Foliate carved pulls and panelled doors highlight this two-piece mixed wood American Victorian plantation desk. It stands 85 inches high, 38 inches wide and 25 inches deep. It has an $800-$1,200 estimate. Image courtesy Austin Auction Gallery. AUSTIN, Texas – Austin Auction Gallery will conduct its spring Collectors Auction on March 21, offering everything from golden oak fireplace mantels to Victorian glass lusters to decorate them. The auction will begin at 1 p.m. Central with more than 300 lots of glass, porcelain and American furniture. Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
An impressive collection of more than a dozen pairs of mantel lusters include Victorian Bristol, satin and ruby glass will be offered with conservative estimates ranging from $200-$400.
Huge lots of glass and porcelain will steal the show with large quantities of American Brilliant Period cut glass, Bohemian glass, cobalt glass, Bristol glass, Victorian bisque figures, Baker O’Brian and other studio art glass.
“It is unusual to have such a large and diverse collection of glass from one estate,” said Victoria Nickell, Austin Auction Gallery’s decorative arts appraiser.
Another highlight is a scarce Royal Doulton porcelain figure HN 2066 Minuet in red costume. Designed by Peggy Davies, the red version of Minuet was produced only between 1950 and 1955.
A monumental American oak carved fireplace surround, a 19th-century Plantation desk, an American oak corner cupboard with marquetry doors, a five-piece grain-painted cottage bedroom suite, several Globe-Wernicke stacking bookcases including an unusual half-sized piece with beveled glass, and early Texas furniture are only a few of the fine lots of primarily American antiques to be offered.
For additional information on any item in the sale, call 512-258-5479.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
The Royal Doulton figure HN 2066 Minuet in red is considered scarce, having been produced only from 1950 to 1955. With a very small area of glaze loss to the rear foot, this 7 1/2-inch figure has a $400-$600 estimate. Image courtesy Austin Auction Gallery. The Globe-Wernicke Co. of Cincinnati manufactured this six-piece stacking oak bookcase with beveled leaded glass doors. This scarce narrow unit, only 17 inches wide, stands 65 inches high. It is estimated at $1,000-$2,000. Image courtesy Austin Auction Gallery. The marquetry doors on the bottom of this quarter-sawn oak corner cupboard have shell medallions and string work with each corner inlaid with foliates and acorns. It is 93 inches high by 50 inches wide by 29 inches deep. It has an $800-$1,200 estimate. Image courtesy Austin Auction Gallery. More than a dozen pairs of Victorian glass mantel lusters will be sold. The glass collection offered at the auction is from a single Texas estate. Image courtesy Austin Auction Gallery.
Walter von Nessen designed these tiered aluminum space age table lamps for Pattyn Products, Detroit, in the mid-1930s. The pair sold for $9,987.50. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions. CINCINNATI – A Tiffany Studios leaded glass chandelier led Cowan’s Fine and Decorative Arts Auction on Feb. 20 selling for $31,725. The 461-lot auction totaled just less than $700,000.
The classic chandelier, marked Tiffany Studios, New York, and featuring green geometric leaded glass panels with a wide band of iridescent turtleback tiles, was the highest-selling lot of the auction and finished within its $25,000-$35,000 estimate.
The auction featured items from important institutions and estates around the United States. Bidders competed enthusiastically over several lots of 20th-century art and design. Two paintings by American artist Joseph Marioni (b. 1943), examples of his early monochromatic work, sold within their $10,000-$15,000 estimates, each for $11,750, while a third, Pink and Orange, sold for $14,687.50. A pair of 1930s tiered Pattyn Products aluminum space age lamps rose above the estimate selling for $9,987.50.
“These are items that aren’t generally seen in this region, but they generate a lot of interest,” noted Diane Wachs, Cowan’s director of the Fine and Decorative Art Department. As she predicted after the successful sales of modern design from the October 2009 Decorative Art Auction, Cowan’s expects to see great examples of 20th century design in future auctions.
Another icon of American design that garnered extensive of interest from collectors was an early Indian Scout motorcycle. The last lot of the auction, the Indian Model R was produced in 1920, the first year for the two-cylinder Scout and sold for $25,850.
Furniture enthusiasts were drawn to a group of Spanish furniture from the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art in Indianapolis. A Spanish Baroque writing table with a single board walnut battened top and scroll-cut legs rose above the $1,500-$2,500 estimate, and sold for $5,875. A 17th-century carved walnut writing table with iron braces realized $4,112.50.
