November 2014 - Auction Central News

Charlotte Perriand: Modern design visionary

Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouve and Sonia Delaunay, Bibliotheque from the Maison du Mexique, Ateliers Jean Prouve, France, c. 1952. Enameled aluminum, white pine, mahogany, 72.25 w x 12.75 d x 63 h inches. Hammer price: $126,000. Image courtesy of Wright20.

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BY NOAH FLEISHER
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Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouve and Sonia Delaunay, Bibliotheque from the Maison du Mexique, Ateliers Jean Prouve, France, c. 1952.
Enameled aluminum, white pine, mahogany, 72.25 w x 12.75 d x 63 h inches. Hammer price: $126,000. Image courtesy of Wright20.

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Charlotte Perriand was, by her own accounts, a blank slate.

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As a fully mature, accomplished Modern designer, she eschewed dogma. She chose instead to open her eyes, and her mind, to whatever her surroundings were and just let them be the guiding force for the work. Shortly before her death at age 95, Perriand was interviewed by Art Forum. In response to a question asked by the writer Hendel Teicher, Perriand said: “I have never designed an object, a form, a piece of furniture that I didn’t need to relate to a whole. If you asked me today to design you a chair, I would say, ‘To go where?’ I have no imagination.”

This is not a self-deprecating remark, no false humility; nor is it the deflection of some sycophantic comment. The place of “no imagination” that Perriand spoke of could have come from the mouth of a Zen master, or a wandering ascetic commenting on his mediations in a cave high in the mountains. It is a place of no imagination that might well be compared to the Taoist principle of Wu Wei and Pu, of non-ego and non-identification with self. In short, it is the summation of a master of her form in the waning days of her life; a distillation of the lessons of a life well lived and a craft more than mastered.

Delaunay bibliothèque, 1952 :: Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé and Sonia Delaunay bibliothèque from the Maison de la Tunisie, Ateliers Jean Prouvé and André Chetaille, France, 1952. Enameled aluminum, enameled steel, pine, mahogany. Image courtesy of Wright20.

Charlotte Perriand is a mercurial figure on the Modern Design scene, a woman who infiltrated an almost exclusively male perch and was taken on her own terms, first as a designer, second as a craftsman, and third, if at all, as a woman. She cannot be ignored for being such an early pioneer for women, and in fact should be celebrated, but to reduce her accomplishments by weighing them strictly as a woman’s work compared to a man’s is to diminish her unquestionable design genius. Neither Perriand nor her furniture, nor those of us who see the very height of Modernism in the genesis of her designs, deserve that.

In the pantheon of Modern masters Perriand cannot be ignored. Her work with Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret at the legendary 35 Rue de Sevres in Paris more than assured her design immortality. Such was Perriand’s talent, though, that her work with the pair was simply the beginning to a designer’s dream life. She had deep and abiding friendships with giants of art and architecture of the early Modern movement. She numbered Fernand Léger, Jean Prouvé, Alphonse Moucha and Jose Luis Sert among her confidants and collaborators. Her destiny, however, was never to be simply an attachée to these great artists and designers; Perriand was to find her own voice in it all and emerge every bit as expert and renowned as her counterparts. She lived to see herself celebrated as a treasure of France, and saw the designs she had given her life to fully mature and take flight at the dawn of a new millennium.

Charlotte Perriand, daybed, Editions Steph Simon, France, 1959. Oak, upholstery. Sold with fitted hand-made mattress and pillow. Hammer price: $10,800. Image courtesy of Wright20.

Born in 1903 to a tailor and an haute couture seamstress, Perriand spent her childhood and college years in and around Paris and the surrounding France countryside. She enrolled as a student at Ecole de l’Union Centrale des Arts Décoratifs. She earned her degree in five years, despaired of finding a place to practice her design that wasn’t thoroughly steeped in the crafts-based approach of the Beaux Arts style and finally read Le Corbusier’s 1923 seminal treatise Vers Une Architecture on the advice of a friend.

The biographical material from the 1998 retrospective on her life at The Design Museum in London recalls the first meeting of the pair. Perriand – young, hungry and desperate for meaningful work with the man whose design philosophy she had taken to heart – managed to inveigle a meeting with Le Corbusier. She strode into his studio and suggested that he hire her as a furniture designer. His response was decidedly curt.

“We don’t embroider cushions here,” Le Corbusier told her.

Charlotte Perriand, console from Les Arcs, Savoie, France, c. 1973. Pine, laminate, lacquered wood, chrome-plated steel, enameled steel, 89 w x 14 d x 34.5 h inches. This console was utilized in Miravida of Arc 1800. Two doors conceal one adjustable shelf. Hammer price: $6,000. Image courtesy of Wright20.

