Antiques & Auction News 122515

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COMPLIMENTARY COPY

Movie Posters Found Under Floor Bring $219,000

AAN Current News

Posters Were Hidden For 60 Years

FRIDAY DECEMBER 25, 2015 • VOL. 46, NO. 52

The Harry Hartman Estate Sale: Session Three

A stash of rare movie posters discovered under a linoleum floor in York County, Pa., sold for a combined $219,000 in Heritage Auctions’ Vintage Poster Auction on Nov. 21 and 22 in Dallas, Texas. The $2+ million auction offered seldom seen rarities from Hollywood’s golden age of film and poster art. Collectors especially eyed the grouping of never-before-seen

posters hidden away for more than 60 years. Owner Robert Basta said the trove will fund his retirement nest egg. “You always hear about these stories, and I never believed it would happen to our family,” Basta said following the auction. “We are beyond thrilled with the results. We

Gone To Pot: The Rise And Fall Of Chocolate Pots on page 8

Continued on page 6

By Karl Pass The third and final two-day estate sale for the late Harry B. Hartman took place Nov. 20 and 21. The sale garnered a $620,768.50 gross total (including buyer’s premium). There were 1,300 registered online bidders and close to 300 in-house. The total Described as “probably the best item in the sale” by one gross for all three advanced collector, the Joel Palmer, Fulton County, Pa., painttwo-day sales was decorated small size lift-top chest sold for $34,220. $1,995,470.50. to 15 minute increments, leaving This exciting last auction gener- some who traveled long distances ated good and bad sentiment. The to express frustration. The auction good was toward Hartman, a well- house, to its credit, recognized respected dealer who has been recognized this missed, and the angst was toward slowed the sale the necessary, yet at times cumberand offered those some online bidin attendance ding process of the free beveragesmodern era auction. from the on-site At no fault of the cafe to ease the waiting. auction house, the Two separate sales online bidding took place in the back platform went room of the facility down sevthe morning of eral times day two. There during the was a coin sale all-day sale, The Hackney stallion trotting horse weathervane and a jewelry mostly in 10 sold for $12,980. sale. On top of that, parking was limited that morning due to a large soccer tournament nearby and an event at Root’s Market across the street from the auction house. It was the tournament above all else that increased area traffic and limited parking availability. Day one began with 158 lots of books, primiarily consisting of Hartman’s reference library. Due in part to the Internet, the market for A Hattie Brunner watercolor painting winter Continued on page 2 scene sold to a private collector in the room for $5,605.

Heist Headlines Selkirk’s First High-Quality Eclectic Auction on page 9

This post-war release Italian two-foglio (39by-55-inch) poster for “Casablanca” (Warner Brothers, 1948) sold for $95,600.

A one-sheet (27-by-41-inch) Style D poster for “Tarzan the Ape Man” (MGM, 1932) sold for $83,650.

Portland Museum Of Art Welcomes Home Treasures

Barnebys.com Offers Shopping For Antiques And Collectibles on page 13

FBI Recovered All Six Stolen N.C. Wyeth Paintings Six historically significant paintings by American painter and illustrator N.C. Wyeth were recently secured and reunited after being stolen more than two years ago in what the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) calls one of the largest property thefts in Maine’s history. The recovered artworks are now returned to their home state and are on view at the Portland Museum of Art (PMA) through Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. The exhibition, “The Great N.C. Wyeth Caper: Paintings by America’s Storyteller,” features six artworks that were the focus of the state’s largest art heist and an FBI criminal investigation. After the paintings were taken from a private collector’s home in Portland, Maine, four were removed from their frames and endured a perilous cross-country

New Director’s Choice Volume Caps Off Strong Year For The Frick on page 12

This is N.C. Wyeth’s oil-on-canvas “The Encounter on Freshwater Cliff,” for Charles Kingsley for “Westward Ho!,” published by Charles Scribner’s Sons in 1920. Private collection. Photo courtesy of the FBI

Continued on page 15

Bluebonnet Landscape Sells For $437,000 on page 12

In This Issue This fraktur attributed to Christian Mertel was among the best in the sale. Hartman paid $7,020 for it at the Machmer sale held by Pook & Pook on Oct. 25, 2008. It did have restoration, yet sold for $11,495, showing a continued strength in the fraktur market.

This stamped “W Smith, Womelsdorf” redware plate with slip decoration sold to an agent bidding on behalf of a collector, who was a major buyer at all three Hartman estate sales. It brought $2,714.

SHOPS, SHOWS & MARKETS . . . . . . . . . . starting on page 3 These are images of the press conference held at the Portland Museum of Art on Nov. 19, announcing the return of the six stolen paintings. Photos courtesy of the Portland Museum of Art

SHOPS DIRECTORY . . . . . . . . . on page 4 AUCTIONEER DIRECTORY . . . . . on page 7 EVENT & AUCTION CALENDAR . on page 6

FEATURED AUCTION: Jeff Evans Results - held on November 14, 2015 in Mt. Crawford, Virginia - page 14

AUCTION SALE BILLS . . . starting on page 6 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . on page 15


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