Tom Hoepf, Author at Auction Central News

Folk Fest returns to Atlanta area for 17th year Aug. 20-22

Double face jug by the late renowned folk artist Lanier Meaders. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.

NORCROSS, Ga. – Folk Fest – billed as the World’s Greatest Self-Taught Art Show and Sale – will celebrate 17 years in Atlanta with a three-day show slated for Aug. 20-22 at the North Atlanta Trade Center. Nearly 100 galleries and dealers will exhibit at the air-conditioned, 85,000-square-foot facility. Norcross is located north of Atlanta, off exit 101 of I-85.

Visitors will arrive from around the country to see what’s hot in the world of folk art. Folk Fest is where museums, prominent galleries, serious collectors and major art publications make their new discoveries. Attendees – ranging from housewives to Hollywood producers – will find items priced from a $5 starter piece to a $50,000 museum masterpiece.

Since its inception in 1994, Folk Fest has become the largest and most important event in the burgeoning folk art genre. Participating galleries and dealers from across the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe – all specializing in self-taught art, outsider art, Southern folk pottery, antique folk art and anonymous works – have regularly attracted 12,000 people or more.

As with previous Folk Fests, this year’s show will kick off with a Friday night meet and greet with the artists. Attendees of past events have mixed and mingled with some of the biggest names in folk art: Woodie Long, Charles Lucas, Cornbread, Michael Banks, Chris Clark, Willie Jinks, Mary Proctor, Ruby Williams, Michael Crocker, the Meaders family and many others.

Folk Fest has been staged from the start by Steve and Amy Slotin, owners of Slotin Folk Art, based in Gainesville, Ga. The couple regularly holds folk art auctions in Buford, a bit farther north from Norcross, in addition to Folk Fest. It was Steve who got the folk art bug first, when he ran across an ugly Lanier Meaders face jug near his childhood summer camp in Cleveland, Ga.

“I discovered there were primitive forms of pottery and art all over the South,” Steve said. “These incredible pieces were created by housekeepers, janitors, factory workers, farmers and house painters. They created art, but had very little formal education at all. They used found materials – rusty metal, stray sticks, discarded objects, leftover house paint, mud.”

The art was pure and honest, beautiful in its simplicity and embodying the best the South had to offer. Slotin knew he’d found a treasure in his own backyard the day he saw that first face jug. He created Folk Fest to share it with the world. He advertised the very first event in a prominent folk art magazine, without a show date, a venue or even a single exhibitor signed up.

“I took this enormous leap of faith,” he said, “believing that if I could just share this primitive art, this local treasure with others, they would appreciate it as much as I did.” His gamble paid off. Exhibitors signed up and on opening night 6,000 people packed the auditorium. Over the course of its 16-year history, Folk Fest has doubled in size and attendance.

Slotin said that, despite folk art’s emergence as a legitimate and popular art form – it’s regularly displayed at the prestigious High Museum in Atlanta – he still finds himself having to explain to people exactly what folk art is. Generally, folk art (also referred to as self-taught art or outsider art) includes paintings, sculptures and Southern pottery – some of it anonymous works.

“For a long time this art has been kept outside the mainstream art community,” said Slotin. “Self-taught art is the most important visual culture America has ever produced. And it’s not country crafts, duck decoys or split-cane baskets. It is highly personal art. It’s religiously inspired paintings, crude tin cutouts, wood-relief carvings and environmental sculpture gardens.” And it’s usually created from refuse and other found objects. “Self-taught artists don’t seek out the art world,” Slotin said. “The art world, collectors and dealers passionately seek them out. Their art is done by untrained people who draw on their culture and experiences in an isolated world. It’s made with a true, untutored, creative passion, raw and totally original.”

Artistically acclaimed acceptance has caused the folk art genre to blossom. But, ironically, its very existence is threatened by the inevitable urbanization and population of the onetime habitat of self-taught artists: rural areas. The purpose of Folk Fest, Slotin said, is to celebrate these artists and share with the public an art culture whose roots may soon disappear.

Sadly, over the years Folk Fest has lost many of folk art’s more celebrated masters, legends like Howard Finster, Leroy Almon, Mose Tolliver, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, R.A. Miller and Steve Slotin’s first find, Lanier Meaders. But the enthusiasm for folk art continues to strengthen, as visitors pour into Atlanta to add unique pieces to their collections, said Slotin.

