Image courtesy NY Art Book Fair. NEW YORK – Printed Matter Inc. presents the fifth annual NY Art Book Fair, Nov. 5–7 at MoMA PS1, Long Island City, Queens. Free and open to the public, the fair hosts over 200 international presses, booksellers, antiquarian dealers, artists and publishers from 20 countries, offering the best in contemporary art book publishing.
Philip Aarons, chairman of the board of Printed Matter, said: “The NY Art Book Fair is the premiere venue to find what’s new in art publishing. While it has spawned the next generation of independent art book fairs worldwide, it remains the biggest, the best, and by far the most fun.”
The NY Art Book Fair includes special project rooms, screenings, book signings and performances throughout the weekend. Other events include the third annual Contemporary Artists’ Books Conference, and The Classroom, a curated series of informal conversations between artists, together with readings, workshops and other artist-led events.
Printed Matter presents new limited editions by artists Rachel Harrison, Christian Holstad, William E. Jones and Misaki Kawai, published on the occasion of the NY Art Book Fair 2010. Purchase of these editions supports the fair, ensuring the event remains free and open to the public.
The NY Art Book Fair will be at MoMA PS1, 22-25 Jackson Ave. at the 46th Avenue intersection, in Long Island City, NY 11101.
A preview will be presented from 6-9 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4. The show will be Friday and Saturday, Nov. 5-6, from 11 a.m.-7 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 7, 11a.m.-5 p.m.
A free bus will operate Saturday, Nov. 6, from 1-5 p.m., providing transport for NY Art Book Fair visitors to Long Island City’s many cultural institutions, including Sculpture Center, Flux Factory, Fisher Landau Center for Art, Socrates Sculpture Park, and Noguchi Museum. The event is sponsored by the Long Island City Cultural Alliance.
The 2010 NY Art Book Fair is hosted by MoMA PS1, New York City.
For details, please contact: AA Bronson, president, Printed Matter Inc., e-mail: aabronson@printedmatter. org
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Wichita police say thieves who broke into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame stole a replica of the America’s Cup trophy.
The hall’s executive director, Ted Hayes, told radio station KFDI that the theft occurred sometime between 6:30 p.m. Sunday and 5:30 a.m. Monday.
The America’s Cup replica, which was donated by Wichita businessman Bill Koch, is worth an estimated $50,000. Other sports memorabilia, including two footballs signed by Kansas All-American and NFL great Gayle Sayers, were also stolen.
The value of the thefts was estimated at $52,700.
The hall is located in the Wichita Boathouse on the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita.
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Information from: KFDI-AM
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The marked ‘Waterman’s Ideal Fountain Pen’ bears a Sept. 25, 1905 patent date. The 14K gold Art Nouveau pen sold the $2,300 in January 2008. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. and LiveAuctioneers archive. JONESBORO, Ark. (AP) – Aslam Haydar of Jonesboro is looking for a few good pen pals – more specifically, friends who share his passion for fountain pens.
To find those passionate pen pals, Haydar hosted the Jonesboro Pen Show and featured the Haydar Collection, which belonged to his late father Dr. Afak Haydar, a longtime Arkansas State University administrator.
The show’s proceeds will benefit the Haydar-Richmond Scholarship Fund.
“This is the first time his collection will be shown to anybody,” Haydar said.
Afak Haydar, originally from India, migrated to Pakistan and relocated to the United States in 1960, Haydar said. Because he had a Fulbright Scholarship, the Haydar family moved to Arkansas and settled in Jonesboro in 1970. He said his father was a professor of public administration and political science.
Dr. Mossie Richmond, Afak Haydar’s boss and friend, was the dean of the College of Education and vice president of University College. They worked hand in hand to make ASU an international community, Haydar said. As part of that initiative, Afak traveled to such countries as Pakistan, Malaysia and Japan to recruit students. When he was abroad, he bought fountain pens.
Many of the 1,500 fountain pens Afak Haydar collected during his travels were displayed. Collectors from the Arkansas Pen Club of Little Rock displayed pens from their collections, offered expertise on repair and collectibles and, in some cases, sold their items, Haydar said.
Afak Haydar died in 2007, and the younger Haydar inherited the collection.
“I’m still learning. That’s the fun part. I look things up on the Internet and find out more,” he said.
The earliest fountain pen in the collection dates to 1904. He’s purchased one for 99 cents and seen one sell for $1,000. He can describe the ringtops, usually a small ladies’ pen worn on a gold chain around the neck for easy access. He can discuss nibs, their size, angle and shape. He can talk about the American-made Parker and Sheaffer fountain and ballpoint pens.
