February 24, 2015 - Auction Central News

Native American items star in Allard’s Big Spring Phoenix, March 7-8

Large prehistoric Anasazi back-on-white pottery olla found in Tularosa, New Mexico. Estimate: $10,000-$20,000. Allard Auctions Inc. image.

MESA, Ariz. – A large, beautiful and prehistoric Anasazi pottery jar and a circa 1900 Sioux dentalium and tradecloth dress are expected top lots at this year’s Big Spring Phoenix auction, March 7-8, an annual event held by Allard Auctions.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide absentee and Internet live bidding.

This year’s Big Spring Phoenix will feature more than 900 lots of Native American and Western artifacts, art and related collectibles. “This sale will have everything imaginable, from beadwork to pottery, artwork to jewelry, some very nice baskets and much, much more,” said Steve Allard of Allard Auctions Inc, which is based on the Flathead Indian Reservation in St. Ignatius, Montana.

Offered will be a fantastic collection of Anasazi pottery, a private collection of Zuni bolo ties and concho belts, a private katsina doll collection, and fine baskets from California, the Southwest and the Northwest Coast. In addition to baskets, pottery, beadwork and jewelry, lots will feature Navajo rugs, original art, bronzes, many prehistoric items, antiques and other items.

The Anasazi pottery jar, with an estimate of $10,000-$20,000, is a black-on-white olla, or water jar, being offered in rare, as-found condition in Tularosa, a village in Otero Cty., New Mexico. The jar, 11 ¾ inches tall, has some stress cracks, but is intact and sturdy, in very good condition. Anasazi pottery is highly collectible and the jar in the sale is considered to be a superb example.

The Sioux dentalium (tooth shell) and trade cloth dress and yoke are in very good condition. Like the Anasazi jar, it carries an estimate of $10,000-$20,000. It is a rare old 12-row, fully covered and removable dentalium shell yoke with canvas, and the original selvedge tradecloth dress with ribbon and metallic sequin accents. A few shells are missing on the extra large outfit.

A Santa Clara pottery jar made in the mid-1900s by Margaret Tafoya (1904-2001), who was active in Mexico and New Mexico, should change hands for $6,000-$12,000. The gorgeous and large (13 inches by 14 inches) deep-carved blackware storage jar with an Avanyu-style band is in very good condition. Just one small abrasion area on one side is its only blemish.

A Navajo necklace, made around 1974 by Ben Nighthorse Campbell, is a rare early work done in sterling, with sea foam turquoise nuggets and bench-made beads. It was done in the Navajo style, despite the fact that Campbell was actually Northern Cheyenne. It is also the first piece he signed “Nighthorse.” The necklace, 44 inches in length, should fetch $5,000-$10,000.

A Navajo pottery jar, turned in the late 1900s by the award-winning, high-end potter Lucy Leuppe McKelvey, is estimated to bring $2,500-$5,000. The original design jar, titled Whirling Rainbow Goddess of the Windway Chant, shows amazing painted polychrome designs done on mottled clay. It measures 10 ¾ inches in height and 16 ½ inches in width and is in very good condition.

A pair of Navajo rugs or weavings done in the 1940s, are expected to sell for $2,000-$5,000 each. One is a large, vintage Ganado rug with elongated central lozenge and precise details. It is in very good condition and measures 48 inches by 88 inches. The other is a Crystal rug, nearly room-size at 75 inches by 128 inches. It boasts a striking geometric design in still vivid colors.

A gorgeous oil on canvas painting by Fred Fellows (b. 1934), titled A Working Mother, 12 inches by 18 inches (23 inches by 29 inches framed) has an estimate of $2,500-$5,000. The signed work was rendered around the 1980s. Fellows was born in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and now lives and works in Sonoita, Arizona. He is a painter and sculptor who works in the realist style.

Rounding out just a handful of the auction’s expected top lots are a matted and framed collection of original historic artworks pertaining to Asa Battles (b. 1923), including a rare first-edition copy of Fodor’s 1975 book Indian America, plus over 40 pen-and-ink illustrations (est. $2,500-$5,000); and a Shoshone woman’s outfit made circa the 1960s, a sinew sewn flat and lazy stitch beaded white buckskin outfit in very good condition, sized small/medium (est. $3,000-$6,000).