Folk Fest will begin on Friday, Aug. 20, with the Meet-the-Artists Party & Show Opening, from 5-10 p.m. ($15 includes readmission). The Aug. 21-22 show hours are 10 a.m.-7 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on Sunday. Admission is $7 both days. Children 16 and under are free. The North Atlanta Trade Center is located north of Atlanta at 1700 Jeurgens Court in Norcross, off exit 101 of I-85.

For details contact Slotin Folk Art at (770) 532-1115 or log on to www.slotinfolkart.com. Updates are posted often.

ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

‘Angel’ by Howard Finster, perhaps the most famous folk artist of all time. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.

‘Jumping on Grandma's Bed’ by Woodie Long. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art. — ‘Jumping on Grandma’s Bed’ by Woodie Long. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.

‘Snake Handlers’ by Fred Webster. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.

‘Guinea Fowl’ by the artist Cornbread. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.

‘Cross’ by the late Mose Tolliver. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.

‘Blue Cat’ by renowned folk artist Bill Traylor. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.

R.A. Miller's Red Devil. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art. — R.A. Miller’s ‘Red Devil’. Image courtesy of Slotin Folk Art.

Furniture Specific: Look out for that ‘Cheire’

The material in the seat of this late 19th-century chair is cane, not cain, not wicker, not even wick.

Most of the time when I read coverage of an antique furniture auction or sale I pretty much understand what is being described and sometimes even agree with the description and the price realized. A Rococo Revival couch from the period made of laminated rosewood with pierced crest rail carving selling for $10,000 is pretty clear and self-explanatory. But there are times when the words actually get in the way.

The descriptive literature of furniture, like almost everything else, has evolved over the years, sometimes in illogical directions. There is always the problem in English with the proper or preferred spelling of a word, whether through genuine disagreement, misunderstanding of the etiology or just an inferior or alternative level of literacy. And there is also the conflict in describing a piece of furniture of whether to use its construction as the basis of the description, its function or one or more of its most notable elements. Even then one of the key words may have evolved through use or slang to become unrecognizable without knowledge of the article itself.

My favorite example of this is the word for the dowel or peg that sometimes goes through a mortise and tenon joint. The original description, based on its function, was the “true nail.” It was literally a spike that helped hold the joint firm or true. Over the years it evolved through slang into “trunnel” – a rough contraction of the original words. The new word by itself has no meaning in English. It is only relevant to collectors of furniture trivia who use it to confound and confuse less focused enthusiasts. Peg seems to work for everybody else.

Recovered coin a rare discovery at Affiliated’s July 10-11 sale

Recovered from the shipwreck known as the ‘Ship of Gold,’ this 1857-s Double Eagle is graded MS-65. The U.S. $20 gold piece is estimated at $14,000-$16,000. Image courtesy of Affiliated Auctions & Realty LLC.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Treasures large and small will be presented by Affiliated Auctions & Realty LLC at a two-day auction, July 10-11. The items will be made available to Internet bidders by LiveAuctioneers. Among the latter will be an 1857-s Double Eagle gold coin, a relic from the ill-fated S.S. Central America, which sank off the coast of North Carolina in a hurricane in September 1857.

The coin, one of 2,300 newly minted Double Eagles aboard the doomed ship returning from California, is graded PCGS MS-65. The shipwreck was discoverd on Sept. 11, 1987. Set to sell Sunday, the coin has a $14,000-$16,000 estimate.

On a grand scale is an official mosaic made for the grand opening of Nazi Germany’s Winter Help Work Program. About 4 feet by 5 feet, the mosaic is composed of approximately 20,000 individual mostly gold-colored tiles. Made by the firm of August Wagner in Berlin-Treptow, the piece weighs in excess of 50 pounds. The Winter Help Eagle is in full detail with the swastika wreathed in green and tan leaves. This notorious piece of Nazi propaganda has a $15,000-$20,000 estimate.

The two-day sale will feature antique firearms, uniforms, headgear, flags, edged weapons and insignia from conflicts spanning the globe and predating the American Civil War to current. Included is a musket belonging to Iroquois Indian Chief Red Jacket, who was a Washington Peace Medal recipient. Selling Saturday, the flintlock is expected to sell for $30,000-$40,000.

Saturday’s auction will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern

“On Sunday, July 11, we return with our Coin, Collectible and Fine Antique Auction starting at noon EST. Some of the exquisite offerings for this sale include a fully beaded Sioux vest dating from the 1880s and there is a leaded lampshade made by Tiffany master Basil Eugene Friend in grand Tiffany style,” said Affiliate Auctions’ Stephen H. Pike.