Haydar can go into detail about filling the pens with ink, a lost art in today’s electronic age. Fountain pens use cartridges, pump bladders or snorkels, he said.
“Each has a different way of filling the reservoir of ink,” Haydar said.
Some of the pens are made for women, particularly slimmer models designed for smaller hands. Often, pens were sold in sets –one fountain, one ballpoint.
The sad part of Haydar’s story is that, like so many other children, they do not necessarily appreciate the things their parents do until it’s too late. He recalled that after evening meals, his father would take a box of pens out, look at a pen, study it and clean it.
“I would look at it and walk away. I’d say, ‘I don’t know why he’s doing this,’” Haydar said.
But Haydar might have gotten a bit more from his father than he thinks. He recalled a story his father told him. On a trip to Washington, D.C., Afak Haydar attended a pen show. He was looking at a showcase of pens, and the vendor said there were only 12 pens in the world like the one Afak Haydar was examining.
“Make that 13,” Afak Haydar said – he had one exactly like it. However, the younger Haydar does not know which of the pens it was, or even if it’s still in the collection.
Afak Haydar bought pens at flea markets, pen shows and wherever else he found them, but he rarely sold or traded them. On occasion, he would give one to “a dear friend,” Haydar said.
Over the past three years, Haydar said he’s learned to appreciate the elegance and the sophistication of fountain pens. Some are fine, delicate and inlaid with designs, some look marbleized, and others are plain. But, all of them are special because they make up his late father’s collection.
And what kind of a pen does Haydar use these days? A Sheaffer Targa from 1974. It’s a Barley design, and Haydar uses it regularly.
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Information from: The Jonesboro Sun, http://www.jonesborosun.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
In its heyday the S.S. Admiral plied the Mississippi River as an excursion steamboat. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons. ST. LOUIS (AP) – A century-old riverboat that’s been a shimmering fixture along St. Louis’ Mississippi River banks couldn’t survive as an aging casino in the region’s fast-growing, glitzier gambling market. But the vessel’s sellers are wagering they can find someone willing to give the behemoth a go as something else.
The S.S. Admiral – home until last summer to The President Casino – is on the market on eBay and several other online auction sites as a nostalgic relic in search of a buyer willing to convert the 365-foot-long, 95-foot-wide vessel into anything from a monster houseboat to convention digs, upscale dining or more.
“There’s just a ton of ways to do it,” Virgil Straeter, the owner of an Illinois auction company overseeing the potential sale, said Monday before joking, “You could make a house of it, invite every relative you want and never bump into each other.”
Straeter won’t discuss what the boat being pitched as the world’s biggest inland entertainment vessel could fetch, saying the $1.5 million price listed on eBay for the boat owned until recently by Las Vegas-based Pinnacle Entertainment was only a “suggestion.” He identified the current owner only as a private marine company in the region.
“The standard answer is that we’ll get all we can,” said Straeter, of Auction Associates in Highland, Ill. “It’s unique to itself, that’s for sure.”
Online offers will be accepted until noon Nov. 10; if the bids don’t enthuse the sellers enough to part with the vessel, a live auction is to be staged later that day.
The boat that’s been permanently moored along the river has been stripped of all the gambling vestiges but comes with a considerable cache – crystal chandeliers, steam tables, office furniture, generators and their backups, large stoves and walk-in coolers. Even garments from its one-time staff, not to mention elevators.
There’s a grand ballroom on one of its several decks and enclosed observation decks offering panoramic views elsewhere on the boat, which towers more than six stories above the river’s surface. There are tens of thousands of square feet to roam, including a penthouse.
Yet the boat comes with potential headaches. Though the vessel is watertight, the hull below the water line requires a new skin. The diesel engines and drive were removed some two decades ago, hampering immediate efforts to move the boat.
Still, the boat comes with a rich history Straeter hopes an eventual buyer appreciates enough to preserve. Built in 1907 as a Mississippi-crossing ferry, the boat was lengthened by 70 feet in the 1930s and converted into what then was the only air-conditioned excursion boat, according to the eBay listing.
The S.S. Admiral is the subject of many picture postcards of the 1940s and 1950s.
The President was one of the first casinos in Missouri after the state legalized casino gambling in 1993. But over time, the vessel permanently moored near the equally glistening Gateway Arch became by far the St. Louis region’s smallest casino and was hampered by its age, size and location.
