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Show Notes
10 Nov 2012, by martin
Show Notes, Gregg Elliott, 121.
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Martin: Hi everyone, welcome to the Antique Auction Forum. This is Martin Willis. Today is Podcast 122 with Gregg Elliott. His website is dogsanddoubles.com. We’re going to be speaking today about collecting high-grade, mostly antique, shotguns. You can like us on our Facebook page, or you can follow us on twitter. Those icons are on our website. If you would like to contact me, that’s info@antiqueauctionforum.com.
Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoy today’s show.
This podcast is sponsored by WorthPoint. Find out what your antiques are worth at WorthPoint.com
I’m with Gregg Elliott. How are you doing, Gregg?
Gregg: I’m doing well, thanks. How are you doing?
Martin: Great, and we’re going to talk about shotguns, which I never thought I was going to talk about on this blog, but it’s pretty interesting. Right off the bat I’m going to ask you what makes a good shotgun a good shotgun?
Gregg: I think, from my perspective, one is original condition; I like to find one that hasn’t been refinished or restored in any way. I really value old finishes because those were put there by the original craftsmen, and they are part of the history of the item and if something has had that wiped away I feel like part of the history of the item is gone.
Martin: Now, are we talking about the stock and barrel?
Gregg: Yes, so the metal work and the wood; both of those can be refinished,
Martin: re-glued and…
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25 Oct 2012, by martin
Show Notes, Mary Miley Theobald, 121.
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Martin: Hi everyone, this is Martin Willis with the Antique Auction Forum. Welcome to Episode 121 with Mary Miley Theobald. Today’s topic is going to be on historical myths. Some of them do apply to antiques; it’s a pretty fun show, I hope you enjoy it. You can follow us on twitter or you can like us on Facebook; those icons are right on our website antiqueauctionforum.com. You can contact me at info@antiqueauctionforum.com. Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoy today’s show.
This podcast is sponsored by WorthPoint. Find out what your antiques are worth at WorthPoint.com
Martin: I have Mary Miley Theobald in Virginia on Skype. How are you doing Mary?
Mary: I’m fine, thank you.
Martin: And you are a historian, and you live in Virginia.
Mary: Yes I do.
Martin: I listened to one of your podcasts, the Colonial Williamsburg Podcast; I thought it was great and a really interesting topic because we do from time to time some historical podcasts here and a lot of what we are involved in in the business certainly relates to history, so they’re always very popular on these shows. Can you talk a little bit about what some of your books have been lately about myths and debunking them? This is a real fun subject if you ask me.
Mary: It is fun. And of all the writing I’ve done in the past 30 years this has really been the most fun book I’ve written. I guess it got started back in 2006 when I visited the DAR Museum in Washington, and they had an exhibit on history myths. They were debunking certain myths that are widely repeated at museums, or historic sites, national parks, city bus tours, carriage rides, those kinds of things. Myths like “People didn’t bathe back then”, or “Colonial Americans thought tomatoes were poisonous” or “women secluded themselves indoors during pregnancy”; things that were patently not true. I wrote an article debunking a few myths; I thought maybe I’d find a dozen. And it got a lot of attention. People wrote back saying “what about this myth” and “what about this myth”, so I wrote a second article, started collecting them, had enough for a book, and I’m still collecting; I might have enough for a second book!
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16 Oct 2012, by martin
Show Notes; Polly Bergen, 120.
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Martin: Hi everyone, this is Martin Willis of Antiques Auction Forum episode 120. I’m excited about today’s guest; it’s the award-winning legendary actress, and singer as well as author, Polly Bergen www.facebook.com/pages/Polly-Bergen/150067449164. Because of that I have her music as an intro and outro. Hope you enjoy that. A couple of announcements: You can follow us on twitter and you can like us on facebook; those icons are right on our website. This pod cast is sponsored by Worthpoint: Find Out What Your Antiques are Worth at Worthpoint.com www.worthpoint.com. Thank you for listening, and I hope you enjoy today’s show.
Martin: I am in Connecticut with Polly Bergen. How are you doing Polly?
Polly: I’m very well. Thank you, Martin.
Martin: It’s such a pleasure to work with you first of all, you are really gracious with me to record about antiques.
Polly: Oh it’s my pleasure. I’m old enough to be able to talk about old things!
Martin: (laughing) Now, you were collecting all the way back into the 1950′s but before we get into that, first of all, for the younger people – we have a lot of younger people around world who listen – can you kind of go into…
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30 Sep 2012, by martin
Show Notes, Dale Blackwelder, 119.
