Over several decades Judson C. Ball and his wife assembled a distinguished collection of Native American art, concentrating on three areas: kachina dolls, Southwest baskets and weavings, and New Mexican religious art. Bonhams will offer the collection in New York on May 14th, when the featured item will be a red and blue Navajo double saddle/child’s blanket estimated at $50,000-$70,000.The sale includes the largest collection of antique Native American dolls ever to come to auction. Estimates for these Kachina dolls, produced from the late 1890’s through the 1960’s, range from $1,000-$1,500 to $15,000-$25,000. There’s also extensive selection of Katsina dolls in the sale. Such notable Hopi and Zuni craftsmen as Wilson Tawaquaptewa and Jimmie Kewanwytewa were among the carvers.
Judson Ball Native American Collection At Bonhams
April 20, 2012
More Than $150,000 Expected For Totem Used As Coat Stand
February 11, 2013For the past 30 years, it’s been used as a coat stand in a home in Dorset, England. Then an auctioneer, visiting to assess the value of some other items, happened to see it, draped with coats and scarves in a back room of the house. Next week the early 20th century Native American totem pole will be auctioned at Dukes in Dorchester, where it’s expected to sell for as much as $157,000.
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Coeur d’Alene Art Sale Realizes $17.2m
July 23, 2012The Chief Joseph war shirt, which is pictured in the first photograph of the celebrated Nez Perce warrior following his surrender in 1877, is among the most prized Native American artifacts, and its price at an auction this weekend reflected it: the beaded and fringed shirt sold, within estimates, for a substantial $877,500. It wasn’t, however, the most expensive lot at the Coeur d’Alene auction in Reno, billed as the world’s largest Western Art sale. “Scout’s Report,” a painting by Howard Terpning, realized $994,500, and Frank Tenny Johnson’s “Cowboys Roping the Bear” closed at $965,250.
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Chief Joseph War Shirt May Reach $1.2m
July 20, 2012In the earliest known photograph of the great Chief Joseph, leader of the Nez Perce Wallowa band, he is wearing this beaded and fringed war shirt. The picture was taken following his surrender to General Oliver Howard on October 5, 1877, after Joseph’s famous 1700-mile flight, in which he led his people across the mountains of Montana toward the freedom of Canada. Along the way, he held off the American army in 18 engagements and 4 major battles. One of the rarest of American Indian artifacts, it’s valued at $800,000m-$1.2m at a Coeur d’Alene auction tomorrow in Reno, Nevada.
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Rising Value of Unrestored Cars
By Malcolm Welford, Vintage Car Specialist
