George Lucas, former chairman and CEO of Lucasfilm, at the 66th Venice Film Festival. Photo taken on Nov. 9, 2009 by Nicolas Genin, Paris. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee isn’t about to lose a museum to be filled with George Lucas’ lifetime art collection and movie memorabilia to another city.
The San Francisco mayor has given his staff until the end of May to come up with a list of places — both private and public — to present the “Star Wars” creator as possible locations in the city for the museum.
Lee said in a statement that he is well aware that San Francisco is in competition with another city. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in April gave orders to a dozen civic leaders, telling them to find a place in that city for Lucas’ interactive museum and collection. This is a one-time opportunity for San Francisco, Lee said.
“I will not let go easily of such a significant private investment by one of the world’s most prominent filmmakers,” Lee said.
Raised in Modesto, California, Lucas has said he doesn’t have enough wall space at his 6,000-acre (2,428-hectare) Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California, and he intends to invest up to $300 million of his money for the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum with another $400 million endowment upon his death.
Earlier this year, the Presidio Trust rejected Lucas’ proposal to open the museum on park land at the base of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge, which then offered him another location near the home of Lucasfilm’s special-effects, game unit and corporate offices. Lucas is considering that offer.
Yet Chicago is considered a front runner for the display of Lucas’ collection in part because he is married to Chicago businesswoman Mellody Hobson.
# # #
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
George Lucas, former chairman and CEO of Lucasfilm, at the 66th Venice Film Festival. Photo taken on Nov. 9, 2009 by Nicolas Genin, Paris. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
The S.S. Central America, known as the Ship of Gold, was a 28-ft sidewheel steamer that sank in a hurricane in September 1857 with more than 550 passengers and crew on board and a cargo of 30,000 pounds of gold. This engraved reproduction of an 1857 painting of the S.S. Central America as it was sinking was originally published by J. Childs and is held in the National Maritime Museum, London. The image is in the public domain in the United States because the copyright (author’s life plus 70 years) has expired.
CHARLESTON – An expedition to bring back the remaining gold from a steamship that sank in 1857 off South Carolina in one of the nation’s worst maritime disasters has recovered almost 1,000 ounces of gold — the first gold recovered from the wreck in almost a quarter century.
The S.S. Central America was bringing back gold from the California Gold Rush when it sank in a hurricane, claiming 425 lives. In addition, thousands of pounds of gold went to the bottom aboard the 280-foot, side-wheel steamship.
An 8-ton remotely operated vehicle, named Zeus, is launched for a descent to the ocean floor from the ship Odyssey Explorer about 100 miles off the coast of Georgia in 2003. Tampa-based Odyssey Marine Exploration announced Monday that 1,000 ounces of gold had been recovered from the SS Central America after a judge’s ruling in March cleared the way for that expedition.
About $50 million was recovered during expeditions to the wreck in the late 1980s and early 1990s before legal disputes shut down the operation.
Odyssey Marine Exploration of Tampa, Florida, announced Monday that almost 1,000 ounces of the gold was recovered during a reconnaissance dive last month.
The newly recovered gold includes five gold bars and two $20 Double Eagle gold coins. One of the coins was minted in San Francisco the year that the Central America sank. The gold bars weigh between 106 and 344 ounces.
“While we weren’t planning to recover gold so quickly, it did confirm that the site has not been disturbed since it was last visited in 1991 and there is gold remaining,” said Mark Gordon, Odyssey’s president and chief operating officer.
An expedition that left North Charleston in April is expected to be on the site about 160 miles off the coast until late summer. Gordon said that in recent weeks the crew of 41 aboard the Odyssey Explorer has been conducting an extensive survey of the site and the recovery of more gold will begin once that is completed.
It is not clear how much gold might remain. The ship was carrying gold bars shipped by banks and commercial interests. Passengers were thought to be carrying a lot of gold of their own in the form of coins — perhaps an amount equaling the commercial shipment.
The initial expeditions 25 years ago were halted because of legal disputes.
One of them involved investors from Ohio who staked out the money for shipwreck enthusiast Tommy Thompson, an Ohio native, who led the 1988 expedition that recovered the initial cache of gold.
The investors claimed they had fronted Thompson almost $13 million but never saw any return. Thompson has been a fugitive for almost two years after failing to show up for a court hearing.
A deal approved by an Ohio judge in March cleared the way for the new expedition.
The receiver for Thompson’s companies will get more than half of anything that is recovered, to be disbursed in part to the investors who backed the initial expedition.
# # #
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The S.S. Central America, known as the Ship of Gold, was a 28-ft sidewheel steamer that sank in a hurricane in September 1857 with more than 550 passengers and crew on board and a cargo of 30,000 pounds of gold. This engraved reproduction of an 1857 painting of the S.S. Central America as it was sinking was originally published by J. Childs and is held in the National Maritime Museum, London. The image is in the public domain in the United States because the copyright (author’s life plus 70 years) has expired.
