May 2014 - Page 17 of 19 - Auction Central News

Bulgari jewels, glamour on display at Houston museum

Elizabeth Taylor with Bob Hope at a USO show in 1986. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

HOUSTON (AP) – Richard Burton once quipped that Elizabeth Taylor knew only one Italian word: Bulgari.

The movie star collected hundreds of fabulous jewels in her lifetime, but few as grand as the Bulgari pieces from Burton, including a platinum-and-diamond necklace centered around a 65-carat Burmese cabochon sapphire, a present for her 40th birthday. It sold at auction in 2011 for $5.2 million.

The necklace is one of 150 one-of-a-kind creations from the Bulgari Heritage collection now on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in “Bulgari: 130 Years of Masterpieces.” A section of the exhibit is devoted to Taylor’s famous pieces from the Italian jeweler.

Houstonians Lynn Wyatt and Joanne King Herring loaned their own notable necklaces for the occasion.

Herring, a longtime political donor and activist, was given the jagged and dramatic diamond sautoir necklace by her then-husband, Houston developer Robert King.

“They had it in the window at the Pierre, and every time we went to New York I’d see it and yearn for it,” she told the Houston Chronicle.” When he offered it to me, he said, ‘You can have this or the state of Rhode Island.’”

Herring said she has worn her Bulgari necklace at the White House many times, as well as with the kings of Norway and Belgium, the president of Pakistan, the queen of Saudi Arabia, and Prince Charles and the late Princess Diana.

Wyatt’s necklace, made in 1975, was a gift from her husband, Oscar, and features a heart covered in alternating diamonds and blue lapis lazuli, with a giant yellow sapphire in the center.

“The necklace is the kind of thing one could wear with a ballgown or with jeans,” Wyatt said. “Houstonians appreciate anything that is beautiful and chic at the same time, and I think Bulgari encompasses both of those qualities.”

The exhibit is a blend of art, design and nature, museum president Joel Bartsch said.

“Diamonds, rubies and other gems are all natural products of the Earth. We have a fantastic collection of minerals when they come out of the ground, so this represents the other end of the spectrum,” Bartsch said. “It’s about the quality of gems, the taste in design and the science and technology of executing those designs masterfully.”

Greek silversmith Sotirio Bulgari (formerly Voulgaris) opened his first shop in Rome in 1884. By the 1920s, Bulgari was known for chunkier jewelry, rejecting the lightness of the Parisian school dominant in that era. When Italian design and “la dolce vita” swept the world in the 1950s, the firm’s innovative designs transformed the way jewelry was made and worn in the 20th century.

Using gemstones like emeralds, rubies and sapphires, Bulgari displayed a daring sense of color in his designs and was one of the first to use gems based on their aesthetic value rather than their intrinsic worth. Bulgari also rediscovered the ancient Roman cabochon cut, rounding off and polishing gemstones rather than cutting them into facets.

The emergence of Rome as a cinema powerhouse in the 1950s intimately connected the jeweler with the glamour of the film industry. Stars like Taylor, Gina Lollobrigida, Claudia Cardinale, Kirk Douglas, Anna Magnani, Peter Sellers and Audrey Hepburn were known to stop by the Via Condotti shop.

A red-carpet staple for decades, Bulgari jewelry made its way to the silver screen as well. Taylor wore her own Bulgari jewels in three films; Ingrid Bergman, Sophia Loren and Anita Ekberg all wore the brand onscreen.

“We focused this exhibition on glamour,” said Alberto Festa, president of Bulgari USA. “Bulgari sold and gave many pieces to stars, especially during La Dolce Vita, so we have the Elizabeth Taylor collection and other pieces that have been worn by Italian and international celebrities, as well as pieces that have been worn at the Oscars, where Bulgari has always been present on the red carpet.”

The celebrity portion of the show pairs stunning jewels with photos of stars from yesterday and today wearing them, including Meryl Streep, Jessica Chastain and Jennifer Aniston. Elizabeth Taylor’s section includes a ring that matches the show-stopping sapphire necklace and a hand mirror from the set of Cleopatra.