Flooding over the past several years frequently forced it to temporarily close, and its business suffered as more-modern, fancier casinos cropped up around St. Louis. In December 2007, Pinnacle opened a massive downtown casino called Lumiere Place just a few hundred yards from the President, hastening the President’s demise.
Lumiere Place, according to the Missouri Gaming Commission, had revenue of $181.1 million in 2009; the President’s revenue was $23.3 million – down nearly 50 percent from when Pinnacle bought it in 2006.
And last March, Pinnacle opened its River City Casino in south St. Louis County.
Last year, Pinnacle approached Missouri gaming regulators about the prospect of moving the President Casino elsewhere. No formal request was ever made, though, after the commission ruled that moving or replacing the President Casino would require Pinnacle to obtain a new license. Though an appellate court later threw out that decision and sent the matter back to the commission, Pinnacle ultimately opted to close the President.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
LIMA, Peru (AP) – Peru’s government formally asked U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday to assist Peruvian efforts to get Yale University to return thousands of artifacts taken from the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.
In a letter to Obama, President Alan Garcia said it was “just and necessary” for Obama to intervene on Peru’s behalf, so the South American nation can recover its cultural heritage.
The Peruvian government and Yale are at odds over possession of the artifacts, including funeral shrouds, bones, textiles and ceramics. Peru demands their return, while Yale hopes to negotiate a settlement over the artifacts, which were removed about a century ago.
“President and great friend, almost 100 years have passed since then and despite the many requests made on different occasions by successive Peruvian governments, Yale University has not returned to the Peruvian Government the property of Machu Picchu,” Garcia wrote to Obama.
His letter was delivered by hand by Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde to the U.S. ambassador in Peru, Rose Likins.
Peru has had a lawsuit pending in U.S. District Court in Connecticut since 2008 demanding Yale return all artifacts taken by scholar Hiram Bingham III between 1911 and 1915.
Yale says that it returned dozens of boxes of artifacts in 1921 and that Peru knew it would retain some. The school describes the artifacts, housed at its Peabody Library, as “primarily fragments of ceramic, metal and bone” and says it recreated some objects from fragments.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Rare black walnut carved, sulphur and pewter-inlaid, glazed corner cupboard, Lancaster County, Pa., circa 1790. Estimate $100,000-$150,000. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc. BOSTON – Skinner Inc. will host an auction of American Furniture and Decorative Arts on Sunday, Nov. 7, at 11 a.m. in its Boston gallery. The sale features the extraordinary collection of Arthur E. Beane Jr., which includes early 18th-century painted Massachusetts furniture, Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture from Boston, an assemblage of clocks and 18th-century Rococo mirrors.
Of note in the sale is a rare black walnut carved corner cupboard from Lancaster County, Pa., circa 1790. The consignor’s father-in-law, Dr. Louis H. Mutschler Sr. of Philadelphia, acquired the cupboard when he was married to Lucy Brooks Price. The couple married on Dec. 7, 1907, in Media, Pa., but resided in Philadelphia. Lucy Brooks Price was the daughter of Lucy Adele Brooks and Edward Augustus Price, whose ancestors were among Pennsylvania’s earliest settlers, including Samuel Price, who served on the Committee of Safety and with Chester County Associators during the Revolution. The piece is estimated at $100,000 to $150,000.
Another piece of furniture that’s likely to draw significant interest is a mahogany carved dressing table, possibly by Benjamin Frothingham of Charlestown, Mass. The table was made between 1760-1780 and is estimated at $15,000 to $25,000.
Decorative arts includes a carved and painted wood box, probably from New England, 1862, estimated at $4,000 to $6,000; an Edward Winslow silver mug estimated at $8,000 to $12,000; and a needlework “Family Tree” family record sampler from Waltham, Mass., early 19th century, depicting the vital statistics of Joseph Garfield, b. Aug. 17, 1761, his wife Susanna Hagar Garfield, b. Aug. 20, 1769, married April 4, 1787, and their 12 children, their names and birthdates stitched on the fruit issuing from the tree, estimated at $4,000-6,000.
Also of note is a private collection built by Jim and Bernice Miller of Appleton, Wis. The Millers began collecting early Americana in the mid-60s, traveling first from Ohio and Pennsylvania and later to New England to find fine examples of eighteenth and early 19th century American high country furniture and accessories. In 1970, they designed and built the perfect showcase for their collection, a reproduction Connecticut River Valley saltbox. In the mid-1970s they established their own antique dealership, Miller Antiques, which flourished until Bernice’s death in 1999. The collection up for bid includes more than 100 pieces of fine Americana.
