Catherine Wiley Impressionist painting sells at art saleroom for $107,900
As we reported, a Tennessee auction recently offered a substantial number of art and antiques lots (800) led by one of most underrated and tragic heroes of Impressionist Art.
That should be heroine of course, as the person in question was Anna Catherine Wiley, an artist who lived in the state of Tennessee who helped pioneer the art program at the State University.
Sadly, she suffered a career-ending nervous breakdown and spent her final days in an institution.
"This is not just a great painting by a regional female artist - it's a great American Impressionist painting," emphasised auction house president John Case.
- Catherine Wiley's Impressionist mother and child painting
"This is one instance where an artist is disadvantaged by scarcity. If Catherine Wiley had been more prolific, her name would probably be mentioned today alongside her mentors when people talk about great American Impressionist painters."
The painting in question is the evocative depiction of a mother and child seated in a meadow in dappled light.
Held in a Tennessee family's collection for decades, the painting was listed at $60,000-$75,000, but in the event competition bumped it up to an impressive $107,880. It was bought by a museum - good news for those who wish to view Catherine Wiley's work but less good for those who want to own it.
Collectors who are fascinated by Impressionist Art may be interested to know that we currently have an autograph note signed by its founder: Claude Monet.
Source: Paul Fraser Collectables
Five-inch T-rex tooth sells for world-record price of £36,000
A massive tooth from a Tyrannosaurus rex has sold for a world record £36,000.
The perfectly preserved 5in dinosaur tooth was discovered poking out of a field by a farmer in Montana earlier this year.
It is in such good condition that the tiny serrated edges, which helped the ferocious dinosaur grind down its prey, are still visible on the surface.
World record: This T. rex tooth, discovered during the summer in Garfield County, Montana, sold for a phenomenal $56,250 at auction
The tooth, one of the largest found, dates back to the Cretaceous Period about 67million years ago when the huge creatures roamed the Earth.
The tooth was put up for sale by the farmer who found it while ploughing his field. His identity has not been disclosed.
It went under the hammer at a natural history-themed auction at Bonhams in Los Angeles for £36,000, and was snapped up by an anonymous private collector.
One of the biggest land meat-eaters in history, T-rex terrorised the wooded valleys of western North America some 67million years ago.
Fearsome: Measuring up to 42ft in length, the T. rex stalked the plains of western North America some 67million years ago
Standing on two legs and measuring up to 42ft in length, the beast had jaws large enough to snap up an entire man in one bite and strong enough to crush bones.
The dinosaur's strong thighs and long, powerful tail helped it to move quickly, while its brawny neck muscles would have helped it to tear chunks from its prey.
Scientists believe T-rex could eat up to 500lb of meat in one bite. However there is a significant scientific debate as to whether it was a true predator or a carrion eater.
It became extinct some 65million years ago in the Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction.
In the same sale a fossil palm flower from Wyoming sold for $50,000 Miss Grigsby added.
Source: Daily Mail
Milhous Collection carousel and Wurlitzer Band Organ could spin to $1.5m
How much would you need to spend to buy your very own carousel? The answer is $1.5m or even more, according to presale estimates for an upcoming auction of the Milhous Collection.
The Milhous Collection is one of the finest assemblages of Americana to have ever appeared for sale to collectors.
A variety of mechanical and Americana memorabilia items - including classic automobiles - will be offered from the collection, amassed by Florida brothers Bob and Paul Milhous over the past 50 years.
Among their most fantastical buys is this 46-foot custom carousel with 42 animals, two chariots and a Wurlitzer 153 band organ. It is for sale estimated at $1,000,000-$1,500,000.
They say Americans do things 'bigger'. This was certainly true during the country's 'golden era' for carousels and mechanical music in the early-20th century.
The 46-foot custom carousel with 42 animals, dated to 1998US carousel designs featured elaborate animals, chariots and decorations all handmade by master craftsmen. The Milhous Collection carousel typifies this remarkable era.The carousel for sale is actually a modern reconstruction from the 1990s. It was custom made to exacting specifications for the Milhous Collection, and took several years to build.This 46-foot custom carousel was finally installed in 1998. As you can see in the above video, the attention to detail in its construction is absolutely stunning. Notable features include its stained glass and depictions of the Eight Wonders of the World.One of the carousel's 42 animals, based on an early-20th design
The carousel's menagerie of 42 animals and two chariots is made up of individual creations, each based on rare and well-known original carousel pieces. All were professionally reproduced.