Apollo 12 lunar module flown and surface-used PLSS strap directly from the personal collection of mission lunar module pilot Alan Bean, certified and signed. Estimate: $60,000-$75,000. Heritage Auctions image.
DALLAS – Selections from the personal collection of Apollo-era astronaut Alan Bean, the Apollo 12 Mission lunar module pilot, form the centerpiece of Heritage Auctions’ May 14 Space Signature® Auction. The Collection features Bean’s own lunar surface-used personal life support system (PLSS) strap, which he wore for nearly eight hours on the moon in 1969, and still bears traces of moon dust.
LiveAuctioneers.com will facilitate Internet live bidding.
Also offered from Bean’s collection are two more key artifacts that were with him on the moon’s surface for several hours during his moon walk: his Apollo 12 lunar module flown and surface-used scissors with lanyard and snap and his Apollo 12 lunar module flown and surface-used Fisher AG-7 space pen.
“All three of these lots are simply stellar exemples of the rarest, most desirable and most evocative types of space memorabilia available,” said Howard Weinberger, consultant on space exploration memorabilia at Heritage Auctions. “When it comes to collecting this material, pieces that have been on the lunar surface, with an astronaut, are by far the most highly sought after and significant. Most importantly, it absolutely has to come straight from an astronaut, with a full letter of provenance, and this has all of that and more.”
The property in Bean’s collection to be sold on May 14 has never before appeared at public auction, all of it having resided with him and his family since 1969.
“Beyond the trio of lunar-surface material that tops this auction,” said Weinberger, “there are several other very key artifacts being offered that were either in the lunar module on the moon’s surface or that flew in the command module from the earth to the moon. At every level of this material there is something spectacular and notable in terms of America’s lunar program.”
Among the most sought-after pieces will be Bean’s Apollo 12 flown command module to lunar module electrical power “umbilical” cable, which was connected while on the way to the moon to supply power to the lunar module Intrepid from the command module and was disconnected from and stowed aboard the command module Yankee Clipper when it was time to undock the lunar module and begin descent toward the Ocean of Storms.
Another prized lot: an Apollo 12 flown stainless steel interval timer, a rare and important piece of equipment used in the command module to and from the moon. Bean used this timer “when (he) stirred the cryogenic tanks, performed urine dumps, and other on-board procedures where accurate time intervals were needed.”
“This is a six-minute mechanical timer with a switch that, when in the “X 10” mode, makes it a one-hour timer,” said Weinberger. “This is the first such piece that Heritage has offered and an extraordinary piece of space memorabilia.”
An Apollo 12 lunar module flown Beta Cloth temporary stowage bag, a uniquely designed storage bag that was used in the lunar module, is also going to be hotly contested in the auction. According to Bean’s writing on the bag itself, “This stowage bag, serial number 0015, was mounted in front of me at waist height and I used it to stow, temporarily, my check lists, food items and other articles I used in our Lunar Module Intrepid during landing, our stay on the lunar surface, and our ascent from the moon.”
Bean’s personal Apollo 12 flown custom-fitted and molded orange communications earpiece, which was attached to the internal communications system on the command module is a special lot that figured in many of the most important moments of the mission, and was specially made for extra comfort on the long journey, while an Apollo 12 flown mirror, with rounded corners, with a swivel mounting post on the back with printed Part Numbers should prove equally as interesting to collectors. The Apollo 12 stowage list shows a mirror with this part number as being stowed in the right-hand side storage compartment of the lunar module, both at Earth launch and lunar launch (pages 49 and 75), and possibly flown in the lunar module.
Further highlights of Bean’s collection include:
– Spacecraft ID plate from Apollo 12’s command module Yankee Clipper engraved as follows: APOLLO XII/SPACECRAFT -108/PART NO. V36-000002-21/CDR. CHARLES CONRAD USN/CDR. RICHARD F. GORDON Jr. USN/CDR. ALAN L BEAN USN/LAUNCH DATE 11-14-69. This is the flown Rockwell ID plate removed from the Apollo 12 Command Module Yankee Clipper (Spacecraft #8) and presented to Bean.
– Apollo 12 lunar module flown spacecraft identification plate, signed by Bean in black felt tip, as follows: “This ID plate was flown aboard our Lunar Module (LM-6) Intrepid to the lunar surface on the Ocean of Storms November 19, 1969. It remained on the moon until Pete Conrad and I lifted off on November 20th to rendezvous with Dick Gordon 60 miles above. Alan Bean Apollo 12 LMP.”
– Apollo 12 lunar module flown right angle 16mm camera bracket, which was flown to the Ocean of Storms on the mission and held the camera that took many of the most distinct and memorable lunar surface photos of the entire mission.
– Apollo 12 lunar module flown LM “charm” on unflown tie clasp, a diminutive but highly detailed metal representation of the lunar module, which actually flew in the second LM to land on the moon, mounted to a silver-colored tie clasp with an engraved “APOLLO XII” across its length.
– Apollo 12 lunar module flown pair of sterling cross cufflinks.
