Exclusive Japanese Woodblock Prints Auction in New York, March 4

On Monday, March 4, starting at 6 pm Eastern time, Jasper52 will conduct an Exclusive Japanese Woodblock Prints Auction. As you might expect, the sale is tightly curated, featuring just 51 lots. Artists whose works appear in the auction lineup include Sofu Matsuno; Eijiro Kobayashi; Ohara Koson; Toshi Yoshida; Shoda Koho; Tsukioka Kogyo; Takashi Ito; Arai Yoshimune; Gyosui Kawanabe; Hajime Namiki; Hiroaki Takahashi; Yoshimoto Masao; Ogata Gekko; Kitao Shigemasa; Hideki Hanabusa; Toyohisa Inoue; Utagawa Kuniyoshi; Shizuo Ashikaga; Utagawa Hiroshige and Terada Akitoyo.

Eijiro Kobayashi, ‘Evening Cool on Sumida,’ est. $550-$700

View the auction here.

Learn more about the auction on Auction Central News.

Lithophanes: making light of art

A porcelain lithophane depicting an angel appearing to a lady in prayer sold for $225 plus the buyer’s premium in April 2016. Image courtesy of Main Street Mining Co. and LiveAuctioneers

Lithophanes are three-dimensional copies of two-dimensional etchings, paintings, prints or photographs produced on thin sheets of fine porcelain. Viewed in ambient natural light, their designs appear as vague, bumpy images of varying thickness, but when they are illuminated, the images come to life in amazingly detailed, finely tinted shades of gray, as though they were embedded within the porcelain itself. Nearly forgotten, now, lithophanes had their heyday in the 19th century. Although they were based on existing designs, at the time of their creation they were considered new works of art. 

A porcelain lithophane lamp shade with a hunting scenerealized $2,500 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2021. Image courtesy of Cottone Auctions and LiveAuctioneers

Producing these popular plaques, which ranged from barely an inch to more than a foot in size, was particularly challenging. After duplicating drawings on sheets of warm beeswax, artists meticulously relief-sculpted these fragile panels with minute modeling tools that gave them depth. Then the panels were carefully molded and fired. Eventually, harder plaster of Paris molds, based on original waxworks, accelerated production.

Hand-painted interiors enhance this brass double student lamp with lithophane shades that reached $2,800 plus the buyer’s premium in April 2021. Image courtesy of Claystrong Enterprises and LiveAuctioneers

Because so many artisans were involved in creating a single lithophane, none signed their names to them, but the reverse sides often featured maker’s marks. Wedgwood, Belleek, and manufactories in America and in Continental Europe produced lithophanes in great numbers, with the best being the ones that came from German companies such as Prensaich Porzellan Manufactur (PPM), Berlin Porzellan Manufactur (BPM) and Koniglichen Preussische Manufactur (KPM). 

Made in the late 19th century, a Doulton fairy lamp centerpiece with lithophane shade achieved $3,500 plus the buyer’s premium in September 2016. Image courtesy of Dallas Auction Gallery and LiveAuctioneers

Many lithophanes were purely decorative. Others, which featured single or multiple panels edged with brilliant stained glass, delivered pure drama. When fixed in window panes, these sun-catching images changed as the level of sunlight waxed and waned.

This polychrome lithophane boudoir lamp sold for $275 plus the buyer’s premium in April 2010. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates and LiveAuctioneers

Lithophanes also beautified scores of functional items. Firescreens featured large lithophane panels festooned with domestic scenes, florals or exotic landscapes. Emptied teacups and beer mugs, held aloft to light, depicted low-relief lithophane soldiers or horsemen on their bases. Translucent cups and dessert plates produced to celebrate events such as the coronation of King Edward VII or the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair included lithophane bases, as well. 

An Abraham Lincoln lithophane mourning plaque sold for $2,000 plus the buyer’s premium in September 2016. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.

Decorative lithophane panels also adorned porcelain funnel-, round-, square- and cylindrical-shaped lamps. They also enhanced lanterns, wall sconces and chambersticks – a portable type of candleholder.