Undaunted, at least as history records the moment, Perriand soldiered on. A few months later, the legendary architect was forced to eat his words after seeing Perriand’s glimmering rooftop bar, which she had created out of glass, steel and aluminum for the Salon D’Automne in Paris. Fortunately for us, Le Corbusier apologized to Perriand – an apology which she accepted – and offered her a spot as a designer at his studio. It was in the open lines and gleaming metal of the bar under the stars that the seed of Perriand’s brilliance had been sewn and, in partnership with Le Corbusier and Jeanneret, it would fully flower.

In the decade that Perriand designed in Le Corbusier’s atelier she worked her way up the hierarchy of the organization with a series of brilliant designs. Eventually, as head of the “furniture equipment” division, she would design, in strict adherence with Le Corbusier’s philosophy. The first truly iconic pieces of furniture to bear her name were tubular metal chaise and lounge chairs. The longstanding effect and virtuosity of those pieces is still evident today, as a single look will tell you. Their descendants continue to populate residences, offices and hotels around the globe, and three original examples are in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Charlotte Perriand, headboard from Les Arcs, Savoie, France, 1977-81. Pine, enameled steel. This form was utilized in the residences of La Nova of Arc 1800. Two doors conceal internally lit storage compartment with one recessed shelf. Hammer price: $3,300. Image courtesy of Wright20.

Through the 10 years that the trio worked together, and through another decade on her own and into the early 1950s. Perriand continued to refine her design sense and the ideas that she, Le Corbusier and Jeanneret had introduced to the world in Paris’s Salon D’Automne 1929 – their “Equipment for Living: cabinets, chairs and tables.” The ideas inherent in the exhibition laid out Perriand’s clear desire to understand what she would call in her 1998 autobiography, Vie de Creation, the mechanics of daily life.
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She refined her tastes, broadening her palette to include various types and shades of hard wood, along with occasional bold strokes of primary colors. In virtuosic form she moved away from the very design aesthetic she had helped to create, deconstructing and re-assembling the pieces of the world around her as she saw fit – purposely ignoring the comments of those that wanted her to stick to the same materials and aesthetics – into a cogent design vocabulary that was 100 percent hers.

It was during this 20-year stretch that Perriand would make several important trips abroad, including to Moscow, Greece, Brazil and, most importantly, to Japan in 1940, where she would act as an adviser to the government on arts and crafts. During her stay there, World War II broke out and, designated a resident of a hostile nation, Perriand was forced out of Japan. She could not, however, get back to France because of the Allied naval blockade. Perriand was forced to wait out the final years of the war in French Indochina, now Vietnam. Ever the student, she took the opportunity to absorb the local ways of woodworking and carving, adding a new wrinkle to her formidable playbook. It was to serve her very well.

This period of her life would prove to be among the most fruitful and inspiring of her career. It would equip her with the Zen sensibility that would inform her greatest work, which was yet to come, and teach her to approach each project she undertook with the beginner’s mind, the “no imagination” that would make her one of the best to ever pick up a pen.

The culmination of the first part of Perriand’s career came in the late-1940s and early-1950s, first with a collaboration on a Swiss ski chalet with Léger, then through a pair of collaborations with longtime friend and kindred artistic spirit, the architect Jean Prouvé, in Africa. The pair created the interiors and furniture for the Air France building in Brazzaville, 1950, and then three years later they would partner again for the Hotel de France in Conakry.

From this point, as the 20th century progressed, Perriand would find herself in constant demand and working in close collaboration with those she had known her whole professional life, all the while adding to the catalog of beautiful, harmonious and proportional furniture and accessories that made her a Modernist staple. At the same time as she worked on her projects with Léger, Perriand continued her collaborations with Le Corbusier. Notable among them was the 1950 prototype kitchen for his Unite d’Habitation apartments in Marseilles, as well as the 1959 Maison du Brésil at Cité Universale Universitaire de Paris, along with Brazilian architect Lucio Costa.

Much of the furniture, lighting and accessories that now come up for auction with regularity at the nation’s top Modern auction houses stem from Perriand’s fruitful period of design that began in the 1950s and continued into the late 1960s and early 1970s. Designs created for the 1951 Milan Triennale exhibition, the 1957 League of Nations building in Geneva, 1960s French Tourism office in London and a series of ski resorts in the French Alps region of Savoie that stand as a testament to Perriand to this day. Perriand introduced her clean lines, elegant use of open space and broad mix of world influences to create the chairs, beds, bibliothèques, lighting, and various tables and sofas that expertly populated these buildings, and which command top dollar today from any buyer lucky enough to get their hands on them.

