NEW YORK – On Wednesday, Dec. 17 Swann Galleries will offer an outstanding private collection of 11 posters by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and seven by Alphonse Mucha as part of their annual auction of Rare & Important Art Nouveau Posters. The posters are from the collection of Bob and Peggy Marcus, who assembled their collection over the course of 30 years. They continually sought out the finest examples, always with an eye on condition.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire these extraordinarily rare and important works in exceptional condition, ” said Nicholas Lowry, Swann president and poster specialist.
Austrian bronze Peacock lamp with iridescent inset jewels on the “tailfeathers,” and Mont Joye shade with butterfly-and-dragonfly motif. Estimate $6,000-$8,000. Image courtesy Morphy Auctions.
DENVER, Pa. – Morphy Auctions’ remedy for chilly weather is a Dec. 11-13 Winter Sale of 2,900 lots of antique toys, banks, trains and antique advertising, enhanced by the warmth of superior-quality Austrian art-glass lamps and the cheerful colors of vintage Bakelite.
“With each successive auction we’ve expanded into new categories of fine and decorative art,” said Morphy’s chief operating officer, Dan Morphy. “In this sale, we’re offering collections of rare Austrian bronze art-glass lamps and extremely fine Bakelite novelty jewelry. Both are from the same consignor, who has a remarkable eye for quality and artistic design.”
More than 20 Austrian art-glass lamps from the single-owner collection will be auctioned, including a superb figural Peacock lamp whose draped bronze base dramatically replicates a peacock’s showy tail feathers with inset jewels. Adding to its magnificence is a Mont Joye enameled-glass shade with quintessential Art Nouveau butterfly-and-dragonfly motif. Estimated at $6,000-$8,000, the 18-inch stunner is in excellent working order, as are all of the lamps from this collection.
Keith Haring. Untitled Litho. 11 inches by 14 3/4 inches – 28 inches by 37 inches. 1987. Edition PP. Custom framed as shown. Estimate $48,000 – $55,000. Image courtesy Abercrombie Auctions International.
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Abercrombie Auctions International will present its Grand Auction Dec. 6 at the Ritz Carlton Miami Beach during the second-largest art show in the world: Art Basel Miami Beach. In all, 381 superior-quality lots will be offered.
The auction is centered around a distinctive collection of fine art and collectibles, as well as many pieces of opulent estate and designer jewelry. Grand Masters such as Van Dyck and Rodin will be represented, as well as leading lights of Contemporary/20th century art, including Andy Warhol, Peter Max and Salvador Dalí.
Robert Indiana’s Heliotherapy Love is estimated at $10,000-$14,000, while Flower Blossom Lady by Peter Max is estimated at $37,000-$50,000. Artworks by “rising stars” such as Keith Pawlak and Cerj Lalonde will be included, as well.
Attributed to New England is this 19th century portrait of a woman with her dog. The painting is expected to fetch $2,800-$3,200. Image courtesy Case Antiques.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Civil War related material and the largest selection of Tennessee fine art ever offered at auction will highlight the Case Antiques Winter Auction to be held Saturday, Dec. 6. Also among the 350 cataloged lots is an offering of exceptional period American furniture and Southern regional pottery.
Two of the star lots of the sale are expected to be a pair of painted canteens attributed to John Adams Elder (American, 1833-1895) and illustrated in the book Collecting the Confederacy by Shannon Pritchard. They are estimated at $20,000-$25,000 and $35,000-$40,000 each.
The sale also features a sword, diary, photographs and other personal effects of Capt. Edmund Morse, Quartermaster of the 7th Vermont Infantry. The lot is expected to bring $3,500-$4,500. Weapons include an 1863 Colt Hartford rifle and a Harper’s Ferry flintlock rifle. Its lock plate is marked “Harpers Ferry 1825.”
This is Case Antiques’ largest offering ever of fine art. Bidders can choose paintings ranging from an early Cuzco School-attributed Spanish Colonial religious scene to an American folk art portrait of a lady with dog to a landscape by noted Australia artist Sydney Long. However, the number of pieces from Southern artists is expected to draw a large regional crowd to the gallery.
