Displaying items by tag: Antiques

Strict new regulations regarding the Endangered Species Act could freeze up the market for antique items containing ivory and other endangered species materials. The ban has been particularly detrimental to collectors, dealers, museums, and musicians -- all of whom often deal with objects containing ivory and other rare materials. While the goal of the ban is to stop the poaching of elephants and rhinoceros for purposes of illicit trade, a considerable number of law-abiding American are being punished in the process.

Last week Representative Steven Daines of Montana and Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee introduced bills H.R. 5052 and S. 2587 in an effort to reverse the recent changes to the Endangered Species Act. Representative Daines and Senator Alexander are confident that a more effective legislative response can be crafted. While the goal of eliminating poaching is laudable, punishing antique professionals and enthusiasts is disastrous.

It is crucial that you support the bills introduced by Representative Daines and Senator Alexander. Please follow the links to contact your state’s Senators and Representatives.

Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Representatives: http://www.house.gov/representatives/

Convinced that consumers are finally ready to shop online for Picassos and choice Persian rugs in addition to car parts and Pez dispensers, Sotheby’s, the blue-chip auction house, and eBay, the Internet shopping giant, plan to announce Monday that they have formed a partnership to stream Sotheby’s sales worldwide.

Starting this fall, most of Sotheby’s New York auctions will be broadcast live on a new section of eBay’s website. Eventually the auction house expects to extend the partnership, adding online-only sales and streamed auctions taking place anywhere from Hong Kong to Paris to London. The pairing would upend the rarefied world of art and antiques, giving eBay’s 145 million customers instant bidding access to a vast array of what Sotheby’s sells, from fine wines to watercolors by Cézanne.

The 2014 New Orleans Antiques Forum, “Southern Expression,” will explore the many facets of regional style with acclaimed experts in the field of decorative arts. This year’s topics include furniture, pottery, mourning jewelry and art, southern landscape paintings, clocks, quilts, and more.

The Historic New Orleans Collection established the New Orleans Antiques Forum (NOAF) in 2008 in an effort to boost cultural tourism in New Orleans and south Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina. Centered on a series of educational and entertaining talks, the three-day forum encourages the appreciation of decorative arts created in and imported through the Gulf Coast. Sessions are accessible to experienced collectors as well as beginning antiques enthusiasts.

Masterpiece London, a high-end art and antiques fair offering an eclectic mix of paintings, design, furniture, and jewelry, kicked off its fifth edition with an exclusive preview on Wednesday, June 25 at the Royal Hospital Chelsea. The fair, which is located near London’s posh Chelsea neighborhood, got off to a strong start thanks to impressive sales and record attendance. Noteworthy visitors included collector Charles Saatchi, interior designers Ellie Cullman and Scott Snyder, fashion designers Zandra Rhodes and Tom Ford, and a number of museum leaders such as Jeffrey Munger, The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Curator of European Porcelain, and Stephen Harrison, the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Curator of Decorative Art and Design.

A positive tone was set early on when Symbolic and Chase (London) sold a 1912 Cartier Corsage for more than $20 million. Other sales highlights during the preview included a pair of chinoiserie cabinets by Vile and Cobb sold by Apter Fredericks (London) to an American collector for a seven figure sum; a portrait of the Countess of Craven sold by Elle Shushan (Philadelphia) to English actress Diana Rigg; and Lynn Chadwick’s “Back to Venice” sculpture that was sold by Osborne Samuel (London) for £250,000. Strong sales are expected to continue through the weekend.

On Wednesday, June 25, Gov. Dannel Malloy and the Connecticut Office of Tourism Director Randy Fiveash announced the launch of Connecticut Antiques Trail, an online guide to antique shops, centers, events and locations throughout the state.

“We launched the Connecticut Antiques Trail to create a more convenient way for residents and tourists alike to discover, explore and enjoy the very best destinations that the state’s antiquing community has to offer,” said the governor.

Texas-based appraiser of Asian art pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court Tuesday to taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle illegal rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory to China.
 
Ning Qiu could spend more than two years in prison and be fined $150,000 when he is sentenced at a later date.
 
Authorities say Qiu admitted to helping the boss of the scheme obtain rhino horns and ivory, where they were smuggled to Hong Kong and used to make fake antiques.
 

Design Miami/Basel, a global forum focused on collectible design, offered select guests a sneak peek of its offerings during a VIP preview on Monday, June 16. The event, which takes place alongside Art Basel in Switzerland, is open to the public from Tuesday, June 17 through Sunday, June 22.

Bringing together collectors, gallerists, designers, and curators, Design Miami/Basel celebrates design culture and commerce through museum-quality exhibitions, educational lectures, and commissions from the world’s top emerging and established designers and architects. The marketplace portion of the fair features celebrated design galleries from around the world exhibiting furniture, lighting, and objets d’art. Offerings range from 18th- and 19th-century antiques to early Modernist objects and contemporary design.

One of the world’s most precious troves of looted antiquities — brilliantly colored burial shrouds from an Andean civilization that flourished a thousand years before Columbus — is on its way back to Peru for a ceremonial handover in Lima.

The 89 embroidered textiles, named for the Paracas peninsula where they were unearthed around 1930 and then smuggled out by the Swedish consul, ended up in possession of the city of Gothenburg and were displayed there in the National Museum of World Culture.

A Russian billionaire has accused his ex-wife of secretly selling off pieces of their massive $120 million collection of art, antiques and furniture.

Oil tycoon Shalva Chigirinsky, 62, says in a Manhattan lawsuit that Tatiana Panchenkova, who has accused him of physical abuse, had agreed to preserve the collection.