This Continental porcelain lithophane chamberstick sold for $425 plus the buyer’s premium in April 2020. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates and LiveAuctioneers

Expansive trapezoidal or rectangular-paneled lithophane lampshades often portrayed architectural marvels, sentimental religious scenes or pastoral landscapes. Some, reflecting their times, depicted whaling ships or an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Others showed idealized scenes from everyday life: children sledding, boys playing ninepins, brides with attendants or women at spinning wheels. Yet single-piece, hollow-cast, porcelain lithophane lampshades depicting continuous narratives were most prized of all. 

A single-piece lithophane porcelain lampshade realized $1,100 plus the buyer’s premium in April 2016. Image courtesy of Main Street Mining Co. and LiveAuctioneers

By the mid-1800s, vigil lights, a form of small light used in personal altars, church chapels and outside homes to deter intruders, incorporated decorative lithophanes. Because they emitted a soft glow, they also served as night lights in nurseries. Lithophane-tipped fairy lamps, advertised as “improvements to night lights,” were popular, as well. Although their full-color domes appeared garish, when back-lit at night, their images became diffuse and appealing. 

A pair of Continental porcelain shade fairy lamps sold for $750 plus the buyer’s premium in April 2020. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates and LiveAuctioneers

Tiny lithophane panels were also incorporated into bedside food warmers, devices that helped soothe babies roused from sleep. Their flickering candle-lit images often depicted youngsters on swings, boys with toy sabers, children eating grapes or beloved storybook characters such as Little Red Riding Hood. 

A pair of Continental lithophane oil lamps achieved $6,500 plus the buyer’s premium in July 2016. Image courtesy of the Early Auction Company and LiveAuctioneers

As electric lights started to gain traction in the early 1900s, European and American lithophanes fell out of fashion. Yet as Don Maust observed in a 1996 issue of Antiques Journal, “Until you see a lithophane, it is impossible to understand them because of their three-dimensional quality and their ability to spring to life when the light is turned on behind them. No experience of viewing artworks previously prepares you for the first time you see a lithophane.” 

Jasper52 embraces Americana, folk and outsider art, Feb. 24

A needlework sampler stitched in New Hampshire in 1793, a large carved dolphin head from the bannister of a staircase, and a circa-1910 tin Halloween lantern will likely earn top lot status at Jasper52’s Americana, Folk Art, and Outsider Art auction, which will be held Thursday, February 24 at 6 pm Eastern time. Other items in the 558-lot sale include a circa-1920s vanity recovered from an Odd Fellows lodge, fitted with secret compartments; a Staffordshire bust of George Washington; a carved Art Nouveau stand; stoneware jugs; trade signs, including one that boasts the single word ‘CHOICE’ in white letters on a black background; a Bakongo maternity figure; windmill weights and whirligigs; a goose decoy from Prince Edward Island; a swing handle Nantucket basket; an elaborate fretwork bird cage; numerous quilts, including a 1930s example with a Wedding Ring pattern and blue accents; an Art Deco nutcracker in the shape of an elephant’s head and a large folk art robot made from found objects.

Circa-1910 tin pumpkin head Halloween lantern, est. $1,500-$2,000

View the auction here.

Great images captured in Gravures & Heliogravures sale, Feb. 22

On Tuesday, February 22, starting at 11 am Eastern time, Jasper52 will present a sale of Gravures and Heliogravures. the auction consists of just 74 lots but includes some of the greatest names and images in photography. Several photographs by Diane Arbus are featured, among them a brooding night shot of Disneyland Castle in California; several by Henri Cartier-Bresson, including a compelling shot of a cell in a model prison in the United States; and photographs by Margaret Bourke-White, Tina Modotti, Cecil Beaton, Horst P. Horst, Eadweard Muybridge, Erwin Blumenfeld and Lewis Hine. The Man Ray offerings include his iconic 1924 work Le Violon d’Ingres (The Violin of Ingres); Helmut Newton is represented by his masterpiece Big Nude III, Henrietta, Paris, 1980; and Robert Doisneau’s contribution is his 1950 black-and-white Le Baiser de l’hotel de ville (The Kiss by the Hotel de Ville).

