MILFORD, N.H. – Specialty firearms auctioneer J.C. Devine Inc. has suspended operations. Company founder Joseph C. Devine, 72, died Feb. 24 in Sebastian, Florida.
Ruth Toft Ansell an attorney with the legal firm Ansell & Anderson in Bedford, N.H., issued the following statement: “As a result of the recent death of Joseph Devine, the business of J.C. Devine Inc. has been suspended. All interested parties will be contacted by a representative of the business when appropriate.”
Ansell, a noted expert in estate planning, had no further comment upon being contacted by Auction Central News.
The J.C. Devine auction scheduled for May 9 in Nashua, N.H. was canceled.
Devine founded the auction company in 1975. He resided in Milford for more than 35 years and spent recent winters in Florida.
David Burliuk (Russian/American, 1882-1967), ‘Flowers on the Beach,’ oil on canvas board, signed, 15 by 17 1/4 inches, est. $7,000-$10,000. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers. CHESTER, N.Y. – William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers will conduct their second spring sale May 23 with on-line bidding through LiveAuctioneers. The auction will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern.
The sale will have many items for the avid outdoor gardener and decorator. The offerings will include vintage and antiques garden furniture and ornaments such as benches, sculptures and planters. Items of note are a partial “ruined” bust of Christopher Columbus in bronze of the late 19th or early 20th century, a pair of cast-lead winged putti of the 19th century and a pair of Peter Timmes & Sons cast-iron garden benches.
In addition, the sale will highlight a large collection of silver spanning the 19th to 20th centuries. Some of the more interesting lots are a Gorham Egyptian Revival casket with handles, English Monteith bowl, unusual Mauser silver tongs, German silver double horn-form vase with putti, English Renaissance-style jewelry casket and several lots of novelty silver jewelry.
Notable artwork will be offered including a still life by David Burliuk, a winter landscape by Frank (Franz) Hans Johnston and a landscape with shepherd, flock and reclining woman by George Henry Yewell. Other artists in the offering are Claire Falkenstien, Robert Benney, Emily Hoystradt, Bruno Del Favero, Bernard Buffet and many others.
Rounding out the sale will be a collection of rugs, carpets, furniture and decorative objects such as art glass and Venetian, Chinese porcelain, bronze and carvings. Fine jewelry will also be offered including a fantastic Tiffany Art Deco diamond and platinum brooch.
Preview will be held at the William Jenack auction facility located at 62 Kings Highway Bypass, on May 19 from noon-5 p.m.; May 20 from 2-5:45 p.m.; May 21-22 from noon-5p.m.; and the day of sale 9-10:45 a.m.
For details contact (845) 469-9095 or e-mail kevin@jenack.com.
Tiffany Art Deco diamond and platinum brooch, 7.5 carats approximate diamond total weight, 1 1/8 inches by 2 1/2 inches, estimate: $7,000-$9,000. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers. Peter Timmes & Sons cast-iron garden bench, 1895, 40 inches high by 44 inches wide. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers. Pair of Seguso art glass urn-form lamps, 22 1/2 inches high, estimate: $1,500-$2,000. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers. Collection of 19th and 20th century silver. Image courtesy of William Jenack Estate Appraisers and Auctioneers.
An extremely rare Bow porcelain duck tureen and cover, circa 1755-58, to be shown by specialist ceramics dealer Robyn Robb at the Art Antiques London fair in Kensington Gardens. Image courtesy Robyn Robb and Art Antiques London. As an unpronounceable volcano in Iceland continues to belch clouds of ash across European airspace, interrupting flight schedules from Reykjavik to Rome, it is not only holiday makers who are looking with trepidation toward an uncertain summer. This June, London is hosting a string of new and established high-end art and antiques fairs whose organizers will be hoping to attract a significant influx of buyers from Europe, North America and beyond. Clear blue skies would help those aspirations.
Intrepid dealers and collectors who manage to fight their way through the dust clouds will find plenty of good reasons to stay in London for the month of June, the most significant being the venerable London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia, June 4-13, the new Art Antiques London fair at Kensington Gardens, June 9-16, and the new Masterpiece fair at the former Chelsea Barracks, June 24-29.
The June jamboree kicks off with the London International Fine Art Fair at Olympia, the focal point this year being Modern British Masters — a loan exhibition of 15 rarely seen paintings from the collection of rock star and former Roxy Music frontman Bryan Ferry. Ferry was an art student before he began warbling for Roxy Music so one expects to see a collection reflecting a cultured eye. The exhibition includes works by Sir William Orpen and Augustus John, confirming Ferry’s preference for the early 20th-century British avant-garde.
This year’s Olympia fair will also be notable for being the first event under the directorship of new owners David and Lee Ann Lester, who are seeking to breathe fresh energy into what had by broad consensus become a rather tired and uninspiring event, now in its 37th year. Some 150 dealers have signed up for the fair so it will be fascinating to see whether the new brooms will bring in better business. Volcanoes aside, there is also a recession to wrestle with.