– Apollo 12 flown largest-size American flag flown in the command module.
– Apollo 12 flown large-size American flag flown in the command module.
– Apollo 12 Flown embroidered American flag with a gold border around it, flown in the Command Module.
– Apollo 12 flown silver Robbins medallion, serial number 113, one of 262 flown to the moon aboard the mission.
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.
Apollo 12 lunar module flown and surface-used PLSS strap directly from the personal collection of mission lunar module pilot Alan Bean, certified and signed. Estimate: $60,000-$75,000. Heritage Auctions image.Apollo 12 lunar module flown and surface-used scissors with lanyard and snap directly from the personal collection of mission lunar module pilot Alan Bean. Estimate: $35,000-$50,000. Heritage Auctions image.Apollo 12 lunar module flown and surface-used Fisher AG-7 space pen directly from the personal collection of mission lunar module pilot Alan Bean. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000. Heritage Auctions image.Apollo 12 lunar module flown Beta Cloth temporary stowage bag directly from the personal collection of mission lunar module pilot Alan Bean, certified and signed. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000. Heritage Auctions image.Apollo 12 flown CM to LM electrical power ‘umbilical’ cable directly from the personal collection of mission lunar module pilot Alan Bean, 37 inches long. Estimate: $15,000-$30,000. Heritage Auctions image.Apollo 12 flown stainless steel interval timer directly from the personal collection of mission lunar module pilot Alan Bean, certified and signed. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000. Heritage Auctions image.
Anna Wintour at the Twenty8Twelve fashion show in London, September 22, 2009. Source: Anna Wintour & Alexa Chung. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. NEW YORK (AFP) – First Lady Michelle Obama paid glowing tribute Monday to Vogue fashion legend Anna Wintour, as she cut the ribbon on New York’s $40 million renovated costume center named in her honor.
Wearing a green floral dress by the Indian-born Naeem Khan, Obama inaugurated the Anna Wintour Costume Center at a celebrity-studded ceremony at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“The truth is I’m here today because of Anna. I’m here because I have such respect and admiration for this woman, who I am proud to call my friend,” Obama said.
The first lady said the center would be a source of learning and inspiration for young people interested in the fashion industry.
Actress Sarah Jessica Parker joined designers Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Stella McCartney and Oscar de la Renta at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Monday night marks the glittering Met ball, or Costume Institute Gala Benefit, hosted by Wintour. It is one of the biggest events in the society calendar for the international jet set.
Although Obama is not expected to attend, some of the biggest stars in fashion, sports and Hollywood are expected to tread the red carpet at the charity event.
The Costume Institute has undergone a two-year renovation and been re-named after Wintour, the British-born editor-in-chief of American Vogue and artistic director for publisher Conde Nast.
Wintour has been a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum since 1999 and in her role as benefit chair and fundraiser she has raised around $125 million for its Costume Institute.
The director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Thomas Campbell said the Anna Wintour Costume Center was designed “to accommodate and inspire the next
generation.”
Its inaugural exhibition features another British export to the United States, groundbreaking couturier Charles James, whose work goes on view from
Thursday until Aug. 10.
In addition to two exhibition galleries, the center includes conservation facilities, collection storage and a library.
“The new space allows us to rethink our approach to the display of historic costume and contemporary fashion,” said Harold Koda, curator in charge.
The Charles James exhibition features 65 of the designer’s most notable designs from the 1920s until his death in 1978.
“Charles James considered himself an artist, and approached fashion with a sculptor’s eye and a scientist’s logic,” said Campbell.
“The Met is the ideal place to explore the rich complexity of his innovative work.”
The main gallery shows off to dramatic effect 15 gorgeous James evening gowns, including the “Butterfly” and “Swan” that date back to the late 1940 and early 1950s.
The dresses float on platforms, lit up under spotlights in the near-dark exhibition hall while animations, text, x-rays, and vintage images explain how each gown was intricately constructed.
James moved to New York in 1940 and is considered one of the greatest haute couture designers in the United Sates.
“Technology will allow us to look at what the eye can’t see in fashion – structure, construction, undergarments, motion, silhouette, and sound-like the rustle of the bustle or the creak of a crinoline,” said Andrew Bolton, curator in the Institute.
The Costume Institute has more than 35,000 costumes and accessories in its collection and its library is home to more than 30,000 rare books and periodicals, files, prints, drawings and photographs.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Anna Wintour at the Twenty8Twelve fashion show in London, September 22, 2009. Source: Anna Wintour & Alexa Chung. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
John Moran Auctioneers set a new record for an American art pottery vase, selling this masterwork by Frederick H. Rhead and Agnes Rhead for $570,000. John Moran Auctioneers image.
PASADENA, Calif. — In a remarkable sale punctuated throughout by spectacular results, John Moran Auctioneers set four auction records for decorative and fine art, including a record price for an American art pottery vase with the sale of a masterwork by Frederick Hurten Rhead (1880-1942). The April 29 auction, which included 211 cataloged lots of Continental furniture and paintings, early 20th century American design, porcelain, silver and Asian artifacts, selected from multiple estates and private collections throughout California, totaled more than $1.8 million in sales and underscored the strength in the market for top-tier works of art and highest quality furnishings.
