Shall we enter through the grand, c.1860s Italiante mansion or the luminous, cutting-edge, structure? No matter which doorway we decide, we will soon be roaming through an impressive blend of art eras - discovering Master drawings, European paintings, one of the largest international ceramics collections in the U.S. and marvelous wings of Asian, African, and Oceanic art. We have found ourselves in the Crocker Art Museum. Crocker Art Museum, Historic building | via crockerart.org Originally purchased in 1869 by Judge Edwin C. Crocker and renovated by local architect Seth Babson, the property was unique from the start. Babson designed the mansion to a spectacular degree by using the finest materials and focusing on the goal of integrating and displaying the Crocker family's growing art collection. The original family complex included a bowlin...Read More

One of the many questions I receive, working in the antiques and auction industry is, "What is Pop Culture?" The funny part is, it’s not all that different from saying something is Jacobean, Victorian, Art Deco or Mid Century Modern. The term is used to describe something as being from “Popular Culture.” That’s it! Whether it’s Roy Rogers and the Lone Ranger or Pikachu, Optimus Prime, Steve Austin, and Luke Skywalker, “Pop Culture” is used to describe anything that relates to a property that is or was popular during a particular period of time. The cool part is, there's no time stamp of a certain period - anything can become part of Pop Culture, regardless of age! It's an ever-expanding field of study. People collect Pop Culture items because it takes them back to a time, typically childhood, (which for most) is filled with fun and happy me...Read More

June is turning out to be quite the busy month for Asian Art auctions! Many of these sales were originally scheduled for March but had to be pushed back because of the global pandemic. Originally set for March 25, Hindman in Chicago will be offering their ‘Asian Works of Art’ auction on June 25. This 358 lot sale features objects from China, Japan, Korea, the Himalayan region and South East Asia. Numerous categories are covered including porcelain, ceramics, jade carvings, paintings, furniture, scholar objects, textiles, jewelry, Buddhist sculptures and rare books. Lot 52, A Rare Incised and Green Enameled Porcelain 'Dragon' Bowl The star of the Hindman auction is lot 52, an incised and green enamelled porcelain dragon bowl from the Zhengde reign (1505-1521) of the Ming Dynasty. The bowl features delicately incised designs of sinuous five-c...Read More

Behind every great success story, there are a challenge and a bet, often arising from a crisis. In the late 1970s, the Swiss watch industry was witnessing a rapid decline caused by the invasion of the Japanese market. The Japanese produced watches with quartz movement, paradoxically of Swiss invention, and were able to overtake 42% of the world market in a few years. The prototype that anticipated the invention of the Swatch was called Popularius, a spartan name which already clearly indicated the popular destination (pop) of the product: “a low-cost, high-tech, artistic and emotional ‘second watch’ - the Swatch. The Swiss expensive watch brands (S-watches) destined for the American market came out in November 1982, but the market test did not truly work. Finarte, 'The Swatch Collection' auction on June 24 In Switzerland, the entire product...Read More

The 'Godfather of Pop Art', Sir Peter Blake, best known for designing the iconic front cover of The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band album in 1967, has "guaranteed to raise a smile" yet again - a smile stretching 200 feet wide. In a commission by LONDON Advertising to cover the façade of the Mandarin Oriental, London during its recent renovations in 2017, Sir Peter Blake evoked the spirit of Sgr. Pepper and constructed a colossal mural to tent over the unsightly scaffolding. The mural titled, 'Our fans' showcased 100 of the hotels most renowned 'Fans' such as the two surviving Beatles, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney, as well as, Annie Lennox, Whoopi Goldberg, Morgan Freeman, Dame Judi Dench and Sir Peter Blake himself, to name only a few. Easily, Sir Peter Blake's largest-ever artwork, 'Our fans' also coincided with the 50th ...Read More

June has seen an increased number of Asian-themed auctions around the world, suggesting a return to normalcy and economic recovery from the global pandemic. One of the upcoming sales to look forward to is at Brunk Auctions – they will be hosting their Speciality Auction on June 18 in Asheville NC. This 197-lot sale contains jewelry, watches & clocks, and a wide selection of Asian Art from China, Japan, Korea, India and the Himalayan region. The top highlights from this auction are two woodblock prints by Katsushika Hokusai (c. 1760-1849). Lot 122, Senju in Musashi Province, and lot 123, Cushion Pine at Aoyama, are both from his seminal series ‘The Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji’. Even though the most iconic image from this series is by far ‘The Great Wave Off Kanagawa’, these two woodblock prints are still masterpieces in their own right an...Read More

Millea Bros in Boonton NJ will be holding their two-day Select sale on June 4th and 5th. Over 700 lots will be offered including modern art and design, photography, silver, folk art, antiquities, Russian art, and ethnographic art. Day one of the sale features a selection of 132 Asian Art objects from China, Japan, India and South East Asia. Of particular interest is a group of Chinese huanghuali 黃花梨wood objects. These pieces were made for and influenced by Chinese scholars. China has a lengthy history of scholar art that spans over 2000 years. Many of these revered art objects are related directly to the ‘four scholarly pursuits’, siyi 四藝, which includes writing calligraphy, painting, playing the seven-stringed qin 琴, and the strategy game qi 棋. As their own class, Chinese scholars rose to prominence during the Sui Dynasty (581-618) due to ...Read More

With the majority of Asian Art auctions in North America postponed during March and April because of the ongoing global pandemic, collectors around the world have been waiting for the moment when this market finally resumes again. The month of May has seen country-wide restrictions being lifted and some normalcy to everyday life slowly returning. For those interested in Asian Art, there is much anticipation for the two-day Asian Art & Antiques sale at Oakridge Auction Gallery in Ashburn, VA.   Day-one of the sale takes place on May 23 and features just over 300 lots of Chinese ceramics and works of art. The popular categories included are porcelain, jade carvings, furniture, Buddhist sculptures, and scholar objects. Day-two of the sale on May 24 focuses primarily on Chinese paintings, calligraphies and snuff bottles with 183 lots.  Lot 245,...Read More

For most people who peruse the antiques and collectibles auction market, TCG may appear outlandish and strange in the sense of, “How can a trading card that’s 20 years old be worth more than my Meissen dinnerware or a landscape painting?” The answer is, we are in the year 2020. TCG which stands for “Trading Card Game” originated in 1993 with Magic: The Gathering. Following in the footsteps of Magic are Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! All of which are worldwide phenomenon’s in their own right, but Pokémon especially has become a global brand. Introduced to the United States in 1999, Pokémon was published by Wizards of The Coast in collaboration with Nintendo following the huge success of the cartoon and video game as well as the brand’s overall glory in Japan beginning in 1996. So, twenty-one years, twenty-three movies, and one hundred and twenty-two ...Read More

The third edition of L'Histoire des Deux Indes, published in 1781, was censored in France due to its controversial content, related to anticolonialism and a strong revolutionary conviction, largely due to the collaboration of famous figures such as d'Holbach and Diderot. In 1770 the first edition of this work was published anonymously under the title, “Histoire Philosophique et Politique des Établissements et du Commerce des Européens dans les Deux Indes”, in which radical ideas centering around natural law, criticism of colonialism, the clergy and despotism could be found. Many of the ideas found in this work date back to the mid-eighteenth century when an ideological movement began to grow in Europe, revolutionizing all areas of knowledge, and eventually influencing events of great historical importance, such as the French Revolution whic...Read More