One of the most beautiful Art Deco period platinum and diamond bracelets Pike has ever seen will also sell Sunday. The bracelet is composed of more than 16 carats of diamonds and weighs in at a staggering 82.6 grams. It has been appraised for $32,000.

For details call Affiliated Auctions at 850-445-3212.

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

Red Jacket, Sagoyewatha, chief of the Iroquois (1751-1830), hunted with this flintlock musket. Decorated in silver with rococo-style floral design, the gun is expected to sell for $30,000-$50,000. Image courtesy of Affiliated Auctions & Realty LLC.

Bidding is expected to reach $2,500-$3,500 for this Sioux man’s beaded pictorial vest from the late 1800s. Image courtesy of Affiliated Auctions & Realty LLC.

Covered in diamonds weighing a total of 16.2 carats, this Art Deco platinum bracelet in very good condition carries a $12,000-$16,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Affiliated Auctions & Realty LLC.

The official mosaic made for the grand opening of the Nazi Germany’s Winter Help Work Program is signed by the firm of August Wagner on one of the tiles. Image courtesy of Affiliated Auctions & Realty LLC.

Christo’s proposed ‘Over the River’ installation up in the air

Christo and Jean-Claude’s 1991 Umbrella Project in Japan. Image by Dddeco, courtesy Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 3.0 License.

DENVER (AP) – Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude promised each other that one day they would realize their vision of miles of silvery, translucent fabric suspended over the roaring Arkansas River in southern Colorado – even, in Christo’s telling, if one of them should die.

Since the project’s inception in 1992 and the beginning of its permitting process in 1997, many things did happen – including the husband-and-wife team’s New York City extravaganza, The Gates, 7,503 fabric panels installed in Central Park in 2005.

Jeanne-Claude died last November at 74. Now Christo waits alone for the federal Bureau of Land Management – which has jurisdiction over most of the lands involved – to determine the project’s fate.

The agency is due to release a draft environmental impact statement on the couple’s 2,029-page proposal in mid-July. As is standard, the draft will include alternatives for the public to review. Though they have opponents, Christo’s team hopes the public rallies for one closest to the artists’ original vision.

Christo, based in New York, hasn’t tired of touting Over the River: “There is no comparison to any work of art in a gallery, museum or exhibition. It involves entire human society. It deals with land belonging to the nation.”

A grand but probably not overstated scenario, considering that the couple previously sheathed the German parliament building with fabric for Wrapped Reichstag, erected a 24-mile fabric fence across California hills to the Pacific Ocean for Running Fence, and encircled 11 islands in Biscayne Bay with pink, floating fabric for Surrounded Islands.

For Over the River, the artists proposed taking about two years to set up a system of anchors, frames and cables to suspend 5.9 miles of fabric across eight spots along a 42-mile stretch of the Arkansas between the scenic town of Salida and Canon City. Most of the river would be untouched, and the fabric would hang roughly horizontally, 8 to 25 feet above the water.

Viewers looking down from U.S. 50 on one side of the river or from a Union Pacific Railroad line on the other would see colors of morning light, daytime sun and sunset reflected by the fabric, according to Christo. River rafters would see clouds, mountains and sunlight streaming through as wind ripples the cloth.

“All of the project will be in constant motion,” Christo said. “You cannot see wind, but the fabric will show you the wind.”

Not everyone expects it to look just like that, of course.

One opposition group with the acronym ROAR, for Rags Over the Arkansas River, says it might be art, but it’s totally the wrong venue. “Too many people are affected,” said ROAR President Dan Ainsworth, 65, “too much ecology in the canyon.”

Critics worry about irregularly shaped fabric panels weighing more than 100 pounds each hanging over the heads of canoeists, kayakers and rafters. And they say the project will be detrimental to fly-fishing and to traffic on Highway 50.

“Christo is an artist,” said Ainsworth. “He’s a con artist.”

Christo and his team have listened to concerns.

They hope to exhibit Over the River for just two weeks in summer – preferably August, after the busy rafting season ends, school buses aren’t yet using the highway, and when newborn ewes of bighorn sheep would be least disturbed.

Futhermore, they say they have conducted rigorous safety tests, including a wind tunnel test and a separate real-world test in western Colorado. Plus, they’ve created a large-scale outdoor piece in Colorado before, Valley Curtain, which featured 142,000 square feet of orange nylon across Colorado Route 325.

Carol Wilson, who along with her husband leased some of their land for that 1972 project, said it was “gorgeous” and without ill-effect.

With their positions well set, Christo and his opponents await word from the feds.

Hundreds of people have already weighed in with the government, and there will be a 45-day comment period when the draft is released.

