August 2014 - Page 3 of 17 - Auction Central News

$210K Coca-Cola calendar sets record at Morphy’s Aug. 22-24 auction

Top lot of the sale, the only known near-mint-plus 1900 Coca-Cola calendar featuring image of model and actress Hilda Clark, the first beauty to appear in the soft drink company’s ads; $210,000. Morphy Auctions image

DENVER, Pa. – Motivated bidders and an unprecedented selection of antique advertising and coin-op machines found common ground at Morphy’s gallery over the weekend of Aug. 22-24, with the result being a $3,120,000 total for the rapidly growing Pennsylvania auction house.

The event marked a dual milestone for Morphy’s. It was their most successful antique advertising/coin-op sale to date, and the second-highest-achieving auction of any type in the company’s history. Morphy’s continues to hold the record for highest-grossing one-day auction of a single-owner toy collection, the $7.7 million sale of Stephen and Marilyn Steckbeck’s antique bank collection, held Oct. 27, 2007. All prices quoted in this report include a 20% buyer’s premium.

LiveAuctioneers provided Internet live-bidding services for the sale and played a major role in its success. The 436 items sold through LiveAuctioneers added $683,550 to the three-day total, bolstered by 3,901 live bids and 1,639 absentee bids. The online catalog posted to LiveAuctioneers attracted 110,959 page views.

“There was interest in virtually every category we offered, both before and during the auction,” said Dan Morphy, founder and president of Morphy Auctions. “World auction records were set in many categories, but the real scene stealer was the Gordon Breslow calendar collection, which included an example of every calendar issued by Coca-Cola since 1896. Many of the calendars were the finest known examples and the very ones pictured in Petretti’s Coca-Cola Collectibles Price Guide. You can’t beat that level of provenance.”

In fact, each and every one of the top five Coca-Cola calendars sold at Morphy’s three-day sale broke the previous world auction record for Coca-Cola (paper) ephemera of any type.

Most refreshing of all the Coca-Cola items offered was Lot 719, which Morphy’s experts believe to be the only existing near-mint-plus Coke calendar from the year 1900. It featured an image of model and actress Hilda Clark, the first beauty to appear in the soft drink company’s ads. Entered in the sale with a $50,000-$100,000 estimate, it spurred a saleroom battle that ended with a winning bid of $210,000.

Another high-flier from the Breslow collection was Lot 711, an 1896 Coca-Cola calendar that, like the aforementioned 1900 calendar, is believed to be the only known survivor of its condition and type. Retaining a partial calendar pad, it was presented in a deep shadow box with an ornate gilt frame. Against an estimate of $30,000-$60,000, it was bid aggressively to $105,000.

Coke was not the only beverage in demand at Morphy’s. Record-setting prices were paid for soda fountain memorabilia touting other brands, as well. Lot 1034, a petite 1900 Hires “Munimaker” salesman’s sample, replicated a type of full-size root beer dispenser in use around the turn of the 20th century. Against a $40,000-$60,000 estimate, it served up an $84,000 winning bid – the most ever paid at auction for this particular type of item.

Lot 1090, a Pepsi-Cola Art Nouveau china syrup urn, swept past its $30,000-$40,000 estimate to settle at $69,000; while Lot 996, a 1909 Pepsi-Cola tin straw holder estimated at $4,000-$8,000, retired at $18,000.

Uncommonly seen, Lot 1145, a circa-1918 Montelaise Cheriola ceramic syrup dispenser, pumped up a winning bid of $46,800 against a presale estimate of $12,000-$18,000. But even higher prices would follow in the soda-fountain category. As the name suggests, a Grapefruitola ceramic syrup dispenser, cataloged as Lot 1163, was shaped in the form of a plump, leaf-embellished grapefruit. In near-mint condition and estimated at $15,000-$25,000, it squeezed a much healthier $66,000 from one of the many competitors hoping to add it to their collections. Each of the dispensers mentioned here set new world auction records for their respective forms.

King among the 80+ coin-op and gambling items was Lot 1649, a Mills Double Dewey 5-cent/25-cent upright slot machine with original music. It finished comfortably in the money at $114,000 against an estimate of $100,000-$125,000.

More than 100 tobacco-related lots were offered. In a field of premium-quality entries, the surprise of the day was Lot 83, an Empire State vertical pocket tin issued by Peet Bros. Tobacco Manufacturers. The cobalt blue and yellow container with a striking image of the Empire State Building had been expected to reach the $300-$600 level, but collectors had a different idea and bid it all the way to $24,000. It was, by far, the most money ever paid at auction for an Empire State pocket tin.

A host of early advertising signs included Lot 320, a 1956 Merita Bread embossed-tin depiction of a Lone Ranger-type Western character on horseback, near flawless and in 9.7 condition, which sold for $24,000 against an estimate of $10,000-$15,000. Also popular, Lot 316, a circa 1905-1910 Sleepy Eye Flour tin sign with the image of a proud Native American, “Old Sleepy Eye,” surpassed expectations at $10,800. Lot 417, a rare, two-sided illuminating porcelain sidewalk sign advertising “Candy,” also dashed its estimate, reaching $18,000.

Morphy’s upcoming sales include a Sept. 19-21 Fall 2014 Coin-op and Antique Advertising Auction at Victorian Casino Antiques in Las Vegas, the first event to be held under the Morphy’s banner since their acquisition of the revered Nevada firm. The 1,700-lot auction will feature approximately 100 antique and vintage gambling machines from the storied collection of the late William F. Harrah (1911-1978), founder of Harrah’s Hotel and Casinos.

