Lady Yule Visalia Saddle sold for $141,600. Annual High Noon Western Americana image. MESA, Ariz. – Thousands of collectors and lovers of the American West gathered from across the country at the Mesa Convention Center on Jan. 25-26 for the 24th annual High Noon Western Americana Show and Auction.
The High Noon Antiques and Western Americana Show was filled to capacity from start to finish with robust buying reported from the over 200 dealers who exhibited.
The centerpiece of the weekend, as always, was the High Noon Western Americana Auction that was held Saturday evening.
There was barely an empty seat in the house with over 1,000 floor bidders waiting to raise their bid cards for the chance to win one of the 329 exceptional lots of Western Americana art, artifacts, cowboy and memorabilia from the silver screen. LiveAuctioneers.com provided Internet live bidding.
A top prize was the Lady Yule Visalia saddle from Gleannloch Farms (Lot 231). A triumph in functional art, this 1930s masterpiece in tooled leather from the Visalia Stock Saddle Co. also featured exquisitely engraved sterling silver by Schaezlein of San Francisco. The saddle ensemble included a fully matching bridle and dazzling breast collar. The provenance was equally rich as this saddle was made for Lady Ann Yule, considered to be the wealthiest woman in the world at the time.
This saddle came to the sale with an estimate of $60,000-$90,000. It opened at $30,000 but furious bidding from the floor, phones and Internet quickly escalated the final sale price to $141,600.
The evening was filled with “over-estimate” surprises. A pair of Jesus Tapia spurs (lot 279) got off to a quick start. Considered to be the Holy Grail of California spurs, this circa 1920 pair came to auction with an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000. Bidding opened at $25,000 but finished at an astounding $153,400.
Proving again that cowboys of the silver screen of years past are still worth their weight in gold, Lot 179, the Colt .45 used by James Arness in his iconic role as Marshal Matt Dillon on TV’s Gunsmoke, sold for $59,000, over five times its high estimate. Larry Hagman’s legacy to the sale (Lot 8) was his personal custom-made Edward H. Bohlin hand-tooled briefcase, toppled its high estimate of $11,000 selling for $20,060. And an important pair of Tom Mix’s personal California batwing chaps, (Lot 237) estimated to sell for up to $16,000, achieved $29,500.
In fine art, Frank McCarthy’s oil on board titled Where the Rocks Meet, (Lot 214) sold for $29,500, well over estimate.
Native American items commanded significant results with Lot 205, a Northern Plains pipe tomahawk achieving $26,050 against its $12,000 high estimate, and Lot 211, a stunning Navajo sand painting rug, sold for $22,420, well over its $15,000 high estimate.
For complete information call the offices of High Noon at 310-202-9010.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.
Lady Yule Visalia Saddle sold for $141,600. Annual High Noon Western Americana image.Colt .45/James Arness sold for $59,000. High Noon Western Americana image.Jesus Tapia Spurs, circa 1920, sold for $153,400. Annual High Noon Western Americana image.Larry Hagman Bohlin briefcase sold for $20,060. High Noon Western Americana image.Tom Mix chaps sold for $29,500. High Noon Western Americana image.Frank McCarthy, ‘Where the Rocks Meet,’ oil on board, sold for $29,500. High Noon Western Americana image.Northern Plains pipe tomahawk sold for $26,550. High Noon Western Americana image.Navajo sand painting sold for $22,420. High Noon Western Americana image.
Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ 1665. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
BOLOGNA, Italy (AFP) – Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring is going on show in the city of Bologna in Italy next month but the arrival of the celebrated painting of a young beauty is already causing excitement.
“There is an incredible fever surrounding this painting,” the director of the exhibition, Marco Goldin, told AFP-TV at a press presentation.
“Clearly we are expecting a big success. In just a few weeks we have already sold 100,000 tickets,” he said – for an exhibition opening on Feb. 8.
The masterpiece is considered one of the most famous paintings in the world along with Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch’s The Scream.
The show on the golden age of Dutch painting at Palazzo Fava in Bologna is being organized together with the Mauritshuis museum in the Hague and runs until May 25.
Mauritshuis, which is under restoration, is also loaning Vermeer’s Diana and Her Companions and works by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Ter Borch and Claesz.
Girl with a Pearl Earring is finishing up a world tour after being taken to Japan in 2012 and the United States in 2013. Bologna will be its only stop in Europe, before it is returned to the Mauritshuis.
“This is the first time it comes to Italy,” Goldin said.
He explained that thanks to his relationship with Mauritshuis he had “managed to capture the painting against competition from many other museums.”
The painting’s fame has grown in recent years after it inspired a book and a film starring Scarlett Johansson.
Goldin said it should not be seen as a “pop icon” but as “a sublime representation of beauty in art.”
