Rare Franz Sedlacek Oil Blooms at £85,000

An oil on panel by Franz Sedlacek (1891-1945), an Austrian artist prominent in the Vienna Secession group of painters, drew international bidding at Toovey’s of Washington, West Sussex.

Director Rupert Toovey spotted Blüten und Insekten Nr. 3 among a stack of dusty pictures on the floor on a routine visit to a house near Petworth. Most of the items were described as "traditional English country house taste".

The 19 x 15in (49 x 38cm) oil on wood panel was understood to have been in the family for several generations and the vendor was unaware that it might be valuable. The condition was good, apart from some minor cracking and dirt on the surface.

Signed with initials and dated 1935, it was accompanied by a label on the verso indicating that it was shown at the Vienna Secession's autumn exhibition of the same year.

It was one of a series of works in which Sedlacek explored the theme of fantastical flowers and insects - the title translates asTrumpet Blooms and Insects.

Estimated at £50,000-80,000 for the auction on June 17, the contest was taken up by three phone bidders. It eventually came down to a competition between a leading Viennese gallery and a private German collector, selling to the latter at £85,000.

Source: Antiquestradegazette.com

Bottle of ice-cold beer that costs you £3300

A fine 1875 vintage… never opened… so what did this bottle of wine sell for?

Er, no. We are actually talking about beer. And a very interesting bottle of beer at that. Shropshire auctioneers Trevanion & Dean have sold a brew produced for the British Arctic Expedition sent to reach the North Pole in 1875.

After attracting international interest, internet and phone bidders battled it out at the Shropshire saleroom on June 13 until the bottle was eventually secured by a UK phone bidder for £3300 (plus 17.5% buyer's premium).

It was discovered in a box in a garage in Gobowen, Shropshire, by Aaron Dean, auctioneer and partner at the firm. He says: "I noticed the bottle poking out of the top of a box in the garage. The shape of the bottle is unusual and so immediately my mind started whirring. It wasn't until I got up close to it that I realised how historically significant it is.

"After extensive research I found another example which sold in 2004 for £1200. The market has changed dramatically and so I was conservative with an auction estimate of £400-600."

The sealed bottle top is marked Arctic Expedition 1875.

The 1875 voyage by HMS Alert and HMS Discovery, under the leadership of Vice-Admiral Sir George Nares (1831-1915), failed to reach the North Pole but succeeded in mapping the coast lines of Greenland and Ellesmere Island. Dean says: "This may explain why the ale remained undrunk - if their mission had been successful and celebrations were had, we may not be looking at the piece today."

Will the buyer be drinking the ale?

"I doubt it; part of the appeal of the piece is that it has remained unopened for so long, although some have been drunk and tasters report that it was 'sweet tasting with a hint of tobacco'."

Nares, in taking both ships successfully north through the channel between both land masses, became the first explorer to do so and the stretch was named 'Nares Strait' in his honour.

The Story of Arctic Ale

In a 2011 online article, beer writer Roger Protz shed light on the origins of Allsopp's Arctic Ale, "brewed not by Bass but by its major 19th century rival in Burton, Samuel Allsopp".

• After the Franklin expedition to find the Northwest Passage disappeared in 1845, various search parties were sent out to find out what happened, urged on by Queen Victoria. Protz said: "Along with the Admiralty, the queen asked brewers in Burton, famous for their strong beers exported round the world, to create a 'life-sustaining ale' - vitamin B helps prevent scurvy - to supply five ships commanded by Sir Edward Belcher. He led an expedition in 1851 to find any clues to what had happened to the Franklin mission. Bass, Salt, Truman and Worthington competed to produce the beer but the contract was awarded to Allsopp's."

• Four of Belcher's ships ended up trapped in the ice and he had to abandon the expedition. "Two bottles of Arctic Ale from 1851 exist but are in the US," Protz added. "In 1857 Allsopp's again brewed Arctic Ale for a second search for Franklin led by Sir Leopold McClintock. He was also unsuccessful and, as far as anyone knows, no bottles of beer from that year exist." Arctic Ale was brewed again for that 1875 North Pole expedition.

