Antique Trader August 1, 2021

MARLBOROUGH, Mass. — A bottle of historic bourbon whiskey thought to be the only surving stash from the cellar of financier John Pierpont Morgan sold far above estimate at Skinner’s recent Rare Spirits sale. The single bottle of Old Ingledew Whiskey, bottled in the 1860s in La Grange, Ga., by Evans and Ragland, sold for $137,500, smashing the pre-sale estimate of $20,000- $40,000. Skinner’s rare spirits expert Joseph Hyman said the contents of the bottle had been carbon-14 dated (using a hypodermic needle through the cork) to 1763-1803. This places it in the historical context of the Revolutionary War of the 1770s and the Whiskey Rebellion of the 1790s, making it one of the oldest known whiskeys in existence. Standard practice was to store spirits in large glass demijohns after being aged…

If you were a child in The Fifties, your hand shot up like a Soviet Union R-7 ICBM rocket. You know, the fiery beast that in 1957 launched not only Sputnik, the first satellite to orbit the Earth, but also launched the fears of a nation. So a little uranium among friends? Sure, why not? Back then, amidst the chill of the Cold War, science mattered. Today? Not so much. In The Fifties there was no debate, just white-lab-coated doers. The ability to successfully blast a satellite into space was a Big Deal. It meant the Russians were strong, forward thinkers and certainly about to crush us. By comparison, Americans were weak, lazy and – sure enough – our national pants zipper was open. If something wasn’t done fast, we’d be eating borscht for…

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. – Textile enthusiasts have two new exhibits to enjoy at the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum, one of the two expanded Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg. The Art of the Quilter in the Foster and Muriel McCarl Gallery is open now while Navajo Weavings: Adapting Tradition opens in the Mary B. and William Lehman Guyton Gallery in early August. Both exhibits fit snuggly with the ever-popular exhibitions displaying Colonial Williamsburg’s renowned quilt collection. Since opening in 2018, visitors have embraced Navajo Weavings, the first exhibition at Colonial Williamsburg on loan from the collection of American folk art enthusiasts Pat and Rex Lucke. “Colonial Williamsburg’s curators have worked diligently over the last twenty years to ensure that our collections represent the diversity of the American people,” said Ronald L. Hurst,…

ROCHESTER, Minn. — The 49th annual Gold Rush promises to be an exciting show for people seeking antiques, collectibles and other treasures. The show, August 20-22 at Graham Park (Olmsted County fairgrounds), will feature dealers from all across the nation coming to exhibit. All COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted by the governor for the show. This indoor/outdoor event covers 52 acres with more than 1,200 spaces and eight buildings, which will include antique furniture, primitives, advertising signs, antique toys, peddle cars, farm toys and farm-related items, car-related items, comics, postcards, sport cards, hunting, fishing, brewery items, art glass, pottery, Depression-era glassware, jewelry, clocks, lamps, perfume bottles, sewing items, children’s furniture and dishes, decorative arts, paintings, prints, textiles, vintage clothing, door stops, bookends, Americana, Native American items, crocks, repurposed and upcycled vintage items, and…

The work of a noted photographer is the heart of an upcoming Hess Fine Auctions sale, with proceeds going to a children’s hospital. Hess is presenting the estate of William Edward Dassonville, along with other fine art, on Saturday, July 31. The auction starts at noon Eastern Time. Dassonville (1879-1957), a California pictorialist photographer primarily known for his soft-focus landscapes, was an associate of Ansel Adams and worked with William Keith, George Stirling, Maynard Dixon, and John Miur. Born in Sacramento, he was secretary of the California Camera Club and contributed to Camera Craft. He also invented a velvety surfaced printing paper that he later manufactured commercially. His chemistry was heralded by Adams and Imogen Cunningham, and he exhibited alongside Alfred Stieglitz, Clarence White, and Gertrude Kasebier. Proceeds from the sale of his estate…

CHEBOYGAN, Mich. — What started as boat cleaning resulted in the discovery of a 95-year-old message in a bottle. Jennifer Dowker, owner and founder of Nautical North Family Adventures, found a message in a bottle dated from 1926 while diving in the Cheboygan River in June. When a prospective scuba diving client asked to try breathing through a regulator onshore, Dowker invited him to try it as she cleaned the windows on her glass-bottom boat, according to the Detroit Free Press. Dowker said she wanted to find something cool to keep her client interested and so she went upstream and saw the green bottle there. “I picked it up and I saw the paper inside, I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh this is awesome,’” she said. After swimming back to the boat, Dowker asked her first…