“In any project proposal, we look to see the potential impacts to the human environment – natural resources, socio-economic, safety,” BLM spokeswoman Cass Cairns said. “It could go either way.”

Over the River project director Jonita Davenport said the eight river sections are key to the artists’ vision, as is the timing, to make best use of summer sun and how it will play off mountain walls and river bends.

Christo’s team says that $7 million has already been spent on what will be a $50 million project, and the earliest it could be completed is 2013, when Christo would be 78.

After its two-week run, they said, crews would take everything down, leaving little but memories.

___

Online:

https://www.overtheriverinfo.com

BLM site on Over the River: https://tinyurl.com/28nrlah

Rags Over the Arkansas River: https://www.roarcolorado.org/

AP-WS-07-05-10 1205EDT

Reyne Gauge: Isabella Blow’s Couture Collection

Alexander McQueen Swarovski Heel. Courtesy of H. Audrey www.haudrey.com

Over the years we have admired the fashion sense of numerous ladies – Jacqueline Onassis, Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly to name a few.

In more recent times, we find the media following the styles of celebrities such as Katie Holmes and oddly enough, Lady Gaga.

Each of these women had their own unique sense of style; and certainly helped to launch the careers of numerous designers.

Recently, Christie’s touted a private sale they facilitated of the Isabella Blow collection. The collection was originally slated for September, but was scooped up by an unnamed collector [n.b., reportedly Daphne Guinness]. The collector has promised to keep the collection together. It makes me wonder if a museum acquired it or a collector who plans to donate it.

Also included in the collection are early examples of John Galliano’s early work, several Manolo Blahnik shoes, and a collection of photographs of Blow by some of the most notable fashion designers.

Isabella Blow was a magazine editor and certainly a style icon, however, her life was not always so glamorous. Her parents divorced when she was 14 years old. Her relationship with her father was quite strained, and while his estate was worth millions, he left her a mere £5,000 ($7,500) upon his death.

Before becoming a magazine editor, she attended secretarial school, worked as a janitor of sorts and also sold scones at a bakery.

Blow moved from London to New York in 1979 to study Chinese art. By 1980 she relocated to Texas to work for Guy Laroche. In 1981 she had her first taste of working in the fashion world when she was introduced to Anna Wintour, the Vogue editor who inspired The Devil Wears Prada. It wasn’t long before she left Wintour – did you watch the movie? – and began working for Andre Leon Talley. Blow certainly ran with the right crowd. When arriving in New York, she shared an apartment with actress Catherine Oxenburg. Eventually she became friends with Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

In 1986 she returned to London to work for Michael Roberts, the fashion director of The Tatler.

Blow was a fashion icon who had the ability to recognize talent long before the rest of the world did. She helped launch the careers of many designers over the years, the most notable being Alexander McQueen. Blow discovered McQueen while he was still in school. She purchased his entire graduation collection in 1991. McQueen was originally considered controversial, which earned him the reputation of being an enfant terrible. Gradually, with a little help from Blow, McQueen’s style matured. Blow became his biggest promoter

Blow was also a huge fan of the world’s top milliner, Philip Treacy. Her collection consisted of 50 hats by Treacy along with a vast array of couture by other leading British designers.

In an interview, Blow said that she wore hats for a poignant reason: “ … to keep everyone away from me. They say, “Oh, can I kiss you? I say, no, thank you very much. That’s why I’ve worn the hat! Goodbye.”

Sadly, Isabella Blow died in May 2007 at age 48.

At one point Blow discussed suffering from depression. She said, “If I feel really low, I go see Philip (Treacy) cover my face with his hats, and feel fantastic.”

A hat made by Treacy adorned her coffin instead of flowers.

Kovels – Antiques & Collecting: Week of July 5, 2010

Uncle Sam will shake your hand for a penny — or you could have bought him for $26,400 at a Showtime auction in Ann Arbor, Mich. This iron penny arcade machine is a grip tester. It measures the force of your grip. Score 300 and a bell rings, impressing all your friends in the arcade.

Uncle Sam has been an important symbol in the United States since the War of 1812. The famous name was first seen in print in a book written in 1816. Today’s Uncle Sam, with top hat, striped jacket and beard, was drawn for a famous recruiting poster in 1917. The image was soon copied in books, games and toys. Patriotic Americans liked to shake hands with Uncle Sam at penny arcades in amusement parks. One famous Uncle Sam machine was a strength tester. For a penny, you could grab his hand and squeeze as hard as you could. The arrow on the dial told how firm your grip was. If you scored 300, a bell rang. The Uncle Sam grip test, 76 inches tall, is made of enameled iron and has an oak cabinet base. The first machines were made by Caille Brothers Co. in about 1908. It was copied by the International Mutoscope Co. in the 1920s and again in 1978 by a private company that sells the machines today. An old machine was sold in by Showtime Auction Services in April 2010 for $26,400.