“These items were fresh to the market and we were happy to see such strong bidding on these great pieces,” said Wachs. The proceeds from the sale of the deaccessioned furniture will benefit the museum’s acquisitions fund.
Fine Art and sculpture also garnered strong interest. Night Landscape, an oil on canvas by 19th-century Czech Republic artist Adolf Chwala realized $8,225, well above its $1,000-$1,500 estimate. The Orientalist bronze by French sculptor Emile Edmond Peynot titled Merchant of Arms also exceeded its auction estimate, bringing $27,025. The oil on canvas by American painter Orville Bulman titled Victorian House sold three times its $3,000-$5,000 estimate for $14,100.
To learn more about Cowan’s visit the Web site www.cowans.com.
Home sales shot up in Cincinnati last month. Orville Bulman’s ‘Victorian House,’ a 24 1/4- by 29 1/2-inch oil on canvas, sold for $14,100, eclipsing the $3,000-$5,000 estimate. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions. ‘Weasaw Shosone’ is incised on the bottom of this 8 1/2-inch Rookwood portrait vase decorated by Grace Young in 1901. Expected to sell for $5,000-$7,000, the Standard Glaze vase topped $10,575. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions. Marked ‘Tiffany Studios, New York,’ this four-light chandelier with green geometric leaded glass panels and a wide band of turtleback tiles had fiery iridescence. It brought $31,725. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions. The low serial number on this Indian Scout motorcycle dated it to the first year of production, 1920. Fresh from a Kentucky estate, the bike surpassed its high estimate of $20,000 and topped out at $25,850. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions.
TIVERTON, R.I. (AP) – Tiverton police are looking for the thieves who apparently stole a 300-pound bronze sculpture.
The nearly 4-foot tall statue called Embrace of Life II was reported missing from the Four Corners Arts Center on Tuesday by director Jennifer Sunderland. It depicts a woman, back arched, arms outstretched, with her face lifted to the sky.
Lt. Patrick Jones told The Providence Journal the sculpture is worth about $30,000. He said it was either taken as a prank or to sell for scrap. Police have alerted area scrap yards.
Sunderland thinks more than one person was involved because it took four people to carry the sculpture when it was installed last spring.
Artist Mimi Sammis calls the statue an “inspiration” and hopes it brings joy to those who took it.
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Information from: The Providence Journal, http://www.projo.com/
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Abolishionist Harriet Tubman led many slaves to freedom. Image courtesy Wikimedia CommonsWASHINGTON (AP) – Harriet Tubman, who operated the Underground Railroad to help slaves escape to freedom, will have a prominent place at the Smithsonian’s future black history museum.
On Wednesday, the National Museum of African American History and Culture added about 40 objects from Tubman’s life to its collection.
Curator Jacquelyn Serwer said the items are personal and include Tubman’s favorite hymnal and a shawl given to her by Queen Victoria.
The collection was donated by Charles L. Blockson, founder and curator of the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection at Temple University.
Tubman was born into slavery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. After escaping in 1849, Tubman led countless slaves out of the South to freedom. Tubman was active in the women’s suffrage movement after the Civil War. The donation coincided with the anniversary of her death, March 10, 1913.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The 1584 edition of the ‘Theatrum Orbis Terrarum’ has a hand-colored copper-engraved title page. The early atlas containing 112 hand-colored maps has a $150,000-$200,000 estimate. Image courtesy PBA Galleries.
SAN FRANCISCO – A 16th-century atlas valued at up to $200,000 will be among the treasures when PBA Galleries sells the Library of Roger Wagner at auction March 18 beginning at 1 p.m. Pacific. LiveAuctioneers will provide live Internet bidding.
The more than 200 lots reflect a keen appreciation of culture and history, the development of science and the science of man, said Shannon Kennedy, PBA Galleries vice president.
The material ranges from the 15th through 20th centuries, and include landmarks of science, printing, literature and cartography.
Another major feature of the sale is a superb collection of rare and important manuscripts, letters, and archival material by American novelist and painter Henry Miller and members of his circle.
Bruce MacMakin, senior vice president at PBA Galleries, calls the sale “one of the most significant we have held in many years. The concentration of high spots in so many fields makes it of interest to a broad range of collectors.”
Published in Antwerp, Belgium, the 1584 edition of Abraham Ortelius’ Theatrum Orbis Terrarum contains 112 double-page hand-colored copper-engraved maps. The rare volume, bound in 18th-century leather, is considered one of the most brilliant and innovative of all Renaissance books and the first large modern atlas. It is estimated at $150,000-$200,000.