Mid-June, meanwhile, sees the launch of the new Art Antiques London fair, organized by seasoned fairs impresarios Brian and Anna Haughton and set to take place in a custom-built marquee opposite the Royal Albert Hall in South Kensington. This is an interesting site for a number of reasons, not least of which is its proximity to the original site of the Great Exhibition of 1851 — the locus classicus of all fairs. More importantly, if it is successful, Art Antiques London could help set a new template for the South Kensington precinct, which is currently being transformed into what promises to be a new pedestrian-friendly, museum-rich cultural quarter.
The new fair also incorporates the International Ceramics Fair and Seminar. Given its location a few minutes stroll from the Victoria & Albert Museum’s new ceramics galleries, this could turn Art Antiques London into a must for ceramics lovers. Specialist ceramics dealers such as Robyn Robb and Paul Reeves will be among the many dealers unveiling prize pieces for the inaugural fair and doubtless hoping the crowds will materialize too. A panel of encaustic tiles by Robert Minton Taylor, designed by Edward Welby Pugin for Stanbrook Abbey, Worcestershire, circa 1870, which will be on show with specialist ceramics dealer Paul Reeves at Art Antiques London. Image courtesy Paul Reves and Art Antiques London.
Phase 2 of the V&A’s Ceramics Galleries — the Study Galleries — will open to the public on June 10, coinciding with the fair. Fairgoers holding an Art Antiques London ticket will have a unique opportunity to see the new Ceramics Study Galleries at a special preopening viewing as part of the Members’ Preview Day on June 9, 10 a.m-5:45 p.m.
The Masterpiece event is arguably the most interesting of the three big June fairs. It has been organised by four London dealers — Harry Apter of London furniture dealers Apter Frederick, Simon Phillips of Ronald Phillips, Robert Procop of Asprey, and Thomas Woodham-Smith of Mallett — who have put their heads together to try and fill the vacuum created by the demise of the Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair.
Their new event seeks to break the rather staid mold of traditional fairs by embracing luxury goods such as fine wines and classic cars as well as the usual art and antiques. For example, a highlight of this inaugural event will be a 1932 Bugatti from classic car specialists Fiskens and Coys, which will be for sale at an eye-watering £3 million ($4.35 million). Elsewhere the spread of objects on offer is broadly typical of the sort of thing one sees at the TEFAF fair in Maastricht every March, with many of the same exhibitors. It will be fascinating to see whether the fair’s organizers succeed in establishing a unique ambience that will set Masterpiece apart from its competitors. London Eye will be there to report on their efforts.
One other interesting June fair is the Russian, Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair at London’s Park Lane Hotel, June 10-12. Given that some 400,000 Russians are currently domicile in London, one expects this to be reasonably well attended, particularly since the volcanic ash has not yet had an adverse effect on taxi travel.
Max Rutherston, who is responsible for the Japanese activities of leading London-based Asian art dealer Sydney L. Moss, writes to tell us of his optimism about this year’s Park Lane event. A fluent Russian speaker, Rutherston has conducted a significant amount of business in the Russian-speaking world in recent months, specifically in the Ukraine, where he says there is particular interest in Japanese art, especially netsuke, swords and sword fittings. Given Sydney L. Moss’s established reputation in the field of netsuke, Rutherston is expecting lively business on the firm’s stand, where prices will range from £200 to £20,000 ($290 to $29,000). London-based Asian art specialist Sydney L. Moss will be showing this 18th-century ivory netsuke of an ox and its calf signed by Tomotada, Kyoto, circa 1760-80, 2 3/8 inches long, at the Russian, Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair. Image courtesy Sydney L. Moss. An 18th-century ivory netsuke of a shishi and cub, signed Tomotada, Kyoto, circa 1760-80, 2 inches long, will be on the stand of London dealer Sydney L. Moss at the Russian, Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair. Image courtesy Sydney L. Moss.
One notable exception upwards of that price bracket is the superb 18th-century ivory netsuke of a boar by Masanao of Kyoto, which Rutherston has priced at £80,000 (around $115,400). This exquisite Japanese ivory netsuke of a boar by Masanao of Kyoto, circa 1750-1780, will be on the stand of Sydney L. Moss at the Russian, Eastern & Oriental Fine Art Fair at London’s Park Lane Hotel, where it is priced at £80,000 (around $115,400). Image courtesy Sydney L. Moss.
Twenty years ago, a cloud of volcanic ash might have done a lot more damage to the art and antiques trade than it is doing today. Now, of course, we have the Internet. But let’s not forget the trusty old telephones, which remain a stalwart part of saleroom technology, as was demonstrated recently at the Salisbury salerooms of Woolley & Wallis. Their early May silver and jewellery sale was notable for two items in particular.
The first of these was an elaborate George IV silver-gilt presentation vase and stand, made by the celebrated silversmith Philip Rundell for Sir Henry Russell in honor of his work with the Indian army. Despite having lost its cover, this beat beat an estimate of £30,000-£40,000 when a telephone bidder offered £95,000 ($137,200). This George IV silver-gilt presentation vase and stand by Philip Rundell fetched a hammer price of £95,000 ($137,200) at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury, despite having lost its cover. Image courtesy Woolley & Wallis.
