve, protect and promote the legacy of Walter Anderson – and this expansion project is a great way to do it,” she said.

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Information from: The Mississippi Press, http://www.gulflive.com

AP-WF-01-27-13 1318GMT

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Museum exhibit drives home impact of Civil War

Abraham Lincoln mourning ribbon. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Early American History Auctions.

GREENWOOD, Ind. (AP) – In the faded sepia-tone photograph, bodies lay strewn far off into the distance. Below it, a soldier’s words described the horror of the Battle of Gettysburg.

“We held our fire and lay behind the stone fence until they come within easy range and then we opened fire on them,” the letter read. “We cut them down by the thousands so much so that the ground was literally covered with dead and wounded as far as we could see.”

Letters from weary soldiers to their families, accounts of freed slaves and artwork of bloody battles give depth to the most costly war in American history.

All are part of a new exhibit to recognize the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. Later this month, the Greenwood Public Library will host “Civil War 150,” an exhibition of reprinted artwork, letters and other artifacts from the “War between the States.”

Portraits of important leaders such as Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln are combined with handwritten notes, photographs of soldiers and rare memorabilia such as a mourning ribbon worn after Lincoln died. The exhibit will be on display through Feb. 16.

Organizers hope the items cast a new perspective on a well-known slice of American history.

“Having images and something to look at is always helpful. From other exhibits we’ve had, real-life accounts are more accessible to people,” reference librarian Valerie Moore, who arranged for the exhibit to come to Greenwood, told the Daily Journal.

“Civil War 150” is a traveling version of the exhibit compiled by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. The organization is a nonprofit group dedicated to improving history education.

The documents and items in the exhibit are taken from the Library of America’s collection of historic documents.

“The whole point is to have people look again at the Civil War, to read the words of men and women who lived through it,” said Susan Saidenberg, project director for the Gilder Lehrman Institute. “What we wanted to do was include as many voices as possible.”

Libraries from around the country were invited to apply to the Gilder Lehrman Institute to host the exhibit. Each was asked to describe the programming that would be associated with it, and how it would be displayed. Those chosen would receive $1,000 to help stage the exhibit.

Greenwood is the only library in Indiana to be chosen to play host to it. The scope of the exhibit fit into library official’s goals for the coming year of programming, Moore said.

“We had been trying to promote our hallway downstairs as an exhibition space, and this seemed to fit really well with this,” she said. “Plus, so many of our patrons are interested in history.”

The exhibition is broken up into eras that encapsulate the causes and effects of events surrounding the war.

From the political battle between free and slave-owning states to the 1960 presidential election, displays build a foundation for the viewers’ basic knowledge of the conflict.

People can read the handwritten pages of speeches Abraham Lincoln gave about slavery. A woven depiction of a black woman fleeing while clutching a child is taken from Uncle Tom’s Cabin, one of the most influential anti-slavery books published in the 1850s.

But the real depth comes from the letters, correspondences and speeches from the wartime years themselves.

A letter from a Union soldier describes the actions of the Confederacy as “intended to be a death blow to our entire system of Government.”

Juxtaposed to that is a letter from Confederate president Jefferson Davis, who wrote, “We are probably soon to be involved in that fiercest of human strifes, a civil war. The temper of the Black Republicans is not to give us our rights in the Union, or allow us to go peaceably out of it.”

People can read illustrated posters with popular war songs printed on them. They are witness to the struggle of women struggling to keep their homes safe while their husbands are away at war.

Photographs of the carnage of Gettysburg and paintings of the all-black 54th Massachusetts unit provide a window into the battles, more than just dates and names in a book.

“We want people to question how it was for the people who lived through it, and how many questions were left behind after the fighting ended,” Saidenberg said. “The exhibit gives you a real sense for how it was.”

In order to build excitement around “Civil War 150,” library officials have created a series of programs to bring patrons back to the mid-1800s.

They can dance and sing to the music of Civil War soldiers. Using traditional basket-making techniques, people can create an Appalachian berry basket.

Civil War cooking and medicine will also be the topics of different presentations.

The library is also planning a group reading of the book, Confederates in the Attic: Dispatches from the Unfinished Civil War, by Tony Horowitz.

Tom Haywood, a history teacher at Indian Creek High School and a Civil War re-enactor, will bring his one-man show to the library for a demonstration. He’ll share what it was like growing up on an Indiana farm during that time, show off the equipment of the Union Army and share information about Hoosiers in the war.

In this exhibit, and the study of America’s past in general, Haywood sees a chance to recall the past and apply what was learned to the present.

“The lessons of history remain obvious to those who are paying attention,” he said. “One-hundred-and-fifty years ago our nation was torn apart over social and economic issues that our elected officials – and citizens themselves – were unable or unwilling to deal with.

“I do not think Americans 150 years ago believed that something as awful and devastating as the Civil War could ever happen. I do not think Americans today, who are privy to news about so much civil strife around the world, believe it could happen here again either.”

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Information from: Daily Journal, http://www.thejournalnet.com

AP-WF-01-24-13 1605GMT

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