June 17, 2014 - Auction Central News

Fresh-to-market jewelry in demand at John Moran Auctioneers

This assembled set of amethyst and 18K gold jewelry – the brooch by Jean Schlumberger’ and the ear clips by David Webb – went home with a floor bidder for $19,200 (estimate: $8,000-$1,200). John Moran Auctioneers image.

ALTADENA, Calif. – On May 20 John Moran Auctioneers conducted their semiannual HQ Fine Jewelry and Luxury Auction at their headquarters in Altadena. Buyers, one third of whom bid online, were evidently thrilled by the wide array of offerings, buying 98 percent of the 324 lots.

LiveAuctioneers.com facilitated Internet live bidding.

Among the selections of fine jewelry filling the majority of the catalog, buyers found practical, wearable pieces with character.

Fun rings with character and style certainly drew a lot of attention during the preview. One such piece, a curious carved shell cameo ring dating to circa 1890, featured a male mask depicted in frontal and left and right profile views simultaneously. Initially estimated to realize $600-$800, it incited some friendly competition, ultimately going home with a floor bidder for $1,680. (All prices include a 20 percent buyer’s premium.) Another late 19th century ring, designed in the coveted Renaissance Revival style with a central baroque pearl flanked by two female ship’s mastheads, wooed bidders with its siren’s song to a $9,000 price tag, well over the $1,500-$2,500 estimate.

A number of gorgeous diamond rings tempted those looking to make a statement with sparkle. One offered midway through the sale featured an impressive central 8.54-carat diamond, graded G color and SI1 clarity and set in platinum. Conservatively estimated to sell for $90,000-$110,000, it realized $204,000.

Jade and coral certainly made a splash at the May 20 auction. A coral, diamond and gold necklace centered by an 18K-gold dragon’s head set with diamonds and colored gemstone eyes earned a formidable $15,600 (estimate: $6,000-$8,000). A collection of jewelry featuring gold bracelets, earrings, and pendants set with jade and coral incited a bidding war among absentee and floor buyers, ending only when a floor buyer raised his paddle at the $3,000 mark (estimate: $600-$800).

Big names were also well represented and much appreciated. Possibly the most anticipated lot was an assembled set of hexagonal-cut amethyst and circular-cut diamond jewelry, composed of a brooch by Jean Schlumberger and a matched pair of ear clips by David Webb. These spectacular pieces found a new home with a floor bidder for $19,200, comfortably surpassing the estimate of $8,000-$12,000.

Always a crowd favorite, animals also performed well. A Van Cleef and Arpels lion brooch fetched $3,600 (estimate: $1,500-$2,500). A set of Cartier jewelry consisting of a gold “LOVE” bangle, complete with gold-toned screwdriver, and a classic “rolling” ring, inspired a number of bidders to leave absentee bids, however the victor was a determined online buyer who paid $4,612.50 (estimate: $1,000-$1,500).

Decidedly, the most anticipated luxury accessory offered was the ostrich skin Hermes Kelly bag in the desirable camel hue with gold tone hardware. A lucky floor bidder snatched it up for a fair price within estimate, $6,600 (estimate: $5,000-$7,000).

Additional Highlights include:

• An Art Deco enamel and jadeite compact, circa 1925, of 14K gold and black, white, ivory, and green enamel centering a jadeite plaque, realized $5,206.25 (estimate $1,200-$1,800).

• One of a number of quality watches offered, an IWC Portuguese 7-day Automatic wristwatch, found a new owner with a telephone bidder for $7,200, just over the estimated price range of $4,000-$6,000.

• A breathtaking pair of 18K white gold and natural Burmese ruby earrings, estimated to sell for $8,000-$12,000, earned $14,700 due to the efforts of an enthusiastic phone bidder.

John Moran Auctioneers’ next HQ Fine Jewelry and Luxury Auction is set for Dec. 9, and consignment inquiries are currently invited.

For information on any of John Moran Auctioneers’ auctions, call their offices: 626-793-1833.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

This antique cameo ring, carved as an intriguing triple-faced mask, exceeded expectations, selling for $1,680, well over the estimated $600-$800. John Moran Auctioneers image.

Realizing an impressive $9,000, this 18K gold, enamel and pearl ring is a gorgeous example of the Renaissance Revival style (estimate: $1,500-$2,500). John Moran Auctioneers image.

This circa 1925 Art Deco enamel and jadeite compact incited some fierce competition among floor bidders, finally finding a buyer for $5,206.25 (estimate: $1,200-$1,800). John Moran Auctioneers image.

Estimated to realize $4,000-$6,000, this handsome IWC Portuguese 7-day Automatic wristwatch earned a price of $7,200 at Moran’s May 20 auction. John Moran Auctioneers image.

