July 2013 - Page 16 of 19 - Auction Central News

Chicago’s Field Museum reorganizes amid money woes

The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Image by Joe Ravi. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

CHICAGO (AP) – Matt von Konrat is animated as he talks about a plant specimen pulled from the vast botanical collection at the Field Museum of Natural History. Documentation shows it was collected in 1996 in a Colombian rainforest and tested for compounds that might be used to treat HIV, AIDS or cancer.

“Imagine if you made some amazing drug discovery,” von Konrat says, sweeping an arm toward cabinets holding some of his department’s more than 3 million specimens, including ones collected by famed navigator Capt. James Cook in the 1770s. “You would know exactly where (the plant) came from and its exact identity” so you could find it again.

Best known for impressive public displays such as Sue, the towering Tyrannosaurus rex that greets visitors in the lobby of its Lake Michigan campus, the Field Museum’s larger mission always has been behind-the-scenes research on its 25 million-piece—and growing—collection of birds, mammals, fish, plants, fossils and artifacts. Field scientists travel the globe to retrieve specimens that could produce medicines, document the effects of climate change or explain the secrets of genetics.

But the 120-year-old museum, founded during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and named for department store magnate Marshall Field, now is setting the scientific world abuzz for another reason.

Faced with almost $170 million in debt, the museum is cutting next year’s research budget 20 percent by shrinking its science staff and merging departments. While natural history museums across the U.S. are under pressure to stay relevant to the public, the Field stands out for its financial woes, experts say, and for speculation over whether the problems will affect its future as a pre-eminent research center.

“It’s one of the great natural history museums of the world and has been for very long time … but it’s on the verge of not being so important,” said Michael Donohue, curator of the botany department at Yale University’s Peabody Museum.

Since the beginning of the year, the museum’s anthropology, botany, geology and zoology departments have been merged into a single unit, and by the end of the year, its science staff likely will have been cut to 152, down from 170 earlier this year, including the loss of eight of its 27 curators.

The museum’s financial problems stem from a decision over a decade ago to issue $90 million in bonds for construction projects that included a subterranean storage center for much of its collection. The museum’s board assumed it could raise enough money through a capital campaign to keep the museum on solid footing.

But when that didn’t happen, it had to begin dipping into its endowment. Finally, in December, the museum announced that it would cut $5 million from its budget—$3 million of that from the science program.

Richard Lariviere, who took over as Field president in October, said the museum’s troubles, though real, are overblown, and the museum will emerge stronger within two years.

“We have financial challenges, but … we’re in very good shape,” he said.

The museum now will focus on its most important research and foster more collaboration among scientists, including those outside the institution. “We want even more people to come than have done in the past.”

As an attraction, the Field also will also build visible laboratories where the public can watch and interact with scientists.

“I can’t say it’s been a pain-free process, but I think (the changes) are going to be great,” and expand research opportunities, said Corine Vriesendorp, a plant ecologist at the Field.

But others say it’s doubtful the institution can sustain the same level of scientific inquiry or stage the most innovative exhibits.

“A good reputation and a good, quality program take decades to build, but it’s taken just six months,” to damage both, said Mark Westneat, a 22-year Field veteran who was chairman of the former zoology department and whose research focuses on threats to coral reefs.

“I love this place, but there has been a needless ripping apart and disrespecting what I have loved over the years,” said Westneat, who’s negotiating with a university to move his laboratory there.

In the past, Field scientists used a decades-old collection of peregrine falcon eggs to draw a direct correlation between the use of DDT and thinning eggshells, leading to the pesticide’s ban. They’ve helped indigenous communities in Ecuador reclaim land damaged by oil drilling.

Donohue, the Peabody curator, said museums and universities rely on each other’s research to make scientific discoveries and advancements.

“To suddenly lose (scientists from) an important institution like the Field hurts the overall effort,” including such things as mapping where specimens are found, Donohue said.

Carroll Joynes, co-founder of the University of Chicago’s Cultural Policy Center, said all museums must take risks to stay fresh, but the Field took a big financial gamble.

“Then if it does not come true, you’re caught in a horrible expense bind,” said Joynes.

Lariviere said the Field will be careful about its cutbacks because research is “why people find us valuable and interesting. Otherwise we’d just be a cabinet of curiosities.”

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Follow Tammy Webber at: www.twitter.com/twebber02

AP-WF-07-04-13 1541GMT

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W. Va. senator immerses himself in Mountain State books

Books on the Civil War in West Virginia. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Ken Farmer Auctions.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – Sen. Brooks McCabe’s wife likes to rib him about his reading habits.

“Barbie thinks I’m semi-illiterate because I don’t read fiction and I don’t read the sports page,” he said.