LiveAuctioneers.com provided Internet live bidding.
The Rhead vase realized $570,000 (including 20 percent buyer’s premium), a healthy $54,000 over the previous record of $516,000, set in March 2007 by a smaller example created during Rhead’s residence in Santa Barbara, California. The Santa Barbara vase featured the quintessential California motif of a grove of eucalyptus trees.
The new record holder reigns as a supreme example of the potter’s art, incised in minute detail with a bewitching peacock, its tail feathers glazed in turquoise and three shades of green, fanned luxuriantly over a brown and buff-colored ground accented with stylized black tree branches. Standing 17 1/2 inches high and dated 1910, the vase was made during the British-born Rhead’s brief tenure at the University City Pottery in University City, Mo., and is also signed by Rhead’s wife and collaborator, Agnes Rhead (b.1877). Another example of Rhead’s work, a panel of four tiles, also made in 1910 and also depicting a peacock, sold at auction for $637,500 in October 2012 to Rudy Ciccarello of the Two Red Roses Foundation in Florida.
In addition to rarity, compelling design, and peerless craftsmanship, the vase sold at Moran’s possessed that all-important guarantee of auction success: impeccable provenance. Purchased from the pottery in the summer of 1910 by a couple residing in St. Louis, Mo., it was given as a wedding anniversary and baby gift to the Meyers Family of Iowa City, Iowa, and handed down through several generations of the family. Only recently was it plucked from obscurity, discovered by an heir during a clean out of his Southern California home.
Several minutes of fast-moving combat eliminated all but three contenders. In the end, one of the telephone bidders, Robert Kaplan, finally prevailed over the one remaining floor bidder, who appeared to have dropped out early but surprised everyone by re-entering the fight late in the game. It has since been revealed that Kaplan was acting as agent for Ciccarello.
The record-setting vase and the tile panel will soon be united in a setting worthy of their stature and where they will be available for public viewing. The Two Red Roses Foundation is breaking ground on a new museum in St. Petersburg, Fla. The Museum of the American Arts and Crafts Movement, scheduled to open the first quarter of 2017, will be the first museum in the United States solely dedicated to preserving the legacy of American Arts and Crafts design. The museum plans to showcase the two Rhead peacocks as highlights of its holdings of more than 1,300 items of decorative and fine art, including several hundred from Ciccarello’s collection.
Moran’s audience saw not one, but two art pottery records set on the 29th. Just a few moments prior to the sale of the Rhead vase, a vase made in 1929 by Margaret Kelly Cable (1884-1960) realized $43,200, surpassing by $31,200 the previous record for Cable pottery. A one-time student of Rhead, Cable was hired in 1910 as the head of the newly founded ceramics department of the North Dakota School of Mines, where she devoted herself to promoting the use of the local clays and to producing, in her own words, “design material particular to the prairies.” The 13-inch-high vase, glazed brown and incised all around with repeating motifs of flickertails (a kind of ground squirrel native to the northern United States) and wheat stalks, carried an estimate of $5,000-$7,000. It too sold to a phone bidder after a prolonged battle.
Two of the new records Moran’s established were for fine art. A sweeping view of the Roman countryside by Russian painter Feodor Matveef (1758-1826) painted in the grand tradition of the classical landscape, drew intense interest from Europe and Russia. The large (58 x 72 inches) oil painting arrived on the block for the first time in decades, consigned from a private collector who acquired it from Sotheby’s, London in the 1980s. With expectations already running high, it took the stage carrying an estimate of $70,000-$90,000. A slew of bidders drove the price up to a final bid of $420,000, placed by a Russian telephone bidder. The previous record price for a work by Matveef was $353,840.
The other painting achieving a new high price for the artist was an oil by Theodor Von Hormann (1840-1895 Austrian) depicting a springtime scene of children at tables in a garden beneath blossoming trees. Estimated to realize $12,000-$18,000, the 31 3/4 x 39 1/4-inch canvas ultimately sold to a European bidder for $180,000.
Moran’s also captured an enthusiastic audience for ornate Continental furniture. An impressive C. Bechstein grand piano made in 1882, the French Empire style case elaborately mounted in gilt bronze with lyres, scrolling foliage, laurel sprays and lion’s mask-headed monopodia, lured a bidder up to $78,000 (estimate: $50,000-$70,000). Equally imposing, and consigned from the same Malibu, Calif., collection, was an enormous 24-light Louis XV-style gilt and patinated bronze chandelier with figures of dragons perched among its branches. It sold over the high estimate of $20,000, for $27,000. A distinguished pair of elegantly proportioned Continental rouge marble and gilt bronze columnar pedestals with finely cast Corinthian capitals performed extremely well, finding a buyer for $15,600 (estimate $3,000-$5,000).
