Diamond and gold bangle bracelet depicting two elephants, features 12 rose-cut diamonds, weighing a total of approximately 1.75 carats, accented by numerous smaller rose-cut diamonds weighing approximately 10.00 carats, pave set in silver topped 14-karat yellow gold, estimate: $3,500-$4,500. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions. ALAMEDA, Calif. – More than 800 lots from estates, private collectors and galleries will comprise Michaan’s sale Sunday, Oct. 3. Featured will be fine jewelry including women’s and men’s wristwatches and pocket watches, natural jades and a collection of jewelry suites from Mings of Honolulu. LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.
Also in the lineup are Chinese and Japanese art including porcelains, ivory, jade, bronzes and paintings; Renaissance Revival and Baroque furniture; Mettlach steins, porcelain and bronze figures and fine sterling.
Tiffany, Daum, Lalique, Loetz and Steuben glass will be offered, as will fine American and European paintings and works on paper. Southwest Pueblo pottery items, Acoma pots and Cochiti storyteller figures will round out the sale.
Fine jewelry will include a diamond and silver topped 14-karat gold elephant bangle bracelet (est. $3,500-$4,500); a micro mosaic yellow gold pendant locket (est. $800-$1,200); diamond and emerald 18-karat white gold ring (est. $400-$600); and a diamond, platinum ring (est. $800-$1,200).
Foremost among the Asian antiques are a pair of Famille Rose enameled porcelain sleeve vases (est. $1,200-$1,800); four hardstone carvings of birds (est. $300-$400); a green hardstone and amber glass bead court necklace (est. $300-$500); a pair of ivory Fu lions (est. $600-$800); and a group of three metal water droppers, Meiji Period (est. $400-$500).
Nell Walker Warner (1891-1970), Still Life of Yellow Flowers, watercolor on paper (est. $700-$900); Richard Kruger (German/American b. 1880) Landscape With Trees (est. $600-$800); and Tom Hughes (American, b. 1965) Summer at the Lake, oil on board, (est. $1,000-$1,500) are examples of paintings that will be available.
The auction will begin at 10 a.m. Pacific.
For details visit www.michaans.com or call 510 740 0220.
Tom Hughes (American, b. 1965) ‘Summer at the Lake,’ oil on board, 20 x 16 inches, signed lower right, framed, estimate: $1,000-$1,500. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.Pair of elaborately carved Renaissance Revival black marble-top walnut sideboards, 34 1/2 x 44 x 21 inches and 36 x 75 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches, estimate: $800-$1,200. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.Pallme Konig pinched ruffle rim vase, 6 3/8 inches high, estimate: $700-$900. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.Demi-hunting case, 18-karat gold, enamel pocket watch, jeweled movement, estimate: $400-$600. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.Diamond, platinum ring, approximately 0.85 carat, accented by 16 single-cut diamonds, weighing a total of approximately 0.16 carat, eight caliber-cut green stones, estimate: $800-$1,200. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions.
Chinese Qing gilt bronze shakyamuni Buddha seated on a throne, hands in Buddhist mudra, 14 1/2 inches high. Estimate: $20,000- $40,000. Image courtesy of Dallas Auction Gallery. DALLAS – Collectors of Asian antiques have the opportunity to bid on 395 lots from an extensive local collection plus other quality consignments from around the world at Dallas Auction Gallery’s Asian Antiques and Fine Art Sale on Wednesday, Oct. 6.
LiveAuctioneers will provide Internet live bidding. Bidding will also be available in person and by phone.
Highlights include white jade, ivory, cinnabar, a Wen Zhengming watercolor and Chinese Qing bronzes.
“After the success of our Asian Antiques and Fine Art Sale in March, we look forward to some very competitive bidding throughout the sale. Our auctions pull a large international audience, and at any time we can have bidders from over 35 different countries in addition to our loyal local following,” said Scott Shuford, president of Dallas Auction Gallery.
Previews will begin Monday, Oct. 4, and DAG is open to the public.
Some highlights include:
White jade pendant signed Zigang, carved to depict Li Bai on a boat, having a poem on the verso. Estimate: $18,000-$24,000.
