Table of contents for July 1, 2023 in Kovels Antique Trader

A New York thrift shop customer will never complain about doing the dishes again, not after the four ceramic plates she bought for $8 at a Salvation Army sold for more than $40,000. Nancy Cavaliere was on her way home from work when she stopped by her local Salvation Army. Finding nothing interesting, Cavaliere was about to leave when she spotted four black plates with geometric faces hand-painted on them. Intrigued, she bought all four for $1.99 each. After an online search, Cavaliere discovered her thrift store plates were part of Pablo Picasso’s “Visage Noir” series of hand-painted ceramics produced in a pottery studio in Madoura in southern France during the 1940s. Cavaliere eventually landed at Sotheby’s, who sold three of the plates for more than $40,000. Cavaliere is holding…

Sometimes an intricately engineered structure is built with the intention of removing it after a specified amount of time but ends up becoming an icon of the city in which it dwells. The Eiffel Tower is an excellent example. Constructed over a two-year period from 1887 to 1889, this now-historic symbol of Paris was designed by Gustave Eiffel for the International Exposition of 1889 (sort of a World’s Fair of the time). Eiffel built the structure like a gigantic erector set, using tens of thousands of pieces of steel and multiple tons of fasteners (nuts, bolts, and washers). Parisians considered the 984-foot-tall structure to be an eyesore, so they were overjoyed that the city had only granted a 20-year permit for its existence, at which time the tower was scheduled…

We’ll take what’s behind door number one! While it sounds like something out of the classic TV game show “Let’s Make a Deal,” one lucky family in the north of France hit an $845,000 jackpot with what has been sitting behind a door of their home since 1900. An extraordinary painting by the 17th-century artist Pieter Brueghel the Younger, which was unwittingly thought to be a copy by the family that owned it, sold for $845,000 at auction in Paris at the end of March. It is believed the 3 3/4 foot high and 6-foot-wide painting was created between 1615 and 1617 and is a version of L’Avocat du village (the Village Lawyer), a common theme for Brueghel. The painting hung in a small, dimly lit TV room when it…

The late Joan Stacke Graham was perhaps the world's foremost authority on majolica, the colorful ceramic pieces popular with Victorian collectors. Along with her friend Marilyn Karmason, Graham started collecting majolica in the 1980s. Together, the pair amassed a collection comprising over 2,000 pieces and co-wrote a comprehensive look at the ceramics, 1989's Majolica: A Complete History and Illustrated Survey. Some of these pieces were subsequently sold as part of Doyle's New York April 4, 2023, auction, The Joan Stacke Graham Majolica Collection: Part II. Highlights of the sale include a game-pie dish and cover attributed to Paul Comolera featuring the heads of two hares and two ducks that sold for $47,500, nearly $20,000 more than the estimated sale price. With a date cypher for 1876, the 18 1/8-inch-wide piece…

The 1950s were compelling times for America and for Hollywood. The Cold War was heating up. Red Scare rhetoric filled the country with growing fears that the U.S. had been infiltrated by communists. And, of course, the threat of Atomic War defined a duck-and-cover decade. Hollywood reacted to the real and imagined threats, coupled with a growing fascination with space travel, through the metaphor of space alien invaders. The resulting golden era of space invasion movies is still celebrated today by movie poster collectors. On April 29 and 30, Heritage Auctions ran an auction featuring almost 1,000 movie posters spanning decades and film genres. The ones focused on 1950s films featuring space invaders are particularly fun, historical and valuable. Leading the way is a 30-by-40-inch British quad poster for the…

from the editor This is going to get painful. You might even want to stop reading right now, put down the magazine and enjoy the rest of your day. I will not be off ended. Still here? Fair enough, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Here’s the thing: My wife loves “Laverne & Shirley.” You know, the ABC TV sitcom from the 1970s starring Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams as Laverne DeFazio and Shirley Feeney, two friends and roommates who work at Shotz Brewery in late 1950s Milwaukee. Laverne and Shirley are opposites. Laverne is a bit wild and Shirley is far more reserved. Mayhem ensues as this lovable odd couple maneuver through life with friends and neighbors Lenny and Squiggy adding to the hijinks. Carmine “The Big Ragoo”…

Kovels’ Sales Reports American Ingenuity One hundred years before the digital age, electrification was the revolution. Then, America was a mythic Industrial Powerhouse churning out invention and transforming the day-to-day with the outrageous, astounding electrical devices that would make us modern. The stores of the 1930s were filled with the products of General Electric, Zenith, Hallicrafter, Detrola, Crosley, TeleTone, and others who created stylish consumer goods. A recent American Design auction at Wright in Chicago brought those Grand Design Days back into focus. If ever there was a first couple of design, then it was Charles (1907-1978) and Ray (1912-1988) Eames. Married in 1941, the couple spent the rest of their lives designing together. Their work with molded plywood was revolutionary. But before their famous Herman Miller collaboration ever exploded, the…

CALIFORNIA Every first Sunday of the month, Alameda. Alameda Point Antiques Faire, 3900 Maine St., Alameda, CA. The Alameda Point Antiques Faire is the largest antiques show in Northern California, boasting 800 dealer booths. All items 20 years old or older. For more info, visit alamedapointantiquesfaire.com. Every first Sunday of the month through May, Palm Springs. Palm Springs Vintage Market, PS Cultural Center at the Camelot Theater, 2300 E Baristo Rd, Palm Springs. For more info, visit palmspringsvintagemarket.com. Every second Sunday of the month, Pasadena. World’s largest flea market at the Rose Bowl, Pasadena. More than over 2 million items offered for sale by more than 2,500 vendors. Shop for rare and unusual, vintage collectibles, antiques, new items, arts and crafts and second-hand items. SH: early birds, 5-9am; regular admission:…