BOSTON — A King Henry VIII-signed document discussing sponsoring the feast day of St. George sold for $66,435, and a box of 10 of Winston Churchill’s personal brand of cigars commanded $19,159 at RR Auction on August 10.
LOS ANGELES (AP) – The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles is returning ancient sculptures and other works of art that were illegally exported from Italy, the museum announced August 11.
MT. CRAWFORD, Va. – The Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates Summer Americana Auction includes everything from advertising and firearms to country furniture and antique marbles. The auction, comprising more than 1,700 lots, will take place during three days: Thursday, August 25; Friday, August 26; and Saturday, August 27, with sessions beginning at 9 am Eastern time each day. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
DOYLESTOWN, Penn. – The James A. Michener Art Museum presents Walk This Way: Footwear from the Stuart Weitzman Collection of Historic Shoes, on view September 24 through January 15, 2023. Focused on the women who designed, manufactured, sold and collected footwear, the exhibition explores how shoes have transcended their utilitarian purpose to become representations of culture — coveted as objects of desire, designed with artistic consideration, and expressing complicated meanings of femininity, power and aspiration. This exhibition has been organized by the New-York Historical Society.
LONDON – Dr. Ivan Bonchev, founder of Apollo Galleries and Apollo Art Auctions, has long been fascinated with ancient art and antiquities. An expert in ancient and cultural art and numismatics, he graduated with a PhD from the University of Oxford. Ivan opened his gallery in 2008, adding the auction house nine years later. Today, Apollo Art Auctions sells a diverse array of ancient art, including Asian and Islamic, as well as ancient relics and coins.
DENVER, Pa. – Just as nightclubs are today’s social hubs, there was a time, more than a century ago, when the local soda fountain or soda shop was where people went for a light meal or wholesome refreshment in a cordial environment. Sometimes a soda fountain – named for the actual device that dispensed carbonated beverages – was found within a larger establishment, such as a drugstore or candy store. Soda fountain memorabilia is pure American nostalgia, and collectors revel in the opportunity to purchase such treasures from a source as esteemed as the Sharyn and Terry Brown collection, which highlights Morphy’s August 23-25 auction series.
LONDON (AP) – A London museum agreed on August 7 to return a collection of Benin Bronzes looted in the late 19th century from what is now Nigeria as cultural institutions throughout Britain come under pressure to repatriate artifacts acquired during the colonial era. The Horniman Museum and Gardens in southeast London said that it would transfer a collection of 72 items to the Nigerian government. The decision comes after Nigeria’s National Commission for Museums and Monuments formally asked for the artifacts to be returned earlier this year and following a consultation with community members, artists and schoolchildren in Nigeria and the U.K., the museum said.
CHICAGO – On Wednesday, August 24, the ultimate collection of Kobe Bryant rookie cards will appear at Hindman Auctions in a single-owner sale titled 8.24: The Definitive Collection of Kobe Bryant Rookie Cards. It will represent one of the most comprehensive offerings of the legendary athlete’s rookie cards to ever come to market. The collector set out on a mission to obtain every Kobe Bryant rookie card imaginable, and the result was this distinctive selection of nearly 150 cards, arrayed in 81 lots to honor Bryant’s incredible 81-point performance in 2006. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
NEW YORK – Phaidon will present Ugo Rondinone, a comprehensive survey of the Swiss-born, New York-based artist Ugo Rondinone (b. 1964-). Created in close collaboration with the artist, this richly-illustrated monograph is a lasting documentary of Rondinone’s extraordinary career, from his early Indian-ink landscapes and Sun Paintings to later multimedia works, installations and the large-scale public sculptures for which he is best known today. The 160-page hardcover will be released in September 2022, priced at $54.95.
NEW YORK – Doyle has announced plans to open a new gallery in Charleston, South Carolina. This expansion will provide collectors, families and fiduciaries in Charleston and the Southeast with convenient access to Doyle’s full range of auction and appraisal services for collections and estates. The New York-based auction house expects to open the Charleston gallery this winter.