William Price for Rose Valley Community trestle table: $237,500. Image courtesy Rago Arts and Auction Center.
LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. – A rare and exceptional trestle table designed by William Price and executed at the Rose Valley Community in Delaware circa 1901 led Rago Arts and Auction Center’s 20th/21st C. Design sale Feb. 25-26 selling for an astounding $237,500.
A William Price armchair made for the same utopian community sold for $ 25,000.
The two-day sale, in which 85 percent of the 1,207 lots sold, totaled $5.12 million.
“The sale was unusual in that it was strong in nearly every area, said David Rago. “We were 85 percent sold, hammered 20 percent above the low estimate, and attracted a record number of bidders, nearly 400 on the telephone alone. People definitely seemed more willing to buy than at any time since Sept. ’08, which is consistent with what we saw at other auctions and shows earlier this year.”
The collection included fine and esoteric forged iron items from the Philadelphia area. A Samuel Yellin wrought iron floor candelabrum sold for $40,000, while a pair of Samuel Yellin wall sconces reached $37,500.
Addition highlights from the Early 20th C. Design/Arts & Crafts session included a George Ohr oversized pitcher that sold for $50,000; an F.A. Rawlence English Arts & Crafts cabinet, $50,000; a John Bennett covered jar, $32,500; a Gustave Baumann woodblock print titled A Lilac Year, $21,250; a Gustav Stickley custom designed humidor, $21,250; and a Martin Bros. stoneware bird tobacco jar, $20,000.
Saturday’s Studio Pottery highlighted lots were a Robert Arneson self-portrait bust, $18,750; a Peter Voulkos tall Stack Pot, $15,000; a Hans Coper “Cycladic” arrow-form sculpture, $11,250; a Bernard Leach tall vessel with fish, $10,625; and a Jack Earl canned sculpture, Bark Doggy Food, $10,000.
Sunday’s Modern highlighted lots consisted of a George Nakashima coffee table, $87,500; a Paul Evans wall-hanging sculpture, $62,500; a George and Mira Nakashima Minguren II dining table, $52,500; a Henri Simmen and Eugenie O’Kin pear-shaped covered vessel, $52,500; a Harry Bertoia untitled (bush) bronze and copper sculpture, $47,500; a Phil Powell set of four bi-fold doors, $45,000; Wharton Esherick pheasant sculpture, $32,500; a Paul Evans Argente vitrine, $28,750; and a set of Hans Wegner for Johannes Hansen chairs, $25,000.
Consignments are now being accepted for the next 20th C. Design auctions, June 16-17. Email Rago info@ragoarts.com or phone 609-397-9374.
Richelieu wing of the Louvre museum, Paris. Image taken in 2005 by Gloumouth1. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) – IBM on Monday revealed an alliance with the venerable Louvre Museum to use sensors, real-time data analysis and other Internet Age tools to make the museum smarter.
IBM’s “building whisperer” has been listening to the Louvre to make the famed Paris museum better at protecting art, saving energy, and staying open for its millions of annual visitors.
“It is not a job; it is a mission,” said IBM industry solutions vice president David Bartlett, whose passion for figuring out how to make places more efficient has earned him the nickname “the building whisperer.”
“If you listen to a building holistically, there are all kinds of opportunity for improvement,” Bartlett told AFP. “The Louvre has told me that it is a complex network of systems within systems.”
A recent acquisition allowed IBM to upgrade software installed as part of a deal made years ago to enable the Louvre to more efficiently managemaintenance, repairs and other aspects of running the museum, according to the U.S. technology titan.
IBM made its work at the Louvre public at a company gathering in Las Vegas.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Richelieu wing of the Louvre museum, Paris. Image taken in 2005 by Gloumouth1. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Built in the late 1700s, the plantation house was expanded in 1827. Image courtesy Neal Auction Co.
BRAITHWAITE, La. (AP) – A grand white-pillared plantation house built on historic River Road near the Mississippi nearly 200 years ago will be sold in a March 10 auction that could provide a new twist in its colorful history.
Over the centuries, the yellow home with its green shutters overlooking exotic gardens survived a British invasion, the Civil War and the ravages of hurricanes Betsy, Camille and Katrina.