Diane Arbus, ‘A castle in Disneyland, California,’ est. $100-$120

View the auction here.

Learn more about the auction on Auction Central News.

French enamel pocket watches: elegant timekeepers

A circa-1790 French 18K gold pocket watch with a diamond and ruby enamel ballooning motif edged in seed pearls sold for $2,200 plus the buyer’s premium in September 2017. Image courtesy Heritage Auctions and LiveAuctioneers

Antique French enamel pocket watches marry fine craftsmanship and mechanical precision with classical beauty. They rank among the most magnificent miniature works of art ever created. They are also treasured for the rich histories they represent and the stories they tell. 

Wearable watches with works shielded in enameled metal cases first appeared in the early 1600s in Blois, France, where a group of skilled watchmakers served the French court. Although the pocket-sized timepieces merely indicated the hours, they gave Blois goldsmiths, engravers, jewelers and enamelers a canvas for their artistry. 

This circa-1790 French gold and open face pocket watch by Le Roy, Paris, sold for £2,000 (about $2,700) in July 2016. Image courtesy of Dreweatts Donnington Priory and LiveAuctioneers.

Primarily valued as pieces of jewelry, enameled pocket watches were extraordinarily costly to produce. Only European royalty and the elite could afford to commission them. Nevertheless, a second French watchmaking center soon emerged in Paris. Initially, Parisian single-hand pocket watches featured internal bells known as “dumb” repeater complications, which chimed the hour in muffled tones. According to the Patek Philippe website, the sounds “could only be detected if the watch was held in the hand, [thus] allowing people such as courtiers, amongst whom they were popular, to discreetly check the time in their pocket during tedious levees and royal councils, without offending the monarch.”

A circa-1765 French fusee pocket watch with an 18K gold case with rose-cut diamond bezels, lug and rosette on a cobalt blue guilloche ground sold for $2,500 plus the buyer’s premium in December 2016. Image courtesy of Rago Arts and Auction Center and LiveAuctioneers.

Makers of enamel pocket watches added functions that indicated the time of day and showed phases of the moon and even astrological elements. But it was not until 1675, when traditional balance wheel mechanisms were replaced with more advanced balance springs, that pocket watches became reliable timekeepers. That technological upgrade coincided with the appearance of watches fitted with two hands and dials capable of measuring minutes.

The flourishing trade came under threat a decade later when King Louis XIV formally revoked the Edict of Nantes, which had granted a measure of religious freedom to his Protestant subjects. Scores of Huguenot watchmakers, goldsmiths, engravers and enamelers left for the more tolerant environment in Switzerland. 

Signed ‘Berthoud, Louis XVI’ and featuring an enamel portrait, a gold key-winding repetition pocket watch sold for €1,600 (roughly $1,800) in September 2016. Image courtesy of Aste Bolaffi and LiveAuctioneers.

Back in France, however, a watch-making dynasty of sorts was emerging. Ferdinand Berthoud, a master horologist who served Louis XV, wrote extensively about timekeeping and created a variety of extravagant, technically complex timepieces, including a two-body gold pocket watch he signed “Berthoud, Louis XVI.”

Three views of the Jean Antoine Lepin pocket watch that realized $4,250 plus the buyer’s premium in April 2020. Image courtesy Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates and LiveAuctioneers

Jean-Antoine Lepine, who also served Louis XVI, signed his works until around 1790, when references to the Crown became highly impolitic. The excesses of the French Revolution prompted Abraham-Louis Breguet, Lepine’s exceptionally talented student, to flee to Switzerland.

Fortunately, Breguet did not stay away permanently. Upon returning to France in 1795, he founded the Breguet et Fils company, which eventually created thousands of luxurious enamel pocket watches. Their amazing mechanical innovations include a perpetual calendar, an anti-shock device, a so-called “blind man’s watch” that was readable by touch, and repeater-watch gongs, which struck hours, quarters and minutes in differing tones. 