Pair of monumental early Meiji ivory inlaid pagodas. The top pavilion supported by four tiers with ivory and mother of pearl red lacquered plaques depicting Han warriors, generals, geisha and samurai, with painted beauties on the verso. Each tier has glass sides and mirrored backs, phoenix and flame finials, and painted scenes depicting lotus, dragons and boys. Both pagodas raised on legendary bird supports. Estimate: $30,000- $50,000.
Wen Zhenming watercolor on silk depicting figures in a landscape. Signed, ‘Wen Zhengming.’ Wen Zhenming (Chinese, 1470-1559) with six illegible collector’s seals. Estimate: $30,000- $50,000.
Chinese Qing gilt bronze shakyamuni Buddha seated on a throne, hands in Buddhist mudra. Estimate: $20,000- $40,000.
Pair of Chinese jade and ivory inlaid rosewood screens the front with carved white and spinach green jade depicting birds, flowers, Buddha’s hands, guava and bats; the verso with an ivory Qianlong Imperial poem and two seals. The screen raised on an intricately carved rosewood stand. Estimate: $30,000- $50,000.
Chinese Qing cloisonné Tianqin vase depicting peony and butterflies, having collectors marks on the bottom. Estimate: $15,000- $25,000.
For details visit www.dallasauctiongallery.com or call 214-653-3900.
This Roman marble torso is from a statuette of a young god, possibly Apollo. It is 6 inches high, dates to the first or second century and has a $6,000-$9,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery Live.com. BOULDER, Colo. – Artemis Gallery Live.com will conduct its third international live auction on Saturday, Oct. 2. The sale will feature over 400 lots of classical antiquities, ancient and pre-Columbian art from around the world. This one-day, online-only auction event is being run on the LiveAuctioneers.com bidding platform.
“The variety in this sale is amazing and with all of our sales, each piece has been vetted for authenticity. This promises to be our biggest live auction event to date,” said Teresa Dodge, owner and managing director of Artemis Gallery Ancient Art and Artemis Gallery Live. “Because of the large number of quality items we were able to obtain, this time the auction will be separated into two distinct sessions. The first session, beginning at 8 a.m. Pacific Time, features classical antiquities from Egypt, Greece, Italy, Rome, Egypt, the Middle East and the Far East. The second session will start at noon Pacific Time – approximately 1-2 hours after the antiquities portion ends – and features art from the ancient Pre-Columbian Americas.”
Artemis Gallery Live.com sets itself apart from other auction companies by working in collaboration with a select group of premiere antiquities dealers worldwide. This ongoing support and commitment has given Artemis Gallery Live the ability to present collections of ancient items that are second to none. No other auction house, online or traditional, boasts this kind of dealer support, said Dodge. “Our trusted group of quality dealers makes Artemis Gallery Live.com the truly unique and exciting online auction venue it has become, plus unlike so many other online auction sites, ArtemisGalleryLive.com guarantees all objects to be ancient,” she added.
Dealers participating in the Oct. 2 live auction include Artemis Gallery Ancient Art, Medusa Ancient Art, Sands of Time Ancient Art, Glenn Howard Egyptian Antiquities, Howard Nowes/Art for Eternity, PBJI Ancient Coins and Antiquities, Alexander Ancient Art, Explorer Ancient Art, Fort Knox Artifacts, Splendors of the World and Riverbend Gallery.
“To ensure complete buyer satisfaction, all items offered for sale are guaranteed ancient/authentic and as described. Bidders can buy with complete confidence knowing that everything we sell is truly ancient,” said Dodge. “Further, all dealers abide by the strictest standards to ensure every item offered for sale in our live auctions complies with all laws of cultural patrimony.”
Bidders may participate online, via phone in real-time or leave absentee bids. For details, contact Dodge directly at 720-936-4282, send her an e-mail at artemisgallerylive@gmail.com. Learn more about Artemis Gallery Live by visiting the company’s Web site: ArtemisGalleryLive.com
Pectorals placed around the neck of mummies were usually decorated with images of funerary gods and regeneration symbols, as is the case on this specimen of glazed faience. This New Kingdom or shortly later piece is about 3 1/2 inches high. It has a $7,000-$8,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery Live.com.This bronze statuette is the young god Horus, often known as Harpokrates. The 5 1/4-inch figure has a $12,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery Live.com.>A horse and rider are flanked by two draped figures and two satyrs on either side of this Attic black-figure skyphos, circa 530 B.C. Excluding the handles, it measures 4 7/8 inches in diameter and is estimated at $6,500-$8,000. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery Live.com.At 12 inches tall and 6 inches wide this Moche IV pottery portrait vessel of a king from the north coast of Peru is unusually large. It dates to circa A.D. 400-500 and carries a $10,000-$15,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Artemis Gallery Live.com.
