Catherine Saunders-Watson, Author at Auction Central News

Angel frieze returns to Davenport Museum

DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) – Davenport’s old Carnegie library fell to the wrecking ball long ago, but a cherished piece of that building has returned home.

A 105-year-old frieze, cast from an original sculpture of cherubs by the Italian artist Donatello, has been cleaned up and reinstalled at the downtown Davenport Public Library’s special collections area.

The reproduction of Donatello’s “singing angels” was presented to the old library in 1905 by W.C. Putnam, a wealthy entrepreneur who was the godfather of the Putnam Museum. It was an expensive, imported piece for a wall of the children<s department in the library. But when the museum was razed in 1966, the plaster reproduction found a new home at the Blackhawk Hotel in downtown Davenport.

As restoration work began on the hotel this fall, developers Restoration St. Louis decided to donate the valuable piece of art back to the library.

“It takes us back to our roots as a Carnegie library,” said a grateful Amy Groskopf, the chief archivist for the library. “Since we don’t have our original building, it’s nice to have a significant piece of history we can put back in our facility to remind us of where we came from.”

Although it is a reproduction, it still is a legitimate and important work of art, said Nicole Grabow, a specialist with the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis who traveled twice to Davenport to assist in the moving and reinstallation project.

The plaster reproduction was made in 1904 by a company called P.P. Caproni and Brother of Boston. In the early part of the 20th century, such companies were granted access to world-class pieces of art and allowed to make direct castings, a practice that is impossible today, Grabow said.

The Donatello piece was created in 1439. Today, it is preserved at the Museo del’Opera del Duomo in Florence, Italy.

“The fact you can’t take those castings any more and the kind of workmanship that was required to do it in plaster makes it worthwhile,” Grabow said. “Part of the value is also in its history. It was given to the library by W.C. Putnam, who was a significant local historic figure. It’s become a part of the history of the library that’s pretty hard to put a price on.”

It also is one of the largest reproductions of its kind Grabow has ever seen. Companies like P.P. Caproni often made smaller sculpture reproductions for private collectors, but large pieces – in this case 24 feet long and 3 feet high – are rare.

“I’ve never come across one this large,” she said.

The cleanup and move was a delicate process, Grabow and Groskopf said.

It had to be moved in six sections, each about 4 feet wide and weighing about 100 pounds. After it was cleaned, it was reinstalled using the same mounting method used previously, consisting of 4-by-4 pieces of wood mounted to the wall and a metal shelf for support.

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Information from: Quad-City Times, http://www.qctimes.com

AP-CS-01-24-10 1201EST

Furniture maker seeks bankruptcy reorganization

MONSON, Maine (AP) – An eleventh-hour Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing allowed Maine’s Moosehead Furniture Co. to avoid an auction aimed at liquidating its assets.

The bankruptcy reorganization was announced minutes before Thursday’s auction, leaving about 200 bidders from across the country frustrated. Chuck Lapinski from Tennessee told the Bangor Daily News that he had planned to buy the sawmill equipment. Instead, he had nothing to show for his $5,000 in expenses.

The former Moosehead Manufacturing Co. went out of business because of competition from low-priced imported furniture.

It stayed alive as Moosehead Furniture under new owners, but it closed again while the owners went looking for investors to stave off liquidation.

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Information from: Bangor Daily News, http://www.bangornews.com

AP-ES-01-22-10 0925EST

EBay cuts auction listing fees for some sellers

SAN JOSE, Calif. – EBay hopes to lure more sellers by essentially doing away with “listing” fees for people who occasionally auction items on its site. Instead it will take a cut of the final selling price.

EBay has tinkered with its fee structure in recent years in hopes of improving the experience people have on its site and reinvigorating its growth. Changes like the one being announced Tuesday are meant to encourage more people to list items for sale.

EBay Inc. told sellers today that starting March 30 they will be able to post up to 100 items for auction every 30 days without paying fees to list them. The items must have a starting bid of less than $1, and when they sell eBay will take 9 percent of the final price or $50, whichever is less.

Currently, eBay lets occasional sellers — who make up the majority of the 28 million people who sell on its main site — auction up to five items for free every 30 days. It charges them 8.75 percent of the final price or $20, whichever is less.

