Long Tail of COVID Leaves Furniture Market in Dumps
Art Market Reaches Heights Big changes happened in the art and furniture auction market these past three months as the LONG TAIL of COVID evaporates. Furniture now stands frozen in …
Fukagawa Porcelain Goes Back Eight Generations
MA sent me a boxed Japanese Fukagawa porcelain vase with a lovely painting of a Warbler bird on a Cherry Blossom branch. The story goes back to 1616 in an …
Frigidaire Flair: A Kitchen Sculpture
I have a unique problem. I own a Frigidaire Flair stove range combination built into my condo in 1962. It came with the kitchen when I bought the place in …
Chinese Opera A Special Occasion
JL traveled the world throughout her life. She sent me a souvenir of the traditional Chinese opera she visited over fifty years ago as a guest of the Chinese Government. …
Spring the Seasons for Hats by Russ Russell
Imagine how I felt when the 1950s famous designer Russ Russell’s granddaughter asked me to appraise twenty of his hats in Montecito. I have a weakness for vintage hats. If …
Majolica Apothecary Pot Held Lethal Drugs
PO sent me a photo of a Portuguese majolica covered earthenware glazed pot, large at twenty inches tall. I see the word “Rincine” on the cover in Latin. The colors …
‘Old School’ Glassblowers
I’ve known many kinds of artists in my career. Perhaps the most inventive and eccentric artists by MEDIUM are glassblowers. I don’t know if it’s something to do with the …
Tartan Symbolizes Scottish Pride
My last name is Stewart, and, yes, I have a Scottish connection, both by marriage and by heredity. Thanks to my good fortune at the young age of 23, I …
Four Big Art Stories
Four big stories dominated the art world this week: On the upcoming cover of The New Yorker, a courtroom artist’s sketch of Trump. Whistler’s Mother re-visits Philadelphia (last seen in …
Midcentury Mosaic Quite a Find
RT sent me a midcentury painted mosaic tile plaque, a curious image of a yellow fern with green and red foliage signed EC or CC Bealle. The work has been …