Book Reading & Signing In Vino Duplicitas | Written by Peter Hellman MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 25 | 6-8PM RSVP ONLINE On Monday, September 25th at 6pm please join Skinner in welcoming our friend and author Peter Hellman for a reading, reception, and signing of his new book In Vino Duplicitas, The Rise and Fall of a Wine Forger Extraordinaire. Books are available for purchase at Harvard Book Store prior to and during the event. The story of Rudy Kurniawan is an intricate behind the scenes true crime saga of wine forgery, elite tastings, renowned auction houses, and trade of the finest wines in the world. Weaved together as only it could by someone in the midst of it all, with a unique cast of real life characters, this is a story of the fundamental and human desire for acceptance in the often closed-door world of fine wine. Praise for In Vino Duplicitas: […]

BOSTON, MA – Skinner, Inc. presents a notable two-session auction on Wednesday, September 27, in its Boston Gallery. Fine Prints & Photographs starts at 12PM followed by Fine Paintings & Sculpture at 4PM. Both auctions contain a broad range of fine works of all kinds, offering something for collectors of all mediums, all tastes, and all budgets. Fine Prints Robin Starr, Director of American & European Works of Art, notes that the prints section is dominated by modern and contemporary offerings. Among the notable lots: • David Hockney, Caribbean Tea Time, a multipart folding screen. The brilliant color and dynamic, suggestive shapes show the influence of his stage designs and photo collages of the same 1970s-80s time period (Lot 58, Estimated between $75,000-95,000). • Robert Rauschenberg, Publicon-Station IV, a mixed media multiple from 1978. The Publicon series explored Rauschenberg’s interest in the convergence of spiritual and material concerns (Lot 83, $4,000-6,000). • Andy […]

BOSTON, MA – Skinner Auctioneers & Appraisers presents its third Fine Jewelry auction of 2017 on Tuesday, September 19 at 10AM in Boston. The auction will feature over 300 lots of diamonds, colored stones, and antique and period jewelry. Diamonds Leading our collection of diamonds this auction are several over 5 carats including a brilliant-cut diamond weighing 7.69 carats (Lot 320, estimated between $35,000-55,000), a brilliant-cut weighing 6.17 carats (Lot 319, $30,000-50,000), and an oval-cut diamond weighing 6.05 carats (Lot 317, $40,000-60,000). Other diamond highlights include dozens of diamond solitaires in a wide range of sizes and shapes. Colored Stones A beautiful Antique Colombian Emerald (Lot 384, $7,000-9,000) from the estate of Natica Satterthwaite is a highlight of the colored stones in the September auction. Among the other standouts are a Kashmir Sapphire Brooch (Lot 366, $25,000-35,000) a Burma Ruby and Diamond Ring (Lot 285, $3,000-5,000) and an Edwardian Burma Sapphire […]

Skinner’s fall Asian Works of Art auction presents more than 500 lots, with outstanding examples of textiles, jade, cloisonné, painted miniatures, Peking glass, and metal wares. The auction will take place at Skinner’s Boston Gallery on Friday, September 15 at 10AM. Jade, considered the most precious material in Chinese traditional culture, is believed to promote wisdom, balance, and peace. This revered mineral, with its rich mystical significance, is used to create artifacts that exhibit the finest craftsmanship of great artisans. An important group of jades is included in this auction. They were collected in the 1960s and 70s, and are accompanied by their original receipts. Among the most noteworthy: • Jade Carving of a Mythical Bird standing on a leaf with a peony blossom in its mouth (Lot 296, estimated between $2,000-3,000). • Translucent White Nephrite Jade Plate, 19th century (Lot 304, $2,000-3,000). Another distinguished jade object is a ruyi scepter, a […]

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 27 | 10AM – 3PM Skinner is inviting consignments for the December 2017 Fine Jewelry auction. Meet with Fine Jewelry expert Victoria Bratberg at the Connecticut Historical Society for a complimentary auction evaluation and consignment of your Fine Jewelry. Appointments required. Please register and a member of our team will contact you directly for an appointment time. REGISTER ONLINE Connecticut Historical Society One Elizabeth Street Hartford, CT Contact us: newyork@skinnerinc.com 212.787.1113  

A tribute to astronauts John Glenn (1921-2016), the first American to orbit the Earth, and Eugene Cernan (1934-2017), the last man on the Moon. MARLBOROUGH, MA  – The Beauty of Space, the first auction in the United States to focus solely on vintage photographs produced from 1961 to 1972 by NASA, will take place on November 2 at 10AM. The 445 lot single-owner collection showcases both iconic and rare gelatin silver and chromogenic prints presenting an extraordinary photographic journey to the Moon and back as seen through the eyes of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo astronauts. While the astronaut’s primary goal was to record their activities, they were inspired by what they witnessed, creating images that transcend documentation, allowing viewers to share in the magic and excitement of space travel. The photographs are now appreciated for their artistic value as well as their historical and scientific significance. The images are the […]

