ISA Assets 2015

Daphne Rosenzweig

Ph.D., ISA CAPP

Daphne Rosenzweig, Ph.D, ISA CAPP, is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society (Korea), a former Fulbright Fellow at the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, and a member of ISA since 1984, specializing in Asian art appraisals. A college professor, museum consultant and exhibition organizer, author (sixty-plus books and articles) and speaker at seminars nationally, she periodically presents ISA’s two-day courses in Japanese prints and other Asian arts.

• 2:30 - 3:45 PM, Mar 21, 2015

  Unique Appraisal Circumstances

Jason Roske, owner of the KC Auction & Appraisal Company, which he founded 8 years ago, has over 25 years of experience with antiques and collectibles. Early on, his dad would drive him to baseball card shows to buy and sell vintage cards. From there, Mr. Roske’s involvement in collectables grew with antique shows and online sales. He has a deep understanding of the importance of accurate evaluations and appraisals having previously worked with an estate sale company where he managed hundreds of sales. Why seemingly similar items sell for vastly different amounts of money has always intrigued Mr. Roske and his presentation explores case studies of outlying sales from KC Auction & Appraisal Company as well as other national and international auction houses. He is looking forward to sharing his presentation at the ISA Conference in Philadelphia.

• 4:00 - 5:00 PM, Mar 21, 2015

  Above and Beyond Comparables: Understanding Outlier Results and Making Sense of them

David S. Bunton

President and CEO, The Appraisal Foundation

Mr. Bunton has served as the senior staff member of The Appraisal Foundation since May of 1990. As President, he is the Chief Executive Officer of the Foundation.

Prior to joining The Appraisal Foundation, he served as the Vice President of Government Affairs and Communications for the Federal Asset Disposition Association. He also previously served as a legislative assistant in the United States Senate for eight years and was a Congressional Chief of Staff in the House of Representatives for four years.

Mr. Bunton holds a BA degree in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland.

Mr. Bunton recently received a certificate in the Leadership Series for Non-Profit CEOs from the Harvard Kennedy School of Executive Education.

• 5:00 - 5:30 PM, Mar 21, 2015

  How The Appraisal Foundation and ISA May Work Together to Advance Public Trust in the Personal Property Appraising Profession

• 10:00 - 11:15 AM, Mar 21, 2015

  IRS Expectations and Requirements for Appraisers - Addressing Disclosures on Condition

Brock Jobe teaches graduate courses in historic interiors, American decorative arts, and twentieth-century design. He assumed his current position at Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library in 2000 after a twenty-eight-year career as a museum curator and administrator. His previous posts included those of research assistant at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, curator of exhibition buildings at Colonial Williamsburg, chief curator at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England), and deputy director for collections, conservation, and interpretation at Winterthur. In his present role, he mentors students in the Winterthur Program in American Material Culture, advises theses, teaches, leads field trips, and helps place students after graduation. He is an author and editor of numerous books and essays as well as a frequent lecturer at museums, antiques shows, and collectors’ clubs throughout the country.

• 8:45 - 10:00 AM, Mar 21, 2015

  The Devil is in the Details: Looking at Furniture and Paintings from Philadelphia and Boston, 1725-1800

At the age of sixteen, David Rago began dealing in American decorative ceramics at a flea market in his home state of New Jersey. Today, he oversees the auction house that bears his name and sells privately in the field. He is an author who lectures nationally and an expert appraiser for the hit PBS series, Antiques Roadshow, where he specializes in decorative ceramics and porcelain. David is one of the founding partners of Bidsquare, the new online bidding site hosting sales by over two dozen of America’s top auction houses.

David Rago entered the world of auctions in 1984. His auction series was the first to introduce the famous Puck Building into the world of antiques. He founded David Rago Auctions, Inc. incorporated in 1995 and relocated to Lambertville, New Jersey, midway between Philadelphia and New York City. With partners Suzanne Perrault and Miriam Tucker, the size and scope of the sales gradually – and then rapidly – expanded.