Q: I have a replica of the Liberty Bell that swings and rings. The bell is attached to a wooden block. Inside the bell it says, “J.I. Houck, Pottstown, Pa.” Under the wooden block is a label that says “Bailey Banks & Biddle, Philadelphia.” It’s dated “1832 U.S. Pat. No. 2444611.” I’m curious about those companies.

A: Your Liberty Bell is a bank, but it wasn’t made in the 1800s. Jonathan I. Houck of Pottstown received a patent for his bell-shaped bank in 1948. Coins were inserted in the slot in the wooden hanger and dropped into the bell, which could be opened at the bottom. Bailey Banks & Biddle was a famous jewelry store with branches in several cities. It traced its history back to 1832 – the date on your bank – when Joseph T. Bailey began working as a silversmith. Joseph T. Bailey II went into partnership with George W. Banks and Samuel Biddle to form Bailey, Banks & Biddle in 1878. The company was bought by Zales in 1961, but the brand name was kept. Following other corporate changes, all Bailey, Banks & Biddle stores closed in 2009. Your Liberty Bell bank sells for about $25 today.

Q: My mother gave me her small jug in the shape of Uncle Sam’s head. I remember it from my childhood in the 1940s and ’50s. The bottom is marked “Uncle Sam, Royal Winton, Grimwades, Made in England.” The jug is about 3 inches tall. Can you tell me its history and value?

A: Brothers Leonard and Sidney Grimwade founded their ceramics company at the Winton Pottery in Stoke-on-Trent, England, in 1885. Known as Grimwades Bros., then Grimwades Ltd., the company eventually specialized in making chintz dishes. Most are marked “Royal Winton,” the trade name Grimwades adopted in 1929. Royal Winton character jugs were made from the 1920s until the 1940s. Uncle Sam was made in two sizes, 3 and 4 inches tall. Your smaller jug sells for about $40 to$50.

Q: I have a historical newspaper dated Aug. 15, 1945. The top story is “PEACE, Shooting Ends in the Pacific. President Truman Announcing End of War.” Can you tell me what this newspaper is worth?

A: The value of an old newspaper is based on the historical importance of the news on the front page and the newspaper’s rarity. News of the end of World War II was published in virtually every newspaper in the United States and around the world. Because it was such an important event, many people saved their newspaper from that day. A complete newspaper is worth more than just one page. If the main story on the front page is continued to back pages, you need to have those pages. To preserve your newspaper in the best condition, store it flat with the pages unfolded. If folded, it may discolor or fall apart along the fold. The paper can be wrapped in acid-free tissue paper and laid flat in a box with a lid on it. You can buy acid-free paper and boxes from several different companies. The box should be stored in a dry, cool place, not in a hot attic or damp basement. You can even buy an archival scrapbook that is large enough to hold a full-size newspaper. If you are just keeping the front page, you might want to frame it. The value depends on which newspaper you have. Copies range from a framed Washington, D.C., newspaper at $395 to copies from small cities at less than $100.

Q: I have been handed down a 4 1/2-inch green carnival glass basket. An elk head and a clock are embossed on the inside, along with 10 stars around the edge and “1914, Parkersburg, B.P.O.E.” The name “Taylor” is on the outside of the basket. Can you tell me something about it?

A: Your basket was made in the early 1980s by Fenton Art Glass Co. of Williamstown, W.Va. Original carnival glass souvenir pieces made by Fenton for the 1914 Parkersburg, W.Va., convention of the BPOE (Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks) included only a plate, bowl and bell. An original plate in green can sell for more than $2,000. Dorothy Taylor (the “Taylor” on your basket) asked Fenton to make new Elks pieces like your basket for her Encore Glass Club. Your basket sells today for about $30.

Tip: A roll top on a roll-top desk can be repaired with window-shade material. Glue the slats to the material with white glue. Be careful; this is not an easy repair and slats must be spaced properly.

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 email, 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.

