Native-American-Art-Auctions-Art-Antiques

Whether traditional or contemporary, Native American artwork is both highly collectible and universally appealing. Native American art forms the basis of many exemplary public as well as private art collections. People that collect Native American artwork can be very passionate about their collections.

Older, more traditional Native American artwork and cultural artifacts are not merely revered and / or emulated by modern artists, they are also held dear as parts of art collections the world over.

Fine Native American art done by well known American Indian artists, such as Nampeyo, the Hopi potter, can raise the caliber of a private or public art collection quite significantly. Iris Nampeyo lived on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona. She made a good income making pots and selling them at local trading posts.

A remarkable aspect of Nampeyo's work is that over time she became more ad more interested in making pots according to ancient ways, as opposed to the modern pottery that was being made by people at the time. The quality of her work, as well as her interest and use of ancient pottery techniques certainly add to the demand and high price tags of her work.

If you find yourself in the market for Native American art antiques, be prepared to pay the price. Particularly with Native American art, availability doesn't correlate to demand or cost, as is the case with many other highly collectible art types.

Items such as early Plains beadwork or late nineteenth century basketry are certainly examples of what would be considered extremely rare finds in the world of Native American art auctions.

When choosing from various art pieces, compare styles, read and research. This is really the only way to educate oneself about the various types of American Indian art. Then it's time to shop around. Just like anything else, you won’t know what’s available unless you take the time to comparison shop.

During the 1900s many of the Native American art and crafts that other peoples associate with American Indians began to be commercially produced, especially by Asian nations. These Native American fakes became so widely purchased that several millions of dollars were taken from the American Indian artists in the form of cheap imitation Native American art.

Before purchasing Native American art antiques it's a good idea to perform additional research has to the authenticity of the piece or pieces. Unless you're highly knowledgeable on the topic and have experience spotting fakes, this type of art can be extremely hard to verify by inexperienced sight alone.

All in all, collecting American Indian art antiques is just like collecting any other antique, the definitive and primary timeframe is anything that is pre-1950s. Although a name that is well known can seriously increase the value of an object, condition, workmanship and prevalence are factors that are just as important.

Increasingly, even seasoned art dealers that deal in American Indian art find it difficult to discern authentic art antiques from imitation pieces. For this reason, it is particularly important to opt for dealing with reputable sources. In order to ensure that your perfect Native American art antique is the real deal it’s worth taking the time to locate such a well known art dealer or museum.

There are specialized art museums and dealers that offer Native American art pieces. These organizations generally are most interested in promoting Native art and cultures. The better of these institutions and organizations directly invest many of the profits gained from the sale of art pieces back into the Native American community.

When it comes to collecting Native American art antiques or any other type of art, don’t buy it unless you absolutely love it. Your best pieces are going to cost a pretty penny. If you don’t fall in love with a piece, chances are you’re not going to like it any better once it’s on your wall. So hold out for the perfect piece, you’ll be glad you did.

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Art-Auctions-For-Sculptures

Art auctions for sculptures are a great way to find new art for your home or office. I like to peruse the online auction sites for nice sculptures. I have found some very interesting items when I’ve looked.

There was a sculpture sold on eBay recently that was entitled Love. The art auction for this sculpture went above the estimated value. The piece was red and blue and made of polychrome aluminum. The French artist’s name was Robert Indiana. The art auction listed the item as six feet tall, six feet wide and three feet deep.

I liked a hall stand that was carved from wood that I found in an online art auction. The carving depicted a playful bear climbing a fir tree. There was a young bear cub carved into one of the branches. The branches were there to serve as garment hooks and there was even a mirror on the piece in a carved oak leaf designed frame.

There was an exquisite sculpture by a Russian artist that was sold recently in an art auction. The subject of the sculpture was a Bar Mitzvah boy and the medium was marble. I think that marble statues seem so timeless and elegant. It is an excellent medium for a sculpture.

The wife of artist Yitzhak Danziger signed a certificate for the brass sculpture her husband completed in 1969. Danziger is an Israeli artist. The piece looked very abstract to me. It did not do very well in the art auction and sold for less than it’s estimated worth.

I found a lot of bronze sculptures in the online art auctions. Most of them were of people, but the ones I liked best were abstract. My absolute favorite was a Harry Bertoia bronze sculpture called Bush. This piece is also known as a Brain or Coral. The bidding for this piece of art in the art auction was started at thirty nine thousand dollars. It didn’t get a bidder.

I saw little interest in the bronze sculpture art auctions for animal figures. I’m not sure if the reasons they didn’t get bidders were because of subject matter or because of price. Bronze is an expensive medium for an artist to work in and it takes a lot of training to be proficient.

I have a favorite glass sculptor. His work goes for so much in online art auctions that I will probably never own a piece of his work. Dale Chihuly is magnificent. There are permanent installations of his tremendous work all over the world.

Crystal sculptures look more like paperweights to me. Online art auctions for glass representations of animals and sea life are really neat. My favorite art auction recently was for a hand blown glass jellyfish. It was magical.

I liked another online art auction for optical crystal that had been turned into a work of art by artist Christopher Ries. The piece was small and called Lotus. It would look so pretty in a well lit display case.

I’m jealous of the buyer that gets to call this sculpture their own. They won the piece in the art auction for just under a thousand dollars. This artist uses blocks of pure, clear lead crystal cast from Schott Glass Technologies of Duryea, Pennsylvania. It is truly amazing art. His work is prominently displayed in numerous galleries and even in the Columbus airport in Columbus, Ohio.

Early-American-Art

There are many very good examples of what you could call early American artwork that has survived to this day, and as time passes to create particular movements in style throughout the world, fundamental ideas change with a variation in locale and timeframe when it comes to the individual artists and their brilliant visions. Each artist certainly contributing something to the overall picture of the world as it shapes and changes around them, it takes an artistic will strong enough to transcend any particular era to convey the feeling of the period in such a condensed format, and the various forms that this artwork can take is numerous.

There are many styles and mediums from which to choose your vintage piece of artwork, and when you do the adequate amount of research on the subject, then you will be better prepared to find that ideal painting or work by an artist that you can relate easier to. With early American artwork, it can be a much shorter time to find and acquire a print of the piece that you would wish to own, and this can also be a more cost effective way of getting those works that can best be appreciated by your tastes in artwork and artist.

Early American art runs the spectrum from Native American art to the modernist painters and artists we can see presently, and their artwork can all be summed up under the category of early American art, creating a totally unique perspective on the American landscape. When you wish to see a museum-quality piece in your own living room, there can be multiple ways to acquire the ideal artwork you find, and not all of them have to cost an arm or a leg. If you think that the buying experience has to be an expensive one, then you are sorely mistaken, but any museum piece can be considered priceless in some hands.

There are various ways to deal with finding the bargain that suits your needs, and it does not always affect you to find a print and put a frame around it, the worth of many prints can be a way to bypass the expense of trying to buy one of these improbably affordable pieces. If you happen to be cautious about buying a piece of questionable value, then perhaps purchasing an art print of such works can make it more worthwhile, and especially if you find yourself to be a novice in the art scene. There are many places where you would be able to find printed reproductions, and can have them bought right on the premises of the location.

There is still much American artwork being produced that is quite relevant a reflection on the state of affairs as they stand throughout time, and no matter the period, there is certainly a way to find an example of what you are looking for whether the artist happens to be involved in a particular movement or otherwise at the time. There are many various definitions that American art falls under depending upon when the work was made, though only after the nineteenth century did movements begin to be started in America, and it was then that artists like Jackson Pollack were given the freedom to express themselves.

