Maine Antique Digest April 2015

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Maine Antique Digest, April 2015 9-A
F r a gm e n t s
Allis Ghim is the new
president and CEO of
Bidsquare .
com), the on-line bidding
platform formed by six regional
auction houses: Leslie Hindman
Auctioneers, Rago, Skinner, Inc.,
Brunk Auctions, Pook & Pook,
Inc., and Cowan’s Auctions.
Ghim will have oversight of
the overall strategic direction
and the expansion and operation
of Bidsquare.
“Allis has a deep understand-
ing of e-commerce and under-
stands the partners’ vision of
where we believe the business
is heading,” said Cincinnati
auctioneer Wes Cowan, one of
Bidsquare’s founding partners.
Ghim has over ten years of
experience in e-commerce and
was previously vice president
of global sales and operations
at 1stdibs.com. Prior to 1stdibs,
Ghim spent eight years at eBay.
She is a Fulbright Scholar and
holds an M.B.A. from the New
York University Stern School of
Business and a B.S. from Carne-
gie-Mellon University.
Bidsquare Gets
New President
and CEO Jennifer Carlquist is the new curator at Boscobel
House and Gardens in Garrison, New York,
where she will research, oversee, and celebrate the
museum’s collection of New York furniture and
decorative arts from the Federal period. She will
also organize annual exhibitions that highlight
the museum’s strengths and artistic traditions of
the Hudson Valley. Carlquist will organize the
upcoming exhibition Every Kind of a Painter: The
Art of Thomas Prichard Rossiter (1818-1871).
An art historian, Carlquist specializes in Amer-
ican interiors and 17th- to 21st-century decorative
arts and designs made, collected, and/or retailed
in America. Her 15-year career as a museum pro-
fessional includes curatorial and fund-raising po-
sitions at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Weis-
man Art Museum, and Glensheen Historic Estate,
and a fellowship at Winterthur Museum, Garden
and Library.
Carlquist teaches at SUNY New Paltz and has
guest lectured at Parsons New School for Design,
Rhode Island School of Design, Victorian Soci-
ety in America Summer Schools, Newport Sym-
posium, Decorative Arts Forum, and museums
across the country.
Boscobel is located in Garrison, New York, just
one mile south of Cold Spring and directly across
the river from West Point. For more information,
visit the Web site ) or call
(845) 265-3638.
Jennifer Carlquist Appointed Curator at Boscobel
Curator Jennifer Carlquist in the drawing room of
the mansion.
W hen auctioneer Luke Witman was cleaning
out the estate of collector Mary S.
McCommon of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, he found
an old, stained, rain-soaked box in the garage, not
very far from the trash bin. “I always tell my guys,
‘Look in every box,’” he said.
When the box was opened, Witman found some
Gaudy Dutch and other ceramics, and a set of four
blue and white spatterware cups and saucers in the
rare Cannon pattern.
“I knew they were rare,” Witman
said. Although there was no official
auction estimate, Witman thought the
set might bring $3000/5000. When the
set sold at Witman Auctioneers’ sale
on February 28 in Mt. Joy, Pennsylva-
nia, it brought $23,100 (includes buy-
er’s premium), selling to dealer Greg
Kramer, underbid on the phone by col-
lectors.
In Spatterware and Sponge: Hardy
Perennials of Ceramics by Earl F. and
Ada F. Robacker (1978), the authors noted that
Cannon was a pattern “rarely found.” In 1973, a
spatterware cup and saucer with a drawing of a
cannon on it brought $5600 at the sale of James
Pennypacker’s collection in Reading, Pennsylva-
nia.
For more information, contact Witman Auc-
tioneers Inc., Manheim, Pennsylvania, at (717)
665-5735.
Photo courtesy Witman Auctioneers, Inc.
Four Cannon Pattern Cups and Saucers Bring $23,100
iGavel ) has opened a branch
in New Braunfels, Texas.
Lark Mason Sr., founder of iGavel, has pur-
chased a barn in the German-settled town of New
Braunfels, between San Antonio and Austin.
“The decision is strategic and is based on the
vibrancy of the Texas economy, terrific business
climate, the geographic advantage of being in the
center of the U.S., and the proximity to Austin,
an incubator of tech firms,” said Mason. “Estab-
lishing an office here allows us to better serve our
clients, many of whom live in Texas and the sur-
rounding states."