“One interesting thing is the fact that we have three major female artists from Tennessee represented in this sale, whose work almost never comes on the market,” said company president John Case.
Featured are two paintings by American Impressionist Anna Catherine Wiley (1879-1958) and one by her sister, Eleanor McAdoo Wiley (1876-1977), as well as a floral still life and print by Ella Sophonisba Hergesheimer (1873-1943), a great-great-granddaughter of Charles Wilson Peale.
There are also a number of Southern landscapes from Lloyd Branson, Charles Krutch, Dwight Holmes, Louis Jones, Thomas Campbell and Eliot Candee Clark. A riverboat painting by Charles Henry Reinike (New Orleans, 1906-1983), portraits attributed to Samuel Shaver and George Dury and 1940s block prints of Nashville by Ernest Pickup are also included.
Case, which set a record for Tennessee pottery in September with the $63,000 sale of a redware jar by J.A. Lowe, will follow up in this sale with an important West Tennessee stoneware jar marked T.W. Craven ($7,000-$8,000). It was exhibited in the 2003 Art of Tennessee exhibit at the Frist Center in Nashville and is pictured in the catalog.
There is also a cobalt decorated stoneware churn attributed to Charles Decker of Keystone Pottery ($900-$1,200), a Middle Tennessee salt-glaze honey jar ($300-400), and several pieces of Southwest Virginia cobalt decorated pottery.
Period furniture includes an outstanding Federal giltwood convex mirror with spread-winged eagle ($3,500-$4,500), a Federal Hepplewhite paint decorated dressing table ($800-$1,200) and a Federal sofa with tiger-maple crest ($1,000-$1,500).
There is also an outstanding folky East Tennessee inlaid chest of drawers ($1,800-$2,200), and a circa 1800 inlaid walnut dower chest, documented by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts and attributed to Tennessee ($1,800-$2,200).
Smaller items include Arts and Crafts silver and Southern coin silver, an important sampler signed Franklin, Tenn., a Kentucky painted Odd Fellows box, baskets, folk art carvings, historical Staffordshire, coverlets, a large selection of historic books, and a Rookwood floral vase decorated by Ed Diers.
There is also a rare cabinet card of the famous Comanche chief Quanah Parker (1853-1911) and his two wives, which has a $2,000-$3,000 estimate.
The auction will be held at Case’s gallery in the historic Cherokee Mills Building, 2200 Sutherland Ave. in Knoxville, on Saturday, Dec. 6, at 10 a.m., and bids will also be accepted by phone and Internet. A preview will take place on Friday, Dec. 5, from noon to 7 p.m. For additional information visit Case’s Web site, www.caseantiques.com, or call (865) 558-3033.
T. W. Craven turned this West Tennessee stoneware jar, which was recently included in a museum exhibit. It is estimated at $7,000-$8,000. Image courtesy Case Antiques.
Tennessee house samplers are considered rare. This one signed Mary Elizabeth Collins, Franklin, Tenn., 1836, may top $10,000. Image courtesy Case Antiques.Several Federal-era pieces are in the sale, including this giltwood convex mirror estimated at $3,500-$4,500. Image courtesy Case Antiques.A painted canteen attributed to Virginia artist John Adams Elder, a variation of his work After Appomattox, is expected to bring $35,000-$40,000. Image courtesy Case Antiques.
Original 82-Inch diameter hero United Planets Cruiser C-57D flying saucer filming miniature from Forbidden Planet. $80,000 – $120,000. Image courtesy Profiles in History.
CALABASAS, Calif. – Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber from Star Wars and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is expected to capture $150,000-$180,000 as the top prop at a movie memorabilia auction to be held Dec. 11. More than 500 iconic pieces of Hollywood history are expected to total $3 million at Profiles in History’s 33rd Hollywood Auction.
Many of Hollywood’s greatest heroes will be represented.
Harrison Ford’s signature Indiana Jones fedora and whip from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom are expected to top $40,000-$60,000 each. The hero’s machete from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom carries a $80,000-$100,000 estimate.