Finally, an unsigned 19th-century American school painting, The Great Fire of Utica New York of the Year 1837, will be up for bid as well. The great fire of Utica broke out about 2 a.m. on March 31, 1837 on the second floor of a frame building on the corner of Genesee and Broad streets. The building housed a grocery store, a silversmith, and a jeweler. According to the Utica Observer of April 4, 1837: “… the wind was high from the east and most of the buildings, being of wood (a few have brick fronts), the flames spread with great rapidity, and before the engines could be brought into play, had obtained a mastery that was almost impossible to overcome…” The fire consumed 34 buildings, most of them merchants, and a handful of private dwellings. The painting is estimated at $40,000 to $60,000.
Previews for the auction will be Wednesday, Nov. 3, noon-5 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 4, noon-8 p.m., Friday, Nov. 5, noon-8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 6, noon-5 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 7, 8-10 a.m. In conjunction with Friday’s preview, Skinner will host an Americana gallery walk. The reception will be held at 5:30 p.m., with the Gallery Walk commencing at 6:30 p.m. R.S.V.P. 617-350-5400.
Silver Mug, Edward Winslow (1669-1753), Boston, early 18th century. Estimate: $8,000-$12,000. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc.American School, 19th century, ‘The Great Fire of Utica New York of the Year 1837.’ Unsigned, titled below. Oil on three joined wood panels, 38 1/2 x 58 1/2 in. Estimate $40,000-$60,000. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc.Carved and painted wood box, probably New England, 1862. Estimate $4,000-$6,000. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc.
Cast-iron green tree fire mark, circa 1827, for the Mutual Assurance Co., Philadelphia, 8 1/4 inches high x 8 1/2 inches wide. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc. DOWNINGTOWN, Pa. – On Nov. 19, Pook & Pook Inc. Auctioneers and Appraisers will sell a collection of the CIGNA Firefighting and Maritime Objects from The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding for this unique sale.
In 2004, the Smithsonian Institution received a remarkable offer from the CIGNA Corp. in Philadelphia. CIGNA proposed the donation of its extraordinary collection of historic firefighting and maritime artifacts to the National Museum of American History. As the nation’s oldest fire and marine insurance company, CIGNA’s predecessor, the Insurance Company of North America, had amassed several thousand historic objects and materials dating as far back as 1792. These ranged from pieces of water mains and sections of fire hoses of all periods to actual fire engines, marine paintings, prints and ship models. The company also saved extensive business materials from its past, including street signs, commemorative silverware, boardroom tables and souvenirs.
The Smithsonian has had a long-standing association with the CIGNA Museum and Art Collection. The INA loaned portions of its collections to the Smithsonian’s National Museum (as it was then known) as far back as 1939, for display in the Arts and Industries Building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. When the National Museum of American History opened in January 1964 (as the National Museum of History and Technology), the INA loaned more of its historic maritime and firefighting collections to help fill the museum’s halls. Coincidentally, the museum displayed these artifacts in the area that became the Hall of American Maritime Enterprise. Once again, in 1978, the INA stepped forward and provided support and content for a re-creation of a 19th-century insurance underwriter’s office in the center of the maritime exhibition, which remained until the museum’s 2006 closure for extensive renovation. The museum finished a two-year, $85 million renovation of the building’s center core in November 2008, completely transforming its architectural appeal while reorganizing and renewing the presentation of its extensive collections. One of the new exhibitions, On the Water, is dedicated to maritime America and contains CIGNA collection items.
Items were first distributed to the museum’s maritime history and community life collections, and then among its other collecting units such as graphic arts, military history, textiles and political history. As the unpacking and processing continued, it became apparent that the museum already had examples of many of the artifacts. For example, the museum’s collections included two fine scale ship models of USS Constitution, better known as Old Ironsides – one of the original six frigates in the U.S. Navy. CIGNA’s marine collection included an additional four Constitution models. These duplicates were not added to the Museum’s collections, but put aside for future distribution, along with objects that did not fit within the museum’s mission. Then the museum transferred objects to other Smithsonian museums. For example, early aviation prints, airplane models, and portraits went to the National Air and Space Museum, the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
This sale encompasses a wide variety of objects, beginning with some of the many intricate fire fighting models including hose reel carriages, pumpers, hook and ladder carriages, hose sleds and steam engines. The next items sold will be the first group of leather fire shields and cast-iron fire marks from various institutions including the Philadelphia Contributionship, Franklin Insurance of St. Louis, United Firemen, Lumbermen’s Insurance Co. and the Mutual Assurance Co. of Philadelphia. A large W.E. Sparks Studio Inc. wood and plaster diorama titled Fighting Fire in 1828 is a scene from a fire at Second and Market streets in Philadelphia with the Old Court House and Old Christ Church in the background. Various other fire fighting related objects include leather-covered copper fire hose sections, fire hats and buckets, grease buckets, hose nozzles, fire belts, work torches and fire axes.