A unique item in the sale is a set of three notebooks compiled by American novelist and artist Henry Miller during his stay in Paris from 1932-1936. The notebooks consist of handwritten and typed notes on ideas and resources for his three novels written in Paris, Tropic of Cancer (1934, an account of his bohemian life in Paris), Black Spring (1936, an examination of his early childhood, inspired by his relationship with Anais Nin), and Tropic of Capricorn (1939, a fictionalized account of his struggle to become a writer before coming to Paris). The notebooks are estimated at $100,000-$150,000.
A first state copy of the first edition of Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species is expected to sell for $70,000-$100,000 at the auction. The 1859 book is considered “certainly the most important biological book ever written.”
Other highlights include a carbon typescript of the first draft of Tropic of Capricorn by Henry Miller, 1934, dramatically different from the final published version (est. $40,000-$60,000); Galileo’s Risposta alle Opposizioni … , 1615, one of his rarest works, with perhaps the first printed account of the famous experiment conducted at the Tower of Pisa. (est. $20,000-$30,000); six hand-painted porcelain plaques by John Tenniel, featuring Alice in Wonderland characters, used as menu cards at Tenniel family dinners (ext. $20,000-$30,000); a manuscript by John Steinbeck of a short play he wrote wile visiting the Soviet Union in 1963 (est. $10,000-$15,000); and a first edition of J.D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, complete with its first issue jacket, (est. $6,000-$9,000).
For details call 415-989-2665.
View the fully illustrated catalog and sign up to bid absentee or live via the Internet during the sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
A first issue of ‘Darwin’s Origin of Species,’ published in London in 1859, has a $70,000-$100,000 estimate. Destined to become a best seller, there were only 1,250 copies of the first edition printed. Image courtesy PBA Galleries. Adam Smith’s ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’ was a groundbreaking analysis of capitalist economics when first published in London in 1876. The two-volume set has a $50,000-$80,000 estimate. Image courtesy PBA Galleries. Original pages from Bibles printed by Johannes Gutenberg are prized and valuable. This example dating to 1450-1455 carries a $40,000-$50,000 estimate. Image courtesy PBA Galleries.
STOCKHOLM (AP) – A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks – some of them unusually well-preserved – have been found in the Baltic Sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany.
The oldest wreck probably dates back to medieval times and could be up to 800 years old, while the others are likely from the 17th to 19th centuries, Peter Norman of Sweden’s National Heritage Board said Tuesday.
“They could be interesting, but we have only seen pictures of their exterior. Many of them are considered to be fully intact. They look very well-preserved,” Norman told The Associated Press.
Thousands of wrecks – from medieval ships to warships sunk during the world wars of the 20th century – have been found in the Baltic Sea, which doesn’t have the ship worm that destroys wooden wrecks in saltier oceans.
The latest discovery was made during a search of the seabed east of the Swedish island of Gotland by the Nord Stream consortium, which is building a 750-mile pipeline in the Baltic Sea.
The 12 wrecks were found in a 30-mile-long and 2-mile-wide corridor, Nord Stream spokeswoman Tora Leifland Holmstrom said.
The heritage board said three of the wrecks have intact hulls and are lying upside-down at a depth of 430 feet.
Swedish marine archaeology experts analyzed pictures of the wrecks and determined that they could be of a high historic value.
“The content can tell us a lot about everyday life during that time,” Norman said.
It’s unclear whether any of them will be salvaged but the board said it hopes they will be explored by divers – though Norman added many of them are at a depth that would require very advanced and costly diving operations.
The Nord Stream consortium, which plans to start construction in April, has promised to make sure its activities don’t damage the wrecks. The area where they were found is in Sweden’s economic zone, but not in the planned route of the pipeline, Leifland Holmstrom said.
The Nord Stream project, in which Russia’s OAO Gazprom holds a 51 percent stake, has uncovered scores of other objects during seabed searches of the route, including about 80 sea mines and a washing machine, she said.
Last year, parts of a 300-year-old ship were salvaged from Germany’s Bay of Greifswald to clear a path for the pipeline, which expects to carry some 1.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year.