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Johannes Vermeer’s ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring,’ 1665. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
‘Two Woodsmen,’ an oil on canvas by Modern British painter Ivon Hitchens, on exhibition at the Goldmark Gallery in Uppingham, Leicestershire from March 15. Image courtesy Goldmark Gallery. LONDON – Back in 2007, the market witnessed one of those occasional anomalies that only the art world seems capable of throwing up. Surrey auctioneer Chris Ewbank was consigned a tranche of material that the late artist Francis Bacon had discarded during the 1970s. The trash — old check stubs, torn photographs, dismembered canvases and other detritus — had been rescued from a dumpster outside Bacon’s studio by Mac Robertson, an electrician who had occasionally done jobs for him. Where Bacon saw muck, Robertson saw brass. The ensuing sale at Ewbank’s Woking saleroom in April 2007 sparked a feeding frenzy among Bacon relic-hunters that quickly demolished a low estimate of £30,000 to bring a total of £965,490. Entering the orbit of a successful artist can occasionally reap handsome dividends.
Unbeknownst to Robertson, some 20 years before he made the acquaintance of the champagne-swilling Bacon, a similarly fortuitous and more meaningful encounter had taken place between another artist and artisan deep in the Sussex countryside.
One winter’s day in 1956, Ted Floate, a humble forester and carpenter, had been working with a friend in a woods near Midhurst, sawing and stripping chestnut saplings to make stakes. When the two men headed off for lunch, they left their fire smoldering in readiness for their return. A short distance away, the artist Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979) looked out of his studio window and saw the smoke rising. Fearing the possibility that the fire might catch and endanger his own land and cottage, Hitchens ventured out with a kettle to douse the embers. It was then that Floate reappeared. This might have sparked a hostile standoff, but instead the two men quickly hit it off and soon after became firm friends.
The most immediate product of that initial meeting was the painting Two Woodsmen, which Hitchens presented to Floate shortly after. But arguably the most touching and comprehensive testimony to the friendship that evolved between the two men is the legacy of 10 paintings, several drawings and a watercolor that Hitchens bestowed on Floate over the ensuing years and which are about to come to market.
‘Fen Dyke, No. 3,’ an oil painting by Modern British artist Ivon Hitchens, which will be on display in a selling exhibition at the Goldmark Gallery in Uppingham, Leicestershire for three weeks from March 15. Image courtesy Goldmark Gallery.This untitled watercolor by Ivon Hitchens, presented to his friend Ted Floate, will be for sale with the Goldmark Gallery in Uppingham, Leicestershire from March 15. Image courtesy Goldmark Gallery.
Ivon Hitchens’ grandson, Simon Hitchens, a successful contemporary sculptor, told Auction Central News that while Floate was unquestionably a valuable assistant to his grandfather in stretching canvases and making frames, he was no mere “odd job man,” and sometimes even took an active role in the making of pictures. “Ted was the quintessence of the strong, masculine, country artisan type and much more than just a handyman and a woodsman. He was a fine carpenter and got to know Ivon’s working methods and techniques intimately over the years.” Furthermore, it seems that later in his life Hitchens even trusted Floate to take up the brush. “He would occasionally, under Ivan’s close supervision, apply paint to canvas,” says Simon Hitchens. “It was a most interesting and affectionate friendship.”
Floate, now 85, has consigned the paintings and drawings to the Goldmark Gallery in Uppingham, Leicestershire, where they will go on display in a selling exhibition for three weeks March 15. The collection is expected to realize around £1 million.
An oil on canvas by Ivon Hitchens, etitled ‘Plantation Drive,’ on display at the Goldmark Gallery, Leicestershire from March 15. Image courtesy Goldmark Gallery.
Hitchens’ work remains a stalwart market performer in the Modern British category. Good examples of his landscapes in oils regularly fetch five-figure sums, but fine, fresh-to-market examples can soar. His Mill and a Pool of 1960 fetched £242,500 ($390,910) at Christie’s in London last November, which augurs well for the Floate consignment. Of particular interest to collectors will be the drawings, some of which are wonderfully spontaneous figure studies of Floate and his family. Jay Goldmark of the Goldmark Gallery says, “We consider ourselves fortunate to be able to show works that were chosen specifically by Hitchens to be given to a close friend and are now coming to the market for the first time.”
A drawing by Ivon Hitchens, a gift to his friend Ted Floate, which will be for sale from the Goldmark Gallery in Uppingham from March 15. Image courtesy Goldmark Gallery.This figure drawing by Ivon Hitchens of his friend Ted Floate wielding an ax will be on display at the Goldmark Gallery’s selling exhibition of Hitchens’ recently discovered works. Image courtesy of the Goldmark Gallery.