Ship models of a number of American clipper ships will attract interest. These include models of the S.P. Hitchcock, the Sovereign of the Seas, the USS Constitution and others. A dramatic oil on canvas equestrian portrait of George Washington from the school of Thomas Sully is estimated to bring $4,000-$8,000. A number of oil on canvas portraits of INA executives with intricate period gold frames including examples by Prendergast and Harer will be offered throughout the evening. These include a portrait attributed to Robert Field of John Maxwell Nesbitt, the first president of INA and a mid-19th-century oil on canvas depiction of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
Other items that graced the halls of the insurance company include banjo clocks, fire related prints and lithographs, a Bailey, Banks and Biddle tall-case clock, barometers and a pair of French carved walnut ships quarter gallery figures.
Most of the CIGNA Museum and Art Collection objects remain at the Smithsonian; some of them are already on display. Millions of visitors now enjoy these remarkable artifacts and learn about their significant role in shaping American history.
All proceeds from this auction will go into a dedicated fund for the purchase of objects to strengthen and augment the museum’s existing collections.
Catalogs for this sale can be ordered on Pook & Pook’s website at www.pookandpook.com <http://www.pookandpook.com> . As a special promotion for this sale, Pook & Pook Inc. is giving Pennsylvania firefighters who visit the gallery a free catalog (call for details, one per person, regular price $20, must present ID, while supplies last). For further information about the sale or any of the services offered by Pook & Pook Inc., call (610) 269-4040 or email info@pookandpook.com.
Early 20th-century painted wood model of a spider-type hand-drawn hose reel carriage, retaining a vibrant polychrome surface, 10 1/4 inches high x 26 inches wide. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.Cast-iron fire mark for ‘The Penn Fire Insurance Company, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1841-1845,’ featuring a bust of William Penn, 8 1/2 inches high by 8 1/2 inches wide. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.Color lithograph titled ‘The Old Philadelphia Fire Department period of 1850, the great engine contest on Sunday Evening July 7th 1850 at 5th & Market Sts,’ after Charles Spieler, published by Theo Leonhardt & Son, 21 1/2 inches x 29 inches. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.Rigged model of the American clipper ship, Sovereign of the Seas, late 19th century, 38 inches high x 53 inches wide. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.Brass and steel model of a steam fire engine, circa 1900, inscribed Weedens Upright Engine No 2 Patented May 19, 1885, 10 inches high x 18 inches wide. Image courtesy of Pook & Pook Inc.
Wooden Nickel Antiques owner Michael Williams stands beside the recovered fountain in the Wooden Nickel showroom. Image courtesy of Wooden Nickel Antiques. CINCINNATI – Preserving this piece of Cincinnati history was a job most contractors would not be interested in even bidding on due to possible damage and difficulty, said Michael Williams, owner of Wooden Nickel Antiques. But the architectural salvage expert has done it before.
The decorative tile fountain was installed on a wall in the Wheatley Tile showroom building when it was built in the early 1920s. It was laid tile-by-tile on a brick wall covered with a 2-inch veneer of concrete set on two levels. The top half was in the entrance hall and the bottom half was about 2 feet lower in the original showroom and set in concrete. Since the concrete is harder than the tiles and the tiles tend to break, removal of the entire wall was necessary to remove the fountain intact. Williams secured the salvage contract with less than two weeks remaining before demolition.
Thomas J. Wheatley began his career in Cincinnati in the early 1870s working for Dayton Street/Coulton Pottery. In 1879 the Cincinnati Pottery Co. was formed as a vehicle for Wheatley and his students. By the end of 1880 Wheatley was successfully selling to Tiffany & Co., and he worked for Weller in 1897. In 1903 Wheatley and Issac Kahn formed the Wheatley Pottery Co., making art pottery, garden ware and architectural items. It was in the lobby of this company’s showroom that the fountain was installed.