World War II Airplane Spotter playing cards, three aerial views, first issued 1943, U.S. Games Systems Inc., 1990 reissue, $16.
World War II military canteen, round, patent date May 4, 1915, impressed around collar, Worcester Pressed Aluminum Co., U.S.A., 7 5/8 inches, $56.
U.S. Marines & Korean War toy soldiers play set, plastic, four Marine soldiers carrying machine guns, five Korean soldiers with rifles, Marx, 1963, set of nine, $60.
Elsie the Cow “Save for War Bonds” bank, paper over wood, Elsie and Baby Beulah holding coin, slot reads “push first coin through here,” 1940s, 4 3/4 x 3 1/2 inches, $65.
Needlework souvenir of Boston, images symbolic of Boston, including Paul Revere, Old North Church, Colonial soldiers, beige, red, black and green thread, 23 square inches, $90.
Confederate States of America $1,000 bond, 30-year bond at 6 percent interest, payment due April 1893, seven coupons in book, 22 x 17 inches, $145.
1893 Chicago World’s Fair souvenir handkerchief, image of Columbian Exposition overview on U.S. flag, 16 square inches, $230.
WAAC doll, composition, jointed at shoulders and hips, painted facial features, molded hat, khaki World War II uniform, Ralph A. Freundich Inc., 1942, 15 inches, $295.
Staffordshire ABC plate, “Union Troops in Virginia,” white ground, brown image of troops & horses, 1870s, 6 inches, $385.
Weeden toy car, No. 28 Locomobile, steam engine, American flag image stamped on side, red body, iron wheels, circa 1894-1901, originally $1.25, 9 x 5 inches, $1,380.

Floods, hurricanes, forest fires or even an overflowing bathtub can be a disaster for a homeowner. Do you know what to do immediately to avoid costly damage to your house? You should have this special report at home now to be sure you have the necessary information. Kovels’ Dealing with Disaster tells what to do before you have a problem, who to contact immediately after the disaster, how to handle the first day of a loss — and the first week after a loss — what you need to settle insurance claims quickly and what you can and can’t do with cleanup to be safe. Available only from Kovels. The 20-page report is available online at Kovels.com or by phone at 800-571-1555. Or send $25 plus $4.95 postage and handling to Kovels, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.

Ad tycoon Saatchi donates 200 artworks, gallery to UK

LONDON (AP) – Art collector Charles Saatchi has a gift for Britain. It includes Tracy Emin’s messy bed, Grayson Perry’s explicit pottery and a room full of engine oil.

The advertising tycoon, whose patronage made household names of artists like Emin and Damien Hirst, announced Thursday he is donating his London gallery and 200 works in its collection to the nation as a new public art museum.

The gallery said the works, valued at more than $37 million, will be given to the government. The 70,000-square-foot Saatchi Gallery will be renamed the Museum of Contemporary Art, London.

The artworks being donated include Emin’s My Bed – the artist’s famous recreation of her boudoir, complete with empty liquor bottles, condoms and cigarette butts – and Richard Wilson’s 20:50, an eye-dazzling room filled with oil. There are also works by Perry – best known for vases adorned with disturbing twists on classical scenes – and artists from around the world, including China’s Zhang Dali and India’s Jitish Kallat.

Emin said she was thrilled by Saatchi’s gift.

“I wish more people had that kind of vision,” she said.

Saatchi, co-founder of the Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency, was the main patron of the Young British Artists movement of the 1990s, which made Hirst and Emin millionaires.

He captured the public imagination with his 1997 exhibition “Sensation,” which included Hirst’s shark pickled in formaldehyde and Emin’s pup tent appliquéd with the names of Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995.

The show’s impact lived up to its name. When it opened in New York in 1999, then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani was so offended by Chris Ofili’s portrait of the Virgin Mary adorned with elephant dung that he temporarily cut off funding to the Brooklyn Museum.

The exhibition’s success helped make Saatchi one of the art world’s most powerful figures.

“He was part of the perfect storm of British art’s success,” Perry said.

Since then Saatchi – who is married to celebrity chef Nigella Lawson – has continued to collect, amassing a vast collection. The gallery said even after the donation, Saatchi would still own “many hundreds” of works.

“I think he has a scatter-gun approach but in his trawling he’s picked up some extraordinary stuff,” Perry said. “This is by no means an insignificant gift. It’s the cream of the crop.”

Saatchi’s current gallery opened in 2008 in London’s affluent Chelsea neighborhood and has mounted shows by emerging artists from India, China and the Middle East.

Saatchi’s announcement is a boost to an arts community worried about looming cuts to government funding. Britain’s Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government has said ministries will have to slash budgets by up to 25 percent to eliminate the country’s record deficit.

Rebecca Wilson, associate director of the Saatchi Gallery, said as well as the 200-strong core collection, the gift includes other works that can be sold to buy new acquisitions to keep the collection changing and current.