Hitchens was among the Modern British painters whose work was also in rich supply at the recent London Art Fair in Islington. This year’s event felt more spacious and better designed than previous years and on the day we visited there was plenty of activity in both the main hall and the adjacent special exhibitions. The fair was also lent a little added prestige by a special installation: “Barbara Hepworth and the development of British Modernism,” curated by Frances Guy, head of collection and exhibitions at the Hepworth gallery in Wakefield, Yorkshire.
The stand of the Fold Gallery at the London Art Fair in Islington. This year’s fair saw record visitor numbers, with 30,694 people visiting over the five days. Image Auction Central News.
The organizers of the London Art Fair cite its visitor statistics (30,694 this year against the previous record of 25,020 in 2012) as evidence of its steadily growing popularity. But the number of bodies through the turnstiles (many of them arriving on complimentary tickets) does not necessarily make for a commercially successful fair. We hear much these days about the so-called “event-driven” marketplace and how fairs are usurping the traditional gallery format as the optimum way to do business. That may be true, but fair exhibitors continue to struggle with rising stand costs.
London interior design and decorative antiques dealer Josephine Ryan was among the happier traders we spoke to at the recent Decorative Antiques and Textile Fair in Battersea Park last week. She had sold an interesting and rare 19th-century judge’s chair for £5,000 ($8,250) on the opening day of the fair, but said things were still rather slow.
London-based decorative interiors dealer Josephine Ryan at the recent Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in Battersea Park. Image Auction Central News.
From a visitor perspective, the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair remains one of the capital’s most enjoyable events to attend, such is the wide variety of material on offer and the generally welcoming and helpful attitude of the exhibitors. It is not every day that one comes across whale bones from Greenland, but seven of them, decoratively displayed, were among the objects brought to the fair by Dutch dealer Gaby van Hagen who was asking £165 ($272) each or £1,000 ($1,650) for the set of seven.
The stand of Dutch dealer Gaby van Hagen at the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in Battersea Park on Jan. 24. Image Auction Central News.This set of seven whale bones from Greenland were for sale on the stand of Dutch dealer Gaby van Hagen at the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in Battersea Park, priced at £165 ($272) each or £1,000 ($1,650) for the seven. Image Auction Central News.
With stand rentals at £340 ($560) per square meter and marketing at £145 ($240) plus VAT, (and electricity extra), some exhibitors don’t get much change from £6,000 ($9,900) for a stand. One would need a few significant sales to make a fair like this a viable venture. Brighton dealer Alex MacArthur was hoping to sell at least one of his 1925-mounted panther skeletons at £15,000 ($24,760). Enclosed in ebonized Victoria and Albert Museum display cases, they lent a striking ambience to his stand.
The stand of Brighton dealer Alex MacArthur at the Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in Battersea Park included two 1925-mounted panther skeletons in cases. Image Auction Central News.
And so to a forthcoming fair that is certainly the most prestigious in the annual European fairs calendar. The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) in Maastricht remains the “must-attend” event for museum directors and collectors the world over for only here can one see at close quarters quite so many true museum-quality objects, all of which are for sale. Moreover, while exhibitors at TEFAF are there to do serious business (some claim to do a significant percentage of their annual turnover during the 10 days of the fair) most of them also seem to appreciate that not everyone can afford to buy at the top end of the market and so are happy to share their knowledge.
While aesthetic pleasure is a important aspect of the TEFAF experience, the question of authenticity is also central to the fair’s success and global prestige. One person who is acutely aware of the importance of authenticity is London specialist sculpture dealer Robert Bowman.
London specialist sculpture dealer Robert Bowman, who this year celebrates 20 years as chair of the sculpture-vetting committee at the European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht. Image courtesy of Robert Bowman.
This year Bowman celebrates 20 years as chair of TEFAF’s sculpture-vetting committee, which seeks to ensure that every object exhibited at the fair is exactly what it claims to be. Nowhere is this more critical than in the realm of bronzes and particularly the work of Auguste Rodin (1840-1917), which is among Bowman’s main areas of expertise. This year his gallery moves to the Modern section of the fair where he will be exhibiting a range of work by the great pioneering French sculptor.
The Bowman stand at Maastricht will offer a preview of the forthcoming Rodin exhibition at their London Duke Street gallery in May, which will showcase what the gallery describes as “the best Rodin works to have come on the market in recent years.” Bowman is among those dealers who are responding to the growing global trend toward seeing art principally as a blue-chip asset class in which to invest. International art, he says, is now “a universal currency.”
Finally, it is always encouraging to see the art trade taking an innovative approach to the web, particularly given the resistance expressed toward it in the early dot-com period of 2000. Fine period furniture dealer W.R. Harvey & Co. of Witney, Oxfordshire has launched a new website that allows visitors to see the objects in period room settings on a slide-show, which can be paused for deeper investigation into the details of each piece.