This lead to the outgrowth of the Abstract Expressionist movement in art, came up out of the colliding of influences between Ashcan artwork and the modernists from Europe like the Cubists and abstract painters, and appeared in the years after World War II. Within the mindset of this movement, the abandoning of formal composition gave way to arrangements that concentrated on space and color to represent the physical act of painting on the canvas, and created works based around instinct instead of representation of real objects. These works would eventually affect the works of pop art that would come to prominence later in the century.

Finding-Maritime-Items-At-Art-Auctions

I find some really nice maritime items for my collection at art auctions. I went to an art auction in Charleston last month and found a pair of candle powered navigation lights that were used on ships in the 19th century. These types of candles were also used in lighthouse stairwells.

My collection also includes a maritime item that was made in 1891. It is a chronometer and it still keeps great time. It is very special because the broad arrow on it indicates that it was purchased by the British Navy and they are known to have only the best time pieces. I found this piece of my collection at an art auction in New Hampshire.

I have another chronometer in my collection that I found at an art auction in Dallas. It was sold to me in a wooden box from someone that had owned it for fifty years. They had kept this maritime relic in a closet. I plan to keep it on display.

I was at an art auction in Miami a couple of years ago and found a fantastic maritime item for my personal collection. The compass that I won was over 100 years old and was made in Persia. The compass face has all twelve signs of the zodiac engraved on it. I thought that this was a great find.

My kids thought I was crazy when I drove to an art auction is Hartford and drove back with three hundred pounds of maritime Navy anchors. I thought they’d look great in the yard. I like to have art in my yard, in the beds I made around my trees. No one wanted to help me unload them.

I found myself in a bidding war at an art auction in Mississippi over the original builder’s plate from the SS Contessa. It is truly a unique and wonderful maritime item. I have polished it and it gleams in the display case I bought for it.

Maritime items don’t seem to be in as much demand anymore. A few years ago, my collection got easier to add to for some reason. Art auctions everywhere I went started having really great things on the auction block.

The brass plaques from old ships have always been one of my favorite things to find up for sale at art auctions. One of my favorite maritime plaques came from a ship that was used in WWII. The ship that the plaque was on was called the Marechal Joffre and it was taken from the French in 1942. The Maritime Commission renamed the ship USS Rochambeau.

I had a friend of mine that was going to attend an art auction in Anchorage a couple of years ago bid on a bell for me. I had no idea how much the freight charge was going to end up being, but I wanted this maritime item in my collection. It was magnificent.

There is going to be a really nice maritime item at an art auction I intend to attend this weekend. Lighthouse items are of interest to me more and more lately. I have found that there is going to be an antique brass oil lamp up for auction and I plan to win it. The price will probably get up to fifteen hundred dollars, but I don’t care. I need this maritime item in my collection.

Art-Poster-Auctions

Art poster auctions are very popular. Owning great pieces of art has gotten easier. A properly framed art poster can be as nice as owning an original painting and it is far less expensive.

I have found many different art styles in art poster auctions. The most expensive art poster in the abstract style sold recently on eBay was a 1959 Picasso entitled Les Menines. The poster sold for $560.00.

There was an original and authentic art poster auction recently in the art deco style that caught my eye. The poster was from 1961 and was for Breakfast at Tiffany. The poster sold for over three thousand dollars.

World’s Fair art poster auctions seem to do very well. I saw an auction for the 1939 New York World’s Fair that sold for more than fifteen hundred dollars. There was another art poster auction for the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair that went for just under fifteen hundred dollars.

In the Asian art poster auction market, there seems to be some really odd things. I found a poster that depicted McDonald’s hamburgers invading Japan. The poster got fourteen bids from six different people and it closed at four hundred fifty five dollars.

In the category of Impressionist art poster auctions, I found one for the 2006 Jazz Festival in New Orleans that sold for over four hundred dollars. It was done by a Cajun artist named James Michalopulos and featured Fats Domino. The colors in the poster were brilliant.

I found that the category of Modern art posters seems to get the most auction listings. There is one art poster that keeps being re-listed because it just doesn’t sell. The poster is from the Elvis movie Love Me Tender. Apparently the owner of this poster has determined that it is worth one thousand dollars and will not take less than that. He hasn’t sold it yet, but I wish him luck.

There were another Modern art poster auctions that really did well as far as I could tell. They were Greyhound travel posters. There were a couple of art poster auctions that sold recently. They were both created in the 1950’s and both of the posters sold for around three hundred dollars each.

After researching so many art poster auctions, I have come to the conclusion that my parents and grandparents should have collected every piece of advertising they ever came across. They would be worth a small fortune by now!

The Sante Fe Railroad as a subject is prominently sold in art poster auctions. These must be highly collectable because they generate a lot of bids. If the art poster auction is for an old original poster of the Sante Fe Railroad, it will fetch upwards of four hundred dollars.

I found an art poster auction that was listed by the artist himself. He made a black ink drawing for the Pearl Jam concert in Rome in 1996. This original drawing was what the poster was made from.

Pop art poster auctions cover a lot of different topics. One of my favorites was a 7-up soda advertisement from 1970 that featured The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. The item did not sell, but it was fun to look at.

In the style of Realism, art poster auctions abound. I found one that was an advertisement for United Airlines and depicted the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. This poster sold for over one hundred fifty dollars.

The most interesting art poster auctions I found were for rock concerts. I liked the one listed for at 1956 Rolling Stones concert and there was another one for a Grateful Dead concert in Hawaii. They sold for a combined total of over seven thousand dollars. The interest in these art poster auctions was overwhelming.

Advertising seems to be a big theme in the art poster auctions that I looked at. I found advertisements for just about everything. I liked the poster for Russian beer that was created in the late 1920’s. It would look fantastic framed in my neighborhood bar. The buyer of this particular poster bought it for $475.00.

Concert posters are fun to look through. Art poster auctions feature a lot of posters for concerts. I found one that was made by Jim Pollock for a Phish concert in 2000 in Hartford. I liked it, but I am not a fan of Phish and the three hundred dollars that it went for seemed a little pricey to me.

Upcoming-Trip-To-Sothebys

I am planning a trip to an auction at Sotheby’s in June. I have a real interest in 20th century British art and they have an art auction scheduled. I have spent a great deal of time planning this trip.

While I was browsing the Sotheby’s online catalog, I found a signed Sickert named South Façade of St. Jacques. I saw this painting once in London in 1971. It has been in Canada since its purchase around that same time.

The painting is thought to be painted around 1900 after the artist had been in the town of Dieppe for two years. He found a great deal of beauty in this medieval place. He loved the architecture and it was the subject of a lot of his work. Sotheby’s has several pieces of his work up for auction at this event.

I also noted in the catalog that Sotheby’s will be auctioning off a watercolor of a cat by the artist Gwen John. She painted a lot of cats and also portraits of seated women. She was known to paint the same picture over and over again like Monet did.

There was another lot listed in the Sotheby’s catalog that interested me. I really am partial to Sickert and there was a painting that he completed in Venice while he was there with his wife. There are stories of marital troubles between them and the trip to Venice is thought to have been taken to repair their marriage.

I can’t wait to see the painting Thunder in the Mountains by James Dickson Innes. His watercolors are really splendid. The painting is thought to have been painted in 1910 in the mountains of North Wales. Sotheby’s has such an extensive catalogue for this auction.

I’m anxiously awaiting my trip to London. I love Sotheby’s art auctions and going out to expensive restaurants at night. I plan to go to the Mango Tree while I’m there. It is the best Thai food, hands down, that I’ve ever eaten.

My business partner was really taken with the Landscape Near Lyons painted by Sir Matthew Smith. I liked this oil painting as well. The Sotheby’s catalogue reported that the painting was done in 1922 and that there is a still life of flowers on the reverse. My partner will be unable to make this trip and has asked me to bid on it for him.

