Leah Kingman, specialist in the European Furniture & Decorative Arts department, at the Miami Beach Antique Show

Each year, for five days from the end of January to the beginning of February, about nine hundred antique, jewelry, and fine art dealers converge inside the Miami Beach Convention Center. The result is the largest indoor antique show in the world. The scale at this year’s event was overwhelming, especially since this was my first visit to the show. However, I wasn’t on the hunt for any acquisitions myself, and happily got to digest it all over the course of several days.

While there was a huge variety of objects for sale, 19th and 20th century Continental European antiques, silver, art glass, and jewelry were particularly well represented.  There was very little furniture.  Most booths focused on small, portable pieces. Individual dealers’ offerings ranged from the eclectic assortments, to the curated offerings of a honed eye, to the unbelievably specific: booths devoted entirely to bookends, silver plated napkin rings, or vintage eyeglass frames.

Perhaps surprisingly, price points also spanned the gamut. Small ceramic and glass pieces were going for under $100. The most expensive piece I noticed was an unmounted diamond with an asking price of over $2,000,000. I’d like to know if it sold.

Beyond the objects themselves, the show was a great place to people (and dog) watch. I saw chic Floridians trying on colossal cocktail rings alongside seasoned buyers hoping to fill the gaps in their collections.  I was particularly interested in the dealers buying and selling to one another. Several pieces that started the show in one place had migrated across the hall by the third day.

Many of the dealers are extremely knowledgeable and eager to discuss their merchandise. I would recommend the show to anyone who loves the idea of browsing through high-end antiques all day.

If a trip to Florida isn’t in your plans, you can always find great antiques at an auction preview at Skinner. The next European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction will be April 6, 2013 in Boston.

Commedia dell’Arte Needlework, France, c. 1690, wool and silk, depicting the characters Harlequin, Il Dottore, and Scaramouche performing before an audience on an outdoor stage. (Lot 544 in the October 6, 2012 auction, Estimate $4,000-6,000)

I think collecting is somewhere in my DNA.

As a child I collected stamps and multicolored beach glass. As a young person I read that Alexander Calder collected “stones with holes right through them,” so I collected, and still have, shells and stones with holes right through them. Throughout my adult life, my collection focused on actors, acting, and the history of both.

After World War II, at the age of 22, I was discharged from the army and joined Lee Strasberg’s professional acting class. In many ways, Mr. Strasberg was a controversial figure in the world of the theater. However, one thing is beyond dispute – he was an extraordinary scholar of the theater, of actors and of the acting profession.

From the early days and later into his work in The Actor’s Studio, of which I am a member, he would share with us not only his knowledge but also his deep admiration for the profession of acting.  His respect for the Siddons, Keanes, and Duses of our profession led me, and many others, to begin honoring our work and collecting prints, playbills, and artifacts of our history.

So, as much as 60 years ago, with the limited means of a young actor, I began searching antique shops, book stores, and fairs for anything and everything that related to the international acting profession. It was exhilarating to find a book print from the 1780s of Sarah Siddons as Lady Macbeth for three dollars, or later a 1690s needlework of Commedia dell’Arte actors for four figures.

Over the years as my career moved from acting into directing, and from directing into teaching, the walls of my home became covered with these ancestors of mine, helping me to share with my students knowledge of those who came before, their lives, the clothes they wore, and the choices they made.

Three or four pieces of art in my collection relating to the theater could only have been done by someone centuries ago who cared as deeply about actors and the theater as I do.

One is an English needlework picture of the 1790s, beautifully accomplished, with animals, bees and insects. With tiny stitches in black thread, a young child sewed into the needlework every single word of Jacques’ speech, The Seven Ages of Man, from As You Like It.  How that young girl (or her teacher?) must have loved Shakespeare. I also adore a 1690s French needlework, depicting three of the great Commedia actors of that period, doing their work. Those comedians were the rock stars of their time. Following prints of the actors and stitching them into a scene that includes an audience watching was an enormous amount of work.  We will never know the needle pointer’s name, but I feel that he or she had to care about the theater and those actors the way I do.