McCabe probably isn’t the person to ask about a new James Patterson thriller, or how the Reds are faring in the National League rankings.

But let’s say you’re looking for a copy of a graduate thesis from the 1970s about the West Virginia coal industry, or a new biography of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.

In that case, McCabe’s your man.

Over the last 40 years, the longtime state senator has amassed a library of thousands of books focused exclusively on West Virginia, its history, its economy and its citizens. It now occupies a whole room of his South Hills home, with volumes crammed into the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that cover two of its four walls.

McCabe seems to know exactly where each of his books is located, although he has to stand on the back of his well-worn leather couch to reach some of the highest shelves.

He does his reading in a matching leather armchair, which sits in front of a big wood-burning fireplace. On snowy or rainy weekends, McCabe builds a fire and spend hours in this room.

“This is almost my nest here. I’ll spend three or four hours a day, Saturday and Sunday, reading there,” he said.

Although he reads as many as 50 books a year, McCabe is in no danger of running out of material. He purchases any West Virginia-related book he finds, fiction or nonfiction, although he reads only the nonfiction. There’s even a small collection of West Virginia cookbooks in his kitchen.

“There’s a lot more out there than most people think,” he said.

He finds many of his books through other books.

McCabe pays special attention to footnotes and bibliographies, always on the lookout for unfamiliar titles he might find interesting. He jots down the title and author on an index card, which he later uses to track the book on the Internet.

Many times, even the most obscure books are readily available on popular websites like Amazon.com. But McCabe also shops on sites like AbeBooks.com, which specializes in rare and collectible books.

He usually reads multiple books on the same subject. That explains why many shelves in his library are dedicated to specific subjects.

One section is reserved for the Hatfields and the McCoys. One whole bookcase is dedicated to county histories, organized in rough alphabetical order. Other shelves contain books on the coal industry, tourism, Stonewall Jackson, West Virginia’s constitutional conventions and transportation.

From Baltimore to Charleston, a thin volume about the B&O Railroad, cost $2.50 when it was first published in 1906. McCabe paid $60 for it. Another book, The Picturesque B&O, describes itself as “historical and descriptive,” even though it was published in 1882.

“You read this, written at the time and you get a different perspective. These people are trying to describe history as they want it remembered,” McCabe said. “That’s the fun of it, to see the different interpretations and try to see, ‘Well, what really happened?’”

A section of shelves beside the fireplace is reserved for West Virginia biographies and autobiographies. There are books about well-known natives like Homer Hickam, Gen. Chuck Yeager and Jerry West, but also lesser-known West Virginians like Louis Johnson, one of the founding partners of the Steptoe and Johnson law firm.

They all hold interest for McCabe. He even tries to get copies of family histories, which are usually printed in small runs as a way to preserve a family’s memories, rather than mass-market armchair reading.

Most historians would have little interest in those, but they provide a picture of what life was like.

“It’s a local take on somebody earning a living at the time,” he said.

While he handles the older volumes with care, McCabe makes the newer volumes his own, scrawling notes in the margins and underlining key passages.

“It becomes part of me. I want to be able to … very quickly go back and pull out what I need,” he said.

It’s an essential skill for McCabe, who now plans to contribute his own book to the West Virginia canon.

He plans to spend the next few years working on an economic history of Charleston as experienced by four of the capital city’s prominent families.

The book will begin, McCabe said, with Dr. John P. Hale. Hale, one of the city’s early mayors, was the great-grandson of Mary Ingles, an early settler who was famously abducted by Native Americans.

Another section will focus on Charleston’s Smith family. Their patriarch, lawyer Benjamin Harrison Smith, greatly influenced the state’s constitution, including the way land titles were settled in the newly formed Mountain State.

The book also will include the C.H James family—descendants of Charles H. James, a black man who founded the successful James Produce Co. in the late 1800s—and the Dickinsons, who owned salt mining operations before forming a bank that would one day become BB&T.

“They have a broad enough touch that, through them, I can write the history of Charleston,” McCabe said.

Following those four families allows him to explore the changes in business, politics, transportation and law and follow all the economic depressions and recessions the city suffered over its history.

His underlying goal is to understand how Charleston’s economy works.

“Things don’t just happen. People make them happen. In a way, we’re a product of the events we create,” he said.

For proof, McCabe only has to visit his library.

He was diagnosed with dyslexia as a boy, and it took years for him to learn to read.

Now, he could be the most voracious reader in the Legislature.

“It took me so long to learn how to read, when I read a book, it’s like a victory,” he said.

AP-WF-07-02-13 1427GMT

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‘Antiques Roadshow’ keeps on trucking for PBS

Appraiser Alasdair Nichol with a guest. Image courtesy of Jeffrey Dunn.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) – The items arrive by the thousands, borne on furniture dollies, in Radio Flyer wagons or nestled carefully in owners’ arms. The hodge-podge parade consists of paintings, teapots, firearms, mannequins decked out in military uniforms and more. Much more.