I have a small private collection of pencil drawings. I liked the Flower in a Glass Vase that was penned by Christopher Wood in 1925. I think that it would display nicely with other still lifes that I have. I think that this pencil art may well go for twelve thousand dollars. My favorite pencil drawings have all been found at Sotheby’s auctions

I have a patron that is very interested in a lot at the Sotheby’s auction that contains Poppies by Ivon Hithchens. She has authorized me to bid up to sixty five thousand dollars for her. I hope that I am successful in acquiring it for her. I know that this Sotheby’s auction will be well attended because they all are. It is too much to hope for that no one will notice this fantastic painting.

After looking forward to this trip for so long and poring over the Sotheby’s catalogue so intently, I must say that I have my heart set on Broomswade by John Piper. I absolutely must have this watercolor. The person that is selling it has been the only owner. He bought it directly from John Piper in 1966. If I win nothing else, I will win this painting.

The only other painting that I plan to bid on at the Sotheby’s auction is one by William Turnbull. There is a collector that I know that desperately wants this painting. He owns several of this artist sculptures and has now started to collect his paintings.

Books-About-Dale-Chihuly

Books about art sell well in art auctions. I have found many publications that feature my favorite artist, Dale Chihuly. There are books, catalogs and even magazines routinely up for auction.

Chihuly Gardens and Glass is currently for sale in several art auctions. This book is beautifully illustrated and shows installations at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago. The book has an essay by Barbara Rose addressing Dale Chihuly's place in art history. There is another essay by the Garfield Conservatory director that provides a history of garden conservatories

Chihuly at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew features more than one hundred photographs that captured this event. An art auction for this book sold for fifty dollars. The exhibit at the Royal Botanical Gardens was Dale Chihuly’s first botanical garden exhibition outside of the United States.

Chihuly Seaforms has an excellent value at an art auction. It depicts forty four color photographs of his most ethereal series to date. The pieces he created for this series have been called not only "reflections of skill, passion, teamwork and sheer genius" but also "tributes" to the sea. He is truly a master.

Chihuly Form Fire was published in 1993 and it only occasionally shows up in art auctions. The book is hardcover and 144 pages long with over 75 color reproductions of his splendid work. There is a very informative commentary in the book about Chihuly’s career.

Chihuly has been exhibited all over the world and the accompanying catalogs sell for a lot at an art auction. The catalogs have a value to people that cannot possibly afford to ever own an actual piece of his art. I bought a catalog at an art auction that depicted his installations from the years 1964-1992. I have spent a lot of time looking at the photographs and have determined that Chihuly is pure genius.

I really want to find a copy of Chihuly Jerusalem 2000 at an art auction. The book sells new for fifty dollars. I think that the story of this journey and exhibit is extraordinary and I want to own a copy of this book. This book contains 117 full-color reproductions and from what I’ve seen they are all extraordinary.

I was surprised that even the book of Chihuly’s drawings has tremendous resale value at an art auction. He is able to convey such beauty and energy with his work and these drawings actually do the same thing. These drawings are what his ideas start out as before they are fully realized in glass.

There is one inexpensive Chihuly book that I rarely seen in art auctions. It only contains 17 color reproductions. It does cover the installations that had 20,000 pounds of ice. These were called the neon-and-ice installations and they had a powerful effect on the people that viewed them. This book is soft cover and it is better to buy it new from a website than from a previous owner at an art auction.

I’ve lost countless art auctions for the book that contains photos of his exhibit at the Marlborough Gallery in New York City. I just never bid enough. At some point, I will probably just have to bid more to win it from an art auction. I know that the 51 images are dramatic, but the book is a soft cover and I just don’t think I should pay $25 for it.

My mother won a Chihuly book for me at an art auction last year. It chronicled the installation in Japan at the Hokkaido Museum of Modern Art in 1990. I loved each and every one of the 54 images contained in this book. I have been asked several times to loan it to friends, but I have refused. This is one book that I refuse to lose.

In 1986, Chihuly was only the fourth American to get a solo exhibition at the Louvre in Paris. There was a soft cover book published with 33 photos in it that chronicles the exhibit. Also in the book is an introduction written by the chief curator and director of the Centre du Verre. This is the next book I hope to own and I’ve been watching art auctions hoping to see it pop up.

Art-Auctions-For-Vintage-Posters

Vintage posters are always available at art auctions. I have found all kinds of vintage poster art auctions lately. I really liked a vintage poster I found that was from the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam. The poster is rare because it is one of the only 500 of the 10,000 printed that is in French.

Another vintage poster I found in an art auction was from 1917. It depicts French woman in war time performing various tasks. The poster celebrates the contribution of French women in the workforce. During war time, French women made up forty percent of the workforce.

I’m always a sucker for old vintage posters of rock bands. I look for them in art auctions all the time. I like ones that are autographed, like the one from The Who that I saw recently. I felt like the starting bid was a little high and so I didn’t try to win it.

I have been leaning more and more lately toward French vintage posters. I found a vintage poster for Orangina that was printed in 1970 at an art auction recently. I thought that the art auction would only get to one thousand dollars, but I was wrong. The vintage poster sold for twelve hundred dollars.

My older brother needed something interesting for the walls of his new apartment. I started looking for vintage posters in art auctions and found the perfect poster. The one that I found featured race cars and he loves race cars. The poster was from the 1965 Nurbergring Grosser Preis Von Deutschland and looked fantastic for being forty years old.

French advertisements seem to make the best vintage posters. I like finding art auctions for posters advertising products like Lu Biscuits. I found a great vintage poster for less than a thousand dollars and it looks great in my kitchen.

Vintage posters that relate to travel always get a lot of interest at an art auction. I saw a lovely poster that was advertising the English Lake District in France. The poster was produced in 1905. I like viewing them, but I do not personally collect posters in this style.

I found a vintage poster at an art auction that advertised shoe polish. This was a French poster that was made in the 1930’s. I framed it and put it in my dressing room. It fits in there perfectly and really adds to the feel of the room.

My sister married a man with a cycling shop. They have used a variety of cycling related items to decorate their home. My favorite piece is an old fashioned tricycle they keep in the formal living room. I found a vintage poster in an art auction that depicted an advertisement for Celtic Cycles and they loved it when I gave it to them.

I found set of vintage posters of The Beatles that were made in 1967. The posters were for sale an art auction I attended. I have seen vintage posters designed by Richard Avedon before and I really liked his vision of The Beatles. These vintage posters were well worth the two hundred dollars each I paid for them.

The vintage poster that I have my eye on right now is up for sale at an art auction coming up. It is an Andy Warhol advertisement for Chanel perfume. I want to win this vintage poster and frame it and hang it on the wall of my master bathroom. It would be perfect there and would absolutely complete the look I was going for.

Grotesque-Art

That there is an overwhelming number of pieces that represent this particular grouping of artwork seems false to believe, but this is happens to be on the rise as we get further into the new millennium, and realize the shedding of our culture’s skins time and again. Grotesque artwork pulls us back into the human forms we have been born into, and truly seems to give us a reaffirming sense of who we are. There are many artists, though part of other artistic movements, which have proven to fill the criteria for this grouping of concepts.

Grotesque art from the past ranges from varying degrees of mood and theme, but always seem to draw from those factors that are widely considered by most to be taboo or dark in nature, adhering to some of the most brutal and thought-provoking events in history. All these things have come together to create a body of works that jump between particular eras, but seem interrelated in the subject matter that they portray, creating works that define the morbid attentions that we seem to take from our history as a whole.