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Martin: Hi everyone, this is Martin Willis with the Antique Auction Forum. Today’s episode is number 119 with Dale Blackwelder. He is a picker who specializes in artwork; very interesting. It’s a short podcast but I hope you enjoy today’s show.
Martin: I’m with Dale Blackwelder. How are you doing Dale?
Dale: Real good.
Martin: Now you’ve been dealing in art for…?
Dale: I had my first store, I think, in 1969 or 70. I used to do clocks and music boxes, (but) I always had an affinity for art. I liked looking at it and I started collecting paper works; now it’s mostly oils.
Martin: So you’ve evolved mostly into art over the years?
Dale: Well, yeah. I like mechanical things, and what I could see really well. It was easy to do, and it was quick… you know, I could clean a clock and make a few dollars. And at that time the Europeans were sending everything over to the United States, so you could go into warehouses and buy 50 great clocks – and oil paintings and things. There was just so much of it; it was really inexpensive, so I started then.
Martin: Now, in our conversation we had prior to this, you don’t use a computer. You never used a computer, you never will, probably (laughing).
Dale: Most likely not; I just find it keeps you from learning what looks good and what isn’t good.
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19 Sep 2012, by martin
Show Notes, Terry Kovel, 118.
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Martin Willis: I’m on the phone with Terry Kovel How are you Terry?
Terry Kovel: I’m fine, thanks. Good to hear from you.
Martin: Yes thank you, now, I am talking about Terry Kovel of Ralph and Terry Kovel’s price guides. I have seen these books around and, growing up in the business, God I want to say back in the 70s, I first picked up a Kovel’s. How many books have you published? When did you start?
Terry: Now I’m giving my age away. Our first book came out in 1953. It was Dictionary of Marks: Pottery and Porcelain, and it’s kind of funny, the first copy arrived the day our daughter was born so we kept saying we were to call her Mark if she was a boy but, I got a girl; she lucked out.
At any rate, then they said we were experts, you know, “You wrote a book. You’re an expert”. Price book came along a couple books later, but the one this year, the 2013 Kovel’s , is the 45th price book, and they’re all new every year so I can count it and, hold your breath, this is our hundred and first book.
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12 Sep 2012, by martin
Show Notes, Episode 117. Jack Wilson
Martin: OK I have jack Wilson on Skype, how’re you doing Jack?
Jack: I’m doing well Marty, yourself?
Martin: Good, thank you, and where are you? You’re in Arizona?
Jack: Prescott Arizona; one of the top retirement locations in the United States.
Martin: Ah, well, that right away makes me think of a lot of goodies that may come in that area.
Jack: That’s Correct.
Martin: Yeah, I think of it this way, in retirement places like Florida, places like that, a lot of people may sell their furniture but a lot of times they’ll bring nice decorative arts with them or art work; in Florida a lot of things end up settling there and I’m sure it must be the same where you’re located.
Jack: more so actually in phoenix than in Prescott. There’s a lot of the antiques shops here but not a lot of what I would classify as genuine antiques; more tourist type stuff.
Martin: Ah. So today we are going to talk mostly about the subject of Ruba Rombic glass which has always fascinated me from the very first time I saw it, now how did you get interested in this subject and start researching and collecting this type of glass? And before you get into that can you explain basically what the glass is, you know I think of it as like the Cubist type form in the Art Deco era but I want you to give a description if you would please.
Jack: Sure, in the mid twenty’s, actually 1926, the Consolidated Glass Company located in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, 15 miles outside of Pittsburgh, got into the art glass business at the urging of Reuben Haley who had worked at the U.S. Glass Company and had left when the ownership changed and he didn’t like the new owners. So in ’26 he came out with a line of glass called Martele which is basically American Lalique and in ’28 he came out with a line of glass called Catalonian, all Spanish, and ‘28 was Ruba Rombic. Ruba Rombic was very very Deco. There’s a lot of different ideas of where the name came from, but I think it came from number one, Reuben, and number two, rhomboid which is a geometric figure with no parallel planes, and Ruben Haley was actually a sculptor; had worked at some of the silver companies earlier and the way I heard the story he picked a piece of plaster off the factory floor and sculpted the first piece of Ruba Rombic design in the plaster. And I heard that from a guy who worked for him. I also interviewed his son, Ken Haley in Pennsylvania before he died. So it’s very cubistic glass that came out in ’28 and the problem was it was ultramodern, number one, so some people liked it and some people didn’t, and in 1929, in October actually, we had Black Friday which was the great depression so bam the production lifecycle of Ruba Rombic wasn’t very long, and we’ve had varying estimates of how many pieces there are. Bob Aibel of Moderne Gallery of Philadelphia thought it was about 1,500; based on what I know, I think it’s between 2,000 and 3,000. But those are very, very, very small figures when you compare them to something like Lalique where if you go to a major glass show in Miami you’ll probably see 20 or 30 pieces of Lalique you can purchase, and if you see one or two of Ruba Rombic you’d be lucky.