Grade-schoolers have show-and-tell for their treasures. The adult counterpart is PBS’ Antiques Roadshow, which has become an institution as it approaches its 18th season and holds fast as public television’s highest-rated series.

That’s right: It’s No. 1. Not glamorous, romantic Downton Abbey, but homespun and earnest Antiques Roadshow, where Civil War firearms, Tiffany lamps and autographed baseball cards are the stars. Even Kevin Bacon watches it, which he admits in an on-air PBS promo.

As the show hopscotches from U.S. city to city, each stop draws some 6,000 people and the one or two possessions they believe are—or, wishful thinking, might be—worth a few minutes of TV airtime and a lot of money.

But what they’re most eager for is background on their items and validation that their family heirloom or garage-sale find is special, said longtime executive producer Marsha Bemko. It’s rare that any piece featured on Roadshow, no matter how valuable, ends up being sold.

“People are so excited about what they own and so eager to learn about it,” she said. “Most walk out knowing more than when they came in.”

And the audience gets to share in that enlightenment. “It’s a very human and universal thing to understand ourselves and our objects help us to do that,” Bemko said.

As part of an eight-city tour for the new season that begins airing next January, Roadshow arrived recently in Anaheim, southeast of Los Angeles and home to Disneyland. For one busy day, the gray cement floor of a convention center became a field of dreams.

Maybe that black-and-white drawing discovered hiding behind granddad’s painting will turn out to be a rare 16th-century century print of The Crucifixion by Tintoretto (It did, with an estimated post-restoration value of up to $15,000).

“I’ve always debated with mom whether it was real,” said its owner, 36-year-old Jason (PBS asked that last names be withheld for privacy and security). He figured it had to be a fake because a date, 1569, was carefully noted in one corner.

What did he expect to hear when he tells his mother the news? “I told you so,” he said, smiling.

Then there was the piece plucked from the trash in the 1970s. An appraiser sized it up as folk art by Joseph Cornell, one of his famed shadow-box displays, and worth up to $150,000 at auction if authenticated.

From the sublime to the cheerfully ridiculous, there was the stuffed duck that served as Groucho Marx’s prop on his 1950s game show You Bet Your Life. Purchased for $250 in 1986, an appraiser gave it an auction value of up to $12,000.

The lucky Anaheim visitors were among those who sent in 24,278 requests for 3,000 pairs of tickets distributed through a random drawing. Local public TV stations have other tickets that serve as donation premiums.

Getting in is one thing; getting on TV requires more gantlet-running.

The action starts at the so-called “triage tables,” where visitors are directed to the best section and experts for their belongings: A 1930s Mickey Mouse wristwatch is sent to collectibles, for example, rather than timepieces.

Orderly lines form for the stations that include rugs and textiles, jewelry, firearms and furniture. Then comes a big hurdle: Will an appraiser consider an item or the story behind it intriguing enough to pitch to the show’s producers for an on-camera segment?

It’s not necessarily rarity or a big price tag that will guarantee success.

“We are not easy to impress. We’ve turned down $200,000 items where the guest knows everything. We want storytelling; we’re a TV show. We want the drama of the guest learning something,” producer Bemko said.

That’s done with viewers in mind. “If you’re not excited by the object because you don’t know what it is,” she said, you will be after you’re schooled in its history.

The crowd is friendly, not competitive, with a fair amount of mutual oohing-and-ahhing. Autograph-seekers extend their admiration to host Mark L. Walberg and volunteer appraisers including twins Leigh and Leslie Keno, who are familiar to hardcore fans.

Leslie Keno, a Sotheby’s veteran, said he values the chance to use material goods as a jumping-off point for lessons in history and culture. Plus, he said, Antiques Roadshow is a treasure hunt “that comes to me.”

The series is based on the U.K. version that’s in its fourth decade and has spawned versions in other countries. The U.S. one, produced by WGBH Boston and currently in “vintage” reruns, has visited all but a handful of states (hang in there, Maine, Wyoming and New Hampshire). This year’s tour started in June with Detroit; Jacksonville, Fla.; Boise, Idaho; and Anaheim, and moves on to Knoxville, Tenn.; Baton Rouge, La.; Kansas City, Mo.; and Richmond, Va.

Although Bemko had expected the Southern California stop would draw a fair amount of Hollywood-related memorabilia, she was surprised at those toting it. Two pairs of Buddy Ebsen’s shoes, one of them worn by the actor in The Beverly Hillbillies, were brought in by his widow. Appraised value for insurance purposes: $20,000.