“We tried to replicate the love story between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, to have the feeling of being there in the 1960s when they were filming in Rome,” Festa said.

There’s also a diamond brooch given by Taylor’s fourth husband, Eddie Fisher (who sent her the bill when she left him soon after for Burton), and a gold necklace dotted with Byzantine coins that she wore in 1976 to announce her engagement to Sen. John Warner. Different styles, different suitors, but always Bulgari.

The exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science is the largest collection to date and the first show in the United States to include items from all of Bulgari’s 130-year history. The range includes a silver bracelet and necklace set made by Sotirio Bulgari between 1887 and 1890, art deco-influenced necklaces and brooches in platinum and diamonds from the 1930s and the geometric collars of the 1980s and later.

Bulgari’s penchant for taking inspiration from ancient Rome is represented by several pieces in the Monete style of the 1970s, which integrated ancient Roman coins into necklaces of gold and diamonds.

Four bracelet watches from the Serpenti collection in the 1960s update the age-old snake motif by adding a watch face inside the snake’s mouth. Also in the exhibit is a reproduction of a one-of-a-kind Serpenti belt owned by Vogue editor Diana Vreeland.

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Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.houstonchronicle.com

AP-WF-05-01-14 2237GMT

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Barry Goldwater statue sparks artists’ feud

Barry Goldwater. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

PHOENIX (AP) – A statue of the late U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater that will eventually move to the U.S. Capitol is at the center of an artists’ feud.

Robert Sutz, a Scottsdale, Ariz., artist, has accused the statue’s creator of using one of his pieces for the project without giving him credit, the Arizona Republic reported.

“It’s been a very upsetting issue,” Sutz said, “but I can’t imagine much being done about it.”

According to Sutz, he loaned a plaster life mask of Goldwater that he made in 1995 to artist Deborah Copenhaver Fellows as a professional gesture. He said he was encouraged by Goldwater’s son, Michael.

“Nothing on Earth could help a sculptor to get a good likeness more than to have reference to a life mask,” Sutz said.

After viewing the sculpture in person this month, Sutz said he is sure that Copehaver Fellows borrowed from his work.

Copenhaver Fellows, of Sonoita, denied Sutz’s claim.

“I did not make a mold of his mask, nor did I need to,” Copenhaver Fellows said in a written statement to the Arizona Republic. “Making a mold of it would not have been beneficial to me, as it was life scale and my monument is life-and-one-third.”

She added that she used “literally hundreds of reference materials” to make the sculpture.

Michael Goldwater said he doesn’t think Copenhaver Fellows would have needed Sutz’s mask.

“The life mask was the same size as dad’s normal head,” Michael Goldwater said to the Arizona Republic. “The statue … is 8 feet tall, not 6 feet tall. So, it’s quite a bit larger. I am almost sure they didn’t use it as a mold.”

Goldwater, who was from Phoenix, was the 1964 Republican presidential nominee. Interest in him has been renewed with this year marking the 50th anniversary of his campaign against President Lyndon B. Johnson.

Retired from political life, Goldwater permitted Sutz to put his face in plaster bandages to make the mask. Sutz even used a pair of glasses from Goldwater for the piece.

According to Sutz, Copenhaver Fellows returned the mask to him in April 2013, but the glasses were broken. He said he was compensated only $1,000 for the two weeks’ of repairs it required. Copenhaver, meanwhile, said it was damaged during shipping and that he should have received $1,100, as entitled under FedEx insurance for artwork.

The state commissioned Copenhaver Fellows $125,000 for the statue and another $25,000 when the size had to be changed, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office said. The 8-foot-tall statue of Goldwater was unveiled March 31 at the Arizona Capitol. The statue will remain there before being relocated later in the year to the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall.

Goldwater died in 1998 at age 89.

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Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

AP-WF-05-03-14 1934GMT

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Milton Avery masterpiece featured in Heritage sale May 10

Milton Avery (American, 1885-1965), ‘From the Studio,’ 1954, oil on canvas, 58 x 42 inches, signed and dated. Estimate: $800,000-$1.2 million. Heritage Auctions image.

