A Tornek-Rayville TR-9000 dive watch, circa 1965, made of stainless steel, water-resistant, anti-magnetic, with sweep center second hand, sold for $36,735 at a Science, Technology & Clocks Auction held June 2 by Skinner Inc., in Boston. Also, an E. Howard No. 12 wall regulator clock (Boston, circa 1875) chimed on time for $26,070; a Benjamin Willard tall clock, Roxbury, Mass., circa 1780, brought $23,700; and a Stephen Taber mahogany tall clock, New Bedford, Mass., circa 1800, made $18,960. Prices include an 18.5 percent buyer’s premium.
A contemporary work by Richard Joseph Anuszkiewicz, titled Fenced, sold for $68,750 at a Fine Art Auction held May 12 by Rago Arts & Auction Center in Lambertville, N.J. Also, Julien Stanczak’s Unrestful Space realized $59,375; an untitled work by Raymond Pettibon brought $50,000; George William Sotter’s A Little House, Winter breezed to $53,125; Frederick Judd Waugh’s Seascape hammered for $43,750; and a pair of bronzes by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (Star and The Vine) made $22,500 and $13,750. Prices include a 25 percent buyer’s premium.
An unusual and much sought after gold, ruby, diamond and enamel zarf sold for $134,000 at a Fine Jewelry and Timepieces Auction held March 25-26 by Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago, Ill. Also, an antique 6.20 carat cabochon cut unheated Burmese ruby ring realized $146,400; a pair of antique cushion cut diamonds weighing 25.75 carats brought $280,000; and a 7.20 carat heart-shaped diamond of D color VVS1 clarity and the rare “Golconda” Type 11A distinction changed hands for $448,000. Prices include a 22 percent buyer’s premium.
A Yuan Dynasty bowl from the 14th century and with a provenance from the T.T. Tsui Museum of Art sold for $128,100 at an annual Asian Week Auction held March 22 by I.M. Chait, based in Beverly Hills, Calif. The auction was held at the historic Fuller Building in New York City. Also, a Qianlong Famille Rose porcelain vase, 13 inches tall, achieved $70,150; a 16th century Chinese Ming Dynasty Wanli round box with domed cover made $54,900; and a Ming Dynasty Buddha, 16 inches tall, hit $54,900. Prices include a 22 percent buyer’s premium.
An archaistic jadeite lidded wine vessel sold for $132,000 at an Asian Art Auction held Jan. 27 by Cowan’s Auctions in Cincinnati, Ohio. Also, a white jade Hu-form lidded vase went for $119,850 to a bidder from outside the United States; a Chinese rosewood chair hammered down at $36,000; and a group of Chinese mother-of-pearl inlaid furniture from a private collection, previously owned by the noted Scottish playwright and literary figure James Morrison, brought $87,000. In all, the sale grossed over $1.2 million. Prices include a 17.5 percent buyer’s premium.
Ellen Burstyn lives in an old 1805 home filled with wonderful things. Image by Susan McTigue.
Ellen Burstyn has achieved a feat few can claim: She’s a triple-crown winner in acting, having earned an Oscar for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Any More (1974), a Tony for Same Time, Next Year (1974), and an Emmy for Law & Order: SVU (2009). She’s also been nominated for an Academy Award five other times, for The Last Picture Show (1971), The Exorcist (1973), the film version of Same Time, Next Year (1978), Resurrection (1980) and Requiem for a Dream (2000).
The veteran star of stage and screen lives in suburban Rockland County, outside New York City, in an 1805 home that’s filled with wild and wonderful furnishings and decorative accessories. Many of these have been brought back from Burstyn’s travels around the world. Others were found right here in the United States, like the period furniture she spotted while on location for a film in New Orleans about 20 years ago. You might say it was a case of reverse sticker shock.