For sellers that only auction the occasional vintage PEZ dispenser or designer handbag, Tuesday’s change could mean they pay eBay more. But Lorrie Norrington, the president of eBay Marketplaces, thinks the change will be easier overall for people who want to auction off items that are sitting around the house.

“Our customers have consistently told us, ‘We love free and we love simple,’ and that’s what we think these changes are about,” she said.

EBay made a similar change in fees in some European markets in 2008.

Once sellers exhaust the number of items they can list for free, they are subject to listing fees and commissions that vary, depending on the starting price of the item and the price at which it sells. Those listing fees are also changing for most auctions — to a range of 15 cents to $2, depending on the item’s starting price. Right now, they generally range from 15 cents to $4.

EBay also is trying to draw more attention to a buyer protection service on the site. That gives buyers and sellers access to customer service representatives to resolve disputes. This service, which excludes some categories like vehicles and real estate, will also be able to refund a buyer’s money, if necessary.

Previously, the only option for resolving problems between buyers and sellers was through eBay’s payment service, PayPal, and was available only on transactions that used PayPal.

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Picasso painting accidentally torn by visitor to Met Museum

NEW YORK (AP) — An important Picasso painting accidentally damaged by a visitor last week will be repaired in time for a large exhibition of the artist’s works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in April, the museum said Monday.

The Actor, a painting from Picasso’s rose period, will be restored at the museum’s conservation laboratory, the Met said.

The accident has also led museum director Thomas P. Campbell to request a review of relevant policies and procedures, spokeswoman Elyse Topalian said.

The museum described the damage as an irregular 6-inch tear to the lower right-hand corner of the painting. Conservation and curatorial experts “fully expect” that the restoration “will be unobtrusive,” the museum said in a statement Sunday.

The artwork is nearly 6 feet by 4 feet and depicts a standing acrobat in a pink costume and blue knee-high boots striking a pose against an abstracted backdrop.

The restoration will be done in the coming weeks, and the piece will be displayed as planned in an exhibition of 250 Picasso works drawn from the museum’s collection, from April 27 to Aug. 1, the museum said.

The accident occurred in a second-floor gallery of early Picasso works when a patron participating in one of the museum’s art classes lost her balance and fell on the canvas, the museum said. She was one of 14 people in the guided group.

It happened during regular visiting hours when other visitors were in the gallery. People who attend the art classes typically roam through the museum in a group stopping in front of works of interest.

The Actor was donated to the Met in 1952 by art patron Thelma Chrysler Foy, the elder daughter of auto magnate Walter Chrysler. The museum said it had been included in many major exhibitions of Picasso’s works both in the United States and in Europe.

Picasso painted the work in the winter of 1904-05. It marked a transition from his blue period of tattered beggars and blind musicians to his more optimistic and brighter-colored rose period of itinerant acrobats in costume.

In 2001, another Picasso was accidentally damaged during a private showing of the artist’s “Le Reve.” The artwork’s owner, casino mogul Steve Wynn, was showing the work — a portrait of Picasso’s mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, to a group of friends in Las Vegas when he inadvertently poked a thumb-size hole in the canvas with his elbow.

The accident occurred just after Wynn had negotiated a deal to sell the painting for $139 million.

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Collapsing tents damage vintage cars at Arizona auction

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) – Organizers of a collector-car auction in north Scottsdale worked to assess damages Friday after an 800-foot-long tent blew onto a nearby freeway, snarling traffic and leaving hundreds of valuable vehicles uncovered in a pounding rainstorm.

Heavy tent poles hit some cars and rain pelted uncovered convertibles at the Russo-Steele Auto Auction. A collector-car insurance executive estimated that damages could be more than $1.5 million.

Russo and Steele said owners would not be allowed to inspect their cars until at least Saturday morning because the Scottsdale fire marshal has not declared the auction site safe.

Drew and Josephine Alcazar, Russo and Steele owners, hoped to resume the auction Saturday, but there was still a lot of cleanup to do.

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Information from: The Arizona Republic, http://www.azcentral.com

Morphy’s announces new series of Discovery and specialty sales

DENVER, Pa. – Dan Morphy Auctions’ annual events calendar is about to become a lot busier with the introduction of several new auction series to augment the company’s traditional lineup of five to six cataloged sales per year.

