Tom Hoepf, Author at Auction Central News

Kovels – Antiques & Collecting: Week of Jan. 31, 2011

The monkey's legs look as if they are peddling the bike when the toy rolls across the floor. The 6 1/2-inch-long toy brought $1,948 at a Bertoia auction in Vineland, N.J.

Iron toys made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries are so interesting and attractive that they are collected today to be displayed as decorative objects on a shelf. Some toys depict a character from a long-forgotten cartoon or book, or a legend that children of olden times knew but we do not. Why is a walking toy marked “Yellow Kid”? Because one of America’s first Sunday newspaper comic strips featured a character called the Yellow Kid. Why does a mechanical bank show a man trying to shoot a bear cub? It’s telling the story of President Teddy Roosevelt, who went hunting but did not kill a cornered bear and was praised by newspapers. But why do so many toys show monkeys driving cars or tricycles or riding on other animals? Was there a famous circus act featuring talented monkeys? No one is sure, but old monkey toys are popular. In September a cast-iron toy in very good condition made by Hubley Manufacturing Co., a famous Pennsylvania toymaker (1894-1965), auctioned for $1,948. It sold at one of the four Bertoia auctions has conducted of the famous Donald Kaufman collection of toys. Perhaps the fame of the collection added to the value of the toy. Who owned a toy often can affect its value.

Q: We found a commercial icebox with the brand name “Lorillard” on it in an old home that we are restoring. It has been repainted several times. We would like to restore it. I’ve heard several theories about what we ought to do. Should we strip it down to the wood and shellac it or repaint it? Or should we leave it as it is? Your guidance would be appreciated.

A: The Lorillard Refrigerator Co. was established in New York City in 1877. A 1901 advertisement for the company called its iceboxes the “highest-priced” refrigerators made and listed several millionaires, including Andrew Carnegie and George Vanderbilt, who were installing them in their homes. Vanderbilt ordered five Lorillard refrigerators for his Biltmore mansion in Asheville, N.C., in 1894. The company was in business until at least 1920. There’s not a big market for old commercial iceboxes, but you probably will increase its value by restoring the finish. Most were originally shellacked over wood.

Q: I inherited a 19th-century vase from my grandmother. It is 28 inches high and is signed “H. Despres, Sevres.” It’s painted with scenes of what looks like a rich family going for a ride in the country. What would be the insurance value of this vase?

A: The scenes you describe are typical of Sevres vases decorated by Henri Desprez from about 1875 to 1890. Vases as large as yours sell for more than $5,000, depending on condition. It should be seen by a qualified appraiser to determine its value. Contact some of the major auction houses or an appraiser in your area for an estimate. The insurance value should be the same as the price it would cost to replace the piece if it were damaged or destroyed.

Q: I have a Singer sewing machine that still works. I was told it is Model 15. The serial number is G8666585. Can you tell me what it’s worth?

A: Singer’s Model 15, the Improved Family machine, was made for more years than any other Singer model. It was introduced in 1879 as a hand-crank machine. It was later made as a treadle machine and, finally, as an electric sewing machine. Model 15 was still being made in the late 1990s. The serial number on your machine indicates the year and location where it was made. The initial letter “G” refers to Elizabeth, N.J., and the numbers indicate that it was made in 1921. Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875), inventor of a sewing machine for home use, founded I.M. Singer & Co. in 1851. The company, now called Singer Sewing Co., still is in business. Isaac Singer held patents for several inventions and led a colorful life that included multiple marriages and mistresses, 24 children and lavish homes in the United States, England and France. At the time of his death, he was married to Isabella Eugenia Boyer, a Frenchwoman whom some believe to have been the model for Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty.

Q: I have a cornet that my family says is 100 years old. I would like to know more about. It is marked “J.W. Pepper, Standard, Philadelphia, 52014.” The horn has all its parts, including the piece that held the music. Is it worth anything?

A: James Welsh Pepper (1853-1919) established J.W. Pepper, a music publishing company, in Philadelphia in 1876. The company started manufacturing brass instruments in 1883. “Standard” is one of 98 models made by J.W. Pepper in the 1890s. The company also imported musical instruments. It stopped manufacturing instruments in 1909. The serial number on your cornet indicates it was made in about 1909. In 1910 the company became J.W. Pepper and Son. By then, it was selling imported instruments and sheet music. The company is still in business and is the largest sheet music retailer in the United States. The value of a musical instrument is determined by its tone quality as well as the rarity of the instrument. It should be seen by an expert in the music field to determine its value.

Tip: Turn over reversible rugs once a year. Turn the rug end to end every three years. This will even out wear and fading.

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 e-mail 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.

Need more information about collectibles? Find it at Kovels.com, our website for collectors. Check prices there, too. More than 700,000 are listed, and viewing them is free. You also can sign up to read our weekly Kovels Komments. It includes the latest news, tips and questions and is delivered by e-mail, free, if you register. Kovels.com offers extra collector’s information and lists of publications, clubs, appraisers, auction houses, people who sell parts or repair antiques and much more. You can subscribe to Kovels on Antiques and Collectibles, our monthly newsletter filled with prices, facts and color photos. Kovels.com adds to the information in our newspaper column and helps you find useful sources needed by collectors.

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.