As expected, this large Tabriz Persian rug made in the early 1990s sold for $26,000. Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers. HOUSTON – Determined bidders during Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers catalog auction Sept. 23 knew what they wanted among the 237 cataloged lots, resulting in lively and competitive bidding. Of the 343 buyers registered to bid, 171 participated through LiveAuctioneers.com.
Prices include a buyer’s premium.
Lot 53, a signed Tiffany Studios telescopic Organic Root candlestick, brought $10,800 during the first half hour of bidding, followed shortly thereafter by a $26,000 sale on Lot 61, a large Tabriz Persian rug, circa 1990.
Lot 96, a set of 18th-century Sèvres presentation plates with landmark scenes from Clisson, France, sold for $12,000, and Lot 97, a pair of 19th-century Wedgwood urns, sold for $6,000.
A late 19th-century sterling and jade table cigar lighter manufactured in San Francisco sold for $3,000. An intriguing 19th-century Louis XV-style console and mirror sold for $5,400. A 19th-century box-shaped Spanish oak cabinet, lot 93, sold for $1,680, and lot 92, a highly carved Gothic oak desk, sold for $4,800.
Lot 123, a beautifully designed vintage brass and cloisonné bowl/planter, sold for $1,200. A scene-grabbing half canopy Louis XV-style bed sold for $5.400.
Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers’ conducts auctions every Thursday at 7 p.m. and holds its catalog auctions once a month. The next catalog auction is on Thursday, Oct. 21. For more information, visit www.mortonkuehnert.com.
This unusual Tiffany Studios candlestick sold for $10,800. Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers.These Sèvres presentation plates decorated with French landmark scenes sold to an Internet bidder for $12,000. Image courtesy of Morton Kuehnert Auctioneers & Appraisers.
This dummy board is shaped like a woman dressed in a style popular about 1800, when it was made. The pine figure is 42 inches tall and was offered for sale at Stair Galleries of Hudson, N.Y. The figure probably was displayed in a dark corner of a room to surprise visitors.
Lonesome? Our ancestors filled their large homes with dummy boards, or “silent companions.” These were painted figures made from flat, cutout pieces of wood that could stand on the floor. Early examples had a hinged stand at the back, very much like those used on picture frames today. There is some controversy about how they were used in the 17th and 18th centuries. Dummy boards shaped like children, animals, soldiers and servants may have hidden an unused fireplace during the summer. Some may have hidden in shadows to make it look as if the room were occupied, or as a joke to fool guests. Dummy boards are a type of early folk art, and have been copied. Very good copies were made in the 19th century and have now aged enough to confuse collectors. Modern versions picture 20th-century butlers or comic figures. Antique dummy boards can sell for thousands of dollars.
Q: I bought a chair from an elderly woman four years ago and would like some information about the maker. It has a paper label on the bottom of the seat that reads, “S. Karpen & Bros., Chicago-New York-Los Angeles.” There also is a metal tag that reads “Karpen Guaranteed Furniture.”
A: Solomon Karpen and his brother Oscar began making furniture in their basement in Chicago in 1880. Seven more brothers joined the business between 1880 and 1894. S. Karpen & Bros. opened a factory in New York in 1919 and one in Los Angeles in 1927. The company was one of the leading manufacturers of upholstered furniture and the largest furniture manufacturer in the world at one time. Karpen was bought by Lawrence K. Schnadig in 1952 and merged with International Furniture Co. to become Schnadig Corp. The Karpen name was used on furniture made by Schnadig for several years.
Q: I have a paper dress with a label inside that states “Hallmark, Island Paradise.” It says it’s made of 80 percent cellulose and 20 percent cotton, and is fire-resistant. I’m not the original owner, but the dress has never been worn. I’m told it’s from the 1950s. I would like to know if the dress has any value, or if it’s just a collector’s item.