For additional information on any upcoming auction, or to discuss consigning to Morphy’s, contact the gallery by calling toll-free 877-968-8880 or 717-335-3435; or emailing info@morphyauctions.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog from Morphy’s Aug. 22-24 sale, complete with prices realized, at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

1896 Coca-Cola calendar in shadow box with gilt frame, $105,000. Morphy Auctions image

1900 Coca-Cola embossed-cardboard calendar, $45,000. Morphy Auctions image

1900 Hires ‘Munimaker’ salesman’s sample replicating a full-size root beer dispenser of the period, $84,000. Morphy Auctions image

Pepsi-Cola Art Nouveau china soda fountain syrup urn, $69,000. Morphy Auctions image

Circa-1918 Montelaise Cheriola ceramic syrup dispenser, $46,800. Morphy Auctions image

Grapefruitola ceramic syrup dispenser, $66,000. Morphy Auctions image

Circa-1900 ‘jeweled’ leaded-glass Drug Store street sign, $31,200. Morphy Auctions image

Mills Double Dewey upright slot machine, 5/25 cents, with original music, $114,000. Morphy Auctions image

Auerbach works from Lucian Freud estate on view at Tate

Image courtesy of Tate Britain, Frank Auerbach works from Lucian Freud Estate

LONDON – The most significant private collection of paintings and drawings by one of Britain’s greatest living artists, Frank Auerbach, goes on display at Tate Britain today. The works were collected by Lucian Freud throughout his life and hung in Freud’s house in London until his death in 2011.

Lucian Freud collected these paintings and drawings over many years, building what is thought to be the most important private collection of Auerbach’s work. Earlier this year, this collection was accepted in lieu of inheritance tax by HM Government and has been acquired for the nation by Arts Council England, to be allocated to public museums and galleries.

The works on display span Auerbach’s career from his student days in the late 1940s up to 2007. The artist has repeatedly returned to the same subjects over decades, constantly finding new and different ways to explore the indefinable qualities and raw sensations stimulated by the forms and structures he sees.

The collection encompasses two subjects to which he has constantly returned – landscapes of London and portraits of friends and relatives of the artist who have sat for Auerbach for long periods of time. It also includes a group of five sketches, including birthday cards, which show the friendship and respect that Auerbach and Freud had for each other.

The portraits on display comprise works on paper of an intimate group of sitters, mainly of Estella (Stella) Olive West (‘E.O.W.’), his principal model between the early 1950s and 1973, and his wife, Julia. They include the celebrated charcoal Head of E.O.W. 1956 and Head of Julia 1985-86, another remarkable, larger than life drawing in charcoal and chalk.

Auerbach has painted landscapes primarily of north London and particularly Camden Town, where he has been living and working for the past 60 years. The display includes seven landscapes, such as Rebuilding the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square 1962 showing Auerbach’s interest in the rebuilding of London in the postwar years; and Mornington Crescent – Winter morning 1989, charged with the zigzagging energy of the moving clouds and bare trees.

Frank Auerbach was born in Berlin in 1931 and came to England in 1939. He studied painting at St. Martin’s School of Art, London, from 1948 to 1952, and attended David Bomberg’s drawing classes at the Borough Polytechnic. He studied at the Royal College of Art from 1952 to 1955. In 1986, at the XLII Venice Biennale, Auerbach was awarded the Golden Lion prize, shared with the German painter Sigmar Polke. Monographic exhibitions of his work have since been hosted at various prominent venues including Yale Center for British Art, New Haven (1991) the Royal Academy of Arts, London (2001) and the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2013-14).

In June 2015, a major retrospective of Auerbach’s work will open at the Kunstmuseum, Bonn, before traveling to Tate Britain in autumn 2015.

“BP Spotlight – Frank Auerbach: Painting and Drawings from the Lucian Freud Estate” is on display at Tate Britain until Nov. 9. The display has been curated by Elena Crippa, Tate.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Texas family discovers rare intact mammoth skeleton

Skeleton of Columbian mammoth, Mammuthus columbi, in the George C. Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits, Los Angeles. Image by Wolfman SF. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license.

DALLAS (AP) – Wayne McEwen’s 138-acre farm in southern Ellis County produces hay, cattle and – from the gravel pit on his property – the occasional arrowhead or shark tooth.

His son and grandson were gathering road bedding material from the pit in May when McEwen’s excavator hit something even more rare: a 6-foot mammoth tusk. It was the first clue to what would become an unusual paleontological find.

Mammoth remains are not unknown in this area, but they are almost never as well-preserved as the specimen on McEwen’s North Texas farm – a nearly complete mammoth skeleton, intact and unmolested by scavengers, lying on a bed of sand where the creature died 20,000 to 40,000 years ago.

“Usually the bones are scattered and you get the remains of maybe 30 or 40 percent of the animal. But anyone can look at this and know it’s a mammoth. It looks exactly like what it is,” said Tom Vance, the Navarro College professor who oversaw the scientific excavation.

The specimen appears to be that of a female Columbian mammoth, which lived in the region in the Late Pleistocene Epoch. The Columbians were slightly larger but less hairy than the more famous woolly mammoth, which lived near the northern glaciers. The Ellis County mammoth was about 8 or 9 feet at the shoulder and was smaller than average, about the size of a modern-day female Asian elephant.