Perriand’s profile diminished through the 1970s and into the 1980s as she took a break from everyday designing to embrace retirement. Modernism experienced a lull in favor and Perriand took the opportunity to spend more time with her family. The stars quickly realigned to highlight her brilliance when, in the mid 1980s, her reputation as a giant of Modernism was polished and set on display during a retrospective of her work at the Musée des Arts-Décoratifs in Paris, and then again with the aforementioned major 1998 retrospective at The Design Museum in London.

By the time Perriand passed away in 1999, she had witnessed the beginning of the Modern revival and the start of the gravitation toward Modern Design that today permeates the entire realm of media and design. It’s difficult to imagine that Perriand didn’t get some serious satisfaction from seeing that good design, well conceived and expertly executed, had an appeal whose time had finally arrived. More than likely, she would have seen it not so much as a confirmation of herself as an artist or designer, but as a validation of the whole of Modernism.

In one of her last interviews, given as the retrospective of her work at the Design Museum was drawing huge crowds and rave reviews, Perriand put it this way: “The most important thing to realize is that what drives the Modern movement is a spirit of enquiry,” she said. “It’s a process of analysis and not a style. We worked with ideals.”

In our modern society, space is at a premium, and the pace of everyday life increasingly spins out of control, Perriand’s “process of enquiry,” infused with her Zen sensibilities and feel for open space, puts her in the top tier of the Modern Design pantheon. Her work reflects the validity of her ongoing commitment to the progression of the idea as opposed to its ultimate outcome. For Perriand, the journey of discovery is what made a design germane, what made her so important to the past and what keeps her still so relevant today.
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Crimean museums launch legal bid in Holland to recover treasures

Old building of the Nederlandsche Bank, now Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Copyrighted image used with permission of Amsterdam Municipal Department for the Preservation and Restoration of Historic Buildings and Sites (bMA)

MOSCOW (AFP) – Four Crimean museums on Wednesday announced a joint legal bid to force a Dutch museum to hand back priceless treasures loaned to the institution shortly before Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

“On November 19, four Crimean museums filed a complaint before an Amsterdam court demanding that the Allard Pierson (museum) return their collection,” said the director of one of the four, Andrei Malgin of the Tavrida museum in Simferopol.

Amsterdam’s Allard Pierson museum in August decided not to return a historic collection of archeological artefacts on loan from the museums for an exhibition titled “The Crimea: Gold and Secrets from the Black Sea.”

With the museums, now under Russian authority, and Ukraine demanding the return of the works, The Allard Pierson feared a legal tussle.

Crimea was at the crossroads of ancient trade routes and the rich collection of items spanning the 2nd century BC to the late medieval era was loaned to the Amsterdam museum less than a month before Russia annexed Crimea in March, splitting it off from Ukraine.

Malgin told AFP that under international law “the objects on display must be returned to where they were discovered and where they were preserved … and that is the museums of Crimea.”

In a joint statement the four Crimea establishments said there could be no question of choosing between Kiev or Moscow.

“The museums of Crimea are the legal owners of the objects,” which have become “hostage of the political situation.”

The Netherlands, like its other allies in the West, does not recognize Russia’s March annexation.

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Miscellaneana: Scent Bottles

A group of stylish 20th century Lalique perfume bottles that would make great gifts and, perhaps, greater investments. The most valuable is the one shown at top right from the limited edition Ondines (Mermaid) collection of 1998. It sold for £280. Photo Ewbank’s Auctioneers

LONDON – Calling all Christmas shoppers: if perfume, bubble bath or aftershave is on your list, remember that the packaging it comes in could be at least as important as the contents.

Once the last bubble in the final bathful has burst, what might once have been discarded would be better put into safekeeping. And if you’re buying for a canny collector, don’t be surprised if she, or he, keeps the contents intact. That’s a true investment strategy.

Two things helped us reach this conclusion: first, we saw a 1998 scent bottle complete with contents with an estimated value of £800-1,200 in a recent sale catalogue. It was made at the factory founded by master French glassmaker Réné Lalique. Then, out on our travels, we found a plastic Rupert Bear bubble bath container — probably some child’s Christmas present 30 years ago – on a collector’s table at an antiques fair. It was priced at £12.

Even the ubiquitous Avon range of toiletries has thrown up some highly collectible and sought-after bottles, notably those in the shape of such things as a golf bag and trolley, Pierrot and Pierrette, rabbit, oil lamp, train, or girl carrying flower basket. There are, no doubt, dozens of others. Although I only have the antiques fair vendor’s word for it, I am told the 1969 vintage Baseball Snoopy aftershave bottle can command a price of £45.

The word perfume comes from the Latin per fumum, “through smoke” and both woman and men have been adorning their bodies with the stuff since ancient Egyptian times.

To please the gods, the Greeks burned aromatic substances in their temples and wrapped their dead in heavily scented shrouds to prepare souls for eternity, or more likely to counteract the smell of decaying flesh.