In 2014, iGavel’s combined sales for six of the
larger regional associates totaled $19.5 million.
The regional associates are Elders Fine Art &
Antique Auctions, Nokomis, Florida; Everard &
Company, Savannah, Georgia; Litchfield County
Auctions & Appraisals, Litchfield, Connecticut;
Lark Mason Associates, New Braunfels and New
York City; Nye & Company, Bloomfield, New
Jersey; and Witherell’s, Sacramento, California.
Of the items that totaled nearly $19.5 million,
164 lots realized more than $10,000 each, and of
these, eight fetched more than $100,000 each.
Three new associates have joined iGavel: Ja-
son Roske of KC Auction Company, Kansas
City, Missouri; Christopher Mayor of Abington
Auctions, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Margaret
O’Neill of Mill City Auctions, Minneapolis, Min-
nesota.
For more information, visit the Web site (www.
igavelauctions.com) or ).
iGavel founder Lark Mason (right) and his son,
Lark Mason III, at the New York Ceramics & Glass
Fair in January. Lark Mason III has joined the firm
and will head up the iGavel branch in Texas.
iGavel Opens a Texas Branch
Ascientific first has led to
an auction house and its
director pleading guilty to
offering prohibited ivory for sale
in Canada.
On February 27, Five Star
Auctions and Appraisals of To-
ronto and its director, Chun Al
Jin, pleaded guilty to charges
under the Wild Animal and Plant
Protection and Regulation of In-
ternational and Interprovincial
Trade Act (WAPPRIITA). The
company and Jin were fined
Can$9375 each and ordered to
forfeit two elephant ivory tusks.
In November 2013, Environ-
ment Canada enforcement of-
ficers learned that two carved
elephant ivory tusks, measuring
30.7" and weighing 3.75 pounds
each, were being offered for sale
by Five Star Auctions and Ap-
praisals, which claimed that the
tusks were antique.
Authorities seized the tusks and
took them to Université Laval in
Quebec City where radiocarbon
dating was used to analyze the
tusks. Radiocarbon dating mea-
sures the continuous decay of
the radioactive isotope of carbon,
carbon-14, in order to determine
when an animal died. A foren-
sic report revealed that the tusks
were from animals killed in late
1977 or early 1978.
Under Canadian law, a person
who is knowingly in possession
of elephant ivory for the purpose
of offering it for sale is in contra-
vention of WAPPRIITA, unless
he or she can establish that the
animal was taken from the wild
before July 3, 1975, or that the
elephant ivory was legally im-
ported into Canada.
The case against Five Star
Auctions and Appraisals is the
first time that radiocarbon dating
technology has been used to ob-
tain a conviction under wildlife
law in Canada.
Canadian Auction House Busted for
Selling 1970s Ivory
The Lake Country Antiques
& Garden Show will be held
in a new location. The 70-dealer
show will take place May 1-3
at the Waukesha County Expo
Center, 1000 Northview Road,
Waukesha, Wisconsin. For more
information, call (262) 968-4913
or check the Web site (http://
Lake Country Antiques & Garden Show
Moves to New Location
Antiques Week in New Hampshire:
Pickers Market Changes Dates
Barn Star Productions’ 21st
Pickers Market Antiques
Show is changing dates. It will
be held on Friday, August 7,
in Concord, New Hampshire,
during Antiques Week in New
Hampshire.
Frank Gaglio of Barn Star
said, “Last year we moved the
Pickers Market one day earlier
to Thursday after the NHADA
show with the goal of shortening
the week for collectors and deal-
ers alike, plus saving customers
an additional overnight stay. We
also felt having the two shows
on the same day would stimu-
late sales and interest across the
board. However, when custom-
ers arrived at Pickers, they were
exhausted from being up since 5
a.m. in line for the Dealers show;
they had difficulty making pur-
chasing decisions. We had an
excellent gate, but some dealers’
sales were less than when the
show was on Friday. We also
heard from several exhibitors
at the NHADA show that they
were not able to shop Pickers,
as they were committed to their
own booth at their show. We
hope this change of day makes
better sense for everyone and
most importantly our exhibitors
and customers.”
The move to Friday will allow
Pickers Market dealers to have
a full day of setup time. The
Thursday date meant that dealers
had a difficult late night setup on
Wednesday evening.
The show is held at the Doug-
las N. Everett Arena, 15 Loudon
Road, in Concord. Show hours
are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.