Lefton Nurse figurine, blue dress, white apron, carrying tray with hypodermic needle, red sticker, 4 3/4 inches, $28.
The Merry Fibber McGee & Molly game, “Fibber McGee and the Wistful Vista Mystery,” cards, counter, rule booklet, Milton Bradley, circa 1940, $30.
Atlas Man advertising doll, rubber, yellow globe as head, painted blue eyes and mouth, blue felt suit, 1940, 5 1/2 inches, $60.
McCoy duck cookie jar, yellow, duck holding leaf in his beak, marked, 1960s, 11 3/4 inches, $75.
Ceresota flour advertising match holder, “Prize Bread Flour of the World,” die-cut tin, boy opening flour barrel, Art Sign Co., Brooklyn, N.Y., early 1900s, 3 x 5 inches, $335.
Pennsylvania Dutch embroidered panel, cotton, large central flower vase, fruit, pairs of female figures, birds, white ground, 1930s, 40 x 34 inches, $345.
Shaker pine firkin, small barrel, stave construction, iron bands, old green paint, lid with wooden knob, wooden bail, early 19th century, 11 inches, $445.
Handel desk lamp, harp base with four-leaf clover foot, ribbed stem, six-panel shade with Arts & Crafts flowers, stems and leaves, green on red background, signed, 19 inches, $515.
Federal server, mahogany, central drawer with drop front, multi-drawer interior, cast lion’s-head ring pulls, circa 1810, 45 x 41 inches, $1,420.
Daum Nancy vase, four-sided, mottled yellow and orange ground, mushrooms, brown, orange and green, signed, 5 1/4 inches, $6,900.

Spot great costume jewelry faster than anyone and get the buys of a lifetime. Kovels’ Buyers’ Guide to Costume Jewelry, Part One explains how to recognize mid-century costume jewelry, Mexican silver jewelry, modernist jewelry and other European and American pieces. Learn all the names you need to know, from Hobe and Sigi to Ed Wiener and Art Smith, from Coro and Trifari to Los Castillo and Spratling. And we explain how to recognize a good piece of genuine Bakelite. Our exclusive report, 8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches, is filled with color photos, bios, background and more than 100 marks. It’s accurate and comprehensive and includes all of the information in our 2008 report on 20th-century costume jewelry. But it’s in a new, smaller and more convenient format. Available only from Kovels. Order by phone at 800-303-1996; online at Kovels.com; or send $25 plus $4.95 postage and handling to Kovels, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.

Hood & Sons high on Rockwell drawing that sells Feb. 8

Norman Rockwell’s drawing ‘The Plumbers’ became the cover of the ‘Saturday Evening Post’ magazine dated June 2, 1951. The drawing measures 39 1/2 inches by 35 1/2 inches. Image courtesy of Bill Hood & Sons.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. – A regional auction house such as Bill Hood & Sons is constantly chugging uphill like “The Little Engine That Could” attempting to compete with the acknowledged giants in the highly competitive auction industry.

However, when Hood’s landed a large Norman Rockwell pencil drawing, measuring 39 1/2 inches by 35 1/2 inches for their auction Tuesday, Feb. 8, it was time to warm up a south Florida winter that has been way too cold for it’s Northern visitors.

LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding at the auction, which will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern.

“Years ago we found our niche in the field of fine arts” Bill Hood said, as proven by a Ronner-Knip selling for $122,000 in May and a P. Cornoyer selling in the same sale for $81,000.

“My son Chris Hood, our art director, handled the procurement of the Rockwell,” Hood added.

Chris Hood followed up by relating, “The Florida family, which has owned the Rockwell for many years was very cooperative in bringing us this barn burner piece of art.”

Carolyn Hood, Bill’s wife and president of this Palm Beach County gallery, commented, “There will be so many people crowding into the gallery to view this American icon artist’s work, we’ll be able to sell tickets, this auction house will be rocking and rolling on Feb 8 at 5 p.m.”

Alex Hood, 23-year-old son and assistant to brother Chris Hood commented, “A major selling point to the Rockwell owners was exposure, exposure, exposure as evidenced by the 700-plus world-wide bidders who registered to compete at our Jan. 4th auction online simultaneously bidding while the auction was in progress.” Alex also noted “when we tell potential sellers our catalog had 105,000 presale hits it answers their questions about exposure.

Bill continued, “The estimate is $35,000-$45,000 and we feel confident those estimates will be blown away in the first minute or so. Lot 110 should garner over 1,000 presale hits and probably around 20 telephone bids.”

Carolyn Hood ended, “The good Lord has blessed us with this opportunity to auction an icon of American history and we feel honored, privileged and very excited to have this opportunity.

For details go to www.hoodauction.com or call 561-278-8996.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

This rare 18th- or 19th-century Chinese porcelain jardinière/vase with gold accents has a repair to the bottom. It is 29 inches high and estimated at $500-$1,000. Image courtesy of Bill Hood & Sons.

Dated 1977, this oil on canvas painting by Orville Bulman (American, 1904-1978) is titled “Paris Espris.’ It carries a $15,000-$25,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Bill Hood & Sons.

Standing 24 inches high, this rare pair of old Chinese red glazed vases/jardinières has a $1,000-$1,500 estimate. Image courtesy of Bill Hood & Sons.

Famille Rose porcelain plaques highlight this Chinese four-section screen, which extends to nearly six feet wide. With one of the panels damaged, the screen has a $2,000-$4,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Bill Hood & Sons.

Show promoter: ‘Boardwalk Empire’ fuels popularity of antiques

A vintage fashion exhibit will feature 1920s clothing a la HBO’s ‘Boardwalk Empire.’ Image courtesy of AntiqueClothier.com and JMK Shows and Events.