The second item was a superb Lalique diamond and plique à jour enamel pansy collar pendant (Fig. 7), the fifth important piece of Lalique jewelry offered by Woolley & Wallis in recent seasons. At first, the Salisbury firm were concerned that their jewelry expert Jonathan Edwards might not make it to the sale, having been stranded in the Far East due to the volcanic ash cloud. Happily, however, he managed to make it back just in time to see the pendant sell for a hammer price of £40,000 ($57,750), demonstrating that solid prices can generate healthy business for provincial firms as other sellers step forward. A fine Lalique diamond and plique à jour enamel pansy collar pendant that brought a hammer price of £40,000 ($57,750) at Woolley & Wallis’s Salisbury salerooms in May. Image courtesy Woolley & Wallis.
Staying on the silver theme, the Sir John Soane Museum is joining forces in June with specialist silver dealers Koopman Rare Art to stage The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840, an exhibition that will include loans from the Royal Collection, the National Trust, Lloyds of London and other museums and private collections. This George III silver cup and cover, London 1770-71, from the Akzo Nobel Collection at the Courtauld Institute of Art, will be among the objects on view at ‘The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840’ at Koopman Rare Art in London, June 3-25. Image courtesy the Courtauld Institute of Art and Koopman Rare Art. A three-light candelabrum, 1774-75, by John Carter, designed by Robert Adam, loaned by Lloyd’s of London to the exhibition ‘The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840’ at Koopman Rare Art in London from June 3-25. Image courtesy Lloyds of London and Koopman Rare Art. This superb soup tureen, from a silver-gilt dinner service commissioned from the Royal Goldsmith Thomas Heming in 1789-90, probably to commemorate George III’s recovery from illness, has been loaned by the Royal Collection to the exhibition ‘The Classical Ideal: English Silver 1760-1840’ at Koopman Rare Art in London, June 3-25. Image courtesy the Royal Collection and Koopman Rare Art.
The main exhibition takes place at Koopman’s premises at 53-64 Chancery Lane, London, June 3-25, and there will also be a publication to coincide with the exhibition written by curator Christopher Hartop, as well as a conference on neo-classical metalwork on June 19 at the Royal College of Surgeons in Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
The Sir John Soane Museum is, of course, the ideal museum to partner with Koopman on this project, being the spiritual home of 18th-century neoclassical taste in London. Not only is the museum a shrine to Soane’s antiquarian interests and one of London’s most intriguing and deeply atmospheric museums, it is also the repository of a world-class collection of 9,000 drawings from the office of the great neoclassical architects and designers Robert and James Adam, some of which will be loaned to the exhibition.
Finally, some good news for lovers of Baroque painting. A fine work by the great 17th-century Baroque artist Domenichino entitled Saint John the Evangelist, dating from the 1620s, has been saved for the nation. The painting had been sold to an oversea buyer for just over £9 million ($13 million) at an auction in December, but the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest placed an export licence deferral on the painting, owing to its outstanding aesthetic importance. Happily, a new collector came forward to acquire the painting and thereby keep it in the UK. It will be on display in the National Gallery’s Baroque rooms for 18 months. Considered one of the greatest works by the Italian Baroque master Domenichino (1581–1641), this painting of St. John the Evangelist has been saved for the nation and will go on public display at the National Gallery, having been acquired by an anonymous private collector.
National Gallery Curator Dawson Carr said, “It is undoubtedly the best work by the artist remaining in private hands and its export would have been lamentable for the representation of Italian Baroque painting in this country.”
A Judy Kensley McKie bronze jaguar bench sold for $73,200 at a sale of Early 20th Century Design and Modern held April 24-25 by Rago Arts & Auction Center in Lambertville, N.J. Also, a Franco Campo and Carlo Graffi Millepiedi table soared to $67,100; an Arthur Hennessey Marblehead panther bowl made $61,000; a Wharton Esherick cherry sheet music stand realized $48,800; a Phil Powell sculpted walnut credenza breezed to $45,140; and a T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbons Widdicomb Mesa coffee table hit $42,700. Prices include a 22 percent buyer’s premium.
DALLAS (AP) – Southern Methodist University’s Meadow’s Museum has learned that three of its well-known paintings were among the millions of artworks Nazis Germany stole from Jewish families more than 65 years ago.
The founder of the Dallas-based Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art discovered the paintings’ connection to World War II plunder while doing research for two books.
Robert Edsel said he came across a black and white photo shot in Germany in 1945 that showed a painting he thought looked “eerily like one” he had seen at SMU’s museum. It was the Saint Justa, half of a famous pair of paintings by the Spanish artist Bartolome Esteban Murillo. Edsel later spotted its companion piece, “Saint Rufina,” in another photo.
“They’re not just treasures of civilization, but they’re representative of families who lost their lives and had everything stolen from them,” Edsel said.