Today, the Rago Arts and Auction Center (known as “Rago's”) is the largest and leading auction house in New Jersey, as well as a venue for private sale and appraisal. It holds multi-million dollar sales of 20th/21st C. design; fine art; 18th/19th C. American, Asian and European decorative arts and furnishings; jewelry; silver; ethnographic art and artifacts; and coins and currency for an international clientele.

• 11:45 AM - 1:00 PM, Mar 21, 2015

  20th Century Design: Why Some Markets Rise while Others Fall

Todd Sigety

ISA CAPP

Todd Sigety, ISA CAPP is immediate past President of ISA, and is currently serving as Chair of the Marketing and Promotions Committee. Under Sigety's leadership, branding ISA as the personal property appraiser's organization of choice was initiated, with a new website, updated logo, and a wide variety of marketing tools developed to help ISA members promote their practices. His appraisal practice, WSA Appraisals in Alexandria, VA, specializes in appraising fine furniture and art as well as unique and complex valuation assignments. Additionally, he is the lead appraiser and furniture specialist with The Potomack Company, a leading regional auction house in Alexandria, VA. He is developer and editor of the "Journal of Advanced Appraisal Studies" and a partner in the Appraiser Workshops promoting appraisal education and professionalism.

• 2:30 - 3:45 PM, Mar 21, 2015

  Unique Appraisal Circumstances

Robert K. Wittman joined the FBI as a Special Agent in 1988. As a result of specialized training in art, antiques, jewelry and gem identification, he served as the FBI’s investigative expert involving cultural property crime. During his 20 year FBI career he recovered more than $300 million worth of stolen art and cultural property which resulted in numerous prosecutions and convictions. As a result of his unique experience Mr. Wittman coauthored the FBI Cultural Property Investigative Manual in 2001. In 2005, he created the FBI’s rapid deployment national Art Crime Team (ACT). Mr. Wittman has represented the United States throughout the world conducting investigations and instruction international police and museums in recovery and use of high asset value security techniques. In 2010, Mr. Wittman penned his New York Times bestselling memoir: “Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World’s Stolen Treasures.” Mr. Wittman is now president of Robert Wittman Inc. the firm specializes in consulting in art matters which include expert witness testimony, investigation and collection management.

• 4:30 - 5:30 PM, Mar 22, 2015

  US vs Art Thieves: True tales of the FBI's Real Indiana Jones

Bruce M. Schuettinger is the chief conservator and President of Schuettinger Conservation Services, Inc., and furniture designer and craftsperson for Art in Furniture by Schuettinger, Inc. located in New Market, MD.

Originally established in 1983 through a sole proprietorship, Antique Restorations Ltd., Schuettinger Conservation Services, Inc. (SCSI) specializes in the conservation treatment of various historical wooden artifacts as well as the development of collection surveys and analysis reports for museums, government institutions, and private collectors. Art in Furniture by Schuettinger is Bruce’s new-furniture studio focusing on custom-built artisan-style furniture.

• 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM, Mar 22, 2015

  ARC Session: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; the Effects of Conservation, Restoration, and Repairs on the Monetary Value of Period Furniture in the Marketplace

• 3:30 - 4:30 PM, Mar 22, 2015

  FA Session: Trends: From Post Mao Avant-Garde to International Phenomenon: Chinese Contemporary Art

Benjamin Macklowe

Macklowe Gallery, New York

Benjamin Macklowe joined Macklowe Gallery in 1994, was appointed Managing Director in 2002 and became its President in 2012. Under his leadership Macklowe Gallery has become the world’s most respected dealer of Antique and Estate Jewelry, French Art Nouveau decorative arts and the entire oeuvre of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Mr. Macklowe has appeared on television to discuss Tiffany lamps with Martha Stewart, lectured on the art glass of Emile Gallé at the Taft Museum of Art and has taught about Art Nouveau jewelry at Christie’s auction house on multiple occasions. He has helped expand the collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Dallas Museum and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, selling important decorative works of art to each. He has also been instrumental in lending pieces to the National Gallery of Art, to the recent exhibition of Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry at the Musée des arts Décoratifs in Paris and “Jewelry in the Space Age” at the Forbes Galleries.
In recent years Mr. Macklowe has sought to shed light on areas of collecting that have never been fully explored, spearheading the publication of “Dynamic Beauty: Sculpture of Art Nouveau Paris” and “Nature Transformed: Art Nouveau Horn Jewelry”. Both books accompanied exhibitions that were favorably reported on by the New York Times, the Magazine Antiques and the Wall Street Journal. The gallery recently celebrated its fortieth year on Madison Avenue, an event for which Messieurs Ben and Lloyd Macklowe were generously profiled by the Wall Street Journal.