The home offers a glimpse into Louisiana’s past, with original horsehair plaster walls, red brick floors and upstairs French doors that open to a wraparound gallery ushering in breezes.
Auctioneers are hopeful the romanticism of River Road and the beauty of the relic-filled home will fetch a hefty price for the property, called Mary Plantation. The plantation had been listed for traditional real estate sale by its owners, historic preservationist and noted antiquarian Blaine Murrell McBurney and his wife, Stephanie, since 2010 with listing prices in the $1 million range, albeit in a slumped real estate market.
Neal Alford, president of Neal Auction Co., said the plantation will be offered at absolute auction, which means there is no minimum or reserve price and the property will go to the highest bidder.
“It’s a compelling, rare opportunity, to acquire a historic property at a potential bargain,” said Alford, whose company specializes in antiques and exotic properties. “The property will sell regardless of price.”
Neal has sold some of Louisiana’s grandest old homes at absolute auction, including Bocage Plantation in Darrow, La., and the Spanish Custom House in New Orleans. Both of those homes sold for more than $1 million, but Mary Plantation’s more isolated location miles from the heavily-traveled stretch of River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge may make it harder to land that high a bid.
Bocage Plantation is among the dozens of historic homes that are now tourist attractions. It offers tours daily and serves as a bed and breakfast. Other historic River Road homes open for public tours include Houmas House, also in Darrow, Oak Alley and Laura Plantation in Vacherie, Destrehan Plantation in Destrehan and Nottoway Plantation in White Castle
So tourism might be the next stage in the life of Mary Plantation, where fields of indigo, rice and citrus once flourished at the hands of slaves forced into labor before the Civil War. Over the years much of the original site was sold and the property now has 7 acres.
Few early land records exist, but Mary Plantation was built by slaves on land owned by French planter Francois Delery in the late 1700s and expanded to its current state on tall white pillars with a raised red brick foundation around 1827. The plantation was presumably named for Delery’s wife, Marie Marthe Victoire Bienvenu.
Tour companies don’t regularly pass through Braithwaite, but the potential is there, Alford said. The drive from New Orleans to Brathwaite passes through the city’s Lower 9th Ward, the area where actor Brad Pitt’s Make It Right rebuilding effort is taking place, and the battlefield where Andrew Jackson defeated an invading British army in 1815.
River Road is dotted with citrus orchards and oak trees, and other historic buildings are to the south along the Mississippi.
“People who are looking for historic properties are interested in that romanticism that comes with owning an old home and sharing it with others,” Alford said. “Certainly, the possibility for a crossover into tourism is there.”
Foster Creppel, owner of Woodland Plantation in West Pointe a la Hache, said most of his business comes from tours and fishing charter services needing accommodations. He thinks Mary Plantation has potential.
“It could be a very nice business,” Creppel said. “It just may take some time.”
Creppel said it has taken years to build his business, which includes the 1834 Woodland Plantation home on roughly 50 acres, an old church he uses for special events and a restaurant that serves Louisiana cuisine.
Susanne Romig, marketing director for Nottoway Plantation, said a big obstacle to the plantation tour business has been Mother Nature. But high gas prices and the bad economy have hurt, too, she said.
Hurricane Gustav in 2008 ripped off a section of Nottoway’s roof and collapsed several chimneys. While closed for repairs, the owners expanded the property by adding a carriage house, ballroom and nine Acadian-style cottages modeled after the property’s original slave quarters.
“Hospitality anywhere in the world is tough, but here in Louisiana there are so many factors,” Romig said. “Weather is one of the biggest things that can affect business.”
For months after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, local tourism was all but dead.
Norman Marmillion, owner of Laura Plantation, which offers tours in French and English, said 95 percent of his business comes from New Orleans. After Katrina—with New Orleans abandoned for a time—he had no business and was forced to let most employees go.
Marmillion said business is back to about 85 percent of pre-Katrina levels. He’s looking forward to the return of steamboat cruises along the Mississippi River in April after a four-year hiatus. “That’s been the missing link in our business,” Marmillion said. Two riverboats are expected to resume service in April, and two more in 2013, Marmillion said.
Mary Plantation may lend itself nicely to tours, Creppel said. The home, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, is one of the oldest surviving structures in Plaquemines Parish. It has a formal dining room and bath downstairs and three bedrooms with two bathrooms upstairs. Some of its hardware dates from the 18th century.