It’s pretty unusual to see a piece of ancient jewelry come up in one of our Fine Jewelry auctions, so when we do it’s always exciting.  Lot 23 in our September 19 auction is a 2nd-century Roman bracelet, and I love everything about it. It’s almost 2,000 years old and is still so wearable and stylish today. Dare I even say that it is reminiscent of Alexander Calder’s jewelry?  By the 2nd century, a combination of the rejection of previous policies on austerity and the increase of the availability of gold saw restrictions on the ownership of jewels lifted. Gold jewelry quickly became a status symbol among the Romans, and in the Satyricon Petronius discusses the great lengths citizens went through to outdo one another. This bracelet certainly foots the bill even today! Also of note are Lots 24 an ancient bead necklace, and 25, a Western Asiatic bead necklace from the […]

Among the highlights in Skinner’s September 27 Fine Prints & Photographs auction are three flower studies by Robert Mapplethorpe whose extensive and provocative body of work has established him as one of the most important artists of the 20th-century. Mapplethorpe was born in 1946 in Floral Park, Queens. He studied drawing, painting, and sculpture at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and began using a Polaroid camera in 1970 to produce photographs that could be incorporated into mixed-media collages and assemblage constructions including magazine imagery and found objects. In 1975 he acquired a Hasselblad medium-format camera, which he used to make portraits of friends and acquaintances, as well as socialites and celebrities like John Paul Getty III and Carolina Herrera. He worked as a staff photographer for Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine and produced album covers for his close friend and muse Patti Smith and the group Television. In addition to his studio portraits, […]

Prior to its annexation as the 28th state by the United States, The Republic of Texas was its own sovereign nation. Having fought for and gaining their independence from Mexico by 1836, the young republic found itself with significant financial/economic and political issues, leading to their eventual annexation in 1845. These nine tumultuous years in-between originated some of Texas’s rarest and most sought after currency. The Panic of 1837 halted commerce to a standstill, sending Texas’s land prices and the value of its paper currency on a downward spiral. Texas treasury bills and promissory notes became so debased that they were trading at cents on the dollar, and in many instances, not accepted by merchants. Even the Texas government refused to accept its own paper money for payment on land taxes. Due to these significant financial woes, the Texan people re-elected Sam Houston for a second term with the hopes […]

Skinner is pleased to offer selections from the Tom and Adelle Hersh Collection of Mennonite Quilts from Waterloo County, Ontario. It is a collection that Canadian quilt historian, Carol Telfer, describes as “an important piece of western Ontario textile history.”  Most of the collection was assembled in the 1980’s, an era when many families were moving from the country to the city. As they collected, the Hershes were careful to record the provenance for each quilt when it was available and many can be traced to specific towns and families. Remarkably, several quilts in this collection (Lots 544, 547, and 1306) are the hand of one quilter, Lydia Martin (1892-1987), of St. Jacob’s, which descended through her family and were acquired directly from one of her daughters. The Waterloo County Mennonite community traces its origin to Switzerland (probably Zurich or near Zurich). In 1727, two brothers, David and Peter Martin, […]

  At over four feet in height each, the Fourteen Carrara Marble Stations of the Cross Plaques (Lot 589) to be auctioned in Skinner’s European Furniture & Decorative Arts Auction on July 14th, make a commanding statement as an ensemble. Heavily carved, the marbles are realistically modeled in high relief, depicting the series of events on the day of Jesus Christ’s crucifixion, each inscribed with station number to the projecting base. The marbles were originally installed in the Immaculate Conception Church, South End, Boston. This church was dedicated on March 10, 1861, by Bishop Fitzpatrick as a place of worship for Boston College. While the building was designed by architect, Patrick Charles Keely, the interior design of the church was considered to be the work of Arthur Gilman. It was used as the church for Boston College High School from 1863 until the 1960s and served the pastoral needs of the surrounding […]

The African art offered in the online auction which runs from June 15 to June 23 is from the collection of Gordon Lankton of Clinton, Massachusetts. An engineer by profession, long-time CEO of a major plastic injection molding company and founder of the Museum of Russian Icons, Lankton is also a life-long collector. His extensive holdings of African art are the culmination of a wide-ranging collecting career that has included coins (American pennies with an example for every year back to 1794); World War II posters; cast-iron toy cars; and the largest private collection of Russian icons in the country. These are housed in their own museum in Clinton. “There is always something new out of Africa.” The Roman scholar Pliny the Elder made that comment in the first century A.D. and it remains true today. African art has been a source of fascination and inspiration for centuries, never more […]