• "Allsopp's merged in 1935 with the neighbouring Ind Coope brewery, which later became part of the Allied Breweries group. When Allied left brewing, the former Allsopp's brewery was turned into the offices of Punch Taverns and passed to the Spirit Group. When the cellars were inspected last year [2010], dozens of bottles of old beer were discovered, including some samples of Arctic Ale from 1875."

• Protz opened one of the bottles. What does a 140-year-old Arctic Ale taste like? He said: "It was dark amber in colour and had an astonishingly complex aroma of dry chocolate, cocoa powder, molasses and vinous fruit. The palate offered creamy malt, sweet fruit and further chocolate and cocoa hints, followed by a bittersweet finish with dark fruit, rich malt and light hops."

Source: Antiquestradegazette.com

Ganesha, The Fashion Lovers’ Muse

The elephant-headed God is undoubtedly all fashion lovers' delight. Now the obvious question that comes to our mind is that why is Ganesha a popular muse for art and fashion lovers?

Ganesha inspires creativity. Fashion celebrates the fusion of beauty and grace, and Ganesha is both. He is also the good luck charm for any new project. Ganesha is a benevolent God. Gargi Chkravarty, an advertising professional says, "Unlike say Lord Shiva and Goddess Durga it is much easier to connect with Ganesha. I believe he is extremely cute. Because he is 'Siddhidata', I think the fact that over years people have started believing that having his image around the neck will bring good luck. It has also helped in building him as a fashion muse. I have Ganesha pendants black metal, terracotta, wood and oxidized silver. For amateur painters who know how to hold a brush it is easy to replicate or draw a basic Ganesha .It's lot tougher to reflect Shiva's calmness or Kali's anger."

Ganesha is an uber cool god with mass appeal. There's something sacred about him, but not distant. He's really like a divine icon appealing to all ages and groups. "I have temple jewellery set with a Ganesha figures gifted by my dad that I love. It's very antique and I feel very auspicious each time I wear it. Saving it for special occasions," says Ranna Sing, a youngster from the city.

Fashion lover, Kunika Menon says, "Personally I love Ganesha because he is the epitome of a god who loves life and food! Secondly because Ganesha symbolises a mother's love for her son. As Indians we have this notion of Vighna Vinashak so a pendant or an earring depicting Ganesha is always reassuring. I guess Ganesha in jewellery comes out very pretty. The form of Ganesha with the elephant head is very enigmatic; it also depicts prosperity and knowledge."

Recent times Kitsch has been so popular and with that incorporating Indian Idols especially the form of Ganesha comes on the top of the list. To this Apolina Fos, a foodie and fashion lover says, "May be because Ganesha is different from normal? We (my French husband and I) are atheists but we've already each had a Ganesha collection before we met each other. Ganesha is in spite of his difference is cute." It's a bit 'anti-institutional' metaphorically-fat, short, elephant head, god of gourmets and thieves at the same time, but yet it has a distinct charm of its own.

Nafisa Chunawala, a banker from the city says, "The pachyderm deity is auspicious and wards off all obstacles. Security and success assured by Ganesh cuts across all the sections of society and his appeal is universal. Aesthetically the body contours of the Lord are amenable to innumerable design possibilities. There are so many youthful Ganesha pendants available in the road side shops and I simply love them all."

Ganesha is known for his versatility. Rangoli Dhigra, a home maker who loves her collection of Ganesha accessories says, "You will not see any other deity being as creatively modified as much the Ganesha is. I'd say Ganu (as I lovingly call him) is one fashionable God. He is very modern, very experimental and so open to being adapted and so he looks the best and hence he is such a hit. Oh my friend Ganesha.

Source: The Times Of India

A £23,000 Benson Light Show In Oxford

The work of designer and architect William Arthur Smith Benson (1854-1924) entered a new price arena when this silvered brass ceiling light sold for £23,000 at Mallams Oxford.

With a scrolling flower head design and three tapering opalescent striped glass shades by James Powell & Co of White friars, a similar model is pictured in the original Benson catalogue of Electric Light Designs published in WAS Benson: Arts and Crafts Luminary and Pioneer of Modern Design by Ian Hamerton, but it is not identical.