Edsel estimated that the Murillo paintings were valued at least between $10 million to $15 million for the rare pair, after discussions with various auction houses.
“These are two of the finest works of art by this artist, one of Spain’s most important painters ever,” he told The Associated Press on Friday.
Beyond confirming that the paintings were valued in the millions, the Meadows Museum declined to state their exact dollar amount or purchase price, citing insurance and security reasons.
Each of paintings bore a now faded number on the back of their wooden stretchers. The Nazis used number codes to inventory stolen art, Edsel said. The R1171 on the Santa Justa meant that it came from the French Rothschild collection and was the 1,171st item from that collection inventoried by the Nazis, according to a story Friday on Dallas television station WFAA’s Web site.
The Nazis stole more than 6,000 items from the French Rothschild estate, Edsel said.
SMU’s Meadows Museum has had the Murillo masterpieces for 38 years. The museum bought the paintings at a New York gallery in 1972 and didn’t know of the link, said Nicole Atzbach, the museum’s assistant curator.
The museum is working with consultants in London and Paris to trace the art works’ chain of custody and verify ownership. Documents show that the paintings were initially returned to the French government, but the experts are trying to determine whether France gave the paintings back to the Rothschild family before the Meadows Museum acquired them.
Edsel told The Associated Press Friday that that document is “a missing link to title ownership.”
Even so, he and the university said they believe the museum’s ownership of the works will be validated. The museum has shown the artworks internationally and published them in catalogs without anyone else claiming to own them.
“Given that these paintings are so widely known, their loan history … and the fact that the Rothschilds were closely tied to the art world I don’t see how they would not” have spoken out to claim them if they had not already gone through proper channels, Atzbach said.
After Edsel contacted SMU, the museum checked every painting in its collection and discovered that another painting it had, Portrait of Queen Mariana by Diego Velazquez, was also taken from the Rothschild estate and bore a Nazi inventory number.
But a receipt proved that it had been returned to the family before it was sold.
Edsel said all museums should follow SMU’s lead and check their collections for the telltale inventory numbers that could help restore more art to its rightful owners.
Edsel started his foundation in 2007 to honor and continue the work of the more than 300 men and women from 13 nations who helped Allied forces protect cultural treasures during World War II. After the war, they began trying to find the rightful owners of pieces of art looted by the Nazis, hundreds of thousands of which are still missing.
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Information from: WFAA-TV, http://www.wfaa.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Charles Lozar opened the National Museum of Ship Models and Sea History in 2002. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
SADORUS, Ill. (AP) – If you must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, and all you ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by … well, you’ll usually be out of luck in landlocked central Illinois.
Unless, that is, you book passage for the small burg of Sadorus, adrift in an ocean of corn and beans about 12 miles east-northeast of Bement as the seagull flies. Here, riding at anchor in a 132-year-old former store on Market Street, is the National Museum of Ship Models and Sea History, believe it or not.
How a museum of ship models and sea history winds up marooned 1,000 miles from the nearest ocean usually is question one for the occasional visitors as they come aboard and are greeted by their captain and museum owner, Charles Lozar.
“Actually, it’s kind of ironic, as we went to California, thinking we would do a ship model museum somewhere along the coast,” Lozar said. “We were in San Francisco, and there was a huge model museum there, and in the bookstore they had a book called Maritime Museums of North America. I flipped through it and found California actually had 39 maritime museums, so they probably didn’t need another one.”
An architect with a doctorate in urban planning who once taught at the University of Illinois, Lozar is familiar with navigating the Central Illinois landscape and knows a good harbor when he sees one. Back living in this area, he spotted the derelict circa 1878 store for sale in quiet Sadorus and, as he was looking for a place to moor his growing fleet of model ships and could easily handle the remodeling, thought why not?
“I needed a place with 14-foot ceilings because of the masts on the ships, and this building was also very, very cheap,” Lozar said. “I told the city of Sadorus we would have this place open in three months after we finished the interior, but it opened three years later, in 2002.”
Accomplishing anything good always takes time, however, and the jaw-dropping collection docked into every available bit of the 9,000-square-foot museum’s two floors is the result of 50 years of trolling the globe for treasures. Some of the most amazing stuff was bought while he was a student at the University of California at Berkley and got access to the studio back lots and the unwanted models that had had starred in movies from Hollywood’s glory years.
Sail the cramped byways of the museum, and you will discover the 11-foot-long Roman barge model used in the 1963 movie Cleopatra, starring Richard Burton as Marc Antony and, of course, Elizabeth Taylor in the title role. “If you rent the movie, the model is in the first scenes off the harbor of Alexandria,” said Lozar, who reveals a complex gear system inside the wooden vessel.
“They put the barge on railroad tracks under the water and, as it goes along, a gear rotates on an eccentric path and moves oars attached to hangers so the oars make a circular motion like people rowing,” he explained.