Through the works of such famed artists as Picasso and Goya, the light within the darkness of our own human condition can be revealed to us, and these reflections of our culture are seeds to the future as the culture has evolved. Many differing movements each seem to donate their own unique spin when considering these peculiar models of work, and the theme of horror and terror can be interpreted by my different people many differing ways, no matter whether today or some era further behind us. For some cultures, it is a way to evacuate fear, and express it without harm to one’s emotional health.

Though morals may seem to be too constrictive today, there are still points where society converges on points that break past the emotional barriers that many people construct, and this art is very much a mirror for evoking an honest reaction at the reflection that stares back, a response that cannot be replicated any other way. These images more than affect the rest of the present day world, as can be heard in many recent dimensions in music, and related themes can even be found in today’s popular attraction towards the horror films and novels which sell more than ever now.

It is when you consider the works of artists possessed by a certain vision, one that evokes pain as well as passion along with the other contradictions in life, and it is then that historic works like those of Hieronymus Bosch and even modern designs of H. R. Giger can be learned in equal measure of value. Their predilections towards breaking the taboos enforced by their surroundings, has helped to guide us steps into the future of our own acceptance and appreciation for our world, and the layers of depth can be revealed when one takes the time to find those elements that appeal to the sense of artistic worth.

To take control of your knowledge of this kind of artwork can better equip you for finding the particular works that you would be most enthusiastic to own, and though most of the more famous works can only be bought as prints, there are still many artists today who practice a style that intrudes upon that thin layer on the surface that reveals the most visceral layers underneath that. When looking for the right work to suit your tastes, a good deal respect must be given to those that attempt to translate their thoughts onto canvas, and you can come to better understand this category of art when approached with an open mind.

Today, some works by the artist Joe Coleman have more recently pushed the boundaries further back, and smashed a lot of preconceptions of artistic will. His approach includes the use a single horse hair brush, and detailing so fine that many layers can be found after viewing the paintings and prints dozens of times over, creating a new perspective on it with each consecutive viewing of the work. It is these layered degrees that artists strive for time and again to reveal insights into the nature of what it is to be human, and allow us to get in touch with sides of ourselves previously unknown or held back.

Collecting-Enesco

My friends and I have been collecting Enesco for several years. We actively attend art auctions and bid on everything Enesco! We have a lot of fun finding pieces we don’t already have and winning them.

I think collecting Enesco is fun. I really like the Mary Moo Moo plates. They came in a collection of eight plates from a series called Home is Where the Herd is. I’ve had a hard time finding a complete set at an art auction, but I have found several single plates.

I started collecting Enesco right after I was married. I went to an art auction with my sister-in-law and she pointed out some items that she was collecting. The experience I had with her that day really made an impression on me.

I went to an art auction several months after the first one I attended and bought my first piece of Enesco. I got my start collecting Enesco with just one plate. I bought an Enesco plate that said Cookies are for Sharing. I have displayed it in my kitchen ever since.

I am still lacking an Enesco plate that says Cream of the Crop. It is hard to believe that I’ve been actively collecting Enesco for so long and have been unable to locate this plate. I have duplicates and triplicates of several of the plates. Each art auction I attend, I am hopeful that I will find the plate I need to complete that set.

My best friend has been collecting Enesco ever since she had a baby a few years ago. She decided on a teddy bear design for the nursery and I gave her a shower gift of several Cherished Teddies figurines for decorating with. She found more of the figurines at an art auction she went to with me and has been unstoppable ever since.

Precious Moments figurines have never been something that I particularly liked. My friend’s daughter loves them. She started collecting Enesco Precious Moments figurines after we took her with us to an art auction that had a small lot of them. She spends significantly less on her collection than the rest of us do, but I think she’ll catch up.

My husband’s birthday is on Halloween. He has started collecting Enesco Halloween statues. I bought him one statue at an art auction several years for his birthday and he totally fell in love with the work of Jim Shore.

The first Enesco statue that my husband found for himself was at an art auction we attended together while on vacation. He found the statue called Grim Reaper absolutely irresistible. I have to agree, the detail work is positively spooky! He has been searching for other pieces, but does not pursue collecting Enesco very actively.

My husband went golfing last weekend while I attended an art auction. Collecting Enesco is my passion and I rarely pass up items that I really like. I found a piece for me that added to my Moo Moo plate collection and I found a Headless Horseman for my husband’s collection.

The next piece that my husband has indicated that he wants to find at an art auction is the Jim Shore piece called Witch on a Pumpkin. I know that collecting Enesco can be addictive and it is nice that he has decided which pieces he really wants. I agree with my husband and really like the folk art that Jim Shore does.

Art-Glass-Paperweights

I have a shop that sells art glass. My favorite art glass is paperweights. I have a lot of fun attending art auctions and buying art glass. I try to pay attention to what my friends and clients like and dislike.

I usually give people art glass paperweights that I find at art auctions for milestone birthdays and anniversaries. My grandmother turned eighty last October and I found a wonderful art glass paperweight for her.

The art glass paperweight that I found for my grandmother was made by Baccarat. I was extremely lucky that this was one of the last things auctioned. A lot of people had already left the art auction when this item went on the block. My grandmother appreciated the pansy design because the pansy is her favorite flower.

My cousin loves frogs. She has managed to decorate her home tastefully with her favorite item. I have been on the lookout for an art glass paperweight for her for years. I finally found one at an art auction I was at last year. The art glass paperweight featured a frog sitting on a lily pad and the frog was surrounded by blue water. It was really pretty and my cousin started using it on her desk immediately.

My aunt collects art glass paperweights. I have been asked by her on numerous occasions to find pretty art glass paperweights for her while I’m attending art auctions. Of all of the pieces I’ve won for her over the years, one memory sticks out in my memory more than any other.

By far the prettiest art glass paperweight I’ve ever won at an art auction has to be one that features a blue and gold Macaw. Rick Ayotte was the artist that created it and it was even featured in a book of his work. He has created many lovely art glass paperweights.

I have an art glass paperweight in my shop that just won’t sell. It has been in the store the longest and I think I may have it priced too high. I won the paperweight at an art auction several years ago for one thousand dollars. The paperweight was created by Paul Stankard and it should have easily sold for twice what I paid for it.

I have no trouble at all selling art glass paperweights that were made by Rick Ayotte. His work seems to draw the most interest. I try to win any auction I find for art glass paperweights he made. I won one not long ago that was pink roses. They looked so delicate and sweet. I know that this art glass paperweight will sell quickly.

There have been some inquiries at my shop for art glass paperweights by Richard Marquis. I haven’t found any in any of the art auctions I’ve attended recently. I looked at some of the pieces he’s made and I’m not especially impressed.

I will keep looking for the art glass paperweights at the art auctions I attend, but I will not be going way out of my way to track them down. I will just remember that Marquis is an artist that some of my clients are really interested in. I’m sure that I will find an art auction with one of his pieces in it at some point.

There were some inquiries about nautical themed art glass paperweights a couple of years ago and I found a fantastic artist that made them. I buy every art glass paperweight I can find that was made by Rick Satava. My favorite has to be the coral orange jellyfish that I found at an art auction an hour from my home. It was really pretty.

The coral orange jellyfish art glass paperweight was just the first Rick Satava piece that I’ve found at various art auctions. I’ve also found jellyfish in ruby and blue. They are beautiful by themselves or when they are put onto a black light stand that has been built especially for them.

Vintage-Photography

Vintage photography gives us a glimpse into the past, and helps to allow people to gain some understanding of the world before us. Unlike many of the collections that are considered the staples of art collection, vintage photographs are truly a unique exploration of the recent past, and many eras of the current civilization have come to contribute their share of what makes up vintage photography. Though not the largest grouping of auctioned materials of artistic value, they are still valued for their recollections of past events, and even items relating to vintage modes of photography are included in the auctioning of these things.