An original Wurlitzer Model 153 Band Organ has been installed in the carousel's centre, which was one of the early-20th century's most popular models.
Even more remarkable is the fact that the $1,000,000-$1,500,000 presale estimate doesn't even match the original cost of the carousel's construction and its accompanying organ.
Source: Paul Fraser Collectables
The REAL face of Mona Lisa…
First copy of da Vinci masterpiece reveals she had sculpted eyebrows and was more plump
The earliest copy of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, Mona Lisa, has been found in the vaults of a Spanish museum, looking younger and more ravishing than the original.
Art historians have hailed the discovery, made during conservation work at the Prado Museum, as one of the most remarkable in recent times.
Museum officials said it was almost certainly painted by one of Leonardo da Vinci's apprentices alongside the master himself as he did the original.
Replica: Painted alongside the original (left), historians say the copy (right) gives another insight into what the model for one of the world's most famous paintings actually looked like
Rare discovery: Employees of Madrid's Prado Museum stand next to the authenticated contemporary copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa
It is not the Mona Lisa, but you might think of her as Mona Lisa's sister, who - after more than five centuries - is finally having her debutante party.
Painted alongside the original, historians say it gives another insight into what the model for one of the world's most famous paintings actually looked like.
The copy has been part of the Prado collection for years but officials said they did not realise its significance until a recent restoration revealed hidden layers.
The artwork features the same female figure, but had been covered over with black paint and varnish.
Two years ago, to get the copy ready for a da Vinci exhibition to be held in Paris this year, tests were done and restorers discovered something hidden under the black coat.
When the black covering was removed, a Tuscan landscape very similar to the one in the original emerged.
Unveiled: The copy has been part of the Prado collection for years but officials said they did not realise its significance until a recent restoration revealed hidden layers
Different perspective: The copy gives art lovers and experts a chance 'to admire the Mona Lisa with totally different eyes'
The Prado painting was long thought to be one of dozens surviving replicas of the masterpiece made after Leonardo's death but it is now believed to have been painted by one of his key pupils, Francesco Melzi, working alongside the master.
Prado's technical specialist, Ana González Mozo, said: 'It is quite possible that Leonardo's assistant met Lisa and may even have been present when she sat for the master.
'She may also have come to the studio when finishing touches were being applied to the face in the painting.'
Ms Mozo said the underdrawing of the Madrid replica was similar to that of the original, which suggests both were begun at the same time and painted next to each other, as the work evolved.
The Louvre original, displayed behind glass, is obscured by cracked darkened varnish, making the woman appear middle aged. Because of its fragility, cleaning and restoration is thought to be too risky.
But art historians believe the Prado's Mona Lisa which is in the process of being painstakingly stripped of a dark over-paint reveals her as she would have looked at the time- as a radiant young woman in her early 20s.
Miguel Falomir, the Prado's director for Italian painting, said the copy gives art lovers and experts a chance 'to admire the Mona Lisa with totally different eyes.'
Besides the black background, one other difference from the original is the woman in the copy has eyebrows and the Mona Lisa in the real masterpiece does not.
There are dozens of the surviving replicas of the masterpiece from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The sitter is generally believed to represent Lisa Gherardini, the wife of the Florentine cloth merchant Francesco del Giocondo and is thought to have been painted between 1503 and 1506.
After five hundred years, the two versions will be reunited again later this year.
The Prado plans to put it on display later this month before it travels to the Louvre for the da Vinci show, giving specialists and visitors the first chance to compare the two works.
Picasso is the most stolen artist in the world with more than 1,000 of his pieces of work missing
Pablo Picasso is the artist who has more works stolen than anyone else, according to new research.
The Spanish master currently has 1,147 paintings registered as stolen, missing or disputed, which is more than twice as many as the next on the list.
