NEW YORK – The highlight of going to the supermarket with Mom as a youngster was being given a nickel or a coin to put into a candy machine and be rewarded with a brightly colored gumball of sweet goodness. In the modern era the machines are fairly utilitarian, but a century earlier these machines were artistic, often featuring smiling or frowning clowns and bold wording. They were produced in countertop and floor models.
Hulk-size cache of lunchboxes to sell at Main Auction Galleries Sept. 30
CINCINNATI (AP) – Look, up on the shelf! It’s Superman. There’s the king of the wild frontier himself, Davy Crockett. And over in that case is Davy Crockett again, except this time he’s Daniel Boone (we’ll explain later). And aaaaay! It’s The Fonz and the whole Happy Days family!
M.S. Rau Antiques acquires Lincoln opera glasses
NEW ORLEANS (AP) – It’s not the gilt-detailed craftsmanship or the age of the small, brass, black-enameled binoculars that might fetch a French Quarter antique gallery’s asking price of $795,000. It’s their history: Abraham Lincoln is believed to have used them to get a better view of the stage at Ford’s Theatre on the night he was assassinated.
Sotheby’s to offer 4 Basquiat masterpieces in Nov. 14 auction
NEW YORK – As the international art world looks forward to the October opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s exhibition spanning the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Sotheby’s announced today that their marquee evening auction of Contemporary Art in New York on Nov.14 will feature a group of four works by the artist emerging from the same distinguished private collection that similarly charts his rapid rise to international acclaim in the 1980s.
Gallery Report: Ming porcelain bowl sells for $1.5M
ATLANTA – At the start of each month, ACN columnist Ken Hall gathers top auction highlights from around the United States and beyond. Here’s what made headlines since last month’s Gallery Report (prices include the buyer’s premium unless stated otherwise):
Early Ming bowl, $1.5 million, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers
The Stanley Field Early Ming Bowl – a blue and white porcelain hexafoil bowl from the Chinese Xuande emperor’s reign (1426-1435) and once belonging to Stanley Field of the iconic Field family – sold for $1.5 million at an Asian Works of Art Auction held Sept. 17 by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago. Also, a Chinese zitan throne chair fetched $93,750; a Chinese Tielimu scroll table went for $87,50; and a Chinese huanghuali scroll table earned $68,750.
PBA Galleries auction Oct. 4 explores the world
SAN FRANCISCO – PBA Galleries will conduct an Americana – Travel & Exploration – World History – Cartography Sale on Thursday, Oct. 4. This auction will include over 500 lots of rare, unusual and significant material on the history, ethnology, geography, cartography, geology, natural history, and culture of the Americas and the world at large. Included are books, maps, prints, manuscripts, photographs and ephemera. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.
Art of the ’80s auction Oct. 3 projects exuberant backlash
NEW YORK – Art of the ’80s, bursting with defiant, upbeat imagery, is presented in a collection of works that will be sold in a Jasper52 online auction on Wednesday, Oct. 3. Driven by a force that was amiable and edgy, fun and liberating, artists working in this decade produced light artworks that were well-received by the public then and to this day. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.
Brazil museum fire sparks soul searching about spending
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Long before Brazil’s National Museum went up in flames, the people who ran it were pleading for help to renovate the dilapidated 200-year-old building that held much of the nation’s historical and scientific heritage.
Alberto Giacometti show coming to Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
BILBAO, Spain – On Oct. 19 the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao will unveil an exhaustive exhibition of more than 200 sculptures, paintings, and drawings covering more than 40 years of artistic output by Alberto Giacometti (1901–1966), one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.
Cape School of Art auction highlights plein air paintings
PROVINCETOWN, Mass. – The Cape School of Art in will present their annual 2018 Silent Auction on Saturday, Oct. 6, starting at 6 p.m. at Robert Paul Properties, 192 Commercial St.