• 2:00 - 3:00 PM, Mar 22, 2015

  ARC Session: Today's Tiffany Market: Understanding Current Trends, Values and Authenticity

Tom McNulty is the Librarian for Fine Arts at New York University’s Bobst Library. In this capacity, he teaches research and provides research consultation services to students and faculty in a wide range of departments, from traditional art history to appraisal studies. Since the late 1980s, he has served as a consultant researcher / appraiser for the firm O’Toole-Ewald Art Associates, specializing in twentieth century art. He is also adjunct Professor of Art Market Research at Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York. Author of Art Market Research: A Guide to Methods and Sources, 2nd ed. (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2014), Tom holds an MA from New York University and an MLS from Queens College of the City University of New York.

Beyond art market and valuation, Tom’s research interests include information seeking behaviors of students and professionals and advanced database searching techniques. The latter will feature prominently in his lecture on provenance research for fine and decorative arts appraisers.

• 9:00 - 10:15 AM, Mar 22, 2015

  Researching Provenance for the Fine and Decorative Arts

Ann-Marie Richard

Executive Vice-President, Advisory and Valuations of Fine and Decorative Arts, Gurr Johns, Inc.

Ann-Marie Richard joined Gurr Johns, Inc. in 2014 after a twenty-year career in art business working at an international level. Ms. Richard is a fine art and design specialist with experience advising on a diversity of legal cases. She obtained her Masters degree in the History of Decorative Arts and Design from Parsons The New School for Design with the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and has worked as an art broker, collection manager, curator and historian. She has lectured extensively on the topic of connoisseurship, collecting, conservation, provenance, emerging markets and the related subtleties of art valuations as well as has curated exhibitions both nationally and internationally.

• 10:30 - 11:45 AM, Mar 22, 2015

  ARC Session: Case studies on the Effect of Provenance on Value in the Decorative Arts

Debra J. Force

President, Debra Force Fine Art, Inc.

Debra J. Force is a specialist in American paintings, drawings, prints, and sculpture of the 18th through the 20th centuries. Ms. Force holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Ohio Wesleyan University, and a Master of Arts degree and doctoral work from the University of Pennsylvania. During graduate school, Ms. Force worked as a consultant for projects generated by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and the Betsy Ross Foundation. Upon completion of graduate school coursework toward a Ph.D., she became Director of the CIGNA (formerly INA) Museum and Art Collection. She then served as Senior Vice President and Head of the American Paintings Department at Christie’s in New York, became Director of American Art at Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc. and later as Director of Beacon Hill Fine Art in New York. Ms. Force is a member of numerous museums and professional organizations including the Art Dealers Association of America and ArtTable. She is presently a member and serves on the board of the Private Art Dealers Association, New York and is a board member of the Archives of American Art. Debra Force lectures about American art, collecting, and the art market and as well, since 1999, has appeared as a specialist appraiser for the PBS series, Antiques Roadshow.

• 10:30 - 11:45 AM, Mar 22, 2015

  FA Session: The Effect of Provenance, Exhibition History & Scholarship on the American Fine Art Market

Paul Gratz

Owner and Head Conservator, Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio

Paul Gratz, owner and head conservator of Gratz Gallery & Conservation Studio, has been buying, selling and conserving paintings for more than 35 years. Mr. Gratz's formal training began at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and was developed through various apprenticeships with some of the nation's most respected art conservators. While at the Academy, Mr. Gratz studied with Louis Sloane, Joseph Amarotico, and Arthur DeCosta. Paul was also fortunate to work alongside, Gustav Berger, a recognized conservation pioneer. Paul leads a team of skilled conservators in the Conservation Studio, and continues to buy and sell premier examples of American paintings at the Gallery. Paul is considered an authority on work of the New Hope Circle of painters.

