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.
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!
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.
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.
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.