QUESTION:

– SH, Ottumwa, Iowa, via e-mail

ANSWER: The following information is from The Ape Sheet: The Vincent Price Collection” was an experiment started by Sears, Roebuck and Co. to sell fine art to the general public. They hired Vincent Price to assemble the collection because he had a recognizable name and a reputation as an art collector. The actor purchased more than 2,700 works and the first 100 went on sale in October of 1962. To the store’s surprise, it worked. People clamored to buy pieces by artists such as Albrecht Durer or Reginald Pollack. Discontinued in 1971, the Vincent Price Collection has been forgotten as an odd art historical moment.”

A 1967 Sears catalog featured a Pablo Picasso oil on canvas entitled “Girl with a Boat” (Maya Picasso) for $800. I wish I had purchased it.

Robert Watson (Jan. 28, 1923 – Dec. 14, 2004), born in Martinez, Calif., is classified as a surrealist and neo-romanticist. He honed his skills studying old masters at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and worked briefly with Frederick Taubers at the University of Wisconsin. He lived for many years in Berkeley, Calif. Gump’s in San Francisco sponsored his first one-man show in 1947. His work is in museum collections around the world. His celebrity clients included Ray Bradbury, Clark Gable, Armand Hammer, Burt Reynolds and Ed Sullivan. Watson did the painting used to illustrate the 1953 edition of Bradbury’s “Martian Chronicles.” To learn more about Watson, visit www.robertwatsonart.com.

On May 28, 2007, Heritage Auctions sold an oil on canvas entitled “Figures” that measures 32 inches by 18 inches that is similar to your painting, based on the photograph image that accompanied your e-mail. It is from the same series. The final selling price was $2,390.

In researching Robert Watson painting values, there was a price disparity of more than 50 percent between prices realized at auction and asked by galleries. Based on modern trends in the surrealist/neo-romanticist market, your painting has a secondary market auction value around $3,000.

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QUESTION: My mother has a copy of a 1984 article you wrote for the Allentown Morning Call in which you talked about a ceramic Jell-O cow pitcher worth $525. My mother acquired a Jell-O cow pitcher in the 1950s and has kept it stored in her dish cabinet since that time. It is in great shape. Now, she would like to sell it. Any information you can supply would be helpful.

– TC, Bethlehem, Pa, via e-mail

ANSWER: I am not the author, at least not to my knowledge. “Rinker on Collectibles” did not begin until late 1987. The author was most likely another syndicated antiques and collectibles columnist and her husband who will remain nameless.

Wondering what caused a ceramic Jell-O cow pitcher to have such a high value in 1984, I did research. The answer is Prescott Baston, creator of Sebastian miniatures. After completing a series of Sebastian miniatures for Jell-O between 1951 and 1955, Baston designed a cow pitcher for Jell-O in 1956.

The Sebastian World website is the source for information about Sebastian figurines: Prescott W. Baston (1909-1984), who attended the Vesper George School of Art in Boston, created his first miniatures for Exeter and Deerfield Academies in 1930. During the Depression, Baston worked for a Boston clock company, a furniture moving company and as a mural painter. In 1938, he designed a miniature for the Shaker Glen House Restaurant. This led to his working with Carborne, a Boston wholesale gift distributor. Between 1939 and 1941, Baston developed a cottage industry producing and painting miniatures in his basement. In 1945, he moved to Marblehead and set up a studio.

Starting in 1950, Baston focused on producing commercial miniatures for advertising and/or giveaway promotions. Radio station WEEI and Jell-O were among his clients. In the early 1960s, Baston expanded his product line to include pen stands, religious pieces and Toby Jugs. Lance Corporation of Hudson, Mass., produced pewter figures based on Baston’s designs starting in 1969. In 1976, Lance assumed production and distribution of all Sebastian miniatures. The Sebastian Miniatures Collectors Society began in 1980.

Sebastian collectors identify the Jell-O cow pitcher as LC-13. It measures 6 ¾ icches long and 4 ¾ inches high. Jell-O offered the pitcher as a premium for $1 plus a coupon from a national Jell-O advertisement. A Japanese manufacturer produced 100,000 pieces.

Current book values vary. The website Sebastian World shows a value range between $210 and $220, although a notation indicates the value was last revised in 2003. Kyle Husfloen’s “Antique Trader Pottery and Porcelain Ceramics Price Guide, 5th Edition” (KP/Krause Publications, an imprint of F+W Publications, 2006) values the pitcher between $345 and $375. When using any price source, it is critical to check the copyright or value source date. The secondary market constantly changes.

A Jell-O cow creamer with glaze damage to one of the hooves listed on eBay with an opening bid of $48.99 (plus $9 shipping) failed to attract any bidders. WorthPoint price information includes an example in very good condition that sold on eBay on October 5, 2007 for $92.99.

Interpreting this price information produced the following results. First, if $525 was a fair secondary market value in the mid-1980s, the secondary market has lost between 40 and 75 percent of its 1984 value, depending on what source you wish to believe. Second, price guides are slow to reflect secondary market price declines. No one likes reading that the value of their favorite antique or collectibles has declined. Third, the secondary market is flooded. Thus, a realistic secondary current market value is between $75 and $85. Fourth, the number of Sebastian miniature collectors has decreased by more than two-thirds (my best guess) from its mid-1980s high. Finally, the likelihood of a future resurgence of collector interest in Sebastian miniatures is slim to none. While there always will be collectors, their numbers will be small.

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QUESTION: I have a tin pail about the size of a paint bucket. It is made of metal and painted with a shiny black ground and features a spread-winged eagle with three stars above its head and its talons holding arrows. The pail and the lid hinge are held together by rivets. Is this a piece of folk art someone created?

— LT, Janesville, Wis., via e-mail

ANSWER: Forget about any folk art attributions. Your pail is a manufactured commercial product.

When I first looked at the images of the pail that accompanied your e-mail, I thought 1930s Colonial Revival accessory. After a few moments’ reflection, I moved the date to the 1950s.

Although living in Michigan for more than a year, Linda and I still are unpacking boxes. Missing in the move, but most certainly among the unpacked boxes, is my collection of merchant (trading) stamp redemption catalogs. If I look at the Colonial Revival maple furniture and accessory pages from a late 1950s or early 1960s catalog, I am certain I will find your pail.

While most collectors think of 1950s maple as western-themed furniture, over half was Early American (Colonial) in motif. Eagle motifs on black surfaces were found on lamp shades, boxes and a host of other decorative accessories.

While your pail has little collector value, it does have decorator and reuse value. An antiques mall dealer would price it between $25 and $35.

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QUESTION: I have a commemorative plate. The front states: “To commemorate the Bi-Centenary of the discovery of Australia 1770-1970.” The image features the HMB Endeavour, Capt. James Cook, and a variety of coats of arms and emblems. The back contains a blurb about Cook and his ships plus “This plate is no. 199 of limited hand painted edition, produced by Wood and Sons Ltd., Burslem, England.” Would you have any idea of its worth?

– KMcM, Brisbane, Australia, via e-mail

ANSWER: I found the following reference on the United Kingdom version of eBay: “Wood & Sons Ltd. Australia Bi-Centenary black & white commemorative plate of the discovery of Australia 1770-1970. Plate is 10” in diameter with decorative scenes of H.M.B Endeavor at sea, picture of Capt. James Cook RN, and various coats of arms. Back of plate has a brief history of James Cook and His Majesty’s Barque Endeavor and backstamp of Woods & Sons Ltd of Burslem. Condition is good.” Since the description matches your plate, they must be one in the same.

The seller is asking £19.99 plus £4.60 for shipping. Since no one has purchased the plate, this number is high. The limited edition number is meaningless.

Your plate has its greatest value in Australia. My recommendation is to search Australian eBay, until you find an example that sells through. The final price should be between $10 and $15 Australian.

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Rinker Enterprises and Harry L. Rinker are on the Internet. Check out Harry’s Web site..

You can listen and participate in Harry’s antiques-and-collectibles radio call-in show “Whatcha Got?” on Sunday mornings between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Eastern Time. It streams live on the Genesis Communications Network.

“Sell, Keep Or Toss? How To Downsize A Home, Settle An Estate, And Appraise Personal Property” (House of Collectibles, an imprint of the Random House Information Group), Harry’s latest book, is available at your favorite bookstore and via Harry’s Web site..

Harry L. Rinker welcomes questions from readers about collectibles, those mass-produced items from the 20th century. Selected queries will be answered on this site. Harry cannot provide personal answers. Send your questions to: Rinker on Collectibles, 5955 Mill Pond Court SE, Kentwood, MI 49512. You can e-mail your questions to harrylrinker [at] aol [dot] com. Only e-mails containing a full name and mailing address will be considered. Please indicate that these are questions for WorthPoint.

Copyright © Rinker Enterprises, Inc. 2012

WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

The cover of “Helen LaFrance / Folk Art Memories” (S & S Publishing) wraps one of the artist’s paintings around the book.

I recently entered a postpartum period, which usually refers to the time beginning immediately after the birth of a child and extending for several weeks beyond. This is actually pretty miraculous, since my oldest child is 38 years old! The postpartum period I’m speaking of began after I submitted the manuscript of the book I had just written for layout.