A stable has been converted into an air-conditioned guest house and captures the character of the main house with red brick floors, cypress wall paneling and a fan-shaped stained glass window above French doors.
Behind the house is a building likely used as a dairy and livestock shed. It resembles a raised log cabin and reflects early Louisiana construction methods.
The plantation’s contents, including some of the earliest-known fine Louisiana furnishings, will be sold immediately after the March 10 property auction. Included is furniture from the collection of McBurney, who purchased the home in 2003. The McBurneys have holdings across the nation and are selling Mary Plantation to devote more attention to interests in Europe, Alford said.
The original home was expanded in 1827. But it fell into neglect over the years until the 1940s when biologist Elmer “Eric” Knobloch and his wife, Marguerite, bought it and added modern amenities and rare tropical greenery to the gardens.
For decades, the Knoblochs hosted tours, picnics and parties at Mary, and it became a magnet for preservationists and naturalists. The house suffered only minor damage during Katrina in 2005 and was quickly repaired.
Alford thinks the plantation’s charm will draw interest, whether as a primary residence or tourism venue.
“An auction is the way to go with a property like this,” Alford said. “It’s unique. It’s one moment, and you have to act in that moment or you lose it.”
Louis Comfort Tiffany geometric table lamp, bronze turtleback base, signed ‘Tiffany Studios New York #1493’ on shade, ‘Tiffany Studios #587’ on base, 25 inches high, 20 1/4-inch-diameter shade. Estimate $8,000-$12,000. Image courtesy Kaminski Auctions. BEVERLY, Mass. – Kaminski Auctions will host its inaugural 20th Century Art Glass and Modern Design Sale on March 25, Sunday, starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. Nathan Russell, Kaminski’s new modern expert has pulled together a stunning collection of 20th century furniture and art while an important private collection of Art Deco Schneider and La Verre Francais glass amassed over 40 years from all over the world by a prominent Boston collector will be the feature of this sale.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
The art glass collection is truly special with something for every serious collector. The most sought after of pieces of Le Verre Francais have trees, animals, fish or geometric shapes. In 1995 Gerard Bertrand published the first book on La Verre Francais titled Schneider Maitre Verrier. This book was the first to educate collectors on the many different designs that existed, but not all of them. Unfortunately for collectors, the first editions were available only in French. Not until much later was an abbreviated text in English even published. Classified as cameo glass, it was produced by the Schneider glassworks company in Epinay-sur Seine from about 1918 through 1933.
Each piece in this collection bears the signature blue, white and red candy cane and is guaranteed authentic and of the period. The pieces are large, rare and have the unusual shapes coveted by knowledgeable collectors.
There are many lamps in addition to the vases, the top lot being a La Verre Francais cameo glass table lamp with the “Ferns” or “Ash Tree” pattern. The base is signed with a blue, white and red candy cane mark. It stands 16 inches high and 9 3/4 in diameter and is estimated at $8,000-$10,000. There is also a similar size lamp with the “Rose Savage” or “Wild Rose” pattern with the same estimate.
There is a rare Tiffany lamp in the collection as well, a geometric table lamp with a bronze turtleback base signed “Tiffany Studios, New York #1493” on the shade and “#587” on the base. It stands 25 inches high by 20 1/4 in diameter. It is estimated at $8,000-$12,000.
A signed Schneider Le Verre Francais cameo glass vase with applied orange glass decoration and white filigree cameo standing 17 1/2 inches high is valued at $4,000-$5,000. Another monumental Le Verre Francais cameo glass vase in the Libellule or dragon fly pattern also standing 17 1/2 inches by 10 inches in diameter and with the blue, white and red candy cane signature is estimate at $4,000-$5,000.
Multiple other patterns are represented in the collection including vases with the Lauriers pattern, Ecailles or Spirals, Halbrans or Young Ducks pattern, Cerises or Cherries, Digitalis or Foxglove pattern, Etolie or Star pattern, Papillons or Butterflies pattern and many more.
The collection also includes some great sculpture from the Art Deco period. A Bruno Zach, bronze and ivory sculpture standing 23 inches high on a black marble base is estimated at $12,000-$14,000, while a Guiraud Riviere (1881-1947) of “Le Comet” in polished bronze on a marble base is estimated at $6,000-$8,000. J. Lormier, Panzeri and Raoul Lamourrdieu, A. Sadoux and many sculptors of the period are represented in the sale.