Lots 1-440 will be sold on Saturday, March 7; lots 501-850 will be sold on Sunday, March 8.

Allard Auctions, Inc. has been selling exclusively American Indian artifacts and art at auction since 1968. The firm is always accepting quality merchandise for future auctions. To inquire about consigning call them at 406-745-0500 or toll-free 888-314-0343 or send an email to info@allardauctions.com.

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Navajo Ganado rug or weaving, circa 1940s, 48 x 88 in. Estimate: $2,000-$4,000. Allard Auctions Inc. image.

Santa Clara blackware storage pottery jar by Margaret Tafoya (Ariz./N.M., 1904-2001), with Avanyu-style band. Estimate: $6,000-$12,000. Allard Auctions Inc. image.

Late 1900s Navajo original design pottery jar by Lucy Leuppe McKelvey with painted designs on mottled clay. Estimate: $2,500-$5,000. Allard Auctions Inc. image.

Circa 1974 Navajo necklace by Ben Nighthorse Campbell with sea foam turquoise nuggets and bench-made beads. Estimate: $5,000-$10,000. Allard Auctions Inc. image.

Original oil on canvas painting by Fred Fellows (b. 1934), titled ‘A Working Mother,’ artist signed. Estimate: $2,500-$5,000. Allard Auctions Inc. image.

Outstanding Shoshone woman's sinew sewn flat and lazy stitch beaded white buckskin outfit, circa 1960s, small/medium. Estimate: $3,000-$6,000. Allard Auctions Inc. image. — Outstanding Shoshone woman’s sinew sewn flat and lazy stitch beaded white buckskin outfit, circa 1960s, small/medium. Estimate: $3,000-$6,000. Allard Auctions Inc. image.

Rare Sioux 12-row fully covered, removable shell yoke with canvas; a dentalium and trade cloth dress, circa 1900. Estimate: $10,000-$20,000. Allard Auctions Inc. image.

Bertoia’s gears up for Mar. 27-28 auction of Max Berry toys, banks

Mickey Mouse tin mechanical bank, Saalheimer & Strauss, Germany, circa 1930s, lithographed tin, one of four in the rare series, est. $18,000-$22,000. Bertoia Auctions image

VINELAND, N.J. – In describing what awaits bidders on March 27-28 when Bertoia Auctions presents Part II of Washington attorney Max N. Berry’s antique toy and bank collection, gallery associate and auction coordinator Rich Bertoia offered an analogy from the motion-picture world.

“When they do a sequel in Hollywood, it’s never as good as the original, but the follow-up to Part I of Max’s collection, which we auctioned last November, will be a blockbuster,” he said.

The auction of just over 500 lots, with absentee and Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers, is devoted exclusively to selections from Berry’s extraordinary lifetime assemblage of rare mechanical banks, early American tin and horse-drawn toys, as well as bell toys and penny toys. Additionally, the lineup will be peppered with other toys that captured Berry’s fancy over the years, like hand-painted German tin toys, a Mickey Mouse Hurdy Gurdy and other comic character rarities. “If it appealed to Max, he bought it – but it had to be something really special for that to happen,” Bertoia said.

Almost 200 mechanical banks are entered in the March event, many come with provenance from legendary bank collections. Some are of a caliber so high, they don’t show up at auction more than once in a 20-year stretch, Bertoia said. “This will be one of those very unusual sales where even advanced collectors can find some of those near-apocryphal banks that have eluded them for so long,” he said.

A top highlight is a Stevens “Darky Kicking Watermelon” bank, one of only three known to either Bertoia’s or the experts who were called in to assess and catalog the collection (Oliver Clark, Russ Harrington and Mike Caffarella). The bank was formerly held in the Stan Sax collection and will be auctioned with a $200,000-$300,000 estimate.

