Auction of Original Schindler’s List, Chaos at The Louvre, and More Fresh News

One of 7 original Schindler’s List documents is expected to sell for more than $2 million at auction. Image courtesy of Moments in Time

 

News and updates from around the arts and auction community:

  • One of 7 original “Schindler’s List” documents used by German industrialist Oskar Schindler to save more than 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust, is being auctioned this month. Schindler spent his entire fortune on bribes to protect his Jewish workers from the Nazis during World War II. [Read more from  The Guardian]
  • In Paris, the hottest ticket in town is The Louvre’s new Vermeer exhibition, the museum’s first blockbuster show in years. But since its opening on Feb. 22, the exhibition has been marred by chaos and threats of a strike by security staff. [Read more from The Art Newspaper]
  • The Louvre isn’t the only museum with problems, however. In a disturbing incident at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, a man smashed a glass bottle on the back of a security guard’s head. [Read more from the New York Daily News]
  • India continues to crack down on criminals who smuggle looted cultural artifacts out of the country. One month after nabbing the alleged kingpin of an organized smuggling ring, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence in Mumbai has made another significant, related arrest: a furniture and garment merchant whose US businesses authorities say were used as fronts for illicit activities. [Read more from Mid-Day.com]

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Henry Moore sculpture to be sold at Cottone Auction March 25

Henry Moore’s ‘Reclining Figure’ (circa 1935-1936). Cottone Auctions image

 

GENESEO, N.Y. – On Saturday, March 25, Cottone Auctions will be conducting its annual Fine Arts & Antiques Auction beginning at 11 a.m. Eastern time. The estimated 400 lots will include items from the Seymour H. Knox Collection out of Buffalo, N.Y., plus items from the Strong Museum in Rochester, N.Y., the Rochester Museum and Science Center, the Everson Museum in Syracuse, N.Y., and an Old Westbury, N.Y. collection. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

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Furniture makers’ uncharted routes to success

The Mersman triangle mark, or a close relative, was imprinted on 30 million American tables.

 

CRYSTAL RIVER, Fla. – Few of us are probably doing what we thought we would be doing 30 years ago. Things happen along the way and unforeseen turns make life interesting if not always predictable. Sometimes one of the things that can make an older or antique piece of furniture more interesting is the value added by a little bit of eccentric knowledge about where the piece came from and how it came to exist.

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Metropolitan Museum of Art items headline Clars auction March 18-19

Among the highlights in English furniture from the Metropolitan Museum of Art collection will be this English mahogany table, circa 1800, valued at $5,000-$7,000. Clars Auction Gallery image

 

OAKLAND, Calif. – On Sunday, March 19, Clars Auction Gallery will present the second installment from the collection of decorative arts and furnishings deaccessioned from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

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Guernsey’s showcases rare Colombian emeralds in April 25 auction

‘Tears of Fura,’ 95.51 carats (total weight). Extremely large and well-matched pair of gem-fine teardrop shaped Colombian emeralds from Muzo mines. Guernsey’s image

 

NEW YORK – Guernsey’s auction house will sell the Marcial de Gomar Collection of rare emeralds on April 25. The event will be conducted live at the Americas Society at 680 Park Ave. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

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