Several bidders were prepared to pay well above the £2500-3500 estimate at the auction on May 13 for a rare design but just two combatants were involved above £10,000.

A second WAS Benson electrolier - also part of a group of 'ready to go' Arts and Crafts lights from the same retiring trade consignor - was a more recognizable design with three copper petal shades forming a flower head and four hanging 'bud' shades, again by Powell.

It sold online at £8200 - a price more in keeping with the previous upper levels for ceiling lights by Benson.

The buyer's premium was 20%.

Source: Antiquestradegazette.com

The Living Estate of Earldine Ankiewicz, 93, Will Be Sold On-Site, June 27th

May 28,2015 - SOUTHPORT, Fla. – Hundreds of antiques, collectibles, furniture pieces and other items from the estate of Earldine Ankiewicz, 93, a longtime Florida resident and collector in a wide range of categories, plus items from other prominent local estates and collections, will be sold on-site Saturday, June 27th, at Mrs. Ankiewicz’s residence near Deer Point Lake in Southport, a suburb of Panama City (zip: 32409).

The auction will start at 8 a.m. Central time, with online bidding via LiveAuctioneers.com and Invaluable.com. It will be conducted by The Specialists of the South, Inc., based in Panama City. “Earldine liked anything old and had no particular passion, but she had a sharp eye and what she did collect is highly sought after today,” said Logan Adams of The Specialists of the South, Inc.

Sold will be Flow Blue and Mulberry china patterns, primitives, Ironstone pitchers, Wedgwood (blue and white and green and white) and quality reproduction furniture, made correctly with pride and attention to detail. Also sold will be items from Ms. Ankiewicz’s daughter, now deceased, who collected Orientalia (netsukes, Satsuma, a snuff bottle, cloisonné) and rugs.

Ms. Ankiewicz was an accomplished artist, having studied under Mariette Paine Slayton, the author of Early American Decorating Techniques, for 15 years. She produced beautiful theorems done on cotton velveteen, quilts, coverlets (knit and crochet), trunk painting and decoupage and tole painting on trays worked in gold, silver and bronze leaf. 

Related to her penchant for arts and crafts, items of note will include a handsome spool chest with six labeled drawers, each indicating what was inside, and advertising on the back (the side that would face the customer) for J & P Coats, with a graphic of a spool of thread; and a Singer portable sewing machine dating to the early 20th century, operational and in pristine condition.

One item certain to attract attention is a signed and dated (1929) ink and wash on paper drawing of a cat by the noted Asian artist Leonard Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968). The work measures 7 ¼ inches by 10 ¼ inches, sight (15 inches by 18 ½ inches framed). A cat drawing by Foujita, also from 1929, recently sold at William A. Bunch Auctioneers for $1,331 (including the buyer's premium).

Collectors will be dazzled by the wide array of offerings, to include antique brass candlesticks (with push-up), an antique wall candle holder, a tea caddy and writing box with mother-of-pearl inlay, Mulberry Ironstone transfer ware, white Ironstone pitchers and serving pieces, woven and glass baskets, hand-painted tole trays, dated hand-painted trunks and 10 hand-made quilts.

Four quilt racks will also be sold, the nicest one with barley twist. The list continues with about 13 pieces of cloisonné, a wonderful collection of pigs (to include Lladro, Belleek and Bing & Grondahl), Fenton, blue glass, Baccarat, a Waterford sea horse, Stuart crystal, glass fruit and flowers, decanters, Indiana glass (to include a circa 1970-1984 blue glass Jolly Mountaineer liquor decanter), paperweights, glassware and bone carvings.

Source: News-antique.com

Hong Kong Gets Set For Asia Week Events

Attracting collectors and experts from around the world, the third edition of ‘Asia Week Hong Kong’ will take place from May 27 to June 11. 

Dubbed the Heritage edition, the not-for-profit event brings together leading dealers, auction houses galleries, museums and cultural institutions in the area to create a programme that spans antiquities to contemporary works of art.

