Japanese binoculars represented the cutting-edge of optics during the early 20th century. Many Japanese naval binoculars could absorb more than 980 times more light than the human eye, allowing for visuals up to 20 miles away. A pair of mounted Japanese binoculars issued between 1939 and 1949 will be offered in Whitley’s Auctioneers’ upcoming auction. The available piece is made with brass and rests on an adjustable wooden tripod, starting at a height of 50 inches. Multiple wartime and aviation relics are highlighted on the second day of this sale, including a pair of German tabletop binoculars and a Boeing leather pilot chair.
A collection of phonographs and radios will also be available. One key lot is a 1903 Edison Home phonograph set. Below the machine is an oak cabinet with six drawers, containing 80 original wax recording cylinders. Completing the sale are Royal Doulton character mugs and ceramic figurines. A Charlie Chaplin character jug with a removable bowler hat is particularly highlighted. View the full catalog for this auction and register to bid on Bidsquare.
The Ancient Jewelry, Weaponry, and Classical Art auction, presented by Pax Romana, will highlight the fossilized skeleton of a Psittacosaurus dinosaur. The lot comes with a nearly complete dinosaur skeleton, as well as fossilized materials from within its stomach. The Psittacosaurus is also known in English as a “parrot lizard.” There are over 400 known Psittacosaurus skeletons worldwide.
Also featured in this event are several helmets from ancient civilizations. These include an Illyrian bronze helmet, likely created between 700 and 600 BC. The Illyrians controlled territory across Central and Eastern Europe, including parts of modern-day Croatia and Slovenia. The Illyrian people were considered capable warriors and were often recruited to fight in regional conflicts. Interested bidders will also find a Greek winged helmet in the sale. This piece comes to auction with some repair and restoration work. Register to bid for this event on Bidsquare.
Bansky is an anonymous street artist first recognized for his satirical art in the 1990s. His identity is still unknown to the public, earning him international attention. Banksy’s union of dark humor and political satire has defined his work for decades. Flying Copper is one of the highlighted lots in the upcoming Banksy online auction, presented by Sotheby’s. The color screenprint depicts an armed police officer with a smiley face and angel-like wings on his back. Also offered is a piece titled Love Rat. Signed in pencil, this 2004 screenprint depicts a rat holding a paintbrush in front of a dripping red heart.
The Girl with Balloon motif by Banksy first appeared in the streets of London at Southbank Bridge in 2002. The work has since been painted over and recreated by the artist in other forms, including screenprints. Available in this auction is a print of the girl with a pink balloon, one of 88 artist’s proofs made in various colors. According to the Guardian, the original Girl with Balloon piece was ranked as Great Britain’s most-loved piece of art in 2017. For more information on the available lots, visit Sotheby’s.
By 1904, Parisian art collector André Level was looking to own a piece by Pablo Picasso. However, he was far from the only collector admiring the young artist’s work. Level had to wait four years until a retired circus clown turned art dealer, Clovis Sagot, finally gave him the insider information he needed to begin collecting Picasso paintings. A still life work by Pablo Picasso from the collection of André Level highlights the Modern Works on Paper auction, presented by Christie’s. This piece represents Picasso’s work in a later form of Cubism, known as Synthetic Cubism. Whereas the earlier Analytic Cubism deconstructed objects into fragmented shapes, Synthetic Cubism “… was about flattening out the image and sweeping away the last traces of allusion to three-dimensional space.”
20th-century art collectors can also consider Joan Miró’s Characters. In 1937, amid the Spanish Civil War, Miró, Picasso, and other Spanish artists were asked to create murals for the country’s pavilion it the Exposition Universelle. Miró’s entry has been lost to time. However, the Characters piece available in this auction is a series of studies done in preparation for that mural. Writer Jacque Dupin describes the distorted figures of Characters as “relate[d] directly to the painter’s anguish, his secret trauma, his unexpressed outrage.” A similar theme was also explored in Picasso’s entry into the mural initiative, Guernica, which is currently exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Outside of Europe, bidders will find a drawing by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, titled Little Girl with a Cat. Botero’s work focuses on voluminous figures, or, as Christie’s puts it, “[figures] in spaces that seem too small to contain them.” In this drawing, Botero’s interest in size can be seen not only with the little girl but also with the cat, which has several rolls of fat rippling from its chin. Those interested in this or any other piece can register to bid on Christie’s website.
The upcoming auction of vintage cameras, offered by Bruneau and Co. Auctioneers, will feature a Macro-Switar AR 50mm lens, designed for an Alpa mount. Kern, an optical glassmaker, collaborated with Alpa, a Swiss watchmaker, to create this lens. The Macro-Switar was first introduced in 1968, upgrading the original 1951 design. The piece has a close focusing capability of 28 centimeters for macro photography.
This sale offers a collection of over 600 cameras, lenses, and accessories. One key lot is a Model K7F 80mm lens from the Rolleiflex collection. These medium format film cameras were originally manufactured by the German company Franke & Heidecke. First introduced in 1928, Rolleiflex cameras have two lenses: one transmits images to the film and the other serves as a viewfinder to enhance the focus. Also featured in the listings is a Nitto Seiki Eleger-35. The Japanese Leica-styled viewfinder camera was produced with an Eleger Anastigmat lens in 1952. View any of these lots and register to bid on Bidsquare.