A: Your paper dress is not as old as you think. The first paper dresses were made in 1966 and were offered by Scott Paper Co. as premiums for $1 plus 52 cents’ worth of coupons from Scott paper products. The company sold about 500,000 of the dresses in two different styles. By 1967, several other companies offered paper dresses as premiums for their products. Hallmark sold paper “hostess” dresses that matched their party napkins and tablecloths. Some department stores, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Bonwit Teller, Gimbels and Lord & Taylor, sold paper dresses. “Paper” dresses were not actually made of paper, but of a mixture of cellulose and nylon or cellulose and rayon. They could be shortened by cutting off the bottom and usually lasted for several wearings. But there was a risk that they could catch fire if worn too close to a cigarette or open flame, so they lost popularity. Value: about $50 if the graphics are interesting.
Q: I have a Viennese chocolate set that belonged to my great-grandmother. I am 85 years old, so it is from the last quarter of the 1800s. The pieces are marked with a double circle with the words “Leonard” on top, “Vienna” in the middle and “Austria” on the bottom. Who made this set?
A: The mark you describe was used by P.H. Leonard, a New York City importing firm. Leonard imported white wares from several factories in Austria. The exact dates the company was in business are not clear. Some sources say Peter Leonard established his company in 1880 and went bankrupt in 1898. Others say his company was in business from before 1890 to circa 1908.
Q: My mother and I bought an old upright piano for $95 at a garage sale. The name on the front is “James & Holmstrom Cabinet Grand.” There is a brass plate on the inside that reads “James & Holmstrom Transposing Keyboard, New York, First Premium, New Orleans Exposition March 1886.” It’s in very good condition and plays well. What is the history of this piano?
A: Anders Holmstrom founded Holmstrom Piano Co. in New York City in 1860. L.C. James became a partner in 1874, and the name was changed to James & Holmstrom Piano Co. The transposing piano had a lever that shifted the keyboard to change the key. The first patent for a transposing piano was issued in 1801. The New Orleans Exposition originally ran from 1884 to 1885. It lost money and a second exhibition was held on the site from November 1885 to March 1886. The “First Premium,” similar to a Gold Medal, evidently was awarded to this model. Jacobs Brothers Piano Co. bought James & Holmstrom in 1900 and continued to make pianos under that name until about 1920.
Tip: Photographs and printed material should be kept in archival boxes or in files or frames that have passed the PAT (Photographic Activity Test). Ask an expert for advice before you buy storage material. Archival is good, but PAT is best.
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, (name of this newspaper), King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
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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.
Clark’s Spool Cotton 1894 calendar, die-cut board, Victorian picture of boy and girl swinging on spool of thread, full pad, 4 1/4 x 7 1/4 inches, $75.
Elsie the Cow dexterity puzzle, image of Elsie with raised horns, reads “Elsie the Borden Cow Is No Puzzle to Her Pals,” tin, metal rings, copyright 1941, 3 x 5 inches, $100.
Leather flight jacket, A-2 type, two flaps, two slash pockets, snap-down epaulets, quilted lining, Talon zipper, 1960s, $125.
Falla the Scottie pull toy, wooden, cloth ribbon, tail wiggles when pulled, New Enterprises, copyright 1943, 4 x 9 inches, $210.
Lionel train set, standard gauge, No. 362E, includes steam locomotive, matching tender, Pullman, observation car, individual boxes, $1,840.
Biedermeier commode, satinwood, rectangular top, two long drawers, ebonized escutcheons, tapering square legs, 1860s, 32 x 39 1/2 inches, $2,950.
English etched glass hurricane shades, decorated with wheat-and-grape design, 1850, 24 1/2 inches, pair $8,200.
Keep up with changes in the collectibles world. Send for a free sample issue of our 12-page, full-color newsletter, Kovels on Antiques and Collectibles, filled with prices, news, information and photos, plus major news about the world of collecting. To subscribe at a bargain $27 for 12 issues, write Kovels, P.O. Box 420347, Palm Coast, FL 32142; call 800-303-1996; or subscribe online at Kovelsonlinestore.com.