Pottery scent containers survive from about 600 BC, while the Romans created glass bottles for cosmetic oils. The emperor Nero was a great fan of perfume. He had silver pipes installed in his palace so that his dinner guests could be sprayed with rosewater.

Perfume became popular in Britain as both a cosmetic luxury and for medicinal purposes. The Tudors dusted their hair with sweet-smelling powder to disguise body odor and to drive out lice, while during the Great Plague of 1664-65, pomanders filled with aromatic herbs and creams were carried to ward off germs.

In Renaissance Venice, small highly decorated glass scent bottles were made at the famous Murano glass factories, the most popular being those in colored glass decorated with millefiori and latticino (strands of contrasting coloured glass used as a trelliswork effect). In Bohemia (Germany) during the same period, bottles were made using white glass, decorated with gilding and enamels.

Gold and silver vinaigrettes containing sponges soaked in aromatic oils were popular in Britain but were replaced by pear-shape bottles in the 17th century made from colored and clear glass, enameled copper and gold.

Porcelain bottles made by the Chelsea factory and in neoclassical designs by Josiah Wedgwood were favorites until about 1785.

During the late 18th and throughout the 19th centuries, workers at Battersea, in London and Bilston, near Wolverhampton, and elsewhere in south Staffordshire and Birmingham all copied porcelain scent bottles in copper. The metal was rolled thinly, beaten into shape and then decorated in realistically colored enamels.

The bottles contained glass phials with stoppers to hold the perfume and were decorated with delicately painted flowers, landscapes and classical scenes, the artists Dovey and Hawksford being among the best known.

Novelty perfume bottles made to look like nuts or seashells are popular collectables today, although both porcelain and enamel bottles were faked by Samson in the late 19th century, which can catch out the unwary.

Silver-topped double-ended bottles, in colored glass, cranberry, amber and amethyst also appeared in large numbers, one end for perfume, the other for aromatic vinegar.

English glass makers at Stourbridge in the West Midlands and Nailsea in Bristol produced perfume bottles, the latter being best known for the famous Bristol blue glass.

However, it was the first decade of the 20th century that saw the appearance of the truly decorative glass scent bottle, due largely to innovative Réné Lalique and the “father” of the fragrance industry François Coty. A native of Corsica, Coty arrived in Paris in 1900 with no money but with the entrepreneurial flair to realize the potential of the business.

Until then, perfume had been made using purely natural ingredients by chemists who sold it in plain bottles with no labels only to those wealthy enough to afford it.

Coty spent two years learning the techniques of blending synthetic aromas to achieve the same results for half the price and, using borrowed money, established the House of Coty in 1905.

Lalique, then making a name for himself with stunningly original Art Nouveau glass jewelry and objets de vertu, had a shop nearby. Coty probably saw some of Lalique’s decorative flasks in the shop window and, in 1907, the perfumier commissioned him to design decorative stoppers and labels for his otherwise plain scent bottles.

Sadly, these early bottles are marked with only Coty’s name, although the Lalique designs and gold labels are unmistakable.

Such was their success, Coty commissioned large and impressive deluxe bottles from Lalique which were reserved for only his richest clients. They were intended to be a permanent feature of a lady’s dressing table and could be filled and refilled to special order.

Coty went on to capture the world market. Lalique also capitalized on the venture and quickly established a factory where scent bottles were mass-produced for most of the leading parfumeries.

It was the start of a multimillion-pound industry, the arrival of the age of packaging and the realisation that an elegant and decorative bottle was at least as important as its contents.

Most famous, perhaps, is the Chanel No 5 bottle created by Ernest Beaux in 1921, which has become an icon of 20th-century design and a symbol of elegant luxury everywhere.

The French glassmaking company Baccarat produced perfume bottles for parfumiers like Jean Patou, Elizabeth Arden, Guerlain and Lenthéric, while among other French designers of the period, Marius-Ernest Sabino is best-known, although much of his work was an imitation of Lalique.

At the top end of the collector’s market, 20th-century perfume bottles can fetch many thousands of pounds. At the other end of the scale, those novelty bottles once sold door to door by “Avon Calling” ladies in the Sixties and Seventies can still be picked up for small money.

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Modern Lalique perfume bottles clockwise from top left: Deux Coeurs (Two Hearts), which sold for £140; Les Elfes (The Elves), £260; Les Fees (The Fairies), £220; Papillion (Butterfly), £240: and Songe (Dream). £180. Photo Ewbank’s Auctioneers

Large and small Masque de Femme perfume bottles, the larger from a limited edition of 50, produced in 1998. They sold for £800 and £100 respectively. Photo Ewbank’s Auctioneers

Washington museum won’t give up guns after all

LYNDEN, Wash. (AP) – A small museum in northwestern Washington says it won’t be removing all of the weapons from its World War II exhibit, after all.

