DOYLESTOWN, Pa. (AP) – The group had come to the Doylestown museum for a program that uses meditation to deepen the appreciation of art.
But Maria Starr wasn’t expecting the objet du contemplation to be a coffee table.
Yet there it was at the James A. Michener Art Museum: a tree trunk transformed by the famed George Nakashima Studio. Would deep breaths and a dose of mindfulness help illuminate the artistry in a walnut table as it had for a landscape painting?
Starr and 11 other museumgoers sat down around the table and closed their eyes.Continue reading
NEW YORK (AP) – A Canadian antiques dealer caught in a U.S. crackdown on illegal trafficking in rhinoceros horns was sentenced to two and a half years in prison Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain announced Xiao Ju Guan’s sentence in Manhattan federal court, where she said Guan had “helped to feed a hot market for these goods.”
The 39-year-old antiques dealer, also known as Tony Guan, pleaded guilty last year to attempted smuggling after he was caught in a probe dubbed “Operation Crash.” He admitted he tried to bring two black rhinoceros horns from New York to British Columbia, where he owns an antiques business in Richmond.
Guan said he knew he was violating the law when he sought to smuggle more than $400,000 of rhino horns and sculptures made from elephant ivory and coral, falsely labeling them as “handicrafts.” The illegal trade has contributed to critical declines in elephant and rhino populations.
He was arrested in March 2014 after he flew from Vancouver, Canada, to New York City and bought two endangered black rhinoceros horns from undercover special agents with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at a storage facility in the Bronx, the government said.
Prosecutors said he was driven by the undercover agents to a nearby express mail store where he mailed the horns to an address in Point Roberts, Washington, less than a mile from the Canadian border and 17 miles from his business, Bao Antiques.
The government said a search of Guan’s business turned up nine wildlife objects identified as items bought in the United States through a New York City-based Internet auction business. Prosecutors said Canadian law enforcement also recovered illegal narcotics, including about 50,000 ecstasy pills, during the search.
Copyright 2015 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) – Bidders in Romania have spent 50,000 euros ($55,000) buying Communist memorabilia in an auction that included items belonging to the late Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu.
The star lot was a Communist Party card issued to Ceausescu in 1954, when it was known as the Worker’s Party. It was sold for 2,000 euros ($2,200), seven times the asking price, sparking applause in the room.
Dozens attended the auction Wednesday night at the 19th-century Athenee Palace Hotel, a Bucharest landmark. Bids also came in by phone and online for the items, some luxurious, others of historical interest.
Ceausescu led one of the most repressive regimes in Eastern Europe, but some remain fascinated with his life 25 years after he and his wife Elena were deposed and executed during the 1989 revolution.
The party card shows Ceausescu’s father was a member of the center-right Liberal Party and the family were landowners – surprisingly middle-class origins for a leader who championed the rights of the masses.
A woman who outbid everyone to buy the card swiftly left the auction, saying she would donate it to a museum.
Ceausescu’s flat cap, which he wore with everything including suits, sold for 350 euros ($385).
Other items included posters warning against AIDS that were never made public, because Ceausescu banned public knowledge of the disease.
Artmark auction house said Thursday that 78 of the 116 items were sold.
Copyright 2015 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
, Pa. – The soft shine of old silver and the stunning artistry of stained and leaded-glass windows will greet bidders at Morphy’s Saturday, April 4 Fine & Decorative Arts Auction. More than 600 lots will be offered, with all forms of bidding available, including absentee and live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers. Start time is 9 a.m. Eastern.
Dozens of categories are listed in the catalog, including fine jewelry, pottery, silver, inkwells, coins, paintings, art glass, canes, clocks and historical ephemera. Additionally, there are antique telephones and a cast-iron selection that includes figural doorstops.
“This is just the type of event that attracts collectors who like to buy ‘off the grid,’ and by that I mean auctions that aren’t focused on just a single, specific category. You never know what you’ll find in an auction with this much variety, and as is the case with all Morphy events, the level of quality across the board is very high,” said Dan Morphy, president and founder of Morphy Auctions.
