Maine Antique Digest March 2015

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Maine Antique Digest, March 2015 9-A
Fragments
the auction were sold to museums and institutions. The Mis-
souri Historical Society purchased a pen-and-ink sketch by
Thomas Hart Benton (1889-1975) for $6325. Art historian
and Thomas Hart Benton authority Henry Adams identified
this preliminary sketch as “a study for a chapter heading for
the 1939 Limited Editions Club printing of Mark Twain’s
Tom Sawyer —for chapter XXXI, ‘Found and Lost Again.’
It’s very close to the final illustration but more loosely and
vigorously executed.” The art museum at the University of
Missouri in Columbia purchased for $5175 a work by Jack
Keijo Steele (1919-2003) that depicts rioting in Detroit in
1937. The Greenville County Museum of Art in South Caro-
lina purchased a 1940s oil on canvas of black sharecroppers
The Bailey epergne, an extremely
rare piece of R.S. Prussia
porcelain, brought $19,550.
When Helen Bailey of Kirksville,
Missouri, showed up with this
piece at the 1987 R.S. Prussia
convention in St. Louis, it was the
only R.S. Prussia epergne known
to exist (others have now turned
up). Mary McCaslin later pictured
it on the front cover of her book
R.S. Prussia &More Schlegelmilch
Porcelain Featuring Cobalt (2005).
Tailor’s Dummies, $270,250. Photo courtesy Dirk SoulisAuctions.
There were 52 lots from the Mariel Thompson
collection of early sulphide glass. This local
collection drew bidders from four countries, two
of whom asked to be live on the phone throughout
the bidding for the entire collection. The two
highest prices were for American icons. A 19th-
century sulphide cameo plaque of George Washington, after the medal by Pierre-
Simon-Benjamin Duvivier, with a beveled and faceted edge, impressed on the back
“Washington,” 3¼", sold for $3910. ABenjamin Franklin sulphide cameo plaque, also
3¼", impressed “Franklin” on the back, sold for $3450. The Thompson collection total
was more than $42,000; a local appraisal had valued it at $8000 just a year ago.
Elite Estate Buyers Inc., doing business as Elite
Decorative Arts, an auction house located in
Boynton Beach, Florida, and the company’s
president and owner, Christopher Hayes, pleaded
guilty on January 14 in U.S. District Court in
Miami to an illegal wildlife trafficking and
smuggling conspiracy. The auction house and
Hayes were accused of selling rhinoceros horns
and objects made from rhino horn, elephant
ivory, and coral that were smuggled from the
United States to China.
According to court records, Hayes and his
company sold six endangered black rhino
horns. Two of the horns were sold for $80,500
to a Texas resident involved in smuggling the
horns to China. Two more rhino horns were
purchased by an undercover U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) special agent. An-
other undercover agent with the USFWS con-
signed two horns for auction.
As part of the plea agreement, Hayes and
Elite have admitted to being part of a felo-
ny conspiracy in which the company helped
smugglers traffic in endangered and protect-
ed species in interstate and foreign commerce
and falsified records and shipping documents
in order to avoid the scrutiny of the USFWS
and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Elite aided foreign buyers by directing them to
third-party shipping stores that were willing to
send the wildlife out of the country with false
paperwork.
Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden
said in a statement, “Auction houses and art gal-
leries should be especially mindful of abiding by
the laws designed to prevent the extinction of
these species rather than devoting their expertise
to help smugglers evade the law. This prosecu-
tion is the result of a sophisticated and long-rang-
ing investigation into every aspect of the illegal
wildlife trade, and we will hold all law violators
fully accountable for their actions.”
Elite and Hayes also admitted to selling
items made from rhinoceros horn, elephant
ivory, and coral to an antiques dealer in Cana-
da, whom they then directed to a local shipper
that agreed to mail the items in Canada without
required permits. The defendants also admitted
to selling raw rhinoceros horns, which they be-
lieved were from a black rhinoceros, to a per-
son in Texas.
Hayes, 55, of Wellington, Florida, will be
sentenced on a date yet to be determined. The
maximum penalty is five years in prison and
a maximum fine of $500,000 for Elite and
$250,000 for Hayes, or up to twice the gross
gain.
Elite has agreed to pay a $1.5 million fine
and to no longer engage in the receipt, con-
signment, or sale of endangered or protected
wildlife, or items containing endangered or
protected wildlife, including items containing
rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory, and red coral.