Additional sale highlights include:
• A pair of unsigned Continental terra cotta sculptures dating to the 18th or early 19th century, depicting full-length classical figures of allegorical of Spring and Autumn, fetched $45,000 (estimate: $5,000-$7,000).
• A circa 1920 “mystery” clock by Swiss maker Juvenia, featuring a cherub rowing a silver leaf-form boat on a mirror-glass lake, his oar indicating the hours on a dial enameled with Commedia dell’Arte figures frolicking in a landscape, enchanted bidders far and wide, selling for $13,200 (estimate: $4,000-$6,000).
• A red coral carving of two conjoined figures realized $9,000 (estimate $2,000-$4,000), confirming the still-rising demand for Chinese works of art.
For more information on Moran’s sales, both past and upcoming, contact John Moran Auctioneers at: info@johnmoran.com or 626-793-1833. Consignment inquiries are always welcome.
John Moran Auctioneers set a new record for an American art pottery vase, selling this masterwork by Frederick H. Rhead and Agnes Rhead for $570,000. John Moran Auctioneers image.
Just one lot prior to the Rhead vase, this vase by Margaret Cable tripled the previous record high price for her work, fetching $43,200. John Moran Auctioneers image.
This large oil depicting the Roman countryside, by Russian painter Feodor Matveef (1758-1826), drew strong international attention at Moran’s sale, and set a new record for the artist at $420,000. John Moran Auctioneers image.
The fourth record set by Moran’s on April 29 was for this oil painting by Theodor Von Hormann (Austrian, 1840-1895), which brought $180,000 (estimate: $12,000-$18,000). John Moran Auctioneers image.
Continental furnishings and works of art performed well throughout Moran’s sale, as in the example of this pair of unsigned terra-cotta sculptures that realized $45,000 (estimate: $5,000-$7,000). John Moran Auctioneers image.
This ‘mystery’ clock by Swiss maker Juvenia charmed its way up to a final bid of $13,200 (estimate: $4,00-$6,000). John Moran Auctioneers image.
The Musée Picasso is an art gallery housed in the Hôtel Salé in Paris. The mansion was built circa 1656-1659. Image by Beckstet. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. PARIS (AFP) – Five years after it closed for a two-year renovation, the Picasso museum – which houses one of the world’s most extensive collections of the Spanish master’s work – will finally reopen its doors in September, the culture ministry announced Sunday.
The delay has caused controversy, with the painter’s son Claude Picasso on Friday accusing the French government of indifference and saying he was “scandalized and very worried” about the future of the museum.
He asked the government to do its best to ensure that the establishment reopens in June, as announced earlier this year by the gallery’s president Anne Baldassari.
Jean-Francois Bodin, the architect in charge of the renovation, had said on Saturday that the museum could still be reopened at the end of June as scheduled.
Culture Minister Aurelie Filipetti said in a statement that her ministry had decided to reopen the museum to the public in mid-September because the main renovations were only completed on April 30 and time was needed to finish the rest.
She made an appeal “for everyone to overcome personal interests and show enthusiasm and calm to allow the project to be completed.”
The final bill for the refurbishment of the 17th-century baroque mansion in Paris’s historic Marais quarter now stands at 52 million euros ($71 million), 22 million euros higher the original budget due to changes in the scope of the work.
The museum’s exhibition space will be more than doubled to 40,000 square feet after the renovation.
Although the musuem has around 5,000 paintings, drawings, sculptures, ceramics, photographs and documents, previously only a fraction could be displayed at any one time due to limited space.
There will also be a corresponding rise in the number of visitors that can be admitted at once from 380 to 650, and annual admission figures are expected to jump from 450,000 to 850,000.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The Musée Picasso is an art gallery housed in the Hôtel Salé in Paris. The mansion was built circa 1656-1659. Image by Beckstet. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Silver overlay on important pieces of pottery adds greatly to the value. This Rookwood vase with overlay by Gorham sold for $4,375 at a March 2014 auction held at Rago Arts and Auction Center in Lambertville, N.J.
BEACHWOOD, Ohio – American art pottery artists often painted pictures on their vases, pitchers and other pieces. They painted bats, frogs, rabbits, birds and other animals in their natural form, as well as fantasy animals represented as well-dressed humanlike figures.
The marks on these ceramics often indicate the age, company and artist, as well as some other factory information about type of clay or glazes. What better way to suggest the origin, age and value of a piece today.
Robert Bruce Horsfall (1869-1948) was an artist at Cincinnati’s Rookwood factory in 1893 when he decorated a Standard Glaze pitcher with pictures of the Toad of Toad Hall from The Wind in the Willows, the 1908 children’s classic by Kenneth Grahame. The finished pitcher was then sent to Gorham Manufacturing Co., where it was given a silver overlay. The well-designed piece, with a complete history, sold for $4,375 at a March 2014 Rago Arts auction in Lambertville, N.J., even though it had some minor imperfections.