This Southern sweetgrass basket with hinged lid and elongated handle dates to the early 1900s. Image courtesy of Charlton Hall Galleries Inc. and LiveAuctioneers archive. HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) – Nimble black hands have woven baskets from Lowcountry plants uninterrupted for 300 years.
What else in American culture has such longevity, asks Dale Rosengarten of Charleston, who has devoted a quarter century to documenting and preserving the art of sweetgrass basketmaking.
Rosengarten spoke Tuesday at the Coastal Discovery Museum at Honey Horn about its first-ever traveling exhibit: Grass Roots – African Origins of an American Art. It runs through Jan. 7.
“The important thing to me is that we make this tradition important enough and respected enough for the children of today’s basketmakers to want to do it,” she said.
Rosengarten is co-curator of the exhibit and author of Row Upon Row: Sea Grass Baskets of the South Carolina Lowcountry.
She traced the lineage of the baskets from Africa and the rice-planting era in the Lowcountry, to the entrepreneurial roadside basket stands on Route U.S. 17 in Mount Pleasant, to the works by Mary Jackson that fetch five-figure sums from art collectors.
A larger show of this exhibit, organized by the Museum for African Art in New York City, is now on display at the Smithsonian in Washington.
But Rosengarten said the exhibition on Hilton Head Island is like none other because people in Beaufort County answered the call from the museum for locally made examples of the baskets.
Rosengarten was astonished to find works by Jannie Cohen and Caesar Johnson of Hilton Head, and one from the Penn School on St. Helena Island from almost a century ago, perhaps made by Alfred Graham.
Graham taught the craft to boys at Penn School, established in 1862 for freed slaves. That was a major factor in keeping the craft alive long after the rice plantations the slaves worked were gone.
Cohen is considered the last basketmaker on Hilton Head. She learned it from her father, who was born into slavery. She died in 2002, and Rosengarten said the baskets she created from bull rush in her trailer along U.S. 278 are widely considered works of art.
Johnson was born in the late 19th century, and his baskets sold on Hilton Head well into the 1950s.
Basketmaker Nakia Wigfall of Mount Pleasant helped explain the art she took up at her mother’s feet at age 4.
“When you buy a basket,” she said, “you’re getting a living history. You’re talking about a certain group of people passing that down from generation to generation, and today it is still part of the living history of the Lowcountry.”
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ELLENSBURG, Wash. (AP) – The display of old-time washing machines hearkening back to as early as the late 1800s was aimed at something to interest women coming to the annual Threshing Bee and Antique Equipment Show.
Yet the guys also lingered at Faye Gordon’s display at a cabin tucked away at Olmstead Place State Park last weekend where the show took place.
Longtime Kittitas Valley resident Chriss Peterson on Saturday slowly walked up to the exhibit of old washers and chuckled and smiled at his memories.
“I remember that one, oh, boy, do I remember that one,” Peterson, 91, said pointing at the wooden, hand-cranked tub in Gordon’s collection. Peterson said he came to Kittitas County in 1940 as a young man, but before that, back in Oklahoma, it was the four boys, not the four girls in his family who took turns pulling the crank for Mom on washday.
A gas engine could power this Morrison washing machine, which has a copper tub. Power was transferred by belt to the wheel on the washing machine. Image courtesy of Old Hat Auctions, Houston Texas, and LiveAuctioneers archive.
The crank turned the round agitator inside the washtub.
“As I remember it, it was a hundred strokes for the boys’ clothes, and we could get by with 50 pulls for the girls’ clothes,” Peterson said with a laugh.
“You see, the girls’ clothes weren’t so dirty.”
And what did the girls do?
“Well, they did all the ironing.”
Gordon smiled at that memory, and later said her collection has been a feature at the annual threshing bee for more than five years.
“That’s what’s so fascinating: The older people always seem to have a story, something they remember about an old machine,” Gordon, 53, said.
Faye’s husband, Brian Gordon, is president of the Kittitas Valley Early Iron Club, which annually sponsors the show that displays old tractors and farm equipment, antique engines and implements of yesteryear.
“I’ve always gone to the shows, and I just saw a lack of things that might interest the ladies,” Faye said. “So, washing machines seemed a good choice.”
