What did Herbert Hoover and Napoleon Bonaparte have in common? Besides being heads of state, both had a taste for fine gambling chips, apparently. At least that much is to be gathered from the offerings included in the annual sale of gambling memorabilia to be held by Potter & Potter Auctions in Chicago. The May 21 Two of a Kind auction includes antique playing cards, rare books, cheating devices, gambling equipment, poker chips, artwork, and vintage advertising. The aforementioned chips come from the collection of Dale Seymour, the author of a well-known reference work on the subject, Antique Gambling Chips, in which these and many other of the chips in the sale first appeared. Pair of Napoleonic Chips, Lots 393-94, Estimate $3,000-5,000 each Seymour ranks the pair of Napoleonic chips (Lots 393 – 94), which bear an imperial bee symbol at t...Read More

If you met Pook & Pook, Inc.’s Vice President Jamie Shearer at a gun show or exposition recently, he has probably shown you a long rifle coming up for auction and offered to tell you the story of its maker, famed Lancaster, Pennsylvania gunsmith, Melchoir Fordney. It might have seemed like an overblown tall tale, but it wasn’t. In fact, the odd circumstances surrounding Fordney’s death are just as wild as they are true.   Pennsylvania (or Kentucky) long rifles are a truly American art form. Used by frontiersmen, their long barrels and interior rifling made them much more accurate than their European contemporaries. Fordney’s work in the early 19th century fell under the Golden Age of Pennsylvania long rifles and his weapons were as intricately beautiful as they were useful. However, the gunsmith’s career, and his life, were cut short when h...Read More

Jad Attal, Modern Specialist at Rago, discusses the work of Carlo Bugatti.  Carlo Bugatti was an Italian furniture designer during the Art Nouveau era. His eclectic striking designs are immediately recognizable. View the video below to learn more.  

The same thing happens just about every year. Spring finally arrives, putting a much-needed end to your winter hibernation and your calendar, that had previously looked as baron as a Mongolian plain, is suddenly jam-packed with a whirlwind of enticing social engagements. The question is, will your wardrobe and for that matter, your jewelry box be up to the demands that will suddenly confront it? Good thing then that Fortuna Auctioneers & Appraisers is staging their Spring Jewels: Fine Estate & Signed Jewelry sale on Tuesday, May 17. Nearly 400 lots of antique, contemporary, and estate jewelry, including pieces from iconic design houses such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Cartier, Hermes, Chanel and Tiffany & Co. The sale also includes a fine variety of cuff links, object dart, watches, colored stones and diamonds.   Lot 209 - the Chaumet diamond an...Read More

Saturday, May 7 sees the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby. Twenty three-year-olds, trained to the minute, doing battle over 2000 meters of the famed Churchill Downs racecourse in what has been regularly dubbed “The Greatest Two Minutes in Sport.” Over one hundred thousand people are expected on course, decked out in assorted finery, savoring an afternoon in the sun fueled by a steady supply of Mint Juleps. Here at Bidsquare we dont feel that you have to be in Kentucky wearing a big hat to celebrate the Derby or the wonderful four-legged creatures competing throughout the day. Below weve picked out a handful of lots from sales featured on our site that will help bidders inject a little "Sport of Kings" flavor into their collections, all from the comfort of their own living room. Mint Juleps remain optional... What better place to start th...Read More

Meredith Hilferty, Director of Fine Art at Rago, discusses the Abstract Expressionists represented in Ragos May 7, 2016 Post-War and Contemporary Art auction.   View the full catalog here.

The artistic life of Max Pechstein was going well as 1933 took shape. The son of a craftsman who worked in a textile mill, he’d studied art at the Royal Art Academy in Dresden, where he met Erich Heckel and joined the art group Die Brücke. Later in Berlin, he’d helped found the Neue Sezession and gained recognition for his decorative and colorful paintings. By 1933, he’d been a professor at the Berlin Academy going on ten years. Things were going well for artist Max Pechstein till the Stormtroopers arrived That all changed when the Nazis came to power. Pechstein was soon dismissed from the Berlin Academy and all up, a total of 326 of his paintings were removed from German museums. Wisely, the artist made himself scarce at this time, going into virtual seclusion in rural Pomerania. Pechstein would survive the war, be reinstated at the Berlin...Read More

Sporting art has long captured the thrill of the hunt, the elegance of equestrian activities, and the allure of the wilderness. Spanning from the 16th century to present day, this expansive niche depicts a variety of sports from the lush English countryside to the exotic plains of Africa. First to mind are scenes of active horseracing in the late 19th century prior to the widespread use of photography. However, the genre spreads to include duck decoys, antique hunting and fishing equipment, trophies, and even motorcars. The appeal lies in its ability to be both academic and decorative. Preening Black Duck sold at Copley Fine Art Auctions in July 2015 for $210,000   William Joseph Shayers Lord Lyon Winning the Derby at Epsom, 1866 sold at The Sporting Art Auction in November 2015 for $51,750 The second session of The Cobbs Auctioneers’ April...Read More

Simeon H. Merrill was a 20-year resident of Bridgeton, Maine when the Civil War broke out. Answering a 90-day call for service, he enlisted as a Corporal in Co. C of the 1st Maine Infantry on May 3, 1861. Merrill would rise through the ranks, and with the loss of two superior officers took command of Co. I, of the 11th Maine Infantry in November 1864. 150 years later, the Civil War record of Captain Merrill will once again be highlighted when an extremely rare Confederate Cofer revolver goes under the hammer on Day 1 of Cowan’s Auctions’ Historic Firearms and Early Militaria sale. How rare, you ask? Well, this prized handgun, selling here as Lot 81, is one of only fifteen known Cofer revolvers still in existence. A fresh-faced Captain Merrill pictured in uniform (left), and a group of captured Confederate soldiers The 11th Maine served in t...Read More

Descendants of the Gilded Age horseman and industrialist C. K. G. Billings will auction one of his luxurious racing trophies that had long sat boxed in a closet. It will be offered on May 1 at Stair Galleries in Hudson, N.Y. (with an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000). An enameled silver vessel the size of a punch bowl, made around 1909 by Fabergé, it is shaped like a traditional Russian drinking container known as a kovsh. Its handle is modeled after the head and neck of a goose with a speckled beak and a glaring expression, and its rim flares like a bird’s tail. The designer, Feodor Rückert, covered it in his signature swirls of Russian folk floral patterns, checkerboards and spirals. An enameled silver vessel made around 1909 by Fabergé, to be offered on May 1 at Stair Galleries Mr. Billings received it as a present from the czar’s court d...Read More