Theres one in every family - the person who has (almost) everything! However, we at Bidsquare believe that the impossible, particular and eccentric personalities are the most exciting to surprise. Weve wrapped up an unexpected gift guide that offers determined loved ones with a plethora of present options. With rare and authentic items added everyday, you can bid and browse for that particular "one" without even having to take your slippers off! The Hobbyist Collector: Help someone start their fine print, poster, or vintage sign collection! Book worms will crunch through the pages of our first and limited-edition options while those with the need for speed can cruise happily through catalogs featuring vintage toys, luxury collectibles, and blinking oddities.  Top Row: Lot 677, Rattan Bicycle, Estimate $800 - $1,200; Lot 310, Jim Dine, Hand ...Read More

The majority of coins produced in the United States today are minted in three main cities: Denver, San Francisco and Philadelphia. This was not always the case. Throughout American history, there have been mints in many U.S. cities. Several noteworthy coins in Ragos Coin & Currency (12/02) auction come from the now defunct Charlotte and Dahlonega Mints. In the period before the civil war, the mints at Charlotte and Dahlonega were used exclusively for the production of gold coins. Given its proximity to the first gold mine in the United States, the Charlotte Mint was a natural choice. From 1835 until its capture by the Confederacy in 1873, it produced approximately $5 million in gold coins. While the Confederacy attempted to maintain production at the mint, they were forced to halt as the Southern economy faltered under war-time stress. Exam...Read More

You would have stopped to watch. Keith Haring, a slender boy in his twenties with a cut-off shirt and circular glasses, briskly exited subway cars armed with white chalk and influence. Between 1980 and 1985 Haring produced hundreds of (illegal) New York City "subway drawings" on unassuming, black matte walls that would have otherwise remained blank and lucky commuters watched him do it.  Public art for all was Harings innermost modus operandi and it would continue to be so after his explosive success and untimely death in 1990 via The Keith Haring Foundation. His iconic illustrations ride on the hind of continuous line and spell out messages of love, war, birth, sex, and life and there isnt a single person they are lost on.   Lot 371, Keith Haring (after) Dinner Service, Set of 29 Pieces, Porcelain, Germany; Estimate $2,000 - $3,000 Coming ...Read More

NEW YORK, NY | How much does that weigh? This question circled my mind like a pesky little house fly frequently landing on the surface of each titanic object. Everyone is going big at The Salon Art + Design 2017 and the impressive efforts of each exhibitor is impossible to overlook. Exquisite items dwell within their temporary environments, dramatically lit overhead or instead commanding the space and illuminating it themselves. If you are looking to disappear into lavish portals of design then this is the show to see.  R&Company; Studio 65, Gufram, Bocca, red stretched upholster over foam, 1986 | The Salon Art + Design, 2017 Surrealist outlets like this deeply poetic and hallucinatory set up by R&Company pack a potent pout. Anchored by a lounge in the shape of bright red lips and encased by deep yellow walls, this arrangement feels like a ...Read More

Discover highlights from Ragos 19th/20th C. Fine Art Auction as they take a closer look at some the works crossing their auction block on November 11th.  Lot 95, Franklin C. "Watty" Watkins, Vista, Oil on canvas, 1963; Estimate $5,000 - $7,000 Franklin C. “Watty” Watkins received formal artistic training at The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, but soon found himself drawn to the more avant-garde manipulations of color and form used by Post-Impressionists like Gauguin and Cezanne. In this later work, we see some of these early inspirations come to fruition: bright, playful colors, altered perspectives and varied brushstrokes. Vista was included in the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s 1964 retrospective on Franklin Watkins’ work. Lot 47, Samuel Margolies, Men of Steel, Drypoint on paper, ca. 1940: Estimate $3,000 - $5,000 A master of intagl...Read More

Clean, bright, practical - these are the cardinal adjectives that guide interior designer Alex Kalita, the founder of Common Bond Design, a New York City based design firm that tackles interiors and budgets large and small. Kalitas commitment to a minimalist philosophy and the belief that any home can be enriched by accessible and affordable goods led her straight to us. In a recent Bidsquare auction offered by Skinner, Kalita scored a Scandinavian, rosewood and teak roll-top desk from the mid-20th century for just $123.00! We wanted to hear all about it...  Common Bond Design, 1st Place Residence. Brooklyn, NY. Photography by Kyle Knodel for Architectural Digest. BSQ: How did you first discover Bidsquare? AK: I was in Bucks County, PA this summer to see a show at the Bucks County Playhouse and visit the Nakashima compound (two excursions I...Read More

Ellsworth Kelly was reluctant to be classified as a Hard-Edge, Minimal or Color Field artist, though his work can easily be associated with any of these three movements. Lot 217, Ellsworth Kelly, 18 Colors (Cincinnati, Lithograph in colors on Arches, 1982; Estimate $15,000 - $25,000 As a young man, Kelly studied at Pratt Institute in New York, but was drafted into military service before he could complete his course of study. Sent to Europe in 1943, he remained after his service ended, living in France from 1948 through 1954. There he created some ‘Picasso-like’ compositions, mainly figurative, but was dissatisfied with the work. Lot 200, Ellsworth Kelly, Colored Paper Image V (Blue Curves), Colored and pressed paper pulp, 1976; Estimate $8,000 - $12,000 In an interview with San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Kelly describes being more fas...Read More

Property from the Avery Coonley Playhouse, a Frank Lloyd Wright construction in Riverside, Illinois, will be sold November 14 in Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ Modern Design auction. The collection includes numerous works by Gustav Stickley and the Stickley Brothers, which would have been made around 1912 when the playhouse was built. We also have an original chair designed by Frank Lloyd Wright from the playhouse. The collection also includes numerous examples by George Nakashima that was custom built for the Playhouse when it received a modern update in the late 80s. George Nakashima trained under Antonin Raymond, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. Built in 1989, these are some of the last works by Nakashima before he died in 1990. Explore notable items that will be featured in the upcoming sale. Lot 44, George Nakashima, a pair of Greenrock s...Read More

A blur of yellow taxicabs and hasty pedestrians flutter around Manhattans famous intersection, Columbus Circle, like a bright dial pushing the gears of a clock forward. Millions of yearly rotations are completed, generating the kaleidoscopic energy branded by no other city beyond the streets of New York. Anchored between Broadway and 8th Ave is the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) standing ten-stories high, above all the commotion, like a shimmering monolith.  This November, Bidsquare is proud to partner with the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) as the corporate sponsor and online auction host for MAD Ball 2017, an event that has recognized visionaries in the fields of the art design, business, and philanthropy for the past twenty years. The annual gala will bring together over five hundred guests for an evening that weaves creative recogniti...Read More

A young princess finds her heart in loves hidden amphibious depths while King Dumpling feasts on gnocchi inside a thick gold frame. Rago Auctions, Curiouser & Curiouser sale on October 22nd was no ordinary catalog, offering items cloaked in folklore and tightly tailored to the niche of both outsider art and one-of-a-kind oddities. Bidsquare’s online bidders clicked and waved their mouses like magic wands - bopping items on their heads and growing bids to twice their estimated size *poof!* Nearly 75% of all participating online bidders came through Bidsquare totaling over $160,000 of wins and securing the top 3 highest sales.  Here are some of the curious characters that enchanted the Curiouser & Curiouser charts: Lot 142, The Frog Prince, Terra-cotta with a fine polychrome, leathery glaze, German, 19th c; Sold For $37,120 Hopping over 4x th...Read More