Highlights within the decorative arts section start with Lot 495, a beautiful silver-overlay art glass vase executed primarily in peacock blue. Its estimate is $1,500-$2,500. Lot 417, a 9½-inch Rookwood vase with foliate theme was designed by Rose Fechheimer and is estimated at $1,000-$2,000. An impressive 33-inch, squeezebag-decorated Roseville jardinière with pedestal has an Art Nouveau landscape motif and is artist-initialed “H.S.” (Helen Smith) and “E.D.” Entered as Lot 457, it is expected to make $1,000-$1,500.
Sixteen leaded and stained-glass windows will be offered consecutively from Lots 522-537. Many are large, measuring 47 by 51 inches. Some have cathedral-shape designs; others are rounded or profusely decorated with floral images. All display a high standard of artistry. Estimates range from $100 at the low end to $800 at the top.
An extensive selection of American, English and Continental silver includes every imaginable vessel, as well as flatware, serving pieces and candlesticks. An outstanding example of ornate, repousse artistry, Lot 254 is a Stieff sterling silver flower vase shaped as a spray-form basket with upright handle. Standing 18 inches tall and weighing 46.3 ozt, it is cataloged with a $6,000-$8,000 estimate.
Several music boxes will cross the auction block. Among them is Lot 374, a rare enameled box with a feathered “singing” bird. It plays well and could reach $3,000-$6,000.
The highest-estimated artwork in the sale is Lot 548, a signed Wifredo Lam (Cuban, 1902-1982) pastel-on-paper of abstract animals, measuring 27½ by 18¼ inches. It is unframed and estimated at $10,000-$15,000.
In the fine jewelry section, an eye-catching platinum filigree diamond ring weighing approximately 1.03 carats is entered with a $6,000-$8,000 estimate. It’s in prestigious company alongside Lot 345, a signed (J.E.C. & Co.) platinum line bracelet set with 46 French-cut rubies. Estimate: $5,000-$7,000.
An array of whimsical cast-iron figural doorstops includes many types of animals, buildings, and people. A standout within the group is Lot 42, a 15¼-inch Honey Bear holding a honey pot in his hands and licking his lips. A perennial charmer in excellent condition, this example is estimated at $2,500-$3,500.
A broad selection of antique coins and currency is included from Lots 83 through 173. One of the monetary highlights is Lot 168, a Parker and Burke 1901 US $10 large note with red seal. In extra-fine condition, it bears the image of a buffalo and explorers Lewis and Clark. Estimate: $2,200-$2,800.
For additional information on any item in the sale, call 717-335-3435 or email info@morphyauctions.com.
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BALTIMORE (AFP) – A rare prototype of the first American penny, dating from 1792, has just changed hands for 117.5 million pennies at an auction in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Birch Penny — one of only seven known to exist — was among the highlights of a two-day sale of rare US coins, medals and paper money.
Stack’s Bowers Galleries of Irvine, California, which organized the auction, said it went for $1.175 million, including buyer’s premium, late Thursday.
The buyer was not identified, but the coin — engraved the year Congress created the US Mint, and nine years after the American Revolutionary War — was the second Birth Penny to be sold this year.
The first was snapped up by a Beverly Hills rare coin dealer in January for $2.585 million at an auction in Florida. It had previously sold in 1981 for $200,000.
Named for engraver Robert Birch, the penny sold Thursday depicts Lady Liberty encircled by the words “Liberty parent of science and industry.”
The flip side reads “United States of America,” “one cent,” and the fraction 1/100.
“The Birch cent is, simply, the first of a cultural phenomenon that is known the world over — it is the first American cent,” said Stack’s Bowers in its auction catalog.
LONDON – Do winters seem harder work the older we get? Somehow, it feels like it, but no worries, spring is pushing out the gray and with the clocks going back, car boot sales beckon.
The luckiest among us will uncover some priceless but long-forgotten antique or work of art that could change the life of the finder. Keep an eye out for bronze models of cats like the one illustrated below.
While not exactly a car boot find – the life-size Egyptian relic dated by the British Museum to 700-500 B.C. was discovered standing in front of a gas fire in a cottage in Cornwall – it’s sale certainly was a life-changer. It fetched a cool 52,000 pounds.