The upcoming Arts & Crafts Auction, presented by California Historical Design – AC Stickley, offers 400 lots of decorative arts, fine art, furniture, and more. A key item of the sale is a copper and mica lamp designed by Dirk van Erp. Originally from Leeuwarden, Netherlands, van Erp immigrated to California in 1890 and opened the Art Copper Shop in 1908. The following year, he collaborated with Elizabeth Eleanor D’Arcy Gaw to design his signature copper and mica lamps. The available piece features an orange mica shade on a hand-hammered copper base. Another highlighted piece from van Erp is a brass shell casing from 1908.
Among the leading lots is a painting of California oak trees by American artist Percy Gray. Often associated with Californian landscapes, Gray was particular about the time of the day and the trees he chose to paint. He often traveled great distances to find the perfect scene. A Roycroft leaded glass cabinet built during the American Arts and Crafts Movement will also be offered. To explore these lots and to register to bid, visit Bidsquare.
Painter Hugh Bolton Jones was known for his landscapes of New England. Initially a Hudson River School painter, it was the influence of Alexander Harrison that led Jones to adopt a Tonalist style. The upcoming auction, presented by Duane Merrill & Company, features one of the artist’s oil landscape paintings. The piece, titled The Edge of the Woods, evokes the lush green woods near the artist’s summer home in Great Barrington. Also offered is a piece titled Mountain Landscape by Western artist Edgar Alwin Payne. Many of Payne’s works captured his love for the Sierra Nevada mountains and the Alps.
A GIA-certified, 1.82-carat diamond engagement ring and a mother of pearl, onyx, amethyst, and diamond Asch Grosbardt ring will be featured jewelry lots in this sale. The first volume of An Essay on Human Understanding, written by English physician and philosopher John Locke, is another highlight. The book contains the signature of George Mason, a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention. Mason was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution at that time. Furniture collectibles, vintage automobiles, silverware, Persian carpets, U.S. coins, and revolvers are also available in the auction. Interested collectors can explore the full listings and register to bid online on Invaluable.
Paul Evans was a leading figure in the mid-century American Brutalist furniture movement. An example of his work is available in the upcoming Design auction, presented by Wright. The Argente cabinet designed by Evans includes two doors concealing storage and one adjustable shelf. Along with furniture, the event offers over 200 lots of carpets, sculptures, dinnerware, jewelry, and more.
A Conoid platform bed will be available from George Nakashima. The American designer brought out the distinct qualities of wood through his work. He believed that each piece of wood had a distinct purpose: “Each flitch, each board, each plank can have only one ideal use,” he remarked. “The woodworker, applying a thousand skills, must find that ideal use and then shape the wood to realize its true potential.” Also presented is a hand-woven Strålarna flatweave carpet by Marianne Richter. Her designs for the Märta Måås-Fjetterström workshop are characterized by geometric patterns and vivid color combinations. Browse the full catalog and register for online bidding by visiting Wright.
Originating in the Iranian city of Kashan during the 17th century, Kashan rugs are often considered the legacy of Persian weaving’s “Golden Age.” Created using the asymmetric Farsi knot, Kashan rugs are known for their deep blue, red, and cream colors. Hindman presents several Kashan rugs in the upcoming Fine Furniture, Decorative Arts, and Silver auction.
Also offered are several pieces of Doulton Lambeth pottery. During the 1860s, the Lambeth School of Art partnered with Royal Doulton, a major ceramics company. By the late 1890s, when stoneware popularity peaked, Doulton recruited many artists to design new pieces. These artists included George Tinworth, Hannah Barlow, and Mark V. Marshall. The available 19th-century works include serving bowls, teapots, and matching vases. A pair of carved amethyst urns, a fish scale glass hanging fixture, and a Henri Étienne Dumaige bronze sculpture will also be available. To explore the entire listings and register to bid online, visit Liveauctioneers.
The Gambling Memorabilia & Playing Cards Auction, offered annually by Potter & Potter Auctions, this year includes American lots that date back to the 18th century. There are also many bound books on the topics of cards, cons, poker, cheating, and more.
Among the featured lots is a deck representing the Seminole Wars. The court cards are full-length, hand-colored portraits, with Jacks as Indian chiefs, Queens as classical goddesses, and Kings as American presidents. The deck was featured on the cover of Life magazine on May 30, 1955. Another available vintage deck is an astrological themed pack from Stopforth & Son, circa 1830. This deck is also hand-colored, and the court cards are represented by mythological gods. The remaining cards each include depictions of constellations surrounding the suit symbols.
Of the offered gambling memorabilia is a “gambler’s kit,” which includes a pack of Steamboat 999 playing cards in their original box, poker chips, and two bone dice. An antique Remington .41 Caliber “Over & Under” Derringer, with 22-karat gold and silver plating, is also in the set. Other offered gambling items include cheating devices, poker chips, and dice.
There are also several decorative prints and posters with card or gambling themes in this sale, as well as works of original art. Among these is The Card Game by Robert Mann, an oil painting depicting a group of six men and women playing cards in a parlor. Mann was a self-taught artist whose many exhibitions included a solo show at the Staempfli Gallery in 1975. The Card Game was formerly owned by actor Robert J. Wagner. View any of these lots and register to bid on Potter & Potter Auctions.