I had spent the last few months writing “Helen LaFrance / Folk Art Memories” (S & S Publishing) with Bruce Shelton, who introduced me to the self-taught Southern artist almost 20 years ago. Now, I find myself feeling somewhat up in the air, not knowing what form the actual book will take, and fantasizing ways to promote the finished product beyond its automatic placement on Amazon.com.

Helen LaFrance

The book is an intimate glimpse into the life and work of Helen LaFrance, whose specialty is visually recording a way of life that is fast disappearing. Born in Western Kentucky in 1919, LaFrance is the rare artist who is able to work deftly in more than one medium. She is an accomplished painter, quilter, wood carver and Biblical interpreter, however her real skill is her exceptional ability to connect with the viewer emotionally through the memories they share. She paints scenes of a time and place that many recall, but others respond to as well. These paintings fall into a category of American folk art known as Memory Painting.

With more than 200 photographs, the book introduces us to LaFrance and illustrates the range of the her work. Some of you may have met LaFrance in a chapter of my previous book, “Outsider Art of the South” (Schiffer Publishing) or already seen her evocative memory paintings. But, if you don’t know her, you will agree she is a remarkable artist whose boundless talent is becoming known beyond the prescient collectors and museums which have always been enthusiastic fans of her work. In the book, the art speaks for itself.

We spent July through October contacting people who owned the art we wanted to illustrate the book and then photographing it. Signed permissions had to be obtained from the owners to feature their collections in the book. Bruce Shelton made all the calls and did the legwork for these steps. On my last book, I had done pretty much everything myself, so it was great to have so much help this time around. John E. Orman, IV photographed most of the art and did a super job. They drove as far as Lexington, Atlanta and the mountains of North Carolina to get pictures. When the images I had previously photographed proved to be unusable, my dear friend Rozanne Folk of Historic Works happily traveled to Western Kentucky to shoot Shelton Chapel, LaFrance’s family’s church and cemetery, and Mayfield Cemetery’s famous Wooldridge Monuments, whose life-size statues influenced the artist as a child.

There were people who lived far away who agreed to photograph the paintings professionally or do it themselves, but some had trouble setting their cameras to the highest resolution necessary. There were some multiple attempts at this process because the size of the digital file was too small, resulting in an image that was no bigger than a postage stamp. I applaud the persistent ones who kept trying while I anxiously awaited their e-mails.

For me, the writing was the easy part. My first job was as a reporter for a daily newspaper, and writing was an integral part of every subsequent stint, from museum director to historic preservationist to art and antiques dealer. I had known the artist a fairly long time, enough to give her work in a sense of place, but I was not an intimate and she didn’t gush about herself or anything else. She was a somewhat reticent interview. Luckily, I was able to rely on a close family friend who had known her since childhood to fill in the blanks. To this day, this woman brings paints to the nursing home where the artist now resides.

“Church Picnic,” oil on canvas, 12 x 24 inches. (Courtesy of Shelton Gallery)

I also interviewed others who are true experts in the field of folk art. Their comments underscored the points I wanted to make as I recreated the artist’s context. One person I really wanted to speak with was Dr. Dennis C. Dickerson, Vanderbilt University professor and historiographer of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, for background on black churches. Shelton Chapel was on that circuit, and luckily for me, Nashville was the A.M.E. headquarters. But I had spent weeks trying to reach Dr. Dickerson by phone and then missed his sincere voice message that he’d been very busy with the annual conference and was just now returning my call.

I was crestfallen as our self-imposed deadline approached, but I noticed that this telephone number was not his office phone he gave in the message, but I called it anyway. Of course it was his home, and his wife answered. I had actually spoken with her before and had explained what I needed. I had probably convinced her that I wasn’t some deranged stalker because she told me that her husband was on his way to his office as we spoke. I immediately hopped in the car and drove downtown and waited until he arrived. Dr. Dickerson looked a little unnerved when I jumped up and said, “Sorry to ambush you, but I’m Kathy Shelton, and your wife told me you’d be coming in.” We had the best afternoon visiting.

Next came the tedious task of assembling the images. I had a table of contents, so I printed out the images and put them in envelopes according to each chapter, then I stalled . . . for weeks. I had to number the images in the order of where they would be placed, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. For some reason, this kind of work makes me gnash my teeth! Last minute images arrived and I worked at refining my writing . . . anything to keep from finishing this task. Finally, I just had to begin cataloging, assigning each image with a specific identifying number, and putting each one in its proper place in the text. I created a separate file for all the captions which corresponded with these numbers, noting the title of the work of art, the medium and dimensions, and the name of the person who owned it. So, in the end, there were at least three references or identifiers for each work of art. Grrrr!

I then had to ask a few highly respected people to provide some praise for my last book for the back jacket of this book. Embarrassed that I hadn’t kept in touch with one of these key people for almost a decade, I made the call anyway. Fortunately for me, he generously responded with, “What can I do for you? You can have whatever you want . . . even my body!” I told him it was the best offer I’d had all day. I am so lucky we have that kind of relationship and can enjoy good humor.

“Wash Day,” oil on canvas, 2 x 4 feet. (Private Collection, Miccosukee, Fla.)

I asked a few trusted editors to look over the manuscript for inconsistencies and errors and to offer suggestions for improvement. Then, on D-Day, I had to submit the manuscript without the Foreword because the person who was writing it and had written the Introduction to my last book is a gentlewoman and a scholar, but she is also a perfectionist. Lee Kogan, curator emerita, American Folk Art Museum in New York, was acquainted with Helen LaFrance and could have written a brilliant treatise on her and the entire genre of memory painting. Over several months, she asked me to send her countless images to illustrate her points and, like me, kept tweaking her writing. I gave gentle reminders that I had a deadline, but it had to be a certain way for her, as she said, before she would hit the send key. And so it is. What she wrote is both everything and more than I could have hoped.

Our layout people, Gwyn Kennedy Snider and Tessa Marshall of GKSCreative, “got it.” They understood exactly what I wanted the book cover to look like. Instead of planting a painting on the front jacket and maybe another one on the back, I wanted to take one painting, blow it up to 11 x 18 inches and wrap it around the hard cover book. I would sometimes preface expressing myself by saying, “This may be a little weird,” and Gwyn would say right away, “That’s OK. I like weird.” It never was that weird. We were thrilled with the book jacket and know their design will be wonderful. And then we will await the production of the finished book.

A favorite reminiscence about Helen LaFrance concerns one of my last visits with her, this time in a nursing home. LaFrance had commandeered a corner of the day room and made it into a studio. A nurse led us down a winding corridor and, when we reached her, said with some awe, “I didn’t know we had such a famous artist in residence.” LaFrance, with paint brush in hand, replied matter-of-factly without missing a beat, “You don’t.” Helen LaFrance looked no different from the way she did when I first met her almost 20 years earlier. She was still painting.

Bruce Shelton’s inventory may be found on the Shelton Gallery website and his GoAntiques store.

Kathy Moses Shelton, based in Nashville, Tenn., is owner of Just Looking, which specializes in American antiques, accessories and art (19th century to Modernism), silver, folk and outsider art, and whimsical things. She has also been a guest on Martha Stewart Living Television. You can also view her inventory on GoAntiques.com.

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WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

This 1906 Rock Island Railroad reverse glass train sign, measuring eight feet long and in the original frame, netted $71,500 in an auction facilitated by Showtime Auction Services.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – An 8-foot-long 1906 Rock Island Railroad reverse glass train sign brought $71,500 at an auction held Sept.30-Oct. 2 by Showtime Auction Services, at the Washtenaw Farm Council Grounds in Ann Arbor. It was a new auction record for an 8-foot Rock Island sign, more than doubling the previous record of $30,000. It was also the top lot of the sale.

If a Rock Island Railroad sign rings a bell, it’s because another sign for the same railroad, also from around the turn of the century but of a different size and look, soared to $165,000 at Showtime’s last big auction, held April 1-3, also in Ann Arbor. It was the most ever paid for an advertising sign, a record that still stands today. Both signs were housed in original gilt frames.

This Yeungling’s Beer reverse glass sign, made by the John L. Dawes Mfg. Co., drew a $43,125-winning bid.

The sign (99 inches by 24 inches overall) was designed by the same maker of the Pullman Car chandeliers. It was given to the Western Sandblasting Company in Chicago, with a contract to produce 50 more. It is also quite possibly the only one with verbiage on the original frame and sign. It was considered highly desirable to collectors, with the train in the foreground.

The auction attracted around 250 people a day on the first two days and about 200 people on the last day. Internet bidding (facilitated by LiveAuctioneers and iCollector) was brisk, with nearly 1,500 online bidders (a record for Showtime). Phone and absente bids were also recorded. Overall, close to 2,000 lots changed hands in an auction that grossed $1.6 million.

“This was our biggest and best fall auction ever, no doubt,” said Michael Eckles of Showtime Auction Services. “I was very pleased with the level of Internet bidding activity, which I know was driven by factors such as increased travel costs and the hassles of airport security. But the in-house crowd was great, too, and they really got into the spirit of the event.”

Headlining the auction was the lifetime country store, advertising and toy collection of Mike and Colleen Empey. The sale also featured barber shop, coin-op, gambling, folk art, toys, banks, Coca-Cola and other soda, gum, candy, firearms and gunpowder, tobacciana, coffee, salesmen’s samples, whiskey, breweriana, petroliana, automobilia, match safes and pedal cars.

