Morphy’s to auction peerless Henri Krijnen mechanical music collection, Sept. 9-10

Mortier 102-key dance organ, Belgium, 1937. A masterpiece of woodcarving with more than 200 pipes and an accordion. Rich, thrilling sound. Size: 26ft x 5ft 4in x 16ft 8in. Previously the property of a British museum. Estimate $250,000-$400,000

DENVER, Pa. – The word “unique” can sometimes be overused, but not in the case of the Henri Krijnen mechanical music collection, which will be auctioned at Morphy’s on September 9-10, 2022, with absentee and Internet live bidding available through LiveAuctioneers. Amassed over a lifetime, the peerless collection of early music and entertainment machines includes grand European fair, dance and theater organs; orchestrions, automata, Frank Polk figurals and other slot machines; and even a spectacular, fully functional Karl Muller antique carousel. As described by CEO Tom Tolworthy, CEO of Morphy Auctions and director/curator of the sale, the collection features “the finest examples of mechanical music machines to come to market in a decade.”

Continue reading

Mickey Mantle rookie card sets record at $12.6M

This 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card, graded Mint + 9.5, sold for $12.6 million and a new world auction record for any collectible sports card on Sunday, August 28. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions
This 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card, graded Mint + 9.5, sold for $12.6 million and a new world auction record for any collectible sports card on Sunday, August 28. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions
This 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card, graded Mint + 9.5, sold for $12.6 million and a new world auction record for any collectible sports card on Sunday, August 28. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions

DALLAS – Long before bidding ended early on the morning of August 28, this 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card was already the world’s most valuable sports card sold at auction. Weeks ago, in fact, it raced past the previous highwater mark set by the T206 Honus Wagner that sold for $6.6 million last year. But at 12:28 a.m. Central time on that date, it became official when Heritage Auctions sold the 1952 Mantle, graded a Mint+ 9.5 by Sportscard Guaranty Corporation, for $12.6 million.

Continue reading

Bidders will find smooth sailing at Crescent City, Sept. 9-10

Eugene Louis Boudin, ‘Bateaux sur la Plage de Bretagne (Boats on Brittany Beach),’ est. $10,000-$20,000
Eugene Louis Boudin, ‘Bateaux sur la Plage de Bretagne (Boats on Brittany Beach),’ est. $10,000-$20,000
Eugene Louis Boudin, ‘Bateaux sur la Plage de Bretagne (Boats on Brittany Beach),’ est. $10,000-$20,000

NEW ORLEANS – A set of four atlas portfolio volumes of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America, a felt on paper artwork by Pop art icon Keith Haring and paintings by acclaimed artists E. S. Cooper and Eugene Louis Boudin are just a few of the expected top lots in Crescent City Auction Gallery’s September Selects Auction. It is slated for Friday, September 9 and Saturday, September 10, starting at 11 am Central time on Friday and 10 am Central time on Saturday. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Continue reading

Walters announces new Asian art installation for spring 2023

Islamic earthenware plate with birds and inscriptions, made in Kashan, Iran, in 1218. Image courtesy of the Walters Art Museum. Photo credit: Susan Tobin
Islamic earthenware plate with birds and inscriptions, made in Kashan, Iran, in 1218. Image courtesy of the Walters Art Museum. Photo credit: Susan Tobin
Islamic earthenware plate with birds and inscriptions, made in Kashan, Iran, in 1218. Image courtesy of the Walters Art Museum. Photo credit: Susan Tobin

BALTIMORE — The Walters Art Museum will present a landmark installation of its Asian and Islamic collections that will offer new ways to examine and experience Asian art. As of Spring 2023, for the first time at the Walters, visitors can view approximately 500 artworks from across the Asian continent together in a contiguous space, including art from Islamic cultures spanning West to South Asia. This installation is the culmination of years of work by Walters curators to expand the connectivity of the Asian and Islamic art collections and will feature visitor favorites as well as works which have previously never been on view.