The events are free to the public and include private viewings at Christie's, Sotheby's and Bonhams; a lecture by Jessica Harrison-Hall, the British Museum's Chinese ceramics curator; a collectors' roundtable; and a lecture on netsuke and sagemono by dealer Robert Fleischel.

Ahead of their Asian sales in June at Crosshall Manor in Cambridgeshire, auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull are sponsoring the opening ceremony at Hong Kong's China Club in partnership with their sister company Freeman's of Philadelphia.

Source: Antiquestradegazette.com

Delhi's World Heritage Bid Withdrawn

Delhi's bid to become the nation's first world heritage city has been withdrawn. Over a decade of planning and five years of preparation later, the Centre took back Delhi's nomination for a Unesco world heritage city tag, according to an announcement on the UN body's website on Thursday , reports Richi Verma.

Embarrassingly for India, the withdrawal means there will be no Indian nomination (in either the cultural or natural category) that will be reviewed next month during the world heritage committee session in Bonn.No official reason has been given for the decision.

Source: The Times Of India

Real Antique Wood Wins NWFA Wood Floor Of The Year

Irvington, N.J.—Real Antique Wood, the New Jersey-­based company known for custom reclaimed wood décor, was this year’s recipient of the National Wood Flooring Association’s (NWFA)Wood Floor of the Year award under the Best Limited Species category. The award was presented at the NWFA 2015 Wood Flooring Expo in St. Louis, Mo., in April.

“We’re thrilled that so many people are enthusiastic about the project,” said Gary Horvath, co-owner of Real Antique Wood. “It’s one that we’ve been excited to share and it perfectly demonstrates the type of work we pride ourselves on. We can’t believe the international interest this project has attracted—from South Africa to Israel.”

The winning design features walnut slabs from fallen trees during Hurricane Sandy in 2013. After three years of kiln drying, the wood was moved to the site of the project in Pompton Plains, N.J., for installation.

Source: Fcnews.net

Stunning delft chargers take £34,500 in Exeter

The two outstanding blue dash chargers offered at a recent sale held by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood in Exeter form part of a small but distinctive group of early 18th century delft dishes boldly painted with a variety of quirky bird, animal and figure subjects.

The late Tristram Jellinek wrote a number of articles on the subject in the 1970s and '80s, speculating these may have been decorated by the same wonderfully inventive hand. All were probably made in Lambeth c.1720-40.

The auctioneers had been aware of these two chargers for more than a decade and finally coaxed them from the owner earlier this year. The parents of the vendor purchased them from a Scarborough antiques shop more than 50 years ago.

One previously unknown design depicts Pulcinella in a jester's costume and sugar loaf hat striding between sponged trees. A popular figure in London and provincial theatres from the 1660s, he is typically shown carrying a slapstick but here holds a large sword in his left hand and smokes a pipe.
Although hampered by some condition issues (several hairline cracks), it sold at £11,500 (estimate £4000-6000) at the auction on April 21-22.

Its pair shows a large peacock on full display and was, said BHL specialist Nic Sainty, "literally pristine". This time, with the guide pitched a little lower at £3000-5000, bidding reached £23,000.
Both were purchased in the room by the trade on behalf of a private collector.

Written By: Roland Arkell

Source: Antiquestradegazette.com

Dealers Eskenazi Secure Tang Ewer at Sotheby’s

Modelled in the form of a Sasanian metal ewer and applied with Hellenistic-inspired decoration, the 14½in (37cm) high piece sold well above its £40,000-60,000 guide to London dealers Eskenazi for £2.3m at Sotheby's on May 13.

It had been consigned by a private Japanese collector and bore a label for the early 20th century collection of Paris-based Chinese art dealer L Wannieck.

Sotheby's also secured a bid of £3.3m from the Asian trade for a 5½in (14cm) Xuande blue and white facetted vase during the sell-out single-owner sale of Tokyo collector Tsuneichi Inoue.

The price was the highest of the series as ATG went to press, with a further sale at Christie's still to go. 

A longer report on the Asian art series of auctions will appear in a future issue of ATG's printed weekly publication.

Source: Antiquestradegazette.com

Christie’s billion dollar week of sales as Contemporary art market inflates further

Added to the $705.85m (£455.4m) generated by their Looking Forward to the Past auction on Monday, the result meant Christie's could trumpet the fact that they had staged the world's first billion dollar art week.