In July, volunteers alerted officials of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas. The Perot Museum sent a representative to McEwen’s gravel pit to take a look. Museum officials were impressed by what they learned. McEwen, in turn, donated the mammoth to the museum.

Colleen Walker, the museum’s CEO, praised the McEwen family, noting that in less caring hands the mammoth “very well could have ended up as part of our Texas highway system.”

McEwen said his family was intrigued from the first.

“We realized there was something interesting there,” he told The Dallas Morning News. “We knew this was something nice, not something to just haul away.”

A McEwen neighbor who had been a student of Vance contacted the professor, who organized a group of students, staff and amateur paleontology enthusiasts to dig out the remains. Over the next two months, they carefully brushed away sand and silt that had encased the mammoth – growing increasingly excited about what they found.

“We’d find one bone and there would be another one next to it and another and another, and we realized they weren’t just scattered,” Vance said.

McEwen looked on recently with satisfaction.

“It was fun just watching the volunteers,” he said. “They’d come out of the pit and they were grinning from ear to ear. They were just so excited.”

Equally excited is Ron Tykoski, a staff paleontologist, who called the McEwens’ donation “a huge contribution to science.”

Tykoski is working against time to get the bones to the safety of the museum’s research lab. After thousands of years protected by sand, the excavated bones are now exposed to the elements. Last week’s rains washed silt back into sections that had been painstakingly excavated. Mice made a nest out of the paper tags Tykoski used to label the remains.

While water poses a menace to the mammoth bones now, it was water that guaranteed their preservation for thousands of years.

In the Late Pleistocene age, what is now Ellis County was prairie, much as it is now, but much wetter. The area was crisscrossed by rivers, with sandbars that formed at the bows.

Tykoski speculates that the mammoth got bogged down in the wet sand and died. Soon after – so soon that there is no sign that the carcass was ever disturbed by scavengers – floodwaters covered the body with silt.

Within a few weeks, Tykoski will wrap the bones in a protective jacket of plaster and burlap for delivery to an unmarked museum warehouse near the Dallas Design District. He will spend at least a year researching the remains for clues to age, diet and perhaps cause of death.

It is not known yet if the bones will ever be publicly displayed.

Even if the remains had not ended up as road fill, the mammoth bones might have been sold to a private collector. The McEwens’ gift to the Perot Museum means that the specimen can be researched and cataloged by an accredited institution – a necessary condition for any findings to have scientific validity, Tykoski said.

“Without their gift, this magnificent creature might have gone onto the auction block, never to be seen again,” he said.

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Information from: The Dallas Morning News, http://www.dallasnews.com

AP-WF-08-25-14 1722GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Brothers to re-create historic steam car ride to Grand Canyon

This 1902 Toledo Steam Runabout, like the one making the Flagstaff to Grand Canyon trip, was part of the well-known Chicago Museum of Science and Industry Collection in the early 1950s. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archives and RM Auctions.

PHOENIX (AP) – Two brothers from Britain are going back in time – using a unique automobile.

Nick and Chris Howell are poised to move full steam ahead Tuesday in re-creating a drive from Flagstaff to the Grand Canyon that was first undertaken at the turn of the 20th century. They will be riding in a Toledo Steam Car they spent more than eight years restoring.

“Flagstaff hasn’t seen the car for more than a hundred years. We’ve got to do this. It’s a bit of Flagstaff history,” said Chris Howell, whose vehicle converts water into steam, which pushes the pistons inside the engine.

The Toledo Steam Car is what Los Angeles photographer Oliver Lippincott used when he attempted the same 60-mile drive in 1902.

Lippincott, along with two friends and a local guide, set off on Jan. 3, 1902, in a steam car attached to a trailer hauling supplies. The journey they expected to take three hours ended up taking three days, according to the book Grand Canyon-Flagstaff Stage Coach Line.

The group was plagued with problems. The vehicle’s boilers froze over, and its fuel got contaminated. They set out on foot to get help, and by the time they got within 18 miles of the Grandview Hotel at the Grand Canyon’s South Rim, only one man was able to keep going. They were rescued and, ironically, horses pulled the steam car back to the hotel.

Tom Martin, secretary for the Grand Canyon Historical Society, said it was still a great feat at the time. The journey showed the potential for Flagstaff to have a technological edge by offering a way for cars to reach the Grand Canyon, which was already a tourist draw.

“Staying abreast of the latest technology was very important,” Martin said. “This was like the concept of today, asking what kind of app do you have on your smartphone. That’s what automobiles at that time represented to them.”

Jim Merrick, an archivist at Kingfield, Maine’s Stanley Museum, which chronicles the history of the Stanley steam car company, said steam cars began gaining popularity in the 1890s for their lightness. Using technology pioneered by the French, steam cars utilized coal or gasoline to heat a boiler or burner. The high pressure converted water into steam to power the engine.

“The steam car was called a rolling stove,” Merrick said.

But by 1910, sales of the vehicles started to plummet as gas cars improved and got more popular, Merrick said.

Nick Howell, a car buff whose trip will harken back to the steam car days, bought his Toledo Steam Car at a Michigan auction in 2004. He and his brother discovered the steam car had a larger water tank and a longer wheelbase than the typical Toledo, which was manufactured by American Bicycle Co. in Ohio.

They have only located 13 other Toledo owners, all with vehicles lacking the larger parts. As a result, the brothers believe their steam car may be the original used in 1902. Martin, of the historical society, agreed that it is a real possibility.