Beginning on March 16, 2010, Morphy’s will conduct a regular monthly Discovery sale featuring general antiques, art and vintage collectibles. The live sales will be held at Morphy’s gallery in Denver, Pa., on the Adamstown antiques strip, and will include Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com. The initial Discovery sale will feature approximately 400-500 lots.

The quality of goods accepted for Morphy’s Discovery sales will be no different than what customers have come to expect from the company’s past major auctions, and the sales will be promoted, advertised and marketed in exactly the same fashion as Morphy’s major auctions, with an extended preview period in the run-up to each event.

“We’ve been formulating a plan for quite some time that would create a new outlet for dealers and estate executors who handle large quantities of general merchandise, as well as any other consignors who may prefer a quick turnaround time,” said Morphy’s owner and CEO, Dan Morphy.

Morphy said he believes the new sales will develop a regular following because of the potential they hold for treasure-hunters. “That’s why we’re calling them Discovery auctions,” he said, noting that the south-central Pennsylvania region is “rich with houses and estates that harbor antiques and other goods dating back to the earliest European settlement of the Commonwealth. There are exciting finds every day of the week in this part of Pennsylvania. We foresee tremendous potential for these sales, which, in time, could be stepped up to become twice-a-month or even weekly events.”

Also this year, Morphy’s will be launching three new series of specialty auctions operating very similarly to the company’s major auctions. Each of the specialty sales, which will accommodate live and Internet bidding, will specifically focus on one of three categories: antique and vintage firearms; antique and collectible dolls; and antique and vintage toy trains. The monthly sales will follow a consecutive agenda so that each of the three categories is represented with one sale per quarter.

The categories for the new specialty sales were selected because of the high level of buyer interest and the abundance of merchandise consistently available to Morphy’s. “These sales will feature high-quality items for a targeted audience,” Dan Morphy said. “Our major cataloged sales have become so large that we had to find another way to serve the many consignors who want to sell through Morphy’s.” Dan Morphy Auctions’ new Specialty Auction Series is expected to begin with a mid-year toy train sale.

For additional information on any Morphy Auctions event, call 717-335-3435 or log on to www.morphyauctions.com.

Click here to view Morphy’s Feb. 26-27 auction catalogs or to sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers.com.

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Click here to view Dan Morphy Auctions LLC’s complete catalog.

Couple increases pledge to Michigan State Univ. art museum by $2M

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) – A couple who gave their money and names to Michigan State University’s planned art museum are kicking in an extra $2 million toward its growing cost.

Michigan State says Los Angeles billionaire Eli Broad and his wife Edythe have raised their pledge to $28 million.

The school said Wednesday it has raised about $33 million for the museum but says the estimated cost has risen to $40 million to $45 million from the original $30 million.

University trustees voted in December to build the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum. The school plans to break ground March 16 and open the museum in early 2012.

London-based architect Zaha Hadid won an international design competition for the museum in January 2008.

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On the Net: http://www.broadmuseum.msu.edu

AP-WS-01-21-10 0836EST

Bankrupt Canadian auction house Ritchie’s now a mere memory

TORONTO (ACNI) – Visitors to the Web site for Canadian auction house Ritchie’s will find that the company’s last connection to the sector it once dominated no longer exists. A notice on the company’s site, www.ritchies.com, confirms that a bankruptcy order was issued against Ritchie’s Inc. on Oct. 26, 2009, with Grant Thornton Limited of Royal Bank Plaza, Toronto, shown as the court-appointed trustee.

Once known for its multimillion-dollar art sales held in conjunction with Sotheby’s, Ritchie’s had been in financial trouble since last summer, at least. Sotheby’s ended its 8-year association with Ritchie’s after the latter company failed to meet a deadline for payment to consignors. But it was their landlord, Hildegard Hammer, who petitioned the Canadian Superior Court to force Ritchie’s into bankruptcy, claiming she was owed $131,000 in back rent.