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The Atlantic City Antiques & Collectors Show, a premier antique show managed by JMK Shows and Events, will be held Saturday, March 19, and Sunday, March 20, at the Atlantic City Convention Center. Show managers expect antique and collecting enthusiasts from across the country to attend. Special exhibits and events are scheduled, including appraisals by leading industry experts and a vintage fashion exhibit.

JMK Shows and Events has partnered with AntiqueClothier.com to present a special fashion exhibit: Revisit the Empire through Fashion. The exhibit will feature clothing and accessories from the 1920s, styles often seen in Boardwalk Empire, one of HBO’s new hit television show, set in Atlantic City during the Prohibition era.

“Shows like Boardwalk Empire are fueling the popularity of antique and collector items, as well as the popularity of Atlantic City” said Allison Kohler, owner of JMK Shows and Events. “Our nation’s tastes – in furniture and clothing and home décor – are becoming more vintage in nature, which is incredibly exciting to see. We’re thrilled to host such a broad and diverse array of exhibitors and to promote this expansive antique show.”

Early Buying for the show will be on Saturday, March 19, from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. Eastern. Regular show hours will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday.

Tickets for the Atlantic City Antiques & Collectors Show are required and available online at www.jmkshows.com or by calling 973-927-2794. All prepaid tickets are available at the Box Office. Pricing for the event is as follows: one-day adult tickets are $15, weekend passes are $25, and early buying tickets are $30. Groups of 10 or more are eligible for group rates and are available online or via phone.

The Atlantic City Antiques & Collectors Show is held in the Atlantic City Convention Center. For more information about the Atlantic City Antiques & Collectors Show, please visit www.jmkshows.com or call 973-927-2794.

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

‘Emperor’s Private Paradise’ on display at New York museum

Table screen, from Cuishanglou, zitan wood, glass, silver foil, and paint. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

“When China’s last emperor, Puyi, left the Forbidden City in 1924, the doors closed on a secluded compound of pavilions and gardens deep within the palace. Filled with exquisite objects personally commissioned by the Qianlong emperor, the complex of lavish buildings and thoughtful landscaping lay dormant for decades.”

– From Juanqinzhai in the Qianlong Garden, The Forbidden City, Beijing

NEW YORK – A special exhibition featuring 90 exquisite objects that once adorned an exclusive compound in the Forbidden City will go on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning Feb. 1.

Showcasing sumptuous murals, furniture, architectural elements, Buddhist icons, and decorative arts—almost all of which have never before been seen publicly— The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City will present works of art that demonstrate the highest levels of artistic accomplishment in 18th-century China. Highlights of the exhibition will include an imposing portrait of the Qianlong Emperor, a radiant silk panel depicting a Buddhist shrine, magnificent thrones executed with impeccable craftsmanship, and a monumental jade-and-lacquer screen consisting of 16 panels.

Augmenting the objects will be photo murals of the Qianlong Garden as well as a video-simulated “walk-through” of the Studio of Exhaustion from Diligent Service (Juanqinzhai), the first building to be fully restored there.

The exhibition was organized by the Peabody Essex Museum in partnership with the Palace Museum and in cooperation with World Monuments Fund and has been made possible through generous support from the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group and American Express. Additional support was provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, The Freeman Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and ECHO (Education through Cultural & Historical Organizations).

The Qianlong emperor (pronounced “chien-lung”) was the fourth monarch of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) who reigned from 1736 to 1795. Built between 1771 and 1776, the Qianlong Garden was for the emperor’s intended retirement and no expense was spared, as the finest artisans used the highest quality materials to create intricately embellished interior and exterior spaces. But the emperor never retired and the garden—relatively untouched since imperial times—remains a virtual time capsule of 18th-century taste at its most extravagant.

Through the richly varied works on view, the exhibition conveys his desire both to integrate art, culture and nature, and to magnify his achievements as a connoisseur, scholar and devout Buddhist. In contrast to preceding Qing emperors, who had emphasized simple interiors in keeping with their nomadic Manchu heritage, the interiors of the Qianlong’s retirement residence were lavish and ornate in the extreme. For the Qianlong Emperor, the garden was a metaphor for his well-ordered realm. The Manchu ruler’s ambition to unify “all under heaven” is evident in his effort to make the garden a microcosm of his empire, integrating various cultural influences within the confines of his palace walls.

Installed in the Metropolitan’s Galleries for Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, which surround a Ming-style garden court and a hall with outstanding examples of Chinese hardwood furniture, the exhibition will lead viewers through a series of thematic galleries, much as the actual garden was intended to lead visitors through a series of courtyards. These courtyards contained evocatively named halls and pavilions devoted to discrete themes, such as theatrical performances and trompe l’oeil illusions, Buddhist worship or meditation, the “three friends” of wintry weather (pine, plum and bamboo), and exotic foreign environments and furnishings. Nearly every space featured a throne—each different in its design and materials—as demonstrated through the several examples in the exhibition.

In conjunction with the exhibition, a variety of educational programs will be offered, including an all-day, Museum-wide celebration of Chinese Lunar New Year on Feb. 5, and a Sunday at the Met lecture program on Feb. 6, a subscription event with Amy Tan, films about the Forbidden City, and gallery talks.