Breguet earned numerable prizes and honors throughout his life and after his death. He was among the 71 French notables whose names were engraved on the Eiffel Tower. Breguet’s design for sleek, eminently readable watch hands outlives him as well. Watchmakers still use the term “Breguet hands” to describe the style he introduced.

Made circa 1800, a French enamel pocket watch with Breguet hands and signed ‘Chevalier & Cochet’ achieved €3,600 (around $4,007) plus the buyer’s premium in September 2016. Image courtesy of Aste Bolaffi and LiveAuctioneers

Many of Breguet’s watchmaker contemporaries, such as Barbier le Jeune, Chevalier & Cochet, and Esquivillon & DeChoudens, proudly applied their signatures to their enamel pocket watches. Others crafted theirs anonymously. Regardless, their jaw-dropping creations both keep time and transcend it.

Snap up photo lithographs and gravures at Jasper52’s Feb. 16 sale

A 1988 Mary Ellen Mark image of a Black child seated and dreaming, a portrait of David Byrne taken in 1986 by Annie Leibovitz, and a 1947 John Gutmann photograph of a man working on the Golden Gate Bridge are among the top lots in Jasper52’s Photo Lithographs and Gravures auction. It will take place on Wednesday, February 16, starting at 4 pm Eastern time. Other artists represented in the 132-lot sale include Ansel Adams, Alfred Stieglitz, Yousuf Karsh, Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, Man Ray, Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Bruce Weber, Edward Steichen, Linda McCartney, Bunny Yeager, Jock Sturges, Robert Mapplethorpe, Brassai and Ruth Bernhard, to name a few.

David Byrne portrait by Annie Leibovitz, est. $200-$250

View the auction here.

Learn more about the auction on Auction Central News.

Luxe brands add cachet to Jasper52 Feb. 15 Jewelry & Watches auction

On Tuesday, February 15, starting at 5 pm Eastern time, Jasper52 will present an auction of Designer Jewelry & Watches. The 293 lots cover virtually every great name and brand in a dazzling array of pieces. Among them are an Alex Sepkus yellow gold and diamond ring featuring a large orange spessartite, an Hermes white gold and diamond Cape Cod Nantucket ladies’ watch, a Roberto Coin yellow gold and enamel giraffe-patterned bangle, and a Pasquale Bruni white gold, diamond and peridot cross pendant necklace.

Other top prizes include a circa-1994 Cartier yellow gold heart necklace, a Bulgari Mediterranean Eden yellow gold amethyst necklace, an Ilias Lalaounis yellow gold, diamond, ruby and sapphire Chimera bangle bracelet; a Tiffany & Co., yellow gold ladies’ pocket watch; a Piaget yellow gold cocktail ring set with a three-carat diamond; a Chanel Comete yellow gold, diamond, pink sapphire and pearl ring; and a Barry Kieselstein-Cord yellow gold and diamond Two Alligator Heads bracelet, among many others.

Cartier 18K yellow gold heart-pattern necklace, est. $10,000-$12,000

View the auction here.

Learn more about the auction on Auction Central News.

Stock and bond certificates: the value is in the story

A 1940 war bond issued festooned with Disney’s most recognizable characters to date sold for $200 plus the buyer’s premium in April 2005. Image courtesy of Early American History Auctions and LiveAuctioneers

Your net worth can comprise more than money. It can be artistic, historic, and emotional, and it can showcase famous signatures. Scripophily – the collecting of vintage stock and bond certificates for their own sake – covers all those bases. These documents no longer pay out on their face values, but they deliver other riches, some tangible, some not.

Stocks

The earliest known paper stock was issued by the East India Company in 1606, but stocks have existed in one form or another since Roman times. A stock certificate states you have invested in an enterprise and you expect a share of the profits, knowing they might never materialize. Local inns often served as loosely regulated stock exchanges.