This rare 18th-century oak and holly-inlaid bureau with its original fixtures and fittings is for sale on the newly revamped website of W.R. Harvey (Antiques) Ltd. of Witney, Oxfordshire where it is priced £4,250 ($7,025). Image courtesy of W.R.Harvey (Antiques) Ltd.
“We have tried as far as possible to eliminate the time-wasting clicks and page-scrolling that often irritate viewers,” said director David Harvey. “Now buyers can purchase online with confidence using Sage Pay and the website also features a selection of fresh stock that has been waiting for the launch.” Visit their website at their new dotcom address — www.wrharvey.com.
‘Vocabvlario en Lengva Castellana y Mexicana by Alonso de Molina,’ published in Mexico in 1571, was the first bi-lingual dictionary of Spanish and Nahuatl, the Aztec language, and the first dictionary printed in the Americas. PBA image.
SAN FRANCISCO – PBA Galleries will host a special auction on Sunday, Feb. 9, of Rare Books & Manuscripts. This sale will be held at the Pasadena Sheraton, adjacent to the Pasadena (Calif.) Convention Center and the 47th California International Antiquarian Book Fair. There are 222 lots, comprising an eclectic selection of rare books, manuscripts, photographs and other items spanning five centuries, ranging from the plays of William Shakespeare to the pop music of the Beatles. Internet live bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com.
One of the many highlights of the sale is a second folio edition of Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies, published in London in 1632. One of the landmarks of English literature, the second folio is essentially a page-for-page reprint of the first folio edition of 1623. With woodcut headpieces and initials, the volume is bound in early 20th century full brown morocco and has a red leather spine label from an earlier binding laid down (est. $50,000-$80,000).
An important archive of 44 autograph letters signed that illuminate the foundations of botanical science and its relation to medicine in the new American republic, where the study of “natural history” was first advanced by passionate scientific amateurs. The recipient of these letters, Jacob Bigelow, is often remembered as author of a bibliophilic landmark – the first American book with printed color plates, his three-volume Medical Botany of 1817-20. Hailed by his friend Oliver Wendell Holmes as an accomplished scientific scholar, eminent physician and social innovator who had great influence on American medical practice, he also wrote the first American book on Technology and was later a founding father of MIT. These letters date from the earliest years of his career, when, as a young Harvard professor of medicine and “applied sciences,” he roamed through the Massachusetts hills to collect plant specimens and wrote his first book on Bostonian flora, prelude to his color-plate magnum opus, and then edited the first American Pharmacopoeia, sanctioned by the first conventions of American physicians. Beyond offering unpublished details of these scientific and medical “firsts,” the strength of the archive is in the wide range of correspondents (est. $40,000-$50,000).
Vocabvlario en Lengva Castellana y Mexicana by Alonso de Molina, published in Mexico in 1571, was the first bi-lingual dictionary of Spanish and Nahuatl, the Aztec language, and the first dictionary printed in the Americas. This second edition, regarded as the first complete edition, is significantly expanded from the first edition of 1555, is considered the first published systematic approach to an indigenous language, and is still in print, an indispensable tool for students of Classical Nahuatl language. It contains woodcut illustrations on each title-page, woodcut illustrations/devices on both sides of the final leaf of each part and decorative initials (est. $20,000-$30,000).
An iconic halftone photograph of all four Beatles on their first nationwide U.S. tour in 1964 inscribed by George Harrison, “To Liber-archie best wishes from the Beatles,” below which each of the band members has signed, over his image, “John Lennon (a band)”; “George Harrison”; “Ringo Starr”; “Paul McCartney (a fan).” This is a page from the Tour Book Concert Program for the Beatles’ first nationwide U.S. tour in 1964, with pictures on the verso as well inscribed to Liberace. A rare and desirable image, wittily inscribed and signed by all four members of the most influential and popular pop/rock band of all time (est. $20,000-$30,000).
The last 73 lots in the auction have been donated by members of the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America and are being sold to benefit the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Benevolent Fund which was established to aid any bookseller in time of distress.
The auction will begin at 8 a.m. Pacific Time on Sunday, Feb 9. The public may preview the auction at the San Francisco Book, Print and Paper Fair, Booth 421, on Saturday, Feb. 1, 10 a.m. – 7 p.m and on Sunday, Feb. 2, 10 a.m – 5 p.m. The sale may also be previewed in the Cordova Room of the Pasadena Sheraton (303 E. Cordova, Pasadena, CA 91101) on Friday, Feb. 7, noon – 5 p.m. and Saturday, Feb. 8, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. and by appointment. For more information, contact PBA Galleries at 415-989-2665 or pba@pbagalleries.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.