Cameras and equipment, photographic books and photo postcards before 1940, and even Viewmaster reels are acceptable pieces of auctioning material. All these things have contributed to the overall history on film, and even as the motion picture took on a predominant role in culture, the photograph has still been a staple of this system forming the basis for it all. Much of what seems to have the most value are those photographs that come from eras predating this revolution in film, and even further back to those images captured years just after the invention of the camera. Some are standards to which we have become accustomed to considering is merely part of our past, and we have to know that these things also have worth.

It is with this in mind that one can better grasp the innate worth of the photographs that might have caught their eye, and to be most prepared for an art auction with vintage photographs as the focus a bit of research is in order, especially if you wish to get the most out of your money for a proposed purchase. Much as any other auction, the buying and selling of vintage photographs can done in a variety of places, and that even includes through the Internet. Today, the markets are wide open with many different examples from previous eras, and finding that photograph that can really capture your attention can be a difficult process well worth the effort.

There are many organized auction houses that conduct business every day, which could perhaps be of service for you and your needs for the art you choose to become more aware of, and you can learn much by consulting experts on such matters. For the most part, buying and selling art through auctions can be an easy process with the right amount of time and money spent in the right places, and you can always go back to your research when you happen to feel overwhelmed by how complex the bidding can get with these types of experience in life.

It is when you are considering the value of a piece that you already own, that consultation with an appraiser can be of much help, and the more professional ones will go out of their way to get you the best total for your items. When concentrating on just what you want, you be better adapted to finding those needs met more adequately, and you will have no need for fearing the system of rules when it comes to the art auction. The more research that you commit yourself to, the more worth your time it becomes, and the more you can have your money work for you.

Breweriana-Art-Auctions

My father-in-law is very interest in beer art. Breweriana is the special name for beer related artifacts. I’ve been watching for special pieces to add to his collection at art auctions I’ve been attending.

The first breweriana piece that I acquired for my father-in-law was a 1940s Lone Star Beer sign. He was so happy with this find at the art auction that he asked me to keep finding him interesting pieces of beer history. I think that finding breweriana at art auctions is definitely a commentary on today’s society.

I found another really old piece of breweriana at the very next art auction I attended. It was another sign and it was from the 1930s for Ziegler Beer. I was at an art auction in Wisconsin and had to ship that sign to my father-in-law by freight.

My quest for breweriana has taken me to some art auctions that I would not have ordinarily attended and I’ve met people that I don’t ordinarily meet. I got into a bidding war with a Cajun man over a Jax Beer sign from the 1930s. The auctioneer said that it was a piece of New Orleans history.

The Cajun outbid me at every opportunity. I had a limit that had been set by my father-in-law and we were closing in on it when he finally stopped bidding. I won that piece of breweriana at the art auction for eight hundred dollars.

The porcelain breweriana signs are showing up at art auctions all over the country. I found another one from the 1930s for Supreme Beer that was double sided and oval. I was really pleased when I was able to present that one to my father-in-law.

The tin breweriana signs are actually not showing up as often at art auctions. I felt fortunate when I found one from the 1930s for Washington Beer. The ceramic breweriana signs are much more commonplace.

After my first few purchases of breweriana for my father-in-law he decided that his taste really did run to items from the 1930s and 1940s. I’ve tried to keep this in mind when I find new acquisitions.

I usually stay away from neon or illuminating breweriana. I just don’t think it fits in with the feeling of my father-in-law’s collection. The antique feel of everything is nice. He has taken up beer making as a hobby since his wife passed away, so it is not a far leap to beer art collecting.

The Goetz Country Club Beer sign that I won at an art auction in Indiana was a little more chipped than the other pieces I’ve gotten. I was intent on winning this sign because Goetz was my father-in-law’s mother’s maiden name. He was so happy with this old piece of breweriana because of the name on it that it instantly became the centerpiece of his collection.

I found two pieces of cardboard breweriana at an art auction in Ohio. I decided that they were going to sell so cheaply that I could buy them and frame them for the collection. I’m glad I went to that art auction.

I won a sign for Velvet Beer and another one for Stratford Beer. They both were from the 1930s and they were more colorful than tin breweriana signs that I’d purchased at other art auctions. The framer that I used framed both pieces for fifty dollars.

The art auction that I attended in Rochester, New York turned out to be very fruitful for my father-in-law’s breweriana collection. There was a Standard Dry Ale reverse painted glass sign up for auction. The sign had hung in a bar until the 1960s when the bar closed down.

The most recent piece of breweriana that I bought at an art auction was an original prohibition era Miller High Life Brew sign. The red and black sign looked great on the wall with the other signs in the collection. My father-in-law plans to build an old-fashioned bar in his home, at least the decorating is complete!

American Indian Art Auctions Beadwork

American Indian art encompasses many types of arts and crafts, from the more traditionally and / or stereotypically Native American art such as beadwork and pottery, to modern photography, fine paintings, sculptures and the like. There are many art auctions, both online and off, that feature this form of American Indian art.

In this article we'll discuss one of the most traditional and historically relevant branches of American Indian art: beadwork. Beadwork of the Native American peoples had and has practical as well as decorative; utilitarian as well as rich symbolic meaning.
Beadwork and making of the beads themselves is a very old craft. Stone, bone and shell beads (such as turquoise and semi-precious stones) are still made the same ancient way. Little affected by modern technology, the making of beads is still carried out in nearly the exact same way as peoples did thousands of years ago.
Sea shell bead pieces are among the most popular and well known pieces of regional trade importance for thousands of years. Nearly everyone has seen American Indian art pieces, from beaded necklaces to purses, belts and such.
For the last several decades modern beadwork has been replicated in oriental factories and very cheaply imported. This makes it a competing factor against the top quality beadwork done by American Indian craftspeople. The native American crafts people have lost several millions of dollars (just over an eight year period during the 1980s) to these fake native beads and beadwork pieces.

Historically, beads were carved from turtle shell, animal horn and deer hooves. These were often used for making rattling or tinkling pieces utilized in dance. Hunters often wore necklaces put together with animal portions, such as bear claws or wolf claws. These indicated a hunter"s prowess. Bones and seeds were often steamed to soften them for stringing and /or bending into various shapes.
As an example of beadwork used for a most practical purpose, the Iroqois League (Haudenosee) used white and purple wampum chains made of fresh-water clam shells to record sacred ceremonies, treaties and songs. This practice was used both before and after the coming of European settlers.
Many types of agreements were recorded with such beadwork chains. They were highly valued and cared for by their owners. European settlers mistook this care and reverence for wampum beads as a sign that the beads held monetary significance. As such, they mistakenly assumed that the word "wampumâ" referred to money, when in actuality these important beads were much more like very important original documents.
To string beads, Native Americans used animal sinew that is split very fine with which to attach beads to clothing, though infrequently strong plant fibers such as hide thongs or nettle were used for these purposes.
Today, the Navajos as well as some pueblo people still make the ancient bead type called the heishii. This is by far the most popular and high quantity type of beadwork that is still made today as it was in ancient times. These necklaces are also referred to as story necklaces as they can be used to tell stories, with each bead representing a character.
Beads and beadwork are a very important part of archaeological explorations of pre-European history. Beads have survived thousands of years and tell many fascinating stories about times we weren't around to witness. This is particularly true with respect to beadwork mad of sea shells. Ancient shell beads have been found thousands of miles from seas, which indicates various trade routes and contacts among different groups of people.
Today American Indian artists even create digital beadwork designs to help them make actual beadwork pieces. In this way complex designs and pieces can be tested on the screen before the project is begun. This has certainly added to the creative process for many beadwork artists.
Beadworking weaves through native history both in ancient times as well as in today's modern computer technology. The most important aspect of beadwork, though, is not what can be sold or gained, but personal pieces that are only given among family and friends. The true meanings behind these pieces are personal associations tied to visions, important perspectives and other things that an individual wishes to be reminded of.