Anchored nearby is a ship model that was burned in a dramatic battle scene from the 1959 movie Ben Hur, starring Charlton Heston. Over there is a little tanker ship used in the 1970 Pearl Harbor movie Tora! Tora! Tora!, over here a spectacular, almost 12-foot-long Titanic used in promotional material from the 1997 Titanic blockbuster, the model ship precisely accurate, even down to the little lifeboats. “They could have used a few more on the real thing,” Lozar commented dryly.
We move on to a submarine model from the 1990 Hunt for Red October, a model of the British flagship HMS Victory from a 1938 movie about Admiral Nelson’s extramarital maneuvering with Lady Hamilton, and a Tugboat Annie Sails Again prop from an early movie starring Ronald Reagan. Tinseltown treasures are everywhere you look.
“With Universal Studios, for example, I had negotiated to buy the models they didn’t want anymore,” said Lozar, recalling happy days of plain sailing when the Hollywood execs hadn’t woken up to the fact these things were valuable bits of celluloid history.
“Five years later, they called me up and said, ‘We want them back,’ and I said, ‘No way,’” Lozar added.
The movie models are only a small part of the museum’s 300-strong fleet, however, which comes in all shapes and sizes. There’s a an 11-foot-long, 3-foot-tall model of a captured German World War II submarine built as a workshop exercise by sailors at the Navy’s Great Lakes Naval Training Station. And don’t miss the 100-year-old, 9-foot-long wooden scale model of a Dutch galleon, with a fine network of precise rigging that is a complex joy to the eye in all its meticulous detail.
Some models are tiny, such as the 7-inch-long re-creation of the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, which has a sailor working on its decks who would stand barely knee-high to an ant. Other models are truly vast: How about a 27-foot-long scale replica of the ocean liner Queen Mary, made entirely of toothpicks? Lozar explained that the Chicago man who built it used a million toothpicks and had to construct it in three 9-foot sections.
“He built it in the living room of his sixth-floor apartment,” he added. “And he had to make sure he could get the sections out of the room. But he did such a nice job.”
Lozar’s patient wife, Ginger, has known her husband since he was 15, and even though he grew up on the west side of Chicago, she said the sea runs in his blood like a fever.
She said they sold all their furniture when moving from California to Central Illinois so there would be room to ship the models that were destined to find a home in the museum, which, by the way, is now listed in Maritime Museums of North America.
She said her husband loves history, too, and digested much of it while studying architecture. “And history is very much tied to boats and how people got around and discovered the world,” she added. “Charles has always felt a real close affinity to the sea; I don’t know that he wonders if he isn’t a reincarnated ship’s captain.”
The museum’s collection is divided into historical sections, ranging from the time of ancient Egypt through today. Ship models are supplemented by all kinds of related artifacts and antiques, some treasures dating to the 15th century. It’s a spectacular flotilla that Lozar hopes will let you hear the wind in the rigging and feel the swell of the ocean as visitors rediscover the courage of they who go down to the sea in ships.
“Capturing the wind in sails and knowing everything had to work right because your life depended on it,” he said, gazing at a model of a sailing ship in full sail. “It’s a fascinating endeavor.”
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Information from: Herald & Review, http://www.herald-review.com
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Ornate Victorian designs worked well for wicker furniture. This labeled well-preserved Heywood-Wakefield rocking chair sold recently at Neal Auction Co. in New Orleans for $7,552.
Wicker furniture has been made since the days of ancient Egypt. The cradle for the first American baby born to the Pilgrims was made of wicker. But the glory days of wicker furniture in America started on the docks of Boston in 1844. Cyrus Wakefield, a grocer, noticed volunteers taking away the rattan used to tie the ship’s cargo. He thought it would be a good material for furniture, so he experimented with the rattan and found it worked for chair parts and seats. He started importing rattan and selling it to others. The business grew and Wakefield began importing cane, the strips of bark from the rattan palm tree stalks and rattan. Wakefield continued to experiment and made furniture with bentwood and rattan fancywork. He worked with a machine that split the bark and used it for chairs, tables and other furniture. He was the country’s leading maker of wicker furniture by the 1870s.
Cyrus Heywood, a 19th-century chair-maker, began using wicker, too. He owned a loom that wove cane into sheets to make set-in seats. The two companies were rivals until they merged in 1897. The popularity of ornate Victorian styles and Japanese designs helped increase sales of wicker furniture. But tastes changed in about 1900. The straight lines of Arts and Crafts furniture, the introduction of forced-air home heating, which dried out wicker, and new furniture styles created by Austrian designers changed the way manufacturers used wicker. By the 1930s, wicker furniture was scorned and Heywood-Wakefield was making light-colored wooden furniture in new simple modern designs. Wicker did not regain its popularity until the 1990s.
Q: I have a blue-and-white cup and saucer I received as a wedding gift. The pieces each have a stamped mark on the bottom with “R & M Co.” inside a diamond. They are decorated with pictures of musicians and composers. Haydn, Gounod, Wagner and Meyerbeer are on the cup, and Beethoven, Mozart, Liszt, Handel, Chopin and Mendelssohn are on the saucer. Can you tell me when the cup and saucer were made and how much they’re worth?