• 11:45 AM - 12:45 PM, Mar 22, 2015

  FA Session: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; Effects of Conservation and Restoration on the Value of Art in the Marketplace

Carol Eaton Soltis

Project Associate Curator, Center for American Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Carol Eaton Soltis, after receiving her Ph.D. in the art history from the University of Pennsylvania, curated the first full-fledged exhibition devoted to the work of Rembrandt Peale at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and authored the accompanying catalogue, Rembrandt Peale 1778 – 1860: A Life in the Arts. Later, Soltis edited and annotated Peale’s unpublished manuscript on painting techniques and theories, Notes of the Painting Room (Sartain Collection, Historical Society of Pennsylvania). She then joined the staff of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG)’s Peale Family Papers, where she assembled a catalogue raisonné of the work of Rembrandt Peale. In conjunction with Lillian Miller, editor-in-chief, Peale Family Papers, she curated the NPG’s exhibition, Rembrandt Peale, In Pursuit of Fame. Carol Eaton Soltis is now at work on a collection catalogue with essays discussing the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s newly expanded Peale Family Collection, which has been enriched by gifts from Robert L. McNeil, Jr.’s comprehensive collection. Soltis recently co-curated, Thomas Sully: Painted Performance, with William Rudolph, Marie and Hugh Halff Curator of American Art, San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas; the exhibition was initiated by the Milwaukee Art Museum and its second venue is the San Antonio Museum of Art. Yale University Press published the accompanying catalogue, which includes essays on aspects of Sully’s work by the curators.

• 2:00 - 3:00 PM, Mar 22, 2015

  FA Session: Copy or Fake? Production, Intention and the Marketplace in Works of the Sully and Peale Families

Freeman’s Vice President Richard Cervantes serves as the Head of the Asian Arts Department, specializing in fine and decorative Chinese works of art, as well as Japanese and Korean art and antiques. Freeman’s holds two fine Asian Art sales a year as part of “Asia Week” on the east coast.

A former educator, Mr. Cervantes holds a bachelor’s degree in ancient history and a master’s degree in Italian literature. He brings a sound historical perspective to a business that often demands it and has applied a strict scholastic method to his cataloguing and research of Freeman’s ever-changing Asian inventory. Richard is also Head of Freeman’s Oriental Rugs Department.

Mr. Cervantes is a USPAP compliant specialist who has presented at the Textile Museum in Washington DC, contributed content to Miller’s Antiques Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He has appeared on PBS’ Antiques Roadshow and the History Channel’s American Pickers.

• 3:30 - 4:30 PM, Mar 22, 2015

  ARC Session: Keeping Ahead of a Market Surge: Identifying and Valuing Chinese Furniture and Decorative Arts

Shelly Berman-Rubera, Founder and President of Small Business Results, and a certified Small Business Coach will be presenting at our closing brunch. Shelly’s presentation is crafted specifically for ISA members on Growing and Propelling Your Appraisal Business Revenue. Her presentation incorporates her 6 Step Program to Small Business Results, and ISA promotional materials and will offer creative, effective solutions to our unique challenges. Shelly promises to “rock your world” regarding how you currently think about growing your appraisal business.

Shelly Berman-Rubera has been named one of the top ten executive coaches by Boston Women’s Business, nominated for the 2010 and 2011 Celebration of Excellence Award for Entrepreneur of the Year sponsored by Enterprise Bank and is an active member of the Newton Connectors BNI Group. It is the combination of her credentials and experiences that offers small business owners, entrepreneurs, and independent professionals unique and inspiring business development consulting and programs.

• 9:45 AM - 12:00 PM, Mar 23, 2015

  Business Development: Growing and Propelling Your Appraisal Business Revenue