The company's international head of post-war and Contemporary art Brett Gorvy commented after the sale that buyers "were willing to stretch and stretch some more to have the best."

The 82-lot sale achieved a sell-through rate of 88% with 72 works finding buyers on the night. No fewer than 49 lots had guaranteed prices financed either directly by the auctioneers or via a third party.

The top lot was one such work - Mark Rothko's (1903-1970) No. 10 from 1958 which the owner had bought from The Pace Gallery, New York in1986. It came to auction with an unpublished estimate but seven bidders chased it over the $50m mark before it was knocked down at $73m (£49.3m) to an anonymous buyer bidding through Brett Gorvy on the phone.

The earthy colours and size of the oil on canvas made it a more challenging work within the artist's oeuvre. But, dating from the year that Rothko began his Seagram Murals where the artist explored new forms and colour harmonies, the 7ft 10in x 5ft 9in (2.39m x 1.76m) oil on canvas was deemed a more contemplative piece of abstraction than  Untitled (Yellow and Blue) from 1954 that led Sotheby's sale of Contemporary art in New York the night before.

Freud's Nude

Elsewhere at Christie's, a record came for Lucian Freud (1922-2011) when Benefits Supervisor Resting sold at a top-estimate $50m (£33.8m). It was knocked down in the room to London dealer Pilar Ordovas who was bidding for a client and saw off competition from three phones.

Estimated at $30m-50m, the vendor had bought it from New York dealers Acquavella in 1995 and it was another lot with a guaranteed minimum price.

The 4ft 11in x 5ft 4in (1.51 x 1.61m) oil on canvas from 1994 depicted Freud's model Sue Tilley and it exceeded $30m (£16.1m) paid for another nude painting of the same subject at Christie's New York in May 2008 which was reportedly purchased by Roman Abramovich.

The flagship fortnight of auctions in the Big Apple continues tonight with Christie's sale of Impressionist & Modern art.

The buyer's premium at Christie's New York was 25/20/12%.

£1 = $1.48

Source : Antiquestradegazette.com

Antique Trader producing consignment guide

Antique Trader announces it will be producing an auction consignment guide and directory, which will be published in the July 22 edition of Antique Trader magazine. It will be available at no additional cost to magazine subscribers, and also available to the public as a low-cost digital download.

Categorized by state, the directory will include auction houses from across the United States, but will also include information from some auction companies in the UK, Europe and Canada. The consignment directory will be comprised of not only auction house names, locations and telephone numbers, but also the names and contact email addresses and telephone numbers of consignment directors. Also included will be frequently asked questions regarding the auction consignment process, which will be answered by auction house consignment directors.

“Each week we are contacted by people who are wondering how to sell specific items,” said Karen Knapstein, print editor of Antique Trader. “They don’t know where to start; this directory should give those people who aren’t comfortable with selling items on their own a starting point.”

All auction houses, regardless of size or location, are invited to include their company information in the guide free of charge as long as there is a specific person who can be reached for consignment information. Companies with multiple consignment directors are invited to list each director with their specialty area and contact information.

“I’m really excited about this project,” Knapstein continues. “It’s going to help both auction houses and potential consignors. Auction houses will get their names and services available into the hands of the people who need those services the most.”

Limited specialty advertisement placements are also available. Those auction companies that would like to place consignment ads in the directory should contact sales representative Nick Ockwig at 715-318-4505 or nick.ockwig@fwcommunity.com for availability and rates.

The Consignment Directory Form is available to download here: http://media2.fwpublications.com/ATR/ConsignmentForm.pdf. Auction houses that would like to be included should submit the completed Consignment Directory Submission Form to Antique Trader by midnight, June 25, 2015. Submission information can be emailed to ATNews@fwcommunity.com (Subject Line: Antique Trader Consignment Directory). Submission forms can also be mailed to: AT Consignment Guide, C/O Antique Trader Editors, 700 E. State St., Iola, WI 54990.

