Gary Sullivan's Antique Clocks and Furniture Blog

Marilyn Monroe’s “subway dress” sets record at auction

On June 18, 2011 in General by Gary Sullivan

The iconic dress worn by Marilyn Monroe in the famous scene from “The Seven Year Itch” just sold for a steamy price! Made famous in the shot where Monroe is standing over a subway grate as a train passes and billows her dress, it was expected to fetch one to two million dollars. When the dust had settled at an auction of objects from the Debbie Reynolds collection., it brought about 6 times the previous record for a costume. The new owner paid five and a half million dollars (5,520,000.00) for a pretty cool piece of movie history. Audrey Hepburn’s little black dress from “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” held the previous record at $923,187.

New record auction price

April 17, 2012 The world has a brand new record for the highest price ever paid for a work of art: $250 million! I wish that the new record was for an Early American tall case clock or a piece of Boston Queen Anne furniture. Alas, it was not. The record price was paid for a painting, which is not surprising given the tremendous numbers that fly around in the high end art market. I hope that some day the world will realize that the under appreciated masterpieces of American furniture are every bit as beautiful as two dimensional art. For now, Early American furniture collectors have opportunities to buy the highest form of their “art” at much more reasonable prices than do the painting collectors. Here is the story from Antiques And Fine Art News:
Highboy Rescue at Wyoming Auction

April 19, 2011 We have just purchased a “$650.” highboy for $60 thousand! Although I wish the numbers were reversed, I’m thrilled with the discovery and acquisition. Situations like this are what make the antiques business so fascinating and have certainly helped to hold my interest through the years. What happened is this: In mid February I received a letter from a panicked beneficiary of a trust, who informed me that several antique objects from her stepmother’s estate had been under-valued by an appraiser and were slated to be sold in 9 days by a remote Wyoming auctioneer. Fearing that the antiques would sell for a fraction of their value, she was bringing the auction to the attention of qualified dealers that she found on the internet. The key object, an eighteenth century Massachusetts bonnet-top high chest had been valued by an appraiser for the trust at $650. According to the heir, the high chest was a valuable Queen Anne piece and had been part of a fine furniture exhibit at the highly regarded Western Reserve Historical Society in 1969. She sent me an ...
Amazing new record find at Antiques Roadshow

July 29, 2011 A new record was just set for the highest appraisal ever recorded on an Antiques Roadshow episode. It happened at the Tulsa, Oklahoma event on July 23rd, when Appraiser Lark Mason appraised a collection of five carved and decorated late 17th or early 18th century Chinese libation cups. These are not ordinary cups though. They were fashioned from rhinoceros horn that were intricately carved and shaped into drinking vessels. Apparently, the Chinese favored rhinoceros horn as a material to form into cups for drinking rice wine. The natural horn is hollow at the base, which makes it conducive to forming into the shape of a cup. The Gentleman who brought the cups in to the show, is an art collector who had no idea of their extreme value. He had purchased them in the 1970s for a few thousand dollars, long before the market for important Chinese artifacts went crazy. Lark appraised the set at $1 million to 1.5 million. That's in U.S. Dollars my friends! The episode will air sometime after January 1st. I'm still waiting for that seven ...
Appraiser’s Seminar hosted by Brunk Auctions.

May 14, 2011 I just spent two days in Ashville, NC for a Appraiser's Seminar hosted by Brunk Auctions. What a terrific idea, for Brunk to host an event where appraisers earn continuing education credits from The International Society of Appraisers while attending lectures by experts in various specialties. I was there to speak on methods of evaluating and appraising antique clocks. I didn't prepare very much, had about 15 slides in a Power Point presentation, and was a little nervous that I wouldn't have enough material to consume the hour and 15 minute slot. My fears were all for not, as I ended up rushing to include critical information after speaking for an hour and a half. Brunk had several clocks that are slated to be sold in future auctions, so I had plenty of material to refer to. I brought some examples of reverse painted glass panels from banjo clocks and a few clock dials (faces) to illustrate original verses restored paint. The questions from this group of experienced appraisers were excellent. They kept me on my toes. The turnout was ...
Discoveries!

October 26, 2011 This is what keeps us going - the thrill of the hunt! As dealers we are always dreaming of making that big discovery, the sleeper that will make a difference. It still happens, as evidenced by the story below. I have made a few through the years, but I’m still waiting for the “big one”. We did make a nice discovery in an auction box lot last year, maybe not as spectacular as the one in the story, but it was pretty special for us. While previewing a sale at a small auction house, Matt spotted an extremely important piece of Chinese export porcelain in a box lot. The lot had been part of the residue from an excellent Boston area estate, the majority of which had gone to one of the big name auction houses. Here was this obscure five-figure piece, mixed in with common, low value porcelain. We knew we on the trail of a good one, now we just needed to bring it in. Matt sat quietly in the audience at the sale, hoping nobody else had ...
The amazing truth about hoarders

August 26, 2011 The popular new television shows on extreme hoarding have recently made more people aware of the problem. Because of this awareness, I’ve begun to hear comments such as, ”can you imagine seeing a place like that?” or “have you ever seen one of those houses?” The sad fact is, I have. Many times. It’s a lot more common than you might think. Between my work for various Boston area auctioneers in my youth and the years that I spent as an estate liquidator, I estimate that I’ve been involved in the dismantling of between 15 and 20 extreme hoarder’s homes. The difference is, I was usually dealing with the homes of hoarders who had either died or had gone to a nursing home. It would be unusual for a hoarder to part with their possessions, so antiques dealers are rarely called until after the occupant is gone. I used to attempt to explain the conditions of these houses, describing rooms piled with debris, sometimes up to the ceiling and only isles to walk through. Now people can see these ...