That figure rose recently when his 1939 work 'Woman's Head' was pinched from the Athens' National Art Gallery in Greece.
The Art Loss Register has compiled a list of artists who have had the highest number of works stolen and the countries where the art is mostly taken from, with Britain being the most vulnerable place.
The database lists all the stolen, missing and disputed works of art around the world.
Coming second to Picasso is the modern American artist Nick Lawrence who has 557 stolen works. Most of them went missing in one go in 2004.
In third place is Marc Chagall, the Russian-French 20th century all-rounder, who has 516 stolen works.
Karel Appel, the Dutch painter and sculptor, comes fourth with 505 stolen works, just ahead of Salvador Dali with 504. Joan Miro, David Levine, Andy Warhol, Rembrandt and Peter Reinicke make up the rest of the top ten.
Other artists on the list include Henri Matisse with 205 missing works, Rubens with 169, John Constable with 155 and Thomas Gainsborough with 97.
The Art Loss Register has also revealed that 40 per cent of thefts occurred in Britain and 16 per cent of them were in America.
Stolen: Painting of a 'Dove with Green Peas' by Pablo Picasso, above, was taken from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris in 2010 in the art heist of the century. There are fears it may have been destroyed. Woman's Head, below, was recently taken from the Athens National Art Gallery
While metal sculpture thefts have been on the rise in Britain because of the high prices of scrap, valuable works of art have long been stolen to order. They are often used as currency among criminals.
Detective Constable Ian Lawson, from the Metropolitan police's art and antiques department, said art theft was an 'ongoing problem'.
He said: 'There has certainly been an increase in the theft of statues because the price of metal has gone up.
Raided: Marc Chagall's 1914 oil on canvas Study for Over Vitebsk which was taken from New York's Jewish Museum in 2001
'War memorials and plaques are being taken for the same reason. They are easily melted down and it then becomes hard to prove what they are.'
He added that there were two types of art criminal - burglars who chance upon good paintings and those who steal to order.
'With other types of art there are really two categories of criminals. One is a burglar who breaks into a million pound house and strikes lucky,' he said.
'He steals a valuable painting and doesn't really know what to do with it. It might be sold on through a car boot sale or at an antiques fair.
'That's often what happens for art that is worth less than £10,000 or £20,000.
'But there are also organised gangs which target country houses and specific high-value art - such as the The Johnson family from Cheltenham.
'They targeted venues that they had researched, and had outlets for the art.
'That can be quite tempting for insurers. An example was the theft of the Madonna of the Yardwinder that was worth £50m and was stolen from a castle in Scotland.
'It was apparently offered back to the owners and several people were arrested but were not convicted.
'The other way art is used is as a currency in the underworld. The art is exchanged for drugs or guns.
'Art is easier to take abroad because customs officials won't suspect a painting as being stolen, but if someone took guns or drugs they would be arrested.
'And if a painting has been missing for many years it is quite easy for someone to claim legitimate ownership and it can be very difficult to prove otherwise.'
Charlotte Veenhuijzen, from the ALR, said: 'The Art Loss Register is the world's largest privately managed international database of over 360,000 lost, stolen and looted works of art and antiques and items in dispute.
'It has been collating historical data from private and public sources since its inception in 1990, many of these sources are not available in the public domain and are extremely hard to replicate.
Stolen sketch: This bland-looking Salvador Dali sketch on the back of a restaurant menu was stolen from a house in Sherborne, Dorset. It is worth £30,000
'Registrations include losses and claims from museums, governments, banks, insurance companies, law enforcement agencies, including Interpol, and private individuals.
'The ALR offers itself world-wide as a central database checkpoint for due diligence enquiries and provenance research.
'Our pre-eminence in the field of stolen art has allowed the business to be instrumental in the recovery of over 160 million pounds' worth of stolen items
'We have around 1,147 lost, stolen, in dispute, in liens items registered by Picasso.
'And the ALR has been involved in the recovery of around 29 works by Picasso.'
Ivan Macquisten, editor of the Antiques Trade Gazette, said: 'Looking at most of the names in the top ten, they are all well-known artists who had very long careers, so produced vast volumes of work, which means there is more, potentially, available to steal.