DALLAS – Milton Avery’s From the Studio, 1954, a tour-de-force from the artist’s most sophisticated and modern period, could sell for $800,000 or more in Heritage Auctions’ American Art Including Western, California and Golden Age Illustration auction May 10 in Dallas. LiveAucitoneers.com will facilitate Internet live bidding.

The genre-bridging auction celebrates the finest American artists of the last 200 years with works by Norman Rockwell, Andrew Wyeth, Sanford Robinson Gifford, Leroy Neiman and Millard Sheets, among others.

Avery’s From the Studio, 1954, has been in the same private collection since 1959, and has been featured in numerous exhibitions across the country, including the artist’s 1960 retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art. “This particular piece is a reflection of Avery coming into the fullness of his career,” said Brian Roughton, managing director of fine art at Heritage. “It’s arguably the best and most important 1950s Avery to come to market.”

Andrew Wyeth’s Wash Bucket, 1962, estimated at $120,000-plus, and Jamie Wyeth’s Patridge House, Monhegan Island, Maine, 1969, estimated at $70,000-plus, embody the most exceptional hallmarks of the father’s and son’s accomplishments in the arena of American Realism. With brilliant use of light and mastery of the watercolor medium, both works elevate everyday objects into complex narratives that represent the universal intricacy of the human experience. Partridge House, Monhegan Island and Wash Bucket are being offered by a private collector to benefit a charitable foundation.

Fulfilling its goal to represent the very best of American art across all collecting categories, the auction will feature Pierrot and Columbine, a Vanity Fair magazine cover from June 1915 by Frank Xavier Leyendecker, estimated at $20,000-plus, and Norman Rockwell’s 1940 advertising illustration for Schenley’s Cream of Kentucky bourbon whiskey, estimated at $30,000-plus. “Heritage has a long history of offering works by these artists, and in an auction honoring important American art they should be,” Roughton added.

A collection of four works by Leroy Neiman is led by Roulette II, 1970, which was recently discovered hanging in an Italian restaurant in North Carolina. The work was published as a print by Knoedler in 1975 and depicts a diverse group of vibrant figures, exemplifying the artist’s fascination with social class and human behavior. Roulette II is expected to fetch more than $100,000.

“This auction truly is a who’s who of collectible American art, and you only have to look at the diversity to see why,” Roughton said. “Sanford Robinson Gifford’s A Sketch at the Camp on the La Bonté, Wyoming Territory, 1870, is a well-documented work executed in appreciation of the new terrain the artist encountered after joining an expedition into the Rocky Mountains.” The painting appears with a $40,000-plus estimate.

Among the selection of California art on offer is Millard Sheets’ Desert Spring Textures, 1967, executed a year prior to the artist’s conception of murals designed for Los Angeles City Hall. “Sheets brilliantly transfers his abilities as a muralist onto paper with his mosaic-like brushwork and grand landscape,” said Alissa Ford, director of California art at Heritage. “The sky is grand and luminous and looks as though as if it were constructed of numerous pieces of light-infused glass. It is truly a premier example of Sheets’ abilities.” The work is estimated to sell for $20,000-plus.

Leading the works by Western artists are Henry Balink’s Indians on Horseback, estimated at $15,000-plus, and Appeal to the Great Spirit, by Cyrus Edwin Dallin, estimated to sell for $30,000-plus. “Appeal to the Great Spirit is the most iconic image of the American west that Dallin crafted in bronze,” Ford said. “His treatment of this cast displays a sensitivity and empathy for the displaced Sioux tribes that was quite progressive for its day.

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.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Jamie Wyeth (American, b. 1946), ‘Partridge House, Monhegan Island, Maine,’ 1969, watercolor on paper laid on board. Estimate: $70,000-$100,000. Heritage Auctions image.

Frank Xavier Leyendecker (American, 1877-1924), ‘Pierrot and Columbine,’ ‘Vanity Fair’ magazine cover, June 1915, oil on board. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000. Heritage Auctions image.

Leroy Neiman, (American, 1921-2012), ‘Roulette II,’ 1970, oil on Masonite, 48 x 60 inches, signed and dated. Estimate: $100,000-$150,000. Heritage Auctions image.