Following are additional highlights from the sale (all prices quoted include a 10-percent buyer’s premium for in-house sales or an 18-percent buyer’s premium for Internet bidders):

• A circa-1880s Cigar Store Indian attributed to Thomas Brooks, 69 inches tall, in excellent condition, brought $49,500; a Yuengling’s Beer reverse glass sign, made by the John L. Dawes Mfg. Co. (Pottsdown, Pa.), in near-mint condition, realized $43,125; and a Moose Beer reverse glass sign, made by Duluth & Malting Brewing Co. (Duluth, Minn.), near-mint, rose to $38,500.

This Alcazar cigar tin manufactured by the American Can Company in mint condition sold for $9,350.

• An extremely rare John Deere sand and wood one-sided sign, one of only two known and in excellent condition, breezed to $14,960; a rare oak six-foot double tower showcase with nickel corners (69 inches by 35 inches), in remarkable shape, climbed to $13,750; and a scarce Heinz Pickles string holder, near-mint and the best example ever offered by Showtime, made $12,100.

• A circa-1840s museum-quality Dutch child’s sled, exquisitely hand-painted with swans and other birds and in excellent condition, with a beautiful patina, coasted to $12,100; an inlaid gold quartz match safe with multi-colored diamond pattern and engraved detail throughout went for $10,620; and an Oak Motor Oil two-sided ‘lollipop’ porcelain sign, near mint, made $10,350.

• An Alcazar cigar tin with exceptional graphics and color, made by the American Can Co., in mint condition, commanded $9,350; a Rodeo Coffee 5-pound pail with bale and “Let-R-Buck” image on both sides, made by the H.E. Starbrooks Co., Ltd. (Winnipeg, Man.), brought $7,150; and a Pratts Veterinary Remedies (Philadelphia) tin front store cabinet realized $6,900.

This Oak Motor Oil “lollipop” porcelain two-sided sign in near-mint condition hammered for $10,350.

• A DeLaval Cream Separators self-framed tin sign made by H.D. Beach Co. (Coshocton, Ohio), 25 ¾ inches in diameter, hammered for $5,775; a hand-carved shotgun trade sign, 65 ½ inches long and in excellent condition, rose to $5,500; and an oak, nickel-cornered, curved glass showcase with original brass tag made by Excelsior Showcase Co. (Quincy, Ill.), fetched $4,950.

• A Swift Wing sand and painted wood trade sign, beautifully constructed and in superb condition (41 inches by 11 inches) garnered $4,675; a hanging apothecary show globe and original griffin bracket, with no chips or cracks (22 inches tall) finished at $4,675; and a Johnson Halter papier-mâché trade sign with the original manufacturer’s label on back went for $4,400.

• A Sampson Bachrach Collar Button store display, with original brass tag and decals and collar button finial on top, brought $4,125; a Super Greyhound Motor Fuel porcelain sign, 58 inches by 34 inches, crossed the block for $4,125; a circa-1950s near-mint White Owl cigar tin made $3,025; and an R. O. Beitel jeweler’s watch trade sign, 16 inches by 25 inches, hit $3,960.

• A scrimshaw ivory tusk, 8 inches in length and decorated with the images of three women, went to a determined bidder for $2,950; a Signal Gas round porcelain tin sign, 72 inches in diameter and in excellent condition, found a new owner for $2,200; and a Sharpleigh’s Razor Blade store display case with product, wood and glass with original decals, finished at $1,210.

For more information about this auction, call 951.453.2415, e-mail to MikEckles [at] aool [dot] com or visit the Showtime Auction Services website.

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WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

This carved, stained and painted wood creation by S.L. Jones, titled “Dark Head Bust with Blue Eyes,” will be among the more than 1,000 pieces of folk and self-taught art for auction April 30-May 1 in an event hosted by Slotin Auctions.

BUFORD, Ga. – A weekend sale featuring more than 1,000 lots of folk art in a wide array of genres will be held April 30-May 1 by Slotin Auction at the Historic Buford Hall, located just north of Atlanta. Featured will be many pieces from the lifetime collection of Salvatore Scalora, director of the Atrium Gallery and the William Benton Museum at the University of Connecticut.

The auction will provide bidders with an eclectic and exciting mix of offerings: outsider and self-taught art, Southern folk pottery, American paintings and portraits, quilts, weather vanes, samplers, Americana carvings, shooting gallery targets, trade signs, tramp art, vernacular photography, Haitian works, African art, religious art, erotica, Jewish art, antique and anonymous works, and some incredible new discoveries. Slotin Auction specializes in bringing the strange, the unusual and the vanishing America to auction.

“We’re calling this our ‘Spring Masterpiece Sale,’ with the theme being ‘Changing Faces of American Folk Art,’” said Steve Slotin of Slotin Auction. “Folk art, while deeply rooted in history and the American experience, is evolving, like any other art form, and this sale will reflect emerging trends. We’re really mixing things up. This will be one great sale.”

Salvatore Scalora was born in Italy into a large family of peasant farmers who emigrated to the United States. Salvatore was the only one of eight children to attend high school, then he went on to earn a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Art Institute of Chicago. While there, he and a friend, Clay Morrison, developed a deep love and appreciation for the world of folk art. Clay passed away a few years ago and, at his request, his collection was sold through Slotin Auction as a benefit for the School of Art in Chicago.

As is the case with many early self-taught art enthusiasts, Scalora not only collected folk art, he made frequent trips to his folk artist heroes, at first with Clay Morrison and later his wife. Trekking into often rural and forbidding terrain, he broke bread and befriended giants in the field such as Edgar Tolson, S.L. Jones, Lanier Meaders, William Dawson, Minnie Black, Noah Kinney, Carl McKenzie, Denzil Goodpaster and others. The earliest of collectors often covet these quirky meetings with the artists as much as the art treasures they bring home.

“I was consumed with these amazing artists as I ventured out to experience their folk art environments,” Scalora said. “As we visited our old folk artist friends, and sought out new ones, it became evident that there was so much wisdom in the folk artists’ lives and in their art. They led mostly ordinary, productive lives, but were drawn into this new creative life later on.”

Some expected top lots of the auction follow, with accompanying high and low estimates.

Works by Bill Traylor are always in high demand, and this sale will feature several fine examples, including a signed ink on cardboard work titled “Drinking Man With Owl and Two Figures on Geometric Object,” framed, 8 inches by 12 inches (est. $20,000-$25,000); and another signed ink on cardboard work, 9 ½ inches by 8 inches, titled simply “Dog” (est. $20,000-$25,000).

Ink on cardboard work by Bill Traylor, titled simply “Dog,” signed upper left, excellent condition.

Two other folk art giants—Howard Finster and Clementine Hunter—will also be featured in the sale. Finster’s tractor enamel on cutout board with mixed media titled “Henry Ford #3,772,” signed and dated Sept. 23, 1984, should bring $3,000-$5,000, while Hunter’s circa 1940s paint on paper work titled “Boy With Horse,” 13 inches by 10 inches, framed, should hit $5,000-$8,000.

Tractor enamel on cutout board with mixed media by Howard Finster, titled “Henry Ford #3,772.”

S. L. Jones—another folk art superstar—will be represented in the sale, with works such as “Dark Head Bust With Blue Eyes,” a stained and painted wood carving, signed by the artist (est. $5,000-$8,000). Also, paintings by a new discovery—author and psychiatrist Dr. Samuel A. Greenberg—will include a 1960 oil on canvas titled “Average Normal Born” (est. $1,500-$2,000). Greenberg authored two autobiographical novels in the early 1960s and developed his own discipline of therapy he coined theopsychosophy. He created a series of original paintings to illustrate and explain his theory and used them as teaching tools in practice and when he lectured. This is the first time his original works will be offered to the buying public.

Heavy oil built up on canvas by Dr. Samuel A. Greenberg, M.D., titled “Face the Truth or Else.”

The Meaders family—prolific potters and Slotin Auction favorites—will be featured, with works such as “Grape Cannister Set (4 Pieces),” by Arie Meaders, signed and dated, 1969 (est. $12,000-$15,000); Arie and Cheever Meaders’ turned and signed “Four-Color Swirl Vase” (est. $2,000-$3,000); and Lanier Meaders’ 1967 “Rock Eyed Face Jug” (est. $8,000-$12,000).

Iron sand glaze face jug by Southern pottery icon Lanier Meaders, titled “Rock Eyed Face Jug.”

A pair of 19th-century American School portraits are certain to generate bidder interest. An unsigned 40-inch by 50-inch rendering of Margaret and John Loper of Philadelphia, still in the original frame, should realize $5,000-$10,000, while an oval oil on canvas portrait of a woman from the mid-1800s, 24 inches by 30 inches, also unsigned, should make $3,000-$5,000.

Unsigned oil on canvas American School rendering of Margaret and John Loper of Philadelphia.

Vintage erotic photos are another genre that often flies below the radar but consistently does well. Two examples of note, both by Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, and both from the 1940s, depict his most famous subject, Marie, his wife, in nude repose. One is a montage photo, 5 inches by 7 inches; the other is a gelatin silver print, 3.5 inches by 4.5 inches. Both should command $1,000-$2,000. Von Bruenchenhein is currently the subject of an important show at the American Folk Art Museum in New York.