In addition to the art glass and ceramics there will be a range of more than 200 modernist objects, including artwork, sculpture, lighting, furniture and accessories from 1900 to the 1980s. The following is a partial listing of the sale: late 1950s Verner Panton for Louis Paulson Toupan group of three aluminum globe pendant lamps, 1960s Neil Small plexiglass lamp, 1930s French modernist hall tree, 1930s Manning Bowman Art Deco chrome and Bakelite coffeepot, 1962 Austin Cox Enterprises for Alcoa Aluminum modernist chess set, 1950s pair of Arne Jacobsen Series 7 armchairs, circa-1960 Hans Wegner Danish Modern sofa, and a pair of Thonet Brno chrome and leather armchairs.
Additionally, Kaminski’s will offer a pair of Wassily leather and chrome armchairs designed by Marcel Breuer, an unusual pair of 1950s wire swivel rocking armchairs attributed to Salterini, a Russel Woodard Sculptura outdoor set with glass-top table, 1950s George Nelson for Herman Miller 4112 Steelcase desk, 1950s Charles Eames for Herman Miller LTR strut table, and a group of four 1970s Mario Bellini Amanta module chairs. The list concludes with a 1970s Jerry Johnson designed Arcadia table and chair set, two Gae Aulenti for Knoll sofas, six Vignelli Design for Knoll handkerchief chairs, Ward Bennet for Bricknell sofa, Modern Saporitti leather sofa, Heritage Hendredon Amerasian mahogany coffee table, Alvar Aalto coffee table, and a monumental Charles Eames for Herman Miller conference table.
For more information visit the website www.kaminskiauctions.com or call 978-927-2223.
Circa 1902 Tiffany Studio lamp base, bronze, marked ‘Tiffany Studios New York 23542’ on base, three lily pad feet, 11 inches high x 8 inches wide. Originally oil but converted to electric. Estimate: $400-$600. Image courtesy Kaminski Auctions.
‘Sunflower Seeds’ by Ai Weiwei, at the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, October 2010. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
LONDON (AFP) –Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei has sold part of his Sunflower Seeds installation to Britain’s Tate Gallery, it said on Monday.
The London gallery has bought around eight million of the 100 million porcelain seeds, which covered the floor of the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2010, for an undisclosed figure.
The public was initially able to walk over the 1,000 square meter carpet of seeds when they went on show, but the work was later cordoned off when dust created by the porcelain raised health fears.
“The 10 tons of seeds can be displayed in the form of a 1.5 meter (5 feet) high conical sculpture, stretching five metres in diameter,or as a 10 centimeter-deep square or rectangle,” the Tate said in a statement.
The Tate Modern displayed the 8 million seeds in the cone shape from June until last month.
Ai, whose activism has made him a thorn in the side of China’s communist authorities, was held in custody for 81 days last year as police rounded up dissidents amid online calls for Arab Spring-style protests in China.
Upon his release in June, the 54-year-old was charged with tax evasion, charges he maintains are politically motivated attempts to silence him.
The gallery said the seeds, which were individually hand-made by artisans in Jingdezhen, eastern China, carried associations of the Cultural Revolution, the chaotic period of Chinese politics between 1966 and 1976.
“Propaganda images depicted Chairman Mao as the sun with the mass of people as sunflowers turning towards him,” the Tate said.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
‘Sunflower Seeds’ by Ai Weiwei, at the Tate Modern Turbine Hall, October 2010. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
The Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century. Photo by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) – A Hindu trust in India on Monday started a 10-year project to build a replica of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat temple on the banks of the Ganges.
A foundation-laying ceremony was held at the 40-acre site in the eastern state of Bihar where the trust plans to recreate the temple’s huge structure and elaborate stone carvings.
Organizers say they intend the new building to be the tallest Hindu temple in the world.
The UNESCO-listed site in Cambodia contains the remains of various capitals from the Khmer empire and is a major international tourist destination.
The main temple was first dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu when it was built in the 12th century before later being used for Buddhist worship.
“It will be a replica of Angkor Wat but the temple will be slightly taller than the original,” Kishore Kunal, secretary of the Bihar Mahavir Mandir Trust, told AFP by telephone.