Williams and Wooden Nickel have a history of fountain removal, having successfully removed several fountains made by famous Arts & Crafts artist Ernest Batchelder. In the 1980s the firm acquired and removed a 7-foot figural fountain designed by Clement Barnhorn for the Cincinnati pottery firm Rookwood. That fountain now resides in the Cincinnati Art Museum.
In seven days of nonstop work beginning in early October, Wooden Nickel’s experienced crew of concrete cutters, riggers and craftsmen shored up the ceiling and freed the wall from the foundation to build a protective wooden crate around it and the fountain with heavy-duty stretch wrap around excelsior protective packing underneath. Then a metal frame was welded around the crate so it could be lifted out of place using three 2,000-pound chain hoists. The 2-ton package was then tipped on its side to make the journey out the door to the truck.
In addition to the fountain the project included the salvage of the pair of 9-foot-tall mosaic tile columns with gilt Corinthian capitols that originally flanked the fountain, a pair of bronze exterior sconces that were on each side of the massive entrance door with a bronze grill and a pair of impressive 9-foot-tall-oak arched doors. A number of 6-inch by 6-inch Wheatley decorative tiles from around the showroom and many decorative floor tiles, including two cold air returns depicting parrots, were recovered.
When cleaned and prepared all of the artifacts from this historic building will be displayed in the Wooden Nickel Antiques showrooms in Cincinnati located at 1400-1414 Central Parkway. Wooden Nickel deals primarily in 19th- and 20th-century decorative arts and has made a name for itself in art and artifacts with a Cincinnati provenance such as Cincinnati Art Carved furniture, works by local artist T.C. Lindsay, works by 19th-century Cincinnati craftsmen Mitchell and Rammelsberg, items from the Cincinnati Artistic Iron Works and many examples from Cincinnati’s turn-of-the-century leaded glass studios.
For more information contact Wooden Nickel at (513) 241-2985, e-mail woodennickel@fuse.net or visit the website at http://www.woodennickelantiques.net
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
The Wheatley tile showroom interior prior to demolition. Image courtesy of Wooden Nickel Antiques.One of a pair of mosaic columns salvaged. Image courtesy of Wooden Nickel Antiques.A Wheatley tile cold air return depicts parrots. Image courtesy of Wooden Nickel Antiques.A 6-inch x 6-inch Wheatley wall tile depicting a knight. Image courtesy of Wooden Nickel Antiques.
Clipper ship sailing card for Starlight published by Watson, Boston, circa 1860, Glidden & Williams’ Line clipper, 6 3/4 inches x 4 1/4 inches. Sold For $4,500. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.
SAN FRANCISCO – PBA Galleries, Auctioneers, Rare Books & Manuscripts, conducted a 450-lot auction of Americana, the Collection of Alex Schwed, on Oct. 21. The sale included a large collection of clipper ship sailing cards, California pictorial lettersheets, gold rush and California ephemera and Hawaiiana.
Schwed, a California collector, has in recent years devoted his energy to his important Indian basket collection, and decided to part with his collection of 90 California clipper ship sailing cards. It was the largest such single collection to come to auction since the 1990 Siegel sale in New York. Also selling was the balance of his Californiana material, which included almost 50 lots of 19th-century Native American photographs, pictorial letter sheets, 1850s gold rush letters, early California newspapers and California maps.
A rare California gold quartz walking stick with a gold knob and an original piece of gold in quartz mounted on top, which was presented by San Francisco department store founder Adolphe Roos and his sister to their father and had descended in the family, brought $21,600. Prices include a 20 percent buyer’s premium.
The high price proved the desirability of this form of artistry unique to California, where pieces of unrefined quartz with gold veins were incorporated into jewelry and objects, a symbol of California’s wealth. The San Francisco firm of Bartlett and Sherwood claimed to be the inventors of gold quartz jewelry and first exhibited it at the New York Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1853.
The clipper ship sailing cards were a sale highlight, and were issued in the 1850s and ’60s to advertise clipper ships that were loading cargo for San Francisco and leaving ports in Boston and New York to round the horn for the West Coast. The cards were attractively printed in color and have been widely collected over the years, although issued in fairly small numbers. Most reside in a few museums, libraries and a small number of private collections. According to PBA’s senior auctioneer, George Fox, someone phoned in about 20 minutes before the auction began and left strong absentee bids on all 90 lots of the clipper cards.
