My Word Christmas 2016

As has been my tradition in the past, I will try to limit the bad news in this Christmas issue. We finally brought the Mert Simpson estate  to auction with sales in October and December selling over $600,000 in African art that was primarily written off as decorative. Since December 2015 and the efforts to catalog over 1500 objects with the volunteer assistance from Amyas Naegele we learned that even things we had condemned as Cs and Ds sometimes needed a second look. We have one more African art sale and one that will primarily feature Mert's fine art collection. At this time the sales are scheduled for next February. Based on my experience with the last two Simpson African auctions, we might well find some sleepers in this sale as well.

In 2017 Quinns Auctions will be expanded their interest to include American Indian with the offering of the Metcalf collection.

OK some good news Many of us are hearing optimism from some in the business world with the surge in the stock market. If this is reflecting confidence in our future economy with a lowering in business taxes and money returning to the US, it could create more disposable income that could impact the art world. So regardless of who you voted for there are many on both sides of the aisle that could use some good news. See the article in this issue on the subject. There has been quite a bit of hedging among the experts, so I suspect much of this opinion has been driven by political preference. But there is hope.

The Sothebys tribal sales in Paris  finished the year strong with a total of over $8 million. If you are interested in West Africa, you might want as a curiosity to check out the catalog for some very strange Bamana masks.

In the next month or so we hope to launch our new website and blog. It has been a decade since we updated this area, so we are very excited in being able to reach more of you.

Barbara, Kim and I hope your have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Season.  JB