'Picasso's work, as well as being highly valuable, is almost endless, while Chagall lived until he was 97 and Karel Appel started as a teenager, dying when he was well into his eighties.
'Andy Warhol didn't call his workshop the 'factory' for nothing - we're talking industrial quantities of art.
'And David Levine, amazingly, got an audition as an illustrator for Disney at the age of nine, before going on to a career as an illustrator for some of America's leading magazines, producing iconic images.'
Now it’s the da Vinci handbag: Italian fashion house to launch calfskin handbag… designed by Renaissance genius
Painter, scientist and inventor, he was the ultimate Renaissance man.
He deployed his genius across a wide range of subjects from anatomy and biology to mechanics and hydraulics.
As an engineer, he conceived ideas vastly ahead of his time, conceptually inventing the helicopter, the submarine and the parachute.
Precious: Maria Grazia Cucinotta presenting the new handbag at Gherardini's in Florence in Italy which has named it the 'Pretiosa' - meaning precious
But it seems Leonardo da Vinci, the man who gave us the Mona Lisa, can also be credited with another creation – the designer handbag.
It is believed he drew his sketch of an ornate leather accessory in 1497 while he was painting The Last Supper.
Now a luxury Italian brand has decided to manufacture a bag based on Leonardo's design – more than five centuries after his death.
Scholars reconstructed fragmented drawings of the bag. Their work was then seized upon by Florence fashion house Gherardini, which made a prototype of the bag.
Brought to life: The original sketch by Da Vinci on which the new handbag is based. Scholars have reconstructed fragmented drawings of the chic Renaissance bag
The finished product, named 'Pretiosa' which means 'precious', is going on sale this year.
Artist: Leonardo Da Vinci on engraving from the 1850s. He is not known for designing women's handbags
Art historian Alessandro Vessozi, director of the Museo Ideale in Leonardo's birthplace, helped to reassemble the drawing. He said: 'Leonardo designed several fashion accessories, but this bag is pretty unique.
'It blends beauty and functionality in a very harmonious way.
'The Pretiosa is the expression of modern technique and aesthetics and, at the same time, embodies a provocative idea conceived together with the Leonardo da Vinci Ideal Museum.'
The sketch was first discovered by Leonardo scholar Carlo Pedretti in 1978 among tens of thousands of the inventor's drawings, but it failed to attract much attention at the time.
The refined handmade bag, designed by Carla Braccialini based on the Leonardo original, is made of calfskin. It was unveiled at the Pitti W fashion show in Florence by the Italian actress Maria Grazia Cucinotta, who appeared in the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.
Lorenzo Braccialini, marketing director of Braccialini, Gherardini holding company, said yesterday: 'It's a very chic handbag. It is also very functional and capable. It embodies the best Florentine tradition of leather work.'
Only 99 of the bags have been made – and will go on sale at the beginning of March.
The price has not yet been set. Given its exclusivity, it is likely to retail for many thousands of pounds.
57,500-carat world’s largest emerald worth $1.15MILLION up for auction
The world's largest cut emerald is set to go up for auction - and is expected to fetch $1.15million.
The 57,500-carat stone, which is the size of a watermelon, is scheduled to be auctioned off tomorrow by Western Star Auctions in British Columbia.
The gem, named Teodora, was found in Brazil and cut in India, before being sold to rare gems dealer Reagan Reaney in Calgary - but there are doubts over whether it is in fact a true emerald
'World's largest emerald': The gem, pictured here with owner Regan Reaney, is valued ay $1.15m and is set to be auctioned on Saturday
The 57,500-carat stone, named Teodora, was found in Brazil and cut in India, before being sold to the rare gems dealer Reagan Reaney in Calgary
'I’m positive it contains emerald but I’m not sure how much of it is emerald,' Jeff Nechka, the gemologist who appraised the stone, told JCK Magazine.
Nechka said that he can not even confirm that the stone is in fact the 'world’s largest emerald'.
The stone has been dyed so Nechka says it is possible that at least part of it could be dyed white beryl.
'It has been dyed to some extent but it’s impossible to tell the intensity of the stone prior. It’s impossible to know how much of it is emerald.' he told JCK.