Beautifully carved eagles are a unique slice of Americana, and this sale boasts several. These include an anonymous carved and varnished wood figure, highly stylized with incredible details, from the mid-1800s, 45 inches tall (est. $3,000-$5,000); and a late 1800s American eagle with outstretched wings, carved wood with gesso, 37 inches tall, unsigned (est. $1,500-$2,000).

Circa 1950s signed and framed oil on board titled “Mother Bird,” by Haitian artist Adam Leontus.

Haitian art from the 1950s, rare and in high demand, will be sprinkled throughout the sale. Pieces will include Adam Leontus’ circa 1950s signed oil on board titled “Mother Bird” (est. $2,000-$4,000). Examples of tramp art from the Clifford Wallach collection, many of which are illustrated in his book, “Another Notch,” will feature an anonymously made large mirror frame with hearts, made from chip carved wood, 51 inches tall, 34 ½ inches wide (est. $2,500-$3,500).

Finally, works by the noted Native American painter Fritz Scholder (1937-2005), will include a signed oil on board titled “Indian Chief,” 5 ½ inches by 5 ¼ inches inside a 10-inch by 10-inch frame (est. $1,000-$3,000).

For more information about this auction, call 770.532.1115 or 404.403.4244, e-mail to auction [at] slotinfolkart [dot] com or visit the Slotin Auction web site.

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WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

Our auctions were mid-range, yet once in awhile we pulled something great out of woodwork. When we put together a nice auction, we would advertise in the Antiques and the Arts Weekly and sometimes in the Maine Antiques Digest. Our name was well-known for auctions in the seacoast and we had participants bidding nationwide. We had a few big auctions at the time, but nothing earth shattering.

One day I was in the office and received a call from a gentleman in Manhattan. He told me that he and his mother had some great pieces for auction. They had a few homes full of fine antiques that had been had moved to their apartment in Manhattan. He also said his mother had a house at Margate, N.J., full of antiques and a Rolls Royce to sell. I asked him why he contacted us in Maine and wondered why he was not using the hundreds of auction galleries in his area. After all, New York is considered the nation’s hub of antiques. He said he saw our ads in the Antiques and the Arts Weekly and did not trust anyone in New York. A red flag should have popped up, but I was young and all I could think about was the nice items he described to me. I told him that I had to speak with my father about this and put him on hold.

My father was working with the floor crew setting up an auction and I filled him in on the details. He jumped on the phone for about a half hour, and then I heard him taking down directions. After he hung up, he proclaimed that we were heading for New York the Monday after our auction that week.

The following Monday, we got up early in the morning and started our five-hour trip south to New York. I was driving and I am the first to admit I was scared to drive in the city. Not to our surprise, we got lost and kept getting more lost. I had a knack of coaxing the beeping horns of taxis. It was turn after harrowing turn, and then finally we were on the correct street somehow. We drove past the address, but that didn’t matter, we couldn’t find parking anyway. I noticed it was not the best of areas, and I also knew my dad and I would stand out like a sore thumb. We might as well have tattooed “Country Hicks” on our foreheads. We had to walk for several blocks and I remember my father saying “This is the city; don’t make eye contact with anyone.” This was coming from a man that always said hi to everyone, everywhere.

“We called from a payphone to tell our clients we were on foot and nearby. The apartment was on the 5th floor, it was a hot, muggy summer day and the elevator did not work. My father had a few pounds on him and by the time we got near the top flight, he was panting and dabbing sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief. ”

We called from a payphone to tell our clients we were on foot and nearby. The apartment was on the 5th floor, it was a hot, muggy summer day and the elevator did not work. My father had a few pounds on him and by the time we got near the top flight, he was panting and dabbing sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief. We rested for a minute before approaching the door. The hallway was dark and it was noisy living; you could hear people talking, music and televisions playing through the thin walls.

When I knocked on the door you could hear about 10 locks snapping open. The door opened to reveal a stocky elderly woman who was greeting us with a raspy voice. She seemed nice enough, but there was something unusual about her. I had just spoke to the son on the phone and asked if he was there. She said he would be joining us soon. The entryway was well lit and right away I noticed a five o’clock shadow on the elderly lady as well as an Adam’s apple. I don’t have a problem if a man wants to dress as a woman, but this was supposed to be the mother of the son we had been dealing with. She had lots of make-up caked on, nice clip on earrings, a fashionable, flowery summer dress and heels.

The furniture was stacked up to the ceiling and took me aback. It is hard to portray what we were looking at. It was a three- to four-bedroom flat that had every square inch spoken for. There were small paths just wide enough to squeeze through. Most of the rooms were very dark as the furniture was stacked against the windows and blocking most of the overhead lighting. I asked if she had a flashlight we could use and she curtly said that she did not. My father smoked a pipe at the time and his lighter came in handy.

“There was a fine Philadelphia Chippendale highboy, other period highboys, chests on chests, lowboys, a wonderful block-front Chippendale chest, Hepplewhite chests, sets of Chippendale & Federal chairs, period mirrors, folk art and impressionist paintings stacked thick to the wall, marble and bronze sculptures, tapestries, antique Persian rugs and on and on.”

We could not believe what we were seeing. Everything he had mentioned on the phone and more. There was a fine Philadelphia Chippendale highboy, other period highboys, chests on chests, lowboys, a wonderful block-front Chippendale chest, Hepplewhite chests, sets of Chippendale & Federal chairs, period mirrors, folk art and impressionist paintings stacked thick to the wall, marble and bronze sculptures, tapestries, antique Persian rugs and on and on. Every single room was stacked tight up to the ceiling. There must have been 20 sets of period chairs alone.

While the lady was showing us around and describing pieces, she leaned down and the back of her wig lifted to reveal a nice thick head of short black hair.

When my father and I were alone in a room, he said that we needed to talk. I told the lady that we were going to get some lunch and be back in awhile. She said her son should be back by the time we return.

As we stepped out into the hallway, my father was saying that there was something fishy about the whole situation. To my total amazement, he had not noticed we had been talking to a man. I got a good laugh out of that, but he became even more concerned. We found a restaurant several blocks away and my father was a bit upset at the cost of our delicious, $12-cheeseburgers. We slowly meandered our way back to the building talking about what our next step would be. I remember I was intrigued by the actions and sounds of the city, but felt out of place. After we crested the dreaded stairs for the second time, the son greeted us at the door. We asked where his mother was and he said she was resting and will be out soon.

I noticed he had heavy traces of make-up foundation under the chin and neck. Keep in mind, this was way before “Mrs. Doubtfire” had hit the theaters.

My father said that we would love to deal with the items, but need some sort of proof of ownership. I spoke up and asked if he and his mother would sign an affidavit stating the property was theirs. He sternly said if we took these pieces, he would give us the property at Margate. We looked around a little more and I kept seeing things I had not noticed the first time through. I asked one more time if he would sign an affidavit and he suddenly got angry and told us to leave. As I was winding my way back toward the door, I yelled farewell to his mother for fun.

My father and I had a few laughs on the long drive home. We came up with all kinds of scenarios on the situation. We were never able to figure it out and never saw the collection come up at auction. We were glad to get out of the city and came to the realization that being country auctioneers wasn’t so bad after all.

Martin Willis is Worthologist and auctioneer who owns Tiburon Arts Consulting. You can hear his podcasts at the at Antique and Auction Forum, featuring interviews with key players in the antiques and collectibles trade

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WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

A late Victorian sterling silver figural dog's head cane, valued at $650.

Walking sticks, or canes as they are sometimes known, have been in the hands of man since he first walked the earth. Since then, walking sticks have been used for both practicality and decoration throughout history. King Tut had more than a hundred buried with him to accompany him in the afterlife. King Louis XIV never appeared in public without one. Henry VIII and his court are pictured with highly embellished canes. Queen Victoria had a whole collection of them. George Washington bequeathed to his brother the gold-handled cane that Benjamin Franklin had left to him.

Walking sticks have represented symbols of power and defined class, and in the 16th century they evolved into a fashion accessory for the socially prominent. Men of means and rank—be they European or American—were depicted in portraits with their walking stick. In the mid-19th century, Victorian walking sticks were a part of the elegantly dressed gentleman’s attire, and he would change a cane as often as he changed his clothes. A gentleman never carried a cane—he “wore” one. And when women began smoking in public, they also wore walking sticks. The golden age of canes flourished between 1830 (with their most widespread popularity in the latter half of the 19th century) and the First World War.

An early 20th-century, large carved ivory Greyhound cane, with glass eyes, hallmarked Sterling silver collar (engraved with a monogram and a crest) and hardwood shaft. Valued at $975.

This Victorian ivory horse cane with Sterling silver collar, decorated with a horseshoe, jockey's cap and whip over ebony shaft, is valued at $2,100.

By the late 19th century, the Victorian influence had spread to the United States, and fashionable American gentlemen and women owned several canes for different occasions and social events. They became the ultimate fashion accessory, like the hat and gloves. Many of these walking sticks had handles that were engraved with the owner’s monogram or, when decorated with inscriptions, served as mementos or presentation pieces. Manufactories and shops specializing in walking sticks began to flourish as canes were designed by renowned artists like Tiffany in America, Faberge in Russia, Thomas Brigg & Sons in England, Magasin Antoine in Paris and the Meyers family in Germany. By the first two decades of the 20th century, there were approximately 265 cane manufacturers in existence and more than 100 companies specialized in handles alone. During the whaling era in the 19th century, American sailors at sea fashioned scrimshaw canes made from baleen, whalebone vertebrae and whale ivory.

