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):
35-star flag folk art table, $18,000, Woody Auction
A Civil War-era, 35-star, solid wood flag folk art table, honoring West Virginia’s admission to the Union on June 20, 1863, sold for $18,000 at an auction held Sept. 7 by Woody Auction in Douglass, Kan. Also, a Quick Meal Model 407-16 salesman’s sample cookstove achieved $1,200; a classic, three-stone engagement ring with the center stone an emerald cut diamond brought $1,800; and an oak double bowfront corner cabinet realized $1,254.
Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900 Crimean), ‘Sunset in Feodosia,’ oil on canvas laid to canvas, 15in x 20½in. Estimate: $60,000-$80,000. Moran’s image
MONROVIA, Calif. – Moran’s REdesigned auction on Sunday, Oct. 13, is the place to find quality furnishings, décor and tableware to refurbish and refresh the home. From antique to contemporary, Continental to American Indian, REdesigned can outfit the most elegant villas or coziest cabins. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.
University of Texas football star Ricky Williams with the Heisman Trophy, which he received on Dec. 12, 1998, as the most outstanding player in college football. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions
DALLAS – Brian Hobbs remembers getting a call in 2014 to let him know Ricky Williams was interested in selling his Heisman Trophy.
An avid sports memorabilia collector, Hobbs drove from his home in Tallahassee, Florida, to meet Williams in Austin, Texas, where the former Longhorns star was finishing the undergraduate degree he had not completed when he left school for the NFL in 1999.
The Sixshooter Peaks in Bears Ears National Monument, San Juan County, Utah. U.S. Bureau of Land Management public domain image
WASHINGTON — Yesterday evening the coalition fighting to protect Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments cleared a milestone in the legal battle for the future of these public lands when the court denied the Trump Administration’s motion to dismiss the case.
“While the legal fight has played out, the Trump Administration has rushed through new management plans for Bears Ears and Grand Staircase to open up hundreds of thousands of acres to mining, obliterating forests by dragging anchor chains through them, and new fossil fuel development,” says a press release issued by Earthjustice.
Heidi McIntosh, managing attorney of Earthjustice’s Rocky Mountains Office, stated: “We’re pleased the court denied the Trump’s Administration’s motion to dismiss and look forward to the next step: showing that President Trump violated the law when he dismantled Bears Ears and Grand Staircase. When Trump went after our national monuments, he thought he could ride roughshod over this country’s cultural and natural heritage, and auction off iconic public lands that belong to all of us. But this remains a country of laws. We will work relentlessly until we ensure that Bears Ears and Grand Staircase are protected forever as they were meant to be.”
Metate Arch in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument near Escalante, Utah. Photo by John Fowler from Placitas, NM, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license
In late 2017 Trump slashed Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments, stripping nearly 2 million acres of public lands of Antiquities Act protections in the largest rollback of federal public land protection in history. The action ignited protests in Salt Lake City – and lawsuits filed within hours in Washington, D.C., by Native American tribes, conservation, outdoor recreation, and paleontology groups seeing to defend these monuments.
About the combined lawsuits:
Earthjustice represents nine groups challenging President Trump’s actions: The Wilderness Society, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Sierra Club, the Grand Canyon Trust, Defenders of Wildlife, Great Old Broads for Wilderness, Western Watersheds Project, WildEarth Guardians, and the Center for Biological Diversity. The Natural Resources Defense Council and Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance are co-plaintiffs in the cases, represented by counsel from those organizations.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Grey Flannel Auctions and James Spence Authentication (JSA) will host a free sports memorabilia appraisal and authentication event on Saturday, October 5. Experienced specialists will be on hand from 10-4 at Grey Flannel’s gallery in Scottsdale, Arizona, authenticating autographs and paying cash for all qualified material. No appointment is required; walk-ins welcome.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The much-anticipated, October opening of Ruby City is the latest major cultural development in San Antonio, coming on the heels of a $100 million expansion of the Witte Museum, a multimillion-dollar transformation of the McNay Art Museum and a $40 million expansion at the San Antonio Botanical Garden. The new experiences, along with remarkable exhibitions puts San Antonio in the art world spotlight this fall. Continue reading
BILBAO, Spain – The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is presenting the exhibition titled “Thomas Struth,” a complete journey through five decades of one of the most influential European postwar photographers, whose evolution as an artist has been marked by social concerns. Organized by Haus der Kunst, Munich, in collaboration with the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the exhibition opens Oct. 2 and run through Jan. 19, 2020.
An Hermes scarf commemorating the (Greek) Revolution of 1821 realized $1,417+ the buyer’s premium in May 2019 at Vergos Auctions P.C. Photo courtesy of Vergos Auctions P.C. and LiveAuctioneers
NEW YORK – Since creating its first silk in 1937, Jeu des Omnibus et Dames blanches, depicting women playing a board game within a border of horse-drawn buses, Hermes has dominated the luxury fashion accessories market. Owing to their shape, the firm’s iconic silk scarves are often called a “carré” for the French word for square.
