BOSTON, MA – Skinner, Inc. will hold an auction on January 12, 2019, of European Furniture & Decorative Arts. With over 500 lots on offer, the auction features fine ceramics and silver as well as European furniture and decorative arts of the 18th through 20th centuries.

Collection of Hungarian Silver from the Estate of Francis M. Bator (Lot 32, Estimate: $3,000-5,000; Lot 34, Estimate: $2,000-3,000; Lot 27, Estimate: $2,000-3,000; Lot 28, Estimate: $2,000-3,000; Lot 26, Estimate: $2,000-3,000)

This sale features a collection of 17th to 19th century Hungarian Silver from the estate of prominent White House economist, writer, and professor Francis M.… Read More

What do these four silver flatware patterns have in common?

If you answered that they’re all Gorham, you’re correct. But there’s an even more interesting connection – the same designer conceptualized all four patterns: F. Antoine Heller.

F. Antoine Heller was born in France in 1845, and the Beaux Arts movement in France greatly influenced his development as an artist. He came to America in the late 1870s to work for Tiffany & Co., where some suggest that he helped design the celebrated Olympian pattern.… Read More