Q: I have a Lloyd Loom baby carriage that was bought for my dad when he was born in 1924. The inside has been re-covered, but everything else is original and is still in very good condition. It has glass porthole-type windows in the side of the hood, a wooden handle, rubber tires on the wheels and a brake. A metal tag on it reads, “Lloyd Loom Products” and “Method Patented Oct. 16, 1917.” Can you tell me approximately when it was built and the current value? It’s priceless to me because it was my dad’s.
A: Marshall B. Lloyd (1858-1927) was an inventor and manufacturer. He opened Lloyd Manufacturing Co. in Menominee, Mich., in 1907 and began making children’s wagons. In 1914 the company began making hand-woven wicker baby carriages. Then in 1917 Lloyd was granted a patent for a method of making a wicker-like material by weaving twisted brown wrapping paper around metal wires. He also invented a loom that wove the material, making the process much faster than weaving by hand. Lloyd Loom fabric is the name of the woven material. In 1919 Lloyd sold the patent for the process to a British furniture manufacturer. Your baby carriage was made between 1917, when the patent was issued, and 1924, the year your father was born. Today these carriages are not considered safe to use with a real baby, so they usually sell to doll collectors or decorators. It’s worth about $300.
Q: I have a Coca-Cola serving tray that matches those I have seen online. It’s from 1923 and pictures the “Flapper Girl.” How can I tell if it’s a reproduction or an original?
A: Coca-Cola’s early lithographed tin serving trays probably are the most desirable of Coke collectibles. An original 1923 Coca-Cola serving tray is rectangular and measures 13 1/4 inches high by 10 1/2 inches wide. It’s worth close to $400 if it’s in near-mint condition or better. Of course, most old trays aren’t near-mint, so even if yours is old, it probably won’t sell for that much. Reproductions of this tray have been made since the 1970s, some even by the Coca-Cola Co. Some reproductions are round or oval, some may be marked with phrases like “Reg. U.S. Patent Office,” and some may show a slightly altered image.
Q: I own a pair of barber scissors my father used to cut my hair when I was a boy back in the 1930s. Stamped on them is, “Vogel Bros., Chicago, Ill., E-Z Edge.” How old are they and what are they worth?
A: The Vogel family, founders of Vogel Bros., say that the company has been making cutlery for 300 years. Within the past couple of years, Vogel’s assets were sold, but family members are involved in the two companies that took over Vogel’s assets: Anvil Corp. and Wolfe Industries. Your scissors probably date from the 1920s or ’30s. E-Z Edge scissors sell online for $20 to $30.
Q: I have a wooden cigarette machine that once dispensed old packs of cigarettes, like Lucky Strike, for 15 cents. It doubles as a magazine rack. I know it was made sometime between 1929 and 1933. The label on it reads, “Howard Home Humidor, this humidor and its contents are the property of C.B. Howard Co., Inc.,” and includes an address in New York. What is its value?
A: Your coin-operated combination cigarette dispenser and magazine rack probably was used in hotel lobbies or other places where a smoker might sit down to read a magazine and have a cigarette. Although it’s called a “Home Humidor,” it’s unlikely someone would have a coin-operated cigarette dispenser in their home. C.B. Howard Co. made at least one other similar dispenser, a combination cigarette machine and end table. These date from about 1931. One sold a year ago for $300.
Tip: Be careful when cleaning bronze figurines, lamp bases, bowls, etc. Never use steel wool, stiff brushes or chemicals.
Need prices for your antiques and collectibles? Find them at Kovels.com, our website for collectors. You can find more than 900,000 prices and more than 11,000 color photographs that help you determine the value of your collectibles. Study the prices. Go to the free Price Guide at Kovels.com. The website also lists publications, clubs, appraisers, auction houses, people who sell parts or repair antiques, upcoming shows and more. Kovels.com adds to the information in this column.
Terry Kovel and Kim Kovel answer questions sent to 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 photographs, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The amount 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.
Whiskey jug, The Greybeard, stoneware, black transfer, 8 inches, $95.
Paris porcelain pitcher, white-haired woman, period attire, flowers, baluster shape, leaf handle, 9 inches, $188.
Party dress, Emilio Pucci, silk, navy, Lord & Taylor, circa 1964, size 14, $270.
Paper knife, mother-of-pearl, gilt metal, tapered, Napoleon terminal, 4 1/2 inches, $63.
Weller Hudson vase, white flowers, light blue ground, bulbous, loop handles, Mae Timberlake, 8 x 9 inches, $480.
Wool-work diorama, bird on branch, fruit, yellow, green, brown, frame, circa 1850, 13 1/2 x 18 inches, $490.
Nantucket basket purse, Jose Formoso Reyes, whalebone plaque, knobs, circa 1960, 7 x 10 inches, $2,240.
