CURRENT NEWS

March, 2007: Our senior appraiser, Llewellyn "Kelly" Dykes, one of the few people in the United States to hold the designation of Master Appraiser, GPPA, discovered and sent to market a Russian masterpiece!

While performing an insurance appraisal for a client's art collection, Kelly challenged the value of $50,000.00 that had been formerly placed upon a Natalie Gontcharova still life, Lilacs in a Vase, from 1905. The old appraisal had been performed by one of the most well-known and trusted international auction and appraisal houses in the world, so our appraiser absolutely stunned the client by throwing out the old appraisal and placing a value in the millions on the Russian oil on canvas. After that, Kelly arranged a sale, and he and the client received confirmation from Christie's that the work would be featured in their London sale in November.

May, 2007: Kelly did it again! That's right. While performing another insurance appraisal for a totally different client who had eleven works of art that had each been formerly valued between $5,000.00 and $60,000.00, he found more Russian masterpieces. The prior appraisals had been performed a few years ago, again by a very well-respected and internationally-known firm, but our senior appraiser nearly gave the client a heart attack when he challenged the identification of a sweeping Russian landscape that had been valued at $27,500.00.
Kelly said he knew at first look that the work was far stronger and more important than was previously thought. When he told the client during the initial examination that the work had been mis-identified, the client disagreed, forcefully, citing the reputation of the firm that had done the previous work.

Ten hours of intensive research later, Kelly had all the documentation he needed to turn the client's world upside down. The sweeping landscape, painted in 1871, was in truth a scene of Moscow, the Kremlin, during the time of the construction of the Christ Our Savior Cathedral, and had been painted by the extremely important artist, Alexei Bogoliulbov, personal artist and commission landscape artist for Russian Tsar Alexander III! And a sticker on the reverse, written in Cyrillic, identified the painting as once the property of the Tsar!
Two other of the client’s Russian paintings had been misidentified or under-valued, too. Not surprisingly, when the works were correctly identified and valued, the client wanted them to go to market. Again, Kelly used his contacts and arranged a sale, placing three more works in Christie's Important Russian Pictures sale in November in London.

October, 2007: The Bogoliulbov landscape of the Kremlin and the Christ our Savior Cathedral was featured in Christie’s Magazine. The Natalie Gontcharova still life also received prominent placement and attention.

Early November, 2007: The Christie’s catalog for the Important Russian Pictures auction was published and the Imperial Bogoliulbov landscape painting was chosen as the cover for the catalog! Write-ups, photos and research documentation for both the Bogoliulbov and the Gontcharova dominated page after page in the catalog.

November 28, 2007, London: Christie’s Important Russian Pictures Auction
Two of our client families each flew to London to observe the sale and were present, hearts pounding, as their paintings literally dominated the sale.

Lot # 275, Oil on canvas, Moscow, View of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior from the Kremlin, by Aleksei Petrovich Bogoliubov, (Russian, 1824 - 1896), Sold for $2,884,000.00.

Lot # 280, Oil on canvas, A Country Track by the Black Sea, by Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovski, (Russian, 1817 - 1900), Sold for $782,800.00.

Lot # 292, Oil on canvas, Horse and Sleigh, by Konstantin Egorovich Makovski, (Russian, 1839 - 1915), Sold for $78,280.00.

Lot # 349, Oil on canvas, still life, Lilacs in a Vase, by Natalie Goncharova, (Russian, 1881 - 1962), Sold for $2,884.000.00.


Total sales for our clients that day: $6,629,080.00.


March, 2008: Mr. Dykes - amazingly - did it once again! He documented and then scheduled the next - and possibly the best - Russian masterpiece yet for sale! A large oil on canvas, a vibrant still life titled Watermelons by Natalie Gontcharova, was delivered by special transit to Christie’s in London. This work, targeted at the explosive Russian art market and specifically aimed at the biggest Russian sale of the year in November, is currently undergoing extensive examination and authentication by independent experts brought in by Christies. Mr. Dykes expects the important work, (also previously mis-identified), to bring between 4 and 6 million dollars when it goes to sale in November!