Source: Antiquetrader.com

Auction record: Picasso for $179m

To a medley of whoops, hollers and gasps on Monday night, Pablo Picasso's 1955 painting `Les Femmes d'Alger (Version `O')' sold for $179.4 million including fees at Christie's `Looking Forward to the Past' sale of artworks spanning the 20th century . The price was the highest on record for a work of art sold at auction, the company said, and was well over its estimate of $140 million.

Once the bidding reached $120 million, the Picasso was pursued by five clients on telephones, often in agonizingly slow, $1million increments, before finally being sold to a buyer represented by Brett Gorvy , Christie's international head of contemporary art.

The previous all-time auction high, also at Christie's, had been the $142.4 million paid by Elaine Wynn, co-founder of the Wynn casino empire, for Francis Bacon's `Three Studies of Lucian Freud' in November 2013.“It's incredibly difficult to find big, A-plus-quality Picassos fresh to the market,“ said the Paris-based dealer Thomas Bompard. “It's a price for a unique thing. You can't replace a painting like that.“

Less than 30 minutes after the Picasso sale, Alberto Giacometti's gaunt bronze sculpture, `L'homme au doigt (Pointing Man)' sold for $126 million, or $141.3 million with fees, an auction high for any sculpture. It was the first time that two works estimated at over $120 million each were for sale at the same auction. Picasso's `Les Femmes d'Alger (Version `O')' is the most opulent and imposing of a series of paintings that the Spanish-born artist produced from 1954 to 1955 in response to Eugène Delacroix's 1834 Orientalist masterpiece, `Women of Algiers'. It had last been on the market in November 1997, when it sold for $31.9 million at a Christie's auction of works owned by the Ameri can collectors, Victor and Sally Ganz. It was bought at that auction by a Saudi collector and kept in a house in London, said two dealers with knowledge of the matter, who declined to be named because of concerns over confidentiality .Monday night's seller, who was not identified, had been guaranteed a minimum price by Christie's, which estimated the work would fetch about $140 million.

The Swiss-born sculptor Giacometti is renowned for his hauntingly emaciated figures made in postwar Paris when Europe was in the grip of Existentialist angst. He became one of the art market's ultimate trophy names in February 2010 after the billionaire Lily Safra paid £65 million (then $103.4 million) for the 1961 bronze, `Walking Man I', at a Sotheby's auction in London. `Pointing Man', a 5foot-high bronze figure by Alberto Giacometti depicting a skinny man with extended arms, has been in the same private collection for 45 years.

“Pointing Man,“ an earlier, hand-painted bronze from 1947-51, is regarded by many as more compelling. Made in an edition of six, plus an artist's proof, it had been acquired from the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York in 1970.

Christie's anonymous seller has been identified as the New York real estate magnate Sheldon Solow, according to artinfo.com. The Giacometti had been estimated to sell for $130 million and did not carry any financial guarantees. A less obviously commercial lot than the Picasso, it attracted just two telephone bidders.

Source: The Times Of India

Soldani bronze brings £320,000

 

 This Italian baroque bronze depicting ‘Ganymede and the Eagle’ by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1740) proved the highlight of Lyon & Turnbull’s recent sale in Edinburgh.

It sold for £320,000 (plus premium).

Soldani was Master of the Mint in Florence but, as perhaps the finest bronze caster in Europe in the late 1600s, extended his range well beyond the coinage of Tuscany. His workshop, conveniently situated opposite the entrance to the Uffizi Gallery, attracted the British 'Milordi' with Lord Burlington among the well-heeled English gentlemen who commissioned bronzes to be made from terracotta models.

This statuette - with an Anglo-Irish provenance through the family of the late Countess of Lanesborough that might take it as far back as 1716 - may well be one of them.

Dr Charles Avery, former deputy keeper of sculpture at the V&A, who catalogued the piece, speculated it was purchased with its pair depicting Leda and the Swan (now missing) by the Countess's descendant Theophilus Butler (c.1669-1723) probably from Soldani's representative GG Zamboni in London. Butler represented County Cavan and Belturbet in the Irish House of Commons.

Fitzwilliam Model

The only other version of this 15in (38cm) model is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, who also own a version of Leda and the Swan. L&T were able to compare the two side-by-side during cataloguing.