“Kovels’ A Diary: How to Settle a Collector’s Estate.” Our new week-by-week record of the settlement of an estate, from your first days gathering legal papers to the last days when you’re dividing antiques among heirs and selling everything else-even the house. How to identify pottery, jewelry and other popular collectibles. Tips on where and how to sell furniture, jewelry, dishes, figurines, record albums, bikes and even clothes. We include lots of pictures and prices and explain the advantages of a house sale, auction, selling to a dealer or donating to a charity. Learn about how to handle the special problems of security and theft. Plus a free current supplement with useful websites, auctions lists and other current information. Available only from Kovels for $19.95 plus $4.95 postage and handling. Order by phone at 800-303-1996; online at Kovels.com; or write to Kovels, P.O. Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.
Silver overlay on important pieces of pottery adds greatly to the value. This Rookwood vase with overlay by Gorham sold for $4,375 at a March 2014 auction held at Rago Arts and Auction Center in Lambertville, N.J.
Caille double-upright slot machine combining 5-cent Centaur and 25-cent Big Six models, $90,000. Morphy Auctions image DENVER, Pa. – A superb Caille double-upright floor model slot machine combining a 5-cent Centaur and 25-cent Big Six paid off handsomely at Morphy’s April 26-27 Antique Advertising & Coin Op Auction. Its richly gold-plated façade, paw feet and other embellishments made the early gambling machine the center of attention at Morphy’s $1,640,000 sale, where it garnered a winning bid of $90,000. All prices quoted are inclusive of 20% buyer’s premium. Internet live bidding was facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.
The auction also featured many smaller gambling, arcade and vending machines. A Mills 1-cent “Electric Treatment” machine emblazoned “For One Night Jags” and “Take a shock and look pleasant,” surpassed its high estimate at $11,400. Not quite as jolting was a quaint Chuck-O-Luck glass-dome-topped nickel dice machine. Made in 1926 by the Southern Novelty Company of Atlanta, it attracted multiple bidders who pushed it to $6,600 against a presale estimate of $600-$1,000.
A 40-year single-owner collection of more than 100 early syrup dispensers featured many scarce entries, including a circa 1910 Cherri Bon dispenser and one of very few known examples of a circa-1900 Fan-Taz 5-cent “DRINK of the FANS” dispenser in the form of a realistically “stitched” baseball. Each was bid to $31,200. Other popular syrup dispensers included Beats All and Grape Smash, which realized $20,400 each; and Chero Crush, $19,200. A vibrant, barrel-shape “Drink Orange-Julep” dispenser commanded a sweet bid of $17,400 – nearly triple its high estimate.
America’s classic soft drink, Coca-Cola, was not to be denied a place in the top 10. A framed 1911 Coke calendar in near-mint condition with a beautiful image of a “Gibson Girl” wearing an impressive flowered hat swept past its $6,000-$7,000 to settle at $17,400. An extremely rare “Hutchinson-style” Coke bottle, with a straight-sided as opposed to cabriole shape, nearly doubled its high estimate at $8,400.
An extensive collection of Orange Crush advertising included a very rare 1936 embossed-tin triangle sign. In near-mint condition, it bubbled up a winning bid of $4,500. Among the other beverage highlights was a brewery sign with regional appeal – a tin pictorial sign for York Brewing Co. Lager Beer, York, Pa. It sold for $5,400 against an estimate of $1,500-$2,500.
The fine array of more than 150 advertising tins was led by a Buster Brown cigar tin with an amusing image of comic strip character Buster Brown and his trusty bull terrier Tighe. Estimated at $2,000-$3,000, the perennially popular container rose to $14,400. One of only a few known examples of a Sweet Violet Tobacco vertical pocket tin was estimated at $1,000-$2,000 but realized a hefty $6,600.
The Sunday session opened with Morphy’s second offering of pinball machines from the 35-year David Silverman collection, previously displayed at the National Pinball Museum. Film-related machines found favor with bidders, including a 1993 Williams “Indiana Jones” pinball that sold within estimate for $6,600. And there was cross-over interest from sports fans for a 1953 D. Gottlieb & Co. “Grand Slam” pinball machine. Described as being in 9.75 (out of 10) condition and a “really great game to play,” it surpassed expectations at $3,000.
“Once again, antique advertising showed its strength in the marketplace,” said Morphy Auctions’ president and founder Dan Morphy, after the busy two-day event. “Collectors keep coming back to our sales because they know we understand what they want – rarity and condition. Every one of our advertising auctions is different because we specialize in collections, in particular those that have been privately held for decades. You never know when a collector will decide it’s time to sell. But that’s what makes our advertising sales so exciting. They contain things that may only be available to purchase once in a buyer’s lifetime, so collectors pay close attention.”
To contact Morphy Auctions about consigning, call 717-335-3435 or email serena@morphyauctions.com.
View the fully illustrated catalog for Morphy’s April 26-27 auction, complete with prices realized, at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
Carolina Rifle Club banner, 1869. Image courtesy Charleston Museum. CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) – Dozens of flags, many never displayed in modern times, go on exhibit Monday at America’s earliest museum.
The collection of the Charleston Museum includes flags from the Civil War, which opened with the bombardment of nearby Fort Sumter. The collection spanning two centuries also features the banners of unreconstructed white Southerners who formed rifle clubs after the war as well as an unusual 42-star United States flag.