Another high-profile bank is Berry’s Jerome Secor Freedman’s Bank, which has a rich trail of provenance, starting with its purchase in 1939 from dealers in Mexico. The buyer, who paid $8 for it, was a pioneer collector and banker from Fostoria, Ohio, named Andrew Emerine. From Emerine, the African-American-themed bank passed to another legendary collector, Mosler Safe Company president and CEO Edwin H. Mosler Jr. After Mosler, the bank’s next owner was Stanley P. Sax, whose collection was auctioned by Bertoia’s in 1998. It was at that auction that Max Berry acquired the bank, and it instantly became one of his most treasured possessions. It is cataloged in the March 27-28 auction with a presale estimate of $150,000-$200,000. All existing receipts and other written provenance will convey with the bank.

Other top-notch cast-iron banks set to cross the auction block include a Santa-themed Zig-Zag bank – a possibly unique survivor of cast-iron, tin and cloth that Bertoia described as having “a very clever action. You put a penny on top of Santa’s head, the coin zig-zags down, and a jack-in-the-box springs up. There should be hands up in the air all over the auction room for this bank. It’s a favorite with collectors.” Zig-Zag is estimated at $125,000-$175,000.

A red-version Mikado bank is expected to sell for upward of $75,000, while an Organ Grinder and Bear, possibly the only extant example with a movable arm on the grinder, is estimated at $10,000-$12,000.

Three extremely desirable banks made of lead are found in the Berry collection, including two designed by Charles A. Bailey: A Chinaman in Rowboat, estimate $80,000-$90,000; and a Cat and Mouse in beautiful condition. A third lead rarity, patented in 1905 but of unknown manufacture, is the Blacksmith bank. It will be offered together with a 1940 photo of its designer, Ohioan Fred Plattner, then age 80, seated and holding the bank.

An array of wonderful tin banks includes an Empire Cinema, $15,000-$20,000; a colorful, hand-painted William Weeden Ding Dong Bell, $60,000-$75,000; and two more Saalheimer & Strauss Mickey Mouse banks that complete the coveted four-bank series that was introduced during last November’s sale.

Horse-drawn cast-iron toys include several variations of Spyder Phaetons, by Hubley and Kenton, respectively, that typify luxury auto travel of the early 20th century. The selection also includes an elegant Pratt & Letchworth Barouche, $10,000-$12,000; a fleet of Hubley Circus wagons and bandwagons; a Kyser & Rex Cage Wagon with a bear, lion and other animal figures, $8,000-$10,000; and a very rare Kenton Uncle Sam nodder horse-drawn toy, $6,000-$8,000. A 28-inch-long Pratt & Letchworth Caisson drawn by four horses is the only example known to Bertoia’s. “It’s in jaw-dropping condition,” Rich Bertoia said. “We expect it to sell above $50,000.”

Max Berry’s fondness for American cast-iron bell toys was always common knowledge amongst collectors, said Bertoia. “His is one of the most complete collections of its type, and it includes a number of toys with amusing themes.” The collection’s early American hand-painted tin “pull” bell toys create a virtual menagerie of animals – horses, dogs, sheep, goats, elephants and more. Also, there are many that depict ladies riding horses.

American hybrid toys of hand-painted tin with cast-iron wheels include J & E Stevens velocipedes, Althof Bergmann goat-drawn wagons, and an especially nice figure of a girl pushing a suffragette on wire wheels. The latter toy could reach the $15,000 range.

Many years ago, Max Berry purchased a major collection of penny toys. He continued to build on to it, increasing not only its volume but also the breadth of subject matter depicted by the miniature tin artworks. Part II of Berry’s penny toy lineup includes two different styles of Bavarian Dancers, Girl in a Swing, Girl in a Gondola, Boy Catching Butterfly, a rare Rabbit Pushing a Basket, and a Roundabout amusement park ride.

In summarizing what lies in store on March 27-28 when Bertoia’s hosts the second exciting sale of Max Berry’s collection, auction company owner Jeanne Bertoia commented: “If you liked Part I, you’ll love Part II. And just as before, we’re making sure the auction is a fitting tribute to Max, who has done so much for the toy and bank-collecting hobby. Our gallery will be a hospitable setting where everyone can enjoy good food and conversation as they browse and preview one of the all-time great collections, which we are so honored to present at auction.”

To contact Bertoia’s about any item in the March 27-28, 2015 auction of the Max N. Berry collection, Part II, call 856-692-1881 or email toys@bertoiaauctions.com.