Norman Rockwell (American, 1894-1978), ‘Have You Knowing Eyes?,’ Schenley Cream of Kentucky whiskey advertisement, 1937, charcoal on paper. Estimate: $30,000-$50,000. Heritage Auctions image.

Andrew Newell Wyeth (American, 1917-2009), ‘Wash Bucket,’ 1962, watercolor on paper, 21-3/4 x 29-1/8 inches. Estimate: $120,000-$180,000. Heritage Auctions image.

Millard Sheets (American, 1907-1989), ‘Desert Spring Textures,’ 1967, watercolor on board, 22 x 30 inches. Estimate: $20,000-$30,000. Heritage Auctions image.

Quinn’s to auction fresh, authenticated Rodin on May 17

Ammi Phillips (American, 1788-1865), ‘Portrait of a Woman,’ oil on canvas, 33½ x 27in. Provenance: The Abby Aldridge Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Colonial Williamsburg. Est. $8,000-$12,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image

FALLS CHURCH, Va. – A lifetime cast of Auguste Rodin’s (1840-1917) Le Desespoir is the distinguished headliner in Quinn’s Auction Galleries’ May 17 Fine & Decorative Arts Auction of select items from DC-area estates, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.

“Rodin is considered by many to be the father of modern sculpture, and his attention to detail was unrivaled – so much so, that early in his career, he was accused of creating castings from a human body, rather than actually carving,” said Matthew Quinn of Quinn’s Auction Galleries. “His superlative eye for detail is quite apparent in ‘Le Desespoir.’”

An all-important confirmation of authenticity was received recently from the Comite Rodin in Paris, Quinn said. “We were very anxious to hear the verdict from the Comite Rodin, as they are the ultimate authority on Rodin artworks and do not issue authentications unless they are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt. The piece we are auctioning is an authentic Rodin.”

Le Desespoir will be available for preview by appointment at Quinn’s gallery until its public preview period that runs from May 10-17. The work is estimated at $60,000 to $80,000.

“It’s not often that a Rodin lifetime cast bronze comes to the market, I was certainly taken back when we were told by the Comite Rodin that it was, indeed, cast during the artist’s life,” Quinn said.

It is believed that Rodin only created a few copies of the original Le Desespoir sculpture. Even fewer of those copies incorporate carved marble rock, as is the case with the example Quinn’s will be auctioning. “The marble rock is, in fact, part of the sculpture. That’s what made me suspect it might actually be an authentic Rodin,” Quinn said. “Later, when I met with the expert who is compiling the Rodin catalogue raisonne, he commented that it was one of the most beautiful Rodins he had seen in some time.”

A broad selection of fine paintings is entered in the May 17 auction, as well. A George W. Waters (New York, 1832-1912) painting featuring a sunset view at Morse Lake in the Adirondack Mountains is conservatively estimated at $7,000-$9,000. A similar work was auctioned recently for more than $20,000. Acclaimed artist Walter MacEwen’s classic interior scene of a woman in a red coat will be offered at $4,000-$6,000.

An Ammi Phillips (American, 1788-1865) folk portrait comes from the current estate of Winzola P. McLendon, who acquired the work in 1960 from the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection, Colonial Williamsburg. It will be offered at auction with an $8,000-$12,000 estimate.

The sale also features furnishings from around the world and dating from the late 18th century through the 1960s. Ready to illuminate a modern space, an Erik Hoglund Boda Nova Glassworks & Iron chandelier will entice bidders with its opening bid of $1,500 (est. $3,000-$5,000).

The Asian arts section of the sale will include a nice selection of Japanese netsuke, including a plump Fukura Suzume, or boxwood sparrow. The 5.5cm bird is estimated at $1,400-$1,800.

Quinn’s galleries are always brimming with activity. On Wednesday, May 14th, the company will offer 150+ decorative paintings and prints whose timeline spans more than 300 years. Each work is nicely framed.