Also on display are the varied designs of Southern militia flags and a rare seven-star Stars and Bars, the first Confederate national flag, which was used for only a few months in 1861 at the time the South seceded from the Union.
“Unfurled: Flags from the Collections of the Charleston Museum” will be on display in the museum in the city’s historic district through Jan. 4 of next year.
“Most of them are in pretty fragile condition because of the nature of the flag and they have been flown outside or in battle,” said Jan Hiester, the curator of textiles at the museum.
The museum was established in 1773, three years before the Declaration of Independence, and was the first founded in the nation, said Dewey Blanton, a spokesman for the American Alliance of Museums based in Washington, D.C.
The collection’s Civil War flags have been displayed numerous times. “Some of the others we have never had an occasion to display and some are in such fragile condition we have never had the opportunity,” she said.
Now, a recently renovated textile gallery makes the display of those flags possible. Light can fade textiles over time and damage fibers. The new ventilated display cases are illuminated with LED lights that produce less heat and less ultraviolet radiation.
“When we set out to construct this gallery we consulted with a textile conservator on everything from ventilation to light,” said Grahame Long, the museum’s chief curator. “But we still don’t want to have textiles out too long. It’s not like an iron cannon ball.”
He said having the flags on display for eight months “is stretching it. You don’t want to go much farther than that.”
Some of the flags are so fragile they are displayed on mats because they can’t hang free. In storage the flags are stored rolled or in drawers away from the light.
The seven-star Stars and Bars flag is large and would have flown over a fort, not carried into battle by an infantryman. The flag was used only for a short time as the seven stars were quickly replaced with additional stars when more Southern states seceded.
The militia flags show a variety of insignia that local units used when the Civil War broke out.
“Before the war these militia units have pretty complete autonomy from the governor. They make their own flags and uniforms and they can make pretty much anything they want,” Long said.
The flag of the Carolina Rifle Club, dating to 1869, has the image of the South Carolina state symbol, the palmetto tree, and a motto in Latin proclaiming, “faithful to my unhappy country.”
The rifle clubs “were social clubs and probably hung their banners wherever they were meeting. But the underlying message was they were an armed group of whites,” Hiester said.
At the time certain rifle and saber clubs in the South were thinly disguised social clubs of whites who often would use terror tactics similar to those once used by the Ku Klux Klan against blacks.
The 42-star American flag on display was never officially adopted by the government. That’s because before it could be, Idaho joined the Union in 1890 giving the nation 43 states and the flag 43 stars.
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-04-14 1326GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Carolina Rifle Club banner, 1869. Image courtesy Charleston Museum.Brooks Artillery banner, 1861-1865. This banner was used by Col. Alfred Rhett’s unit organized on the eve of the Civil War as the 1st Brigade, South Carolina Artillery. Image courtesy Charleston Museum.
Sue, the most complete fossil skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen ever found. Image by Connie Ma. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. HILL CITY, S.D. (AP) – A Tyrannosaurus rex named Sue has returned to the Black Hills on the big screen more than 20 years after she was unearthed.
Hill City residents lined up at the town’s high school Saturday for a screening of Dinosaur 13, which tells the story of the dinosaur caught in a complex legal battle over ownership, KOTA television reported.
The fossils were more than 90 percent complete when they were discovered by Peter Larson, the head of Black Hills Institute of Geological Research, and his team in 1990, missing only a foot, one arm and a few ribs and vertebrae.
“She was the town’s dinosaur,” Larson said. “Hill City and the community had really adopted this dinosaur.”
Sue is named after fossil hunter Sue Hendrickson, who was working with Larson on Aug. 12, 1990, when she discovered the dinosaur on a Cheyenne River Indian Reservation ranch operated by Maurice Williams. After writing Williams a check for $5,000, Larson and his staff excavated the fossils and brought them back to Hill City.
In May 1992, federal agents seized the dinosaur as evidence in a criminal case against the institute and company employees. Nearly all of the charges eventually were dropped, but Larson was sentenced to two years in federal prison on unrelated counts involving failure to report some financial matters and taking fossils from federal lands.
Meanwhile, the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs stepped in and argued that the institute had no right to take Sue because the bones had been removed illegally from lands held in trust for Williams by the federal government. A judge agreed and gave custody back to Williams, who put the fossils up for auction.
Chicago’s Field Museum purchased the 67 million-year-old dinosaur at auction for $8.4 million in 1997.
“She’s still there and is visited by millions of people,” said Kristin Donnan Standard, author of Rex Appeal.
The film is set to reach Rapid City, S.D., theaters in mid-August.
“It’s a good story from beginning to end,” said Patrick Duffy, an attorney who represented Larson in the case. “And yet it still contains a lot that will surprise people. It’s the tip of the iceberg in terms of the whole story.”
Copyright 2014 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP-WF-05-04-14 1452GMT
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Sue, the most complete fossil skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex specimen ever found. Image by Connie Ma. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