Like many other collectors, I recognize profoundly that I have been a caretaker of these objects large and small; my private pleasure is in restoring, repairing and museum matting as many as I can – no matter their significance. I hope another will find as much joy in them as I have.

Brownfield Majolica Vase, England, c. 1871-76, Estimate $2,500-3,500, to be sold on July 14, 2012 at our European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction

Victorian majolica was produced in Britain by at least twenty-five to thirty manufacturers, including major potteries such as Wedgwood and George Jones, from the 1850s right through until the turn of the twentieth century. The French, Germans and Americans also manufactured their own majolica, with little similarities in style and enameling to their British counterparts.

None has captured our interest as much as those examples of majolica produced at Minton.  With their vibrant combination of lively enamels and crisp modeling, they produced fanciful forms such as garden seats, heavily molded jugs, oyster plates, game pie dishes, covered cheese dishes, allegorical figures, umbrella/stick stands, pedestals, tiles, flower pots of all shapes and sizes, animals, tea sets, strawberry servers, ornamental vases and much, much more. Majolica decorates a variety of forms so beautifully that it is most impressive and a bit eye-popping to see a collection in a home or on display.

You’ll have a chance to see such a collection in the July 14, 2012 sale of European Furniture & Decorative Arts featuring Fine Ceramics at Skinner in Boston. We have a major collection of over one hundred fine examples of majolica. Works of Minton will be featured, and the collection will include examples from some of Minton’s contemporary British and French competitors.  A fine selection of Portuguese Palissy-type wares will also be offered.

Greek Provincial Red Figure Pelike, likely southern Italy, 4th century B.C.E., Auctioned for $38,512.50 in 2012

Wedgwood Encaustic Decorated Black Basalt Vase, England, 19th century, Auctioned for $5,332.50 in 2010

Wedgwood artists were influenced by antiquities in the forms they chose to work with, including oil lamps, canopic jars and ruined column vases, as well as the subjects they depicted.  Popular subjects include classical figures, shapes, architecture, and even the use of hieroglyphs in the Egyptian revival style.

Note the red-figured Greek provincial pelike of the 4th century and the Wedgwood encaustic decorated black basalt vase of the 19th century. Certainly the Wedgwood artist had a pelike similar to this in mind when he painted his vase.

I recently visited the San Antonio Museum of Art and noticed that they display antiquities alongside their Wedgwood counterparts; it’s amazing just how well they work together. It is my hope that some collectors of antiquities or Wedgwood will follow the museum’s lead and extend or expand their collecting to own complementing examples of the other’s wares.

Hopefully this romance between Wedgwood and antiquities will continue and we will see more crossover between the two subjects so very different, yet with so much in common.

Example of a Canopic Jar

Wedgwood Light Blue Jasper Dip Canopic Jar and Cover, England, early 19th century, Auctioned for $7,702.50 in 2010

Pair of Wedgwood Rosso Antico and Black Basalt Egyptian Sphinxes, England, late 18th century

Wedgwood Blue and White Jasper Double Ruined Column Vase, England, early 19th century

Della Robbia Pottery Molded Wall Plaque, England, 1900, designed by Ellen Mary Rope, Lot 600 in the March 31, 2012 European Furniture & Decorative Arts Auction

Children join hands and dance around a tree in this fanciful wall plaque designed by Ellen Mary Rope for Della Robbia Pottery. The plaque will be sold in the March 31, 2012 European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction at Skinner.

Della Robbia Pottery, founded in Birkenhead, England, near Liverpool, in December 1893, produced art pottery espousing the tenets of the British Arts and Crafts movement. Directors Harold Rathbone and Conrad Dressler set out to create domestic wares and architectural elements with local labor and raw materials. They wanted to emulate the manufacturing methods as much as the aesthetics of the Florentine Renaissance family of potters from which the company got its name: Della Robbia Pottery.