Kunal said the plan was to “re-create Angkor Wat’s grandeur and splendor” near the town of Hajipur, 25 kilometres from the Bihar state capital of Patna.
The trust, which has constructed a number of temples and hospitals in Bihar, is mainly funded by donations and has put an estimated budget of $20 million on the project.
“We cannot match the original in terms of the size of the entire temple complex. But we will try what we can with the land and the means that we have,” said Kunal.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia was built by King Suryavarman II in the early 12th century. Photo by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Basel, Switzerland, is home to the biggest event in watchmaking. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.
GENEVA (AFP) – The world’s biggest watch event opens in Basel, Switzerland, this week on the back of a bumper year thanks to Asian demand for luxury timepieces.
Whether this trend will extend to the expected star of the show—a $5 million diamond-laden model by Hublot—is unclear but with 1,815 exhibitors from 41 countries, high-range watch devotees can expect to see something they like.
The watch and jewelry event brings together names such as Rolex, Dior and Chopard who will present their most prestigious collections to around 100,000 visitors over eight days.
The watch industry, dominated by the Swiss, has largely been spared the effects of the financial downturn and eurozone crisis which have hurt other sectors.
Swatch, the world’s largest watch group, posted record sales of 7.1 billion Swiss francs (5.8 billion euros, $7.4 billion) in 2011 and saw a 18.1 percent jump in net profit to 1.3 billion francs
The Bienne-based giant, owner of numerous brands such as Omega and Tissot, said 2012 had got off to a similarly good start with double-digit growth in January in February, although for the full year the figure is expected to even out to between five and 10 percent.
Group director Nick Hayek said he hoped to create 1,000 new jobs worldwide this year.
The main reason for the healthy business across Swiss brands is Asian demand, according to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry.
“After a fantastic year in 2011—a new record year for the Swiss watch industry—the growth will continue in 2012, said president Jean-Daniel
Pasche.
“This is mainly down to Asia—our first market ahead of Europe and America.
“We profit off the general growth of the economy in the region—there are many people who have the means to acquire a Swiss watch. They find our products very attractive.
“Despite the turbulence I would say that our industry is resisting very well,” said Pasche.
“We hope that Baselworld will open in a rather good atmosphere for the Swiss watch industry—generally speaking we are in a positive mood.”
Hublot, a subsidiary of French luxury goods group LVMH, will use the high-profile event to unveil “The $5 million” a watch comprising no less than 1,282 diamonds.
“This is the most precious watch ever created by Hublot and its long-standing partner, Atelier Bunter in Geneva,” said Hublot.
The piece is the result of 14 months work, including that of a “master-cutter” from New York who fashioned the largest stones.
The watch will be displayed under very tight security, a company spokeswoman said, and only select Baselworld attendees will even be allowed to view it.
Swiss police only last month revealed they had identified the man responsible for organizing a spectacular 8 million franc diamond robbery at last year’s event.
Thieves made off with a set of four diamonds from a window after distracting booth staff. They have not been recovered.
Investigators believe the heist was the work of an Eastern European group specializing in stealing jewelry and valuable antiques.
An international arrest warrant is out for a 54-year-old Croatian man.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Basel, Switzerland, is home to the biggest event in watchmaking. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.
This unfamiliar object is a Beringer-type sundial made in Germany. It sold for $350 at a Skinner auction in Boston. Notice the dials on the sides and the top. Photo courtesy of Skinner Inc.
A stick’s shadow, sundials, clocks, watches and wristwatches have all made it easier for a person to tell time. The earliest known sundial dates from about 800 B.C. The first pendulum clock was made in the 1600s, and pocket watches were being used by the 1700s. By the 1800s, there were mechanical clocks, and the clock in a nearby church steeple was the best way to tell the exact time.
Trains were the favored form of transportation, and riders had to know when the train would arrive and depart, so accurate watches were necessary and regulated time zones were put in use. It is said that people could set their clocks when they heard the nearby train whistle’s sound.
By World War I, people were wearing wristwatches to tell time, and today many use a cellphone or computer. But all of history’s time-telling methods are still in use, even the sundial.