She now has nine antique machines, from handmade, wooden models that were used in the late 1800s to before 1915, to the “modern era” of electric and gasoline-powered Maytag machines stretching from about 1905 to the early 1920s.
Her “latest” machine is from the early 1950s with a porcelain tub.
“A lot of those same older people who remember those washers with the wringers on top to squeeze the water out, they also tell stories of people getting caught in the wringer, their hair or a sleeve or even fingers and hands and arms,” Faye said.
And the old-time term of “getting caught in the wringer” or variations of being “put through the wringer” were born: it indicates experiencing circumstances which are exerting pressure and stress on people.
Faye and Brian keep their eyes open for estate sales and visit far-flung antique stores and old farm equipment shops during their travels.
The crowning glory of her collection is a shining copper tub machine with an electric motor to spin the tub and work agitators.
The machine is a 1905 Laun-Dry-Ette model. The Gordons found it driving down a residential road in Troy, Mont.
“There it was in the backyard of someone running a flower business of some kind,” Faye said. “We stopped and asked if they wanted to get rid of it. They did, for a price.
Many people, Faye said, turn antique washing machines, with their outside round tubs, into huge, outdoor flower pots.
But not Lee Maxwell of Eaton, Colo. He owns and operates the national Washing Machine Museum and has more than 1,000 antique machines and vast amounts of information about them.
Faye said Maxwell was helpful in providing information about her machines and sending her color photos of restored models.
“He wants to share what he knows, and he really wants to do what he can to assist any other collectors,” Faye said.
Her husband has a number of old antique tractors, and Faye said she does have one herself.
Yet the old washing machines hold an attraction all their own.
“It’s a coming together of American mechanical ingenuity, the availability of electricity and wanting to make household chores easier,” Faye said. “The demand for it came, I think, also because women just got to the point where they wanted more time in their lives for doing other things besides laundry all day.”
As for the younger women looking at the machines, Faye said they are in awe of all the work it took to do laundry and an appreciation for what’s available now.
Faye said her fascination has continued through the years with all the variation of mechanical devices put forth to clean clothes.
“In the end, it’s way better than the washboard and the open tub and doing it by hand,” Faye said.
And, yes, she does have an old-time washboard hanging in display on the wall behind the machines.
No one asks about that model.
___
Information from: Daily Record, http://www.kvnews.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
LAKEWOOD, Ohio (AP) – Lou McClung’s past life as a handyman, and his present career as a photographer, makeup artist and manufacturer, were perfect preparation for his future as a curator of an unusual museum.
The owner of Lusso Studio and Lusso Statuary recently purchased a decommissioned church, 104-year-old St. Hedwig, which will serve as the Museum of Divine Statues.
McClung said his mission to rescue religious statues, many of which come from parishes closed recently by the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, will help ensure the history of those churches.
Several statues many more than a century old were in great need of cleaning and repair. Stuffed in closets, storage rooms and choir lofts, some pieces fell victim to a push for modernism in the 1960s and 1970s.
“It’s interesting how all the little things you learn to do can contribute,” he said. “You wonder why you’re doing things, then it comes in handy for something like this.”
McClung, who has been footing the restoration costs out of his own pocket, taught himself how to clean and repaint the pieces, as well as craft missing fingers and arms.
“My goal as an artist is to make the statues as realistic as possible,” he said.
In graceful repose, numerous images of Jesus, Mary, angels and martyred saints crowd McClung’s makeup studio. People from across the country have found their way to Lusso Studio, which is housed in a century-old greenhouse.
St. Thomas Aquinas is depicted in a circa 1920 polychrome plaster statue, which has glass eyes. The three-quarter life-size figure sold for $500 at an auction in 2007. Image courtesy of Jackson’s International Auctioneers & Appraisers and LiveAuctioneers archive.
McClung said people marvel at being able to get a close-up look at statues they had seen all their lives from afar. The collection also includes a 13-foot crucifix, beneath which his parents were married.
McClung said the nonprofit museum is a natural outgrowth of his hobby and business as an art collector.
“I bought my first statue at an antiques store,” he said. “I thought it was a great type of art to save and to rescue.”