Complementing The Emperor’s Private Paradise will be two installations drawn from the Metropolitan’s holdings of Qing court art. Extravagant Display: Chinese Art in the 18th and 19th Centuries—a rich selection of theatrical costumes, lacquers, ivories, jades, porcelains, metalwork, and other media largely created for use within the imperial precincts—will be presented in the Florence and Herbert Irving Galleries for Chinese Decorative Arts (through May 1). Also, imperially commissioned paintings and calligraphies from the Qianlong era will be on display in an installation in The Frances Young Tang Gallery.

After its showing at the Metropolitan, The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City will travel to Milwaukee Art Museum (June 11-Sept. 11).

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

One of a pair of cabinets, from Yucuixuan, wood, lacquer and gilding. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Chair, from Xishangting, rootwood. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

One of a pair of court fans, from Yanghe Jingshe, wood, brass, and paint, 38 3/4 inches x 25 1/4 inches; pole 70 inches long. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Panel, from Juanqinzhai, sandalwood, jade, lapis lazuli, malachite, zitan and glass. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Panel with niches, from Cuishanglou, zitan, painted and gilt clay and colors on silk. Image courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Palace Museum, Beijing.

Ancient statues devastated in bombing on exhibit in Berlin

Restorers at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin have pieced together the 3,000-year-old statues that were nearly destroyed in World War II. © Raimond Spekking / Wikimedia Commons / CC-BY-SA-3.0 This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

BERLIN (AP) – Berlin’s Pergamon Museum is putting on show a collection of statues unearthed a century ago in present-day Syria that have been painstakingly put back together after their near-destruction during World War II.

The roughly 3,000-year old statues have been pieced together over the past decade from fragments left behind when Berlin’s Tell Halaf Museum was bombed in 1943.

The exhibit, The Tell Halaf Adventure, opened Thursday.

The statues were excavated in 1911 to 1913 by German archaeologist Max von Oppenheim and first went on display in Berlin in 1930.

After the wartime bombing, the rubble was salvaged and stored for decades in the Pergamon Museum’s cellars. Restorers sifted through some 27,000 fragments to restore the sculptures.

AP-CS-01-27-11 0345EST

ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE

http://acn.liveauctioneers.com/administrator/index.php?option=com_media&view=images&tmpl=component&e_name=text

$4.6M Eskimo masks highlight of Winter Antiques Show

Surrealist painter Enrico Donati once owned this Yup'ik Eskimo mask. Donald Ellis Gallery Ltd. sold it and another like it for a record $4.6 million at the Winter Antiques Show. Image courtesy of Winter Antiques Show.

NEW YORK (AP) – The design for the ceremonial Eskimo mask comes from a shaman’s dream. Fantastical, with a wide grin of pointed teeth and a halo of feathers, it is a highly expressive piece of Native American art – and had been tucked away in a private collection, unseen by the public for a half-century. Until now.

The mask, and another like it, once belonged to Surrealist painter Enrico Donati, and were sold for a combined $4.6 million at the Winter Antiques Show this month. Donald Ellis, owner of the gallery that offered them for sale, said it was a record price for Native American art.

The two masks, more than a century old, were among the most important items on display at the show, one of the country’s premiere antiques events. Seventy-five dealers are at the annual bazaar, which runs through Jan. 30. Wealthy New Yorkers tend to be the main clientele, and museum curators peruse works both well-known and obscure.

The Donati masks were created by Yup’ik Eskimos in Alaska for use in winter ceremonies, based on ideas envisioned in dreams by their holy men.

Donati and his contemporaries felt the masks were more surreal than the Surrealists, Ellis said.

The Eskimo masks were created to appease the gods and prevent starvation. “They were functioning things, but these artists made them extraordinary, though they weren’t seen as art until later,” said Ellis, the dealer.

The masks were sold – likely for food – to a trader along the Kuskokwim River in Alaska at the turn of the 20th century. Donati bought them in 1945. They influenced his work so much that they will be part of an exhibit of works by Surrealists called The Colour of My Dreams: Surrealism and Revolution in Art at the Vancouver Art Gallery this spring.

Some pieces at this year’s show came from private collections in living rooms. Others were hidden in attics and some were covered in grime.

One, a painting of two boys in turn-of-the-century New York City, was the work of a well-known artist, misidentified.

The painting, titled The Dead-fall, is by Martin Johnson Heade, an artist known for landscapes and images of orchids and hummingbirds. It depicts two boys in a forest clearing setting a trap for an animal. The clearing was smack in downtown New York, in an area that later was torn up to make room for the World Trade Center.

But the painting wasn’t signed, and was thought to be the work of William Sidney Mount, a contemporary of Heade’s. It had not been shown publicly since 1844, adding to its mystery.

The Alexander Gallery bought the work when it came up for sale recently and started to wonder about its origin. Gallery representative Laurel Acevedo said they did extensive research – and it was the way a tree stump was painted that eventually tipped scholars off that the painting was Heade’s.

The gallery is offering the work for $2 million, and says it would be good for a museum.

“It’s thrilling, to go through the whole history and to figure out what you have,” Acevedo said.

Kim Hostler of Hostler Burrows gallery was offering for $48,000 a cabinet by Josef Frank, found in near-perfect condition complete with delightful images of herbs that Frank found in magazines and lacquered on.

“We feel a little like explorers and archeologists when we look for new pieces,” she said. “And we’re giddy when we find pieces in this shape.”