She said Saatchi “wants to give London and the country something it wouldn’t have otherwise, which is a very agile collection that can respond quickly to developments in contemporary art from all over the world.”

The owner of the building that houses the gallery on London’s King’s Road, Cadogan Estate, said it hoped the new museum would remain in the same location “for the foreseeable future.”

Wilson said the gallery’s staff and management team would stay in place, and Saatchi, who turned 67 last month, was not planning to retire anytime soon.

“He just wants to prepare things for the future and make sure the Saatchi Gallery retains its unique character,” she said.

____

Online: www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk

AP-CS-07-01-10 1052EDT

Monet painting thief gets 3-year prison term

WARSAW, Poland (AP) – A court spokeswoman in western Poland says a man convicted in the theft of a Claude Monet painting valued at $7 million has been handed a three-year prison term.

Agnieszka Weichert-Urban said that the regional court in Poznan sentenced the 41-year-old man on Thursday for cutting Beach in Pourville from its frame 10 years ago at the city’s National Museum and replacing it with a cardboard copy.

The man has admitted the theft. The verdict, however, is subject to appeal.

In January, fingerprints led investigators in Poznan to the resident of the southern city of Olkusz, where the French impressionist’s painting was found at his parents’ home.

The painting in pastel blues and greens shows the sea lapping against a beach.

AP-WS-07-01-10 1010EDT

Chilled bottled soda from vintage vending machines: sweet!

This Jacobs model 35 Coca-Cola vending machine has the manufacturer’s distinctive mailbox shape. Image courtesy of Midwest Auction Galleries Inc., Lapeer, Mich., and LiveAuctioneers archive.

GRANITE FALLS, N.C. (AP) – In the annals of American ingenuity, where the Holy Grail is the efficient delivery of a popular product in its perfect package at the right price, it all came together at least once, in the JLC-144.

The F.L. Jacobs Co. of Indianapolis achieved this confluence of style and purpose sometime in the early 1940s when U.S. factory workers, on break from their labors in support of World War II, needed quick refreshment. What they wanted was a Coca-Cola, in a glass bottle so well chilled that if pressed to the temple it could ease a production-line headache.

The red-and-white, mailbox-shaped JLC-144 delivered, and for just 5 cents a pop.

Today, just the empty, curvaceous steel cabinet of the 144, minus the refrigeration system, the rotating rack that held 12 dozen clinking bottles, and the crown catcher into which the metal caps clanked, can fetch $400.

With its innards tossed, “The 144 made a killer refrigerator for deer meat,” says Alan Huffman. “I’ve bought ’em with the antlers still in ’em.”

Huffman hunts antique soft-drink vending machines with all their parts intact, these mechanical marvels that eliminated the need for drugstore soda jerks and made the cold, carbonated concoctions easier to find in some places than plain water. Huffman has more than 700 vintage machines in a museum at his Antiquities Vending Co. in the Caldwell County town of Granite Falls, just outside Hickory. The collection is both a roadside attraction and a working archive of parts and operating systems for nearly every make and model of soda vending machine produced from 1925 to the late 1970s. Many are thought to be the only complete examples of their kind.

Huffman’s main source of income is repairing and restoring vintage machines in a small shop adjacent to the former cotton mill building that houses the museum and a banquet hall he rents for special events.

“I can pretty much put together anything anybody’s got,” said Huffman, who loves a mechanical challenge.

When he gets a Vendolator that won’t vend or a Tyler Champion that won’t chill, he can unlock the museum, open the door on his complete version of the identical device and figure out what’s wrong. If he can’t buy a replacement part, Huffman has a machinist copy one from the museum model.

Sometimes he makes 10 repairs a day.

___

Nostalgia pays off

This unintended career arc began in 1989 when Huffman was 21 years old, thumbing through a Sharper Image catalog that offered a restored round-top glass-door Cavalier 96 for more than $6,000.

It reminded him of the machine in the old Galaxy Food Store in Granite Falls, where he bought 10-ounce Orange Suncrests for a quarter when he was a barefoot kid. What ever happened to that old machine?

Later, wandering through an antiques mall in Columbia, S.C., he found the model he’d seen in the catalog, but unrestored and just $350.

Smelling a deal, he charged it to his credit card and installed it in his apartment. He found another one, and put that into service in a hair salon. Another shop owner saw it and wanted one, and a business was born.

Huffman still has 120 machines in service, which he stocks with 40 flavors of soft drinks, all in glass bottles. He never, ever deals in cans.

“Glass is a better package,” he said.

