Trade News from Around the World
New York City’s Leland’s Auctions will be relocating to larger headquarters on July 1, having purchased its own building on Long Island in Seaford, N.Y. “Frankly, we have outgrown our Manhattan facility, and our needs and the needs of our clients demanded a move,” said Joshua Leland Evens, the company’s founder and chairman. “We will now have a facility with large display space and a better setting for consignors and bidders to visit.”
Police in the western city of Izmir, Turkey, said June 25 they recovered a second painting believed to be a stolen Picasso – this time a portrait of the painter’s mistress, Dora Maar. Izmir police chief Hasan Yucesan told the Associated Press they had information that other paintings by Pablo Picasso had been smuggled into Turkey. Undercover officers arrested two people on June 24 after they tried to sell them the 1938 oil painting, “Ugly Woman,'” for $30 million, Yucesan said. Earlier this month, Izmir police arrested two Syrians and four Turks who tried to sell a painting said to be Picasso’s 1908 “La Fermiere,'” or The Farmer’s Wife, which was believed to have been stolen from a Kuwaiti palace.
Eppraisals.com, Chicago, Ill., an internet service for identification and valuation of art, antiques, and collectibles, has announced the appointment of Thomas Finke as chief executive officer. Finke previously held a former position as general manager of auctions.com. As CEO of Eppraisals, he will guide the company’s vision and be responsible for all segments and phases of the firm’s business model. Prior to his appointment at Auctions.com, Finke served for six years as an attorney at Sidley & Austin in their corporate and securities practice.
Tosha Y. Grantham has joined the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as assistant curator of modern and contemporary art. Grantham is a native Richmonder. She comes to the museum from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where she has been program coordinator for The Smithsonian Associates and Young Associates since 1997.
TroveNet, Cameron Park, Calif., an Internet antique shopping service launched at the end of last year, has announced that it has added thousands of books on collecting antiques to its inventory which can now be accessed at TroveNet.com. The firm’s inventory is provided by special arrangement with the Antique Trove of San Carlos, Calif. a sister company to TroveNet.
A John J. Audubon engraving of a sandhill crane has been purchased by the Museum of Nebraska Art in Kearney, Neb., and is now part of the Nebraska Art Collection. The engraving cost almost $60,000 and is among the top five most-expensive purchases made by the museum, director Ron Roth told the Associated Press. Harold and Marian Andersen and Bruce Lauritzen, all of Omaha, donated money for the engraving, which was purchased from the Kenyon Oppenheimer Art Gallery in Chicago, Ill. Marian Anderson is on the Nebraska Art Collection Foundation Board of Directors.
AuctionWatch.com, San Bruno, Calif., an online auction services provider, had announced a partnership with The Auction Channel, the interactive television and internet company offering live coverage of auctions and auction-related programming. The new joint venture allows users to have full access to AuctionWatch.com Appraisals from the Auction Channel Web site www.theauctionchannel.com.
Lawrence E. (Gene) King, 67, well-known and popular Rockford, Ill. antiques dealer, died on June 16 in his hometown. Gene was born on June 14, 1933, son of Eugene and Bernice King. He became involved in the antiques business while in his early teens, set up shop, and eventually toured the antiques show circuit exhibiting in many of the country’s major shows. Among many others, he was an exhibitor at The Winter Antiques Show, Lake Forest, The Connecticut Antiques Show, and Russell Carrell’s Kent Antiques Show, where he had the entire stage of the Community House.
The Rosen Group, Baltimore, Md., is developing a community web portal that will attempt to facilitate relationships between artists and craft retailers. The two web sites, AmericanStyle.com and NicheMag.com, will communicate with collectors and retailers, respectively. Interactive features of the sites include on-line communication between artist and retailer and sophisticated searching that will allow both collectors and retailers to find artists and artwork by keyword, price, category, artist, gallery, city/region, process and motif or style. Artists will have on-line access to their shops and galleries as well as the ability to refer interested customers to their retail outlets throughout the US and Canada.