An ornate, gold-filled chased & engraved dress cane with snakewood shaft, circa 1870s, valued at $750.

Canes fall into a few categories: folk art, decorative or dress canes, and gadget or system sticks, which actually do things due to the variety of mechanisms and devices that could be embedded in their shafts and handles. The main parts of the cane are its handle, the collar, the eyelet, the shaft and the tip, also known as the ferrule. Handles could be crutch, knobs, L-shaped, pistol grip or crook in shape and may be of ivory, bone, tortoise shell, rhino horn, ebony and other hardwoods, gold, silver and even glass. The collar is the strip below the handle concealing the joint between the handle and the shaft, which is the straight part, made of ebony, hardwood, bamboo, bone and often other exotic materials. During the mid-18th and mid-19th centuries, eyelet holes were drilled through the shaft by the handle so a cord could pass through and encircle the wrist and people could be hands-free. The tip protected the shaft from wear and was usually made of metal, horn or bone. Originally, these ferrules had protected the shaft from mud before roads became surfaced. Even pedestrians used sticks like a staff to help them navigate ditches and ruts. Often one can gauge the age of the cane because the longer the ferrule, the earlier the cane.

A rare, turn-of-the-century carved-ivory figure of bear. Bear, rabbit and pig handles are scarce. This one is worth $1,500.

A deer-antler frog with horn inlay for eyes, dating from first half of 20th century, on turned hardwood shaft. It’ll cost you $700 for this one.

After the 1920s, the walking stick lost its popularity as the arrival of automobile, the cigarette, the brief case and a less fashion-conscious society ended their demand. They were no longer considered fashionable articles of wear. With the 1929 crash of Wall Street in the United States, the Great Depression spread worldwide, and by that time canes weren’t even considered much of a collectible. Canes were used by those whose age and health required them or by hikers and climbers.

But today, walking sticks are enjoying a tremendous resurgence among collectors who appreciate their unique history, design and wide range of materials. Antique shows, shops and auctions are good places to find them. They can be scored for a few hundred dollars and priced as high as several thousands of dollars, depending on their uniqueness and condition.

A rare, Victorian 11mm pin-fire gun cane with horn cap on the tip. Protection like this will cost you $2,750.

A John Day-patented cap & ball gun cane, circa 1830, which may be used as a pistol or a rifle. John Day is credited with being the first to develop a percussion lock mechanism for a gun cane Valued at $2,250.

A horn, pistol-grip sword cane with push-button release and 15-1/2 in. blade concealed in twig-like hardwood shaft, circa 1870. Valued at $1,750.

I am always bemused whenever someone walks into my booth at an antiques show, exclaims in awe and appreciation over the array of walking sticks, and promises to return when he “needs a cane.” These people miss the point. Unless they are made-up pieces and new, most sticks are rarely sturdy enough to function for total support and were never meant to, though some can and others are stout enough to “spot” the person as they maneuver around. Meanwhile, because of the great range of walking canes out there to be hunted down, they are tremendous fun to collect and don’t take up a lot of room to display.

An extremely large figural seated dog made of horn, circa 1920. Valued at $800.

Kathy Moses Shelton, based in Nashville, Tenn., is owner of Just Looking, which specializes in American antiques, accessories and art (19th century to Modernism), silver, folk and outsider art, and whimsical things. She has been a guest on Martha Stewart Living Television and was an invited speaker on Southern folk and outsider art at Oprah Winfrey’s Color Art Show. You can also view her inventory on GoAntiques.com.

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WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

More than 1,200 lots of self-taught art in a variety of forms—from face jugs to paintings, quilts to pottery—will be offered the weekend of Nov. 13-14 by Slotin Folk Art Auction at the Historic Buford Hall, including this original paint on Masonite work by M. B. Mayfield (1923-2005), titled “Avon Lady” (1983). Mayfield was custodian for the art department at the University of Mississippi in the late 1940s, where he listened to art lectures from a broom closet and applied what he learned to his own craft.

BUFORD, Ga. – More than 1,200 lots of self-taught art in a variety of forms—from face jugs to paintings, quilts to pottery—will be offered the weekend of Nov. 13-14 by Slotin Folk Art Auction at the Historic Buford Hall. The dates have been pushed ahead from the originally scheduled Nov. 6-7, but not because of a lack of inventory.

“No, it was just the opposite,” said Amy Slotin of Slotin Folk Art Auction. “So many unbelievable last-minute consignments came in, we had to postpone the event a week to put together this incredible sale. We hope everyone will be able to join us.” Slotin added that a 140-page color catalog will soon be available. To order one, call 770.532.1115.

The auction comes on the heels of the enormously successful 17th annual Folk Fest, also staged by Slotin Folk Art Auction in Buford. More than 12,000 attendees poured into town from all across the country to experience what was billed as “The World’s Greatest Self-Taught Art Show and Sale.” Slotin said the attendance was the second-highest ever for a Folk Fest.

While that event was a show and sale, the Nov. 13-14 auction will be just that— self-taught art sold to the highest bidder. Featured will be outsider art, antique and anonymous folk art, Southern folk pottery, vernacular photography, quilts, canes, African-American decorative arts, circus works, oddities, industrial molds, the strange, the unusual, the vanishing America. Headlining the two-day auction will be the prestigious Howard Campbell Americana Collection.

The following is just a handful of what bidders will see cross the block as they settle in for a weekend of self-taught art in a spirited environment of buying and bidding (online bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com):

An original Eli Whitney cotton gin, all hand-carved and assembled wood and all original parts, is expected to bring between $25,000-$45,000.

• Imagine owning an original Eli Whitney cotton gin, all hand-carved and assembled wood with all original parts, in near-mint condition. Such a cotton gin will be offered (est. $25,000-$45,000). This amazing piece of American history was previously on display at a museum in Owensboro, Ky. It features metal cotton cutting blades and metal wire seed separating brushes.

• “Cedar Creek” by Charlie Fields (1883-1966)—so-named because he hailed from Cedar Creek, Va.—not only created folk art, he lived it. He literally painted everything he owned in polka-dots: his house, furnishings and clothes. And now, the front door and side panels from his famous house in Cedar Creek (115 inches by 77 inches) will be auctioned (est. $5,000-$10,000).

Among the pottery available are these beautifully sculpted and glazed matching dogs by Billy Ray Hussey (N.C., b. 1955).

• Billy Ray Hussey (N.C., b. 1955) grew up in the pottery business. He turned a keen interest and talent for sculpting into highly acclaimed, skillful and imaginative figural works. Offered at auction will be a pair of beautifully sculpted and glazed matching dogs (est. $2,000-$3,000). The pieces are 9 inches by 6 ½ inches each, initialed by Hussey and in mint condition.

• Of all the folk potters to come out of Georgia over the last 200 years, Lanier Meaders (1917-1998) is perhaps the most revered. Inspired by his mother, the very talented Arie Meaders, Lanier became famous for his spooky face jugs. One such jug, a beautiful tobacco-spit glaze with gorgeous drips and a devil face (9 inches tall, circa 1970s) will be offered (est. $3,000-$4,000).

• Sister Gertrude Morgan (1900-1980) was an evangelist living in New Orleans who painted in order to create visual tools for her teachings. Today, her work is highly collectible. Her paint, pencil and watercolor on artist paper titled “New Jerusalem” (est. $10,000-$15,000) will come under the gavel. The work is signed and titled. In the frame, it is 25 inches by 20 inches.

An original oil on canvas painting by John Niro (N.Y., 1906-1989), titled “The Sheet Metal Workers,” is one of the “new discoveries” that will be auctioned.

• Some exciting “new discoveries” (artists who are talented but have so far flown under the radar among collectors) will be in the sale. One of these is John Niro (N.Y., 1906-1989), who painted infrequently until his retirement in the 1970s. His 1973 signed oil on canvas, “The Sheet Metal Workers,” 28 inches by 22 inches, is a rare find and in mint condition (est. $2,000-$4,000).

• An important piece of civil rights history will change hands when Larry Godwin’s signed oil canvas titled “Lookaway, Lookaway” (1965, est. 3,000-$5,000) comes up for bid. The painting depicts a nude Mrs. Viola Gregg Liuzzo, a white civil rights activist who was killed, holding newspapers with the headlines “Coleman Acquitted” and “Wilkins Free” (her alleged killers).

• M.B. Mayfield (1923-2005) was a black custodian for the art department at the University of Mississippi in the late 1940s, where he listened to art lectures from a broom closet and applied what he learned to his own craft. In 1986, an exhibition of his work was held at Ole Miss. His 1983 paint on Masonite work titled “Avon Lady” (est. $1,000-$3,000), signed, will be in the sale.

The for more information about this auction, call 770.532.1115 or 404.403.4244, e-mail to auction [at] slotinfolkart [dot] com or visit the Slotin Folk Art web site.