This Chippendale-style mahogany highboy stands 87 inches high. Image courtesy Pook and Pook Inc.
DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. – More than 1,500 lots of furniture, art and accessories will cross the auction block as Pook & Pook Inc. conducts its largest-ever Variety Sale Dec. 4-5. Included in this expansive sale are 200 lots from the collection of Richard and Rosemarie Machmer.
The furniture up for auction includes an interesting mix of American, Continental and English pieces. This assortment is composed of sideboards, Dutch cupboards, corner cupboards, chests of drawers, sofas, chairs, beds, tea tables, candle stands, dining tables, tall case clocks, children’s furniture and various other furniture items.
SPEONK, N.Y. – A collection of iconic objects used during the taping of the CBS Television reality series Survivor is a featured attraction in Grey Flannel Auctions’ live sale of coin-ops, antique advertising, toys and entertainment memorabilia to be held Dec. 14 in Speonk, N.Y. Absentee and live Internet bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com will also be available.
The Survivor collection was started after the series’ third season, when producer Mark Burnett donated props from the show’s taping in Africa to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. The props were sent to auction, where the consignor bought the pieces that formed the core of his collection. He acquired additional items from later charity auctions containing donations of Survivor objects from Burnett, as well as private-treaty sales with people who worked on the show’s production crews.
Jackson’s International Auctioneers will open their Dec. 2-3 auction with this large painting by 19th century French artist Jacques Wagrez. The oil on canvas, 54 1/2 by 42 inches, is expected to sell for $18,000-$22,000. Image courtesy Jackson International Auctioneers.
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – Jackson’s International Auctioneers will host a two-day auction Dec. 2-3 featuring important European and American fine art together with significant Russian works. The sale includes items deaccessioned from the Grandview Trust of Pittsburgh together with property from collections and estates from across the nation. The 1,000-lot sale includes 12th century European works, paintings, bronzes, furnishings and Orientalia.
The auction will begin with an excellent offering of fine European paintings. Lot no.1, an oil on canvas by French artist Jacques C. Wagrez (1846-1908) depicting a gathering of beautiful young men and women around a storyteller in a meadow, measures 54 by 42 inches and carries an estimate of $18,000-$22,000. Next to sell will be a genre painting of an interior family scene by Danish artist Johann Julius Exner (1825-1910). The dated 1868 oil on canvas, 20 by 24 inches, is estimated at $10,000-$15,000.
Topping the sale at $49,999 was this dark cranberry cut to clear tankard by Dorflinger in the fine no. 99 pattern. Image courtesy Woody Auction.
ST. CHARLES, Mo. – A rare dark cranberry cut to clear tankard by Dorflinger soared to $49,000 at an American Brilliant Cut Glass auction conducted Nov. 15 by Woody Auction. The tankard was cut in the fine no. 99 pattern and boasted a fine embossed vintage silver spout signed Tiffany & Co. with mark “C” for Charles C. Cook, president of Tiffany from 1902-1907.
Woody Auction of Douglass, Kan., conducted the auction, which included the collection of Dr. John Hall, a dedicated collector of ABCG. About 475 lots changed hands in a sale that grossed slightly less than $225,000. No buyer’s premium was charged.
Pastel-on-silk full-figure drawing by Elizabeth O’Neill Verner (S.C., 1883-1979), titled Jamie (est. $20,000-$30,000). Image courtesy Leland Little Auctions.
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. – About 15 prominent estates and collections, featuring a dazzling array of fine and decorative arts plus other items, will be sold in a two-day, four-session sale planned for Dec. 6-7 by Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd. The sale – a Historic Hillsborough Auction – will be held at the Leland Little showroom, with real-time Internet bidding available.
“Our end-of-year, holiday cataloged sale is always a blockbuster, and this one will be no exception,” said the auction company’s owner, Leland Little. “We are proud to be able to represent these fine estates and collections…about 1,000 lots will cross the block. The assortment and quality are second to none. It should be fun.”