Stained Glass Art Auctions

I have found some really beautiful pieces of artistic stained glass at art auctions. The worship committee at my church asked me to find some church window stained glass when I went to an art auction last fall. I found an excellent piece for them that was framed and 73” X 38.5”. The congregation loved it.

I found some wonderful stained glass at an art auction for a client that was trying to complete his new kitchen. The three windows I won were exactly right for him. The stained glass had a Victorian star design in shades of blue. The borders were all beveled and the piece was hand cut and soldered.
The modern stained glass windows sometimes come sandwiched between two pieces of tempered glass to protect them for years of use. The windows I bought at the art auction were framed in vinyl. Each of the stained glass windows was 30” X 30”.
Stained glass art auctions always include lampshades. I went through a period of time where I purchased every stained glass lampshade I would find at an art auction. I am a little more discerning, now. I found a stained glass lampshade not long ago that I purchased for my mother.
My mother just redecorated her bedroom in green and mauve. The stained glass lampshade that I found for her only had variations of those two colors running through it. It was perfect for her and she really liked it when I gave it to her.

I had a call from a client last week that asked me to find a piece of stained glass to hang in a picture window. She always had a curtain hanging over that window, so I had trouble picturing what it looked like. I stopped by her house and chatted with her before I went to the art auction so that I could get better idea of what would delight her.
I talked with this client for awhile and found out that she used to grow roses competitively, but that since her arthritis had gotten worse, she was no longer able to garden. She had a curtain hanging over that window so that she wouldn’t have to look into her bare backyard. I instantly knew exactly what kind of stained glass art piece she needed.
The art auction was a lot of fun and I found a large oval stained glass piece to hang over the picture window for my client. It was almost three feet tall and just under two feet wide. The red roses done in stained glass were just magnificent. She was so happy after the stained glass was delivered; she thanked me with coffee and bagels.
She hired me again to find a special piece for her bedroom window. She liked the idea of replacing the curtains in her home with stained glass pieces of art that I could find for her at art auctions. I looked at the way her bedroom was decorated taking special notice of the colors she used.
I found a fantastic stained glass piece for her at the art auction of a peacock with lavender in the background. It fit really well with her existing decorating. She hired my son to hang this piece for her. She was pleased with his work and has promised him future jobs that require more strength than she possesses.
I was asked by a friend of mine to find a special piece of stained glass for his office. I went to three art auctions before I could find something that felt right. His taste and furnishings run the direction of more contemporary than most pieces of stained glass usually represent.
The third art auction I attended had a contemporary piece of stained glass art that depicted a landmark in Anchorage, Alaska. I did not know it at the time, but my friend had family in Alaska and was actually familiar with this landmark. I purchased it because I liked the style and the coloring, but it turned out to be an even better choice because of its subject matter.

Art Auctions

Western Art 5 Native American Indian Art Prints Chief Western ...
You are bidding on all of the art prints pictured. Each print measures 8x10 inches. IF YOU ARE PURCHASING MULTIPLE ITEMS, PLEASE WAIT TO PAY FOR ALL ITEMS IN ONE COMBINED PAYMENT. Pay the low shipping fee just one time for all auctions ...

Salander Art Hoard to Be Auctioned - ARTINFO.com
The artworks at the center of what may be New York's largest-ever art fraud case could be sold as early as June.

Tools for Thought: Rebuild Haiti, Benefit Auction at Sotheby's ...
The week's art shows in pictures. 1220 via Guardian. Share · Tools for Thought: Rebuild Haiti, Benefit Auction at Sotheby's. Sotheby's auction "Tools For Thought" to benefit Haiti, features the works of over 200 accomplished artists. ...

Quilts From Art Auctions

I’ve been traveling throughout California attending art auctions looking for unique quilts. I have had a lot of success. I have found so many quilts that you could tell were filled with thousands of hours of careful planning and stitching. 

I was attending at art auction in Orange and found a wonderful quilt. The quilt was from the Civil War era and was made in the design of Blazing Stars. There was a wonderful appliqued red and green swag-like border. The center of the quilt has a feathered heart hand quilted.

The art auction that I went to in San Bruno had a fabulous quilt that was made in the 1860s. The quilt was hand appliqued using cheddar, red and green cotton solid fabrics. The background was white and the border has a meandering flowering vine. It was truly special.

I found a great quilt that was made in 1894 while I was at an art auction in Rancho Cucamonga. The style of the quilt was really fun. It was called a Victorian Crazy Quilt. There was so much elaborate hand embroidery over every seam and within the blocks, it was magnificent.

I was on vacation in Napa and attended an art auction that had several really nice quilts. The one that I won was made in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and was completed in the 1870s. I like the design called Ocean Waves. The chain had earth green and chocolate brown triangles that were pieced with exceedingly fine skill and precision. The border and background color was warm, cadmium orange.

The quilt I found at an art auction in Paradise was an 1840's thin, cotton Quaker quilt, which measures 108" x 88" and had 10 stitches per inch. It was a Quaker cotton wedding quilt. The top border, near the pillows, had a blue print and each side and the bottom had wide borders with North Carolina Quilt blocks in each corner. There were two rows of North Carolina Lilies in the center, and one row on each side facing outward.

The quilt made its way into the art auction because someone made the decision to sell some of the great historic heirlooms that were passed down through her family to her. I was very fortunate to acquire this heirloom that had passed through the many generations of Quaker families. Now I own one of the great Pennsylvania Quaker masterpieces.

Log cabin quilts are a design that I have always liked. My grandmother made a quilt using this design for me when I was twelve. I found one made in a similar fashion at an art auction Los Gatos. The quilt was made in the 1870s and was made by Mennonites.

I was lucky to find the art auction, it was difficult to find. The quilt is just fantastic. The light and dark design of this quilt has a red center on one side with two green bars, two cinnamon bars and two blue bars and then two red bars and on the other side of the red square in the center are two yellows, two black and white stripe, two lovely Lancaster blue bars, and two peppermint stripe bars.

There was an art auction in Huntington Beach that advertised quilts and I was really happy with the pieces that I found there. The quilt that I bought had a pictorial motif, like an album quilt, with a lot of interesting designs. Each block was quite different and special.

Unique Faberge Eggs

Faberge Eggs have always been special to me. I’ve been searching them out at art auctions since I was in my early twenties. I did a term paper on the Faberge Company and their history of making eggs for the Russian Tsars between 1885 and 1917.

The first Faberge Egg that I ever found at an art auction was actually quite by chance. The Faberge Egg was not one of the advertised items and was actually a bottle topper. I instantly fell in love with it and took it home from the art auction for one hundred dollars.

I saw an advertisement for a tropical Faberge Egg from a collection St. Petersburg. It was set to be up for sale at an art auction in New York City. I knew that I was going to be unable to purchase it, but I wanted to see it in person and at least put in one of the lower bids.

The tropical Faberge Egg at that art auction in New York City ended up selling for over six thousand dollars. That is out of my price range, but I was happy just to have been in the same room with this masterpiece. The eggs themselves are just exciting to be near.

The first Faberge Egg was made in 1885. I know that it will never turn up in an art auction, but hopefully I will see it someday in an exhibit. The first one was commissioned by Tsar Alexander III and was given to his wife as an Easter present. The surprise inside the egg was a golden hen in a golden yolk. The hen was wearing a tiny crown with a ruby hanging inside. 

The antique Russian Faberge Egg that I found at an art auction recently was so detailed. The silver enamel egg has rubies and eagles and is marked with Faberge hallmarks. I was able to win this egg because I was bidding with someone else’s money. The best eggs always end up with the richest people.