The common garden-variety sundial is an ornament that requires proper placement in the yard to tell the time. Of course, when daylight saving time is in effect,it is one hour off. One rare sundial is the Beringer style, which has five dials and five shadow casters (called “gnomons”). It is shaped like a cube on a stand. Each side and the top have a dial and a gnomon in the proper position. It was invented by David Beringer in Germany in the 1800s and is very accurate, but it is complicated to install. A wooden example sold in 2011 for $350. A few are in museums.
Q: I have a Podmore Walker “Temple” pattern “flow brown” platter, 13 1/2 x 10 1/4 inches. I inherited it from my parents’ Victorian china collection. As much as I’ve been able to determine, it is a Podmore, Walker & Co. original because it’s marked “P.W. & Co.” While such platters usually are flow blue, did Podmore Walker also make flow brown? Is it authentic, and what would its value be?
A: Podmore, Walker & Co. was in business in Tunstall, Staffordshire, England, from 1834 to 1859. Enoch Wedgwood joined the company in about 1849. When he became a partner in 1856, the name of the company was changed to Podmore, Walker & Wedgwood. The company became Wedgwood & Co. in about 1860. The color of your platter may be what collectors call “mulberry.” It looks like brown. Value: about $200.
Q: My husband was given a small wooden table in the 1960s. It’s 30 inches square with two shelves. The label on the bottom says, “A Leopold Stickley Original, L. & J.G. Stickley, Inc., Fayetteville, N.Y., Maker of Cherry Valley Furniture.”
A: Leopold (1869-1957) and John George (1871-1921) Stickley, two of the five Stickley brothers who entered the furniture business, established their furniture manufacturing company in Fayetteville in 1902. The firm, like the other Stickley companies, sold Arts and Crafts furniture. When interest in that style waned in the 1920s, L. & J.G. Stickley introduced a line of Colonial Revival furniture marketed as “Cherry Valley.” The line was produced until 1985, when the company was sold and moved to Manlius, N.Y., where it is still in business. The label on your table was used from 1945 to 1985, so your table is not an early one. But pieces in the Cherry Valley line are well made and sell for about what comparable new pieces would bring.
Q: I’m considering selling a silver tea service to someone who buys gold and silver items. I’m now wondering if the set may be worth more than meltdown value. The sugar and creamer are marked “925 Sterling” on the bottom. The set’s tray is worn and all I can make out in the first line of the mark on the bottom is “rlboro Pla.” Under that is, “by Morton Parker, Canada, E.P. Brass, lead mounts.”
A: Morton Parker is a Canadian company founded in Trenton, Ontario, in 1945. It is still in business and is still run by members of the Parker family. The company makes silver-plated and stainless-steel hollowware for the retail market and the food-service industry. The words that are partly worn off the bottom of your electroplated brass (“E.P. Brass”) tray indicate that it’s from the company’s “Marlboro Plate” line. Places that buy silver are looking for sterling silver, not silver-plate. The standard for sterling silver is .925 silver (out of 1.000 parts). Your silver-plated tray is not worth much, but the sterling-silver hollowware pieces are worth at least meltdown value. The price of silver fluctuates, but you can check the current market price by using one of the meltdown calculators on online sites.
Q: I have a clear glass bottle embossed “Syrup of Black Draught.” It has a stopper top. I found it in a garbage dump near an old farmhouse site in northern Kentucky. The interior of the bottle is very wavy compared to the outside. I suspect it might be 60 to 100 years old. Do you know anything about this bottle?
A: Dr. A.Q. Simmons invented a patent medicine in 1840 he called “Thedford’s Black Draught.” The main ingredient was senna, a plant used as a laxative. In 1879, Z.C. Patten bought the rights to Black Draught and dropped “Thedford’s” from the name. He founded the Chattanooga Medicine Co. to make and distribute it. Syrup of Black Draught is still being made and is now produced in syrup and tablet form by Lee Pharmaceuticals, a personal-care products company established in California in 1971. Black Draught signs, dispensers and ephemera can be found. Dolly Parton wrote the lyrics to the Black Draught theme song, which includes the line “Black Draught makes you smile from the inside out.”
Tip: To hide a scratch on wooden furniture, rub it with a matching shade of shoe polish. A child’s wax crayon also might work.
