by Edwin Bailey | Nov 4, 2024 | Blog
Text of a CSA soldier’s letter to his sister. Lot 248 in the Exceptional Estates auction, December 7, 2024. Some punctuation added for clarity. Camp six miles from Richmond, July 13 [1862] Dear sister, I improve the first opportunity that I have had of writing...
by Edwin Bailey | Oct 20, 2024 | Blog
Blackwell Auctions has obtained several important pieces by San Francisco designer John Dickinson (American, 1920-1982), which will be offered in the December event. Included are five of Dickinson’s signature rope stools (three white and two painted), an Etruscan...
by Edwin Bailey | Jun 29, 2024 | Blog
It’s early March, 2023. Our auction gallery is all set up for preview. Paintings are hung neatly on the slatwall, and shelves are full of interesting historic items. We’re all ready for the following weekend, when our semi-annual themed auction we call “The American...
by Edwin Bailey | May 27, 2024 | Blog
On March 21, 2023, Paul Reubens called me on my mobile to discuss some details about the disposition of several pieces of furniture from his childhood home in Sarasota, Florida. I run an auction gallery about an hour north of there, and a high school friend of his –...
by Edwin Bailey | May 22, 2024 | Blog, Collectibles
> Fascination, Accumulation, Obsession, Realization & Liquidation I’ve been chewing on this list for some time now. The idea for it started incubating from a conversation I had years ago with a couple of guys who were selling their father’s huge...
by Edwin Bailey | May 21, 2024 | Blog
On March 18, 2023, Blackwell Auctions sold a painting of one of the most historically important figures of the 19th century, Sitting Bull, the chief who united the Sioux to defeat Gen. George Armstrong Custer at Little Big Horn in 1876. The portrait was one of four...