Blog

May Estates Auction: Silver, Period Furnishings, Fine Art, Antiques, Asian Decorative Arts, Oriental Rugs, Art Glass, Much More. An Eclectic Estate Auction Filled With Many Unreserved Items. Highlights include: Joseph Csaky (French, 1888-1971) Bronze Sculpture; George William Mote (British, 1832-1909) Oil Painting; Dennis Abbe Art Deco Revival Glass Fire Screen; Margo De Mexico Sterling Silver Tea Service. Featuring Large Estate Collections of Asian Cloisonne and Ethnographic Arts. Auction Preview: Thurs. 5/16 to Sat. 5/18, 10AM to 6PM. Download the Catalog (pdf) Browse the Catalog on LiveAuctioneers.com Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form

U N R E S E R V E D  A U C T I O N Auction:Sunday, April 28, 2013 at 11AM (EST) Exhibition: April 25-27, 10AM-6PM Special Auction Exhibition Barbecue, Free and Open To The Public Saturday, April 27, 1PM-3PM DOWNLOAD THE CATALOG (PDF) BROWSE THE CATALOG ON LIVEAUCTIONEERS.COM Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form Material Culture is excited to bring a truly unique collection to auction in its sale “The Max Garb Collection of African and Ethnographic Arts,” on April 28, 2013. An outsider to the world of tribal art dealers, Max Garb made his living as an elevator operator in Chicago, but what he called his “magnificent obsession” with ethnographic arts spurred him to assemble an extraordinary collection. Started in the 1970s, Garb's collection is the fruit of “half a lifetime,” by his own reckoning. At one point, it totaled approximately 700 artifacts, largely from Africa, but also from Japan, Nepal, Tibet, Bali, New Guinea, Guatemala and Mexico. The auction will comprise 318 lots of objects from Garb's estate. An online catalogue and live bidding at the time of the sale will be provided by liveauctioneers.com. The auction preview exhibition will be open daily from [...]

UNRESERVED AUCTION Auction: Sunday, April 14, 2013 at 11AM (EST) Exhibition: April 11-13, 10AM-6PM Special Barbecue Reception: Saturday, April 13 - 1PM-3PM DOWNLOAD THE CATALOG (PDF) | BID ON LIVEAUCTIONEERS.COM Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form Material Culture Auction Department is proud to offer the GlaxoSmithKline LLC art collection at Auction on April 14th 2013. The global health care company's Philadelphia branch is one of its two large corporate headquarters in the United States, and pieces from its substantial collection have already sold in previous auctions at Material Culture. Many of the artists represented in this collection are from the Philadelphia area or studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, rendering it particularly compelling to local art collectors, though the quality of the artwork and the inclusion of nationally-known artists bring universal interest to the auction. The collection was amassed during the 1980s through the early 2000s.  This sale features 350+ artworks, nearly all of them framed, and ranging widely in size. All of the pieces are sold without reserve, and provide opportunities for any budget and for a broad variety of collectors and connoisseurs. Anyone interested in the sale is strongly encouraged to come to the auction [...]

Auction: Saturday, March 30, 2013 at 11AM (EST) Exhibition: Wednesday 3/27/13 to Friday 3/29/13, 10AM-6PM   DOWNLOAD THE CATALOG (PDF)  |   BROWSE THE SALE ON LIVEAUCTIONEERS.COM Absentee Bid Form | Telephone Bid Form With spring comes Material Culture’s exciting Spring Estate Auction, sub-titled “Art, Antiques, Oriental Carpets, Decorative and Ethnographic Arts.” The sale commences at 11 AM on Saturday, March 30, offering more astonishing deals and spectacular artifacts, including art from the collection of global healthcare company GlaxoSmithKline, selections from Max Garb's collection of African and Ethnographic Arts, items from fine carpet and furniture importer Michaelian & Kohlberg, and from private estates around the country. With nearly 400 lots in all price ranges, both sale fanatics and those entirely new to auctions are invited to experience the thrill of bidding, and the joy of walking away with bargains. The auction catalogue is available on liveauctioneers.com, where anyone with access to the internet can bid on lots in real time. The auction opens with 26 lots of oil painting, watercolors, illustration art, mixed media collage, and engraving. Leading this category of fine art is a painting by Philadelphian artist Wlater Stuempfig (1914-1970), entitled “Cape May Point,” from a private local collection. [...]

S.A. Robb Cigar Store Indian, sold for $35,000 With its very first year as an auctioneer, Material Culture is already traversing the boundaries of the international auction market. Decades of experience in the field of art, antiques and artifacts from around the globe, coupled with its inclusive aesthetic ethos, have made its entrance to the auction world bold and distinctive. Though its inaugural sales in May took place nearly halfway through the year, 2012 can be counted an impressive success. The institution’s experience in the global market contributed to the strong showing of buyers overseas as well as domestically, with educated bidders from over 30 countries regularly participating in their sales. 12th century Carved Marble Relief from India, sold for $6,500 Material Culture has long been an expert in decorative and ethnographic arts, and many fine or rare examples of hand-crafted art shone in this year’s auctions. The opening sale, entitled “New World Orders,” boasted an original nineteenth-century Cigar Store Indian, attributed to Samuel Anderson Robb (1851-1928), which sold for a total of $36,000. Other exceptional lots in that auction included a finely carved marble relief from northern India, dating all the way back to the [...]