Other works need a little TLC, like a bust of sculptor Antonio Canova found by Daniel Katz Ltd. covered in grime. Only plasters of the sculpture were ever displayed; it turns out the real thing was kept by the artist himself, Antonio D’Este, a friend and studio assistant of Canova. The white marble bust stayed in his family for years.

While Canova’s self-portraits tend to make him resemble a Greek god, this bust shows him as a man, with furrowed brow and longish hair.

“It’s a much more honest image of the man himself,” said Stuart Lochhead of Daniel Katz, which is offering the bust for $510,000.

Dealers may wait decades for a booth at the Winter Antiques Show, which benefits the East Side House Settlement, a nonprofit that offers social services and educational programs in the South Bronx. They view it as a prime chance to show off their best and most fabulous pieces.

For first-time participant Carlton Rochell, that meant a massive sandstone carving of Buddha, his legs in a lotus position, that dates to the second century in India. The carving is among surviving images of Buddha depicted as a man, and is on sale for $4 million.

Portraits of willowy, pale women by Thomas Wilmer Dewing in their original frames had hung in a room dedicated to the artist at a fancy estate in Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie – and stayed there for years. Alice Levi Duncan of Gerald Peters Gallery came across them recently, and is selling them in New York as separates ranging in price from $1.8 million and down.

“Can you imagine, going into this room – perhaps it’s never even used – and there is this entire collection of paintings? It’s amazing,” Duncan said.

AP-WS-01-26-11 1301EST

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

For his first appearance at the Winter Antiques show Carlton Rochell brought this massive sandstone Buddha figure, India, Kushan Dynasty, circa first century. Image courtesy of Winter Antiques Show.

Kim Hostler of Hostler Burrows gallery offered this circa 1940 Josef Frank flora cabinet made of mahogany with a birch interior. Image courtesy of Winter Antiques Show.

Historian denies tampering with ‘last’ Lincoln pardon

McLEAN, Va. (AP) – Colleagues of a historian accused of altering a presidential pardon signed by Abraham Lincoln to make it appear he had made a major discovery say he betrayed the trust that had been placed in him.

The accused historian – Thomas P. Lowry, 78, of Virginia – denied Tuesday that he actually tampered with the document despite a written confession he gave to the National Archives earlier this month.

The National Archives announced on Monday that Lowry used a fountain pen with special ink to change the date on a presidential pardon issued by Lincoln to a Union army deserter from April 14, 1864, to April 14, 1865. The date change made it look like the pardon was the last official act carried out by Lincoln before he was shot that night at Ford’s Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Lowry recanted his confession and said he offered repeated denials to Archives investigators over the course of a two-hour interview but eventually wore down when they refused to believe him.

“I foolishly signed a statement saying I had done it,” Lowry said. “Now they’re portraying me as a fool, a liar and a criminal. I screwed myself by signing it.”

But the inspector general’s office for the Archives says that not only did Lowry willingly confess, he offered up details about how he did it with a fountain pen and special ink.

“He voluntarily provided a statement, written in his own hand, in which he elaborated on his actions and provided specific details on how he committed this act,” said Ross Weiland, the Archives’ assistant inspector general for investigations. “He subsequently swore to the statement’s accuracy and signed the statement. No threats, rewards or promises of any kind were made to Mr. Lowry in return for his sworn statement.”

Archives officials say Lowry admitted he did it to boost his career. Lowry said Tuesday it doesn’t make sense that he would have altered the document to gain notoriety.

“I’m hardly famous and certainly not rich,” Lowry said.

But Archives officials say Lowry’s purported discovery did vault him into prominence in the world of Abraham Lincoln historians when he announced his findings back in 1998. The Archives itself praised Lowry’s work at the time as “a unique and substantial contribution to Lincoln research and to the study of the Civil War.”

Ted Savas, who published a 1999 book authored by Lowry called Don’t Shoot That Boy! Abraham Lincoln and Military Justice that referred to the falsified pardon, said Lowry was well-respected and he had no reason to believe that Lowry might be falsifying information.

“He was a really meticulous, careful researcher and a good writer,” Savas said. “But if you’re going to hand a publisher something you know is false – that’s a betrayal.”

Trevor Plante, the Archives employee who first became suspicious about the document because the altered ‘5’ appeared darker than the other writing, called it “very galling and upsetting to me as a trained historian that someone would change a document to make it more historically significant than it actually is.”

Savas said he can’t help but wonder now whether Lowry may have falsified other information in that book or in any of his dozen or so books, some of which were self-published. Many dealt with unusual topics including Civil War bawdy houses and sexual misconduct by Civil War soldiers.

Most recently, Lowry collaborated with Terry Reimer, research director of the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Maryland, on a book published last week: Bad Doctors: Military Justice Proceedings Against 622 Civil War Surgeons.

Reimer said Tuesday that her collaboration with Lowry ended with that book and that Lowry has no official connection to the museum.

Reimer declined to comment on the allegation against Lowry, citing the continuing investigation.

AP-CS-01-25-11 1752EST

North Korean defector progresses from propaganda to art exhibit in Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) – The face in the painting is North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s, smiling beneath his trademark sunglasses and wall of black hair. But the body is Marilyn Monroe’s, pushing down her white dress in an updraft.

This striking image, part of an art exhibition by North Korean defector Song Byeok opening Wednesday in Seoul, would have been unthinkable at the artist’s old job making propaganda posters in the North with slogans like “Let us Exalt the Great Leader.”