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

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Mary and Her Little Lamb bell toy, Gong Bell Mfg. Co., considered the finest known example, provenance: Covert Hegarty collection, est. $3,000-$3,500. Bertoia Auctions image

Zig-Zag mechanical bank, manufacturer unknown, patent applied for in 1889, extremely rare, provenance: Seaman’s Savings Bank, NY, Al Davidson and Stan Sax collections, est. $125,000-$175,000. Bertoia Auctions image

‘Darky Kicking Watermelon’ mechanical bank, J. & E. Stevens Co., designed by Charles A. Bailey, patented 1888, one of four known examples, provenance: Wally Tudor, F. H. Griffith, Leon Perelman and Stan Sax collections; est. $225,000-$300,000. Bertoia Auctions image

Cast-iron Woman at Sewing Machine, attributed to Sandt, rear lever activates head and hand motions when turned, provenance: Donal Markey Collection, est. $8,000-$12,000. Bertoia Auctions image

Pratt & Letchworth horse-drawn Flying Artillery, polychrome-painted cast iron, two mounted soldiers and four seated figures, 33½ inches long, provenance: Bill Bertoia collection, est. $30,000-$40,000. Bertoia Auctions image

Welker Crosby barouche with driver, drawn by two black horses sporting blue blankets, 17 inches long, provenance: Paul Dunigan collection, est. $12,000-$15,000. Bertoia Auctions image

Girl Pushing Hoop toy, manufactured by George Brown, circa 1890s, depicts William Goodwin girl in cloth dress ‘pushing’ a tin hoop toy, with Suffragette figure holding American Flag at center, est. $10,000-$12,000. Bertoia Auctions image

Clockwork hoop toy with cloth-cressed boy holding American Flag, George Brown, circa 1880, est. $8,000-$10,000. Bertoia Auctions imagen

Freedman’s Bank, mechanical, manufactured by Jerome B. Secor, Bridgeport, Conn., circa 1880, one of fewer than 10 known examples, inspired by the emancipation of slaves, provenance: Emerine, Mosler, and Stan Sax collections; est. $150,000-$200,000. Bertoia Auctions image

Tibetan bronze figure stands out in I.M. Chait auction March 8

Heavy Tibetan polychrome bronze standing Lokeshwor, 27 1/4 in. high. Estimate: $5,000-$7,000. I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers image

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – A Tibetan bronze standing Lokeshwor is one of the top items in an Asian art, antiques and estates auction that I.M. Chait Gallery / Auctioneers will conduct on Sunday, March 8.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide absentee and Internet live bidding.

The heavy polychrome bronze deity stands 27 1/4 inches high atop a lotus base with removable flaming mandorla behind. It has a $5,000-$7,000 estimate.

Also featured in the 557-lot auction are:

A collection of Chinese and Japanese porcelains from a Midwest collection, including blue and white and colored wares;
Numerous old and antique Chinese snuff bottles from a Chicago collection;
Sino-Tibetan gild bronzes together with Chinese blue and white porcelains from a Pasadena collection estate;
Numerous Chinese carved jades including nephrite and jadeite together with agates from a Midwest collection;
A collection of Sino Tibetan thankas together with antique furniture from a Beverly Hills estate;
A pair of antique Chinese famille rose porcelains together with antique Southeast Asian bronzes and Pre-Colombian from a Laguna Nigel, California collection;
Antique Chinese and Japanese bronzes together with antique porcelains from a La Habra, California estate;
A group of early Chinese ceramics including Ming, Tang and Han from a Beverly Hills estate.

The auction will begin at 11 a.m. Pacific Time. For details contact I.M. Chait Gallery / Auctioneers by phone at 310-285-0182 or via email at chait@chait.com.

