New York art collector to pay $7M to settle tax evasion case

Real estate developer and art collector Aby Rosen. Christopher Peterson image. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.
Real estate developer and art collector Aby Rosen. Christopher Peterson image. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

 

NEW YORK (AP) – A prominent art collector and real estate developer has agreed to pay $7 million to settle allegations he failed to pay taxes on about $80 million worth of art, the state attorney general said Tuesday.

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Connoisseur’s collection of Georg Jensen silver to be auctioned May 16

Georg Jensen sterling silver Pyramid pattern coffee set 600A. Four-piece set designed by Harald Nielsen in 1930. Sterling silver tray 1074 designed by Henning Koppel for Georg Jensen. Estimate: $8,000-$10,000. Chance by LiveAuctioneers image
Georg Jensen sterling silver Pyramid pattern coffee set 600A. Four-piece set designed by Harald Nielsen in 1930 with a sterling silver tray 1074 (not pictured) designed by Henning Koppel for Georg Jensen. Estimate: $8,000-$10,000. Last Chance by LiveAuctioneers image

 

NEW YORK – An immense collection of Georg Jensen silver – a virtual catalogue raisonné of the Danish silversmith’s 95 years of production – will be offered May 16 in an online auction conducted through Last Chance by LiveAuctioneers.
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In Memoriam: George ‘Frolic’ Weymouth, artist, 79

Frolic Weymouth leading the carriage parade at Wintherthur Museums annual Point-to-Point. Littleinfo image, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Frolic Weymouth leading the carriage parade at Wintherthur Museums annual Point-to-Point. Littleinfo image, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

 

CHADDS FORD, Pa. (AP) – George Weymouth, a museum founder, conservationist and artist who for years helped hide a secret cache of Andrew Wyeth’s Helga portraits, has died.

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Cape Cod art museum reopening after renovation, expansion

The Cape Cod Colonial building that houses the Cahoon Museum of American Art was one of seven homesteads in Cotuit built by Ebenezer Crocker in the second half of the 18th century. Image by Swampyank. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
The Cape Cod Colonial building that houses the Cahoon Museum of American Art was one of seven homesteads in Cotuit built by Ebenezer Crocker in the second half of the 18th century. Image by Swampyank. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

COTUIT, Mass. (AP) – The stairs in the 18th-century building that has long housed the Cahoon Museum of American Art were small and steep. So small and steep that many past patrons had to skip upstairs galleries entirely.

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Fire guts historic New York City church

The church building was constructed in 1850-55 and was designed by noted architect Richard Upjohn in English Gothic Revival style. Image by Boarder143. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
The church building was constructed in 1850-55 and was designed by noted architect Richard Upjohn in English Gothic Revival style. Image by Boarder143. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

 

NEW YORK (AP) – A historic church in New York City was destroyed in a raging fire just hours after its Orthodox worshippers celebrated Easter.

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Outrage over college’s plans to sell political memorabilia

Lincoln / Hamlin Wide Awake portrait campaign flag. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com archive and Cowan Auctions Inc.
Lincoln / Hamlin Wide Awake portrait campaign flag. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com archive and Cowan’s Auctions Inc.

 

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – One of America’s largest troves of political and campaign memorabilia is headed for the auction block, spurring protests from some who do not want to see it divided up and sold to private collectors.

The University of Hartford plans to hire an auction house and sell off more than 70,000 items, many of them donated by the late J. Doyle DeWitt, a former chairman of The Travelers Cos. who spent decades amassing letters from presidents, campaign posters, and pins and advertisements dating to the 18th century.

The artifacts include a pin worn by George Washington at his inauguration and torchlights used by a political group, The Wide Awakes, which marched at night in northern states during the 1860 campaign in support of Abraham Lincoln.

The university, which once served as home to the federally funded Museum of American Political Life, said it offered the collection for sale to other schools, the state, the Smithsonian Institution and the Library of Congress. But no other institution has agreed to buy the entire collection.

“The university began the process of selling this memorabilia after determining that maintaining and exhibiting the collection as an academic resource on campus no longer matches the university’s best interests and needs, and that maintaining the collection is not the best use of university resources,” the school said in a statement.

One donor has threatened to sue to stop the auction.

Bruce Rubenstein, a Hartford attorney and collector of left-wing memorabilia, said he donated hundreds of artifacts in the early 1990s that became part of the collection, but only after getting assurances from the university they would never be sold. The items included early Communist Party material and pamphlets from the infamous 1886 Haymarket demonstration in Chicago that ended in a bombing.

“I intended the materials be put on public view, so people could come in and get an education experience from it,” he said. “I didn’t want it to be locked up for 10 years and then sold to plug some operational hole in the school’s budget.”

Hubert Santos, another attorney and collector, also has written to the U.S. attorney’s office in Connecticut, asking it to investigate. He believes the federal government prohibited the sale of the collection as a condition of funding the museum.

“This is a national treasure,” Santos said.

The school closed the museum in the summer of 2004 after determining it needed the space to expand its architecture program. An evaluation of school resources in 2012 included a recommendation to divest and sell the collection.

University officials said the collection, most of which was never put on display, was donated without restrictions and it has determined there is no legal impediment to the sale. The university said it has narrowed down the choice of auction houses to two.

The school said it has not yet determined the value of the collection or what it will do with the revenue generated from the sale. But Santos and Rubenstein said they were told the school was seeking $4.5 million.

“That’s a fire sale,” said Rubenstein, who said the items he donated were worth over $1 million at the time.

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By PAT EATON-ROBB, Associated Press

Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

AP-WF-05-02-16 0429GMT

Big, brilliant gems set off $3.48M Heritage jewelry auction

Diamond, platinum rings featuring a pear-shape diamond weighing 6.69 carats, enhanced by tapered baguette-cut diamonds. Price realized: $150,000. Heritage Auctions image
Diamond, platinum rings featuring a pear-shape diamond weighing 6.69 carats, enhanced by tapered baguette-cut diamonds. Price realized: $150,000. Heritage Auctions image

 

NEW YORK – Bidders pursued big, brilliant stones – including a pair of diamond, platinum rings weighing a total 7.89 carats – to push Heritage Auctions’ spring fine jewelry auction to more than $3.48+ million. The April 19 auction saw large rubies, sapphires and yellow diamonds cross the block at double and even triple estimates.

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