Maine Antique Digest April 2015

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Maine Antique Digest, April 2015 13-A
Virginia Senate Bill No.
1215 was voted down 12-0
on January 26 by the Virginia
Senate Committee for Courts of
Justice after the bill’s sponsor,
Senator Adam Ebbin, withdrew
his support.
If passed, it would have been
one of the country’s most re-
strictive ivory laws, making any
person who “imports, sells, of-
fers for sale, purchases, barters,
or possesses with intent to sell
any ivory, ivory product, rhi-
noceros horn, or rhinoceros horn
product” guilty of a Class 1 mis-
demeanor for a first offense. A
second offense would be a Class
6 felony. No exception for an-
tiques was included in the bill’s
language.
The proposed law would
have provided that ivory prod-
ucts used in violation of the law
would be forfeited to the Com-
monwealth of Virginia.
A $37 Picasso
An original painting by Pablo
Picasso, La Coiffeuse (The
Hairdresser), was shipped to the
United States in a FedEx package
that declared it as an “art craft
toy” worth only $37. Discovered
by U.S. Customs and Border
Protection, it was subsequently
seized by Homeland Security
Investigations.
On February 26, U.S. attorney
Loretta E. Lynch filed a civ-
il complaint in federal court in
Brooklyn, New York, seeking
forfeiture of the painting worth
millions. La Coiffeuse, owned
by the French government, had
been reported stolen from a mu-
seum storeroom in Paris, France
in 2001. When it was shipped
to the United States from Bel-
gium on December 17, 2014, the
painting was obviously falsely
described as an “art craft” and
“art craft toy,” valued at €30
(about $37).
“A lost treasure has been
found,” stated Lynch. “Because
of the blatant smuggling in this
case, this painting is now subject
to forfeiture to the United States.
Forfeiture of the painting will ex-
tract it from the grasp of the black
market in stolen art so that it can
be returned to its rightful owner.”
La Coiffeuse, painted by Pi-
casso in 1911, is an oil on canvas
that measures 33 x 46 centime-
ters. It had been bequeathed to
the national museums of France
by art historian, illustrious cura-
tor, and former museums direc-
tor Georges Salles when he died
in 1966 and was assigned to the
collections of the Musée Nation-
al d’Art Moderne, Paris, France.
The painting was last publicly
exhibited in Munich, Germany,
where it had been on loan. Upon
its return to Paris, La Coiffeuse
was placed in the storerooms of
the Centre Georges Pompidou.
The painting was believed to
be in storage until another loan
request was received in 2001.
When museum staff discovered
that the painting was missing,
in November 2001, the paint-
ing was reported as stolen to the
French police. The painting’s lo-
cation remained unknown until
it arrived in the United States in
December 2014.
The shipping label attached to
the package containing La Coif-
feuse described its contents as
“Art Craft / 30€ / Joyeux Noel,”
indicating that the package con-
tained a low-value handicraft
shipped as a holiday present.
The commercial invoice shipped
with the painting similarly de-
scribed the contents as an “Art
Craft / Toy” valued at €30.
20%OFF
STOREWIDE Prizes
or email
14 Maine Street, Brunswick,
ME 04011
T ~207-725-2855
F~207-607-4513
•Open daily 10am to 5pm
•Fridays 10am to 7pm
•Dress up is optional
but highly
encouraged
•Come enjoy
decadent teas,
coffee, tea cakes and
pastries
•Bring all the women
in your life and the
men too
Cabot Mill Antiques
Will be hosting its
4th Annual Complimentary
Victorian Mother’s Day Tea
Sunday May 10 th, 2015
Tea Time 11:30am to 3pm!
WANTED
COLLECTIONS
Accumulations
of
Family and
Business
Letters,
Manuscripts,
Documents,
Diaries, Ledgers
ALL STATES • ANY PERIOD
Please Describe and Price to:
Carmen D. Valentino
Rare Books & Manuscripts
Drawer 6
2956 Richmond St.
Philadelphia, PA 19134
215-739-6056
TiffanyLampExpert.com must have doubled the effect
of candlelight reflecting in the
room at night. It was a bequest
of Maria Dickinson Logan in
1939 to the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania. It should never
leave Stenton again.
Textiles include a whole tam-
my cloth blue quilt with yellow
on the reverse, a green whole
cloth quilt with a printed re-
verse backing, and a band sam-
pler stitched by Sarah Logan in
1725 at Ann Marsh’s school.
The sampler was left by Maria
Dickenson Logan to Loudon,
the historic house near Stenton
run by Philadelphia Parks and
Recreation. Sarah’s sister, Han-
nah Logan, made a pocketbook
at Ann Marsh’s school for her
future husband. Under the flap
she embroidered his name and
date, “John Smith’s Pocketbook
1744.” Hannah Logan and John
Smith married in 1748.
Pewter, silver, and gold have
also come back to Stenton for
a year. James Logan commis-
sioned Philadelphia silversmith
Johannis Nys to make a tankard
in 1714 in honor of his marriage
to Sarah Read. It is engraved
with the cipher “JSL.” A cann by
Philip Syng is engraved with the
Logan stag’s-head crest. (The
Logan crest is also on pewter in
the pewter cupboard.) Hannah
Logan, who married John Smith,
gave a porringer by Joseph Rich-
ardson, Sr. to her daughter Sarah
Smith. It is engraved “HL to SS.”