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10 Sep 2012, by martin
Show Notes, Episode 116. Fred Giampietro
Martin Willis: I’m in New Haven, Connecticut with Fred Giampietro. How you doing, Fred?
Fred Giampietro: Fine, fine. How are you?
Martin: And I apologize it took me a little while to pronounce your name properly. I’ve known your name, and of the pieces you’ve sold, I’ve seen your ads for many, many, many years of handling very fine things, and I’d like to know how you got started. What was your beginnings, and how did you evolve into handling such fine pieces?
Fred: I grew up Cheshire, Connecticut. My parents did not have money. They were very, very middle America, ran a landscaping nursery, and when I went up to school in Florida to study classical music I met Kathy, who – we later got married, so in 1973 I found myself at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida studying classical music, and one of my first dates with Kathy was to an antique shop. Her family always collected. Her father was an artist – is a contemporary artist and they loved antiques and they used to rummage around finding stuff, so first date we go to a place called Carousel Antiques in DeLand, Florida next to the University, and I bought a Shaker Number 7 Rocker. I don’t know what came over me. I just loved the stuff. I loved the idea that shop had everything from Victorian furniture to vintage clothing to old tools to junk, and there was this Shaker Number 7 Rocker and I got –
Martin: So, you know how to – you knew how to spot something fairly decent right off the bat, obviously.
Fred: I didn’t know it was a Shaker. I knew nothing about Shaker or what Shaker was, but I took it home. Took it to some antiques dealer that – who I respected or thought I respected and they told me what I had and –
Martin: Did it have the number 7 in them – one of them?
Fred: It had number 7 on it and it had – I’ll never forget it had a broken rocker and I, promptly, had the rocker replaced, and I took it to the dealer and they said: you did great, except you replaced the rocker, so I learned not to touch anything.
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25 Aug 2012, by martin
Show Notes, Episode 115. Richard Wright
Martin Willis: Hi, everyone. I’m with Richard Wright on Skype in Chicago. How you doing, Richard?
Richard Wright: I’m doing fine. Good morning to you.
Martin: Good morning and thanks for joining us. This is the second time you’ve been on.
Richard: Yes.
Martin: You were all the way back in the beginnings of this podcast and I appreciate your willingness to come back, and today we’re going to stay on a, or mostly on a topic, of mid–century modern, just for our listeners, out there, who have an interest in that, and so I’m going to, just, fire some questions at you. Your company’s been around for a while and you’ve handled – I saw on your website you’ve handled over 20,000 objects, so far.
Richard: That is true.
Martin: And, encompassing, mostly, the 20th and 21st century, basically. Right?
Richard: Correct.
Martin: Yeah. So, as far as mid–century modern – that’s a term you hear all the time, today, and, what does it actually mean and what are the years it encompasses when it comes to furniture and decorative arts?
Richard: So, mid–century modern is generally – there’s not a strict definition of it, but, generally, it falls into the category of post–war design. So it begins in 1945 and it, sort of, runs stylistically to, about, 1960. After 1960 you start to have other influences in design that, sort of, move design in a more radical place. So, real, kind of, heroic mid–century modern is 1945 to 1960.
Martin: So, again, you said that it’s not really strictly defined, because I’ve seen people sell 1970s items and call it mid-century modern. It’s, kind of, stretching it, a little bit, in the 70s.
Richard: Totally. I mean, I think that the concerns of design, the design world, coming out of the war were completely different than the, much more consumer-driven, culture of the 1970s design. There is a absolute stylistic shift that starts to occur, probably strictly, we’d start to see that shift show up in the late 50s – 1958, 1959. I’m using 1960 as a nice, round number, but mid-century modern really is – it is a cohesive style, visually. That style starts to fragment later on in the century.
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