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Bidsquare, the online bidding platform for over 35 leading auction houses, announces Bidsquare Cares: a holiday benefit auction of art experiences to aid the Ebola workers of Doctors Without Borders. Bidding opened at bidsquare.com on Black Friday, November 28th at 12:00PM EST, and closes on Monday, December 8th at 12:00PM EST.
 
Up for grabs are 35 one-of-a-kind art and city experiences from the leading auction houses that created Bidsquare: Brunk Auctions, Cowan’s Auctions, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, Pook & Pook, Inc., Rago and Skinner, Inc.

Tour highlights include a walk and talk with David Rago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art; a National Public Radio behind the scenes tour in Cincinnati; and a helicopter ride over Chicago. Among the other gifts to give to yourself or others: a tabletop bronze sculpture by Klaus Ihlenfeld valued at $800 and a gift certificate for fine jewelry from Skinner.

During a recent taping of the hit television series, ‘Antiques Roadshow,’ a woman brought a plate that she had acquired in 1970 for $100 to be appraised. For years, the work had hung in her kitchen alongside the rest of her plate collection accumulating layers of grease. The buyer had no idea that she had a modern masterpiece on her hands until five years ago when she visited a gallery and saw a similar plate by Pablo Picasso on display.

As it turns out, the plate was an authentic work created by Picasso in 1955 for France’s Madoura Studio. Stuart Slavid, an expert in European furniture, silver and fine ceramics at Skinner Inc. in Boston, estimated the plate to be worth between $10,000 and $15,000. Although the plate has a small but visible chip, it is still in remarkable condition.

Picasso is a commanding force in the art market and over the past four or five years the prices paid for his works have continued to skyrocket.

A painting by Fitz Henry Lane, an American painter and printmaker from Gloucester, Massachusetts, recently sold for $1,384,000 million at an auction at Skinner, Inc. in Boston. Camden Mts. From the Graves was the top lot at the sale of American and European Works, which grossed $3.2 million in total. The record for Lane at auction is $5.5 million, which was set at Skinner in 2004.

Lane, who is often associated with Luminism due to his use of pervasive light, frequently painted marine scenes. Robin Starr, Skinner’s vice president and director of American & European Works of Art, said, “[Camdens Mts. From the Graves] has all the elements you expect to see in a strong Lane of his mature style. It has the wonderful sense of quiet in it. You have everything from the golden hour light catching the sails to the two figures you can see in the catboat in the foreground.”

The painting, which was signed and dated ‘FH Lane 1862,’ was created during one of the four well-documented trips Lane made to Maine during his career.