Happy endings are not guaranteed. There was a collective intake of breath when the sound of china hitting cement echoed through the convention hall, and one visitor was left minus a teacup.

“At least it wasn’t the teapot,” a friend offered, consolingly.

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Online:

http://www.pbs.org

___

Lynn Elber can be reached at lelber(at)ap.org and on Twitter (at)lynnelber. Her work can be found at http:bigstory.ap.org/content/lynn-elber.

AP-WF-07-01-13 2319GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Appraiser Noel Barrett with a guest. Image courtesy of Jeffrey Dunn.

I.M. Chait to feature fine carvings from Far East in July 14 sale

Massive antique Chinese carved stone stele featuring a seated Buddha in a grotto niche and flanked by attendants, and surrounded by numerous deities and attendants. The slab is 33 inches high. I.M. Chait image.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – I.M. Chait Gallery & Auctioneers will conduct an Asian Art, Antiques and Estates Auction on Sunday, July 14, beginning at 11 a.m. Pacific. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

The 560-lot auction will feature:

– Antique Chinese stone and wood sculptures from the estate of a long-time Chait Gallery client;

– Chinese and Japanese antiques and decorations including jades, ivory, snuff bottles, netsuke, prints and ceramics from several Southern California collections;

– Early 20th Century finely carved African ivories brought to the U.S. by a Merchant Marine prior to World War I;

– Numerous old and modern Chinese scrolls from Massachusetts, New York and other East Coast Collections;

– Asian furnishings and decorations from a West Los Angeles estate.

For additional information on any item in the sale, contact I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers at 310-285-0182 or email: chait@chait.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Two Chinese paper fans decorated with ink and colors. I.M. Chait image.

Large Chinese carved celadon jade mountain. I.M. Chait image.

Swedish meteorite cuboid with crust. I.M. Chait image.

Pair of huge carved spinach jade lions. I.M. Chait image.

Gallery Report: July 2013

Harry Winston necklace, $138,000, John Moran

A Harry Winston necklace with natural Ceylon sapphire centerpiece stone measuring about 24 carats sold for $138,000 at the second-ever HQ Jewelry and Luxury Auction held May 21 by John Moran Auctioneers in Pasadena, Calif. Also, a natural shell, diamond and sapphire necklace made by Italian-American jewelry legend Verdura achieved $96,000, a Waterman #504 Ideal fountain pen in gold went for $15,600, and a Cartier Panthere wristwatch with pave diamonds and sapphire accents hit $11,637. Prices include a 20 percent buyer’s premium.

Il mercato dell’arte in Italia: Le aste di design di Nova Ars

Lotto 21: Franco Campo, Carlo Graffi, Appendiabiti in legno e metallo verniciato, 1950 circa. Stima: €800-1.000, offerta base: €400, Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

ASTI, Italia – Si tengono a luglio due nuove aste di design organizzate dalla casa d’aste Nova Ars di Asti, in Piemonte, in collaborazione con il collettore di aste E-Art Auctions. La prima asta si terrà l’11 luglio e raccoglie un centinaio di oggetti, mentre la seconda, il 25 luglio, avrà un catalogo più numeroso con un focus sul vetro.

“Il denominatore comune che si trova in tutte le nostre aste”, spiega lo specialista di design di Nova Ars, Ilario Scagliola, “è da un lato il Made in Italy, poiché trattiamo oggetti di provenienza prevalentemente italiana e solo raramente oggetti stranieri, e dall’altro la certezza dell’autenticità. Non solo siamo molto attenti ad evitare le copie, ma non trattiamo neanche i rifacimenti autorizzati. Ci rivolgiamo al vero collezionista che cerca l’originale, anche se oggi oramai ce ne sono pochissimi sul mercato tanto che a volte preferiamo avere un oggetto di minore importanza ma che sia originale”.

Non tutti sono così attenti. Molti arredatori vogliono l’oggetto in sé e non guardano alla storia, per cui il mercato dei rifacimenti è quasi più florido di quello degli originali, che risente della scarsità dell’offerta. Scagliola spiega che spesso un rifacimento ha lo stesso prezzo – se non un prezzo più alto – dell’originale. Pensiamo alla lampada da terra “Arco” di Achille e Pier Giacomo Castiglioni per Flos (1962), che negli anni è stata riprodotta tante volte con vari cambiamenti per adeguarla alle norme e all’evoluzione tecnica, ma un collezionista vero cercherà il primo modello. Un rifacimento costa intorno a €1.300, mentre la prima si può trovare anche a €800-1.000. Nova Ars ne ha una originale in catalogo (lotto 47, offerta base €700, stima €1.300-1.500).