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Four antique Southeast Asian carved wood Buddhas; all seated in half-lotus position with hands in ‘Earth Witness’ and serene expression. The tallest is 8 in. Estimate: $400-$600. I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers image

Three Chinese paper scrolls: two ink and color, one depicting a falcon upon a perch, another a vulture on a ledge; together with ink and wash on paper depicting grazing donkeys, inscription and seal marks to each; 40 in. x 22 in. (largest). Estimate: $300-$400. I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers image

Old Chinese saddlebag rug, depicting a deer looking at a bird, wear and flaws noted, 59 in. long. Estimate: $150-$200. I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers image

Pre-Columbian ceramic figural vessel, 15 1/4 in. high. Estimate: $750-$1,000. I.M. Chait Gallery/Auctioneers image

Diverse offerings spur strong sales at Moran’s Feb. 17 auction

Collectively realizing over $110,000, this set of three Noguchi ‘Rudder’ stools and table was consigned by the original Chicago owner. John Moran Auctioneers image

PASADENA, Calif. – Presenting a catalog peppered with a number of pleasant surprises, Moran’s Feb. 17 decorative art auction proved attractive for collectors across a number of specialties, including modern decorative art enthusiasts, collectors of fine silver and those whose tastes run more toward traditional French furnishings, with sales running well over half a million dollars.

LiveAuctioneers.com facilitated Internet live bidding.

The 20,000-square-foot auction floor within the Pasadena Convention Center was packed to capacity with offerings. The cataloged session alone comprised 252 lots, with an uncataloged discovery auction offering an additional 200 pieces.

Modern and contemporary prints earned excellent sale prices, including a color pouchoir on paper by Henri Matisse (1869-1954 French) from his “Jazz Suite”, dated 1947. La Nageuse Dans L’Aquarium (The Swimmer in the Aquarium) carried an initial estimate of $10,000 to $15,000 and found a buyer at the high estimate. After competitive bidding via telephone with every available line reserved, Roy Lichtenstein’s (1923-1997, New York) Best Buddies, dated 1991, found a new home for $18,000, within the estimate range of $12,000 to $18,000. A private collector purchased both of the Mixographias by Mexican artist Rufino Tamayo (1899-1991) on offer in Tuesday’s auction, including Pajaro Liberado (Freed Bird), which was assigned an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000 and exceeded expectations with a final price of $7,500.

Moran’s received a collection of more than 50 photographs from a local Los Angeles collector, with subjects ranging from show business celebrities to American presidents. Two photographs by Helmut Newton (1920-2004 German) exceeded expectations. The first, a quirky portrait titled Maria Felix at home in Cuernavaca, was estimated to bring $800 to $1,200 and achieved an excellent selling price of $3,250. The second work, carrying the same estimate, was titled Vincent Price at the Magic Castle; that portrait found a buyer at $2,300.

Echoing John Moran’s successful February 2013 auction, a set of three Isamu Noguchi “Rudder” stools and one table, models IN-22 and IN-20 respectively, were offered in this catalog, and exceeded expectations. Hailing from a single-owner collection in Chicago, the set was purchased new directly from the Herman Miller showroom in the 1950s. Evidently, the consignor’s 1950s investment paid off, as the stools each earned between $25,000 and $27,500 hammer and the table brought a very respectable $17,000. The Noguchi lots earned a combined sum of over $110,000 including buyer’s premium.

Decorative highlights included art glass, silver and bronzes. One of the most notable examples was a Loetz iridescent art glass vase of unusual undulate form that sent collectors into a frenzy. Sent to the block early in the auction, the piece sold for an impressive $8,400 to a determined telephone bidder, well over the conservative $400 to $600 estimate.

A handsome Tiffany & Co. sterling silver table vase from a private Pasadena collection went to a private collector for $4,500 (estimate: $2,000 to $3,000). A two-piece lot of diminutive cold painted bronze female figures performed within expectation, ending up with an $1,800 price tag (estimate: $1,000 to $2,000). Finally, a charming gilt bronze and white metal-mounted Dutch tortoiseshell box accompanied by a letter certifying its purchase via a 1929 auction at the Danish palace was offered with a $1,000 to $1,500 estimate, selling online for $1,630.

Traditional Continental and French furniture and decorative arts were well represented in the sale. A Regence-style gilt bronze-mounted vitrine cabinet with an impressive central Vernis Martin door, found to have one mount faintly stamped “PS” and therefore possibly by maker Paul Sormani (1817-1887 Paris), surpassed the conservative initial estimate and delighted the Pasadena area consignor by earning $60,000 at the auction block. A pair of neoclassical torchieres with armor-clad figures supporting four-light standards garnered a fair amount of presale interest. Expected to find a buyer for between $3,000 to $5,000, the set earned $4,200. An impressive early 20th century Rococo-style carved giltwood marble-top table sold to a floor bidder for just over the estimated $2,500 to $3,500 range, bringing $4,200.