“At that point, we knew the auction would be a great success.” The bidding was widespread with cards going to both institutions and collectors across the country, all realizing this was a rare chance to see so many at auction at one time. The star of the sale, the Young America, one of the most famous clippers, was a particular rare card as it advertised the reverse journey from San Francisco back to New York and was printed by Bancroft in San Francisco went to an institution at $5,100, on an estimate of $4,000/6,000. The Wild Rover and Starlight, both went to private collectors for $4,500 each. The balance of the bid prices ranged from $500 up to the $4,500 range, with approximately 60 of the 90 cards falling well into four figures.
A nice 1851 manuscript California gold rush diary from the Northern Mines District of Nevada City fetched $10,800 from a private collector, again proving that content is everything. This diary had entries for every day the man worked in the diggings, and included him viewing the fire that burned down Nevada City, and watching a fight between a grizzly bear and a bull. Twenty-five lots of gold rush letters written from the California mines back to Eastern home fronts brought solid prices, most within the estimates, ranging from $250 to $1,800.
The 14 California pictorial letter sheets, which are actively collected, all sold well, with the rarest, the Sacramento Steam Boat Landing bringing $2,040. The early newspaper section was highlighted by an 1847 issue of the California Star, which was the first newspaper published in California by Sam Brannan which hammered at $1,020.
Largely private collectors vied for the 38 lots of Hawaiiana material, consigned from an old Oahu collection and fresh to the market. It included many pamphlets concerning the 1895 Rebellion that all sold well, although the highest price realized was for an exquisite presentation morocco binding of a book on cavalry tactics given to King Kalakaua in 1882 by French military friends he had met on his visit there in 1881, which crossed the block at $2,700.
The map section was led by the rare 1862 Philadelphia printing of the Desilver atlas with 79 maps which sold at $4,800, and finally 50 lots of 19th-century Native American stereo views, cabinet cards and photographs mostly all went to private buyers in the $300 to $800 range.
Complete auction results are available at www.pbagalleries.com and for additional information, please contact the Galleries at 415-989-2665 or pba@pbagalleries.com
‘Etudes sur la Tactique de la Cavalerie,’ military book presented to Hawaiian King David Kalakaua I by French friends. Sold for $2,700. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.Lettersheet advertising the departure of he steamship Crescent City from New York City to Chagres, 1949, 9 3/4 inches by 8 inches, rare circular/broadside in the form of a four-page lettersheet. Sold for $5,100. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.Steam-Boat Landing Sacramento letter sheet, two lithograph views, each approximately 3 1/2 inches x10 1/2 inches on a single sheet approximately 8 1/4 inches x10 1/2 inches. Sold for $2,040. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.Rare California walking stick with a gold knob and an original piece of gold in quartz mounted on top. Sold $21,600. Image courtesy of PBA Galleries.
A recently discovered watercolor seascape by Maurice Prendergast brought $23,000. Image courtesy of Case Antiques Inc.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The top three lots at Case Antiques Inc.’s auction Oct. 16 – all pottery – totaled $127,650, but the remaining 700 lots were far from afterthoughts for winning bidders and consignors.
The single-owner collection that boasted the 6 1/2-inch-tall red-glazed jar by San Ildefonso Pueblo potter Anthony Edward Tony Da that sold for $35,650 (prices include a 15-percent buyer’s premium), generated additional noteworthy results. Other highlights from that collection included an 11-inch tall San Ildefonso blackware jar by Blue Corn, with geometric designs and silver lid, $3,450; an acrylic on board painting of a Hopi flute player by Helen Hardin (1943-1984), $2,530; a Santa Clara ceramic egg carved with dancing flute players by Joseph Lonewolfe, $920; and a black bear pottery figure accented with turquoise, wood and suede by Dora Tse-Pe, $863.
The Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts paid $55,200 to acquire a cobalt slip-decorated stoneware churn labeled in cobalt “Kentucky 1836,” which is the earliest known marked piece of Kentucky pottery. The price represents an auction record paid for Kentucky stoneware.
One lot later, the gavel fell at $36,800 for a slip and copper oxide decorated redware jar by Tennessee potter Christopher Alexander Haun (1821-1861). It was not a record for Tennessee pottery (that record was set by Case in 2008 with the sale of a jar by J.A. Lowe), but it was a record for a jar by Haun, one of the state’s most important artisans. Although MESDA had also expressed interest in the Haun jar, it ultimately sold to a private collector.