Director of Gemological Institute of America's West Coast Identification Service, Shane McClure, said he had not examined the stone but that if there is any white beryl in the stone, GIA would likely term it 'beryl with zones of emerald.'
'We probably would not call it emerald no matter what,' he told JCK. 'They seem to think there is indication of natural green coloration but we wouldn't call it emerald in any case.'
- A worker polishes the world's largest emerald at Western Star Auction House in preparation for the public auction
A piece of American history: Cadillac hearse that carried JFK through Texas sells for $160k at auction
The hearse which carried John F Kennedy’s casket after he was assassinated in 1963 fetched $160,000 when it was auctioned off this weekend.
The white 1964 Miller-Meteor Cadillac hearse took the body of the former U.S. President with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy from a hospital in Dallas to the airport on that fateful day.
The car has only changed hands one time since then with bidding once reaching $900,000.
The car's price is thought to reflect what it signifies - the death of one of America’s most beloved sons.
For sale: A white Lincoln Cadillac hearse that carried the body of the former U.S. President with First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy from a hospital in Dallas to the airport has been auctioned off
However, its historic connections meant that it was expected to fetch more than it did.
It was on Friday November 22 1963 that Don McElroy, a new employee at the O’Neal Funeral Home in Dallas, got a call from the Secret Service to ready a casket and hearse and bring it to Park Memorial Hospital in the city.
McElroy, just 24 at the time, helped move the President’s body into the car and pushed down the rear seat so Mrs Kennedy could be near her husband.
Secret Service agents then drove the hearse to the airport and left it there after they boarded the plane to Washington.
Historic drive: Secret Service agents drove the white hearse to the airport and left it there after they boarded the plane to Washington
It took funeral home owner Vernon O’Neal four hours to find it in the confusion.
He had bought the car in October 1963, just one month before the assassination.
His funeral home went out of business in the 1960s following so he sold it to Texas hearse dealer Arrdeen Vaughan who restored the vehicle and tried to sell it in 2007.
Even though bidding reached $900,000 it was still below his asking price of $1million so it remained in his hands.
The listening entry on Arizona auctioneers Barratt Jackson says that the ‘pedigree and originality of this car is impeccable and without question’.
It reads: ‘Who could ever imagine that a single object can represent such a significant piece of American history?
‘Even more amazing is the raw emotion that this object evokes from every man, woman and child who was alive that very fateful day on the 22nd of November, 1963.
‘It not only carried away the president for the last time, it signified the end of the age of innocence, the end of Camelot and the end of so many hopes and dreams for one of the most beloved presidents of all time.’
Steve Lichtmann of the Professional Car Society said it would be ‘hard to say the value,’ to the Los Angeles Times.
He said: ‘The value that is going to come with it is the value that people place on a collectible that relates to President Kennedy's assassination.
‘There's nothing to compare it to.’
Robert Shepard, president of the Golden State Chapter of the PCS, added according to the Arizona Republic, that there would only be a few bidders once the sale got underway.
Assassinated: President and Mrs. John F. Kennedy are seen riding through Dallas moments before Mr Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963
He said: ‘There is nothing positive associated with this car. It's a negative to begin with and it's a hearse, even if its place in history is well-documented.’
Other cars that were used on the day of the assassination have not met such a good end - the ambulance used to ferry Kennedy to Parkland Hospital was crushed and destroyed.
The convertible he was being driven in when he was shot is in the Henry Ford museum in Detroit, Michigan.
Source: Daily Mail
The face of a dictator: Stalin’s bronze death mask expected to fetch £5,000 at auction
He was one of the world's most brutal dictators, responsible for the deaths of millions of people.
But despite his appalling record and reputation, the opportunity has now arisen for somebody to have Joseph Stalin's face in their living room.
The death mask of the former Soviet leader is set to fetch thousands of pounds at auction this week.
For sale: Former Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, left, was responsible for the deaths of millions of people. His death mask, right, is due to be sold at auction this week
The bronze mask was made from a cast of the Russian communist leader's face and hands, taken shortly after he took his last breath.
It is believed to be one of only two of the masks to exist in the west, with the other hidden away in a private collection in London.