‘Vocabvlario en Lengva Castellana y Mexicana by Alonso de Molina,’ published in Mexico in 1571, was the first bi-lingual dictionary of Spanish and Nahuatl, the Aztec language, and the first dictionary printed in the Americas. PBA image.‘Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies,’ published in London in 1632. PBA image.‘Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies,’ published in London in 1632. PBA image.‘Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies,’ published in London in 1632. PBA image.Jacob Bigelow archive of 44 autograph letters signed that illuminate the foundations of botanical science. PBA image.Concert program for the Beatles’ first U.S. tour in 1964, autographed and inscribed to Liberace. PBA image.
The Hasselblad camera used by astronaut Jim Irwin during the Apollo 15 mission to the moon in 1971. Copyright Westlicht Photographica Auction. Used with permission. VIENNA (AFP) – NASA’s only camera to have made it to the moon and back as part of the Apollo manned missions will be auctioned in Vienna on March 21, organizers said Thursday.
The boxy silver-colored camera, which could be attached to the front of an astronaut’s suit, is estimated to be worth 150,000-200,000 euros ($200,000-270,000), Peter Coeln, owner of the Westlicht gallery holding the auction, told AFP.
In all, the U.S. space agency sent 14 cameras to the moon during its Apollo 11-17 missions in 1969-1972, but only one was brought back to earth, possibly due to problems retrieving the film after the equipment jammed, Coeln said.
As a rule, the cameras, which weighed several pounds, were abandoned to allow the astronauts to bring back moon rock, weight being a prime concern on the missions.
The Hasselblad camera, which is being sold by an Italian collector, was used by astronaut Jim Irwin to take 299 pictures during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971.
A small plate inside with the number 38 – the same number that appears on the NASA snapshots – “is 100-percent proof that this camera is the real thing and really was on the moon,” Coeln said.
Vienna’s Westlicht gallery, a leading auction house for cameras, has overseen the sale of some of the most expensive photographic equipment in history. In 2012, it sold a Leica camera prototype made in 1923 for 2.16 million euros, a world record.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
The Hasselblad camera used by astronaut Jim Irwin during the Apollo 15 mission to the moon in 1971. Copyright Westlicht Photographica Auction. Used with permission.The Hasselblad camera used by astronaut Jim Irwin during the Apollo 15 mission to the moon in 1971. Copyright Westlicht Photographica Auction. Used with permission.
Lt. Daniel J. Kern and German conservator Karl Sieber examining Jan van Eyck’s ‘Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,’ also known as the Ghent Altarpiece (1432). Thomas Carr Howe papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Photo courtesy of Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
WASHINGTON – The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art exhibition, “Monuments Men: On the Frontline to Save Europe’s Art, 1942-1946,” will present original photographs, official military records and letters that chronicle this extraordinary mission. Visitors will be able to hear the voices of Monuments Men through excerpts of interviews from the Archives’ Oral History Collection. The exhibition will be on display from Feb. 7 to April 20 in the Lawrence A. Fleischman Gallery at the Smithsonian’s Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.
During World War II, an unlikely team of soldiers was charged with identifying and protecting European cultural sites, monuments and buildings from Allied bombing. Officially named the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section, this U.S. Army unit included art curators, scholars, architects, librarians and archivists from the United States and Great Britain. The unit quickly became known as the Monuments Men. Towards the end of the war, their mission changed to one of locating works of art that had been looted by the Nazis. The Monuments Men recovered some of history’s greatest works of art hidden across Germany and Austria—some in castles, others in salt mines.
The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art holds the personal papers and oral-history interviews of several key Monuments Men, including George Leslie Stout, James J. Rorimer, Walker Hancock and Thomas Carr Howe.
The exhibition will feature the personal papers of many prominent Monuments Men and Women. The correspondence illuminates art conservator Stout’s efforts to establish a national wartime Conservation Corps and the challenges and hardships of working on the frontline of war. Historical records and photographs document the magnitude of the Nazi looting, including the collection of stolen artwork amassed by Nazi Germany’s second in command, Hermann Goering. The exhibition also documents the heroic efforts of Rorimer, one of the Monuments Men who located and removed France’s great art treasures from the magnificent Neuschwenstein Castle deep in the Bavarian Alps. Rorimer worked with Rose Valland, a French art curator who spied on the Nazis at great personal risk. Compelling photographs reveal how Monuments Men George Stout and others recovered treasures like Jan and Hubert van Eyck’s “Ghent Alterpiece” and Michelangelo’s famous Bruges sculpture “Madonna and Child” from the Altaussee salt mines in Austria.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Lt. Daniel J. Kern and German conservator Karl Sieber examining Jan van Eyck’s ‘Adoration of the Mystic Lamb,’ also known as the Ghent Altarpiece (1432). Thomas Carr Howe papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Photo courtesy of Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.Rescuing Michelangelo’s ‘Madonna and Child,’ Altaussee, 1945. Thomas Carr Howe papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution. Photo courtesy of Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Massive Chinese blue and white porcelain jar. I.M. Chait Gallery / Auctioneers image. BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – I.M. Chait Gallery / Auctioneers will hold an Asian arts, antiques and estates auction Sunday, Feb. 9, beginning at 11 a.m. Pacific Time. LiveAuctioneers.com will facilitate live auction bidding.