Rathbone and Dressler followed pre-industrial production practices, while championing the individuality of the craftsperson. Della Robbia Pottery also had Pre-Raphaelite support, with William Holman Hunt on the controlling council and designs from Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Maddox Brown, who was Rathbone’s teacher.

At two and a half feet wide, the plaque pictured here demonstrates designer Ellen Mary Rope’s style on a large scale. Rope, who worked on relief panels and friezes at the firm from 1896 until its closure in 1906, favored subjects with children, pixies, and angels. This panel is one of her more complex compositions, with a number of figures molded in both high and low relief. The motif of children joining hands around a tree is also found in at least one other example of her work.

The glazes used here demonstrate the firm’s typical color palette; Rathbone supposedly insisted that every piece include the color green.

My colleagues and I are excited about this opportunity to handle such a unique example of English art pottery, from a firm not often found on this side of the Atlantic. We hope to see you at the March 31, 2012 European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction in Boston.

Examples of Della Robbia Pottery’s domestic ware, auctioned at Skinner for $1,066.50 on October 6, 2007

K'ang-hsi Period Cloisonne Bottle-Form Vase, China, 1662-1722, Estimate $10,000-15,000

Have you ever watched Antiques Roadshow on PBS? As a senior art and antiques appraiser at Skinner, many of my days are a lot like the reality TV show.

I spend considerable time meeting with prospective consignors at our Marlborough and Boston auction galleries and viewing the antiques, collectibles & fine art brought in for an auction evaluation.

I’m always surprised by what I see. Items run the gamut, spanning centuries, continents and values. The stories behind these antiques are often fascinating.

Over the past few weeks, many interesting items have come through our doors. Here are five of my favorites that I’ve taken in on consignment.

Keep an eye out for these antiques in future Skinner auctions:

1. K’ang-hsi Period Cloisonné Bottle-Form Vase, China, 1662-1722

The fluidity of the floral pattern and elegant form made this piece stand out from the Bohemian glass, Limoges china and other items on the viewing table. Purchased at auction in New York in 1911, this vase will be featured in our April Asian Works of Art auction after 100 years off the market. Auction estimate: $10,000-15,000.

2. Norse-revival Silver Covered Presentation Cup & Cover, by the Norwegian silversmith Henrik Moller

Combining the Arts & Crafts styling of the period with scenes from the Viking Sagas, mythical beasts and dense interlaced stylized foliage, this cup has a fantastical look that would fit any décor from Arts & Crafts to Goth. Auction estimate: $4,000-6,000.

3. Miniature Portrait on Ivory of a Gentleman

The profile is dashing in a Darcy-like way, and a curious note accompanying the piece mentions a Margaret Churchill, duchess of Marlborough, and H. Francis Blagge whose initials are engraved on the reverse of the token. Auction estimate: $400-600.

4. Pair of Minton Pate-sur-Pate and parcel-gilt decorated cabinet plates

Signed by the artist Albion Birks, and painted in the slip technique imported from France in the late 19^th century, the plates are elegant with scenes of Cupid and gilded foliage. Minton saw great success with this line of wares at the turn of the 20^th century. Auction estimate: $1,000-1,500.

5. Art Deco Fada Radio

From the model line L-56 first introduced in 1939 and made of Catalin, a brand-name resin similar to, but not identical to Bakelite, the radio’s yellow color isn’t as rare as those incorporating multi-color combinations but it should appeal to both art deco collectors and radio enthusiasts alike. Auction estimate: $300-500.

Read Part I to learn about a record-breaking folk art portrait, a stunning Art Deco bracelet, and a bottle of 1961 Petrus wine.

