Christie⁳ sale of American art on November 28 totaled $38,469,650, selling 72 percent by lot and 84 percent by value. The top lot of the sale was Edward Hopper⁳ ⁏ctober on Cape Cod,†which achieved $9,602,500, setting a new record for the most expensive item sold to an online bidder at any international auction house.

⁑uality prevails,†stated auction house principal Sandra Germain in the days following the most recent sale at Shannon⁳ Fine Art Auctioneers. Record prices were routinely established at the recent landmark auction, with bidders from 17 countries and 43 states going head to head for the wide variety of art works offered.

With their ⁓uper-Stella suits†in place, Stella management cleaned up after Superstorm Sandy and the Pier Show opened on schedule November 17 . The line awaiting the Saturday morning opening was huge and there was an electricity in the air.

Anthony ⁔ony†Tenaglia Jr, 55, died on November 7, at Doylestown Hospital with his family by his side after a courageous battle with cancer. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Bristol, he moved to Buckingham in 1996. He, along with his wife of 28 years, Loretta, owned and operated Bristol Auction, Inc, Bristol, Penn. He was also the owner and driving force behind Estate Treasures of Bucks County in New Hope, Penn.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit and other books by Beatrix Potter (1866‱943) have become classics of children⁳ literature and represent one of the most successful publishing enterprises in the history of the British book trade. Yet Peter Rabbit began not as a commercial publishing venture, but as a story created to entertain the child of a family friend †all told in an eight-page letter illustrated with pen-drawn vignettes.

Thanks to the insight, vision and generosity of one man ⁄avid Davis †who lived through those eventful years, a fabulous collection of memorable photographs of America⁳ turbulent 1960s and 1970s is on view at the Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Mass. Showcasing 85 of the most powerful American photographs ever made, ⁋ennedy to Kent State: Images of a Generation†features depictions of shocking assassinations, the Vietnam War, antiwar protests, the civil rights movement, a growing counterculture and wonders of space exploration. It is on view through February 3. Organized by David Acton, WAM⁳ curator of prints, drawings, and photographs, and his assistant, Nancy Kathryn Burns, both of whom contributed to the useful catalog, the exhibition offers searing glimpses into trying times. The photographs continue to pack a wallop with viewers of all ages, as donor Davis hoped.

Discovery and exploration are prevalent themes of Hudson River School artists and at Freeman⁳ auction on Sunday, December 2, of fine American and European paintings and sculpture, the top lot, Asher B. Durand⁳ (1796‱886) painting simply titled ⁌andscape,†generated significant interest.

It may have been described in the auction catalog as a silver and enamel box by Ivan Petrovich Khlebnikov, but for auction house owner William Jenack †and perhaps for auctioneers across the United States †Lot Number 193 may as well have been called ⁐andora⁳ box. 

Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, have received a major gift from Houston philanthropist and collector William J. Hill. An iconic Adolph Kempen writing desk and approximately 150 pieces of early Texas pottery have been added to the collections.

Celebrating its fifth anniversary, The American Art Fair (TAAF) made a sumptuous presentation at the National Bohemian Hall November 26′9, with 17 specialists in American art filling galleries on the third and fourth floors and even the fifth floor balcony with wonderful works from the Eighteenth⁔wentieth Centuries