On May 15th, Quinn’s subsidiary, Waverly Rare Books, will auction hundreds of linear feet of leather-bound volumes and top-notch 18th- and 19th-century American atlases. An exceedingly rare copy of Carey’s 1796 General Atlas is conservatively estimated at $3,000-$5,000; and a seldom-seen mid-19th-century topographical map of the road from Missouri to Oregon by Charles Preuss will open for bidding at $2,000 (est. $4,000-$6,000).

The May 17, 2014 Fine & Decorative Arts Auction featuring an authenticated Rodin will be held at 11 a.m. EST at Quinn’s Auction Galleries, located at 360 South Washington Street, Falls Church, VA 22046. All forms of bidding will be available, including live online via LiveAuctioneers.

For additional information on any lot in the sale, call 703-532-5632 or e-mail info@quinnsauction.com.

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

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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.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Erik Hoglund chandelier, circa 1960s, Boda Nova Glassworks, cast glass with Alex Stromberg Ironworks black wrought iton, est. $2,000-$3,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image

Japanese carved boxwood netsuke of Fukura Suzume (plump sparrow), mid-18th century. Provenance: The Humphrey Collection; Houston, Texas. Est. $1,400-$1,800. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image

Auguste Rodin (French, 1840-1917), circa 1905 lifetime casting ‘Le Desespoir’ (Despair), green-patinated bronze and carved marble, signed ‘A. Rodin’ on top of base with raised ‘A. Rodin’ on underside of bronze, 13¾in high x 12in wide x 11in long. Authenticated by Comite Rodin, Paris. Est. $60,000-$80,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image

Walter MacEwen (NY/Illinois/France, 1860-1943), interior scene of pensive woman with man smoking in background, 18½in x 22in, est. $4,000-$6,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image

George W. Waters (New York, 1832-1912), ‘Sunset Morse Lake, Adirondacks,’ circa 1882, 28½ x 40¾ in, est. $7,000-$9,000. Quinn’s Auction Galleries image

Furniture Specific: Have you seen these oddities?

I don’t know what “the thing” was used for.

CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. – I suppose that no matter what line of work you are involved in, you eventually reach a point where basically you fell like you have just about seen it all. It seems there are no surprises, mysteries or “hmmms?” left out there any more. And then out of the blue comes a new wrinkle on an old rock. Sort of makes it fun again. Fortunately for me, I have not yet reached that flat spot where things level out and it begins to feel like driving on a deserted Interstate.

I am presented almost on a daily basis with a furniture form, style or innovation that I have not yet seen or don’t know exactly what it may be or what it means. Sometimes readers surprise me with a mystery object that turns out to be a mystery only to me. Other people in the business know exactly what that thing is and are gracious enough to share their knowledge. In this column I plan to share with you a few objects that were at first a mystery, a couple of items that appear to be obvious but aren’t, a couple that just raise interesting questions and a few things you just might not have seen – or seen in a long while.

Sometime back a reader sent me a photo of an unknown (to him and to me) object asking what it could be. My first guess was that it was either the gallery or the base to a piece of case goods. Not being too proud to ask, I asked my readers if they knew what it could be. Many thought along the same lines as I did, obviously, like me, lacking the background for the correct identification. On the other hand a great number of readers knew exactly what it was. The mystery piece turned out to be a fireplace fender, designed to keep flaming logs that rolled out of the fireplace from venturing onto the carpet or floor. An interesting application for a frame made of wood but apparently it does work.

Another reader sent me a photo of what was described as a step stool used to climb into a high bed. He said it originally had carpet around the barrel of the body. My instinct said “no” – I wouldn’t use a round piece of wood as a stool, carpeted or not. Turns out I was right. That is not a step stool. It is a foot stool based on a design from the 19th century. I was even fortunate enough to learn of a collection in Texas, the Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park in Houston, which has the identical item that is tagged as being a footstool, circa 1890 and is called a “parlor pig.” Interesting name that obviously is drawn from the shape of the object.

One final mystery object, as yet unnamed by me, is what the reader simply called “the thing.” It appears to be a box of some sort that is mounted on a wall and opens from both the top and front to reveal its contents. It probably has a specific purpose well known to the user but other than general storage I do not know the true use of this object. If you know the correct name or the specific use, please let me know.