Antique Dwarf Clock

This remarkable family heirloom had been kept running for 80 years - Stephen Fletcher, Executive Vice President and Director of American Furniture & Decorative Arts

It’s always exciting to discover a beautiful object that is unknown to the collecting world. When I saw this perfectly proportioned dwarf clock on a house call in Beverly, Massachusetts, it was still running, and had been passed down in the same family for 80 years. At the moment we discussed the possibility of selling it, the clock struck twelve.

The clock was made by Joshua Wilder in Hingham, Massachusetts between 1821 and 1824, and is a true miniature of a tall case clock constructed in the same manner, and with a full striking movement. This places it in a category of being the most sought-after and desirable type of dwarf clock.

Rock Crystal Cup

Truly a royal item, this cup was probably made for the ruling court in the Mughal Empire in India – Kerry Shrives, Vice President, Director of Information & Technology

I love the exquisite carving on this Mughal rock crystal cup. It was most likely made in the 17th/18th century for the ruling court of the Mughal Empire in India, and then embellished in 1867 when the London jeweler Robert Phillips added a delicate gold, enamel and stone mounted foot-rim. The bowl reflects a mid-19^th century fascination with Greek and Roman antiquity. Phillips is known to have visited Rome in the 1850s on a study trip where he viewed period Roman works of glass, gold, and lapidary. Phillips exhibited at the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle, and it is quite possible that this bowl was exhibited there. My favorite museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum has a number of similar cups in their collections.

Rare Ornamental Turning Lathe

This machine and collection of tools will provide a lifetime of discovery to a superb craftsman - Robert Cheney, Director of Science, Technology & Clocks

An ornamental turning lathe was primarily a “Gentleman’s” turning tool which could provide a lifetime education for the lucky owner. This remarkable early 19^th century machine and its many accessories allowed an educated owner to perform complex tasks on exotic woods and materials like ebony, teak, rosewood and ivory. This is my 2011 favorite because it is such a rarity to find an ornamental turning lathe with all the numbered accessories and fitted two-part mahogany tall chest. More importantly however, this is my favorite because it was sold to a superb craftsman who will spend a lifetime rediscovering all the attributes that make this machine so special.

Antique Diamond Necklace

Who kept this in her jewelry box at the turn of the century? - Melissa Riebe, Specialist, Discovery auctions

It’s hard to pick just one, but thinking back on things that really struck me this past year, one is this antique silver and rose-cut diamond necklace. The piece was beautiful in the catalogue, but seeing the necklace in person, I was, in a word, dazzled.

The delicate construction and brilliant stones started me thinking about what sort of a high-society woman around the turn of the century would have had this piece in her jewelry box. Was it a gift from her husband? A fellow member of the elite? A self-indulgent purchase? We’ll never know, but it’s fun to wonder!

Lot 786: Gouda Pottery Magpie Vase, Est. $800-1,200

On Friday, July 8th, 2011, Skinner will host a lecture by Frans Leidelmeijer, an internationally recognized expert in Dutch decorative arts from 1880 to the early 1900s. Titled “Gouda Pottery & Dutch Decorative Arts,” this lecture will cover a fascinating period in the history of Dutch Decorative Arts.

The lecture is presented in conjunction with a preview of the July 9th European Furniture & Decorative arts auction, which features the Phyllis Ritvo Collection of Gouda Pottery. Highlights from the collection are pictured in the gallery below.

A graduate of Wellesley College with a graduate degree from Northeastern University, Phyllis began collecting Gouda pottery in 1962, when she bought her first piece in an antiques shop for $27. Her growing obsession with both the pottery and its history took her to museums, libraries, and shows throughout the United States and the Netherlands.

With the aid of many antiques shows, auctions, and later the internet, Phyllis, together with her husband Gene, amassed a diverse collection encompassing a wide variety of Gouda wares. Phyllis Ritvo’s book on this collecting area, The World of Gouda Pottery, was published in 1998.

The lecture “Gouda Pottery & Dutch Decorative Arts” is free and open to the public. If you would like to attend, please R.S.V.P. online or by phone to 617.350.5400.