A United States stock certificate from March 1792, issued during the week of the stock market crash that caused the country’s first financial crisis, achieved $35,000 plus the buyer’s premium in October 2021. Image courtesy of Freeman’s and LiveAuctioneers

Things changed in 1792 when a group of New Yorkers who traded stocks under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street signed the Buttonwood Agreement, a document for governing the transactions. It laid the groundwork for what would ultimately become the New York Stock Exchange, realizing Alexander Hamilton’s idea for a regulated national stock exchange. Today, nearly 1.5 billion stocks representing about 2,800 companies are traded every day via Hamilton’s creation.

Electronic trading has rendered printed stock certificates obsolete. In 2013, the Disney company, which knows a thing or two about shifting from analog to digital, became the last major entity to issue paper stock certificates.

A Pullman’s Palace Car Company stock certificate signed by company founder George Pullman and investor Andrew Carnegie achieved $12,000 in February 2020. Image courtesy of University Archives and LiveAuctioneers

America is an entrepreneurial nation, and stock certificates illustrate the story of its growth and expansion. Collectors can assemble portfolios of vintage certificates from companies that mined gold, silver or minerals; those that built railroads, automobiles and airlines; utilities, including providers of oil and gas; and companies for wireless or telephone services, to name a few. 

A North American Phonograph Company stock certificate signed by Thomas Edison sold for $8,000 in January 2020. Image courtesy of Freeman’s and LiveAuctioneers

Before the rise of logos and branding, the stock certificate fulfilled many of the needs that corporate graphics address, giving investors the sense that the issuer was a serious, upstanding, well-run concern that would not abscond with their money. And, before the age of the automatic pen, titans of industry signed these documents themselves. Proof of having been touched by a famous, historic hand imbues these documents – which are really just fancy-looking I.O.U.s – with value strong enough to outlast the projects for which they were issued. 

A Standard Oil stock certificate signed three times by John D. Rockefeller and cosigned by Henry M. Flagler sold for $8,000 in February 2020. Image courtesy of University Archives and LiveAuctioneers

“If you have a stock certificate signed by Rockefeller or Morgan, it’s worth money … It doesn’t matter how good looking it is or isn’t. That’s the first component for value. The second is the aesthetics, combined with the condition. If it’s in bad condition, it doesn’t really matter how good looking it is. If you can’t display it, it’s just not as interesting,’ Gary Rose of certificatecollector.com said in a 2008 interview with Collectors Weekly.

A stock certificate for Bugsy Siegel’s Las Vegas casino achieved $37,000 plus the buyer’s premium in September 2012. Image courtesy of RR Auction and LiveAuctioneers

Other factors affecting the desirability of a stock certificate include the type and color of the paper on which it is issued; whether it is printed or written; its date of issue; the images on the certificate, with special attention given to the vignette (aka the largest central image); the company that issued it; the type of stock it represents; who owned it; its rarity; and, of course, its historical significance. All these seemingly small details can add up to serious sums at auction.

Bonds

Bonds are typically issued by an authority such as a national government, an agency, a state or a municipality to raise funds for schools, roads, utilities and other improvements to infrastructure. But initially, bonds provided governmental bodies a tool for underwriting wars and conflicts.

A Revolutionary War-era bond issued by the state of Maryland sold for $2,200 in December 2011. Image courtesy of Early American History Auctions and LiveAuctioneers

The City of Amsterdam issued the first municipal bond in 1517 to help finance its debts. England paid for its continuous wars against France with bonds beginning with William III in 1694, and other European monarchs followed his lead. The American colonies issued bonds and loan certificates to fund its revolution against George III. America’s efforts in World War II likely would have suffered without sales of savings bonds.

The holder of a bond lends money to the issuing authority for a specific amount of time, expecting only interest on the loan until the bond matures, and nothing more. Unlike those who own stocks, bondholders do not gain any form of ownership in the authority offering the bonds.