“On my time off from the set, I browsed the antique shops on Magazine Street, Royal Street and the French Quarter, and was amazed at how reasonable the prices were compared to New York City,” Burstyn said. “I ended up filling a container loaded with all kinds of period pieces and other furnishings, and had it trucked up to New York. It was soon after I bought my house, so the timing was good and it all fit in perfectly—fine old furniture placed into a fine old house.”
One piece is a large armoire, circa 1690, that has been converted to house a music system in her bedroom; another is a large William & Mary chest of drawers, circa 1680, that Burstyn keeps in her dressing room; yet another is a French provincial bonnetiere that displays china in her dining room. Other pieces include an ornate chest brought back from Morocco, an early bread-making table, several early chairs purchased in New Orleans, and an Eastlake chair with tile inlay. In the kitchen, she has a massive—and very well stocked—cupboard, with nine glass panes per section (four sections).
As for decorative items, Burstyn chalks many of those up to wanderlust. “I left home at 18 to see the world, and the places I traveled to—South America, Africa, Asia and elsewhere—I saw so many incredibly beautiful native objects I couldn’t resist buying some and bringing them home.” She’s especially fond of masks (examples from Mexico, Africa and elsewhere dot the walls in her home), Buddhas and Hindu figures from India, Tibet and Bali, plus a “big, beautiful hand-carved Jesus figure from Germany.” One of her favorite pieces is a lamp featuring a bronze statue of Buddha with five globes made of seashells from Thailand.
Other prized objects include a 6-foot-long mermaid mask with movable arms and a tail that moves behind her (purchased in Mexico), a 79-inch-by-82-inch multisheet restored lithograph of the Sutro Baths that opened in San Francisco in 1896 (a duplicate print sold last year at Christie’s for $27,500), a small Tiffany vase, old ethnic jewelry (Native American, Tibetan, Middle Eastern, and African), icons and crystals, an Art Deco wall clock, and a good-luck bracelet given to Burstyn by the Greek-born actress and singer Melina Mercouri. An attached greenhouse added to her home in the 1930s is lined in antique Delft tiles, the highly collectible blue and white pottery that has been made in the Netherlands since the 1500s.
In addition to the main house on Burstyn’s 1.3-acre property (only the central portion of the structure was built in 1805, with several additions built over the years), there is also a smaller outbuilding that was once a garden shed that Burstyn converted into a Zen teahouse in the Adirondacks, as she described it. “It’s the most charming little Hansel and Gretel guest house you’ve ever seen.” Driftwood beams line the birch bark ceiling, with unmilled cedar creating a rustic wainscoting throughout.
Burstyn is an avid reader and a huge fan of poetry. Her house is filled to overflowing with books numbering into the thousands, which she said “would easily rival a small-town library.” She owns some first-editions, a beautifully illustrated copy of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, many volumes of poetry, and books on a wide range of subjects including theater, art, gardening, spirituality, classic literature and photography (Burstyn is also a photographer).
Ellen Burstyn was born Edna Rae Gilooly in Detroit on Dec. 7, 1932. She worked a number of jobs before becoming an actress, starting at age 14 as a short-order cook at a lunch counter (the experience helped prepare her for her Oscar-winning role as a waitress in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore). After attending Detroit’s Cass Technical High School, she found modeling work in Texas before moving to New York City, where she was hired in 1952 to be a showgirl on The Jackie Gleason Show. After that she was a nightclub dancer in Montreal, then came back to New York where she starred on Broadway in Fair Game (1957). During this time she went by the name Ellen McRae and later took the last name of her husband, the actor Neil Burstyn. Ellen has a son, Jefferson.
In the 1960s, Burstyn appeared on many TV shows including The Doctors, Perry Mason and Doctor Kildare. Her big break came in 1971, when she was cast as Cybill Shepherd’s mother in the critically acclaimed movie The Last Picture Show, for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for best supporting actress. She then starred in a long string of successful movies, including The Exorcist, Resurrection and Requiem for a Dream. Her many theater credits include the Broadway production of 84 Charing Cross Road (1982), the acclaimed one-woman play Shirley Valentine (1989), Sacrilege (1995), The Little Flower of East Orange (2008) and, more recently, in Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour in London’s West End (2011).