Moving from the “Hmmm?” category to the “You’ve got to be kidding me” level is a swan-arm rocker. The swan has been a stylistic element in one form or another in furniture for centuries. A swan’s neck and head was seen used as the arms and hand rests of rockers in the early 19th century. However, the most common examples today are reproductions from the Depression era like this mahogany platform rocker example. On the other hand a reader took the description to the next stage of meaning, relying a little too literally on the description. She sent me this photo of her “swan arm” rocker and asked if it too was an antique. It does match the descriptive name. You can be assured that I was polite in my response.

Most people are familiar with the famous Morris chair, the mechanical recliner marketed by William Morris in 1866. The chair bears his name but he actually adapted the design from another designer’s idea and called it his own. The basic design of the chair uses a series of notches to hold a pin or rod of some sort to support the chair back in various reclining positions. In what seems to be fair play most chair makers in the late 19th and early 20th century made similar recliners based on Morris’s design but they were not terribly popular until very late in the 1800s and even more so when the Stickley name was attached. Here is a recliner that operates on the same principal. However, this one is from the Renaissance Revival period of the 1870s and 1880s and is much earlier than the golden oak or Arts & Crafts models. The operation of this chair is slightly different from the general design of the Morris chair in the location of the notches and supports. All of that activity is confined to the rear of the chair Morris took credit for. This chair has the notches in the arms. Would it still qualify as a “Morris” chair? Another variation is the “invalid” chair of the same period. This version of the recliner, designed for a chair-bound patient, has a metal hinge assembly at the rear of the arms, which operates the recliner and is controlled by friction rather than notches. Does it still qualify as a Morris chair?

One final oddity for your consideration. What kind of outrageous wood creates the pattern on the front of this dresser? That was a trick question because you can’t actually see the wood on the dresser front. What you are seeing is a type of printed finish applied over a cheap secondary wood. This type of cheap showy furniture was called “borax” furniture during the Depression when it was given away as a premium for buying borax-based soap products.

Send comments, questions and pictures to Fred Taylor at P.O. Box 215, Crystal River, FL 34423 or email them to him at info@furnituredetective.com.

Visit Fred’s newly redesigned website at www.furnituredetective.com and check out the new downloadable “Common Sense Antiques” columns in .pdf format. His book How To Be a Furniture Detective is available for $18.95 plus $3 shipping. Send check or money order for $21.95 to Fred Taylor, P.O. Box 215, Crystal River, FL, 34423.

Fred and Gail Taylor’s DVD, Identification of Older & Antique Furniture ($17 + $3 S&H) is also available at the same address. For more information call 800-387-6377, fax 352-563-2916, or info@furnituredetective.com. All items are also available directly from his website.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Believe it or now, this is a fireplace fender to keep coals and wood from the floor.

This appropriately named footstool is called a ‘parlor pig.’

This is a Depression era “swan arm” platform rocker.

This is the ‘swan’ rocker submitted by a reader. I don’t think it is an antique.

This is a recliner similar to the Morris chair that was made during the Renaissance Revival period of the 1870s-1880s.

This invalid chair of the 1870s-1880s operates on much the same principal as the Morris chair.

This is a printed finish on a piece of borax furniture.

Prosecutors seek prison for NYC art dealer, gambler Nahmad

Photo by Diacritica, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

NEW YORK (AP) – A tabloid photo of a wealthy Manhattan art scion cheering at a New York Knicks game has come into play in his sentencing in an illegal gambling case.

The photo, published in the New York Post last year shortly after the arrest of Hillel “Helly” Nahmad, shows him wearing a cap with a playing card on it and sitting courtside next to his high-powered defense attorney, Benjamin Brafman. Spike Lee is a seat away.

The scene suggests that Nahmad was “making light of the seriousness of the gambling charges,” prosecutors wrote in submissions in advance of Nahmad’s sentencing Wednesday afternoon in federal court in Manhattan. They are seeking a minimum of a year behind bars for Nahmad.