The car already has had quite the journey. The siblings shipped it from England to Los Angeles. Former Tonight Show host and car collector Jay Leno offered them the use of his garage and workshop before they brought the vehicle to the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance car show on Aug. 17 in Pebble Beach, Calif.

It was while making plans to travel to Pebble Beach that the brothers learned about the car’s place in Arizona history from an old newspaper article. They made contact with the Arizona Trail Association, which researched a possible route for the Howells’ re-creation.

Chris Howell said they will spread the drive out over two days with multiple stops. The schedule calls for the car to travel at about 10 mph. The trek will end at Grandview Point, where the Grandview Hotel used to be. After that, they will bring the car to Scottsdale and Tucson.

Unlike the 1902 group, who didn’t bring food and water, the Howell brothers are coming prepared. They will be traveling with two-way radios in case they run into car troubles.

“The car’s an old lady, and it’s a bit temperamental, and we’ve got to try to sort her out. It’s running well, and then it’s not running well,” Chris Howell said. “Hopefully we can all come up to expectations.”

There will be trucks hauling water for fuel stops along the way. The car holds 6 gallons of unleaded gas and 43 gallons of water. It takes about 45 minutes to start and they use a blowtorch to start a pilot light, Chris Howell said.

Meanwhile, Martin said volunteers will also be bringing lunch and “copious amounts of tea, because they’re Brits after all.”

The Howell brothers also decided to go for as much authenticity as possible, down to an early 1900s wardrobe.

“It doesn’t look right if you’ve got jeans and a T-shirt, does it?” Chris Howell said. “We might be a bit grubby at the end of it but you know, why not?”

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Follow Terry Tang on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ttangAP

AP-WF-08-24-14 2006GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Corcoran Gallery admission is free following takeover

The Corcoran Gallery and School of Art in Washington, D.C. Image by APK is gonna miss Jeffpw. This file is licensed under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Admission to the Corcoran Gallery of Art is now free following culmination of court-approved deal that ends the Corcoran’s life as an independent institution.

Free admission at the Flagg building on 17th Street in Northwest Washington began Friday.

Financial problems at the Corcoran led to an agreement for the National Gallery of Art to take over the Corcoran’s collection and the Corcoran College of Art and Design to become part of George Washington University.

The galleries at the Flagg building will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. But they are set to close for renovations beginning Oct. 1.

AP-WF-08-22-14 1241GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Puzzling Civil War tintype given to Library of Congress

Sgt. Andrew Martin Chandler of the 44th Mississippi Regiment, left, and Silas Chandler pose in this tintype, circa 1861. The tintype was recently donated to the Library of Congress. Library of Congress image.

WASHINGTON (AP) – An enigmatic Civil War photo of a white man and a black slave, both in Confederate uniforms, has been donated to the Library of Congress five years after its appearance on Antiques Roadshow sparked speculation about its meaning.

Collector Tom Liljenquist of McLean, Va., donated the 1861 tintype after buying it from descendants of the white soldier earlier this month, The Washington Post reported in its Monday edition.

“It’s an image that historians have debated because of the discussions of whether or not African-Americans voluntarily served in the Confederacy,” Lonnie G. Bunch III, director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture said.

The picture shows Sgt. Andrew Martin Chandler of the 44th Mississippi Regiment seated beside Silas Chandler, one of 36 slaves owned by Andrew Chandler’s mother.

The slave holds a shotgun and a knife, but there’s no evidence he fought for the South, said Civil War photo historian Ronald Coddington, who researched the picture for his 2012 book, African American Faces of the Civil War.

Silas Chandler called himself a soldier’s servant on his successful application for a Mississippi state pension in 1916.

Coddington said it is one of the most important photographs to come out of the conflict.

“There’s not another image like it, in terms of having an identified soldier and identified servant, that you can track,” he said.

In the picture, Silas Chandler is in his mid-20s, and Andrew Chandler is about 17, according to records.

It raises the question: Why does a slave appear to be in arms against the crusade that would gain him his freedom?

Bunch said there is overwhelming sentiment that African-Americans who participated in the Confederacy were coerced.

“They were owned. They were enslaved,” he said.

Helena Zinkham, head of the library’s prints and photographs division, called it an extraordinary photograph.

“You look at those faces and you want to know more,” she said.

Liljenquist, who has turned over 1,200 Civil War-era photographs to the library, said he bought the photograph from descendants of Andrew Chandler on Aug. 15 and immediately gave it to the library.

“I owned it for about 10 minutes,” he said.

He declined to say how much it cost or identify the owner.

Five years ago, on the Antiques Roadshow television program, the picture was said to be worth $30,000 to $40,000.

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Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com

AP-WF-08-25-14 1704GMT

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

Postcards: Natural beauty of the Wisconsin Dells

Hawk’s Bill, Picturesque Wisconsin Dells — 43. Postally used in 1945.

IOLA, Wis. – Long before Wisconsin Dells became known as the “Waterpark Capital of the World,” tourists flocked to the natural attraction to view the famous rock formations carved over millennia by the waters of the Wisconsin River.

I grew up close enough to the popular tourist area that each year our school safety patrol took an overnight trip to enjoy the attraction. The trip included the famous duck boat tours – which have been running since 1946 – to see the formations of the dells up close. It was an unforgettable experience.