Burstyn was the first woman elected president of the Actors Equity Association (1982-85) and serves as artistic director of the famed Actors Studio, where she studied with the late Lee Strasberg. She continues to be active there as co-president, with fellow actors Al Pacino and Harvey Keitel. She holds four honorary doctorate degrees and lectures throughout the country on a wide range of topics. She added best-selling author to her resume in 2006 with the publication of her memoir, Lessons in Becoming Myself (Riverhead Press). She just finished a remake of the movie Coma, in Atlanta (it will be aired sometime this spring as a two-part miniseries on the A&E network) and is busy writing a screenplay and compiling a book of her photography, which will be accompanied by her favorite poetry.
ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Ellen Burstyn lives in an old 1805 home filled with wonderful things. Image by Susan McTigue.Lamp featuring a bronze statue of Buddha with five globes made of seashells from Thailand. Image by Susan McTigue.This wall shelf with a reclining Buddha reflects Burstyn’s penchant for decorative whimsy. Image by Susan McTigue.Burstyn’s home isn’t decorated in the Art Deco style, but she does own this nice Art Deco clock. Image by Susan McTigue.This large William & Mary chest of drawers, circa 1680, is kept in Burstyn’s dressing room. Image by Susan McTigue.Burstyn bought this gorgeous and ornate chest while on a trip to Morocco. Image by Susan McTigue.This large circa-1690 armoire has been converted to house a music system in Burstyn’s bedroom. Image by Susan McTigue.One of several antique chairs in Burstyn’s home is this Eastlake example with tile inlay. Image by Susan McTigue.A greenhouse added to the home in the 1930s is lined with Delft tiles like this one. Image by Susan McTigue.A 6-foot-long mermaid mask with movable arms and tail that moves behind her, bought in Mexico. Image by Susan McTigue.This French provincial bonnetiere displays fine china in Burstyn’s lovely dining room. Image by Susan McTigue.Handsome 18th century corner chair, purchased by Burstyn in New Orleans in 1991 for around $1,200. Image by Susan McTigue.
A lithograph on tin Prince Albert tobacco advertising sign, depicting “Chief Joseph Nez Perce” in full headdress (circa 1913-14), sold for $8,050 at a cataloged auction held Dec. 3 by Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates in Mount Crawford, Va. Also, a Reed Capitol Building panorama toy, lithographed paper on wood, made in the 1880s, went for $3,335; an I.W. Harper Whiskey reverse-painted glass advertising sign from 1904 realized $2,760; and a set of Marx “Amos ‘n’ Andy In Person” windup toys hit $1,840. Prices include a 15 percent buyer’s premium.
A late 17th- or early 18th-century unsigned Continental portrait of a bearded man shown knitting, with red wax seals on verso, sold for $384,000 at an auction held Nov. 18-20 by Millea Brothers in Morristown, N.J. Also, a Portuguese colonial period tortoise and ivory chest on stand breezed to $38,400; a large pair of Sevres cobalt blue urn or lamp bases with bronze mounts realized $37,200; and a Chinese eight-panel hardwood screen with blue and white porcelain plaques depicting landscapes went for $12,000. Prices include a 20 percent buyer’s premium.
Antonio strikes a pose wearing the very mask that Val Kilmer wore in one of the Batman films.
Antonio Sabato, Jr. (General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, Melrose Place) has a thing for Batman – an obsession, you might say. In fact, he was featured on Oprah once, in a segment titled Celebrity Obsessions. “Yeah, I’m obsessed with Batman,” he said with a laugh from his home in Los Angeles. “If I see something with a Batman logo, I pretty much have to have it.”