One of the most extraordinary lots offered in the sale was an intriguing Italian Renaissance automaton cabinet, informally named the Mystery Cabinet, offered for $6,000 to $8,000, which earned $9,600. Dubbed an “engine d’esbattement” by French Renaissance contemporaries, the piece is a rather mild iteration of automatons commissioned by European Renaissance-era aristocrats meant to tease, embarrass and/or delight their guests. This particular cabinet calls into question the character of a particular lady of the Rucellai family, who is revealed to be a devil when the viewer moves to expose her partially obscured portrait. Facing competition from multiple online bidders, a telephone buyer proved successful in taking the oddity home.

Additional highlights included a Bacon Banjo Co. tenor banjo, circa 1930, which incited a fervor of online interest and sold for $1,560 (estimate: $800 to $1,200). Shortly after, a Swiss-made Bolex H-16 REX-4 16mm film camera in excellent working condition realized $1,200 (estimate: $300 to $500).

Select works of fine art did quite well, with the majority of the higher-earning works from California artists. A work by Emil J. Kosa Jr. (1903-1968 Los Angeles) featuring a seated clown holding an accordion was one of a number of circus-themed artworks offered in Moran’s February auction. The offbeat portrait found a buyer for a respectable $3,500, well over the $1,000 to $2,000 estimate. A jewel-toned landscape by Carmel, Calif. painter Nell Walker Warner (1891-1970) from a Washington estate sold for $1,680, squarely within the $1,200 to $1,800 estimate. A large-scale oil on canvas by Los Angeles-born Frank Bowers (1905-1964) depicting buccaneers on a beach charmed quite a few bidders in attendance, one of whom was successful at $1,080. Capturing an unexpected vantage point from above Seattle’s iconic Space Needle, San Francisco watercolorist Jack Laycox’s (1921-1984) aptly titled composition Space Needle found a new home for $1,882 (estimate: $700 to $1,000).

John Moran is seeking consignments for the April 21 decorative art and May 5 fine jewelry auctions. Interested parties are invited to contact John Moran Auctioneers directly for more information regarding the consignment process. Friendly and knowledgeable specialists are readily available by phone: 626-793-1833 or via email: info@johnmoran.com.

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‘Best Buddies’ by Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997 New York), estimated to bring $12,000 to $18,000, attained $18,000 at John Moran’s Feb. 17 auction. John Moran Auctioneers image

This large Loetz iridescent art glass vase wildly exceeded expectations when it sold for $8,400, largely due to its unusual form. Its estimate was $400 to $600. John Moran Auctioneers image

With gilt bronze mounts very possibly by the celebrated French bronzier Paul Sormani (1817-1887), this elegant Regence style Vernis Martin vitrine cabinet sold for $60,000 (estimate: $5,000 to $7,000). John Moran Auctioneers image

This Italian Renaissance automaton cabinet was offered at Moran’s February Auction with an estimate of $6,000 to $8,000 and found a buyer for $9,600. John Moran Auctioneers image

One of the most popular lots in John Moran’s February auction was this ‘Eucalyptus’ landscape by Carmel, Calif., artist Nell Walker Warner, which earned $1,680 (estimate: $1,200 to $1,800). John Moran Auctioneers image

Toledo Museum of Art to return artifact to Germany

The Toledo Museum of art will return this astronomical compendium or astrolabe to a museum in Gotha, Germany. Image courtesy of Toledo Museum of Art

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) – A 450-year-old German artifact that was used to tell time and to make astronomical calculations will be returned to a German museum from which it was likely stolen after World War II, according to the Toledo Museum of Art.

The device, called an astronomical compendium or astrolabe, disappeared from the Gotha Museum in Gotha, Germany, sometime in 1945.

“This was a one-of-a-kind scientific device,” said Brian Kennedy, president and director of the Toledo museum. “It’s sad to see it go, but it’s not ours.”