Death masks are taken from the faces of the dead shortly after their demise, preserving their last serene moments forever, and are more commonly associated with great artists and composers.
However, Stalin was preserved in a cast shortly before his body was embalmed, ready to lie in state for almost a decade.
The death mask is due to go on sale on Tuesday at Ludlow Racecourse, and is being sold by Mullock's auctioneers on behalf of a private owner.
Mullock's historical documents expert, Richard Westwood-Brooks, said the bronze face and hands are incredibly rare.
Life-like: The bronze mask was made from a cast of the Russian communist leader's face and hands, taken shortly after he took his last breath
Realistic: Stalin was preserved in a cast shortly before his body was embalmed, ready to lie in state for almost a decade
'There are nine original death masks, all of which reside in Russia,' said Mr Westwood-Brooks. 'It was not until 1990 that anyone in the west got to see them.
'These were cast from that original mask, and there are only two of them in the western world.
'This is the only chance anyone is going to have to get their hands on this for the foreseeable future.
'It is the closest you could come to having Stalin in your living room. I imagine it shows him at his most calm and serene.
'Death masks are an ancient tradition, kings and queens of ancient Greece and Egypt would have them made to remember their last face. I suppose these days you'd just upload a picture to Facebook.
High price: It is expected that Stalin's death mask could fetch thousands at auction this week
'Normally they are associated with artistic people. Beethoven has one, several other artists as well.
'But I only know of Stalin and Napoleon, in terms of major leaders, who have had them made.
'Not even Churchill had one made.'
Stalin's terrifying regime ended in 1952, after he suffered a series of strokes at his home in the Kremlin in Moscow.
His body was embalmed and lay in state next to that of his predecessor Vladimir Lenin.
Stalin's body was removed from the Lenin Mausoleum in 1961 as part of the process of de-stalinisation in the Soviet Union. Lenin's body still lies in state today.
It is expected that the death mask will be sold for anywhere between £3,000 and £5,000.
Unique Gandhi Service cover and letters could be another hit for Indian stamps
Earlier this week, we reported on two of the exciting items coming up in a vast German stamp auction in just a few weeks time (February 6-10).
These were an extremely rare overprint block of four of the British Commonwealth - Newfoundland to be precise - and a 5c example of one of the most famous stamps in philately: the 1851 'Hawaiian Missionary'.
Coveted by the likes of Tapling, Ferrary and Burrus, the Hawaiian Missionary must be one of the most exciting single stamps on offer. But there is also a cover which those who collect Indian stamps will find more fascinating still.
This is a 1948 cover: The "Governor's Gandhi Service 8½ Annas cover" - a registered Air Mail cover, together with a two letter correspondence.
The correspondence concerns a point of great social contention, with a letter written by Dr. C. Rajagopalachari, the Governor General of India, to Sri Sathyananda Saraswathi Swamigal at George Town, Madras on 20th January 1949.
The Unique Gandhi cover - worth €50,000+
The cover (with printed crown and wax seal on reverse) was franked with pair of 3½a and single 1½a Gandhi Service stamps tied with the ''GOVERNOR GENERAL CAMP P.O. 21 JAN.49'' double circled datestamp, Registration and Air Mail label on front.
The content of the two letters written in Tamil is that "Sadhananda Swamigal was against the Temple entry by the Low Caste people and the Act passed by the Government permitting every citizen the equal right to enter the Hindu Temples.
"Swamigal forcefully invited the Governor General to withdraw the Act". The quality of the cover is authentic (traces of aging, toned, opened at two sides, and the stamps show corner creases and small perforation faults) - and part of the character of this unique item.
This rare Gandhi stamp sold for €144,000 in 2011
This is doubtless one of the most important and significant "Gandhi Service" covers and items of Indian religion and history in general, and the listing here of €50,000 doesn't seem excessive, given the remarkable results for Indian stamps and covers in recent times.
A record was set for a single Indian stamp in 2010 with an Inverted Head 4 annas selling for £105,390 (around $170,000), and that price was beaten twice in 2011 by another example of the same stamp as well as a rare Gandhi issue.
Source: Paul fraser Collectables