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WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

A pair of sweetheart sandbottles made by Andrew Clemens for Henry Reinken and his future wife, Helen Wimmler. They remained in the couple’s family until passed to the current owner’s family.

One of the hottest categories of antiques on today’s market is folk art. Though very broadly defined, the term “folk art” generally refers to individual creations by untrained or self-taught artists. From naïve, 19th-century paintings to whimsical sculptures from the late 20th century, good folk art has an inherent charm that, in recent years, has driven prices skyward.

For many collectors, central to their appreciation of folk art are the stories of the folk artists. Such is the case with Andrew Clemens, who, during his short life, created remarkably complex pieces simply by filling glass bottles with colorful sand.

Clemens was born in Dubuque, Iowa in 1857, and at the tender age of 5, he lost his abilities to speak and hear as a result of encephalitis. After a brief stint at the Iowa Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb in Council Bluffs, Clemens began experimenting with sand art, collecting the naturally occurring, multicolored sands from the Pictured Rocks region of Iowa. He fashioned special tools that he used to arrange the sand in intricate designs and then pack it tightly (he used no glue of any kind). Sizes and designs varied, and orders came to Clemens from around the world, each customer paying about $5 to $7. As his skill and creativity developed, his subjects ranged from boats and ships to flowers to flags and eagles, and he frequently created custom sandbottles depicting a scene of his customer’s choosing, including his or her name in a variety of fonts. Larger, more complex bottles took as much as year to complete.

A blown oblong footed bottle with polished pontil. Geometric decoration throughout with one side featuring a rosebud nosegay above a yellow band with the caption, McGregor, Iowa, Oct. 1892

The reverse depicts a maritime scene with cattails and lily pads in the foreground and sailing ships in the background; 7.25" high. It sold for $15,275 in June of 2009.

Throughout his career, the window in front of his worktable was a popular place for McGregor, Iowa, residents to pass the time, watching the meticulous artist create his sandbottles. In his later years, he became so absorbed in his work, he lost interest in nearly everything else, and the long hours hunched over his table began to take their toll. Clemens—dubbed “the portrait painter without a brush or even paint”—died in 1894 at the age of 37. He is thought to have produced hundreds of bottles during his lifetime, but relatively few survive today.

The label used by Clemens on his sand creations.

The imagination, complexity, and rarity of Andrew Clemens’ sandbottles have made them extremely popular on today’s market, generally fetching thousands of dollars each. But to many collectors, these bottles are priceless, because they are tangible reminders of the tragic, isolated life of a very gifted folk artist.

Dr. Wes Cowan is founder and owner of Cowan’s Auctions, Inc. in Cincinnati, Ohio. An internationally recognized expert in historic Americana, Wes stars in the PBS television series “History Detectives” and is a featured appraiser on “Antiques Roadshow.” He can be reached via email at info [at] cowans [dot] com.

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WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

"Guinea Fowl,” by the artist Cornbread, will be among the many pieces of folk and outsider art available at the 17th annual Folk Fest, scheduled for Aug. 20-22, 2010 in Norcross, Ga., just north of Atlanta.

NORCROSS, Ga. – Visitors will pour into Georgia from all around the country to see what’s hot in the world of folk art as Folk Fest—billed as “The World’s Greatest Self-Taught Art Show and Sale”—will celebrate 17 years in Atlanta with a three-day show slated for Aug. 20-22, 2010.

Folk Fest is where museums, prominent galleries, serious collectors and major art publications make their new discoveries. Attendees—ranging from housewives to Hollywood producers—will find items priced from a $5 starter piece to a $50,000 museum masterpiece. Folk Fest will be held at the North Atlanta Trade Center in Norcross. Nearly 100 galleries and dealers will exhibit at the air conditioned, 85,000-square-foot venue.

Since its inception in 1994, Folk Fest has become the largest and most important event in the rapidly burgeoning folk art genre. Prestigious galleries and dealers from across the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Europe—all specializing in self-taught art, outsider art, Southern folk pottery, antique folk art and anonymous works—have regularly attracted 12,000 people or more.

As with previous Folk Fests, this year’s show will kick off with a Friday night meet-and-greet with the artists. Attendees of past events have mixed and mingled with some of the biggest names in folk art: Woodie Long, Charles Lucas, Cornbread, Michael Banks, Chris Clark, Willie Jinks, Mary Proctor, Ruby Williams, Michael Crocker, the Meaders family and many others.

Folk Fest has been staged from the start by Steve and Amy Slotin, owners of Slotin Folk Art, based in Gainesville, Ga. The couple regularly holds folk art auctions in addition to Folk Fest. It was Steve who got the folk art bug first, when he ran across an ugly, Lanier Meaders face jug near his childhood summer camp in Cleveland, Ga.

“I discovered there were primitive forms of pottery and art all over the South,” Steve Slotin said. “These incredible pieces were created by housekeepers, janitors, factory workers, farmers and house painters. They created art, but had very little formal education at all. They used found materials—rusty metal, stray sticks, discarded objects, leftover house paint, mud.”

A double-face jug by the late renowned folk artist Lanier Meaders.

"Cross,” by the late Mose Tolliver.

The art was pure and honest, beautiful in its simplicity and embodying the best the South had to offer. Slotin knew he’d found a treasure in his own back yard the day he saw that first face jug. He created Folk Fest to share it with the world. He advertised the very first event in a prominent folk art magazine, without a show date, a venue or even a single exhibitor signed up.

“I took this enormous leap of faith,” he said, “believing that if I could just share this primitive art, this local treasure with others, they would appreciate it as much as I did.” His gamble paid off. Exhibitors signed up and on opening night 6,000 enthusiastic people packed the auditorium. Over the course of its 16-year history, Folk Fest has doubled in size and attendance.

Slotin said that despite folk art’s emergence as a legitimate and popular art form (it’s regularly displayed at the prestigious High Museum in Atlanta), he still finds himself having to explain to people exactly what folk art is. Generally, folk art (also referred to as self-taught art or outsider art) includes paintings, sculptures and Southern pottery—some of it anonymous works.

“For a long time this art has been kept outside the mainstream art community,” Slotin explained. “Self-taught art is the most important visual culture America has ever produced. And it’s not country crafts, duck decoys or split-cane baskets. It is highly personal art. It’s religiously inspired paintings, crude tin cutouts, wood-relief carvings and environmental sculpture gardens.”

"Blue Cat,” by renowned folk artist Bill Traylor.

"Snake Handlers,” by Fred Webster.

And it’s usually created from refuse and other found objects. “Self-taught artists don’t seek out the art world,” Slotin observed. “The art world, collectors and dealers passionately seek them out. Their art is done by untrained people who draw on their culture and experiences in an isolated world. It’s made with a true, untutored, creative passion, raw and totally original.”

Artistically acclaimed acceptance has caused the folk art genre to blossom. But, ironically, its very existence is threatened by the inevitable urbanization and population of the onetime habitat of self-taught artists: rural areas. The purpose of Folk Fest, Slotin said, is to celebrate these artists and share with the public an art culture whose roots may soon disappear.

Sadly, over the years Folk Fest has had to say good-bye to many of folk art’s more celebrated masters, legends like Howard Finster, Leroy Almon, Mose Tolliver, Jimmy Lee Sudduth, R.A. Miller and Steve Slotin’s first find, Lanier Meaders. But the enthusiasm for folk art continues to strengthen, as visitors pour into Atlanta to add unique pieces to their collections.

"Angel,” by perhaps the most famous folk artist of all time, Howard Finster.

Folk Fest will begin on Friday, Aug. 20, with the Meet-the-Artists Party & Show Opening, from 5-10 p.m. ($15 includes readmission). The Aug. 21-22 show hours are 10-7 on Saturday and 10-5 on Sunday. Admission is $7 both days. Children 16 and under are free. The North Atlanta Trade Center is located at 1700 Jeurgens Court in Norcross.

For more information, call 770.532.1115 or visit the Slotin Folk Art Web site.

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WorthPoint—Discover Your Hidden Wealth

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A paint-on-board creation by the renowned late folk artist Howard Finster, executed in 1983, is among the items collected by folk art collector and early self-taught art pioneer Lynne Ingram that will go on auction on Nov. 7.

BUFORD, Ga. – A Fall Masterpiece Auction, featuring around 800 lots of self-taught art, Southern folk pottery, outsider art, African-American decorative arts, quilts, circus art, new discoveries, major collections and more, including the lifetime collection of prestigious folk art collector and early self-taught art pioneer Lynne Ingram, will be held Saturday, Nov. 7.

About two-thirds of the auction will be dedicated to Ingram’s collection, most of which has been in storage for 30 years. The auction will be facilitated by Slotin Auction at the Historic Buford Hall.

“Our Fall Masterpiece Auction is always a special event on our calendar, but this year we feel particularly fortunate to have as the centerpiece the collection of Lynne Ingram,” said Steve Slotin of Slotin Auction.

Latex on plywood panel painting by Mose Tolliver, titled “Saturday Night Dance Hall” (circa 1989).

Ingram now lives in New Jersey but is originally from North Carolina. Beginning in the 1980s, she started collecting folk art when the genre was still in its relative infancy. But she didn’t just passively acquire pieces. She actually traveled around the Southeast and visited the artists, who became her friends. All the while she was amassing an outstanding collection, Slotin said.