Italian design starring again in Nova Ars sale, June 26

Arman, resin sculpture, circa 1970, 10.6 inches high. Estimate: 1,500-2,000 euros ($2,032-$2,710). Nova Ars Auction image.

ASTI, Italy – An interesting design collection of modern Italian art of the 20th century will be sold Thursday, June 26, at Nova Ars Auction. The 107-lot auction will offer many ceramics, glass works, lamps, chandeliers and pieces of furniture.

LiveAuctioneers.com will facilitate Internet live bidding.

Highlight items include:

– Arco Series desk for Olivetti, circa 1968, 71 inches. Estimate: 1,000-1,500 euros ($1,355-$2,032).

– Angelo Mangiarotti, Eros series coffee table for Skipper, white marble, dimensions: h 40 cm (15.7 in), 150 x 75 cm (59 x 29.5 in). Estimate: 5,000-6,000 euros ($6,773-$8,128).

– Arman, sculpture, resin, circa 1970, dimensions: h 27 cm (10.6 in), width 8.5 cm (3.3 in), depth 13 cm (5.1 in). Estimate: 1,500-2,000 euros ($2,032-$2,710).

– Fontana Arte, coffee table, wooden structure, crystal plane, circa 1970, dimensions: h 32 cm (12.6 in), 122.5 x 53 cm (48.2 in x 21 in). Estimate: 1,500-2,000 euros ($2,032-$2,710). Nova Ars Auction image.

– Giovanni Minelli, chandelier, varnished white aluminum, prototype, 2008, dimensions: h 52 cm (20.5 in), length 190 cm (74.8 in), width 100 cm (39.3 in). Estimate: 4,000-5,000 euros ($5,419-$6,773).

Nova Ars specializes in objects of contemporary art, modernism and design made in Italy of 20th century.

The auction house is also a destination for those who seek to learn and share knowledge about art, design and collecting. Nova Ars offers valuations for personal property, appraisals and auction exhibitions online.

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

Arco Series desk for Olivetti, circa 1968, 71 inches. Estimate: 1,000-1,500 euros ($1,355-$2,032). Nova Ars Auction image.

Angelo Mangiarotti, Eros series coffee table for Skipper, white marble. Estimate: 5,000-6,000 euros ($6,773-$8,128). Nova Ars Auction image.

Fontana Arte, coffee table, crystal top, circa 1970. Estimate: 1,500-2,000 euros ($2,032-$2,710). Nova Ars Auction image.

Giovanni Minelli, chandelier, white aluminum, prototype, 2008. Estimate: 4,000-5,000 euros ($5,419-$6,773). Nova Ars Auction image.

Petition drive launched to preserve Santa Monica arts center

Patrons outside a gallery at Bergamot Station Arts Center in Santa Monica, Calif. Bergamot Station Gallery Cultural Association image.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. (ACNI) – Supporters of a Los Angeles arts center located on a historic site have begun a petition drive in an effort to preserve what they say is one of Santa Monica’s greatest cultural resources.

Bergamot Station Arts Center, which opened in 1994, is home to the largest concentration of galleries in the western United States, an auction house, nonprofit organizations, a museum, a theater and a writing institution.

If the city of Santa Monica proceeds with  redevelopment plans as they currently exist, Bergamot Station will be destroyed. In serious jeopardy are dozens of business owners and hundreds of employees and artists, according to the Bergamot Station Gallery Cultural Association.

Redevelopment on the city-owned eight-acre site would result in the complex, with its distinctive, loft-style buildings, being razed.

Meanwhile, Santa Monica City Council has postponed a vote to select a development team for the local landmark.

Bergamot Stateion began its life in 1875 as a trolley car stop for the Red Line, which ran from Los Angeles to the Santa Monica Pier. When the trolley cars stopped running in 1953, the warehouses on the site were converted to commercial use, first as a celery packing operation, then an ice-making plant, and finally as a factory that made water heaters.

In 1989 the city purchased the Bergamot Station property from Southern Pacific Transportation Co. With its massive corrugated metal buildings, it was a natural for the display of large canvases and other artworks, and a plan to develop the property as a campus-like complex of arts-related businesses was enacted. In September 1994, Bergamot Station began its new life as a center for contemporary art galleries and design firms.

Yet after 20 years of continued success as an arts center, the city is considering plans for redevelopment.

A statement from the Bergamot Station Gallery Cultural Association reads: “We do not want another shopping mall to replace this unique and historic complex, which has thrived against all odds for two decades while providing exceptional  arts programming and community service. We, as over 40 art galleries and cultural businesses, respectfully cannot support Santa Monica’s current … plan for re-development. It threatens the heart and soul of Bergamot Station as we know it.”

Bergamot Station supporters are asked to sign the petition. Go to:

http://www.change.org/petitions/santa-monica-city-council-and-arts-commission-save-bergamot-station-arts-center-from-overdevelopment.