The Lynden Pioneer Museum had announced that because of concerns about the state’s new law requiring background checks for gun transfers, it was returning the 11 rifles it had on loan to their owners before the law takes effect next month.

Director Troy Luginbill said he was worried that the nonprofit museum would otherwise have to pay for background checks before it returned the weapons.

But The Bellingham Herald reports that after learning of the issue, the owners of a pawn shop in Bonney Lake offered to do any paperwork required to return the weapons.

“We’re just one of the little guys, helping another little guy,” said Melissa Denny, of Pistol Annie’s Jewelry and Pawn. “I don’t want them to lose their firearms.”

A few of the owners told Luginbill that they don’t want to undergo background checks to get their weapons back, so Luginbill is returning those guns by Dec. 3. But he said the museum should be able to keep at least six of them on display. Luginbill is giving the owners until Monday to decide whether they want their guns to remain in the exhibit, called “Over the Beach: The WWII Pacific Theater.”

The law, passed by voters this month as Initiative 594, was intended to close a loophole in the state’s background-check system. It requires background checks on all gun sales and transfers, including private transactions and many loans and gifts, with exceptions for transfers between family members.

The law also exempts antiques, but the museum’s rifles are too new to qualify. The definition includes only weapons produced before 1898.

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Information from: The Bellingham Herald, http://www.bellinghamherald.com

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Houston art official resigns amid artwork dispute

Night view of the northern end of downtown Houston, a booming metropolis with a vibrant art scene. Wikimedia Commons image licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

HOUSTON (AP) – A Houston Arts Alliance official has resigned amid a dispute over planned artwork for a convention center.

The Houston First Corporation wants a piece of artwork for a new lobby being built at the George R. Brown Convention Center. The Houston Arts Alliance was managing the process on behalf of Houston First to choose an artist.

A five-member selection panel, organized by the alliance, picked Ed Wilson’s plan to build a hanging stainless steel sculpture of about 60 by 30 feet. Wilson said he learned last week the alliance’s civic art committee withdrew his commission for the $830,000 project amid concerns over the selection process.

“It seemed very irregular and very political,” Wilson told the Houston Chronicle.

Matthew Lennon, the alliance’s civic art and design director, resigned Saturday, saying he objected to how Wilson, alliance staff and the selection panel’s professionals were treated.

The civic art committee “is seeking to reject Ed Wilson of a fairly won commission,” Lennon said. “It feels like CAC doesn’t think locals are good enough, despite the mayor’s mandate to hire locals first.”

Alliance executive director Jonathon Glus said Wilson’s commission isn’t dead, but is still in the review process.

“This is a highly visible, important commission. We need to make sure it’s right,” Glus said. “The civic art committee asked at the last meeting to slow it down so they could make sure it’s the right piece and that we’ve got all the right policies and procedures in place.”

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

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‘American Pickers’ looking for leads in northern Louisiana

Mike Wolfe (left) and Frank Fritz, History Channel's American Pickers. Photo courtesy HISTORY.

FARMERVILLE, La. (AP) – Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz have crisscrossed America, looking through barns and basements for dirty, rusty treasures.

Now, the pair wants to bring their show, “American Pickers,” to Louisiana but they’re looking for help.

Lum Farr, president of the Union Parish Chamber of Commerce, tells The Ruston Leader he was contacted by Cineflix, the company that produces the show, now in its fifth season on the History Channel.

“We would love to have them come to Union Parish, and we need the public’s help to make it happen,” Farr said.

Farr said casting producer Anthony Rodriguez emailed him recently about the program, saying he was looking for people with barns, warehouses or buildings full of odd, unique and interesting collections.

“We also love to explore the history of the locations tied to the items. But know Mike and Frank, of course, we are always looking for great characters,” the email said.

But Farr said the show is not looking for large collections of any particular items, such as doll collections. He said they’re looking for people who have a great variety of items they’ve collected over a period of time.

Wolfe and Fritz consider themselves “modern archaeologists” who sort through junkyards and warehouses for items that can be preserved for future generations to appreciate.

“Hitting back roads from coast to coast, the two men earn a living by restoring forgotten relics to their former glory, transforming one person’s trash into another’s treasure,” the show’s website states. “If you think the antique business is all about upscale boutiques and buttoned-up dealers, this show may change your mind _ and teach you a thing or two about American history along the way.”