“Lynne Ingram saw the best that these artists had to offer, and she acquired much of it along the way,” he added. “She later expanded her collection to include earlier masters who had already passed on, like Bill Traylor, but she had a keen eye for emerging second-tier artists of the day, too—talents like Mose Tolliver and Jimmy Lee Sudduth. Hers is an unbelievable, top-shelf collection.”

Slotin said the collection is made more desirable by the fact that it’s been in a New Jersey storage facility, untouched and in pristine condition, for the better part of the last 30 years. “So what you have are impressive examples of the best names in folk art, offered to the market for the very first time. Collectors would be wise to make plans to attend this sale. Stuff like this doesn’t come along that often.”

Some expected top lots of the auction follow, along with their low and high sale estimates:

Paint and graphite on cardboard work by Bill Traylor, titled “Mexican Woman,” 100% original.

• A paint and graphite on cardboard work by Bill Traylor, signed on the front and titled “Mexican Woman,” is expected to bring $25,000-$35,000. Ingram acquired the framed piece in the mid-’80s from Marcia Weber, a world-renowned expert on Traylor and an early promoter of his work. This painting is considered significant because it is 100-percent original, with no re-touches or restoration.

• A colored pencil on paper creation by Adolf Wolfli (1864-1930) was the top lot at Slotin Auctions’ last sale, held in March. It realized $40,480. This sale features another example by the Swiss self-taught artist: a graphite, pastel and colored pencil on paper work titled “The Lion and the Masked Man.” It is a strong piece in excellent condition, and carries a conservative estimate of $30,000-$35,000.

• The name Howard Finster (1916-2001) is sure to get paddles wagging, and this sale features a beauty by the late iconic folk artist. It is a paint on board work housed in an artist signature wood burned frame, titled “Vision of Cartoon Howard Finster, #3,169” (Dec. 1983). The painting measures 32 ½ inches wide by 16 inches tall. This piece was originally in the prestigious collection of Chuck and Jan Rosenak (est. $4,000-$6,000).

• A carved and painted wood creation by S.L. Jones (1901-1997), titled “Man’s Bust,” should fetch $8,000-$15,000. “It’s one of the best examples of Jones’ work I’ve ever seen,” Slotin said of the 10-inch by 7-inch by 13½-inch work, in excellent condition. Also, a 1976 oil on canvas painting by Vestie Davis (1903-1978), “Hasidic Street Scene,” large at 51 inches by 27 inches, should bring $4,000-$6,000.

Hand-turned china plate teeth face jug by Lanier Meaders, crafted in 1968, with tobacco-split glaze.

• Lanier Meaders is another name familiar to veterans of the folk art scene. His hand-turned painted face jugs are renowned, and this sale will feature a china plate teeth face jug, crafted by Meaders in 1968 and with a beautiful tobacco-split glaze. The piece boasts great veining all around and measures 9 inches in height. The face has three teeth and the jug is in overall mint condition. It should sell for $3,000-$5,000.

• Bidding should be brisk for a paint-on-board by Teofilo Magliocchi, titled “Madonna and Child.” The signed work features a frame decorated with costume jewelry adornments. It is a very large piece—47 inches by 75 inches, including the frame (est. $3,000-$5,000). Other works, including a collection of erotic pencil drawings by Magliocchi, an exciting up-and-coming folk artist, will also be offered.

• The aforementioned Mose Tolliver will be represented in the form of a latex on plywood panel work done circa 1989 and titled “Saturday Night Dance Hall.” The 36-inch by 40-inch piece is estimated to bring $2,000-$3,000. Also, a paint, glitter, lettering, mixed media on Masonite work by African-American sign maker John Edward Welch, titled “Abraham Lincoln, It Would Help to Save the Union” (1999), should realize $1,000-$1,500.

Original paint on board work by up-and-coming artist Teofilo Magliocchi, titled “Madonna and Child.”

Folk art is a rambling but rapidly burgeoning genre. For a long time it was dismissed by highbrow critics, mainly because it was created by untrained, often uneducated and sometimes eccentric artists. But today, folk art has found a place in some of the most well-respected art institutions in the world. The High Museum in Atlanta has acquired folk art through Slotin sales.

For more information about this auction, call (770) 532-1115 or (404) 403-4244, e-mail to auction [at] slotinfolkart [dot] com or folkfest [at] slotinfolkart [dot] com, or visit the Slotin Auction Web site.

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By Wayne Mattox

A painter peeked into a shed and saw a man hammering out a large copper form into the shape of a galloping horse. “I envy you, wind-vane maker,” the artist said. “All the sky is your canvas.”

When I’m writing or talking antiques, I often introduce trade terms, words or phrases common to a particular profession but rarely used otherwise, then quickly go on to explain their meaning. “Folk art” is a phrase I spread as freely as a pâtissier spreads butter, yet I have never defined it. That is because task is more difficult than it seems.

Let’s begin by dismissing the common notion that folk art consists only of handmade art forms produced by rural artists:

• Naive paintings by the likes of Grandma Moses, Ammi Phillips or Rufus Porter

American primitive oil painting

Two portraits attributed to Ammi Phillips

Learn more about the primitive painting by clicking here and the portraits here.

• School and home craftwork pieces like needlework samplers, calligraphy drawings, quilts and textile products, silhouettes, etc.
• Itinerant carvings and sculpture by artisans like Pennsylvania bird and dog carvers, Wilhelm Schimmel(1817-90) and Aaron Mountz(1873-1949), or “tramp artists” of the Great Depression who notched stacks of cigar-box lids and fashioned them into decorative boxes, frames and other objects

Folk prison art matchstick sailboat

This beautiful matchstick sailboat is featured on GoAntiques.

• Hand-fashioned sailor, soldier and tradesman products—scrimshaw-engraved whalebone, carved powder horns, uniquely stylized iron, tin, wood, copper and other products.

Such objects account for only about a half of what is collected as folk art today. The other half consists of articles manufactured by businesses and highly trained professionals.

• Weather vanes and whirligigs, which in later years, were mass produced in great number

Milking cow whirligig

Running horse weather vane

Clown whirligig

Click here for more information on the milking cow whirligig, here for the weather vane and here for the delightful clown whirligig.

• Store and other signs—wrought and painted by professional sign makers, who also were employed to paint sleds and wagon sides and other such objects that have folk art appeal today
• Fancy work—carved carousel horses, cigar-store Indians, ship figureheads and stern boards, sophisticated architectural elements and other pieces fashioned by accomplished metropolitan artisans. (If you’d like to learn more about carousels, read Lakeside Merry-Go-Round Features Folk-Art Carvings and Carousel Goes Around and Around for 80 Years.)

Carved figurehead

French carousel horse

If you’re interested in adding this carved figurehead to your collection or decor, visit GoAntiques. For more information on the spectacular carousel horse, click here.

• Industrial products that have assumed charm over time—interesting broadsides, decorated stoneware, cookie cutters, cowboy spurs and barbed wire, fancy cast iron, old advertising displays, fire fighting and other occupational memorabilia, fancy hood ornaments, old Coca-Cola dispensers, etc.

Coke machine

It only takes a nickel to get a Coke from this machine. Go to GoAntiques to find out how many nickels are needed to take home this neat retro dispenser.

It is obvious that folk art encompasses many mediums. What seems to distinguish it from fine art is that its intent was not art for art’s sake. A painted fire bucket was made first and foremost for extinguishing fires. A cigar-store Indian was employed to sell cigars. Samplers were wrought to teach young girls their stitches. Weather vanes were for gauging wind. A strong argument could even be made that whale teeth and horn and other such objects were decorated as much to pass time as anything else.

Eskimo-carved scrimshaw shakers

Wouldn’t these salt and pepper shakers look great on your table?

While folk art should be assessed as to its authenticity, condition, color and form, know, too, that it has much to do with history. Americans covet innkeeper signs, woven baskets, painted toleware and silhouettes of George and Martha Washington because we are enchanted with our proud past.

Hand-painted toleware tray

George Washinton silhouette

More information on the exceptional tray and this 18th-century silhouette can be found on GoAntiques.

Understand this, and you have taken your first step toward identifying a valuable art form.

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After I posted yesterday’s blog about the Whirligigs sought after by collectors, I guess my mind started going back to the days I spent growing up on a farm. Before I knew it, I was researching Windmill Weights. Maybe windmills were on my mind because of the need for this country to find new energy resources. Maybe the windmill images from the T. Boone Pickens commercials were forward in my mind. Only the Good Lord understands the intricacies of my mind. But, boy! I’m glad I did the research. I always thought windmill weights were in the form of animals, birds, moons, or stars, but I was mistaken, and I got quite the education on these folk art collectibles.

In case you’re not as old as I am, I’ll provide a little background info to understand the historical interest in windmill weights. Yesteryear, in parts of rural America and other parts of the world, many farms used windmills to capture the power of the wind to pump water out of wells for use on their land. Windmills also provided the energy to pump well water to fuel the early locomotives. Grain, especially in Europe, was ground by the energy provided by windmills. These windmills had many moving parts, of course, and a windmill weight was one of them.

Today, these weights are very collectible, valuable, and make great folk art. And there are lots of collectors who’d be grateful if you found a real beauty for their collection.