Need prices for collectibles? Find them at Kovels.com, our website for collectors. More than 84,000 prices and 5,000 color pictures have just been added. Now you can find more than 900,000 prices that can help you determine the value of your collectible. Access to the prices is free at Kovels.com/priceguide.
Terry Kovel answers as many questions as possible through the column. By sending a letter with a question, you give full permission for use in the column or any other Kovel forum. Names, addresses or email addresses will not be published. We cannot guarantee the return of any photograph, but if a stamped envelope is included, we will try. The volume of mail makes personal answers or appraisals impossible. Write to Kovels, Auction Central News, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
CURRENT PRICES
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
Rhinestone pin, 1930s candlestick phone, 24 baguettes set in silver-tone metal, 2 x 1 inches, $35.
“The New Connecticut Cookbook,” Women’s Club of Westport, Conn., 1st edition, 1947, 338 pages, $50.
Nippon cheese dish, cover, moriage decoration, raised gold design, circa 1910, 7 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches, $75.
Kristy McNichol doll, blue jeans, red jacket, white T-shirt, Mego, 1978, sealed box, 9 inches, $90.
Pajama bag, Yogi Bear, vinyl head, felt bowtie, cotton twill body, plush hands, zipper in front, Knickerbocker, Hanna Barbera copyright, 1961, 12 x 20 inches, $100.
Toast tongs, sterling silver, handles in shape of pierced butterflies, circa 1900, 7 inches, $175.
Royal Doulton figurine, Kate Hardcastle, red dress, HN 2028, 8 1/4 inches, $185
TV tray set, Baltimore Colts, World Champions, white tin, blue logo with crown, gold metal legs, 1958-59, 15 3/4 x 20 3/4 inches, set of four, caddy, $225.
Toy hot-dog vendor wagon, Pepsi-Cola logo on side, detachable man, umbrella lifts off, doors open, Ideal, 1945, 8 x 9 inches, $675.
Table, mahogany, four turned legs with spiral twists, Merklen Brothers, circa 1885, 17 x 26 inches, $795.
Available now. The best book to own if you want to buy or sell or collect—and if you order now, you’ll receive a copy with the author’s autograph. The new “Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide, 2012,” 44th edition, is your most accurate source for current prices. This large-size paperback has more than 2,500 color photographs and 40,000 up-to-date prices for more than 775 categories of antiques and collectibles. You’ll also find hundreds of factory histories and marks, a report on the record prices of the year, plus helpful sidebars and tips about buying, selling, collecting and preserving your treasures. Available online at Kovelsonlinestore.com; by phone at 800-303-1996; at your bookstore; or send $27.95 plus $4.95 postage to Price Book, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.
This unfamiliar object is a Beringer-type sundial made in Germany. It sold for $350 at a Skinner auction in Boston. Notice the dials on the sides and the top. Photo courtesy of Skinner Inc.
Image courtesy Philadelphia Estate Liquidators Inc.
HIGHTSTOWN, N.J. – Philadelphia Estate Liquidators Inc. will present a high-quality antiques and art cataloged auction March 10 at 278 Monmouth St., Hightstown, NJ 08520–only minutes off Exit 8 of the New Jersey Turnpike—starting at 10 a.m. Eastern. LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
According to Donna Basen, an auction house representative, this is one of the finest sales Philadelphia Estate Liquidators has had the privilege of conducting and will feature many items from a Cherry Hill, N.J., mid-century designer’s personal residence as well as several other prominent, local estates, and a lifelong collection of collectibles.
Included in the sale are sterling silver, jewelry, artwork, antique furniture, Asian arts, Oriental rugs, and crystal by Lalique, Daum, Tiffany, Orrefors and Waterford. Decorative accessories are also included.
Mid-century modern items are highlighted by Paul Evans furnishings, including a Cityscape dining room table and six chairs, display cabinet, suede-covered cabinet and couch as well as pieces by Parzinger and other noted designers.
In fine silver there is an important Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment commemorative centerpiece hallmarked Storr and Mortimer London 1868-69, as well as pieces by Tiffany, Gorham and other famous makers.
Asian arts include a 15-foot-long hand scroll, a pair of large bronze temple incense burner elephants, Chinese hardwood furniture, mother of pearl Korean chest, six armchairs with marble insets, Japanese woodblock prints, cloisonne, Chinese export porcelain, bronzes, ivory and other items.
