A Little Chinese Vase
The sale of a beautiful Chinese vase stunned the crowd (and the auctioneer) at a small auction room in Suffolk, England. An elderly gentleman, who was selling the contents of his home, was the consignor of numerous items; among them, … More…
Jeffrey Epstein’s Art World Connections: A Guide
Here is an article by Claire Selvin (ArtNews) that dives a little deeper into Mr. Epstein’s art and financial world connections. I am sure that over time, more information will surface about other Epstein art world connections. I guess there … More…
Coleman Takes On HBO
Back in 2016, the art news outlets were constantly populated with stories of artists suing big brand companies over copyright infringement. The stories seemed to die down (hopefully because companies started to put effort into obtaining the imagery legally) until … More…
Jeffrey Epstein, My Very, Very Sick Pal – Mother Jones
Seems like Mr. Epstein had many friends and connections in the art world. Mother Jones posted an interview they did with Stuart Pivar (we recently posted another story about Stuart and his Brancusi – Make Sure You Read Before You … More…
How To Safely Navigate The Art Market: Cracks in the Paint
After I wrote my initial article on water and humidity (many years ago), one of our readers followed up with the following question: If I see a painting and there are cracks in the paint, can I then assume that … More…
The ‘Mind’s Eye’ Opens In Sublime Landscapes Of Ben Bauer, Elegantly Capturing Light Playing In Darkness
We have been a big fan of Ben Bauer‘s work for many years. This past week, Natasha Gural published a wonderful article about Ben and his work on Forbes.com. Source: The ‘Mind’s Eye’ Opens In Sublime Landscapes Of Ben Bauer, … More…
Top Heavy Brancusi
According to a recent report, French art collector Marc Baradel is suing Asher Edelman (Artemus), and two insurances companies (HUB and Lloyd’s of London), over damages sustained to Constantin Brancusi‘s sculpture Le Poisson that fell off a pedestal in Edelman’s … More…
To The Moon And Back
To commemorate the golden anniversary of the Apollo 11 space mission, Heritage (Dallas), Sotheby’s (NY), and Christie’s (NY) held auctions which offered thousands of space exploration items…some brought prices that were sky high and others never left the launch pad. … More…
Comment on the Art Market – Volume 224
This month we review the recent 19th century sales in London, a few Tales from the Dark Side of the art world, Why Water and High Levels of Humidity are a Painting’s Worst Enemy, Really incredible prices for a chess … More…
Make Sure You Read Before You Sign
Stuart Pivar, 88, a prominent Manhattan art collector is suing his attorney, John McFadden, over a bronze sculpture by the Romanian artist Constantin Brancusi. Pivar states that McFadden tricked him into signing an agreement to sell McFadden the sculpture for … More…
Those Sneakers Made A Run For The Moon
We recently covered Sotheby’s sneaker sale and the fact that before it ended, Miles Nadal made a private offer and bought all but one pair for about $850K (seems the seller of the Nike Waffle Racing Flat, Moon Shoe, wanted … More…
Water & High Levels of Humidity: A Painting’s Worst Enemy!
Today, many of us have faced the consequences of torrential rain and flooding. It is becoming more common to hear about areas of the country that are under water, houses flooding, and personal property being damaged or destroyed. I have … More…
East Bound And Down
Anybody in the mood for a little road trip to Texarkana? Well, you could have done that in record time if you were lucky enough to be the proud new owner of a customized 1979 Pontiac Trans Am that was … More…
Really? For A Few Pair Of Sneakers?
Sotheby’s has been vigorously promoting an unusual online auction that was running from July 11- 23rd titled Stadium Goods: the Ultimate Sneaker Collection, comprised of over 100 rare pairs of sneakers made by Nike, Air Jordan, Adidas, and several other brands. … More…
A (big) Check, Mate
The Lewis chessmen are a distinctive group of 12th-century chess pieces that were made from walrus ivory and whale’s teeth. Since their discovery in 1831, buried within a sand dune on the Isle of Lewis (the northern part of the largest island … More…
Comments on the Art Market – Volume 225
This month we cover the upcoming Jackson Hole show (where we will be featuring the work of Bart Walter), In the News – Ben Bauer, Stocks, How to Safely Navigate the Art Market: Cracks in the Paint, The Dark Side … More…