Following published reports of staff upheaval, a seemingly closed gallery and “nervous consignors,” Auction Central News spoke to the owner and CEO of Ritchie’s Auctioneers, Ira Hopmeyer, in August of 2009. At the time, Hopmeyer rubbished media reports, describing them as “sour grapes,” and “misconstrued information from sore losers…”Hopmeyer, who bought Ritchie’s Auctioneers 16 years ago, said he took the initiative to assume control at the auction house after certain events took place that he says occurred without his knowledge.

Toronto’s Globe and Mail newspaper had reported on Thursday, Aug. 13, 2009, that a small contingent of consignors had congregated in Ritchie’s parking lot the day before, hoping to collect either unsold items or money owed to them by the auction house. Instead, the Globe and Mail newspaper said, they found an unattended gallery and a sign on the door advising that the company was on “summer holiday” until Aug. 17. The sign also indicated that the auction scheduled for that day had been postponed.

Further, the article stated that 27 employees had been laid off for financial reasons and that the company’s president and chief operating officer, Stephen Ranger, had resigned.

At that time, Hopmeyer told Auction Central News, “Yes, former management laid off some staff, and yes, Ranger resigned previous to the layoffs. He had tried to increase his stake in the company and made an offer that was not accepted. He then made a second offer for a lesser share that was accepted, but he later reneged…He wanted [the increased stake] for nothing. I’m not interested in giving it away.”

In an Aug. 13, 2009 blog posting attributed to Stephen Ranger, Ritchie’s former president wrote in part: “The central problem was a liquidity issue that I as a former minority shareholder had no control over, none…Anyone out there who actually believes that I didn’t try repeatedly to fix this situation should examine the logic. Why would someone with as much time, energy and commitment to this business leave if I hadn’t exhausted every avenue to try and make it right? There have been no underhanded machinations here. Everyone knows at this point that I tried repeatedly to buy this business, to fix it, to salvage it, but ultimately could not.”

Hopmeyer – who acted as interim president from 1999 until “2004 or 2005” – said he had considered Ranger to have been “very competent with the auction part” of Ritchie’s operation, “but not the business part.”

On Aug. 3, Hopmeyer stepped in to assume the executive management reins at Ritchie’s. He said a trimmed-down team of “loyal employees” had been reinstated to pick up where they left off before the shakeout.

“The overhead had gotten out of control,” Hopmeyer said in that same interview. “We’re not a New York or London auction house. There will be no more fancy cocktail parties, flying around the country or paying outside consultants exorbitant amounts of money…”

Hopmeyer said that in an effort to maintain transparency and allay misapprehensions, he had been posting updates on Ritchie’s Web site. The final posting, according to The Canadian Press in an Oct. 28, 2009 online article, was “a terse message to consignors and secured and unsecured creditors.”

Those who believe they may have a claim against Ritchie’s can contact the trustee, Grant Thornton Limited, by calling 416-366-0100. Additional information may be found on Grant Thornton’s Web site: http://www.grantthornton.ca.

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Five Georgia art museums form partnership

ATLANTA (AP) – Five art museums in Georgia say they have formed a partnership to share their resources and collections.

The five are the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Albany Museum of Art, The Columbus Museum, the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens and the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah.

Participants say the during a three-year pilot initiative, the museums will draw on each other’s resources for exhibitions and loans of individual objects, professional development workshops and consultations and collection storage.

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AP-CS-01-21-10 1003EST

Moisture threatening Gettysburg Cyclorama painting

Detail of The Battle of Gettysburg as seen on the Gettysburg Cyclorama. Image courtesy of The Gettysburg National Battlefield Museum Foundation.

GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) – Water is dripping onto the massive Cyclorama painting at Gettysburg National Military Park’s new $103 million visitor center.

Spokeswoman Katie Lawhon says the problem is merely “condensation” that occurs at various times of the year, but minutes from a park staff meeting say the roof of the new visitor’s center is leaking.

An internal report says the Cyclorama might have to be shut down for two to three months to fix the leak, but Lawhon says she can’t say if or when the park plans to shut down the painting.

The 124-year-old painting is 377 feet long and 42 feet high and depicts various aspects of the battle in a panoramic setting. The painting was restored as part of a five-year, $16 million project completed in 2008.

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Information from: Gettysburg Times,

http://www.gettysburgtimes.com

AP-ES-01-21-10 0725EST

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