American troops occupied Gotha in eastern Germany in April 1945 near the end of World War II, but were replaced by Russian forces a few months later. Many of the museum’s collections were moved in 1945 to the former Soviet Union, and Gotha later became part of East Germany.

The astronomical device, though, was one of the few items from the museum that didn’t end up in the Soviet Union. Instead, it landed in the hands of a New York art dealer before it was sold for $6,500 in 1954.

The museum in 2013 received a letter from the director of the Gotha Museum, saying that it found out about the piece in Toledo and believed it was theirs.

Kennedy said they reviewed documentation, including photographs, from the Gotha Museum and determined that the piece on display in Toledo was “most likely one and the same.”

The two museums then reached an agreement to get the historically valuable piece back to its rightful owner, Kennedy said.

“We’ve recognized there’s been a cultural shift in how museums conduct themselves,” he said. “There’s much more scrutiny in how museums obtain their objects and transparency now.”

This is the fourth time since 2010 that the Toledo museum has returned art that belonged to someone else.

Last year, the museum announced that an 11th-century Indian statue was likely stolen from an Indian temple. The museum bought the small bronze statue from a New York dealer now charged in India.

The institution also returned a mermaid figure stolen during World War II to a German museum in 2011 and an illegally looted ancient water jug to Italy in 2013.

AP-WF-02-22-15 2003GMT

Nebraska museum exhibition waves wartime quilts

A new exhibit opening March 6 features quilts made during wartime. Pictured is 'Madison Township Memorial of the World War,' a quilt made by Alice Hedderick, circa 1918 in Indiana. Image courtesy International Quilt Study Center and Museum.

LINCOLN, Neb. – A new exhibition at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum will explore the role quilts had throughout history during wartime. “Covering the War: American Quilts in Times of Conflict” opens at UNL’s Quilt House, 1533 N. 33rd St., March 6 and will be on display through Nov. 21.

“Covering the War” features 10 quilts spanning 150 years of history, beginning with the Mexican-American War through Operation Iraqi Freedom. While other exhibitions have focused on quiltmaking during a single war, few have examined the similarities of quilts from multiple wars.

“These wars altered life on the home front significantly, and by looking at quilts from each war, we can see how personal these effects were to ordinary people,” said Jonathan Gregory, assistant curator of exhibitions. “The quilts in ‘Covering the War’ give glimpses into these stories, and how women’s patriotic and charitable work during the wars gave them expanded postwar opportunities.”

The exhibition will also showcase two recent acquisitions to the center’s collection. The first is an 1898 album quilt from the Spanish-American War. The quilt was donated by Bill Volckening, a rising quilt collector, and is inscribed with embroidered names of President William McKinley and other high-ranking political and military officials.

The second quilt, “Madison Township Memorial of the World War,” was made circa 1918. The piece features blue stars to honor soldiers serving in the war from Madison Township, Indiana, while gold stars remember those who died in the war. Red crosses on the quilt honor nurses who served in the war.

“Every time we get a significant quilt like this, it adds great value to our collection, because it’s a representation of history,” said Carolyn Ducey, the center’s curator of collections. “It’s a tangible link to an important part of our past.”

The museum also borrowed a rare U.S. Sanitary Commission quilt from the collection of the Barbara Knapp Trust for display. According to an inscription on the album quilt, it was “presented to the Soldiers (cq)” on behalf of the Sanitary Commission. Though commission volunteers made thousands of quilts during the Civil War, only a handful – including this one – are known to still exist bearing the commission’s stamp.

The museum is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, go to http://www.quiltstudy.org .

Heirs of Jewish art dealers sue Germany for Guelph Treasure

Dome reliquary, late 12th century, from the Guelph Treasure (Kunstgewerbemuseum Berlin). Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

BERLIN (AFP) – U.S. and British heirs of Nazi-era Jewish art dealers have sued Germany for the return of a medieval art treasure worth $250-300 million (220-260 million euros), their lawyers said Tuesday.

At stake in the case filed Monday before a U.S. district court in Washington is the Guelph Treasure or “Welfenschatz” of more than 40 gold, silver and gem-studded church relics.