Fine Art highlights included a watercolor seascape by Maurice Prendergast (1859-1924), recently discovered in East Tennessee, which hammered down for $23,000 (est. $20,000-$30,000). There was strong interest from international bidders on a pair of small canvases, featuring a girl with dog and boy with cat by Edmund Adler (Austrian, 1876-1965). Adler is known for his depictions of children, and these works brought $6,670 and $10,350 respectively. Colored Paper Image XV, by color field artist Ellsworth Kelly (b. 1923) commanded $9,775, and a chrome sculpture by Max Bill (Swiss, 1908-1994), numbered 84/200, went to a Swiss phone bidder for $3,680.
Southern art was in demand. A large and luminous oil on canvas farm landscape by Lloyd Branson (Tennessee, 1853-1925) reaped $17,825, while a portrait of a little girl by noted 19th- century Tennessee portraitist Samuel Shaver brought $7,820. A small portrait of a young child by Carl Gutherz (Swiss/Tennessee, 1844-1907) earned $3,910 (est. $800-$1,200).
“Like Haun, Gutherz is another interesting personality with a Civil War connection,” said company president John Case. “His art studies were disrupted when he joined the Confederate Army, although his talent was put to use working on the design for the ironclad Alabama. He later went on to study with at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and had a very successful art career.” Works by Gutherz rarely come on the market. This one was bought by a Southern institution.
The auction featured several objects deaccessioned by Historic Belle Meade Plantation in Nashville to benefit the restoration of the collection. Among them was a half-tester bed stamped C. Lee for Charles Lee, a Massachusetts maker of beds for the Southern market, which realized $5,290 despite multiple condition issues, along with a suite of three 19th-century gilt brass argand lamps with etched glass shades, $2,530, and a pair of brass fireplace chenets with eagle and bee design, $2,070. A late 19th-century Tennessee “biscuit table” with a polished stone surface for rolling out dough and a hinged cover for letting it rise sold for $1,610.
A Renaissance Revival dining room table and 14 matching chairs, purchased in the late 19th-century by “merchant prince” C.J. McClung for his Knoxville mansion, served up $7,820, while a Tennessee wardrobe pictured in the book The Art and Mystery of Tennessee Furniture closed at $2,990 and a primitive Tennessee step-back cupboard with glazed two-door top and folky incised star stamped decoration closed at $2,300. A refinished tilt-top cherry candlestand, its top inlaid with a central compass star and edged with leaf and vine inlay, probably Tennessee or Kentucky, topped out at $1,840.
There was steady demand for sterling silver flatware and hollowware, as well as estate jewelry, including a men’s Rolex oyster submariner watch, $4,600, a circa 1930 gold and enamel Cartier pendant watch, $1,265, and its gold chain with engraved links, $1,610. Case said prices of silver and gold on the commodities market were probably a factor. More surprising, however, was an assorted lot of eight late 19th- and early 20th-century copper kettles and molds, which sold for $1,265 against a $250-$350 estimate.
A rare brown and white jacquard woven coverlet from the Maryville (Tenn.) Woolen Mills topped the textiles offerings at $1,840. A Victorian crazy quilt with fan motif earned $575, and a patchwork quilt in a bar pattern that descended in an African American family brought $432.
Other standouts included a Dooling Mercury gas-powered race car, second series, which raced to $1,610; a 1924 baseball World Series scorecard (Washington vs. New York Giants) with several hand signatures, $1,495; a rare flintlock pistol tinder lighter, $977; and an East Tennessee mid-19th-century Bowie knife, $632.
Case is currently accepting consignments for its Winter 2011 Auction, to be held Jan. 22 at the company’s gallery in Knoxville. For information, contact the gallery at (865) 558-3033 or the Nashville office at (615) 812-6096, or visit the website, www.caseantiques.com
A red-glazed jar by San Ildefonso Pueblo potter Anthony Edward Tony Da (1940-2008) is decorated with hummingbirds and inset with turquoise stones. Measuring just 6 1/2 inches tall, it hit $35,650 (est. $4,000-6,000). Image courtesy of Case Antiques Inc.A portrait of a young child by Carl Gutherz (Swiss/Tennessee, 1844-1907) hammered down at $3,910 (est. $800-$1,200). Image courtesy of Case Antiques Inc.A quintessentially Southern form, this biscuit table served up $1,610. It has a polished stone surface for rolling out dough and a hinged cover for letting it rise. Image courtesy of Case Antiques Inc.