La coppia di poltroncine di Warren Platner per Knoll (1966) rappresentano un altro esempio dei due tipi di approccio. “Oramai conosciamo anche gli usi e i costumi dei collezionisti delle varie nazionalità – spiega Scagliola -. Un francese che acquista questa poltroncina con piccoli difetti sul tessuto la tiene così perché sono i segni del tempo che raccontano la storia. Un collezionista italiano, invece, tende a rifare il tessuto perché la vede come usata”. Si tratta di icone del design, realizzate completamente in acciaio inox con ogni bacchetta saldata a mano (lotto 49, offerta base €1.500, stima €3.000-5.000). La produzione è estremamente costosa, per questo motivo la poltrona più grande non viene più prodotta ed è ricercatissima.

Un altro oggetto di culto offerto all’asta di Nova Ars è la lampada Profiterole di Sergio Asti per Martinelli Luce (1968), che è anche inclusa in quella che è la Bibbia del design italiano, Repertorio 1950-1980 di Giuliana Gramigna (lotto 51, offerta base €1.500, stima €2.000-2.500).

Andando più indietro nel tempo troviamo un’altra coppia di lotti molto particolare: due candelabri in ferro battuto di Alessandro Mazzucotelli, un nome che solitamente è legato al liberty e alle forme floreali (fine 1800-inizio 1900), che, invece, qui va già verso le linee razionali di stampo déco (anni 30). Mazzucotelli ha, infatti, partecipato con successo all’Esposizione Universale di Parigi del 1925 che dà il via a quello Stile 1925 che rappresenta un momento di passaggio dal liberty al déco, e ciò è testimoniato proprio in questi due candelabri rari prodotti dal designer italiano in quell’anno (lotto 2, offerta base €2.000, stima €5.000-6.000).

Un classico dell’art déco italiano, invece, è il tavolino di Pietro Chiesa per Fontana Arte (1930), che presenta linee molto dure, il tipico legno ebanizzato nero e la superficie specchiata tipica di Fontana Arte (lotto 5, offerta base €3.000, stima €6.000-8.000).

Fontana Arte e tutti i suoi designer sono certamente tra i più ricercati sul mercato oggi. Altri nomi ricercati sono quelli di Arteluce con Gino Sarfatti, Arredoluce con Angelo Lelli e Giò Ponti.

“In generale da qualche anno è ricercato tutto ciò che è anni 50”, spiega Scagliola, “perché è in quegli anni che cambia il modo in cui viene concepito l’arredamento ed è il momento in cui i designer si sbizzarriscono, in cui si pensa allo spazio, alla modernità, alla conquista della luna. Tra gli esperti questa non è una scoperta, ma ora questa consapevolezza è palese per tutti. Inoltre gli anni 50 sono più difficili da copiare perché si usavano materiali e modi di produzione che oggi non ci sono più. In particolare si cercano gli oggetti che si ritrovano nelle pubblicazioni, oppure quelli freschi sul mercato che aiutano a ricostruire la storia del design”.

I prezzi per un oggetto degli anni 50 possono arrivare a qualche milione se pensiamo ad una scrivania di Carlo Mollino o ad altre cose importanti ma difficilissime da trovare. Mediamente si va da €5.000 per una lampada di media importanza di Gino Sarfatti fino a €50.000 per un bel mobile di Giò Ponti.

Tra gli oggetti degli anni 50 all’asta da Nova Ars ci saranno un vassoio a tre piani mai visto di Piero Fornasetti (lotto 24, offerta base €1.800, stima €3.500-5.000) e un attaccapanni altrettanto particolare di Franco Campo e Carlo Graffi, molto decorativo con le bacchette rivolte verso l’alto, in direzione dello spazio (lotto 21, offerta base €400, stima €800-1.000).

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Lotto 47: Achille e Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Lampada da terra

Lotto 49: Warren Platner, Coppia di poltrone in acciaio con seduta e schienale in tessuto imbottiti, Knoll, 1966. Letteratura: Éric Larrabee et Massimo Vignelli, 'Knoll au Musée', H.N. Abrams, New York, 1981, p. 160. Stima: €3.000-5.000, offerta base: €1.500. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti — Lotto 49: Warren Platner, Coppia di poltrone in acciaio con seduta e schienale in tessuto imbottiti, Knoll, 1966. Letteratura: Éric Larrabee et Massimo Vignelli, ‘Knoll au Musée’, H.N. Abrams, New York, 1981, p. 160. Stima: €3.000-5.000, offerta base: €1.500. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti

Lotto 51: Fiberglass lamp, Sergio Asti, Lampada in vetroresina modello 640 Profiterole, Martinelli Luce, 1968, Letteratura: 'Repertorio 1950-1980'. Stima: €2.000-2.500, offerta base: €1.500. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti. — Lotto 51: Fiberglass lamp, Sergio Asti, Lampada in vetroresina modello 640 Profiterole, Martinelli Luce, 1968, Letteratura: ‘Repertorio 1950-1980’. Stima: €2.000-2.500, offerta base: €1.500. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Lotto 2: Alessandro Mazzucotelli, Due candelabri in ferro battuto Coppia di candelabri in ferro battuto a quattro fuochi. Firma AM incussa sotto la base di uno dei due, Milano, 1925. Stima: €5.000-6.000, offerta base: €2.000. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Lotto 5: Pietro Chiesa, Tavolino con struttura in legno anilinato nero e vetro rosa, Piano in cristallo di grosso spessore specchiato al centro, Fontana Arte, 1930. Stima: €6.000-8.000, offerta base: €3.000. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Lotto 24: Piero Fornasetti, Vassoio a tre piani in metallo laccato e serigrafato etichetta con marchio, 1950 circa. Stima: €3.500-5.000, offerta base: €1.800, Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Art Market Italy: Nova Ars design auctions

Lot 21: Franco Campo, Carlo Graffi, coat hanger, wood and varnished metal, circa 1950. Estimate: €800-1,000, starting bid: €400. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

ASTI, Italy – Nova Ars, an auction house from Asti, Piedmont, will be conducting two new design auctions organized in collaboration with E-Art Auctions. The first sale will be held July 11 and includes about 100 objects, while the second, on July 25, will have a larger catalog with a focus on glass.

“The common denominator of all our auctions,” Nova Ars design specialist Ilario Scagliola says, “is on the one hand that they are composed of items all made in Italy, as we mainly treat objects with an Italian provenance and only rarely objects with an international provenance. On the other hand is the certainty of the authenticity, as we are not only very careful in avoiding copies, but we do not even accept authorized remakes. We speak to the true collector who seeks the original, though nowadays there are very few originals on the market, so that sometimes we prefer to have objects of minor importance but in their original version.”

Not everyone is so careful. Because many interior designers want the object itself and do not consider history, the market for remakes is almost more florid than the one for originals, which is affected by a shortage of supply. Scagliola explains that often a remake has the same price—if not a higher price—as the original. Think of the Arco floor lamp by Achille and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni for Flos (1962), which over the years has been reproduced many times with various changes to adapt to regulations and technical evolution. A true collector will look for the first model. A remake costs around €1,300, while the first version can be found around €800-1,000. Nova Ars has an original in the catalog (lot 47, with a starting bid of €700 and an estimate of €1,300-1,500).

A pair of armchairs by Warren Platner for Knoll from 1966 (lot 49, starting bid €1,500, estimate €3,000-5,000) represent another example of these two types of approach. “By now we also know the habits of collectors from different nationalities,” Scagliola explains. “A French collector who buys these armchairs with small defects in the fabric keeps it so as they are, because these are signs of aging that tells a story. An Italian collector, however, tends to redo the fabric because he sees it as secondhand.” These armchairs are icons of design, entirely made of stainless steel with hand-welded wands. The production is extremely expensive, which is why the bigger armchairs of this line are no longer in production and are very sought-after.

Another cult object offered at auction by Nova Ars is the Profiterole lamp by Sergio Asti for Martinelli Luce (1968), which is also included in the Bible of Italian design, Repertorio 1950-1980 by Giuliana Gramigna (lot 51, starting bid €1,500, est. €2,000-2,500).

Going further back in time we find another pair of very special lots: two wrought iron chandeliers by Alessandro Mazzucotelli. It’s a name that is usually linked to the Liberty movement and to floral shapes (late 1800-early 1900), which, however, here goes in the direction of the rational lines of Déco style (1930s). Mazzucotelli had, in fact, successfully participated in the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1925, which marked the start of the so-called Style 1925, a moment of transition from Liberty to Art Déco. This is evidenced in these two rare candleholders produced by the Italian designer that year (lot 2, starting bid €2,000, est. €5,000-6,000).

A classic example of Italian Déco, however, is the small table by Pietro Chiesa for Fontana Arte (1930), which presents very harsh lines, the typical black ebonized wood, and the mirrored surface typical of Fontana Arte (lot 5 starting bid €3,000, est. €6,000-8,000).

Fontana Arte and all its designers certainly are among the most sought-after designers on the market today. Other names that are in demand are Arteluce with Gino Sarfatti and Arredoluce with Angelo Lelli and Giò Ponti.

“In general everything that is 1950s has been sought-after in recent years,” Scagliola says, “because it is in those years that the way of conceiving interior design has changed. It was also the time when designers freed themselves from any restraint, when people thought of the space, of modernity, of the conquest of the moon. Among experts this is not a discovery, but this awareness is now obvious to all. Moreover the 1950s are more difficult to copy because there were materials and ways of production that do not exist anymore. In particular, the most requested objects are those that one can find in publications, or that are fresh on the market and help to reconstruct the history of design.”

