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Updated 11 hours ago
Web fans will want to log on to the Internet for a pair of online-only sales conducted by Aspire Auctions and BHD Auctions.
Aspire Auctions
After a few months offline, Aspire Auction returns with an online-only sale, Feb. 10 to 18, stocked with high-end artwork, jewelry, mid-century contemporary furniture, sterling silver from Gorham and more. Among the paintings are works of artists from Britain, Russia, America, Israel, Spain and Italy.
Born in Switzerland, Frank Charles Peyraud traveled to America at the age of 23 for a visit that eventually led him to Chicago, where he spent the next 40 years. A colorful oil-on-board landscape takes a slightly modernistic look at what may be the Second City's lakefront on a summer day.
Collectors of modern furniture reach for their wallets when nearly anything by George Nakashima comes to market. The elegant walnut table on sale at Aspire embodies the master furniture builder's preference for choosing wood with knots and burls and what others might call imperfections, so that it enhances the organic expressiveness of the final product. Though born in Spokane, Wash., as a full-fledged American citizen, Nakashima spent time in a World War II internment camp with other U.S. citizens of Japanese descent. In camp, he learned traditional Japanese carpentry under Gentaro Hikogawa, and later earned a release to work in a design studio in New Hope, Pa., where he settled for good.
A color lithograph poster by Mel Ramos provides a little sweetness and naughtiness as a pinup type beauty emerges from an unwrapped Baby Ruth candy bar package. Leza Sullivan McVey's slinky feline ceramic sculpture certainly could be called the cat's meow of this sale. And longtime jeweler Hardy & Hayes commissioned the Mueck- Carey Co. to create a sterling silver five-piece coffee and tea service that's steeped in Pittsburgh provenance.
Details: 412-894-8221 or aspireauctions.com
BHD Auctions
A New Castle estate served up three rooms packed with antique and vintage dolls for BHD Auction's current online-only sale that ends Feb. 9. Among the hundreds of dolls discovered in three bedrooms of the home are old-time composition types, more recent vinyl dolls and those made of plastic and other materials. Many come with clothing and various accessories. The collection even includes African-American dolls and GI Joes and other action figures.
Also from the New Castle collection, a large selection of Roseville art pottery adds a dash of regional craftsmanship and style to the sale. For the record, an Edison standard cylinder phonograph with a large brass upturned “witch's hat” sound horn should strike a perfect chord for music lovers. Though not included with the phonograph, many music cylinders for the player are in the sale.
Depression and art glass adds more local flavor to the sale, as do several advertising clocks and other items that tout regional beers and other products. Bidders may have to shell out more than pocket change to cash in on a large number of silver Morgan and Peace dollars. Also in the mix: pressed steel cars and trucks, Zippo lighters, furniture, windup toys, salt and pepper shakers, chinaware, Hummels, model trains and much more.
Details: 724-816-0683 or bhdauctions.net
Recent sales
One revved up bidder from Maryland pushed the pedal to the metal during Carey Auctions' recent online auction that ended on Jan. 15. A partially unassembled 1967 Ford Fairlane 500 with a factory-equipped 427 engine sold for winning hammer price of $59,933. In the same sale, a 1990 Ford Mustang, with a black body and wide yellow racing stripes, pulled down $12,221.
Meanwhile, during BHD Auctions' online auction that ended on January 27, an eagle-eyed bidder spotted the game day program for the first official NFL championship game between the Chicago Bears and New York Giants. Originally priced at 10 cents, the keepsake souvenir sold for $1,110. For the record, the Bears clawed their way to a 23-21 victory at Wrigley Field in front of about 25,000 fans in a contest that feature players wearing leather helmets and some playing bareheaded.
John Altdorfer is a Tribune-Review contributing writer.
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