Friday, April 13, 2018

Upcoming Trip to Sotheby’s

I am planning a trip to an auction at Sotheby’s in June.  I have a real interest in 20th century British art and they have an art auction scheduled.  I have spent a great deal of time planning this trip.

While I was browsing the Sotheby’s online catalog, I found a signed Sickert named South Façade of St. Jacques.  I saw this painting once in London in 1971.  It has been in Canada since its purchase around that same time.

The painting is thought to be painted around 1900 after the artist had been in the town of Dieppe for two years.  He found a great deal of beauty in this medieval place.  He loved the architecture and it was the subject of a lot of his work.  Sotheby’s has several pieces of his work up for auction at this event.

I also noted in the catalog that Sotheby’s will be auctioning off a watercolor of a cat by the artist Gwen John.  She painted a lot of cats and also portraits of seated women.  She was known to paint the same picture over and over again like Monet did.

There was another lot listed in the Sotheby’s catalog that interested me.  I really am partial to Sickert and there was a painting that he completed in Venice while he was there with his wife.  There are stories of marital troubles between them and the trip to Venice is thought to have been taken to repair their marriage.

I can’t wait to see the painting Thunder in the Mountains by James Dickson Innes.  His watercolors are really splendid.  The painting is thought to have been painted in 1910 in the mountains of North Wales.  Sotheby’s has such an extensive catalogue for this auction.

I’m anxiously awaiting my trip to London.  I love Sotheby’s art auctions and going out to expensive restaurants at night.  I plan to go to the Mango Tree while I’m there.  It is the best Thai food, hands down, that I’ve ever eaten.

My business partner was really taken with the Landscape Near Lyons painted by Sir Matthew Smith.  I liked this oil painting as well.  The Sotheby’s catalogue reported that the painting was done in 1922 and that there is a still life of flowers on the reverse.  My partner will be unable to make this trip and has asked me to bid on it for him.

I have a small private collection of pencil drawings.  I liked the Flower in a Glass Vase that was penned by Christopher Wood in 1925.  I think that it would display nicely with other still lifes that I have.  I think that this pencil art may well go for twelve thousand dollars.  My favorite pencil drawings have all been found at Sotheby’s auctions

I have a patron that is very interested in a lot at the Sotheby’s auction that contains Poppies by Ivon Hithchens.  She has authorized me to bid up to sixty five thousand dollars for her.  I hope that I am successful in acquiring it for her.  I know that this Sotheby’s auction will be well attended because they all are.  It is too much to hope for that no one will notice this fantastic painting.

After looking forward to this trip for so long and poring over the Sotheby’s catalogue so intently, I must say that I have my heart set on Broomswade by John Piper.  I absolutely must have this watercolor.  The person that is selling it has been the only owner.  He bought it directly from John Piper in 1966.  If I win nothing else, I will win this painting.

The only other painting that I plan to bid on at the Sotheby’s auction is one by William Turnbull.  There is a collector that I know that desperately wants this painting.  He owns several of this artist sculptures and has now started to collect his paintings.


Which Hybrid Car Should You Choose

Hybrid cars are getting more and more popular today. In fact, more and more people are now purchasing hybrid cars because of a number of reasons. One is that they will enjoy tax incentives as a buyer of a hybrid car, two is that they will be able to save a lot of money from the rising cost of precious, expensive and limited supply of fuel and three, it will enable them to generate less pollution to the environment because of the extremely low toxic emissions generated by hybrid cars.

Because of the growing popularity of hybrid cars, more and more car manufacturers are now competing to produce the best kind of hybrid cars. They are now producing hybrid cars integrated with state-of-the-art technology that will enable consumers to save more on fuel, and also a car that will be able to produce low toxic emissions.

However, because of the growing market for hybrid cars, and also because of more and more car manufacturers that are now integrating hybrid technology in their cars, many people tend to get confused on which hybrid car to purchase. Besides, all car manufacturers promises to offer the best kind of hybrid cars in the market today.

In order to know which hybrid car to purchase, you have to compare them closely for you to know which hybrid car is for you and which hybrid car you can benefit from more. You have to compare some factors of hybrid cars in order to determine which hybrid car is better than the other.

