# The Arts/Volume 1/Issue 2/The Auction Room

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THE AUCTION ROOM
By the Editor
THE month of December was unusually dull in the art auction trade. General business conditions were unfavorable, and it has never been the custom to have important sales just before the holidays. The "Charles of London" stock sale at the American Art Association had been the chief event of November, the total realized reaching $511,852. December opened with the Lefortier antique sale at the American Art Galleries (December 2nd, 3rd and 4th), which brought $132,921. French and Company paid the highest price of the sale, $3,700 for a Renaissance tapestry.
The month of January has opened very auspiciously with a sale at the American Art Association of Oriental porcelains from "Art House" founded by T. B. Clarke (sale January 3rd to 8th). That is to be followed by sales of Old English Lustre Ware collected by the late Charles Wiley; early American, English and French Furniture collected by the late Mrs. Franklin Bartlett; and early American and Colonial Furniture, the collection of Mrs. William D. Bowie. Then will come a sale of Old and Modern Paintings including most of the names dear to the picture-buyer, and a sale of Tapestries, some of which are exceptional pieces. Then comes a sale of Antique Porcelains from the collections of H. Douglas Rodgers and K. T. Wong. On January 27th in the Grand Ballroom at the Hotel Plaza will take place the sale of the amazing collection of Paintings and Pastels by Degas belonging to Jacques Seligman. It will be followed by the equally wonderful collection of Gothic and other Ancient Art assembled by the late Henry C. Lawrence. On the opposite page is shown a small panel of Flemish stained glass of the XVIth Century, a superb little bit. It is only one of many such important pieces of art which figure in the collection. Then come some sales of Americana; a sale of paintings from several private collections and a sale of Artistic Oriental Objects assembled by Yamanaka.
At the Anderson Galleries sixty-two old masters are to be sold on January 14th. Those that I have seen have much beauty. The "Jordaens" seems to me to be a school-piece and the "Raeburn" is not one that I would choose. The collection contains some exceptional pieces. Later in the month there is to be sold a collection of Greek and Roman Marbles, Gothic Sculptures, etc. Judging from the reproductions in the catalogue it is a very fine collection. On February 3rd there will be sold Sporting Prints, Drawings, etc., from the stock of the late George D. Smith.
The Walpole Galleries have on their calendar two Japanese print sales, the first advertised as the most important ever held in America. The catalogue is the work of F. W. Gookin, which should insure the authenticity of the prints. The second is of prints from the collection of George F. Kockwell. There will also be a sale of Japanese Art Objects also from the collection of Mr. Rockwell. At Mr. Rockwell's recent sale of prints at the Walpole I noticed no "revamped" prints, the presence of which is one of the unfortunate episodes of the auction sales of the last few weeks. At each sale where there were "revamped" prints the majority of the prints were above suspicion. "Revamping" is one of the latest of frauds in the art world. It is to be hoped that reputable houses like Yamanaka will use their influence to prevent repetition of the occurrence. I am quite sure that the auction houses did not know of the presence of such prints in the sales, for it requires an expert to detect the fraud. Doubtless there are many experts in the city, but I feel that none are better than Mr. Tanaka of Yamanaka and Company and Mr. Bosch-Reitz of the Metropolitan Museum of Art who has written most ably on the subject in the Museum Bulletin.
Mr. Bosch-Reitz has arranged at the Museum an exhibition of "revamped" prints which should put the collector on his guard. The process of "revamping" a print is rather complicated. The old print is first cleaned thoroughly, leaving little beyond the black outline. With new blocks cut for the purpose new color is applied to the paint and, to the uninitiated, the "revamped" print has the marks of age. It is difficult to explain in writing just how to distinguish such a print and yet it is usually a simple problem. In order to make the color blocks fit perfectly over the print pin-holes were made in the prints themselves. Their presence is conclusive that the print has been "revamped." It is easy to fill up such holes that their absence proves nothing. Little chance there is that there will ever be frauds which experts cannot detect.
FLEMISH STAINED GLASS
Lawrence Collection American Art Association