The collecting world is both more transparent and more opaque than ever before. While unprecedented publishing activity has accompanied the art market⁳ global expansion, many private collections remain resolutely off-limits to prying eyes, sometimes for generations at a time. Bucking the tide, Hyannis Port, Mass., dealers Alan Granby and Janice Hyland have collaborated on Flying The Colors: The Unseen Treasures of Nineteenth Century American Marine Art, lifting the curtain on privately held masterworks, both academic and primitive. Granby and Hyland strove to create ⁡ representative visual reference†of the best marine art of the Nineteenth Century, when, combining form and function, American design reached its zenith in the clipper ships and yachts of the 1850s. Measuring more than 1 foot square and weighing six pounds, Flying The Colors is, in a word, lavish.

Opening September 18, the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art presents ⁔he Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver, 1480‱650,†featuring 85 objects from the museum⁳ collection of Renaissance and baroque prints.

Antiques dealer Erhard Hennemann died on September 8 at the age of 83. He and his son, Craig, were a fixture at Cord Shows events for many years, known for fine and unusual porcelains, English Royal and Mao Zedong memorabilia, fine glassware and artwork.

Collectors look forward to Northeast Auction⁳ annual marine, China Trade, and sporting art auction, a kind of three-ring circus under a big tent at Treadwell House each summer, renowned as a variety show featuring one great act after the next, from decoys to Chinese porcelain.

On July 10 and 11, New England Toy & Train Exchange conducted an 870-lot auction of antique and vintage toys and trains that was well attended and boasted strong prices.

Beautiful weather for the week helped build exhibitors†confidence in the original Madison-Bouckville Antiques Show, August 14‱6. Nearly 800 dealer spaces were filled with early Americana, furniture from the last four centuries, household tools and accessories, great art and even some later collectibles.

Legendary Auctions live sports sale on July 31 drew more than 200 attendees to the high-end sports memorabilia event at the House of Blues, exceeding expectations and breaking industry records.

In the first major exhibition in 30 years to be dedicated to Brett Weston⁳ prolific body of work, ⁂rett Weston: Out of the Shadow†will be on view at the Currier Museum of Art October 10 to January 3.

Stella Show Mgmt Co. filled three tents with exhibitors and their inventories and as in Field of Dreams, they came! The show, a benefit for Bridgehampton Historical Society, was held on their property in Bridgehampton Village August 14‱6.

Anita (Scott) Maestas, 89, died September 5, at the Southington Care Center. She was the office manager for Antiques and The Arts Weekly from March 1971 until her retirement in October 2004.