Prices for an object from the 1950s can get to a few million if we think of a desk by Carlo Mollino or other important things that are yet very difficult to find. On average prices range from €5,000 for a lamp of medium importance by Gino Sarfatti up to €50,000 for a fine piece of furniture by Giò Ponti.

Among the objects from the 1950s at auction at Nova Ars there will be a never-seen three-level tray by Piero Fornasetti (lot 24, starting bid €1,800, est. €3,500-5,000) and a unique coat hanger by Franco Campo and Carlo Graffi, which is very decorative with chopsticks pointing upward in the direction of space (lot 21, starting bid €400, est. €800-1,000).

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Lot 47: Lamp by Achille e Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Flos, 1962, stainless steel on rectangular marble base, signed with manufacturer's mark, Literature: ‘Repertorio 1950-1980,’ by Gramigna, Mondadori, p. 188, Estimate: €1,300-1,500, starting bid: €700. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti. — Lot 47: Lamp by Achille e Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, Flos, 1962, stainless steel on rectangular marble base, signed with manufacturer’s mark, Literature: ‘Repertorio 1950-1980,’ by Gramigna, Mondadori, p. 188, Estimate: €1,300-1,500, starting bid: €700. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Lot 49: Warren Platner, Knoll, A pair of 1725A armchairs, metal frame and basket-work, 1966. Literature: Éric Larrabee et Massimo Vignelli, ‘Knoll au Musée,’ H. N. Abrams, New York, 1981, p. 160. Estimate: €3,000-5,000, starting bid: €1,500. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Lot 51: Fiberglass lamp, Sergio Asti, Martinelli Luce, 1968, model 640 Profiterole. Literature: ‘Repertorio 1950-1980.’ Estimate: €2,000-2,500, starting bid: €1,500. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Lot 2: Alessandro Mazzucotelli, two wrought iron candleholders, signed ‘AM’ in the iron, Milano, 1925. Estimate: €5,000-6,000, starting bid: €2,000. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Lot 5: Pietro Chiesa, Fontana Arte, coffee table with ebonized wood structure, thick crystal pink glass top. Estimate: €6,000-8,000, starting bid: €3,000, courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Lot 24: Piero Fornasetti, three-level tray made in varnished and silkscreen printed metal, labeled with manufacturer's mark, circa 1950. Estimate: €3,500-5,000, starting bid: €1,800. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti. — Lot 24: Piero Fornasetti, three-level tray made in varnished and silkscreen printed metal, labeled with manufacturer’s mark, circa 1950. Estimate: €3,500-5,000, starting bid: €1,800. Courtesy Nova Ars Asti.

Right at Home: Mother Nature meets modern decor

Christine Facella, a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based artist, uses her talent as an illustrator and model maker to create anatomically correct porcelain skulls of North American wilderness animals. This depiction of a goat skull has 14K gold horns and measures approximately 10.5in x 3.75in x 4in. Image courtesy of Christine Facella, www.beetleandflor.com.

NEW YORK – Moth-wing light fixtures? Thunderhead wallpaper? If you’re an armchair naturalist, you’ll love one of this year’s big home decor trends.

Artists and artisans have captured flora, fauna and even meteorology in media such as photography, illustration, metal and clay. The designs, translated into wall decor and furnishings, range from startling to serene.

Clinton Friedman’s garden in Durban, South Africa, is home to more than 250 trees and 150 succulent species. Desiccated leaves, freshly pulled roots and labyrinthine flower heads all serve as material for his close-up photographs. West Elm has previously collaborated with Friedman on a pillow collection; this season they’ve got his 28-inch(71-centimeter), square, white-framed prints of aloe plants. The oversize spiky succulents look like flora — or perhaps even fauna — from another planet. (www.westelm.com)

Brooklyn, New York-based Christine Facella has used her experience as an illustrator and model maker at New York’s Museum of Natural History to inform her collection of porcelain animal skulls. The accuracy and intricacy of her work results from sculpting up to 20 molds for each piece.

Facella portrays many denizens of the North American wilderness, including coyotes, bobcats and beavers. The skulls are a compelling meld of antiquarian curiosity and contemporary objet d’art. The teeth on some gleam with 14-karat-gold luster. (www.beetleandflor.com)

Lighting sculptor David D’Imperio finds his inspiration in nature’s structures: The organic geometry of moth wings, honeycombs and crystals gets turned into elegant and unusual lighting in the old post office in Stony Run, Pennsylvania, that D’Imperio has turned into a studio.