Satirical paintings would have gotten everyone in his family “taken somewhere nobody knows about and forced to work until death,” Song said during an interview at his small workspace in an arcade on the outskirts of Seoul.

“Freedom of speech has nothing to do with North Korea,”Song said. “Here in South Korea, people can draw what they want. So every painting reflects the artist’s distinctive personality.”

While still in North Korea, Song saw his father swept away by a current during an abortive attempt to swim a river to China to get food. He said he was later beaten senseless by North Korean border guards and spent six months in labor camp. He defected soon after, in 2002.

Song said he got the idea to draw a satirical painting of Kim Jong Il when he saw Monroe’s iconic pose from the movie The Seven Year Itch. He said Monroe’s attempt to hide what’s below her dress reminded him of what Kim has done to conceal the truth of what’s happening in North Korea.

“It is time to reform and open North Korea, so that poor North Koreans can see what the real world is,” he said.

Song said the art he has made in his new homeland is meant to “show what is inside of North Korea.”

Life is often hard for North Korean defectors in the South. They report difficulty adjusting to their new lives in one of Asia’s richest countries and say they are discriminated against at their jobs and aren’t paid fairly.

Though he has won several awards for his art in South Korea, Song also has struggled. He said he often eats instant noodles to save cash and hasn’t paid rent for his workroom in five months. To afford material for his sculptures and paintings, Song has worked part-time washing dishes and for moving and construction companies.

But money isn’t the goal, he said. “It is much more meaningful to deliver my message through paintings than to earn money.”

The freedom to pursue his art is an important theme for Song, and, at the age of 42, he is still studying painting.

He tells of being shocked in 2003 when he saw a woman in a college class wearing ripped blue jeans, something he had been told by North Korean propaganda was an example of the South’s extreme poverty. The next day, he approached the woman and gave her a needle and thread to mend her pants, not knowing they were an intentional fashion statement.

Although he used to regard his work for Kim Jong Il’s propaganda machine as an “infinite honor,” meant to glorify the man he was taught to revere, he now refuses to label his propaganda posters as art. He merely reproduced pictures he was ordered to work on. “People in the paintings had to seem happy. If not, they would not be published publicly,” Song said.

In the North, he was always “aware of the possibility of danger.” Entire families would disappear if someone “touched on any negative aspects of the ruling party.”

One day in 2000, he and his father tried to swim across the Tumen River in to China to get rice to help feed their hungry family, Song said.

The river was swollen from heavy rain, and his father was swept away. Song ran to get help from the border guards, but they only shouted “Why didn’t you die with him?” before beating him unconscious. He spent six months in a forced labor camp, where he lost part of a finger from an infection and began thinking about defecting, inspired by stories about life in the South.

In Song’s exhibition brochure, the dean of Hongik University’s fine arts graduate school, Han Jin-Man, writes that Song has used his art “to become free from a nightmare that keeps repeating every night.”

“He is paying off an old score in his inner world by expressing” his life in North Korea through humor, Han writes. “He could not live without expressing the trouble of youth directly in his works.”

AP-CS-01-26-11 0445EST

Queen Elizabeth I among big names in Clars’ ‘Super’ auction Feb. 6

This Chinese coral figural carving of a celestial maiden and children will be among the many highlights of the Asian category at Clars’ February auction. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

OAKLAND, Calif. – Super Bowl Sunday holds a bit of magic in Clars’ history, and expectations for this year’s Super Bowl Sunday at Clars are anticipated to carry on this tradition. It was their February 2007 sale when, in the heat of the third quarter, Clars sold the “mysterious” old master painting for $620,000. This year, on Sunday, Feb. 6, millions of eyes might be on Cowboys Stadium, but serious art and antiques collectors will have at least one eye on Clars Auction house, watching, bidding and buying some of the most important works to come to market in a very long time.

LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

A look at the fine art to be offered reveals an extensive and impressive list of works by American and international artists. Among the numerous highlights in this category is an unframed oil on paper laid on artist’s mount by Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879-1940). Entitled Landhaus im Norden, 1925, this work is estimated to achieve $400,000 to $600,000. From Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (Filipino, 1892-1972) will be his framed oil on canvas entitled Under the Mango Tree estimated to $35,000 to $45,000, and a framed color pencil on paper entitled Tete de Profil by Amedeo Modigliani (Italian, 1884-1920) will draw international bidding. Its estimate is $80,000 to $120,000.

Turning to American works, a beautifully executed oil on canvas by William Keith (California, 1838-1911) entitled View of San Anslemo Valley with Mount Tam is expected to earn $30,000 to $50,000. This work was purchased directly from Keith and comes to auction through family descent. Vaughn Flannery (American, 1898-1955) will be represented with his framed oil on canvas entitles Heaton Park Races, 1944. One of four to be offered, this work is estimated at $30,000 to $50,000. An important work by Milton Avery (America, 1885-1965) entitled Afternoon Landscape will also draw national attention. It has an $80,000 to $120,000 estimate.

Fine art comes in many forms and Edward H. Bohlin was truly the master of art in leather and sterling. His saddles are revered worldwide, and Clars is very pleased to offer a circa 1940 Bohlin saddle with extensive sterling mounts. It is expected to bring $15,000 to $20,000.