The collection of postcards shown here were mostly produced by Curt Teich of Chicago and copyrighted by H.H. Bennett Studio of Wisconsin Dells, Wis. The exception is a “Hawk’s Bill, Picturesque Wisconsin Dells-43” card made by E.C. Kroppe Co., Milwaukee.

This example, the only one in the group that is postally used (Scott 804; Wisconsin Dells cancel), was sent to the Munitions Building on Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., in August 1945. The sender informed the recipient, “We have had much change of scenery this trip & the air here is very much to our liking.” It’s unfortunate there is cancellation ink defacing the front of the card, but the colors and the image are still bright and enjoyable.

Of the Curt Teich cards, I find the “Stand Rock” example the most enjoyable. Looking closely, the artist has rendered a man jumping over the gaping expanse between the cliff ledge and Stand Rock. I believe the artist was an optimist, because it looks as though the jumper will actually make it. The card description explains, “It is a huge table, supported by a single water-torn, rather irregular shaped column of rock, about 46 feet high. The top is a great sandstone slab, some 18×24 feet in area and practically level. The top is 5 1/2 feet from the main cliff.” Research suggests the artistic rendering is based upon an old photograph.

Today the Stand Rock location is a popular campground with more than 100 acres of nature and hiking trails. As an added attraction, specially trained dogs jump across to the formation and back.

The “Fat Man’s Misery” card shows the plank trail leading through the narrowest point of Cold Water Canyon. The view “In Cold Water Canyon” has such wonderful perspective you want to just step onto the path to explore the ravine.

“The Path in Witches Gulch” is even more spectacular. This card, copyright 1931, explains, “The path in Witches Gulch leads along the tortuous way, over miniature water falls and between the towering rock walls of this mysterious gorge.” It truly makes me want to tie on some comfortable walking shoes and take a hike.

Other popular scenes included in my small but colorful collection include “Visor Ledge;” “The Toad Stool;” “The Jaws;” illustrating Romance Cliff and High Rock; “Hornet’s Nest;” and “High Rock from Romance Cliff,” which, as the card explains, are the “Lower Jaws of the Dells and the first high cliffs on the Upper Dells.”

I believe the reason these cards resonate with me is that when I was in sixth grade and touring with my fellow safety patrol, I didn’t have a camera. I can remember how much fun it was riding in the ducks, what the wooden plank trails were like (I remember stumbling at least a couple of times), and have a recollection of what the sandstone rock formations looked like. These artfully rendered cards, with their scenic views, bring those nostalgic recollections back into focus.

Contemporary postcards don’t have anywhere near the following that vintage postcards had back in their day, in part because every person who is carrying a smartphone has a camera at their fingertips; they can capture their scenic setting at will and file those images away to review at any time. Why should travelers spend a dollar on a postcard when they’ve probably got a memory card filled with vacation images. As a result far fewer postcards are produced today than were produced in the Golden Age of Postcards. Because fewer are printed will the postcards of today be valuable 100 years from now? Nope. Because, as we’ve seen countless times, “old” doesn’t automatically mean “valuable.” Supply still has to outweigh demand. There are probably still plenty being produced to satisfy the history and esoterica buffs of the future without them having to compete for them.

Personally, I still buy new postcards when I go someplace special (in addition to the photographs I take, of course). I have gorgeous contemporary cards from Hawaii and state parks that I visit. The vantage points and the clarity of the images are far better than anything I could accomplish. My hope is they will help keep those cherished memories of family trips in focus – not only for me, but for my family, as well.

The vintage Wisconsin Dells postcards pictured here are but a small sampling of the plethora that have been produced through the decades. Since the renderings and print runs are plentiful, prices are next-to-nothing to purchase examples like these. Most cards can be had for several dollars or less.

If you’re just interested in sightseeing from the comfort of your easy chair, and not actually acquiring cards for yourself, you can view hundreds more vintage Wisconsin Dells rock formation-themed postcards online at http://www.vintagewisconsindells.com/rock-formations.htm.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

The Path in Witches Gulch, Dells of the Wisconsin River (Copyright 1931, H.H. Bennett Studio; 1A17).

The Jaws, Entrance to the Upper Dells of the Wisconsin River (4A-H1936).

Visor Ledge, Dells of the Wisconsin River (123856).

The Toad Stool, Dells of the Wisconsin River (5494-29).

In Cold Water Canyon, Dells of the Wisconsin River (4A-H1938).

Stand Rock, Dells of the Wisconsin River (4A-H1939).

Fat Man’s Misery, Dells of the Wisconsin River, (5491-29). The narrowest point of Cold Water Canyon.

Hornet’s Nest, Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin (OB-H16).

High Rock from Romance Cliff, Dells of the Wisconsin River (6A-H2069).

Aug. 29-30 auction of opera singer’s estate includes prized art, Asian pcs.

Chinese nine-panel painted soapstone tabletop screen, one of many Asian antiques in the estate of opera singer Frances Yeend and James Benner, which will be auctioned Aug. 29-30. Joe R. Pyle Auction image

FAIRMONT, W.Va. – It’s a collection you’d expect to see in a major auction house in New York or London, but the estate collection of renowned opera singer Frances Yeend and her husband – pianist, conductor and vocal coach James F. Benner – is going to be auctioned in Fairmont, W. Va., on Aug. 29 and 30. Joe R. Pyle Auctions will produce the event, with Internet live bidding available through LiveAuctioneers.