Minton Majolica Prometheus Bound Vase and Cover, England, 19th century, Est. $5,000-7,000

When I think of Minton, I think of quality. Many great examples of quality Minton wares come to mind: early porcelains, pate-sur-pate decorated by Marc Louis Solon, the wonderful majolica wares of Victorian England, along with other hand-painted earthenwares and tiles. Minton pottery rivals Wedgwood and surpasses numerous other manufacturers in workmanship, thanks to the fact that some of the most well-known artisans of the time were employed by Minton.

So where are the Minton collectors’ groups? Wedgwood Societies span the globe, with several in the US, one in the UK and three in Australia. Collectors groups as a whole become something much more than a way to share a common interest. The camaraderie and friendships found in these groups last well beyond the collecting years of the members. These Wedgwood collectors’ groups have thrived for many years, while other groups either never developed or have disbanded due to lack of interest or a dwindling membership.

The only group I know of that includes Minton wares is the Majolica International Society, and yet this group encompasses collectors of not only Minton works, but those of Wedgwood, George Jones and many other manufacturers of Victorian majolica as well.

A group for collectors and lovers of Minton wares makes a lot of sense. Minton is highly collected in many categories and is on display in elite museums. A wealth of scholarly articles and books exist on the subject, and the Minton name is well respected by those interested in all types of 19^th century English ceramics.

Groups are hard to start, and in today’s society, with so many demands and constant interruptions, it seems an almost impossible task. Part of the problem is knowing where to start. How does one go about finding other collectors and developing an interest in sharing the knowledge and the passion for Minton wares? Maybe this forum is a good place to start.

Are you interested in a group for Minton collectors?

Minton Majolica Fruit Basket on Figural Base, England, c. 1862, Est. $4,000-6,000

Minton Majolica Compote of a Boy on a Shell, England, c. 1873, Est. $3,000-5,000 and George Jones Majolica Figural Sweet Meat Stand, England, c. 1880, Est. $3,000-5,000

Stuart Slavid, director of European Furniture & Decorative Arts, stands next to the gigantic Doulton Lambeth Vase

Have you ever stood next to a vase that’s taller than you are? Standing nearly six foot four inches in height, this Doulton faience baluster vase, with its painted dahlias among bamboo and exotic foliage, is certainly an eye stopper. The Royal Doulton Company is one of the most renowned manufacturers of table, ornamental and collectible wares dating back to 1815, and this antique vase was decorated by Florence Lewis, one of the Lambeth studio’s most highly acclaimed artists.

It’s unusual to see an antique vase so massive in structure, and although the particular history of this vase is unclear, a very similar vase was exhibited by Doulton & Co. at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. It was considered to be the crowning glory of the Doulton stand at the Fair and is now at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. Around the same time, a similar vase is believed to have been ordered for the Maharaja Gaekwad of Baroda, a ruling prince in India. The cost was six thousand dollars, a staggering sum at the time.

It is not clear from the Royal Doulton Company records whether this vase was ever delivered to the Indian palace. The first attempt to make the vase came out imperfectly (the immense size caused problems in the kiln), and a duplicate was made. It is possible that this Doulton vase at Skinner was the one intended for the Gaekwad of Baroda!

An interesting side note on the antique vase is the way it is assembled. Produced in five separate pieces, the collar, the main body, and the base each fit cleanly one on top of the other. Each side handle has a recess that plugs into a “tooth” that extends from the side body of the vase.

John Sparks, principal of the Lambeth School of Art, described Florence Lewis’ artistry as follows: “She has a remarkable power of design and a skill in painting that is seldom surpassed. Her designs are of flowers, foliage and birds and whether she is working out a large design or a small tile her energy and power are equally apparent.” On July 9^th, this truly amazing piece of pottery will be offered as Lot 68 in Skinner’s European Furniture and Decorative Arts auction featuring Fine Ceramics.