A: Souvenir plates and cups were very popular from the 1890s until World War I and picture famous people or show scenes of famous places or historical events. They are often marked with the maker’s name, the importer’s name or both. Your cup and saucer were originally sold by Rowland & Marsellus, a New York City importing company in business from about 1893 to 1937. Rowland & Marsellus imported plates, cups, saucers, vases and other items from different potteries in the Staffordshire district of England, but the items were marked only with the Rowland & Marsellus mark. Your cup and saucer are worth about $100.
Q: When was the first Frisbee made? I collect plastic Frisbees with advertising or other decorations.
A: The metal pie tins used by the Frisbie Pie Co. of Bridgeport, Conn., were the inspiration for the toy we know today. It is said that bakery workers took breaks and went outside and played catch with the tins. Soon some college students also played with the tins. But perhaps the real beginning of the Frisbie came in the mid 1940s. Walter Morrison and Warren Franscioni started Pipco in Los Angeles and made disks of plastic they called Flyin’ Saucers. They began demonstrating the toy on beaches and started selling it, but money problems closed the company. In 1953 Morrison formed his own company and sold a similar toy named the Pluto Platter Flying Saucer. The Wham-O company made a deal with him and began to sell the toy. College kids called them Frisbees, and eventually the name stuck. The plastic disc sold by Wham-O changed its name to Frisbee in 1956. Since then, millions of Frisbees have been sold and Walter Morrison became rich. He died in February at the age of 90.
Q: I found several old stock and bond certificates in my attic and wonder if they are still worth anything. The stock certificate is for 20 shares of Polish American Navigation Corp., issued in 1920. There are two $50 bonds that were issued by the National City Bank of New York for the Republic of Poland in 1920 and due in 1940. Are these still worth something, or are they valuable just as collectibles?
A: The Polish American Navigation Corp. operated cargo and passenger ships between New York and Danzig (now Gdanz), Poland, between 1919 and 1921. The company closed in January 1922. The National City Bank of New York is now part of Citigroup. Your stock and bonds probably have minimal value as collectibles since they are not ornately decorated, elaborately engraved or signed by a famous person. There are companies that specialize in researching old stocks and bonds; they charge a fee. They also may be interested in buying the stocks and bonds. You can do the research yourself, if you’re ambitious. Try your library. Look in the Directory of Obsolete Securities (Financial Information Inc.) or Capital Changes Daily (Commerce Clearing House). You also can contact the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at SEC Headquarters, 100 F St. NE, Washington, DC 20549 or online at www.sec.gov/answers/oldcer.htm. Even if the certificates cannot be redeemed, they may have value as decorative art.
Tip: Don’t dry your china and crystal with a cloth that has been laundered with fabric softener. The softener may leave a film.
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.
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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.
The Karo Cook Book, soft cover, spiral bound, Karo Syrup recipes, 125 pages, 1981, $13.
Kewpie tobacco felt, Rose O’Neill Kewpie riding a fish, wearing red flag bow, turquoise background, sky, clouds and waves, 1914, 6 x 4 3/4 inches, $30.
Disney Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck alarm clock, see-through movement, Mickey and Donald ring yellow bell for alarm, Bradley, $125.
Walt Disney School Bus lunchbox and Thermos, metal with dome top, Disney characters, 1968, 8 x 9 inches, $140.
Sasha Schoolgirl doll, blond hair, dressed in school uniform, cotton blouse, gymslip with sash, long socks, 1970s, 17 inches, $300.
Meissen porcelain platter, square, hand-painted floral spray, gilt trim, open handles, shell corners, marked, 1920s, 15 3/4 inches, $400.
Soapine washing powder hanging sign, die-cut, image of company’s black whale trademark, two men washing whale with long-handled mops, 19 x 6 inches, $440.
Tin squirrel cage, house form, dome roof, sliding door on side, rotating wheel, wooden base, soldered joints, mid-19th century, 16 x 31 x 10 1/2 inches, $480.
Biedermeier-style sleigh bed, maple, ebonized accents, scrolled head and foot boards, ebonized rondels, block plinth feet, 1950s, 47 x 96 x 81 inches, $1,015.
Give yourself or a friend a gift. Kovels’ Advertising Collectibles Price List has more than 10,000 current prices of your favorite advertising collectibles, from boxes and bins to trays and tins. More than 400 categories are organized by brand name, company name, product or collectible. Plus 300 photographs, logos and trademarks. A 16-page color insert features important advertising collectibles. Clubs, publications, resources and a full index. Available at your bookstore; online at Kovels.com; by phone at 800-571-1555; or send $16.95 plus $4.95 postage to Kovels, Box 22900, Beachwood, OH 44122.
Photo credit – Matt Burkholz, Route 66 Antiques I love reading reports on the economy (this is a tongue-in-cheek statement by the way). One says we’re on the road to recovery, another claims we’re too quick when thinking it’s over. They constantly contradict themselves and I never seem to know if I should pull my wallet out, or put it away for another couple of months. Who am I kidding? It’s not like I could put the wallet away for long!