Frances Yeend, who was billed as a featured soprano at The Metropolitan Opera and many other prestigious opera houses worldwide, had a passion for art and antiques. While on tour, she and her husband spent every free minute combing through antique shops, always returning home to Manhattan with a bounty of magnificent finds.

Following their 1966 retirement from the stage, the couple relocated to West Virginia, where Yeend joined the West Virginia University faculty as professor of voice/artist in residence. She taught there until her retirement in 1978. Likewise, Benner was a music and vocal professor at the university.

After settling in West Virginia, Yeend and Benner continued to collect exquisite furniture, fine and decorative art; porcelain, early American colored and pattern glass; rare books, jewelry, silver, early Staffordshire pottery, stained glass windows and doors; and Asian art of the type so highly desired by today’s collectors.

Nothing in the collection has ever been offered for sale before. It is a lifetime assemblage that was still being expanded upon at the time of Yeend’s death in 2008, at age 95.

During their touring years, Yeend and Benner focused on 17th- and 18th-century European art. Among their holdings is an intriguing oil portrait attributed to Jan Anthoniz van Ravenstein (Dutch, circa 1570-1657) depicting a woman in a ruff collar and lace-trimmed cap. After they moved to West Virginia, the couple shifted their attention to contemporary art. As a result, the art collection is an eclectic one that spans several centuries of artists and styles. In addition to oils, there are regional West Virginia artworks, all types of lithographs, and drawings, including a Mickey Mouse sketch by Roy Disney, which was inscribed and gifted to Benner while he was on tour as pianist for the renowned Obernkirchen Childrens Choir.

As many as 50 select pieces of Asian art are entered in the auction. Among the highlights are an inlaid mahogany cabinet, a Korean scroll, rare ivory artworks, and a beautiful Chinese 9-panel painted soapstone tabletop screen.

The furniture selection is vast and includes 16th/17th-century desks and chests, grand seating, highlighted by a middle European chair with paw feet and a splat ornately carved in the form of a crown; tables and cabinets, including corner-style; and much more.

A breathtaking collection of stained and leaded-glass doors and windows adorned the couple’s light-filled residence. Four of the colorful antique windows and a masterfully crafted glass-paneled door originated in a stately mansion that once stood on High Street in Morgantown. The door was a fitting entry to Benner’s traditional library filled with thousands of rare books, many of them first editions and some of them signed. The books will be auctioned separately in a Thursday, Oct. 2, 2014 auction, also conducted by Joe R. Pyle.

Among the other categories represented in the sale are antique clocks, Persian rugs, African tribal pieces, cast-iron doorstops, and hundreds of items of opera-related ephemera collected by Yeend during her distinguished career. The latter grouping includes opera scores and posters from her performances.

“The term ‘once in a lifetime’ can be overused, but when it comes to art and antiques, the Yeend/Benner collection is in a class of its own, with pieces dating back as early as the 16th century,” said auctioneer and company owner Joe R. Pyle. “This is a landmark collection, the likes of which we may never see again in this part of the United States, or anywhere, for that matter. There are things in this auction that are going to surprise even the most jaded collectors.”

The auction will be held on Friday, Aug. 29, and Saturday, Aug. 30, 2014, at the West Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame in Fairmont, W.Va. (Rare books will be auctioned on Oct. 2, 2014). For additional information on any item in the auction, call tollfree 888-875-1599 or 304-592-6000.

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

Oil portrait attributed to Jan Anthoniz van Ravenstein (Dutch, circa 1570-1657), from the estate of opera singer Frances Yeend and James Benner to be auctioned Aug. 29-30. Joe R. Pyle Auction image

Beautiful late-19th-century leaded-glass and wood door, origin: Morgantown, W.Va., from the estate of opera singer Frances Yeend and James Benner to be auctioned Aug. 29-30. Joe R. Pyle Auction image

Stained-glass window depicting colorful parrot amid grapes and vines, origin: Morgantown, W.Va., from the estate of opera singer Frances Yeend and James Benner to be auctioned Aug. 29-30. Joe R. Pyle Auction image

One of many superb stained-glass windows from the residence and estate of opera singer Frances Yeend and James Benner to be auctioned Aug. 29-30. Joe R. Pyle Auction image

During her long and successful career as a featured soprano, Frances Yeend sang with many of the world’s great symphonies. She kept a collection of opera-related memorabilia that included posters promoting her appearances, such as this one from the New York City Opera Company. Joe R. Pyle Auction image

While touring Europe, Frances Yeend and her husband James Benner scoured antique shops and galleries, purchasing art and furniture dating to as early as the 16th century. Upon their retirement from the stage, the couple moved their entire collection to a comfortable West Virginia home. Shown here is a heavily carved English dressoir. Joe R. Pyle Auction image

William Hogarth (British, 1697-1764), collection of engravings by and after, including ‘The Rake’s Progress.’ Joe R. Pyle Auction image

16th-century Spanish vargueno with drop-front door that creates writing surface. Joe R. Pyle Auction image

Buddhist manuscript attributed to the Cambodian culture, 83 separate sides to the folds. Joe R. Pyle Auction image

Gianguan Auctions opens Asia Week with courtly rarities Sept. 14

Lot 248, a gilt and silver-inlaid bronze and mythical beast cast with dragon head and tiger body inlaid with a pattern of cloud scrolls, geometric and beasts pattern and embellished with hardstone. Warring States period. Estimate: $80,000-$100,000. Gianguan Auctions image.