It reminded us of a car boot find we made last year and, ironically, it was another cat, although admittedly somewhat younger. The seller was certain it was made of lead and he reckoned it was a child’s plaything. The only thing lead about it was the paint used to decorate it.
In fact, it was a tiny cold-painted bronze model of a tabby, one of a host of models of animals, birds and other exotic creations made probably in one of the 50 or so Viennese foundries in business in the mid to late 19th century. Its value? In the saleroom, perhaps 60-80 pounds.
The Bronze Age began about 2,000 years before Christ. Since then, among other things, we’ve been spending it, fighting with it, cooking in it and decorating our homes with it.
An alloy of copper and tin, its properties make bronze ideally suited to casting: as it solidifies, it expands to fill every last intricate detail of a mold. On cooling, it then contracts slightly, making removal of the mold a simple process.
Famous sculptors have been attracted to such a perfect medium from antiquity to the present day, but for every one piece by a name that’s revered, there are thousands that collectors of modest means can acquire and enjoy.
Our personal favourite is Franz Xavier Bergman (1861-1936) probably the most famous of the Viennese sculptors who specialized in cold-painted bronzes. But first, let’s be clear of the difference between, say, our tabby cat and a bronze from antiquity.
The latter has a surface untouched by anything other than time. Over the centuries such pieces develop a patina caused by oxidation and are highly prized by connoisseur collectors who appreciate the effects produced by age (which is why cleaning them is such a specialized task).
The former are decorated with several layers of special, heavy lead-based polychrome paints, applied after objects are removed from the mold. Pieces decorated with enamels would normally be kiln-fired to melt the paint and ensure it has fused to the surface of the object to be decorated. Cold-painted bronzes are not subjected to the enameling process – they remain cold – relying on the standard of painting to dictate the quality of the finished item.
The technique was popular around the turn of the century and thousand upon thousand of the little animals and other figures, some as small as a few inches in height, poured out of Viennese foundries. Bergman’s manufactory was one of the leading makers.
It was founded by his father, also Franz (1838–1894) a professional metal chaser from Gablonz, in Austria, who came to Vienna in 1860. Franz Xavier inherited the business on his father’s retirement and opened a bigger, much more productive foundry there in 1900.
By no means all the animal figures came from Bergman’s works, but many did and sadly, many are unmarked. Those that are marked carry a capital “B” in a vase-shaped design, the presence of which removes any doubt as to the provenance.
Bergman was also a fan of the exotic, producing larger figures and groups. Some depict Arabs, perhaps selling colorfully painted carpets, riding camels or sitting in tents at an oasis complete with palm tree and water. Others are based on models from Bergman senior’s days.
More rare are those wired for electricity and fitted small lightbulbs to be used as table or bedside lamps. Being bigger objects, such pieces are more likely to carry the factory mark. Prices often run into four figures.
Bergman junior also had an eye for the erotic, fantasy pieces that today’s collectors covet most. Always featuring a naked or scantily clad young woman in sensuous pose, Edwardian bachelors no doubt delighted in showing them off to their friends. But they were subtle too.
The Arab selling a carpet, a model of an owl, a bear or some other unassuming object was constructed cleverly with a hidden button or lever which, when activated, causes the model to open, revealing the saucy secrets hidden inside. Expect to pay handsomely for such novelties.
They were no doubt pricey when they were new. Manufacturing them was also something of a risk for Bergman, but he covered his tracks by marking them with the tradename “Nam Greb” to avoid upsetting his more conservative customers, and, perhaps, making them sound even more exotic.
The joy of cold-painted bronzes in general and those by Bergman in particular are the vibrant colors that remain so in the best examples. Whereby hangs the problem. Being unfired, the paint remains soft and, therefore vulnerable. Damage occurs easily and few examples are in mint condition. Those that are sell for a premium, while chips or wear reduces value considerably.
So do watch out for then at auctions and car boot sales. Bergman bronzes, particularly the small animal and bird models, are the easily overlooked and definitely not painted lead. Finding one could represent a cash windfall.
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If you care at all for bronze, don’t ever polish it. Bronze is highly susceptible to corrosion – it turns dark brown or greenish brown when exposed to the atmosphere, but this is considered one of the metal’s wonderful attributes.