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Miniature marvels on loan to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

A miniature room setting from the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures exhibit. Image courtesy of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Miniatures have captured human imagination for centuries, and now a selection of room settings, ceramics, furniture and silver has been sprinkled throughout the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. The miniatures are on loan from The National Museum of Toys and Miniatures in Kansas City while it undergoes renovation.

“This is such a great collaboration and we are happy to support our neighbors at the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures while their building is being renovated,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, CEO & director of the Nelson-Atkins. “People have always been fascinated with miniatures. This is a fun exhibition that will spark a dialogue between our celebrated collection and their miniature sisters. It is also an homage to the Toy and Miniature’s founders, Mary Harris Francis and Barbara Marshall, who shared a passion for miniatures and our city.”

“Highlights from the Collection of the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures” is on view in the Atkins Lobby, the European galleries P11 and P21 and the American galleries 212 and 211. Some of the miniatures on view are replicas of works in the permanent collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. All are masterful examples of the art of miniaturization.

“Many people don’t know that contemporary miniatures are amazing works of art,” said Karin Jones, assistant curator, Architecture, Design and Decorative Arts. “The artists spend hours studying original, full-scale works of art. It can take months, or even years, to create one of these tiny, detailed objects.”

Artists such as Obadiah Fisher, Kevin Mulvany, Susan Rogers and William R. Robertson visit museum collections and carefully study originals. The artists often use the same materials as those in the full-size work, but sometimes they must make substitutions or alter details in order to serve the illusion of reality.

A piece of full-size furniture, for example, might be recreated in miniature using pearwood instead of rosewood, since its tighter grain more closely resembles the wood grain of full-sized works. These precisely made replicas capture the essence of an object or room, and artists spare no attention to detail in creating them.

“Most of our collection will be in storage for more than a year, so we are ecstatic to have this opportunity to display a few of our miniature masterpieces at the Nelson-Atkins,” said Jamie Berry, executive director of the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures. “We hope it whets visitors’ appetites to view the full collection when the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures reopens in the spring of 2015.”

Much of the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures’ collection of more than 46,000 toys was amassed by co-founder Mary Harris Francis, who began collecting dollhouses in the 1970s. Harris partnered with Barbara Marshall to open the museum in 1982. Francis coveted well-loved, antique toys, while Marshall sought fine-scale miniatures. After years of acquiring, they opened the museum in the Tureman mansion on the University of Missouri-Kansas City campus in order to share their passion with the world.

The exhibition will be on view until February 2015.

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Ind. woman who built fighter planes finally sees them fly

A P-47 Thunderbolt 42-25068 at the Duxford Airshow in England, 2012. Image by PDTillman. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) – With a front-row view of Sunday’s ShrinersFest final air show, 92-year-old Geraldine “Gerry” McFadin sat awe-struck as a pair of Republic P-47 Thunderbolt fighter aircrafts soared over the Ohio River.

McFadin, for 16 months in the 1940s, worked on the assembly line of the old Republic Aviation plant in Evansville, building thousands of Thunderbolts for the war effort.

Seventy years off the assembly line, it was the first time she’d seen the planes gliding in real life.

“I felt very small when I saw the beautiful planes,” McFadin told the Evansville Courier & Press.

She was a real-life Rosie the Riveter, only instead of doing the riveting, she did the “bucking,” because she was a “scrawny” and her long arms could reach places others couldn’t.

America’s involvement in the war, indirectly, led her to the temporary job at the plane factory.

After graduating high school, she landed a scholarship for an art academy in Indianapolis. While upstate, however, the owner of the academy, a major in the National Guard, was called to action, leaving her without school.

“So I came home, nothing to do,” she said. Her grandparents lived in Evansville, where she learned of an opportunity to work at the Republic Aviation plant, the site of the former Whirlpool Corp. factory.

She worked 10 hours a day, earning 60 cents an hour – which adjusted for inflation is roughly $8.70 now, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

McFadin hadn’t planned to attend ShrinersFest Sunday, but a fellow churchgoer, Don Viviano, helped arrange for her to see the P-47s in action. And festival organizers made sure she had a front and center view for the air show.

She brought her first and last pay stubs from Republic, a tax form, a certificate from Republic and a single cherry rivet used in the production of the fuselage of the planes.

She intends to donate her materials to the Freedom Heritage Museum when it comes to fruition.

Rob Reider, the announcer for the ShrinersFest air show, repeatedly thanked McFadin during the afternoon demonstrations. Throughout the event, people came up and thanked her for her part in the war effort.

“People are so just wonderful. I love them. … It makes me feel wonderful, like I really did something,” she said.

Sunday’s air show, chock full of skilled aviators, brought a larger than normal closing day, said ShrinersFest spokesman Dale Thomas.