NEW YORK – On Sunday, Sept. 14, Gianguan Auctions will kick off the fall edition of New York’s Asia Week with dynamic collections of Chinese paintings, ceramics, carved jades and works of art.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.

The morning session of paintings is one of the strongest in recent memory, mixing works from the Song, Ming and Yuan Dynasties with a field of modern and contemporary paintings. Later in the day, the decorative arts, including Chinese bronzes, antique porcelains, carved jades and luxury brand items, come under the hammer in what promises to be a lively session.

Several of the marquee lots reflect benchmarks in the evolution of Chinese history and art. For example, Lot 61, Stallion and Attendant, a Yuan Dynasty work by Zhao Lin, metaphorically challenges the Mongol influence by depicting a regal horse rearing against reins held by a fierce looking keeper. Intricately colored and meticulous in its detail, the painting carries one artist seal, eight collector seals and 11 emperor seals plus five colophons. It will command $400,000-$500,000.

Lot 51, “Mount Huangshan Amidst Cloud,” a Qing Dynasty landscape by Hong Ren, captures the mountain’s jagged peaks and plateaus in an early example of geometric abstraction. The ink and color on paper is titled, inscribed and signed. With two artist seals, two collector seals and one colophon by Cheng Zhenghu, it is valued at $600,000-$850,000.

Meanwhile, classicists will flock to Lot 64, Zhao Yuan’s Snow Mountain with 15 collector seals and two colophons by Ma Jin and Fa Ruozhen. It is estimated at $200,000-$300,000.

Works by 20th century blue-chip artists include three by Li Keran (1907-1989) whose insights and knowledge of water buffalo and their young herders come through in the work. Lot 17, Cross the Willow Pond, is a study in movement as herder and water buffalos make their way through deep water. The catalog estimate is $80,000-$100,000. Lot 49, Autumn Leaves Color captures the light-heartedness of herders atop water buffalo reveling in a swirl of orange autumn leaves. Its estimate is $60,000-$100,000. Finally, Lot 67, A Shepherd, is a tour de force of humor in ink. A young herder contemplates a mountainous landscape while propped precariously in a gravity-defying pose on the side of the water buffalo. In the inscription, the artist compares himself to an overgrown school child. The estimate is $50,000-$80,000.

The ever-popular and prodigious Qi Baishi is represented by Lot 28, Rooster and Cockscomb. In an asymmetrical take on the subject, Qi Baishi, cocks the rooster’s head so that it can peer into a tree in the background, parodying, perhaps, the legend that roosters have eyes in the back of their head. Signed Qi Huang, the painting has one artist seal and is estimated $50,000 to $60,000. Lot 35, Chrysanthemum and Wine, a Qi Baishi still life, stresses longevity and good fortune. Its value is $50,000-$80,000.

Fu Baishi (1904-1965) a leader of the New Chinese Painting Movement that reformed Chinese painting after 1949, authors Lot 32, Crane at Dusk. It is a bold portrayal of a man on a jetty in a rolling sea contemplating a flock of cranes. Entitled and signed, the painting has three artist seals. It is expected to fetch $100,000-$150,000. In Lot 43, the artist depicts The Three Sages, seated under a tree. Signed Fu Baishi, it is estimated at $60,000-$80,000.

Eight paintings by Zhang Daiqain (1899-1983) come to the podium as early as Lot 3. Scholar with Zither, is a 1976, two-panel calligraphic statement on mottled background. Inscribed and signed Zhang Yuan, it carries two artist seals and is expected to go off at $20,000-$30,00. Lot 40, aptly named Mountain Ridges, is a color-splashed landscape expected to bring $40,000-$50,000. Lot 57, Beauty and a Mirror, dated 1944, is a figurative painting destined to fetch $50,000-$80,000.

Highlights of the afternoon session include exceptional Chinese porcelains from the Ming, Song and Qing dynasties. Lot 215 is a magnificent Ming blue and white lobed bowl. The 16 lobes are finely painted with 22 children playing in a court garden scene. At the center of the interior four children play. This auspicious sign is surrounded by Lingzhi and plantain. Of the period and bearing the Xuande six-character double-circled seal mark, the bowl is anticipated to command $400,000-$600,000.

Lot 222 is a pair of Cizhou carved green-glazed meipings. Of potted form, the vases are carved with wide bands of lotus spray. At the shoulder and foot are line borders and scrolling leaves. Ten inches high and of the Song Dynasty, they are valued at $15,000-$20,000.

Lot 204 is a fine yellow ground and green enameled Qilin vase. Of bulbous form with canted shoulder and long neck, the vase is decorated with the mythical hooved chimerical beast known as a Qilin. Of the Qing Dynasty, it bears the Yongzheng six-character mark and is valued at $4,000 to $5,000.

A mythical beast of gilt and silver inlaid bronze embellished with hard stone with dragon head and tiger body at Lot 248. Of the Warring States period and decorated with scrolling clouds, beasts and geometrics, the animal stands fore square and ferocious. Measuring 5 inches high and 10 inches long, the bronze beast is valued at $80,000-$100,000. A similar mythical beast, also silver inlaid bronze resides at Lot 253. Of the Warring States period, its estimate is $30,000-$50,000.

Meanwhile, Lot 250, a carved neolithic bone of the Liangzhu Culture (3400-2250 B.C.) will draw attention from natural history collectors. Retaining the shape of a lower jawbone with teeth intact, the specimen is carved with a Taotie mask. Its catalog estimate is $10,000-$20,000.