The piece that I want in my collection is a genuine Lillies of the Valley Faberge Egg. I found one at an art auction I went to ten years ago. I was unable to buy the one I saw, because I didn’t have the money at the time. I’ve been saving for the time that I see another one. 

The Lillies of the Valley Faberge Egg is covered with pearls and pale pink enamel. The egg is on a stand that has legs of matte green-gold leaves with rose dewdrops. The gold-stemmed lilies of the valley have green enamelled leaves and pearl flowers. I will look for this egg at every art auction I ever attend. 

This Faberge Egg is delightful. It is surmounted by an Imperial crown of rose crystals. There is a pearl knob that reveals the surprise of this egg. The surprise is portrait miniatures of Czar Nicholas II and his two oldest daughters. The portraits are framed in rose crystals and backed with gold panels. I have heard a rumor that one will be at an art auction next year in Miami.

The last art auction I attended I purchased a Faberge Egg called the Imperial Clover Egg. It was for my personal collection and I won it for under a thousand dollars. I felt like it was quite a steal at that price.

The Imperial Clover Faberge Egg was originally made with a four leaf clover inside of it that had portraits of the four daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra. The portraits went missing during the Russian Revolution. The egg that I bought at the art auction had a stem of clovers standing upright. Two clovers in green enamel and the third, a four leaf clover, was done in diamonds. The diamond four leaf clover is a pin that can be worn.

Special Hummel Figurines

I find old Hummel figurines at art auctions all the time. I’ve been collecting them for my mother and her sister for a long time. They don’t have the time to go to art auctions, but they have the money to buy nice figurines.
The Apple Tree Boy Hummel figurine I found for my aunt last year was so cute. I attended an art auction about an hour away from my house and they had lots of decorative collectibles. I was able to find several items for my mother and also for my father.

My mother and her sister both want to have an Umbrella Boy Hummel figurine. I have only been able to find one at all of the art auctions I’ve attended. They share the piece equally while I’m looking for a second piece.

The whimsical Hummel figurine called Pleasant Journey is so cute. It was the first Hummel that mother and my aunt ever received. The scene is of two children pulling a third child in a wagon. My grandmother found it at an art auction and it reminded her of her children. She gave it to her two daughters on their shared birthday.


My dad sings in a barbershop quartet. My mother asked me to find an appropriate Hummel figurine at one of the art auctions I attend to give to him for his birthday. I actually was unable to find just the right item for over a year.

My mother was thrilled when I found the Harmony in Four Parts Hummel figurine at an art auction in our hometown. She presented it to him on his birthday and he really liked it. I think she may have liked it more, but that is okay with him. He has always been very supportive of my mother’s collecting.

My mother gave my son a Hummel figurine when he graduated from high school. I thought it was an odd gift to give a kid that had never expressed any interest in collecting them. She did choose a nice piece from her collection that I had purchased for her several years ago at an art auction. She gave him the Hummel figurine Little Fiddler because he plays the violin.

When my aunt went on a cruise, I decided to find her a nautical Hummel figurine. I had to attend four art auctions before I found one. I ended up purchasing the Hummel figurine called Land in Sight. She loved it.
Hummel figurine Let’s Tell The World was a special piece. It is really pretty and it depicts three children ringing a bell. My cousin has been going with me to art auctions looking for it. She thinks that we need to give it to our mothers to share like they do the Umbrella Boy.

I don’t usually collect Hummel figurines. I leave that to my mother and my aunt. The only exception to this is the “Can I Play?” Hummel figurine. I found it at an art auction and it reminded me of playing at my grandmother’s house when I was a child with my brother and my cousin.

The most expensive Hummel figurine that I’ve found at an art auction in the last couple of years was a vintage piece called School Girls. I got into a bidding frenzy with another collector and ended up spending a thousand dollars. The piece was celebrated with a party at my aunt’s house.

Looking For Collectible Postcards

I’ve found that the best place to find collectible postcards is at art auctions. I was at an art auction in Eastlake, Ohio looking for stained glass and found them auctioning a lot of vintage collectible postcards. I bought the lot at the art auction and it contained almost three thousand beautiful collectible postcards.

About thirty percent of the collectible postcards were pre-linen. These are postcards that were all made before 1930. The linen collectible postcards were made from 1930 to 1945 and the lot I won at the art auction had thirty percent linen cards as well. 

Forty percent of the lot I won at the art auction was for early chrome collectible postcards. Most of them were from the fifties and sixties. There were also collectible postcards from the British museum series from the seventies.

The collectible postcards that are my favorite are all turn of the century and were sent for holidays. Valentine’s Day collectible postcards from the early 1900s are very romantic. The Christmas postcards have some really nice artwork. I was really fortunate with the purchase at the art auction because the assortment was so varied.

My collection of collectible postcards contains many different themes. I like the non-US card. I found an art auction that had a shoebox full of these postcards and they were from places like Bermuda, Zurich, Rio de Janeiro, Dresden, Germany, Ireland and even Istanbul. I had never owned a collectible postcard from Niger before that art auction.

People who do not collect vintage collectible postcards just don’t understand their value. They are usually not even mentioned as being part of an art auction. I go to art auctions every other weekend on the off chance that there will be collectible postcards on the auction block.

I am always so pleased when I find linen ere collectible postcards at an art auction. The auctioneer at most art auctions does not even announce the lot as linen postcards; he usually just announces it as vintage or old collectible postcards. His lack of knowledge of the subject almost always works to my advantage. 

 I  have various collections of collectible postcards within the main collection. I tried for awhile to complete a set of state views in all linen era postcards. I can’t even count how many art auctions I attended before I even had thirty of the forty eight states. I know that I finally tired of the pursuit and have just put it on the back burner. 

The holiday collectible postcards go to collectors of more than just postcards. I’ve seen people buy holiday collectible postcards at an art auction just to frame and decorate with them during certain holidays. I actually found five really nice vintage Christmas collectible postcards at an art auction and had them framed for my mother as a Christmas gift.

I went to an art auction and estate sale of a man whose grandfather had been a colonel army officer. The collectible postcards that I found there were fantastic. The officer had amassed 353 different postcards from India. It was amazing. They had been tucked into an album and never used and were in perfect condition.

For awhile, I thought that I wanted to collect postcards from soldiers in WWI. I found a two hundred piece lot of this type of collectible postcards at an art auction in New Haven. The mix of cards was British, French and German. It was interesting because some of the collectible postcards were censored. I’ve never seen censored collectible postcards before.

The most I’ve ever spent on collectible postcards at an art auction was $530 for four postcards. They were all from 1904 and they depicted automobile racing. They were in pristine condition. I doubt that I will ever find any more even remotely like this the rest of my life. They were exceptional.

The lot of collectible postcards I found last weekend was really fun to look through. The art auction had a lot of things from a family that had emigrated here from Serbia. The postcards were all from either Serbia or Belgrade. This was a good lot and it went for the opening bid.

Finding Vintage Disneyana

Vintage Disneyana has become a personal passion of mine. I’ve been searching for it for years now. I attend art auctions regularly, but usually only find vintage Disneyana at a small percentage of them.

I found a darling 1938 Knickerbocker Mickey Mouse dressed in a Santa suit at an art auction a few years ago. This was an extraordinary vintage Disneyana find. There was some very fine crazing to the face, but no flakes in the paint.

I did some research after the art auction and it turns out that my vintage Disneyana has quite a history. This toy was a one of a kind Mickey Mouse toy made by Knickerbocker for a department store at Christmas and was given away for a contest. I was happy that the beard was real wool fur.

I searched for several years at art auctions until I found a Mad Hatter china teapot. This vintage Disneyana was made in 1951 by Regal for Disney. I always loved Alice in Wonderland and this teapot was very special to me.