This auction will feature a number of offerings of particular historic significance. First is a rare and important document from the “Golden Age of England — the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.” Coming to the auction with an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000 will be a framed indenture from Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) dated 1563 and with the Royal Great Seal. The indenture states the terms of a loan Queen Elizabeth I is taking out through her financier Sir Thomas Gresham (1519-1579). The indenture is signed on the reverse by the privy council, Robert Dudley (1532-1588), Lord Keeper of the Great Seal Sir William Cecil (1520-1598), Sir Nicholas Bacon (1510-1579), William Howard of Effingham (1510-1573) and Sir Francis Knollys (1514-1596). It was in 1563, the same year as this signed indenture, that Elizabeth I moved the Royal Court to Windsor Castle to avoid the bubonic plague. Clars is honored to be able to represent this piece on behalf of a major San Francisco Area estate and anticipates brisk international bidding on this historic document.

Also of historic importance is a presentation bronze medal inscribed to the captain, officers and crew of the RMS Carpathia in recognition of services from the survivors of the Titanic, April 15, 1912. Estimated at $2,000 to $4,000, this piece comes from the Marcollo Collection. Also from this collection will be a selection of period steam ship lithographs.

Another collection of historic documents will be offered including a signed Abraham Lincoln appointment dated 1861, a letter signed by Teddy Roosevelt and another signed by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Important book offerings will also be a highlight of this sale. First is a collection of prints in two volumes from the rare book Pictures for the Purpose of Illustrating the Dramatic Works of Shakespeare by the Artists of Great Britain, published in London by John Josiah Boydell, 1803 followed by a first edition of The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. Published in 1939, this lot also includes the first state dust jacket.

Among the important antique furnishings to be offered will be a German Black Forest hall tree estimated to earn $4,000 to $6,000. Fine furniture will include an American Eastlake walnut secretary bookcase, circa 1880, and a Continental Renaissance-style marble-top sideboard, circa 1870. The Arts and Crafts Movement will be represented with a large selection of tile-top tables and classic style wood pieces.

Classic car aficionados will have the opportunity to bid and buy a wonderful 1940 Packard 120 sedan, which expected to earn $30,000 to $40,000, and antique gun collectors will be interested in a William Golcher .52-caliber rifle, circa 1850, made by Golcher himself at the age of 17. The rifle is engraved with an American eagle at the charred maple stock and the barrel is marked “James Golcher Maker Philadelphia.” This rifle is estimated at $20,000 to $30,000.

Decorative arts will include a framed Berlin porcelain hand-painted plaque signed “J.X. Tallmaier Munchen” and a Daum Nancy table lamp with hand-wrought mounts. On a larger scale will be a selection of American carousel animals including a Carmel “jumper” horse, and a Herschell Spillman zebra. Two music boxes will be offered. The first is a Regina player with 23 discs, the second an M.J. Paillard interchangeable cylinder music box, circa 1879 complete with two extra cased cylinders and an original play list.

Clars is traditionally strong in fine Asian antiques and art. In their February sale, they will be offering a pair of large Southeast Asian patinated bronzes chinthe/leogryph, circa 19th century. Also to be offered is a Chinese coral figural carving of a celestial maiden and children and a selection of Chinese scholar’s objects.

Sterling offerings will be exceptional at this sale including a Wallace sterling silver flatware service in the Sappho pattern, and another extensive Wallace flatware service in the Violet pattern estimated at $10,000 to $15,000. A Georgian cruet set, circa 1740, by Samuel Woods will be offered and a Rebecca Eames and Edward Barnard I, London 1847 four-piece tea service is estimated at $4,000 to $6,000.

And, as always, jewelry offerings will be spectacular. A diamond solitaire pendant and neck chain set in platinum is set with a 10.09 carats (GIA, L color, VS2 clarity) pear-cut diamond and a stunning diamond solitaire ring set in platinum sports a 3.25-carat round brilliant cut diamond.

The sale will be held Saturday, Feb. 5, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Pacific and Sunday, Feb. 6, at 10 a.m. Previews will be Friday, Feb. 4, from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. and 9 a.m. each auction day and by special appointment.

Bidding for this sale is available in person, by phone, absentee and live online at www.clars.com and through www.liveauctioneers.com.

Clars Auction Gallery is located at 5644 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA 94609.

For details e-mail: info@clars.com or call 888-339-7600.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

‘Landhaus im Norden’ by Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879-1940). is estimated to achieve $400,000 to $600,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

This beautifully executed oil on canvas by William Keith (California, 1838-1911) entitled ‘View of San Anslemo Valley with Mount Tam’ is expected to earn $30,000 to $50,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

This fine circa 1940 Bohlin saddle with extensive sterling mounts is expected to earn $15,000 to $20,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

Dated 1563, this historic signed indenture by Queen Elizabeth I is estimated to achieve $30,000 to $50,000. Image courtesy of Clars Auction Gallery.

Revered pipe organ maker brings mystique back to church music

The Tabernacle Christian Church in Franklin, Ind., has a 1997 Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ with three manuals, or keyboards, and 26 sets of pipes, called ranks. Image courtesy of Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organ Co.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) –Later this year, someone at a church in Charlotte, N.C., will press the keys on a brand-new pipe organ, and a rich sound will fill the room.

That moment is on the minds of everyone at Bunn=Minnick Pipe Organs. The instrument is taking shape in the main assembly room of the operation in the Harrison West neighborhood in Columbus. In that two-story space, every detail will come together before the components are disassembled and delivered to their ultimate home.

The 20 or so employees do a special kind of manufacturing, in which a few projects take up an entire year and the workers are artisans as much as they are laborers.