Featured among the well over 500 lots to be sold are:
– A collection of old and antique Chinese and Japanese ivories, from two Orange County estates;
– Carved jades, Chinese snuff bottles, and carved netsuke (including erotic) from a Beverly Hills collection;
– Early Chinese ceramics, together with Asian decorations and artwork from the Jack Willis Trust;
– A Midwest estate, including Chinese and Japanese ceramics, bronzes, scholars’ pieces, and bead jewelry;
– Numerous Chinese scrolls, together with Japanese artwork from various American collections.
For details contact I.M. Chait Gallery / Auctioneers at 310-285-0182 or email chait@chait.com.
Rare and monumental Chinese painted pottery figural group of a Bactrian camel, probably Tang Dynasty (618-907). Estimate: $40,000-$60,000. Neal Auction Co. image.
NEW ORLEANS – Neal Auction Co.’s annual Important Winter Estates Auction, scheduled this year for Feb. 8-9 is highlighted by many major works from nearly every collecting category.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding. Saturday’s session will begin at 10 a.m. Central; Sunday’s at 11 a.m.
Chinese works in Neal Auction’s February auction are numerous and include porcelain, pottery, furniture, textiles, bronzes and jade. Lot 255, a Tang Dynasty (618-907) camel consigned by a Florida collector, should attract the interest from Chinese and Western collectors alike. The large, expressive camel is expected to achieve between $40,000 and $60,000.
Among the other Chinese lots in the auction that should draw collector interest is a group of furniture from the Miami estate of restaurateur Luo Yapquan. A highlight from that collection is lot 621, a pair of extensively carved low-back armchairs, which bears a modest estimate of $4,000 to $6,000.
Included in the two-day auction is lot 449, an important canvas by the critically acclaimed regionalist/American Scene artist John McCrady (Mississippi, 1911-1968). Neal Auction’s forthcoming McCrady work titled August Evening is a powerful, evocative and environmentally visionary image featuring a still-life of borrowed objects from the sea, the earth and the artist, himself, set on a Grand Isle, Louisiana, shoreline. As in other important works, such as Sic Transit, the artist poignantly portrays man and nature in a state of delicate coexistence. Estimated at $50,000 to $70,000, August Evening should attract considerable attention nationwide.
Lot 454, an early French harbor scene created by French born artist Marie Adrien Persac (French/Louisiana, 1823-1873) prior to his immigrating to Louisiana in 1842, should generate interest from Persac collectors around the world. Neal Auction’s meticulously painted watercolor invites comparison to the artist’s later view of the Port of New Orleans, now conserved at the Historic New Orleans Collection. The Persac watercolor, View of a French Harbor, carries a presale auction estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.
Included in the February auction is a select group of important photographs consigned by New Orleans artist Charles Fritchie. Featured in the Fritchie collection is lot 501, Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, the iconic image by Ansel Adams (American, 1902-1984). Works by Adams, which capture the wild, untamed beauty of the American landscape, garner attention from collectors and museums around the country. Neal Auction’s photograph is estimated to bring $25,000 to $35,000. Two Shells, a 1970s Cole Weston (American, 1919-2003) print of a 1927 negative by his father, Edward Weston (American, 1886-1958), should attract bidder interest as well. Images of natural forms are among the most revered of Edward Weston’s photographic series and Neal Auction’s Two Shells will be no exception. The print is being offered as lot 507 with a presale auction estimate of $1,500 to $2,500.
Other lots from the Fritchie photography collection include lot 502, an Ansel Adams print titled Winter Sunrise, Sierra Nevada (from Lone Pine, Calif.); lot 508, a Walker Evans (American 1904-1975) print of a Depression Worker; and lots 509, 510 and 511; three 1960s prints by Jerry Uelsmann.
John Gould’s (English, 1804-1881) five-volume set of The Birds of Great Britain will be offered in Neal Auction’s February auction as lot 20. In terms of artistry, the set is considered “the culmination of [Gould’s] … genius” (Isabella Tree, The Ruling Passion of John Gould, London, 1991); in its writings, it demonstrates a great deal of environmental foresight. Describing the “Golden Eagle,” Gould writes: “as civilization advances, this noble bird, the lord of our ancient forest, will either become extirpated or driven to seek an asylum in parts of the country where nature still preserves a savage aspect … We should not have occasion to lament the gradual disappearance of this noble bird.”
Gould published the book himself, producing only some 750 copies, which remain much sought after as complete volumes and as individual plates. Neal Auction’s five-volume set – still in its original bindings – is expected to achieve $35,000 to $55,000.