Sweden’s most famous maritime discovery, the royal warship Vasa, is housed in a popular museum in Stockholm where visitors can admire the ship’s details, down to the flashing teeth of the carved lions that adorn its elaborate exterior. The Vasa was raised from the Stockholm harbor in 1961, 333 years after it sank on its maiden voyage.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Gen. Meade’s horse Baldy was photographed at Culpeper, Va., in October 1863, while recovering from a bullet wound to the stomach suffered at the Battle of Gettysburg. Meade named the horse Baldy because of its white face. Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons. PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A museum in Philadelphia will once again showcase the head of Old Baldy, the horse Maj. Gen. George G. Meade rode during many of the Civil War’s most important battles.
The warhorse’s preserved head was the subject of a battle between two city museums that both claimed ownership.
A deal has been reached that allows the Grand Army of the Republic Museum and the Civil War Museum to share Old Baldy. The head could arrive at the Grand Army museum this month.
The Civil War Museum closed in 2008 but plans to reopen in 2015. Other items in its collection have been sent to several area museums.
Old Baldy was considered a Union hero after surviving the battles of Antietam and Gettysburg and soldiering on after being shot in battle many times.
The horse survived the war and was euthanized in 1882 at the age of 30 when he became too feeble to stand.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Federal prosecutors in Utah said Monday that despite the death of an undercover informant they’ll move ahead with cases against more than 20 people charged after a long-running artifacts looting investigation.
The operative’s death may prompt prosecutors to change their strategy at trial, but the setback isn’t enough for them to scrap the cases, said acting U.S. Attorney for Utah Carlie Christensen. She declined to provide more details.
“We think we have enough evidence to move ahead with the case,” Christensen said Monday morning after a status conference at federal court in Salt Lake City.
Defense attorneys indicated they will ask federal judges to limit what kind of evidence can be presented at trial when it comes to Ted Gardiner, a Utah businessman who worked with the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management for two years. He secretly recorded deals for American Indian artifacts in the Four Corners area.
Gardiner provided hundreds of hours of footage for investigators that are central to prosecutors’ cases.
He died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound March 1 in what police called an apparent suicide.
Two defendants in the case committed suicide last year.
“I think it’s been emotional for everyone,” said defense attorney Richard Mauro, who’s representing Marie Crites, one of 26 people indicted as part of the sting operation.
In court Monday, prosecutors made their first acknowledgment of Gardiner’s death but did not identify him by name. Assistant attorney Richard McKelvie said the development was not fatal to the government’s case.
University of Utah law professor Paul Cassell said Gardiner’s absence makes it more difficult for the government to tell a complete story to the jury.
“They have a movie but no context,” Cassell said. “It makes the government’s life more complicated.”
Also Monday, U.S. Magistrate Samuel Alba scheduled several cases for trial. The first is set to start May 3.
He gave defense attorneys until April 2 to submit requests to limit evidence.
Two people pleaded guilty last summer to federal charges connected with the case. The rest have pleaded not guilty.
The investigation is considered one of the largest ever targeting those who excavate, buy and sell pottery, jewelry, pipes and other ancient Indian relics taken from public and tribal land in the Southwest.
Gardiner signed up with federal investigators in early 2007. Over the next two years, he struck deals for more than 250 artifacts worth more than $335,000. Court papers said he was typically paid $7,500 a month.
Gardiner was expected to testify at a trial in Colorado on March 29. That trial has now been reset for July.
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
LONDON (AP) – An underground Cold War nuclear bunker set in the picturesque English countryside has been sold on the auction site eBay.
An unidentified private owner sold it for 20,600 pounds ($31,000) Monday after more than 40 bids were received.
The Royal Observer Corps built the bunker at the height of the Cold War in 1959 to monitor the anticipated spread of radiation after a nuclear blast.
Along with hundreds of other bunkers spread throughout Britain, it was decommissioned in 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union dramatically lowered the threat of a full-scale nuclear war.
The two-room bunker, located 15 feet beneath the ground, comes equipped with a phone, a chemical toilet and several air shafts. It is located in the Derbyshire Peak District 160 miles northwest of London.
There are two other decommissioned ROC bunkers for sale on eBay, with prices starting at about 6,000 pounds ($9,000). The advertisements promise the buyers a unique piece of Cold War memorabilia that can be used on weekends.
Jed Dodd, who sold a ROC bunker several years ago, said some people are drawn to the bunkers but quickly lose interest.
“People buy with dreams, but they soon get disillusioned,” he said. “There are not meant to be lived in, and they’re in the middle of nowhere.”
Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A fine example of an etching and aquatint by Karl Bodmer, published in his travels, depicts rich details. It sold for $6,750 in June 2008 at Cowan’s. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. During the early part of the 1830s, Western expansion was in full force. Following the Treaty of Greenville in 1795, Ohio was admitted as the 17th state in 1803, and was rapidly settled. The push west continued. The Missouri and Mississippi rivers became major conduits for exploration and further settlement; trading posts were established, regular army patrols conducted, and expansion increased.
At this time, a surge of visual material related to the American Indian tribes began to surface. This sudden appearance was largely due to the work of two artists working separately, albeit under parallel circumstances. Karl Bodmer (Swiss, 1809-1893), George Catlin (American, 1796-1872).
The monumental (and unlikely) figures of this movement, Karl Bodmer and George Catlin, came from very different circumstances – Catlin the purely American capitalist and relentless self-promoter, Bodmer the reserved, quiet Swiss printmaker and draftsman. Each produced an enormous body of work that survives, amazingly, in original form and in the form published prints.
George Catlin began his artistic career as a miniature portrait painter in Philadelphia, common work for an artist attempting to make a living. Catlin became fascinated with Native Americans after witnessing a delegation of Native Americans in Philadelphia. In 1830, Catlin joined a diplomatic mission up the Mississippi River. From 1830-1836, Catlin took five trips, resulting in an abundance of original portraits, landscapes and cultural studies. St. Louis was his base of operations, and paintings were stored there until Catlin felt he had amassed enough material to market back East.
Catlin was a gifted promoter, and often remarked that the American Indian tribes were rapidly disappearing, highlighting the rarity of his paintings. By 1838, Catlin had fully cataloged his collection and displayed them in his great Indian Gallery in New York. Unable to sell his entire collection to the United States government, Catlin took his gallery on tour through Europe, and eventually sold his collection, to a wealthy Philadelphia collector. Amazingly, the collection of original paintings survives today. If the Smithsonian purchased the works as Catlin had originally intended, the collection would have almost certainly burned in the 1865 fire that consumed the Smithsonian.
Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio was published in 1844. Each with 25 color plates these volumes were inexpensive and accessible to the common collector. Most of these are broken out, or divided into single plates and framed. They regularly surface on the market and are in demand. Catlin’s originals are primarily at the Smithsonian or in institutional hands.
Karl Bodmer, Swiss born draftsman, was selected to accompany German explorer Prince Maximilian zu Wied on a scientific expedition to North America, specifically to document the native tribes, geography, and various animal and plant species. From 1832-1834, Bodmer’s group traveled along the Missouri River, recording their findings. Bodmer explored the same period as Catlin and produced an enormous body of work, primarily watercolors, focusing on American Indian subjects and their art, utensils and cultural ceremonies, as well as landscapes. Bodmer’s work was incredibly precise, and is viewed by scholars today as being a more accurate representation of the various American Indian tribes.
Upon returning to Germany, Bodmer became engaged in the printing process. Eighty-one illustration plates were designed as hand-colored etchings and aquatints, to be incorporated into Prince Maximilian’s Travels in the Interior of North America, published in London in 1839. Like Catlin, Bodmer’s prints usually surface on the market today as individual plates. His entire collection of original watercolors now resides at the Joslyn Art Museum in Omaha, Neb.
In today’s market, both Bodmer and Catlin works on paper command strong prices at auction. Though numerous plates were produced, they are rare to find them in good condition, and they are some of the first examples of American Indian subjects produced in printed form.
Wes Cowan is founder and owner of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. in Cincinnati. An internationally recognized expert in historic Americana, Wes stars in the PBS television series History Detectives and is a featured appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. He can be reached via email at info@cowans.com. Research by Graydon Sikes.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
This lithograph depicting a ‘Bear Dance,’ a plate from ‘Catlin’s North American Indian Portfolio,’ sold for $1,300 in Cowan’s June, 2009 Historical Americana auction. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. ‘Indian Utensils and Arms,’ is a good example of Bodmer’s thorough and scientific approach, from the view of an artist/ethnologist. It sold for $1,200. Image courtesy of Cowan’s Auctions Inc.
Click here to view Austin Auction Gallery’s complete catalog.
Wes Cowan is founder and owner of Cowan’s Auctions Inc. in Cincinnati. An internationally recognized expert in historic Americana, Wes stars in the PBS television series History Detectives and is a featured appraiser on Antiques Roadshow. He can be reached via email at info@cowans.com. Research by Graydon Sikes.