Antique furnishings abound. Italian pieces include a Renaissance cassone, commode, mirror, hall bench and a throne chair. English furniture available consists of a William and Mary chest, Georgian bachelor chest, library chair and six antique stenciled chairs. French pieces include a chaise longe, carved gilt bed, pair of needlepoint fauteuils and an Aubusson fire screen. American pieces include a tiger maple desk, dropleaf table and chairs, gilt mirrors, Arts & Crafts settees, Welch calendar clock, and an Ives pillar and scroll clock.
Artwork standouts include a Renoir bronze, oil paintings by Walter Cade III, Samuel Triscott and Sidney Gross, a G. Lacroix watercolor, a Leroy Neiman lithograph, an Icart etching and Erte lithographs.
Ceramics will include Wedgwood, a majolica fish platter, Meissen, Delft and other pieces.
Of special interest are a Tiffany art glass lamp with a Rookwood base, Sky Scraper International Ticket Scale, Seeburg jukebox, Fada radio, 1963 JFK plaque and a mid-century couture collection.
Collectibles star an entire cast of characters—Superman, Batman, Betty Boop, Looney Tunes, Wizard of Oz, Walt Disney and Warner Bros. There is also a Ron Lee sculpture and Santini figures.
There will be exhibitions on the Thursday, March 8, and Friday, March 9, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
For further information contact pelinc1@verizon.net or 856-429-6885.
Thomas R. Curtin (American, Vermont 1899-1977) oil on canvas, winter village scene. Image courtesy William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.
CHESTER, N.Y. – William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers will conduct a fine art and antique auction at their New York facility and with online bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com on Sunday, March 11, commencing at 11 a.m. Eastern. This is going to be an eclectic sale featuring fine art, furniture, Japanese artwork, taxidermy, Oriental carpets and rugs, bronzes, fine wood carvings, glass and pottery.
The artwork will be perhaps the strongest part of the sale with large desert scene with rocks and a snake painted by Douglas Arthur Teed, an oil on canvas of a village with covered bridge executed by Thomas R. Curtin, a masterfully executed watercolor of figures in period dress by Pietro Gabrini, a oil on canvas still life of seafood by Henry Leon Mabboux, and a bronze titled Coquette by Erte, #35/375, with original documents and receipts.
For the collector of Japanese objects Jenack will be offering several lots of carved ivory netsukes and okimono, several pieces of porcelain and pottery including a fine Imari charger, signed and of the Taisho period; a nicely painted and gilt decorated Satsuma vase, also of the Taisho period; large Imari vase, signed; and a fish bowl covered with cranes that are enameled and gilt decorated.
The auction is also going to include an estate collection of taxidermy that has to be seen to be believed, all from one room in a home here in Orange County, N.Y. The pieces will include a rare “grand slam” arrangement of full-body mounts American species bighorn sheep on a mountain with custom oak paneled base standing over 10 feet tall; a full-body alligator measuring over 8 feet long, a full-body mounted Roosevelt Elk, which may be a record breaker, standing 10 feet 5 inches tall and 8 feet 10 inches in length with a huge 12-point rack. The other specimens include white tail and red deer, moose, lynx, bobcat and snakes.
In the collectable arena there is be offered a collection of exquisite wood carvings by a master at his craft, Ward E. Hermann (American, New York 1935-2009). Included in this area is a carving of a mallard duck in flight, a mallard duck decoy, hummingbird, blue wing teal hen and drake decoys, and many others. The workmanship is so fine that one could not initially tell if there are taxidermy or carvings, they truly have to be seen in person to appreciate the quality.
For further information contact 845-469-9095 or email kevin@jenack.com.
Thomas R. Curtin (American, Vermont 1899-1977) oil on canvas, winter village scene. Image courtesy William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.
Ward E. Hermann (American NY 1936-2009) hand-carved and painted mallard duck in flight. Image courtesy William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.
Rare ‘Grand Slam’ full-body mounted American bighorn sheep on mountain. Image courtesy William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.
Douglas Arthur Teed (American 1864-1929) oil on canvas, rocky landscape with snake. Image courtesy William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.
Large meteorite, height 8 inches, length 13 1/4 inches, approximately 110 pounds. Image courtesy William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.