There are four different kinds of windmill weights – the Tail Weight, the Governor Weight, the Spoke Weight and the Regulator Weight. The Tail Weights are the most decorative of all.

There are hundreds of windmill weights to find, and they are still out there in the old barns and sheds. And some are quite valuable. Many of the weights you’ll find are painted, but I learned that this was usually done after the weight had out-lived its usefulness and later became a piece of folk art.

Many times paint is used to disguise a reproduction, however there are many ways to distinguish the real thing from a new reproduction.The best way is to look for rust. When these weights were used, they picked up sand in the rust, and this is what made the finish on the older weights. Watch for holes in the weights. They shouldn’t be straight up and down on the real ones, rather tapered. Any damage can quickly reduce their value.

I was fortune enough to run across the book, Windmill Weights, by Rich Nidey and Don Lawrence. I took a look at a site with some info on their book, and boy – what a head full I got.

I know you’re waiting for some price examples, so here they are:

A Black Bull with white writing, 18X24 inches, $920. Horse standing,white paint,16 X 17 inches, $920. Rooster, writing, Power & Pump Co. , 13 inches, $1495. ARooster by the Elgin Co., 15X19 inches, could bring you over $5000 today.

Today’s Photo comes from Ames Hill Antiques and this 15 inch star weight made by the U. S. Wind Engine & Pump Co. Batavia, Ill. c, 1890. is mounted on a tiger maple stand and has provenance to a Minnesota farm. It’s priced at $2250.

I think you’ll agree that these nifty items are worth looking for.

There is an endless stream of items people collect, and if we find them for collectors (or for ourselves) our coffers will be filled. An old saying I recall says, “Go where others have feared to go.” 31 Club says, “Look where others have failed to look.”

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If I told you a whirligig could bring in some big money, would you know what a whirligig is and how to spot one?

I always teach members of my antique business club that the money in this business is made in the rare. The rare and desirable will keep your money turning, and a whirligig falls into this category.

So what is a whirligig? Think motion. Think action. Then, consider our past as a farming culture. When we were mainly farmers, birds in the fields, pecking away at crops was a real problem. Farmers needed something to scare off the birds without having to constantly have someone on the lookout who could to run out into the fields and wildly flap their arms to get rid them. Enter the whirligig. It’s a type of interesting and creative folk contraption made by a farmer on his time off from the fields, to solve the bird problem. Many will call it a toy, because it brought much delight to children, as well as to adults, but this contraption was designed with a purpose.

Most of these interesting contraptions are made of wood, but they can be made of almost any material. They have moving pieces, and when the wind blows on them, it creates an action. They might remind you of windmills — folksy windmills.

I have seen figural whirligigs whose arms spin and the head moves. These are rather simple, but there are others depicting a person sawing a log or a woman churning butter. With these, you are beginning to touch upon the higher dollar whirligigs. They weren’t actually meant to scare off the birds, but rather to enjoy. These are the ones whose dollar value has escalated so much. The number of these pieces that have survived till now is limited. To the avid collector of these artistic creations, the hunt for them is a labor of love.

Unlike items like duck decoys, whose value escalates when it is signed by a particular artist, whirligigs don’t have to be signed for them to be valuable; the value is in the design.

Here is an example of some whirligig values: Two men turning a fan, articulated limbs, 13X18 inches, valued at $690. 20th Century 12” man wearing black jacket and blue trousers,$1380. Policeman, one arm and band leader the other arm, 20 inches, wooden, $3300. And, a man wearing a pealed hat, blue jacket, and red vest, 21 inches, $6325.

While there are reproductions, a close look will tell you the differences. Look for signs of new paint, modern screws, no patina, poor workmanship and materials not of the time.

There are so many items that have the potential to bring big money, but first we have to know what to look for. If you come across one of these during your hunt, I hope this blog will come to mind. And, if you’re successful in buying it, you might just keep a whirligig for a while before selling it just to amuse yourself.

*******

Treasure Hunters:   You Find It. We Buy & Sell It.  You Net 35%. Partner Up with 31 Club on High Quality Treasures You Find. We Do the Rest!!

Sellers: Sell Your High Quality Items for LOW FEES at 31 Gallery & Marketplace. Keep More of Your Money.

Buyers: Buy High Quality Items for FAIR PRICES at 31 Gallery & Marketplace. Our Members are Newbies to Seasoned Professionals Making More Money than they Thought Possible.

Daryle’s 220 Page Book, 31 Steps to Your Millions in Antiques & Collectibles is FREE with your Membership. Plus You Get FREE MENTORING with Daryle.

Register Today! Or E-Mail us at info [at] 31corp [dot] com or through Daryle’s Worthpoint e-mail.

Rare public offering of Shaker items

Pieces that Shakers produced for their personal use are, for the most part, in museums. This is why, as The New York Times points out, the August 2 Shaker-collectibles auction is so newsworthy and noteworthy.

Two cardiologists from Lima, Ohio, put up their 148-lot collection with Northeast Auctions.

Also under the gavel are pieces acquired by scholars Ted and Faith Andrews who amassed “the most comprehensive private collection ever of Shaker artifacts.” The Andrewses spent 40 years, starting in 1923, assembling their collection on a shoestring budget.

The Shakers were a Protestant sect that believed in absolute celibacy. That should have doomed them to one or two generations. To overcome this, the Shakers sought converts and took in orphans, thus allowing the group to stick around and produce some great furniture and artifacts.

Lucky strike

A 14-year-old British boy was testing out his new metal detector with his mother and a friend last fall when suddenly there was a whole lot of beeping going on. As an article on CoinLink tells it, the friend started digging through the dirt and came up with a 1,700-year-old Roman coin. Then another and another until 62 were unearthed dating back to the reigns of Emperors Diocletianus, Maximianus, Constantius and Galerius.

This week, it was ruled that the coins are “treasure”—more than 300 years old with less than 10% gold or silver. The lucky treasure hunters are now waiting to see if a museum will buy the coins. If that doesn’t happen, they get to get to split the proceeds of any sale with the property owner.

One woman’s junk, another woman’s folk art

In 1956, for reasons unknown, Tressa Prisbey started carting her 1,700 pencils, whirligigs, dolls, chairs and other assorted stuff to Simi Valley, Calif., a city northwest of Los Angeles. Prisbey used bottles she found in dumps as the material to build structures to house her collection.

Eventually “Bottle Village” was created and placed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of nine such folk-art environments to be so designated.

But as The Ventura County Star reports, Bottle City fell into major disrepair after a 1994 earthquake. There has been controversy ever since over whether public funds should be used to restore it. As it is, people may tour the village “at your own risk.”

Folk art is misunderstood, contends Sonja Cendak, exhibitions coordinator for the Craft and Folk Art Museum in Los Angeles.

“While not as lofty as fine arts, [folk art] is connected on the heart-to-heart level. You don’t need a fine arts degree to do it,” she said.

Speaking of folk art

The “Mount Rushmore of folk art” went up for auction recently, reports The Toledo Blade. In case you’re not familiar with the Mount Rushmore of folk art, it consists of enormous sculptures of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, Teddy Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln and other luminaries that were carved in Braughman Memorial Park, about sixty miles from Columbus, Ohio.

The sculptor was a local undertaker whose property sat on an old stone quarry. What with material right at hand, he began carving in 1898 and didn’t stop for 22 years.

The park on 62 acres sold for $380,000. The gas-and-oil rights brought in another $60,000.

Birds of a Feather Part 2
Historic New Orleans Collection
410 Chartres St. New Orleans, La
$6 Admission
$10 Admission + Booklet

I never thought wooden decoys would excite me, but after attending the “Birds of a Feather” exhibit at the Historic New Orleans Collection I was shown a new art form. The exhibit displays wildfowl wooden carvings from Southeast Louisiana. After seeing Part 2, which contains contemporary carvings, I wish I had caught the Part 1 on usable, older decoys. However, there is a great booklet available describing the history of decoys. The carvings I saw were not usable decoys, but they were created in the same tradition using cypress wood and wooden hand carving materials. A light and easily malleable wood, cypress was originally used to keep the decoys afloat. More than mere hobby, these woodcarvings are extremely lifelike, attesting to the talents of the artists as well as their knowledge of wildlife. One has to literally look twice to tell they are masterfully painted and shaped. In many cases each feather is carved out and individually painted. Many carvers try to capture the wildfowl in a natural stance, such as picking at feathers, cleaning themselves, nesting, sleeping or caring for their young.

Brought together from a variety of collections, the Birds of a Feather exhibit illustrates the talents of this local folk art form. Though some are educated, most carvers grow up learning to make their own fishing tools. Naturally a folk art would grow out of such craftsmanship; from the need to work with one’s hands arises the creativity of man. Perhaps the most striking piece was of an owl clenching a quail. Sitting upon a log with its claws clinging onto a lifeless quail, the owl looks truly magnificent. Wisps of feathers graze the quail’s head, but are really tiny flakes of cypress wood. When one looks upon the scene, it appears to be animated due to how lifelike the representation of wildlife is. My mouth gaping open, due to the power of the scene, I can hardly believe the soft feathers are all carved from wood. Before the exhibit ends on April 20, come travel to the Historic New Orleans Collection and be astounded by the collection of carved wildfowl, from ducks to pelicans to owls. Don’t be surprised if you think you see one move!