And, with the obsession comes a collection, and Antonio’s got a doozy. His home is filled with Batman memorabilia – toys, games, radio-controlled toy cars, action figures, statues, posters (one of which is a limited-edition print signed and given to him by the noted British comic book creator Dave Taylor), a book titled Back to the Batcave, signed by the original TV Batman Adam West (and presented to Sabato as a surprise by Paula Deen on her TV show, where both he and West were guests), a copy of the March 11, 1966 LIFE magazine that featured Adam West as Batman on the cover, and many other items.
He also has boxes full of Batman comic books, some dating back to the 1940s, when Batman was gaining traction as a newly-introduced comic hero. He’s not exactly sure, but he doesn’t think he’s got a copy of Detective Comics #27 (in which Batman made his first appearance, in 1939). It would behoove him to find out, though: a copy sold in 2010 through Heritage Auction Galleries for a little over $1 million. At that time, it set a new world record for a comic book at auction, beating the previous record set, for a copy of Action Comics #1 (Superman’s debut).
Sabato has been a fan of Batman since he was a child growing up in Italy (he came to this country in 1985, at age 13), but admiration turned to obsession in 1992, when he joined Chris Steel’s Steel Boxer gym in Los Angeles. “He’s a Batman fanatic, too,” Antonio remarked, “and he had all sorts of Batman memorabilia filling the gym and a room that was all-Batman. His collection got me to looking for Batman items, too, and before long I was hooked.” Chris later became a stunt coordinator for Antonio’s scenes in General Hospital.
Sabato owns three vehicles that are all tricked out with Batman-themed graphics. Two are motorcycles – a 1993 Harley- Davidson Softail with the Batman logo on both sides of the gas tank, and a 2005 Yamaha R-1, which is currently being rebuilt and has Batman symbols on the tank and panels. He also owns a black-on-black 2005 Infiniti FX45 SUV that’s been outfitted with special LED lights and other aftermarket goodies to give it “a Batman-like look,” as he put it, adding the motorcycles “look like comic book bikes.”
There are a few items of which Sabato is particularly proud. Two of them are the actual masks worn by Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer in their respective Batman movies. The other is a metal Batman boomerang-like spiked weapon that was given to him by a fan. “That item is a reminder that Batman is different from other superheroes in that he doesn’t carry a gun, isn’t on steroids and doesn’t rely on outside help of any kind to catch his criminals,” Sabato said. “And, most impressive of all, he’s a human being, like you and me. He’s not Spider-Man, who got his powers through a bite, or a mythical-like character like Thor. It’s possible he could be shot and killed. His mortality is on the line every time he goes out there to fight crime.”
Sabato even has tattoos of Batman – three, in fact. One shows Batman going through a yellow moon, one depicts him gliding downward with cape billowing for support, and the third (on his shoulder) is of a bat, with red eyes. And, of course, he owns a veritable stockpile of DVDs from the television series and movies. Even his flip-flops and bathrobe are Batman-themed, so right out of the shower he’s reminded who is hero is.
Sabato’s favorite actor to play Batman? “Without question, Christian Bale,” he said right away. “He’s the only one who was true to what I feel is the real Batman character. He didn’t treat the role as a cartoon or just walk through his lines to collect a paycheck. I liked Adam West, too, because he was the first and he obviously had a lot of fun with the part. But Christian Bale took the character seriously and brought him to a whole new level, in my opinion.”
He added, “Batman is a complicated character. He’s well-traveled, highly educated and physically fit. And he’s leading two fascinating lives, one as the wealthy Bruce Wayne, with his loyal butler Alfred, and one as an incredible crime-fighter, with another loyal partner, Robin, and all those wonderful gadgets and the Batmobile, the coolest car ever. It’s a lifestyle I’d like to have myself. But of course I can’t, so for now I’m just looking forward to the next Batman movie, which is due out next summer.”
And what will happen to Antonio’s collection when he passes on to that great Batcave in the sky? “I’ll probably hand it down to my children,” he said (he’s got three; a son, 17, a daughter, 9, and a son, aged 6 months). “The two older ones love Batman, too. My 9-year-old got dressed up as Batwoman for Halloween last year. My youngest isn’t old enough yet, but give him time. I’ll make a Batman fan out of him as well.”