For the weekend, organizers estimate 70,000 people came to the festival, with an estimated 30,000 people on Saturday alone.

The cool, storm-free weather and the high-profile D-Day re-enactment and air shows bolstered attendance, Thomas said.

“Mother Nature, if I can give her a shout out, she gave us a great weekend. She wasn’t so good to us last year,” Thomas said.

Last year, storms effectively shut down half of the festival’s weekend. The P-47 Thunderbolts couldn’t even manage to get through the storm, forcing them to cancel.

“I think this is great for Evansville,” Thomas said of the air show and re-enactment. “Evansville’s role in the war effort was huge.”

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Information from: Evansville Courier & Press, http://www.courierpress.com

AP-WF-06-16-14 1400GMT

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Book chronicles construction of Cass Gilbert’s W.Va. Capitol

The West Virginia State Capitol Building in Charleston, W.Va. Image by Richard apple. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – David Wilkins urged people at the West Virginia Capitol to pay attention to the details.

The intricacies of the chandelier covered in European crystals hanging from a gold chain in the rotunda. The often-unnoticed gold plaques of bulls and boars above the doorways in the Doric vestibule. The one-of-a-kind gold dome and marble-covered interior.

“When you’re in here, it’s almost like you’re back in ancient Greece – even down to the proportions of the columns,” Wilkins said, standing in the state Capitol building. “But people very seldom notice some of it.”

For Wilkins and his wife, Ann Thomas Wilkins, both retired art history professors, it’s as much about the building itself as it is about the man who designed it: Cass Gilbert.

The Wilkinses recently authored Cass Gilbert’s West Virginia State Capitol – a close examination of Gilbert, known as one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, and his creation of the nationally recognized West Virginia state Capitol building.

Gilbert also designed the United States Supreme Court Building and the Woolworth Building in New York City – the tallest building in the world when it was constructed in 1913.

But the West Virginia Capitol was a project close to his heart, David Wilkins said. He turned down other offers to design state capitols at the time, and took dozens of train rides between New York City and Charleston in the preliminary stages of the project.

The book is full of little-known facts about Gilbert and his intentions for West Virginia’s Capitol. For example, he fought tirelessly to build the gold dome despite criticisms that it was a waste of money on something that was more symbolic than functional. Symbolism can be seen all throughout the building, Wilkins told a crowd gathered there for a tour and book signing June 10.

The book also provides a comprehensive look at the history of the construction process and its execution, featuring hundreds of photos.

“It’s still doing what he intended it to do – enhance the state’s reputation. It emphasizes that West Virginia is an equal to any in the nation,” Wilkins said. “It’s a beacon in this place.”

West Virginia University hosted the event to celebrate the book, which was published by the WVU Press.

WVU President Gordon Gee spoke about Gilbert’s “eclectic vision,” saying the building is an especially great feat considering it was built in the midst of the Great Depression.

“It has been the symbol of West Virginia – always rising, even in our darkest days,” Gee said.

Other state officials attended the book launch, including West Virginia Board of Education President Gayle Manchin, former governor Gaston Caperton and Sen. Brooks McCabe (D-Kanawha.)

“We did this through the Depression. We built a nationally prominent, really in many ways a world-class facility, in the middle of the Depression in the state of West Virginia. We set the bar high, we stayed with it even when we had to have skirmishes between the North and the South. … It was just one conflict after another,” McCabe said. “But this structure represents West Virginia – what it has been, what it is and what it can be. It makes me think that maybe the best is still ahead of us, and we have the capitol to prove it.”

For more information on the book, visit http://www.wvupressonline.com.

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Information from: The Charleston Gazette, http://www.wvgazette.com

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Dartmouth College will expand art museum with $10M gift

Hood Museum of Art on the campus of Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. Image by Kane 5187, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) – An anonymous donor is giving Dartmouth College $10 million toward a major expansion and renovation of its art museum.

The money will be used to create a Museum Learning Center at the Hood Museum of Art that will triple the number of object-study classrooms, which will be equipped with smart technology and will be able to accommodate a range of class sizes. The Hood has strongly promoted the idea of students engaging with its collections behind the scenes and regularly makes diverse objects from cultures around the world available for teaching.

“The Hood Museum of Art has long been a place where students, faculty and the community discover art through truly cutting-edge experiential programs,” said Jonathan Cohen, chairman of the Hood’s Board of Overseers. “The Museum Learning Center will open these extraordinary opportunities to more students and pave the way for even more innovative programming.”

The gift brings the total amount committed to the renovation project to $28 million. Once the $50 million goal is reached, the project will significantly increase the museum’s gallery and teaching spaces and will create a prominent new entrance.

The project is part of Dartmouth’s efforts to establish an Arts and Innovation District on campus. The expanded museum is expected to open to the public in the fall of 2018.

AP-WF-06-15-14 1426GMT

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