One gold cufflink was found by
archeologists at Stenton. It is
marked “S” and “L,” suggest-
ing that it may have belonged to
James’s wife, Sarah Logan, or to
his daughter Sarah.
James Logan’s large brass,
silver, glass, and iron English
pocket watch is marked “R.
Arnold Providence.” It chimes;
the perforated holes allow the
sounds to ring clear.
AGreek skyphos that survived
among the Logan artifacts at
Loudon is believed to have been
sent by the British Quaker bota-
nist Peter Collinson (1694-1768)
to Logan, though no documenta-
tion has been found. A collection
of marble samples, believed to
have been owned by Logan, was
also among the collections at
Loudon that have come back to
Stenton.
Most of the ceramics on view
have been excavated at Stenton.
Among them is a red earthen-
ware bowl decorated in slip with
an image of an Indian with a ri-
fle. There is some English salt-
glaze stoneware, Chinese ex-
port porcelain, and Wistarburgh
glass, including a part of a bottle
with the letters “IL” on its seal.
The simple, rickety bookshelf
upstairs once held James Lo-
gan’s library (now at the Library
Company of Philadelphia). Lo-
gan’s papers are at the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania. The
only painting from life of James
Logan was painted by Gustavus
Hesselius. It is on loan from the
Philadelphia History Museum.
(There have been some copies of
the painting.)
A Queen Anne side chair, a
corner chair with a shell similar
to that on the Logan settee, and
six maple chairs with trapezoidal
slip seats, plain S-curved cabri-
ole legs, serpentine stretchers,
and solid vasiform splats help
to convey the 1740 to 1770s ap-
pearance of James Logan’s yel-
low lodging room with its suite
of 12 maple side chairs, along
with the Logan maple high chest
and table.
The telescope, loaned by
Wright’s Ferry Mansion, tells
the story that James Logan or-
dered “Glasses for a Telescope”
in March 1716 from Joseph Wil-
liamson. Optics and astronomy
were keen interests for Logan;
his treatise on optics was pub-
lished in Leyden, the Nether-
lands in 1739-40.
“Stenton’s authenticity res-
onates,” writes Laura Keim in
her Stenton Room Furnishings
Study, published in 2011, noting
its “unchanged physical state
and its many Logan and Norris
family furnishings.” Now with
all these loans, it is worth a spe-
cial trip to Philadelphia to see it.
There is no other historic house
in America as authentic.
Stenton is open January
through March by appointment
only and from April 1 to De-
cember 23, Tuesday through
Saturday, 1 to 4 p.m. or by ap-
pointment; adults are $5, seniors
and students, $4, children under
six, free. For information, see
the Web site )
or phone (215) 329-7312. The
Stenton Guidebook is $20 from
Stenton, 4601 N. 18th Street,
Philadelphia, PA 19140.
“LOGANIA”
FROM PAGE 11-A
The Nantucket Antiques
Show, held annually for 35-
plus years, has been rebranded
as the Decorative and Fine Art
Show Nantucket. The dates and
location of the show remain
August 7-10 at the Nantucket
High School, Nantucket,
Massachusetts.
Jerry Ritch, a second-gener-
ation antiques dealer and a 50-
year veteran of the show circuit,
has tweaked and revived this
dealer and local favorite. The
show directive to dealers is to
“emphasize interesting, unique
items that can really transform a
room. By encompassing antique,
vintage, and modern goods, this
promises to be quite an interest-
ing assemblage of dealers.”
For more information, con-
tact Jerry Ritch at (716) 553-
8055,
artshow.com>, or
aol.com>.
Nantucket Antiques Show Rebranded
by Frances McQueeney-Jones
Mascolo
Changing demographics have
killed off another venerable
antiques show. Boston’s Ellis
Memorial Antiques Show saw
49 years as the city’s premier
antiques show before closing up
shop in 2008.
It was picked up and run as
the Ellis Boston Antiques Show
in 2011 by producers Tony
Fusco and Bob Four of Fusco
& Four. Now after four years,
Fusco and Four have announced
that they will no longer produce
the show. In its stead they will
present the Boston Home Décor
Show, which is tailored to the
changing tastes and demograph-
ics of collectors in Boston and
its environs. As many collectors
downsize and others choose to
integrate antiques into their con-
temporary homes, the Boston
Home Décor Show will offer a
broader selection of antique and
contemporary furnishings.
The Boston Home Décor
Show will open November 19
and will run through November
22 at the Cyclorama at the Bos-
ton Center for the Arts. The gala
preview on November 19 will
benefit Design Industries Foun-
dation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA).
For information, call (617)
363-0405 or e-mail
cofour.com>. A Web site for the
show is forthcoming.
Ellis Antiques Show Closes Again
Virginia Rejects Ivory Ban
New Temporary
Location for
Cahoon Museum
The Cahoon Museum of
American Art has a new
temporary location: 30 Bates
Road in Mashpee Commons
North (in the former New
Balance space), Mashpee,
Massachusetts.
The museum’s permanent lo-
cation at 4676 Falmouth Road
in Cotuit is being restored and a
new addition is being built. The
permanent location will reopen
in the fall of 2015.
The temporary location’s
hours of operation are Tuesdays
through Saturdays from 10 a.m.
to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to
4 p.m. Admission is free. More
information may be obtained
by e-mailing
hoonmuseum.org> or by calling
(508) 428-7581.