When speaking to dealers I find most claim business is good. I find that to be a true sign of the state of the economy. We sell luxury goods; things people don’t necessarily need, yet want. When buyers start spending freely at the auctions, shows and shops, I feel stronger about the end being near.
The other day I watched a report on Trendhunter.tv that I believe lends to my theory. They listed the Top 20 Consumer Trends for 2010. It amazed me how many of these trends involved collecting. I’m not going to list them all, just the ones that I saw relevant:
1. Peacocking came in at the no. 18 slot. I had never heard the word before so of course I went to Dictionary.com – low and behold it was a word but really had nothing to do with their description. Alas, I like the concept. According to them, “peacocking” is the use of bright colors that make a statement against the dark and dreary recession. The use of color in art, clothing and accessories. Art is a given and I’m all about promoting the sales of art of all styles. Clothing and accessories – I’m foreseeing strong sales of vintage couture, costume jewelry, Bakelite bracelets and oh, what about a great bright red Hermes bag?!
2. Rental Culture came in at no. 17 – Apparently renting clothing and fine art during the recession has fueled this movement. I think in the first “Sex and the City” movie we saw the discussion of renting designer handbags. Check out Bag, Borrow or Steal (www.bagborroworsteal.com). You can also rent/rent to own designer jewelry by going to Bling Yourself (www.blingyourself.com) or you can choose to buy gently used (secondhand) at Portero (www.portero.com).
3. Nostalgia Marketing was no. 12 on the list. “Trends in photo shoots for commercials and other advertising seeking refuge from your past – nostalgic” – promotion of vintage toys, T-shirts with iconic images of things we remember from our childhood.
Photo credit – Reyne Haines
4. Greenpliances was no. 6 – Antiques have always been green. Vintage kitchen gadgets, canisters, mixers, refrigerator boxes etc., are making a comeback without the help of Martha Stewart this time!
Photo credit – JustGlass.com
5. Finally, the no. 1 consumer trend for 2010 “Next Besting” (another interesting term) which means showcasing vintage couture and furnishings instead of newer expensive items. I think they have it backwards though; I’d say vintage couture is the best, and then if you can’t afford the vintage, you can buy a next best thing, which is a newer expensive (yet worthless) reproduction.
At the end of the day, all I know is that I’m glad to see the vintage world so highly sought after by consumers.
A huge golden face of Meretites, a third century B.C. noblewoman, is painted on her 7-foot-tall outer coffin. Image courtesy of Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – King Tut, that popular Egyptian boy king whose traveling tomb lured gangbuster museum crowds two decades ago, is once again touring the United States.
But Egypt lovers who can’t make a trip to New York and don’t want to pay nearly $30 to see treasures from King Tutankhamun’s burial site, have another option. Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art now boasts its own permanent – and free – ancient Egyptian coffin and funeral objects.
The Nelson-Atkins has begun displaying the 2,300-year-old coffin and other antiquities of noblewoman Meretites in its Egyptian Galleries, the new centerpiece of the museum’s refurbished Ancient Art Galleries.
Meretites’ intricately-detailed 7-foot inner coffin is among the first thing visitors see entering the Egyptian gallery – revamped from a former cloak room during the $1.7 million renovation. The subtle lighting, dark marble, and treasure-laden walls evoke the feeling of a tomb without being somber or frightening.
That’s the point, said Robert Cohon, curator of art of the ancient world at the Nelson-Atkins. Cohon, who guided the two-year renovation for the Ancient Art Galleries, has a particular audience in mind for the new galleries.
“We want children to come in here, and want to know more,” Cohon said. They will see the inner coffin painted with a huge golden-faced, blue-haired Meretites, as well as the myriad Egyptian gods and goddesses there for her journey into the afterworld.
Think magic, spirits, history.
“Egyptian art has been a surreptitious pleasure for so many,” Cohon said. “This may also be a child’s first exposure to death.”
And it aims to be presented in a way that is both wondrous, educational and full of clues about life in Egypt and about Meretites herself.
In addition to the detailed inner and outer coffins, the Meretites collection, which originated in middle Egypt and dates to 350 B.C., also includes more than 300 ushebtis – figurines of all the workers Meretites would need in the beyond.
The mummy of Meretites, whose names mean “beloved by her father,” is not in the collection. But mummyphiles, take heart. The Nelson’s new display includes another mummy, acquired from Emory University, and displayed coyly around the corner from Meretites’ coffin.
The Egyptian Galleries leads into the refurbished gallery of ancient art, which includes several signature pieces from the Nelson’s collection, some refurbished, all now displayed with purpose.
The room is flanked at one end by the limestone statue of Ra-wer from 2560-2460 B.C. Look closely for a tiny hand on the nobleman’s inner calf, indicating the long-lost presence of an adjoining child.
Nearby is a Syrian stonework from about 884 B.C. that once hung in the Mercantile Library in St. Louis. It features a deity tending a tree, all wings and muscles.