Florida Auction House and Company President Plead
Guilty to Wildlife Smuggling Conspiracy
It’s been a busy winter for Frank
Gaglio and his company, Barn
Star Productions. The Rhinebeck,
New York, show promoter has
announced several major moves.
Two years ago, Gaglio revived
the long-running one-day Wilton
Antiques Show in the autumn. He is
now adding a two-day spring show
to his schedule. The spring Wilton
Antiques Show will be held at the
Wilton High School Field House in
Wilton, Connecticut, and will bene-
fit the Wilton Historical Society.
The two-day show will allow “a
more relaxed selling environment,
giving customers time to shop the
show on their weekend schedule,
meet with friends, go home, mea-
sure, and revisit the show on the
second day to make purchases. In
addition, the two-day format will
encourage dealers to pull together
more elaborate displays as well as
staying refreshed not having to man
their booths and break down on the
same day,” said Gaglio.
Gaglio said, “We are grateful to
the Wilton Historical Society, the
high school, and dozens of dealers
who have encouraged our moving
forward with the spring Wilton
event. As the landscape of popular,
successful antiques shows is chang-
ing daily, Wilton continues to offer
active show dealers another oppor-
tunity and venue to present their
material in a proven and sustainable
market. Collectors know the quality
and diversity of the Wilton shows,
and I am confident they will attend
and buy.”
The show dates are Saturday,
April 18, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
and Sunday, April 19, from 11 a.m.
to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 per
person with unlimited reentry. The
show has free parking, handicap
accessibility, show café, and com-
plimentary antiques magazines and
newspapers.
Gaglio also announced new dates
for the 46th annual Guilford An-
tiques Show—March 14 and 15.
The show will be held at its orig-
inal location, the Elisabeth Adams
School, 233 Church Street, Guil-
ford, Connecticut. The new dates
will accommodate the school’s
spring break as well as reduce the
chance of inclement weather.
The Guilford show will feature
about 35 exhibitors who will be in
room-style booths. On Saturday,
March 14, Frank Gaglio will lead
a walking tour through the show
and point out highlights and out-
standing objects. The walk, free
with admission, will begin at 2 p.m.
in the lobby. On Sunday, March
15, from noon to 2 p.m., Nest Egg
Auctions will perform verbal ap-
praisals of family heirlooms or at-
tic treasures. There is no charge for
the appraisals, although donations
to the Hyland House Museum are
welcomed.
In late January, it was announced
that Barn Star Productions had
assumed Cord Shows from VS
Shows Productions. Antiques in the
Church Yard in South Salem, New
York, will be under Barn Star Pro-
ductions’ management this year on
Saturday, July 4.
Cord Shows’ long-running Kato-
nah, New York, Lasdon Park shows
are on hold this year because they
will conflict with Barn Star’s new
Rhinebeck show on Memorial Day;
the Labor Day Lasdon Park show
conflicts with Brimfield. Other
Cord shows, including the Stocking
Stuffer and the Ridgefield Show,
are also on hold.
Vivien Cord and Ed McClure
have retained one show, the Vin-
tage Clothing, Accessories, Textiles
& Jewelry Show on April 18 and 19
in Danbury, Connecticut. They not-
ed that they were not ready to retire
entirely. This is their 44th year in
the business.
For more information about Barn
Star Productions, contact Frank
Gaglio at (845) 876-0616, e-mail
>, or check
the Web site ).
To contact Vivien Cord and Ed Mc-
Clure, call (914) 273-4667, e-mail
>, or check
.
Barn Star Productions Adds Spring Wilton
Show, Moves Guilford’s Dates, and Takes Over
Cord Shows
near tobacco barns by Buell Whitehead
(1919-1993) for $17,825, tripling the
highest auction price on record for a
painting by this artist.
A large and unusual pair of 18th-cen-
tury sterling silver salvers by Dublin sil-
versmith John Craig went to the London
Silver Vaults for $10,925, and a pair of
19th-century French bronze wine cool-
ers eventually hammered down for
$37,950 to a telephone bidder.
An oil on canvas triptych mural by
Kansas City artist Daniel MacMorris
(1893-1981) sold for $8625, a new auc-
tion record. A Joseph Vorst (1897-1947)
painting sold for $21,850, and a West-
ern genre scene oil by James Reynolds
(1926-2010) also brought $21,850.
For more information, contact Dirk
Soulis at > or
(816) 697-3830.