Native American Art Auctions: Art Antiques

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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Looking for Collectible Postcards

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.

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Folk Art Auctions

Folk Art Auctions

Folk art auctions feature a wide range of objects that reflect the artist’s craft traditions, and traditional social values.  Folk art is generally produced by people who have little or no academic artistic training.  Folk artists usually use established techniques and styles of a particular region or culture.

Folk art auctions include paintings, sculptures and other decorative art forms.  Some artists also consider utilitarian objects such as tools and costumes as folk art.  For the most part, the category of folk art auctions exclude works by professional artists.

It has been my experience that folk art auctions have something for just about anyone.  I found a folk art painting of a cat in a peach tree that was done by the artist Tascha.  The artist also noted on the folk art auction that they create unique ceramic tile art.

My mother purchased a blanket chest for me years ago that I listed recently in a folk art auction.  The chest was made about two hundred hears ago and is very beautiful.  The original painted decorations are still intact.

I found an interesting folk art auction for a carnival knock-down dummy in the shape of a large cat.  It was made around 1930 and is twice the size of similar items.  I researched the item on a non-auction site and found that it is worth a lot of money.

My heart is still swayed by Americana folk art auctions.  I recently fell in love with a painting I found up for auction of Elvis on a Harley in front of a large American flag.  It was spectacular!  The stretched canvas was painted with acrylics.

I especially like the Halloween themed folk art auction I found that was offered by Sister Raya New Orleans Folk Art.  The title of the painting was Little Spooky the Cat – Awaiting the Great Pumpkin.  The painting was painted in classic vintage style and used gold maple, red sapphire, blue pearl, white, pumpkin orange, sable brown, amber rust and jet black.  I would love to have this hanging on my wall all through the autumn months.

Another folk art auction that I found and was sad to bid up past my budget was a handmade set of miniature dominos.  The set was in a folk art decorated maple case.  The set dates from the mid to late 1800’s.  It was really exquisite and I’m sorry that I missed out on it.

I really liked another folk art auction that I found for a modern fraktur.  A fraktur is a specific kind of Pennsylvania German folk art.  The fraktur I found was a watercolor of a marriage record.  It was very colorful and looked like it held very special significance to its original owners.

I found a wood box from Maine in a folk art auction that really appealed to me.  It was rather small, but was painted chrome yellow and was trimmed in forest green.  The paint was crazed and worn and it was made in the late nineteenth century.  There were no visible nails and the hardware was reported as looking original.

The folk art auction that I missed out on that was way out of my price range was for an Andrew Clemens sand bottle.  The sand bottle was date 1887 and was covered in patriotic decorations.  It was an apothecary style bottle with a stopper and it contained at least ten different colors of sand.  The bottle ended up selling for eighty five hundred dollars.  I’m sure that it has ended up in an excellent collection of folk art.

I found an amusing folk art auction for three wooden carvings.  The name of the piece was Three Articulating Folk Art Whimseys and were all made by the same artist. The carvings were accented with sheet metal neckties.  The first carving in the folk art auction was of a cobbler, a blacksmith and a gentleman with a donkey.  The second carving was a diminutive soldier and the third was a cobbler smoking a pipe.  I think that this piece of Americana was purchased at a low price of three thousand dollars and was worth much more.

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Finding Vintage Disneyana

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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Finding Maritime Items at Art Auctions

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.

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Decorative Collectibles at Art Auctions

Decorative Collectibles at Art Auctions

I have found many decorative collectibles at art auctions over the years.  I have a display cabinet filled with all of my finds.  My favorite of all of the decorative collectibles are Pendelfin rabbits.

Pendelfin rabbits captivated my interest when I was a young girl.  My dad was stationed in England and my mother bought me my first of many decorative collectibles at an art auction.  The bookends that she bought for me are extremely rare and I recently had them appraised at more than fifteen hundred dollars.

I’ve been searching at art auctions in my area every time that decorative collectibles are advertised as being up for sale.  My greatest hope is that I can find a Pendelfin item named The Shoe.  I’ve been looking for this particular piece for about five years.

The larger pieces of decorative collectibles seem to get really expensive really fast at an art auction.  I’ve seen three people at once bidding up the Pendelfin rabbits to a point where the price is just out of my reach.  I love these rabbits, but I have to stay on budget when I attend an art auction.

There is one Pendelfin item that I found at an art auction early in my collection that I spend a lot more money than I wanted to.  I just had no idea how much a love of decorative collectibles could end up costing.  The item I bought was a three inch by four inch little plaque with Robert the rabbit depicted.

I sell decorative collectibles with online art auctions.  I find the items at art auctions and sales that I attend in person.  I have never resold a piece of Pendelfin.  I keep them in my own private collection.  My husband bought me a Pendelfin figurine named Auctioneer.  I love it.

Almost all of the rabbits produced by Pendelfin are small.  These decorative collectibles have retained their value for a long time.  Art auctions are a great place to hunt for really cool pieces that are larger and rare.  I’ve been looking for one named Aunt Ruby for a couple of years, now.

Aunt Ruby is one of the large size rabbits.  I already have Uncle Soames and Mother.  These were actually some of the first pieces of decorative collectibles.  I found them at an art auction I attended with my husband before we married.

There was an anniversary piece put out by Pendelfin.  I don’t think that it is worth what I keep seeing it for new and in stores that sell decorative collectibles.  I’ll just keep looking for it at a reasonable price at the art auctions I attend.

I was so excited when I found two big pieces of Pendelfin decorative collectibles at the last art auction I attended.  I bought both the one named Toy Shop and the one named The Castle Tavern.  They look great with all of the others that I’ve bought and won at auctions over the years.

My sister called me from an art auction last year to tell me that she had found a treasure trove of decorative collectibles.  She said that there was one lot that contained nine Pendelfin pieces.  I authorized her to pay up to four hundred dollars for the lot because some of the pieces were chipped.  I was shocked when the lot went for eighty dollars, the opening bid.

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Collecting Enesco

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.

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