One of his machines stands against a wall of the oak-floored Granite Hardware store in town, near the galvanized washtubs and the bug zappers. Clerk Lisa Arrowood says a fair number of people come in just to buy a cold Cheerwine or Mountain Dew.

“I try to lay off,” she says, but succumbs to a Sundrop once in a while.

___

Go ask Mama

At 43, and stout as a Westinghouse refrigerator cabinet, Huffman drinks only the diet versions. “Co-Cola,” is how he pronounces the brand name, in an accent as sweet as grape Nehi.

He has a story for every machine he has: how it was designed, where it was built, where it was found. They turn up in barns, storage buildings, in old businesses whose owners turned out the lights one evening and never came back.

Huffman can restore the most forlorn machines to their former glory, with polished chrome and a professional paint job in Coke red or Pepsi blue.

In more than 20 years of business, he’s only had three women buy machines for themselves. But a lot of the men say they have to ask their wives’ permission. Huffman offers them his secret weapon, a 1940s-era Coca-Cola logo featuring a little blue-eyed boy that he can reproduce on the machines.

“Go show her that little boy,” he says. “It never fails.”

Restored, the machines end up in businesses or home game rooms, delivering memories in a bottle.

AP-ES-06-30-10 1830EDT

Appalachian Trail Museum forges ahead with development

Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society, greets visitors outside the 200-year-old gristmill that was renovated to house the museum. Image courtesy of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society.

GARDNERS, PA. – Its successful grand opening on June 5 has brought national attention and acclaim to the Appalachian Trail Museum, and its organizers are busy seeking input and contributions for the museum’s second phase.

“With the very gratifying show of support for the museum leading up to and on our opening, we feel that it is important to keep the momentum going so we can reach our goal of providing professional exhibits on all three floors of the museum,” said Larry Luxenberg, president of the Appalachian Trail Museum Society.

The second floor of the 200-year-old gristmill that was renovated to house the museum opened on June 5. Luxenberg said the next section of the building to be prepared for exhibits will be the first floor.

Funding for phase one of the museum was originally estimated to cost about $500,000. Because of the generosity of volunteers and contributed services, Luxenberg said renovations and the initial exhibits cost the museum in actual dollars only about $50,000. “We are really grateful for the outpouring of support that we have received thus far,” he added. “We have demonstrated that we are thoughtful stewards of all donations and that the museum has tremendous public appeal.”

The museum’s first exhibits tell the stories of the founding, construction, preservation, maintenance, protection and enjoyment of the trail since its inception in the 1920s. Among the trail pioneers honored with exhibits are Benton MacKaye who is credited with conceptualizing the Appalachian Trail, and Myron Avery who is credited with spearheading construction of the trail that was completed in 1937. One of the hiker shelters built by York native Earl Shaffer is the museum’s first feature exhibit. In 1948, Shaffer was the first person to hike the trail end to end. Other through-hikers who are featured are Gene Espy who, in 1951, became the second person to through-hike the trail, Grandma Gatewood, who, in 1955 at the age of 67, became the first solo woman through-hiker and later became the first person to hike the trail more than once, and Ed Garvey of Falls Church, Va., who popularized long distance backpacking in the 1970s.

Second phase exhibits will continue to portray not only the history of the Appalachian Trail but also the essence of the physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual human experience of the Appalachian environment and the culture of hiking. Among the exhibits in the second phase will be hiking and trail maintenance artifacts.

Inquiries about becoming a museum volunteer or a sponsor or about making a donation may be made at the museum’s website, www.atmuseum.org <http://www.atmuseum.org/> , and info@atmuseum.org.

Located in Pine Grove Furnace State Park and at the midway point of the Appalachian Trail, the museum is across from the Pine Grove General Store on Pennsylvania Route 233. The museum is open from noon to 4 p.m. daily from June 5 to Labor Day and on weekends from noon to 4 p.m. from Labor Day to Oct. 31 plus Columbus Day.

About the Appalachian Trail Museum Society

The Appalachian Trail Museum Society, a 501-C-3 not-for-profit organization formed in 2002, organizes programs, exhibits, volunteers and fundraising nationwide for the Appalachian Trail Museum. The museum opened on June 5, a tribute to the thousands of men, women and families who have hiked and maintained the 2,179-mile-long hiking trail that passes through 14 states from Maine to Georgia. Located in the Pine Grove Furnace State Park in Gardners, Pa., the museum is conveniently near Carlisle, Gettysburg and Chambersburg, Pa. Additional information is available at www.atmuseum.org.

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