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Information from: Ruston Daily Leader, http://www.rustonleader.com

Click to read Auction Central News’ highest-rated article of all time, an interview with the American Pickers, at https://www.liveauctioneers.com/news/people/history-channels-american-pickers-have-put-the-man-into-mantiques

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Near-complete Woolly Mammoth skeleton auctioned in UK

Skeleton of 'Monty' the Woolly Mammoth. Image courtesy of Summers Place Auctions

BILLINGSHURST, UK – On Wednesday, one of the most complete known Woolly Mammoth skeletons with tusks sold in England for £189,000. Known as “Monty,” the iconic Ice Age mammal was purchased by a private buyer from the UK.

Because of its impressive size of 3.5 meters (11ft 6in) in height and 5.5 meters (18ft) in length, it was suggested that Monty was a male and may have weighed up to six tonnes (6.72 tons) in its lifetime. The 30,000-50,000 year old creature, which had been in an old private Eastern European collection for years, had never before been assembled prior to arriving at the Summers Place auction house in West Sussex, England.

Errol Fuller, the curator of the auction, said: “Although Mammoth are not as rare as some dinosaur skeletons, the chances to buy an almost complete skeleton don’t come up very often. We had interest from private buyers as well as institutions from around the world…”

The most famous animal of the Ice Age, the Woolly Mammoth died out about 10,000 years ago.

To get an idea of what the Mammoth looked like in its prime, just imagine the elephant of today covered in fur – long fur on top with a shorter undercoat – with smaller ears and a shorter tail to minimize frostbite and heat loss. Mother Nature equipped it well to cope with Ice Age temperatures in the steppe that stretched across northern Eurasia and North America.

The Mammoth’s diet was mainly grass and sedges, which explains why it only had four molar teeth, and also stunning, long curved tusks. The woolly Mammoth co-existed with early humans, who hunted them for food and used its bones and tusks for making art, which also explains why complete skeletons are so rare.

Visit Summers Place online at www.summersplaceauctions.com.

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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

From Kovels: Great tips on setting a Thanksgiving table

Terry Kovel set this table with a beautifully traditional Thanksgiving theme. The focal point is Spode china in the 'Floral' pattern, which was introduced in the 1830s. Image courtesy of Kovels.com

BEACHWOOD, Ohio – Collectors who are setting a table for Thanksgiving can look to Terry Kovel and Kim Kovel for inspiration. Their plate, glassware and serving pieces reflect their different collecting styles (and ages) and here are their choices.

Terry Kovel’s table is traditional. It starts with blue and white porcelain plates in the Floral pattern introduced by Spode in the 1830s. The sterling silver flatware was a wedding gift to a family member just after World War I. The pattern is Trianon. Pieces are marked “I.S. & Co.,” the mark of the International Silver Co., and the patent date, 1921. The water goblet is pressed glass from the 1880s. The silver-plated figural napkin ring, made about 1880, is decorated with Japanese fans. Terry bought the sterling silver open salt with a cobalt blue glass liner while on her honeymoon. It was made in England in the 1830s. She paired it with a Victorian silver salt spoon and a Georgian-style pepper shaker. Serving pieces include a Victorian silver ladle and a Georgian long-handle stuffing spoon, both with English hallmarks, a hefty Victorian silver cold meat fork, and a silver fruit spoon made in the early 1800s that was engraved and gold washed during the Victorian era. The gravy dish, cover and underplate are cobalt blue porcelain decorated with gold chinoiserie and a bamboo-shaped handle. It was made by the Ott & Brewer Co., which operated Trenton, N.J., from 1871 to 1892. Terry also uses a cut glass relish dish from the Victorian American Brilliant Period.

Kim Kovel favors a midcentury tablescape. The dinnerware was designed by Eva Zeisel (1906–2011) for Hall China Co. The organic Tomorrow’s Classic set of shapes is one of Zeisel’s most popular. The plate pattern is Dawn, 1952, and the butter dish and vase are Fantasy, 1952–57. Water goblets are Block Crystal’s Watercolor-Green pattern from 1984. Classic Greek and Roman architecture is reflected in Kim’s stainless steel flatware with handles in the shapes of flattened columns—Doric capitals for spoons, Ionic for knives and Corinthian for forks. They were designed in 1992 by architect Robert Venturi for SwidPowell (a studio founded in 1982 that commissions international architects to design tabletop pieces) and made by Reed & Barton Co. Also reflecting columns are the candlesticks, designed by Ettore Sottsass (1917–2007) for Baccarat. They’re called Bougeoir Nusku from Baccarat’s 2002 Rencontre Collection. The backdrop is a tablecloth woven in the 1950s.

Antiques enthusiasts can add one-of-a kind freshness to their tables with unexpected pairings of new, vintage and old accessories.

Terry Kovel is America’s foremost authority on antiques and collectibles. She is the well-known columnist and author of more than 100 books on antiques and collecting. With her daughter, Kim Kovel, she co-authors the best-selling annual “Kovels Antiques and Collectibles Price Guide.” Both Terry and Kim are collectors.