Pendants and chandeliers, as well as suspended linear fixtures, are crafted out of materials such as stainless steel and aluminum. D’Imperio’s Ozone light is a 5-foot(1.5-meter) length of shimmering circles, like fizzy bubbles lit from within. Silver powder-coated steel and frosted Pyrex glass are transformed into the Neuron fixture for wall or ceiling. You can choose the color of the nucleus. Hydra is an otherworldly chandelier done in a metallic blue-green; the designer was inspired by the microscopic denizens of the deep sea. (www.daviddimperio.com)

At this spring’s International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York City, local designer Barbara Barran’s showed her Ice rug, inspired by the surface of frozen water. The piece’s striations and cool, watery tones gave the slightly unsettling but wholly intriguing sense of standing on actual ice. That she’s rendered this illusion in hand-tufted wool is even more remarkable. (www.classicrug.com)

British designer Abigail Edwards showed her nature-inspired wallpaper at the fair. She’s launched a new design called Storm Clouds — ominous thunderheads printed on a gray or blue background, with white or copper metallic lightning bolts. Her Brambleweb paper depicts an Art Nouveau-meets-Gothic swirl of brambles tipped with tiny metallic thorns. And Wilson’s Crystals are inspired by the work of Wilson Bentley, who spent half a century photographing snowflakes. The wallpaper features an intricate print of 30 snowflakes.

Edwards also does a mural consisting of 18 ceramic tiles digitally printed with dragonflies darting or sitting on lithe, curling branches. (www.abigailedwards.com)

Parisian designer Gilles Caffier uses ceramics as the medium for pieces like the Turtle Lamp, whose earthen-hued base evokes the plump, ridged profile of a turtle shell. He makes textured stools and vases in matte ivory or graphite that resemble coral reefs, or perhaps barnacle-laden pier posts, or maybe octopi tentacles. That’s the wonderful thing about nature: so much scope for imagination. (www.gillescaffier.com)

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Rising river no problem for Tom Sawyer Days in Hannibal

Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978), 'White Washing The Fence,' Tom Sawyer series lithograph 20in x 15in (image), pencil signed lower right, artist's proof. Sold Jan. 27, 2013 by Fairfield Auction. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Fairfield Auction LLC.

HANNIBAL, Mo. (AP) – Mark Twain’s Missouri hometown is dealing with flooding — again — but the high water should have no impact on National Tom Sawyer Days.

The annual Fourth of July week event draws tens of thousands to Hannibal every year for the fence-painting contest, frog jumping and other popular events.

Hannibal has had a flood wall for 20 years that protects the downtown area. The Mississippi River is several feet above flood stage at Hannibal. It’s the third round of flooding since April.

But the Hannibal Courier-Post reports that the Hannibal Jaycees host the Tom Sawyer Days events on the dry side of the wall.

Mark Twain grew up in Hannibal and based the characters of many of his most famous works on the people he knew there.

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Information from: Hannibal Courier-Post, http://www.hannibal.net

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Feds: Tiffany exec stole jewelry worth $1.3M

Tiffany & Co. flagship store at 727 Fifth Ave., New York City. Photo taken in 2007 by Dmadeo, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

NEW YORK (AP) – A former executive with Tiffany & Co. stole a little blue box bounty from the jeweler’s midtown Manhattan headquarters and resold it for more than $1.3 million, federal authorities said Tuesday.

Ingrid Lederhaas-Okun was arrested Tuesday at her home in Darien, Conn. She was to appear later in the day in federal court in Manhattan to face charges of wire fraud and interstate transportation of stolen property.

As vice president of product development, Lederhaas-Okun had authority to “check out” jewelry from Tiffany to provide to potential manufacturers to determine production costs. Authorities allege that after she left Tiffany in February, the company discovered she had checked out 164 items that were never returned.

According to a criminal complaint, the missing jewelry included numerous diamond bracelets in 18-carat gold, diamond drop and hoop earrings in platinum or 18-carat gold, diamond rings in platinum, rings with precious stones in 18-carat gold, and platinum and diamond pendants.

When confronted about the missing jewelry, Lederhaas-Okun claimed that she had left some of it behind at Tiffany and that some had been lost or damaged, the complaint said. But an investigation found that Lederhaas-Okun resold the goods to an unidentified international dealer for more than $1.3 million, it said.

Bank records showed that since January 2011, the dealer wrote 75 checks to her or her husband for amounts of up to $47,400, the complaint said. Investigators also recovered purchase forms signed by Lederhaas-Okun that said the items were her personal property.

Authorities allege Lederhaas-Okun purposely checked out items valued at under $10,000 apiece to avoid detection. The company takes a daily inventory of all checked-out items worth more than $25,000.

If convicted, Lederhaas-Okun faces up to 20 years in prison. The name of her attorney wasn’t immediately available.

Tiffany representatives declined to comment Tuesday.

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