Antonio Sabato, Jr., was born Feb. 29, 1972 in Rome, Italy, to an Italian father (also an actor) and a Jewish Czechoslovakian mother (Yvonne, a realtor). When the family moved here in 1985, he had to learn English as a second language and was enrolled at St. Bernard High School in Los Angeles. From there he transferred to Beverly Hills High School. He became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in 1996. Thanks to his fabulous good looks, he became an underwear model for Calvin Klein in 1990 and the firm’s celebrity model six years later.
A big break came when he was cast to appear in Janet Jackson’s 1990 music video for the song Love Will Never Do (Without You), along with fellow CK underwear model Dijmon Hounsou. Then, in 1992, another big break: Sabato joined the cast of the daytime drama General Hospital, and viewers took notice: in the three years he was on, the show jumped from seventh to third in the daytime Nielsen ratings. Also in 1992, he was named one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People.
From General Hospital, Sabato went on to play Heather Locklear’s abusive ex-husband in a six-episode stint on Melrose Place, and he played Dante Damiano, a role created especially for him, on the daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful. He has also guest-starred on FOX’s Bones, TNT’s hit Rizzoli & Isles, NCIS, CSI: New York and Hot in Cleveland. His dating series My Antonio, set in Hawaii, was a hit for VH-1. He was also the winner on the show Celebrity Circus, on which he performed difficult, Cirque du Soleil-esque acts.
Sabato starred in the movie Ghost Voyage for The Sci-Fi Channel and Destination: Infestation, opposite Jessalyn Gilsig, for the Lifetime Channel. He reprised his General Hospital character, Jagger Cates, on SoapNet’s Night Shift, and recently completed co-starring in the indie drama feature A Mother’s Secret, with Ashley Jones. He starred as serial killer Henry Lee Lucas in the indie feature Drifter: The Henry Lee Lucas Story, for which he won a Best Actor Award at the 2009 Beverly Hills Film Festival.
Sabato has made guest appearances on the TV shows Ally McBeal (FOX) and Charmed (WB). He also appeared opposite Mark Diamond Phillipa and Mark Wahlberg in the feature film The Big Hit, and opposite Tori Spelling in The Help. He is in the recently-released feature film Balls to the Wall, a Penelope Spheeris comedy.
Antonio Sabato, Jr., is a fitness and auto-racing enthusiast and is the author of the book No Excuses: Workout for Life. Fans of the star may visit him online, at www.antoniosabatojronline.com; or, they can tweet him @antoniosabatojr.com. He has over 40,000 followers on Twitter.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Antonio strikes a pose wearing the very mask that Val Kilmer wore in one of the Batman films.Antonio in the garage of his California home with one of two Batman-themed motorcycles.Like all other Batman collectors, Antonio would love to have a copy of Detective Comics #27 (the first appearance of Batman, in 1939). It could be worth $1 million.One of Antonio’s prized possessions is this spiked, metal Batman-themed boomerang.“Classic Batman” figure with colorful graphics and impressive backdrop display.Antonio has not one but two motorcycles tricked out with Batman logos and paraphernalia.Batman action figure with the original store display that invites buyers to “Try Me.”Sabato is a race car driver, a fitness enthusiast, an actor, model and author (of the book No Excuses: Workout for Life).
An original 1910 oil painting by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, titled Le Bouquet, sold for $657,250 at an American & European Signature Art Auction held Nov. 8 by Heritage Auction Galleries in Dallas. Also, Daniel Ridgway Knight’s Young Woman Knitting realized $143,400, Martin Johnson Heade’s Red Roses in a Japanese Vase on a Gold Velvet Cloth, circa 1885-1890, topped out at $53,775, and Edmund Henry Osthaus’s sporting painting English Setter With Grouse changed hands for $41,825. Prices include a 19.5 percent buyer’s premium.