The surface color – or patina as it is called – should be protected at all costs. To do otherwise can have a seriously adverse affect on the value of a bronze object and will spoil its appeal possibly forever.
Under no circumstances should any metal polish be used and bronze should always be kept away from water. Instead, a light dusting is all that is required and perhaps careful rubbing with a clean cloth.
Avoid rubbing hard, particularly on raised parts where the patina could be worn away.
Dust in crevices can be removed with a cotton bud moistened with saliva. Dull patination can be revived with the sparing application of a microcrystalline wax.
The Egyptian bronze cat found sitting in front of a gas fireplace in a cottage in Cornwall. It sold for £52,000 and, yes, the earrings are gold. Photo: David Lay Auctioneers Penzance
Naughty but nice: a Franz Bergman cold-painted bronze metamorphic owl, modeled perched on a pile of books, one titled ‘Namgreb.’ The ribbon tie, front right, works the mechanical movement, opening the owl to reveal the nude woman. It measured 7.5 inches and sold for £3,600. Photo Peter Wilson
An Austrian cold-painted bronze electric table lamp modeled with an elephant and mahout beneath a palm tree. It measured 15 inches. Saleroom value: 700-1000 pounds. Photo The Canterbury Auction Galleries
A late 19th century Franz Bergman cold-painted bronze figure of an Arab kneeling at prayer, his shoes set to the left, 3 1/4 inches. Sold for 520 pounds. Photo The Canterbury Auction Galleries
An amusing Austrian cold-painted bronze of a monkey wearing spectales and holding a skull – a jibe at Charles Darwin and his theories of evolution. Just three inches in height, it sold for 340 pounds. Photo The Canterbury Auction Galleries
Four tiny Austrian cold-painted bronze Beatrix Potter figures, left to right, Jeremy Fisher, Hunca Munca, Mrs Tiggywinkle and Goody Tiptoes. They sold together for 340 pounds. Photo The Canterbury Auction Galleries
NEW YORK – The wall says, “Invent the future,” and despite the striking letters, gray shot through with swirls of orange and yellow, demanding respect and attention, the petulant teenager inside me answered, “You got a manual?”
I calmed down once I noticed the girl in the blue shirt with her hands formed into a heart shape over her friend, both girls starting fiercely ahead, as if daring me to drop the act, and embrace their message.
The 28-by-57-foot wall beckons passerby on the corner of Troutman and Wyckoff in Bushwick. Longtime collaborators Chris Stain and Billy Mode created the mural for the Bushwick Collective.
According to a 2013 interview with the artists in Time Out New York, Stain and Mode based it on a photo they took of two girls in front of another mural the two artists collaborated on in Albany, N.Y. In this mural the girls are a small field of green and purple flowers, outlined in black, like the plant version of the girls above them, color emerging from the concrete below.
To the left of the words is a boy on a bicycle, staring at, and, I’d like to think, drawing inspiration from the girls, inventing his own future.
The girls are smiling too; maybe because they’ve already gotten started.
Take the L Train to Jefferson Street if you want to catch up with them.
Chris Stain and Billy Mode, Bushwick Collective, Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Ilana Novick.
Chris Stain and Billy Mode, Bushwick Collective, Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Ilana Novick.
Chris Stain and Billy Mode, Bushwick Collective, Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Ilana Novick.
Chris Stain and Billy Mode, Bushwick Collective, Brooklyn, N.Y. Photo by Ilana Novick.
NEW YORK (AP) – A new exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City will explore the architectural landscape of Latin America between 1955 and 1980.
WASHINGTON – Oakridge Auction Gallery’s specialty sale of Chinese and Japanese fine art and antiques was a big success on March 22. Oakridge Auction Gallery owner Joseph Kikta reports the 344-lot auction totaled $2.5 million and that LiveAuctioneers was a major contributor to its success. Nearly one-third of the lots were sold through LiveAuctioneers.com.
LiveAuctioneers customers won 109 lots totaling $446,425, for a sell-through rate of 31.7 percent.
The top-selling item on LiveAuctioneers.com was an 18th or 19th-century finely carved bamboo brush pot, which sold for $37,500 after spirited Internet bidding. The carving depicted a classic red cliffs scene of Su Dongpo and his friends in a boat. The reverse had a quotation from Su Dongpo’s Song of Red Cliff and was signed “Shigong.” The brush pot was 5 3/4-inches high.