When churches began to close, friends, acquaintances and even clergy started bringing statues to McClung’s attention. Some parishioners from defunct churches bought and donated statues in memory of their families.
“The statues have become familiar faces in their churches,” he said. “If I can pull this off, it’ll give every (closed) church some recognition.”
The closing in 2009 of 50 parishes in the eight counties that make up the Cleveland Diocese triggered a wave of grief and anger among parishioners.
Longtime symbols of a city’s ethnic diversity, several historic parishes in Cleveland fell victim to a perfect storm of dwindling attendance, a shortage of priests, a population shift to the suburbs and high energy costs.
The trend of reconfiguring Catholic parishes is national. Earlier this year, the Catholic Diocese of Youngstown, which includes Stark County, announced plans to reduce the number of its parishes.
However, 14 Cleveland parishes that were ordered closed have appealed to the Vatican. A decision is pending. In defiance of their closing, parishioners from the former St. Peter’s parish started an independent church that celebrates Mass in a warehouse.
“If people don’t get their churches back, we’ll rescue their statues,” McClung said.
“Religious art has been at the core of our history, long since the early Christian days,” said M.J. Albacete, executive director of the Canton Museum of Art and a recognized expert on religious art.
Albacete said the tradition of church sculptures originates with Greek and Roman art.
“When Christianity came in, they were quick to adopt the idea of sculpting religious figures, at first representations of Jesus,” he said.
Albacete said churches regarded paintings, stained glass and sculpture as a means to raise Christianity’s profile as the faith spread around the world.
“Any kind of art in those days was seen as an ability to spread the Gospel and Bible stories,” he said.
Albacete said the high point of church art occurred during the Renaissance, and that many of history’s greatest works of art, such as Michaelangelo’s Pieta, are religious in nature.
“The time and labor he spent working on that, it’s a wonderful devotional piece,” Albacete said. “I’ve seen it a number of times. It’s a great masterpiece.”
Planned renovations at St. Hedwig’s include replacing its contemporary sanctuary windows with antique stained-glass panels, removing two ceiling murals, restoring its original hardwood floor, reinstalling St. Hedwig’s statue on the front of the building, and moving a 10-foot tile mural of the patron saint to the front entrance.
“There’s no greater use for a decommissioned church than a Catholic museum,” McClung said.
McClung also plans to move his makeup business into the old St. Hedwig’s School, which is adjacent to the church. The 6,000-square-foot museum will feature a coffee shop, gift store and a “memory kiosk” featuring photos and recorded recollections by parishioners in the diocese.
There will be a nominal admission fee to cover the cost of operation.
“As far as the diocese is concerned, we have been supportive and have been working with (McClung) in his efforts; we know he does have some fund-raising challenges,” diocese spokesman Robert Tayek said.
Tayek said the diocese takes protection of artifacts seriously.
“We don’t readily sell or offer the type of statues outside the church realm, if you will,” he said. “In his case, there has been an exception made because we know what he’s doing with it.”
Made out of plaster, horse hair, linden wood and marble, religious statues often are reflective of the many ethnic parishes and monasteries they once adorned. McClung said he researched the statues’ origins and learned, for example, that statues made in Spain always have brown eyes, dark hair and olive skin. Statues made in Germany, Poland and Slavic countries tend to be fair-haired, blue-eyed and fair-skinned.
Statues made in the 1920s feature realistic-looking eyes made of glass, including ocular veins made of red-silk thread.
“It’s an amazing process,” he said.
The collection’s oldest piece is that of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1855), acquired from the former St. Ladislaus parish.
McClung, who grew up in the east Cleveland suburb of Willowick, views the nonprofit museum as a way of repaying the kindness he received as a Catholic child.
“Our parish was very good to our family,” he recalled. “We weren’t able to afford tuition for school, but they made it possible. My experiences with Catholic education was amazing.”
He points out that objects such as stained glass, statues and stations of the cross were used by the early church to teach the mostly uneducated laity about their faith.
“My goal for this (museum) is so people, including non-Catholics, can understand the different parts of Catholic education,” he said. “It’s artwork that’s meant to inspire.”
“We’re praying and wishing him all the best, and we’re hoping it will be a successful venture,” Tayek said. “We’ve never seen anything quite like this.”