In its papers, the defense conceded that Nahmad was an “inveterate gambler” who began betting on the Knicks — and mostly losing — at age 14. But the papers sought to portray him as a minor player in the gambling scheme, and as an otherwise law-abiding and widely respected art dealer who deserves only probation instead of prison time.

Nahmad, 35, pleaded guilty late last year to charges he helped run an illegal sports betting business that was exposed by an investigation of a sprawling scheme by Russian-American organized crime enterprises. He was among more than 30 people named in indictments alleging a plot to launder at least $100 million in illegal gambling proceeds through hundreds of bank accounts and shell companies in Cyprus and the United States.

The gambling ring catered mostly to super-rich bettors in Russia. But it also had tentacles in New York City, where it ran illegal card games that attracted professional athletes, film stars and business executives, prosecutors said. Some of the defendants are professional poker players.

Nahmad comes from an art-dealing clan whose collection includes 300 Picassos worth $900 million, according to Forbes. He also is known for socializing with Hollywood luminaries like Leonardo DiCaprio.

Prosecutors had alleged that, along with laundering tens of millions of dollars, Nahmad committed fraud by trying to sell a piece of art for $300,000 that was worth at least $50,000 less. He was required to turn over the painting to the government as part of a $6.4 million judgment.

So far, 28 people have pleaded guilty.

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Follow Hays on Twitter: https://twitter.com/APtomhays

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Margot Fonteyn’s ballet costumes taking a bow at auction

Margot Fonteyn’s Swan Lake bodice designed by Carl Toms. PFC Auctions image.

GUERNSEY, UK – Two costumes worn by the great ballet dancer Margot Fonteyn are being offered by PFC Auctions. Bidding on the two items, each estimated at £5,000, will close on Wednesday, May 7.

The most important item is Fonteyn’s Swan Lake bodice designed by Carl Toms. The pale soft net bodice, decorated with costume jewelry, has a handwritten label the reads, “FONTEYN Prologue.”

The beautifully crafted bodice was worn by the ballerina in her unforgettable 1963 performance of Swan Lake.

Also offered is a Romeo and Juliet skirt designed by Nicholas Georgiadis of white silk organza decorated with fine gold thread and decoration.

The fine and delicate skirt worn by Fonteyn in 1965’s Romeo and Juliet recalls her stunning partnership with Rudolf Nureyev, in what is regarded as the greatest ballet duo of all-time.

Nureyev and Fonteyn are rumoured to have been lovers off-stage. The electricity between the pair kept audiences enraptured, despite Fonteyn being 20 years older than Nureyev. She had been performing Swan Lake since 1938, the year he was born.

Both costumes originate from the personal collection of Hetty Baynes-Russell – former ballet dancer, actress and wife of the late British film director Ken Russell.

“Margot Fonteyn was the stuff of legend, both in her ballet career and personal life. These rare costumes are a fantastic reminder of her career,” said Paul Fraser, founder of PFC Auctions.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

The skirt worn by Fonteyn in the the 1965 production of Romeo and Juliet. PFC Auctions image.

Man pleads guilty in theft of museum statue in Missouri

INDEPENDENCE, Mo. (AP) – An Independence man has pleaded guilty for his role in the theft of a 6-foot bronze statue from a museum.

Thirty-seven-year-old Jeremy Ratliff will be sentenced June 13 after pleading guilty this month to felony stealing. He was one of three men charged in the June 2013 theft of the Pioneer Woman statue from the National Frontier Trails Museum.

One of the men has been sentenced to seven years in prison and the other has not yet pleaded.

The life-sized statue of a woman with a baby in one arm and a bucket in the other weighed 1,000 pounds.

The Independence Examiner reports Ratliff and another defendant tried to sell the bronze from the statue at a Kansas City recycling center but workers there refused to take it.

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Information from: The Examiner, http://www.examiner.net

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Egypt opens replica of King Tut’s tomb

Painted walls in the burial chamber of KV62 (Tutankhamun's Tomb) in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. Photo taken by Hajor, December 2002, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

LUXOR, Egypt (AP) – Egypt on Wednesday inaugurated an exact replica of the tomb of King Tutankhamun in the desert valley where many of its ancient pharaohs were buried, aiming to protect the 3,300-year-old original from deterioration caused by visiting tourists.

