Bringing Home the Bacon
I have an announcement to make. I have managed to find the time to make a pick of the week two weeks in a row! Please be prepared for heavy snowfall this week! The auction for June 24th and 25th…
News
The Perfect Spot
Finding something I love in any given auction is usually a very easy task. The hard part is narrowing it down to just one item to write about. There are so many categories that make my heart skip. The upcoming…
Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain
Not every minor artist toils in obscurity. Relegated down the ranks of 19th century American painters by history, William Russell Smith was an eminent artist in his day. He is important because his paintings preserve images of a young nation,…
Going Stag
A pick of the week two weeks in a row? It very well might start snowing here in May. Pook and Pook Auction has a problem in that we are filled to the brim with great Americana. The shelves are…
Updated COVID-19 Protocol for Pook & Pook – 5/17/21
COVID-19 Protocol for Pook & Pook, Inc. Auctioneers and Appraisers (updated 5/17/20) We have had a number of questions from bidders and consignors about upcoming auctions, pick-up/drop-off procedures, consignment transport, and shipping during the pandemic. Please reach out to us…
Trailblazers
Art lots to keep your eye on in our May 21, 2021 sale include several paintings by members of The Philadelphia Ten artist group. The Philadelphia Ten was the brainchild of ten women painters who had all trained in Philadelphia…
We’re Nuts About This Lot!
We all have good intentions, but things just seem to get in the way. I was going to get back into fishing. I was going to take that vacation to that special spot. I was even going to take my…
Close to Home
During the past year, people have spent a lot of time at home. Homes have been our refuge from the pandemic. In them we have cooked, rearranged, revisited old memories, telecommuted from basements, and also yearned to escape. We’ve considered…
Side by Side
Lot 1390 in the March 25th Firearms, Militaria, and Sporting auction was a lovely example of a W. J. Jeffrey & Co side by side shotgun. The barrel bears the inscription “W. J. Jeffrey & Co. Ltd., 13 King St.,…
The Collection of Bud & Judy Newman
There are two types of collectors. Many come to the hobby later in life, often by happenstance: meeting another collector and acquiring the contagion or seeing an object that speaks to them somehow. Others are born, perhaps with some sort…
The Verdure Tapestry of Daniel Garber
The Verdure Tapestry of Daniel Garber: The Mary Maxwell House Daniel Garber’s painting is an idyllic moment of country life, a milk wagon on a rustic lane. The view across the road from his house, in fact. Peaceful, but this…
Starr of the Show
A recent crossing of the the auction block in our March 25th Firearms, Militaria, and Sporting auction was a fine, untouched example of a Nathan Starr model 1816 musket. This particular example was made for the Delaware militia, with a…
Decorative Arts in February!
The Pook & Pook coffers are filled with an array of offerings for every collector in the upcoming Decorative Arts auction on February 24th, 2021. For starters, you can outfit your entire kitchen with the click of a button. Peruse…
With Wings & Scales, Through Myth & Fable
As objects of Chinese culture, horses carry us beyond the borders of any one area or aspect. Closely related to dragons, horses flew, sometimes with wings and scales, through myth and fable in ancient China, carrying deities across the heavens.…
A Sense of Proportion
Lot 87 in our January 28th sale is by Samuel Colman (1832-1920), a painter of the second generation Hudson River School. A student of Asher Brown Durand and member of the National Academy of Design, Colman sought to paint the…
Gorham Versailles Sterling Serving Pieces
One of my favorite lots in our upcoming January 28th and 29th, 2021 Americana & International Auction is this group of sterling serving pieces by Gorham. The Versailles pattern was created in 1888 by the Gorham’s chief designer, Antoine Heller.…