About Kovels.com:

Kovels.com, created by Terry Kovel and Kim Kovel, provides collectors and researchers with up-to-date and accurate information on antiques and collectibles. Kovels’ Antiques was founded in 1953 by Terry Kovel and her late husband, Ralph. Since then, Kovels’ has published some of America’s most popular books and articles about antiques, including the best-selling “Kovels’ Antiques and Collectibles Price Guide.” The brand new 2015 edition is now available in bookstores and in the online shop at Kovels.com. Ralph and Terry were featured in three TV series about antiques and collectibles, The most recent was “Flea Market Finds with the Kovels” on the HGTV cable channel. The Kovels’ website, online since 1998, offers 900,000 free prices and includes a free weekly email, “Kovels Komments.” It give readers a bird’s-eye view of the market through the latest news, auction reports, a Marks Dictionary, readers’ questions with Kovels’ answers and much more.

Visit Kovels online at www.kovels.com

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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Reflecting her love of modern design, Kim Kovel created this elegant midcentury tablescape using dinnerware designed by Eva Zeisel for Hall China Co. Image courtesy of Kovels.com

Large (18 x 23in) Copeland Spode flow blue turkey platter with hand-colored decoration, English, sold for $989 on Feb. 7, 2010 at Myers Fine Art. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Myers Fine Art

Elite Works Limoges French porcelain game service, 20 pcs including large scalloped platter, 11 dinner plates and eight side dishes, manuf. 1920-1932. Sold via LiveAuctioneers for $1,320 in Jeffrey S. Evans' Oct. 1, 2013 auction. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Jeffrey S. Evans — Elite Works Limoges French porcelain game service, 20 pcs including large scalloped platter, 11 dinner plates and eight side dishes, manuf. 1920-1932. Sold via LiveAuctioneers for $1,320 in Jeffrey S. Evans’ Oct. 1, 2013 auction. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Jeffrey S. Evans

Doulton Watteau flow blue turkey platter (21 x 17in) with six matching plates. Sold for $1,334 by Strawser Auctions on May 24, 2012. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Strawser Auctions

Wheeling Pottery 'La Belle' flow blue turkey platter and 12 plates, circa 1893-1910. Sold for $1,150 at Burchard Galleries' Jan 22, 2006 auction. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Burchard Galleries. — Wheeling Pottery ‘La Belle’ flow blue turkey platter and 12 plates, circa 1893-1910. Sold for $1,150 at Burchard Galleries’ Jan 22, 2006 auction. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers Archive and Burchard Galleries.

American Indian crafted jewelry in high demand at Allard auction

Early 1970s 14K gold necklace with custom beads, squash blossoms and spiderweb turquoise stone. Price realized: $5,750. Allard Auctions Inc. image

MESA, Ariz. – An early 1970s 14K gold necklace set with a #8 spiderweb turquoise stone sold for $5,750 at Big Fall Phoenix, an auction held Nov. 8-9 by Allard Auctions Inc. Approximately 800 lots of American Indian artifacts, art and related collectibles came up for bid.

LiveAuctioneers.com provided Internet live bidding.

The original, one-of-a-kind, 26-inch-long necklace – co-designed by Andrew of Scottsdale and Alexander, Artist in Gold – boasted 26 custom beads and squash blossoms. The naja – the inverted crescent pendant on squash-blossom necklaces, a term coined by the Navajo – was set with a beautiful turquoise stone. The sides were Lone Mountain. The necklace was the top lot of the auction.

“Jewelry was strong across the board, so it didn’t surprise me the necklace did well,” said Steve Allard of Allard Auctions Inc. “Rugs and weavings were also a hit and a couple of the beadwork pieces from a collection in Nebraska got attention.” Some of the other major categories included handmade baskets, Kachina carvings, pottery and clothing. Allard called the auction a success.

Following are additional highlights from the auction. For publication purposes, all prices quoted include a 15 percent buyer’s premium, although the percent may have actually been different on some items, depending on how the bid was placed.

A rare, circa-1980s black-on-black San Ildefonso water bowl, or “spirit bowl,” by Carmelita Dunlap, with cutout access and accompanying ladle changed hands for $2,587. Its cut-in steps represented kiva steps. The bowl was in very good condition except for a tiny scratch and measured 7¼ inches by 11¼ inches.

An early 20th century, hand-crafted white buckskin Mandan war shirt set with matching leggings – both items featuring colorful, finely quilled ornaments, human hair suspensions and painted horseshoes – hammered for $1,840. The set was in excellent condition. The shirt measured 34 inches by 29 inches, while the leggings measured 35 inches by 12 inches.