With the 2014 International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society meeting set for October in Hong Kong, interest in the collection of snuff bottles may soar. Prime items include Lot 270, a carved green-overlay on white glass Famille Rose painted snuff bottle. The Qing Dynasty bottle carries the Qianlong four-character mark. Its value is $3,000 to $4,000. Another excellent example is Lot 272, a pouch-shaped bottle with enameled cartouches depicting western figures of mother and child. The metal stopper has an integral finial and collar decorated with floral blossom. It is of the Qing Dynasty and has the Qianlong four-character mark. The estimate is $2,000-$3,000.

An extensive collection of carved jade personal items such as pendants, thumb rings, garment hooks, jewelry and a white jade belt. This is followed by carved hard stones seals. Outstanding among them is Lot 154, a Qing Dynasty, Jixue boulder carved in relief with nine dragons chasing flaming pearls on a beige Shoushan stand carved with dragon tortoise. It is estimated at $6,000-$10,000. At Lot 193, the carver’s art is distinguished by a Shoushan set of 12 military officials in full armor. Each is crowned with a zodiac animal head and is surmounted on a wooden stand. The set is valued at $6,000-$10,000.

For luxury brand enthusiasts, Lot 125 introduces a Cartier Tank Francaise diamond bezel wristwatch set with a blue cabochon crystal. It will command $6,000-$7,000.

The Sept. 14 sale will be held live at Gianguan Auctions, 295 Madison Ave in Manhattan, with Internet live bidding available through LiveAuctioneers.

Click to view an exclusive video tour of highlights in Gianguan’s Sept. 14 auction, guided by Mary Ann Lum.

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

Lot 61, ‘Stallion and Attendant,’ by Zhao Lin. Ink and color on paper. Yuan Dynasty. signed Zhao Lin, with one artist seal, eight collector seals, 11 emperor seals and five colophons by Zhu Yunming, Wang Chong, Liang Qingbiao, Xu Lin and Dong Bangda. Catalog estimate: $400,000-$500,000. Gianguan Auctions image.

Lot 69, ‘Lotus in the Wind,’ 1943, by Zhang Daqian. Signed Zhang Yuan, with two artist seals $80,000-$100,000. Gianguan Auctions image.

Lot 270, carved green overlay on white ground Famille Rose enamel painted glass snuff bottle carved in relief with plantain leaves. Molded with green overlay cartouches of auspicious crane and deer under a pine tree. Green quartz stopper with finial and bronze collar. Recessed reign mark incised. Qing Dynasty, Qianlong four-character mark. Estimate: $3,000-$4,000. Gianguan Auctions image.

Lot 41, Calligraphy of an emperor, Zhao Ji (Song Huizong), Northern Song Dynasty, inscribed and signed, with two artist seals. Estimate: $13 million-$16 million. Gianguan Auctions image.

Lot 215, a blue and white 16-lobed large bowl painted with 22 children playing in a court garden scene, and the interior four children and Lingzhi and plantain. Ming Dynasty, Xuande six-character double-circled seal mark and of the period. Shi Yang Tang Collections, New York. Estimate: $400,000-$600,000. Gianguan Auctions image.

Reading the Streets: 21st Precinct Show

Ivanorama at the 21st Precinct Show, New York. Photo by Ilana Novick.

NEW YORK – The irony of a graffiti show in a police station was too delicious to ignore entirely, but it was the sheer variety of styles, colors and the excitement of meeting new favorite pieces that made August’s “21st Precinct Show,” curated by Outlaw Art’s Robert Aloia, one of my favorites of the year. It was proof that even in our detached age, a clever concept is no match for witnessing the results of artists given the freedom to go joyfully crazy.

The former police station on East 22nd Street was most recently a shelter, and is soon to be pricey condos (the most luxurious holding cells in history?). For a beautiful, brief moment, however, it was tagged, spray painted, wheatpasted and stickered by an all star cast of artists including Elle, Matt Siren, Adam Dare, Sheryo and the Yok, Bunny M, RAE, Icy and Sot, and so many more.

In one corner was Ivanorama’s stark black and white wheatpaste of a young girl, pigtailed and wide eyed, screaming with her hands at the sides of her face in that classic Macaulay Culkin in Home Alone pose, with the words “NYC will eat you if you let it” written underneath. Even the children know the rent is too damn high.

On the wall of a room that once fingerprinted gangsters and prostitutes were Dali and Picasso, spray-painted into a boxing ring, with the command to “make art” written above. The piece gave no indication of who would win this particular match.

Reading the Streets favorites Icy and Sot contributed a stencil of a boy, faced obscured by a bandana, carrying a Coke tray filled with Molotov cocktails in the shape of soda bottles.

Upstairs, photographer Jesper Haynes recreated his ’90s era darkroom, complete with red lights, red drapes, and photos of the East Village in the late 80s and early ’90s. The Velvet Underground played in the background, as the people next to me chatted about nightclubs and friends and artists who moved on. I may or may not have teared up, but if anyone asks, I blame the heat.

Composure regained, I ended my trip with a visit to Queen Andrea’s room, all abstract neon shapes, including what looked like a sun who decided that yellow was just too limiting, and pink and blue and green and orange were much more appropriate for its special rays.

NYC may eat you if you let it, if you don’t, it just might give you some thrilling art.

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

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