Continue reading

Rago/Wright to sell ‘Radiant Baby’ art from Keith Haring’s childhood bedroom

Keith Haring drew this ‘Radiant Baby’ image on the wall of his childhood bedroom in Kutztown, Penn. It will be auctioned at Rago/Wright on September 14. Image courtesy of Rago/Wright
Keith Haring drew this ‘Radiant Baby’ image on the wall of his childhood bedroom in Kutztown, Penn. It will be auctioned at Rago/Wright on September 14. Image courtesy of Rago/Wright
Keith Haring drew this ‘Radiant Baby’ image on the wall of his childhood bedroom in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Estimated at $30,000-$50,000, it will sell at Rago/Wright on September 14. Courtesy Rago/Wright

LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. – A singular Keith Haring drawing from the artist’s childhood home will be among the headlining lots of Rago/Wright’s fall Post War & Contemporary Art auction on Wednesday, September 14. Never-before available or offered on the market, this signature Radiant Baby was drawn by Haring directly onto the blue wall of his bedroom in the Harings’ Kutztown, Pennsylvania, home. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Continue reading

Masterworks of science and religion appear at PBA Galleries, Sept. 8

Charles Darwin, ‘On the Origin of Species,’ second edition, second issue, est. $20,000-$30,000
Charles Darwin, ‘On the Origin of Species,’ second edition, second issue, est. $20,000-$30,000
Charles Darwin, ‘On the Origin of Species,’ second edition, second issue, described as a “superb” copy, est. $20,000-$30,000

BERKELEY, Calif. – On Thursday, September 8, PBA Galleries will host a sale with 107 lots of rare, valuable, important and profoundly interesting material in all fields. These range from a first edition of the King James Bible to the foundation of Game Theory, with classics from Homer, Aristotle, Virgil and the pre-Socratic philosophers. Landmarks of science by Kepler, Darwin and Einstein are also available, as well as travels through the interiors of North and South America, manuscripts and ephemeral printings from Mexico, finely bound sets and high spots of literature. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Continue reading

Parrish, Warhol and Moore presented at Nye & Co., Sept. 7-8

Maxfield Parrish, ‘Untitled (Figures in a Landscape with Peacock),’ est. $20,000-$40,000
Maxfield Parrish, ‘Untitled (Figures in a Landscape with Peacock),’ est. $20,000-$40,000

BLOOMFIELD, N.J. – Nye & Company Auctioneers will hold its online Chic and Antique Estate Treasures auction on Wednesday, September 7, and Thursday, September 8. It features nearly 750 lots of fine and decorative arts spanning the 16th century to present day, including a group of Old Master paintings from a distinguished New England collection and a selection of modern and contemporary art and sculpture from the David and Laura Finn family collection. Start times on both days are at 10 am Eastern. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Continue reading

Whitney exhibition examines Edward Hopper’s life in New York City

Edward Hopper, Manhattan Bridge, 1925–26. Watercolor and graphite pencil on paper, 13 15/16 × 19 15/16 in. (35.4 × 50.6 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Josephine N. Hopper Bequest 70.1098 © 2022 Heirs of Josephine N. Hopper/Licensed by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

NEW YORK — Edward Hopper’s New York, on view at the Whitney Museum of American Art from October 19, 2022, through March 5, 2023, offers an unprecedented examination of Hopper’s life and work in the city that he called home for nearly six decades (1908–67). The exhibition charts the artist’s enduring fascination with the city through more than 200 paintings, watercolors, prints, and drawings from the Whitney’s preeminent collection of Hopper’s work, loans from public and private collections, and archival materials including printed ephemera, correspondence, photographs, and notebooks. From early sketches to paintings from his late in his career, Edward Hopper’s New York reveals a vision of the metropolis that is as much a manifestation of Hopper himself as it is a record of a changing city, whose perpetual and sometimes tense reinvention feels particularly relevant today.

Continue reading

Chinese famille verte birds could rule the roost at SJ Auctioneers, Sept. 11

One of a pair of Chinese famille verte geese or duck biscuit figurines, each est. $1,000-$5,000
One of a pair of Chinese famille verte geese or duck biscuit figurines, each est. $1,000-$5,000
One of a pair of Chinese famille verte geese or duck biscuit figurines, each est. $1,000-$5,000

BROOKLYN, N.Y. – SJ Auctioneers will bid farewell to summer and greet early fall with a Silver, Collectibles, Toys & Decor auction on Sunday, September 11, beginning at 4 pm Eastern time. The 248-lot, online-only auction serves the needs of collectors and gift retailers alike and features a wide variety of items, many of them hard-to-find. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

Continue reading