Recent Auction highlights -
Aug. 2010
Rookwood Still Rocks at Keramics 2010 • Art Glass 2010
New name, new location, same high standards…
Judy Penz Sheluk
CINCINNATI, OH – Auctions at Rookwood, LLC, continuing its 20-year history of high quality sales from the Cincinnati Art Galleries, held its annual June auction June 5-6. As has come to be expected, a fine assortment of Rookwood pottery, American and European ceramics, Art Glass and other objects of virtue were presented in the three-session sale. The auction was held in its new location, in the historic Brewery District, but the staff remained the same, as did the attention to detail, the high standards for consignments and meticulous descriptions of the lots being offered.
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Recent Auction highlights - July 2010
Perfume Bottles Auction Reaches New High
Judy Penz Sheluk
 RESTON, VA - April 30
The April 30 Perfume Bottles Auction, held in conjunction with the International Perfume Bottle Association’s annual convention in Reston, Va., once again surpassed all previous years’ results with active bidding from more than 200 people in the sale room against phone and Internet bidders around the globe. Celebrity auctioneer Nicholas Dawes, famed Antiques Roadshow appraiser and Lalique expert, charmed and entertained the room, yet kept the bidding lively and at an even pace.
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Recent Auction highlights - JUNE 2010
C.W. Slagle Firearms Estate Collection Sizzles at Rock Island Auction
Having the time of his life
Judy Penz Sheluk
MOLINE, IL - April 30, May 1 & 2
 Rock Island Auction started the year strong with its first premiere sale of 2010 attaining over $7.6 million, bringing the yearly total over $10 million. The main draw of the auction was no surprise, C.W. Slagle’s unique derringers, palm pistols and curio type firearms. Well-known in the firearms world as a collector of the unusual, the antique derringer and curio type weapons in this auction drew bidding attention. However, this auction also proved that mid-range items are valuable for firearms collectors.
Rock Island Auction Company, 1-800-238-8022 or 309-797-1500, www.rockislandauction.com.
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Auction Profile - May 2010
Gordon ‘Clock Man’ Converse:
Having the time of his life
By Sharon Verbeten
All photos courtesy of Gordon S. Converse & Co.
Some boys are into remote-control airplanes, computers or sports. But when Gordon Converse was a young boy, he was into…clocks.
“There are some of us fascinated with mechanical or industrial things,” said Converse, owner of Gordon S. Converse & Co. in Wayne, Penn., a suburb of Philadelphia. “That aptitude has to be satisfied.”
As early as age 12, Converse started buying clocks and watches, as well as fixing them up. He even paid part of his college tuition by selling and repairing timepieces.
While he never envisioned it becoming a career, the gentle ticking of many second hands has echoed in his life for more than three decades.
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Auction Profile -
April 2010
Always Ready for Showtime!
Advertising, general store items spotlight four auctions each year
By Sharon Verbeten
All photos courtesy of Showtime Auctions
Mike Eckles may have grown up in the auction business - his dad was a cattle/farm auctioneer - but it wasn’t until Eckles retired from his first career that he followed in his father’s footsteps, so to speak.
Eckles, owner of Showtime Auction Services in Michigan, worked almost 30 years in advertising and marketing before he retired. He envisioned a relaxing retirement, playing a lot of golf. And he and his wife, Lori, enjoyed attending auctions for decades, amassing items for Eckles’ extensive collection of advertising and country store memorabilia (which he has since sold).
When Eckles grew tired of golf, “on a whim,” he attended auction school. Six years ago, Mike and Lori founded Showtime Auction Services, presenting two live auctions and two absentee auctions per year.
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Auction Profile
Red Baron’s Antiques
From Furniture To Flying Cars
March 2010
By Sharon Verbeten
“Give the customer what they want.” Seems like a pretty legitimate goal for any business—and it’s one Red Baron’s Antiques in Atlanta, Ga., has been pursuing for more than 30 years. But for owners Bob and Linda Brown, that mission prompted them to change the entire focus of their original business.
In the mid-1970s, the Browns opened a dress shop and, according to Chrissy Will, advertising director for Red Baron’s Antiques, Bob began buying antiques to stage the items in the shop.
“People started coming in and they loved the things he brought in,” Will said. “They bought the staging props before they bought the dresses. Bob had quite an eye for this, so they shifted their focus to antiques.”
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AUCTION PROFILE -
Feb. 2010
Hessney Auction Company
Serving the Rochester and Finger Lakes area since 1981
By Randall Decoteau
“Firearms are a niche we found four or five years ago,” began Joe Hessney, “but mainly we do antiques, estates and various business and restaurant liquidations.” Joe’s dad was in the antiques business and gave him a favorable disposition toward art and artifacts. He sold insurance for a while when he got out of school, but before long Joe enrolled in auctioneer school and started business in 1981.
Gun auctions started with an estate that included a collection of 500 firearms. As a hunter and fisherman, Joe has always been interested in this end of the business, and was glad to get started. Today, Hessney Auctions handles five or six rod and gun auctions per year - the firm just received 90 guns from an estate this past week. Joe said that sometimes you don’t really find a niche; it finds you.
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AUCTION PROFILE - Jan. 2010
The Gospel According to Garth’s
Marketing ‘green’ message important
to Ohio auctioneers
By Sharon Verbeten
In a world where “green” is a buzzword in every industry, the antiques and auction world is just starting to realize how to get involved. But how can an auction house—which by nature usually deals in things of the past—make an impact on future generations? Just ask Richard (“Jeff”) and Amelia Jeffers, owners of Garth’s Auctions in Delaware, Ohio.
“Everywhere we go, we are hit with the recycling message,” said Amelia, the company’s president and apprentice auctioneer. “We are preservationists by nature.” READ MORE... |