The company’s work can be seen in eight states, including new or restored organs at several churches in central Ohio and at the Ohio Theatre in downtown Columbus.

“We’re an arts organization trying to make money,” said Philip D. Minnick, president and co-founder.

Seated in a second-floor conference room, Minnick and fellow co-founder Robert W. Bunn Jr. explained how this so-called king of instruments produces sound. The tones come from the push of air through the pipes, controlled by pressing keys on the console. In ancient times, the air pressure often came from bellows. Today, an electric motor does the work.

Prices can range from about $50,000 for a small reconditioned organ to more than $1 million for a large new one, Minnick said. A typical new organ ranges from $250,000 to $450,000.

Bunn=Minnick began in 1969 with a small commission from a church. The initial work took place in Bunn’s basement. Together, the two men gathered about $1,000 to get started, they said.

Minnick was a classically trained organist, and Bunn was a repairman who had taken an interest in the mechanics of pipe organs. They met while working at A.W. Brandt Co., the largest organ company in Columbus at the time.

The new venture was a part-time job, Minnick said. After a few years, though, both men had quit their day jobs and bought a building at First and Harrison avenues.

Bunn holds the title of vice president. A third co-owner, Leo J. Klise Jr., joined the business in the mid-1980s and handles much of the financial management.

Since 1992, Bunn=Minnick has been housed on Michigan Avenue in a three-story brick building. The space was once the headquarters of a company that makes oil derricks, but had been abandoned and required redevelopment inside and out.

Today, employees look out the windows at new condominium complexes and businesses.

Bunn=Minnick’s building is large enough that the company can produce almost every part in-house and keep a supply of used parts.

Nearly the entire basement is devoted to woodworking. The third floor has several rooms for pipemaking, with a casting area where employees melt metals and shape the mixture into cylinders. And there’s a “voicing room” where the pipes are adjusted to meet precise tonal qualities.

Front-office functions are on the ground floor, which is also the domain of Elsa, a gray terrier mix who saunters from room to room.

The co-founders’ lives are intertwined with the business to a point that there is little separation. Both live nearby and spend much of their spare time at the office.

Bunn, 71, has an almost perpetual smile and looks much younger than his age. He keeps a workshop on the third floor, where he tinkers with old electronics. For him, no device is obsolete, and anything can be repaired.

“It’s like the guy who has a neat garage, only our garage is this whole building,” he said.

Minnick, 61, is the more buttoned-down of the two. His office has a plaque with the quote: “When two people in a business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.”

One of his few flights of fancy is his collection of antique light bulbs, with many shapes and sizes stored in two display cases. The grouping ties into his fascination with electricity and the work of Thomas Edison, an inventor who also dabbled in building organs.

“My mother liked to joke that she must have gotten shocked when she was carrying me,” Minnick said.

One of the company’s finished products can be found at First Presbyterian Church in London, Ohio, in Madison County. The organ takes up almost the entire back wall, with 42 sets of pipes built to conform with the cathedral ceiling.

“The installation in our sanctuary fits so well that newcomers – and I dare say some old members – think that the organ has always been there,” said Thomas Lloyd, church music director. “The Bunn=Minnick sound is exactly what we wanted and is great for hymn-singing.”

Although pipe organs have been around for more than 2,000 years, the modern organ industry reached its peak after World War I. The instrument became an essential draw for movie theaters in the days of silent films in addition to its traditional role in churches.

Demand was high enough that several organ-makers became large-scale manufacturers. One of the largest was Wurlitzer, with roots in Cincinnati. The boom was followed by a bust, hastened by the arrival of movies with sound.

“When the talkies arrived, the theater-organ industry dried up almost overnight,” said Robert R. Ebert, an organist and a retired economics professor at Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.

The decline continued, and craftsmen and companies got out of the business, he said. The 1970s recession was particularly difficult for organ-makers because it coincided with the rise of “modern worship.” Many churches were being built without organs; the musical accompaniment was handled by guitar and piano. Other churches used smaller, less-expensive electronic organs.

Today’s industry includes about 50 organ-makers in the United States and Canada and about 200 smaller shops that do mostly tuning, repairs and restoration, according to the most-recent annual report that Ebert completed for the American Institute of Organ Builders. Annual sales are around $100 million, including about 70 organs built in 2009.

Among the other local firms is Peebles-Herzog, also in Columbus, which has 10 employees.

Ohio also is home to one of the country’s largest and oldest organ-makers, Schantz Organ Co. in Orrville, about 25 miles southwest of Akron. It started in 1873. Victor Schantz, its president, is the grandson of the founder. He oversees a staff of about 60.

Like most businesses, organ-makers were hit hard by the recent recession. Churches scaled back on building plans, and the number of major projects dwindled.

And yet, the leaders of Bunn=Minnick are optimistic. Some churches have rediscovered organ music, part of a desire to “bring the mystique back” to services, Minnick said. This has inspired several restorations of old organs and new construction, which might be the seeds of a trend.

Ebert is waiting for a trend to show up in sales figures.

That doesn’t diminish the enthusiasm at Bunn=Minnick.

“I think this is one of the most exciting times ever,” Minnick said.

Such sentiment is one of the reasons that neither of the co-founders plans to retire soon.

The men view the business as their ministry, their way to spread their belief that religious services should be as grand as a major chord played on a pipe organ.

___

Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com

AP-CS-01-12-11 1257EST

ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE

Sign up for daily highlights by email