L&T furniture and work of art specialist Douglas Girtin told ATG the bronze had been overlooked by the family but was spotted as an item of some significance during a routine valuation in November. The intervening six months allowed the auctioneers to nail down the attribution and promote the bronze properly.

Estimated at £100,000-150,000, it attracted five phone bidders (three from continental Europe and one from the US) plus two bidders in the room. Mr Girtin said it sold to "a well-known UK dealer".

The sale took place on April 22 and the buyer's premium was 25/20%.

Source: Aantiquestradegazette.com

Kerosene Lamps Are Still A Bright Spot In Modern Decor

Kerosene lamps that delighted Americans in the last half of the 19th Century provided light and colorful decor. The lamps were manufactured in England, France, Canada and the United States, with the favorite style made of glass or glass in combination with other materials such as bronze, brass or marble. The glass lamps were either clear or colored in white, blue, turquoise, pink, rose, amber and green.

As might be expected during an era when Americans were drawn to the innovative, some kerosene lamps were designed for specific uses, such as reading and sewing.

The miniature lamp-4 1/2 to 6 inches tall-served as a night light or, more romantically, as a ``sparking lamp.``

Supposedly only a small amount of oil was put into the lamp`s font when a suitor came to call. When the light went out, he knew it was time to leave. Kerosene lamps of the 19th and early 20th Century merit collecting.

When safely used, with chimney and burner in good working order and with a tight-fitting collar, kerosene lamps are handy to have around for emergency lighting.

Kerosene lamps also can be electrified. They make a charming bridge between past and present and they can heighten the coziness of countrified rooms abundant with textured plaid or checkered fabrics. When lighted, they enhance the mellow appeal of cherrywood chests, tavern tables and other antique furniture.

Fortunately, there are many desirable lamps sited for conversion to electricity-without cracks in the glass or marble parts or splits in metal components-available at antiques shows and shops.

They generally range in price from under $50 to $250. Colored glass lamps are frequently higher priced than clear glass ones, and rare art-glass lamps can cost hundreds of dollars.

It is difficult to identify the maker of a lamp, as so many factories made the similar patterns or sold separate parts to other firms.

Source: chicagotribune.com

5 things to know before buying olden furniture at a show

A Sotheby's trained, Chicago-based furniture expert and former Chicago antiques dealer will be the highlighted speaker this weekend at the 47th Hinsdale Antiques Show at The Community House in Hinsdale.

Jennifer Litwin will discuss how to assess and buy antique furniture at a high-end show like the Hinsdale one -- or anywhere else. She also will talk about how to choose the right pieces to complement your home.

Litwin is author of the book "Furniture Hot Spots" (Lyons Press, 176 pages, $18.95) in which she gives tips on buying furniture at various venues including auction houses, flea markets, stores and showrooms, as well as antiques markets such as this high-society event. Her second book, "The Best Furniture Buying Tips Ever" (192 pages, $14.95) to be published by House of Collectibles, is due out in October.

Here are her tips for buying antique furniture at a show:

1. Get a list of the dealers who will be at the show before you go. Antiques shows usually have a catalog that lists dealers and their booths. Check on the dealers who will bring the kind of furniture or objects in which you are interested and see if they have a Web site. "People are shopping online before they make an actual purchase as research," she says.

2. If you buy something, take the dealer's business card and make sure you can contact him or her should there be a problem. Without a written warranty, the consumer has no recourse should something go wrong.

3. Negotiate. Usually a dealer will go down 10 percent to 20 percent because he doesn't want to have to transport the piece back across the country. Also, the dealer wants to be able to cover his booth costs (which can be anywhere from $3,000 to $10,000).

4. Check the Web to see if the goods the dealer is selling at the show seem more expensive than the furniture online. This should help you negotiate the best deal.

5. Ask if the dealer can arrange for and assume the shipping or delivery expenses. Some will pay for shipping as a courtesy or as part of the negotiating process. Shipping can add up to 10 percent of the cost of the entire goods. If the piece has been dismantled in order to deliver it, ask if the dealer can put it back together for you as part of the deal.