The facsimile, in an underground chamber not far from the original in the Valley of the Kings, recreates the tomb down to minute detail. Spanish and Swiss experts recreated the elaborate wall murals using a 3D scanning technology. In the middle of the burial chamber stands a rectangular rock setting where in the original King Tut’s sarcophagus and mummy once rested.

In a hall between the burial chamber and an antechamber hang photos and explanations of the discovery of the tomb and its treasures in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter.

Egyptian tourism officials, who unveiled the replica Wednesday alongside foreign dignitaries, are hoping the exhibit will help revive a tourism industry that has been heavily battered by the country’s unrest since the 2011 uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

A pillar of the Egyptian economy, tourism plunged by more than 30 percent in 2011 and, after slowly building back the following year, was heavily hit again by a wave of violence surrounding the military’s ouster last summer of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi. Tourism officials have said revenues in the first three months of this year fell 43 percent from the same period in 2013, down to around $1.3 billion.

The 18th Dynasty King Tut has long been a major draw of tourists to Egypt _ both his tomb in the Valley of the Kings on the western bank of the Nile opposite the southern city of Luxor, and the golden treasures uncovered in it, most of which are now in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.

But the tomb has suffered from the crowds of tourists descending into it over the years. Tourists’ breath damages the ancient stone and murals, and its walls expand and contract with changing temperatures, causing paint to flake off and opening fractures that dust enters, experts say.

“These tombs were never built to be visited, they were built to last for eternity,” said Adam Lowe, of the Factum Foundation, a Madrid-based conservation organization that created the facsimile in collaboration with Zurich-based Society of the Friends of the Royal Tombs in Egypt and the Egyptian Tourism and Antiquities ministries.

“They lasted very successfully for 3,300 and in the 90 years since it has been open, it suffered a great deal,” Lowe told The Associated Press. “All of the attempts to try and conserve it create more problems.”

For the time being, the original Tut tomb will remain open, but tourism authorities are aiming to reduce visitors and steer them toward the replica, said Mohammed Osman, vice president of the Chamber of Tourist Companies. Ticket prices for the replica will be 50 Egyptian pounds, around $7, half the price for visiting the original, he said.

Egyptian Antiquities Minister Mohammed Ibrahim and Lowe said facsimiles will also be made of the tombs of the pharaoh Seti I and Nefertari, a wife of the pharaoh Ramses the Great, both currently closed to the general public.

Experts carried out the copying work on the original in 2009 and the building of the replica in Madrid was finished in 2011, but delivery was delayed several times by Egypt’s tumultuous political conditions, Lowe said.

“We are here to celebrate but also to send a message that this area is a wonderful place to visit, and now with this tomb in place, it becomes an even more interesting place to visit for tourists,” James Moran, ambassador of the European Union, said at the opening ceremony. The EU helped in transport of the replica to Egypt.

Osman said he hoped the ceremony — which was attended by 20 ambassadors — will send “a reassuring message that Egypt is safe” and encourage a return of tourists.

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Antique car museum approved in Newport

The most famous structure within Bellevue Avenue's National Historic Landmark District in Newport is The Breakers, the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt II, located in Newport, Rhode Island, United States. It was built in 1893, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1994. Photo by Matt H. Wade, a k a UpstateNYer, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) – An antique car museum has gotten the OK to open in Newport.

The Newport Daily News reports that the city Zoning Board of Review on Monday approved a permit that will allow the museum to open in a well-known historic building on Bellevue Avenue near the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Turner Scott, an attorney for the firm that owns the property, says they own at least 100 antique cars. The plan is to have 14 cars on display at the museum at any given time.

The building is in the Bellevue Avenue National Historic Landmark District. It was designed by New York architect Bruce Price, who also designed the famous Château Frontenac in Quebec City.

The building is currently being renovated and restored.

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Image of The Breakers has been kindly provided by Matt H. Wade of Matt Wade Photography. To see his entire portfolio, visit http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Images_by_UpstateNYer.

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