Neal Auction’s Important Winter Estates auction includes period English furniture and decorative objects from the collection of a noted antiquarian. Highlights are lots 113, a George III mahogany breakfront, estimated at $10,000 to $15,000; 223, a pair of George III mahogany armchairs estimated at $8,000 to $12,000; and 218, a pair of circa 1833 Georgian 18-inch library globes by Smith, estimated at $25,000 to $35,000.
American furniture highlights include lot 307, a circa 1845 rosewood portfolio cabinet on stand attributed to J and J. W. Meeks, which carries a $4,000 to $6,000 presale estimate. The piece was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in their landmark exhibition “Art and the Empire City: New York, 1825-1861,” curated by John K. Howat and Catherine Hoover Voorsanger.
For details email clientservices@nealauction.com or phone 504-899-5329.
Rare and monumental Chinese painted pottery figural group of a Bactrian camel, probably Tang Dynasty (618-907). Estimate: $40,000-$60,000. Neal Auction Co. image.
John Gould (English, 1804-1881), ‘The Birds of Great Britain,’ 5 vols., [1862]-1873. Estimate: $25,000-$35,0000. Neal Auction Co. image.
Extensive Durgin ‘Iris’ pattern sterling silver flatware service of 12. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000. Neal Auction Co. image.
Pair of Georgian 18-Inch library globes, circa 1833, by Smith, London. Estimate: $25,000-$35,000. Neal Auction Co. image.
John Frederick Herring Jr. (English, 1815-1907), ‘English Hunt Scene,’ oil on canvas. Estimate:$50,000-$75,000. Neal Auction Co. image.
Fine Chinese Western Zhou-style creamy white jade vase and cover, probably Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Estimate: $30,000-$50,000. Neal Auction Co. image.
Rare Shearwater Pottery jardiniere, circa 1940, thrown by Peter Anderson and decorated by James McConnell ‘Mac’ Anderson, 26 3/4 inches high. Estimate: $15,000-$25,000. Neal Auction Co. image.
The “I’ll Knock a Homer For You” baseball autographed by Babe Ruth and inscribed by five other New York Yankees. Grey Flannel Auctions image.
WESTHAMPTON, N.Y. – The “Little” Johnny Sylvester collection, a unique family-owned archive documenting one of the most famous stories in baseball history, will be auctioned on February 6. The centerpiece of the collection is the baseball Babe Ruth signed and sent to Sylvester, a gravely ill 11-year-old boy, together with a promise to “knock a homer” for him. As history would show, the young fan made a remarkable recovery after receiving the baseball and learning that Ruth had kept his promise.
Perhaps the most publicized baseball of all time, it was autographed by Ruth and inscribed with the words “I’ll Knock A Homer For You” on one of the panels. Five other New York Yankees also autographed and inscribed the ball.
The story of Little Johnny was embraced by the media and struck a chord with all Americans, not just sports fans. Shortly before October 6, 1926, Babe Ruth and the Yankees sent the signed baseball to Little Johnny, who was hospitalized near his home in Essex Falls, New Jersey. The youngster had been seriously injured after falling off a horse and being accidentally kicked in the head. Learning of the incident and Sylvester’s devotion to the Yankees, the team sent the baseball to Sylvester from St. Louis, where they were playing the Cardinals in the 1926 World Series.
“Ruth had promised to hit a home run for Little Johnny and, amazingly enough, he hit not one, but three homers in Game 4 of the Series. It was the first time Ruth had ever belted three in a game, and in so doing, he became first player to do so in a World Series,” said Richard E. Russek, president of Grey Flannel Auctions, the company producing the auction.
The young patient’s spirits were lifted by the gesture, and three days later (Game 6), Ruth sent a hand-written letter stating he would try to hit another homer for Johnny, “maybe two.” The day after Game 7, October 11, 1926, Ruth personally visited the youngster in Essex Falls. On December 16, 1926, Ruth penned another letter to the boy, inquiring about his recovery and inviting him to Yankee Stadium for the 1927 World Series “to help win another pennant.”
Ruth wasn’t the era’s only sports star to reach out to the ailing Sylvester. “Big Bill” Tilden, one of the greatest tennis players of all time, sent Johnny three hand-written letters, wishing him well, and even sent the boy an autographed tennis racquet he had used in the U.S. National Championships (now known as the US Open).
Hall of Fame halfback “Red” Grange, a friend of Ruth’s, also sent a letter to the kid, promising to score a touchdown just for him. In his letter, Grange invited Johnny and his father to a game, and also gifted the boy with an autographed football.
The Little Johnny Sylvester collection, which includes all of the aforementioned items, was on loan to the Babe Ruth Museum for more than 25 years and comes to auction directly from its owner, John Sylvester Jr.