Early bond certificates came with a feature that most stock certificates lack: coupons. To receive the allotted interest payment, the bondholder tore off a coupon and redeemed it with the issuing authority. The presence or absence of coupons affects how well a bond certificate performs at auction. Collectors also care whether the coupons are still attached to the bond and how many there are, in addition to wanting to know if the bond is signed, and by who, and wanting to know the overall condition of the document. 

A bond issued by the Republic of Texas in 1840 – five years before it became a state – with all its coupons intact sold for $325 plus the buyer’s premium in February 2021. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions and LiveAuctioneers

As with stock certificates, collectors of bonds enjoy a range of targets, from zero coupon bonds (which are redeemed whole at maturity); long term; short term; municipal; utility; money market; savings; perpetual; and even war bonds that are still being paid out.

This Spanish trading stock issued to Elizabeth Farnese, Queen of Spain by marriage to King Philip V, sold for $9,000 plus the buyer’s premium in June 2019. Image courtesy of Early American History Auctions and LiveAuctioneers

The practice of collecting stocks and bonds for their historic and cultural significance is relatively new, dating back to 1970 or so. Coins and stamps, two other collectibles issued with face values, have more than a century’s head start. Nonetheless, the pursuit of vintage and antique stock and bond certificates boasts a large and devoted following. Nascent collectors can look to associations such as the American Stock and Bond Collectors Association, which maintains an open group on Facebook. Also, the International Bond and Share Society (scripophilyusa.org) provides members with helpful resources and guides.

Possibly the most notorious stock certificate ever printed was issued by Playboy Enterprises. A lot containing eight such certificates, including two specimens, sold for $425 in December 2020. Image courtesy of Holabird Western Americana Collections and LiveAuctioneers

“Stocks [and bonds] are … interesting historically. Just about every stock in my collection, I’ve researched the company. A single stock can actually keep me busy for days. You try and research the company and see when it existed. Did they make anything important, was there anything special about them? They’re almost artifacts of history … ,’ said Rose.

A Houdini Picture Corporation stock certificate, signed by Houdini, realized $4,500 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2012. Image courtesy of Early American History Auctions and LiveAuctioneers

Stock and bond certificates for companies long since shuttered and projects finished ages ago still have value – it’s just different from the numbers printed upon them. The best examples tell a rousing tale with colors, graphics and design. ‘If you have a great-looking stock certificate,’ Rose continued, ‘even if it’s inexpensive, you can frame it, put it on a wall and it makes a very good work of art.’ Try doing that with a stamp or a coin. 

Exquisite decorative arts enliven New York auction, Feb. 9

On Wednesday, February 9, starting at 7 pm Eastern time, Jasper52 will conduct a sale of Exquisite Decorative Arts. The 266-lot lineup contains a three-piece British sterling silver tea set; mid-century Italian furniture; several sculptures in the Classical style; a Herend Queen Victoria extra-large vase; Russian lacquer boxes; a delicate-looking Chinese nephrite jade carving of a butterfly; a Maori swordfish bill carved in a traditional Rauponga pattern; several lamps and light fixtures by Stilux Milano of Italy, including a circa-1960s table lamp with a golden-colored blown-glass dome; sets of matryoshka (nesting) dolls; a 1981 sculpture of a pine tree by Curtis Jere; a Steuben blue Aurene glass funnel vase created in 2012; and a pair of 18th-century Chinese famille rose porcelain figures.

Circa-1960s Stilux Milano chrome table lamp, est. $1,000-$1,200

View the auction here.

Learn more about the auction on Auction Central News.

Americana takes center stage at Jasper52, Feb. 10

A red, white and blue Lone Star quilt; a Native American squash blossom necklace; and a 19th-century sampler stitched by a New Hampshire girl should earn top lot status at Jasper52’s New Hampshire Antiques Dealers: Americana sale, which will be offered on Thursday, February 10, commencing at 6 pm Eastern time. As always, the auction is curated by Clifford Wallach, an expert in tramp art, folk art and Americana.

Red, white and blue Lone Star quilt, est. $600-$800

View the auction here.

Learn more about the auction on Auction Central News.