A LiveAuctioneers customer prevailed with an absentee bid to win an 18th-century huanghuali altar table that cost $27,500. The small table had a rectangular top approximately 35 1/4 inches long by 21 1/2 inches wide and stood 30 1/2 inches high. It had a double curved apron and four square-cut legs.
An Internet bidder competing in real time through LiveAuctioneers won out over absentee bidders, claiming an early 20th-century enameled plaque painted and signed by Duan Zian for $18,000. The well-painted landscape, approximately 17 inches by 11 3/4 inches, included a poem, had two seals and was signed “Zian.” It came from a Connecticut estate and was acquired in Hong Kong in the 1950s.
LiveAuctioneers bidders also won two blue and white ceramic items for $17,000 each. The first was a 12-inch-tall blue and white porcelain statue of Daoist divinity stamped with “Zeng Longsheng.” Zeng Longsheng (1901-1964) was one of the most prominent porcelain artists in the early 20th century. Also selling for $17,000 was an 11-inch imperial blue and white gu vase bearing a Jiaqing mark. It came from a Washington, D.C., estate.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.
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NEW YORK (AP) – Curves have been all over the fashion and celebrity magazines, and are finding their way into design and décor too.
“They’re sensuous and inviting,” New York designer Barry Goralnick said at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show, held here last weekend (March 19-22). “Curved sofas that bring people closer together; rounded dining tables that are easier for conversation; round cocktail tables that are cozy and forgiving to shins. Arcs, circles, boat shapes — all kinds of curves.”
Examples of the trend included Matt Hutton’s walnut or cherry coffee table, a group of connecting circles. The Portland, Maine, furniture designer calls the table, which is available in three sizes, “Crop Circles.” (www.studio24b.com )
Aaron Scott Gibson, a New York furniture and lighting designer who hails from Oregon, blends his affection for Pacific Northwest topography with an interest in geometry and the engineered form.
His curvy, oiled-oak pendant lamp somehow managed to evoke a tree burl and a ship’s propeller; at once organic and mechanical. The same was true of a round table lamp crafted of layers of bleached wood circles, with cutouts to reveal the light beneath.
A sleek circle of glass was perched on a sinuous wood base that looked like a weathered, waxed whale vertebra, and the juxtaposition made for a piece that was as much sculpture as furniture. (www.aaronscottdesign.com )
Justin Teilhet, a ceramicist from Yellow Springs, Ohio, showed an arresting collection of porcelain objets d’art. Concentric circles formed vessels that were glazed in gunmetal and given 24-karat-gold-leaf interiors. The pieces were simple and dynamic. (www.jteilhetporcelain.com )
Hubbardton Forge’s Flux pendant was a studied tangle of LED-lit aluminum bands that created a cool, contemporary fixture. (www.hubbardtonforge.com )
Spin Ceramics showed Chinese designer Qi Qiong Qiong’s elegant Mobius Strip porcelain vase, with multiple apertures for flowers and an unglazed finish that showed off the interplay between the soft contours and crisp edges. (www.spinceramics.com )
Canadian Kino Guerin manipulates panels of walnut, wenge, cherry or zebrawood veneer into curled and knotted ribbons that become art, shelves or tables.
“To get this overall effect, the panel must be bent as if this had been done naturally. It must reflect equilibrium between the curve and the straight line, between exuberance and purity,” the Montreal-based designer said. (www.kinoguerin.com )
Designer Alexa Hampton is also a proponent of mixing curves with linear shapes. She created a relaxed and pretty “Library” space for show guests that incorporated voluptuous ceramic table lamps, inviting round tables and comfy chairs with curved arms.
“Shape and silhouette are always major considerations when designing an interior,” she said. “Much like any essential duality — yin and yang, hard and soft, masculine and feminine — when a room has straight and curvy elements, the result is more complete and, therefore, more successful. ”Straight lines are a given in any room, she said: think walls, windows, table legs.
“But curves should always be added as well,” she added. “In architecture, the circle is the strongest shape.”
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