“A god fruitifying the earth,” Cohon said. “Schwarzenneger on steroids.”
But much of the focus for visitors surely will be on the Egyptian Galleries and the Meretites collection, bought from an art dealer in 2007 in Germany for an undisclosed – but reported seven-figure – sum.
The purchase has not been disputed by the Egyptian government, which has been seeking the return of thousands of its antiquities, many now held in museums around the world.
Meretites will likely remain in Kansas City then, where she is sure to gain admirers – young and old.
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Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art:
www.nelson-Atkins.org
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
AP-CS-05-06-10 1414EDT
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
The 8-foot-long outer coffin of Meretites is displayed in a new gallery devoted to ancient art. Image courtesy of Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.
An Andy Warhol screen print titled ‘Mick Jagger,’ 1975, number 40 of 50 and published by Seabird Editions, sold for $26,450. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Combine cultural icons Andy Warhol and Mick Jagger with aggressive bidders and it was Jumpin’ Jack Flash all over again. A 43 7/8-inch by 27 7/8-inch screen print of Jagger full face overlaid with gray and green and signed by the artist and subject was the top lot at the Brunk Auctions sale May 1. The screen print opened at $18,000, its reserve, and bidding worked up to $26,450. High estimate was $30,000, but as Jagger would have pointed out, You Can’t Always Get What You Want. All selling prices include a buyer’s premium.
Though there was just one Mick Jagger, the sale featured a number of much larger collections. At 65 lots, rugs were one of the longest and strongest. Four of the sale’s top 10 lots were rugs. Leading the way was a 14-foot by 14-foot 3-inch 19th-century Chinese rug with a scalloped yellow central medallion that encompassed approximately 90 percent of the rug’s area. Inside the medallion were trees and peonies amid a rocky landscape. It sold to the phones for $18,400 (est. $3,000-$6,000). From the same consignor was a 6-foot 2-inch by 10-foot 6-inch 19th-century Chinese rug with hundreds of stylized bats in rows across the large center section. The medium pile rug went to a phone bidder for $11,500 (est. $2,000-$4,000).
Continuing a two-year trend, Chinese porcelain finished strong: 18 of the 25 lots sold within or above estimate. The lot with the most presale buzz, an unadorned hu vase with blue Guangxu mark (1875-1908) carried the category’s highest estimate: $5,000-$10,000. It sold for $7,475. Over the past year, surprises have surrounded the Chinese porcelain category and the May 1 sale was no exception. A 6 3/8-inch Chinese vase with blooming prunus tree on a puce background with a pale turquoise glaze on its interior, exceeded its $1,000-$2,000 estimate to sell for $11,500. It was the top Chinese porcelain lot. A set of eight 20th-century Chinese wine cups with iron-red Daoguang seal mark (1821-1850), each with one of The Eight Immortals went from a $400 opener to $4,830.
Two of the 64 Southern lots that included furniture, pottery, maps, Civil War, miniatures and paintings were among the top 10 lots of the sale: a 19th-century powder horn and an inlaid Federal sideboard.
The horn was made by Tim Tansel (Kentucky/Indiana, 1810-1852), one of the few carvers who produced more than 50 carved and engraved powder horns during his brief lifetime. The signed, but undated horn had Tansel’s trademark fish-mouth edge at the spout. Engravings include a woman in a polka-dot dress, an eagle shield, a man on horseback and the words “E Pluribus Unum, Protection and Indemnity.” Eleven phones were active during the sale and one bought it for $9,775 (est. $2,000-$4,000).
Bidders could not miss the star inlay on each door of a 19th-century Federal sideboard from either eastern Tennessee or western North Carolina. Woods were figured maple and walnut with yellow pine secondary with dovetails and cut nails. In addition to the prominent stars, there was extensive bellflower and string inlay throughout. In the same North Carolina family since circa 1940, the fresh to market sideboard brought $8,050 (est. $2,500-$5,000).
Fifteen percent of the sale lots were paintings. Of the 96 paintings, eight were passed and one made it to the top 10. That was a signed, dated (1899) and untitled oil on canvas by Colin Campbell Cooper (California, 1856-1937) of a canal, possibly in Belgium. The Cooper opened at $1,000 and closed at $9,775 (est. $1,000-$2,000).
Hammer price plus buyer’s premium for the entire sale was $780,016.
For more information on Brunk Auctions visit www.brunkauctions.com or call 828-254-6846.
Almost square, this 19th-century Chinese rug with large central medallion was the star rug of the sale at $18,400. Note the multiple Greek key and lattice motifs in the corners. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions. This Federal sideboard has three functional drawers over three doors that open to shelved interiors. Brasses are probably original. From Eastern Tennessee or Western North Carolina, it sold for $8,050. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions. In a crowded field of paintings in the sale, this canal paining by California artist Colin Campbell Cooper topped all. It sold for $9,775. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions. Tim Tansel signed and extensively engraved this 9 1/8-inch horn and included his typical serrated fish-mouth edge at the wood plug end. It made $9,775. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions.