Grey Flannel has auctioned many legendary items connected with the Yankees, including Babe Ruth’s 1932 “Called Shot” game-used jersey, which they sold in 2005 for $1,056,630. The Feb. 6 auction includes many other rare and important Yankees items, including a 1919 Frank “Home Run” Baker game-used road jersey, the earliest known jersey of any Yankees Hall of Famer.
The “I’ll Knock a Homer For You” baseball autographed by Babe Ruth and inscribed by five other New York Yankees. Grey Flannel Auctions image.Archival newspaper image of Babe Ruth visiting Little Johnny Sylvester’s bedside on October 11, 1926. Grey Flannel Auctions image.
Signed watercolor and gouache painting by Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959) titled ‘Flower study in red and yellow.’ Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image.
LONDON – A set of 38 witty signed and dated pen and ink drawings by one of the most prolific English artists and children’s book illustrators of his generation, Walter Crane (1845–1915), will be offered in Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions’ sale of Watercolours, Drawing and Prints on Wednesday, Feb. 12.
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The informal sketchbook contains scenes from two family holidays in St. Pierre en Port, in 1904, and at Brundish, in Suffolk, in 1905 of picnics, days at the seaside and nights at the casino, tennis matches and concerts.
As part of the Arts and Crafts movement, and founder of the Arts & Crafts Exhibition Society, Crane was influenced by William Morris throughout much of his early life. During this time Crane was allied with the British socialist movement and his focus on design for textiles, wallpaper and home decoration reportedly did as much as Morris himself did to bring art in to the daily lives of people across the social spectrum.
In 1894, Crane famously collaborated with William Morris on the page decoration of Morris’s fantasy novel The Story of the Glittering Plain. The sketchbook is estimated to sell for £2,000-£3,000 [Lot 229].
From the collection of a friend and patron of William Morris, and Arts and Crafts enthusiast, Lawrence W. Hodson, are two sets of drawings by the artist Hasegawa Settan (1778-1843) and his studio. The wealthy West Midlands brewery owner compiled his extensive and eclectic collection to refurbish his family home, Compton Hall, Wolverhampton in 1895. The two sets, depicting narrative scenes, figures and natural history subjects are all inscribed L.W. Hodson in pencil on verso. The majority of the Hodson Collection was sold for a total of £1.3 million in three auctions during 2013 by Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions.
Hasegawa Settan trained under the great master of ukiyo-e, Utagawa Toyokuni, and became a highly respected woodblock printmaker, being awarded the honorary Buddhist title of Hokkyo, meaning “bridge of the law.” The two groups of drawings appear to have been reference drawings from the artist and his son’s studio. They are estimated to sell for £2,000-£3,000 and £1,000-£1,500 [Lots 316 and 317].
A signed watercolor and gouache painting by Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959) is rare piece by a man better known as a controversial artist and pioneer of modern sculpture. The painting, titled Flower study in red and yellow, may well have been part of Epstein’s 1930s series of landscape and flower studies in which he returned to a more conventional style than he is commonly known for. It is reported that in the summer of 1933 Epstein produced nearly 100 watercolors, while staying in a rented property close to Epping Forest in Essex. The watercolors were exhibited in London at Arthur Tooth & Son in December 1933. It is estimated to sell for £1,500-£2,000 [Lot 366].
From the estate of actor and film director Charles Laughton and his actress wife, Elsa Lanchester, 42 original sketches, signed by the novelist Norman Mailer for the film adaptation of his book The Naked and the Dead, are the product of a collaborative effort between Laughton and Mailer. Nine of the sketches relate to scenes in the novel, including views of the island from the invasion fleet, views of the pass, the structure of the rapids traversed by Croft and Wilson and a scene from Croft’s “time machine.” one of a series of flash-backs that populate the novel. The remaining sketches depict characters in the novel, in the cases of Cummings and Croft, Mailer has supplied sketches for both “outer” and “inner” appearance. The sketches contain additional annotations and provide an insight into the rather jocular nature of this nascent collaboration. Sold as one lot the sketches are estimated to sell for £4,000-£6,000 [Lot 232].
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Signed watercolor and gouache painting by Sir Jacob Epstein (1880-1959) titled ‘Flower study in red and yellow.’ Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image. Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image.Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image.Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image.Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image.Dreweatts & Bloomsbury Auctions image.
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![John Gould (English, 1804-1881), ‘The Birds of Great Britain,’ 5 vols., [1862]-1873. Estimate: $25,000-$35,0000. Neal Auction Co. image.](https://www.liveauctioneers.com/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2014_0129_neal20.jpg "John Gould (English, 1804-1881), ‘The Birds of Great Britain,’ 5 vols., [1862]-1873. Estimate: $25,000-$35,0000. Neal Auction Co. image.")