“Today, we don’t use statutes as much, but we have a long history of (religious) sculptures,” Albacete said. “They really do deserve to be preserved.”
McClung is ambitiously aiming for a December opening.
“This is definitely a calling,” he said. “I’ve been called crazy by a lot of priests; they said I was crazy to undertake it, but they meant it as a compliment.”
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Information from: The Repository, http://www.cantonrep.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
UNDERHILL, Vt, (AP) – A man wanted in connection with a stolen drawing believed to be by Vincent van Gogh has been arrested in Vermont.
Authorities say the Abilene, Texas, man is wanted for selling the $1 million sketch of van Gogh’s painting The Night Cafe, which shows a nearly empty cafe with a few customers seated at tables along the walls.
The sketch turned up at a New Mexico antiques shop after being stolen from a home in 2009. Police say they believe the man sold it to the shop for $250.
A warrant was issued for the man’s arrest after he didn’t go to court. The man was arrested Aug. 20 on charges of occupying an abandoned camp, burglary and possession of stolen property.
WCAX-TV says it’s unclear when he’ll be returned to New Mexico to face charges.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Pair of Wedgwood solid blue jasper tea urns and covers, late 18th century, each with applied white foliate and floral designs, impressed marks, height 18 inches, est. $15,000-$25,000. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc. BOSTON – Skinner Inc. will conduct an auction of European furniture and decorative arts on Saturday, Oct. 1, in its Boston gallery. The sale, which begins at 6 p.m. Eastern, features several significant collections, as well as more than 500 lots of fine silver.
One such collection up for bid is that of Carita and Stuart Kadison, who began collecting Wedgwood in the late 1950s. Their early area of focus was Wedgwood and Bentley and the other fine wares of the 18th century. As time went by they also included Wedgwood majolica and amassed one of the finest collections of Wedgwood majolica in the country. Much of the collection is illustrated in Robin Reilly’s two-volume Wedgwood dictionary. The collection includes more than 230 lots and is highlighted by a pair of Wedgwood solid blue jasper tea urns from the late 18th century. The pair is estimated at $15,000 to $25,000.
From the Astors’ Beechwood mansion in Newport, R.I., comes nearly 100 lots of material from one of the most famous names in American social history. Originally owned by Mr. and Mrs. William B. Astor, the historically rich items offered in the sale reflect the level of detail and decoration Mrs. Astor looked for in decorating her “cottage.” One highlight of the collection is William Parsons Winchester Dana’s The U.S. Frigate Constitution Chased by an English Squadron, July 1812, purchased on the couple’s honeymoon trip. The painting is estimated at $20,000 to $40,000.
Fine Silver offerings, which represent just less than half the total offerings of the sale, include the extensive Sataloff Collection of Chinese export silver. Of note within this varied collection is a large gold-washed Chinese silver model of a scene at a gate. The work is estimated at $8,000-$12,000. Fine silver offerings from various consignors are highlighted by an impressive pair of Tiffany & Co. Renaissance Revival boat-shaped sterling fruit compotes estimated at $7,000-$9,000. The sale is also ripe with fine examples of furniture and decorative arts. Featured examples include a fine pair of early George III carved mahogany library armchairs, circa 1765, estimated at $15,000-$25,000, and a set of 10 Mintons pate-sur-pate decorated plates estimated at $4,000-$6,000.
Previews for the auction will be held on Thursday, Sept. 30, from noon to 8 p.m. and Friday, Oct. 1, from noon to 5:30 p.m. For details visit www.skinnerinc.com or call 508-970-3000.
‘The U.S. Frigate Constitution Chased by an English Squadron, July 1812’ by William Parsons Winchester Dana (American, 1833-1927), unsigned, oil on canvas, sight size 43 inches x 84 inches, framed, est. $20,000-$40,000. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc.Fine pair of early George III carved mahogany library armchairs, circa 1765, est. $15,000-$25,000. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc.Set of 10 Mintons plates, England, 1923, cream ground with rim with Classical Revival gilt decoration, each with three blue ground pate-sur-pate roundels depicting the busts of gods or goddesses, diameter 10 1/4 inches, est. $4,000-$6,000. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc. Image courtesy of Skinner Inc.