A circa-1900 deep hard-sided Klickitat basket with intact rim loops and an interior containing 18 rare female figures, in fine condition, rose to $2,300. A Navajo rug made by Agatha Garnenez and measuring 38 inches by 66 inches, with some details – a Two Grey Hills runner – went for $1,955. The weaving won an award at the 1962 Arizona State Fair.

An outstanding pair of fancy parade gloves, or gauntlets, with extended beaded tops having fine floral motifs, well-worn but with the beadwork in very good condition, realized $2,587; and a circa 1970s all-silver squash-style cross Pueblo necklace with sandcast features, turquoise stones and early bench-made dime beads, 33 inches long and in very good condition, breezed to $1,840.

An early 1900s pair of sinew sewn and lazy stitch Arapaho beaded hard-soled moccasins, with a great design and only minor bead loss, went for $1,840. A hand-carved “Tlingit Chief” Shonaha doll, wearing a Chilkat blanket and with a fine Lelooska carved Potlach hat and staff, hit $2,185. A circa-1900 old sinew sewn and lazy stitch beaded two-sided buffalo hide Sioux pipe-and-tobacco bag with traditional geometric designs and faded quilled slat suspensions made $2,415.

Allard Auctions Inc., based in St. Ignatius, Mont., has been selling exclusively American Indian artifacts, art and related collectibles at auction since 1968. The firm is always accepting quality merchandise for future auctions. To inquire about consigning a single piece, an estate or an entire collection, call them at 406-745-0500 or 888-314-0343; or send an e-mail to info@allardauctions.com.

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

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

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Beautiful hand-crafted white buckskin Mandan war shirt and matching leggings, circa early 1900s. Price realized: $1,840. Allard Auctions Inc. image

Rare black-on-black San Ildefonso water bowl, or spirit bowl, by Carmelita Dunlap, circa 1980s. Price realized: $2,587. Allard Auctions Inc. image

Early 1900s pair of sinew sewn and lazy stitch Arapaho beaded hard-soled moccasins, with only minor bead loss. Price realized: $1,840. Allard Auctions Inc. image

Outstanding pair of fancy parade gloves, or gauntlets, with extended beaded tops having fine floral motifs. Price realized: $2,587. Allard Auctions Inc. image

Circa-1900 deep hard-sided Klickitat basket with intact rim loops and an interior containing 18 rare female figures. Price realized: $2,300. Allard Auctions Inc. image

Navajo rug made by Agatha Garnenez and measuring 38 inches by 66 inches. Price realized: $1,955. Allard Auctions Inc. image

Circa 1970s all-silver squash-style cross Pueblo necklace with sand cast features and turquoise stones. Price realized: $1,840. Allard Auctions Inc. image

Hand-carved ‘Tlingit Chief’ Shonaha doll, wearing a Chilkat blanket with a fine Lelooska carved Potlach hat and staff. Price realized: $2,185. Allard Auctions Inc. image

Circa 1900 old sinew sewn and lazy stitch beaded two-sided buffalo hide Sioux pipe-and-tobacco bag. Price realized: $2,415. Allard Auctions Inc. image

Swiss firm to put Napoleon’s hair in 500 watches

Napoleon on his Imperial throne, 1806 painting by Jean Auguste Dominique Inges (French, 1780-1867). Collection of Musee de l'Armee.

GENEVA (AFP) – Napoleon’s admirers will be able to carry his DNA on their wrists after a Swiss company announced Tuesday its plans to sellwatches containing a fragment of the emperor’s hair.

Half-millimeter slices of his locks will be placed inside a limited series of some 500 watches that are to bear the likeness of Napoleon, said Viviane de Witt, CEO of De Witt watchmakers, told AFP.

They will sell for the price of around 8,000 euros ($10,000).

The first surgery-like operation to slice up the hair happened Tuesday in the presence of a bailiff at the De Witt factory in Geneva.

“Napoleon was already quite idolized while he was alive, when he got his hair cut people picked it up and kept it,” De Witt said.

In this case the hair was part of a 1,000-piece trove of Napoleon memorabilia belonging to the royal family of Monaco, which fetched jaw-dropping prices during an auction in mid-November near Paris.

One of the most incredible sale prices was the 1.9 million euros ($2.4 million) a South Korean chicken mogul paid for a hat worn by Napoleon.

De Witt spent a whopping 29,600 euros ($36,900) for items containing Napoleon’s hair at the sale, which had been expected to go for up to 7,000 euros ($8,700).

Viviane de Witt’s husband, the company founder, is a direct descendant of Jerome Napoleon, the youngest brother of the early 19th-century French emperor.

De Witt makes about 1,500 watches per year with a staff of 60.

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Charlotte Perriand was, by her own accounts, a blank slate.

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