My love of vintage Disneyana runs through lots of mediums. I buy figurines and paintings and anything else that strikes me as special while I’m at art auctions. If something is really rare or unusual and still has a whimsical feel to it, I’ll try to win it.

I found a painting that I fell in love with. It fit with my love of vintage Disneyana. The painting was created in 1949 and depicted the Cinderella castle. It was originally created for a Disney holiday card. I won the painting for four thousand dollars and felt like I had gotten a great deal.

The old Disneyland maps have become very expensive pieces of vintage Disneyana. I have been finding more of the old maps at art auctions, but they are usually not in good shape. The nicest map I’ve found was from 1958, which is also the year I was born.

The 1958 map of Disneyland was the first one that was made poster sized. The art auction I found this piece of vintage Disneyana at had numerous Disney lots up for auction that day. I had not expected to find such a great item. This map had been stored rolled and had never been folded. I paid two thousand dollars for it and it was worth every penny. 

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was my little sister’s favorite movie when we were kids. I look for vintage Disneyana that features it when I am art auctions. The best item I’ve found for her was figurines from the 1950s that were of Snow White and six of the seven dwarfs. There was one figurine missing, Sneezy. 

My daughter has fallen in love with Bambi. She had me buy her the DVD and she has watched it over and over again. I was at an art auction and found a nice Bambi figurine while they were auctioning off vintage Disneyana. I gave it to her for her last birthday and she says that it is her most prized possession!

I was shocked at an art auction that I attended that had a wonderful 1930s Mickey Mouse lamp and lampshade. The art auction had not even advertised that they were auctioning vintage Disneyana. If they had advertised this item, I know that more people would have come to the auction. I won the lamp for five hundred dollars because I had no competition.

The most common vintage Disneyana that I find at art auctions is watches. I don’t like watches. I never buy any of the Disney watches. I am usually disappointed when an art auction advertises vintage Disneyana and all they have up for auction is watches.

I bought an autographed Fantasia album at a vintage Disneyana sale. The art auction had a lot of signed and autographed items and Disney items were among them. The signatures on my vintage Disneyana included Walt Disney, Leopold Stokowski (the conductor) and both of the original animators, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson. This was a fantastic find for my collection.

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Art-Deco

In the field of modern art, art deco plays a large and impressively lavish role. The strong colors and sweeping curves lend art deco the trademark boldness that expressed much of the progress and modern advances of the twentieth century. Art auctions around the world still move many art deco pieces of various kinds. If you're interested in collecting art deco, there are many art auctions both online and off that deal primarily in art deco. 

In the twentieth century the decorative arts converged in what is known as the art deco movement, which grew to influence architecture, fashion, the visual arts as well as design. The term "art deco" was derived from a World Fair held in Paris, France, called the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes in the year 1925.

Though the movement and term comes from the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes, the term was not widely used until the late 1960s. Especially pre- World War I Europe influenced the art deco movement, though many cultures influenced and were influenced by this art movement. Much of the world was experiencing similar shifts in modern technological advances.

For the most part, the art deco movement was brought about and inspired by the rapid advances of technological and social facets of the early twentieth century. As culture responded to these increasingly changing times, the art deco movement was an outgrowth of these modern phenomena.

Art deco is considered generally to be an eclectic type of decorative modernism that was influenced by a variety of artists and particular art forms. Art deco includes furniture, metalwork, clocks, glasswork and screens as well as paintings and other fine art types of pieces.

The art deco style is known for its lavishness and epicurean flairs that are attributed to the austerity of culture brought about by World War I. Strong patterns and bold colors and shapes were used, as were many particular motifs used universally.
For example, the sunburst motif was used in everything from the Radio City Music Hall auditorium, images of ladies shoes, the spire of the Chrysler Building and several other pieces of art, architecture and design. Other ubiquitous motifs found in art deco were stepped forms, the zigzag, chevron patterns and sweeping curves.

In the West, art deco lost its steam around the Second World War, but continued to be used all the way into the 1960s in colonial countries such as India, where it served as a gateway to Modernism. Then in the 1980s art deco made a comeback in graphic design. Art deco's association with 1930s film noir led to its use in both fashion and jewelry ads.

Today art deco is revered by many and dismissed as old news and overly gaudy by others. Though it undoubtedly played a major role in art history, as with most art, individual taste frames the individual's interpretation and like or dislike of art deco styles.

Art deco is one of the most well known art movements. This is mostly due to its wide base of influences and influenced art forms and cultures. Since much of the world was experiencing many of the same advances in technology and mass production, many of the same ideas and symbols were relevant in various parts of the world.

Contemporary Art

It is truly a wonderful thing when you consider how much we gain from our appreciation of art, what volumes it speaks about our own culture, and among cultures that make up the world besides our own. It is highly fashionable to understand something of what art is, how it tries to reinterpret our own scope of the world on an artistic level, and yet reveals so much of the human nature behind its creation. Today’s artistic minds are no different in the outgrowth of ideas onto a canvas’ surface, and some are possessed with similar qualities that those artworks considered classics have had in the past. 

There is particularly unique insight coming from a lot of contemporary art, or so the label seems to include today’s works of art, with certain vagueness stemming from the lack of a dominant school of thought or ideology. Most date contemporary art beginning towards the late 1960s, most artwork could be defined easily by particular details prior to this, and there were trends of these preferences even through to the 1980s. After the Modernistic period of art was confirmed, much of the direction came to be rather disparate during periods of socio-political change, and many of the distinctions within art have been loosened dramatically.

With some critical opinions decrying the current of contemporary art to be devoid of "true beauty", critic Donald Kuspit was known to say that art had left the studio and found its’ way into the street, and that may not be that much for the worse with the blurring of many lines presently. Today, contemporary art seems to reflect those issues being faced by the world, and the emphasis on politics seems to have intensified of late. The shift drawing away from an ideal of beauty and purity to a complete opposing force of inspiration from socially oriented art, and often crosses the bounds of proper medium.

Though that is where the argument stops and conjecture begins as critics and artists alike clash in opinion over where the line is particularly between the various categories of thought, and it has been pieces of every different art movement being reevaluated in a similar way, in order to find that place that crosses over between art, artist, and audience, and creates a means for all of them to share space in the comprehensive concept to the artwork. Making the gaps in the points between art and life smaller and smaller, and creating new ways in which to comprehend the ways of the things we view around us.

Engaging mass culture with affecting the boundaries of perception through the means of the relevant issues shaping the world as we know it, and today there are many schools and studios of contemporary art that try to help shape the practice of contemporary art that will translate to the future, allowing us introspective glimpses into the artist’s thoughts. Creating interconnectedness that defies and defines what laws and life may continue to restrict, to analyze, and further define itself as multiple entities within one completely distinct from the sum of its’ parts.

When considering all of this information, at may seem overwhelming at first, but art is not impossible to understand if you concentrate on understanding what your tastes happen to be. When not thinking about these things, it is easy to overlook the value of what you are purchasing, and you may not be able to get the most for what you wish to spend. There are few lessons to learn that do not involve somewhat self-explanatory terms, but one must approach what appeals them with a frugal yet open state of mind, it can be much easier to find a good bargain with this mental state at hand.

Timing can sometimes be necessary to make the deal more lucrative for the buyer, and with some art auctions, it may be difficult to find some grounds on which to begin bidding. However, with studious attention to what you wish your end goal to be, and you will have found a way to acquire at least some kind of facsimile to show for your efforts. Depending upon how deeply you would wish to involve yourself in activities such as local viewings of artwork from contemporary artists, and perhaps you would even find a way to see the stirrings of the creativity from within, by becoming friends with local artists and networking.