The suit, the latest twist in a legal tussle dating back to 2008, targets the German government and the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, which is exhibiting the collection in a Berlin museum.

The U.S. lawyers, presenting their case in Berlin Tuesday, said four Jewish collectors had to sell the artworks in a “sham transaction” far below their fair market price in 1935 under duress from the Nazis.

“The Jewish people who owned this art had their property squeezed out of them while their lives and the lives of their families were at risk,” said U.S. lawyer Nicholas O’Donnell.

The lawsuit argues that “such transactions in Nazi Germany were by definition coercive, voidable and should not be considered valid.”

Germany has argued the four dealers received a fair market price from the state of Prussia then led by Hermann Goering, the Gestapo secret police founder and air force chief.

In March last year Germany’s advisory body on cases of suspected Nazi-looted art, the Limbach Commission, said it saw no evidence of “a persecution-induced forced sale” and that the price was normal following the 1929 Wall Street crash.

The panel, whose rulings are nonbinding, argued that in 1935 all sides had voluntarily consented to the deal for the treasure, which was then being held out of the Nazis’ reach in Amsterdam.

The foundation said Tuesday it was “surprised and disappointed” by the lawsuit, saying it was unaware of any new evidence that would justify revisiting the commission’s recommendation.

The Guelph Treasure, now exhibited in Berlin’s Museum of Decorative Arts, originally numbered over 80 pieces dating from the 11th to 15th centuries.

The Duke of Brunswick sold off the collection in 1929, with many pieces bought by the Jewish consortium.

The city-state of Berlin said last week it had placed the Guelph Treasure, the largest publicly owned collection of German ecclesiastical art, under national heritage protection, meaning it may only leave the country with permission of the minister for culture.

Chubb survey: spending on art, antiques will continue strong in 2015

WARREN, N.J., – An overwhelming majority of 445 respondents (83 percent) to a survey at the recent Winter Antiques Show in New York plan to increase (39 percent) or keep their spending on arts and antiques the same (44 percent) in 2015. The survey, which was conducted by the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, also found that only 7 percent plan to decrease their spend, and 10 percent do not intend to make an art or antique purchase this year.

“Buyers’ appetites are clearly not satiated – even after 2014, when 42 percent of survey respondents increased their spending on art and antiques,” said Melissa Lalka, vice president and worldwide fine art manager for Chubb Personal Insurance. “Increased buyer activity, coupled with record-setting sales reported by the leading auction houses, can significantly impact art values – and collectors should keep in mind that their art and antiques can become alarmingly underinsured.”

The survey also found that 32 percent of respondents believe they already have adequate coverage under their current homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy for newly acquired works. Thirty-four percent would purchase new or additional coverage, and 21 percent said that they are unsure about their coverage and would need to check with their agent, broker or insurance company. Thirteen percent said they do not insure their art.

“It’s always a good idea to check with your agent and broker,” advised Lalka. “A standard homeowner’s policy provides relatively little coverage for art and antiques. Depending on the value of your purchases, there’s a good chance they should be itemized on your policy, or that you may need the broader coverage provided by a valuable articles policy.”

Lalka also suggested that collectors appraise their collections at least every three to five years and to have their agents or brokers adjust the level of coverage accordingly. For rapidly appreciating works, she suggested updating appraisals every one to two years to ensure they remain fully covered by insurance in the event of a loss.

The survey also asked collectors why they purchase art and antiques. Fifty-six percent said they do so out of passion, 3 percent for investment opportunity and 38 percent for both.

Chubb was the presenting sponsor of the 61st annual Winter Antiques Show, building on its 19-year affiliation with one of the top international fine art and antiques events. The 2015 show ran from Jan. 23 to Feb. 1 and featured 73 exhibitors of fine and decorative art.

Chubb is a leading provider of insurance for private collectors of art, antiques, jewelry and other valuable possessions. Chubb’s Masterpiece® Valuable Articles policy provides worldwide coverage for fine art and antiques, jewelry, furs, silverware, musical instruments, stamps, coins and other collectibles. The policy includes coverage for breakage, mysterious disappearance and newly acquired items, as well as inflation protection.

For more information regarding the Chubb Corporation, including a listing of the insurers in the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, visit www.chubb.com.

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