However, before you go on and compare hybrid cars, you first have to know a little something about how hybrid cars work and how you can benefit from it. First of all, hybrid cars use the cleanest and the most efficient source of energy, which is electricity and also gasoline. Hybrid cars are what you can describe as a cross between a conventional gasoline-powered car and an electric-powered car.

It allows you to save fuel and emit lower volumes of toxic fumes because hybrid cars run on electricity when it is idle. What this means is that when you are stuck in traffic, and the hybrid car is running idle, or not in motion, it will automatically switch of the gasoline engine. Therefore, the hybrid car will run purely on electricity. Once you step on the accelerator pedal, it will automatically switch on the gasoline engine again to run the car.

So, now that you know how hybrid cars work and how you can benefit from it, you now have to know how to compare hybrid cars in order to get the right kind of hybrid car for your everyday use.

First of all, you need to determine how you will use the car. If you have a family, it is recommended that you get an SUV hybrid vehicle. This will enable you to carry more passengers. However, you also have to consider that SUV hybrid vehicles can cost a little more than hybrid cars.

The main advantage of a hybrid car is that it is fuel efficient. You have to choose a hybrid car that is the most fuel efficient in order for you to maximize its benefits. You can ask your dealer about the fuel efficiency of the car. They will be able to tell you how much miles a gallon it can save compared to conventional cars and other hybrid cars.

These are the ways on how you can compare hybrid cars in order for you to choose which one to get. Remember all these things and you can be sure that you will be able to get the right kind of hybrid car available in the market today. To start your search, Honda and Toyota are two of the leading companies today that produce affordable and efficient hybrid cars.

Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Collecting Enesco

My friends and I have been collecting Enesco for several years.  We actively attend art auctions and bid on everything Enesco!  We have a lot of fun finding pieces we don’t already have and winning them.

I think collecting Enesco is fun.  I really like the Mary Moo Moo plates.  They came in a collection of eight plates from a series called Home is Where the Herd is.  I’ve had a hard time finding a complete set at an art auction, but I have found several single plates.

I started collecting Enesco right after I was married.  I went to an art auction with my sister-in-law and she pointed out some items that she was collecting.  The experience I had with her that day really made an impression on me.

I went to an art auction several months after the first one I attended and bought my first piece of Enesco.  I got my start collecting Enesco with just one plate.  I bought an Enesco plate that said Cookies are for Sharing.  I have displayed it in my kitchen ever since.

I am still lacking an Enesco plate that says Cream of the Crop.  It is hard to believe that I’ve been actively collecting Enesco for so long and have been unable to locate this plate.  I have duplicates and triplicates of several of the plates.  Each art auction I attend, I am hopeful that I will find the plate I need to complete that set.

My best friend has been collecting Enesco ever since she had a baby a few years ago.  She decided on a teddy bear design for the nursery and I gave her a shower gift of several Cherished Teddies figurines for decorating with.  She found more of the figurines at an art auction she went to with me and has been unstoppable ever since.

Precious Moments figurines have never been something that I particularly liked.  My friend’s daughter loves them.  She started collecting Enesco Precious Moments figurines after we took her with us to an art auction that had a small lot of them.  She spends significantly less on her collection than the rest of us do, but I think she’ll catch up.

My husband’s birthday is on Halloween.  He has started collecting Enesco Halloween statues.  I bought him one statue at an art auction several years for his birthday and he totally fell in love with the work of Jim Shore.

The first Enesco statue that my husband found for himself was at an art auction we attended together while on vacation.  He found the statue called Grim Reaper absolutely irresistible.  I have to agree, the detail work is positively spooky!  He has been searching for other pieces, but does not pursue collecting Enesco very actively.

My husband went golfing last weekend while I attended an art auction.  Collecting Enesco is my passion and I rarely pass up items that I really like.  I found a piece for me that added to my Moo Moo plate collection and I found a Headless Horseman for my husband’s collection.

The next piece that my husband has indicated that he wants to find at an art auction is the Jim Shore piece called Witch on a Pumpkin.  I know that collecting Enesco can be addictive and it is nice that he has decided which pieces he really wants.  I agree with my husband and really like the folk art that Jim Shore does.



All About Hybrid-Car Battery Packs

Those considering purchasing a hybrid car may be a little concerned about what's under the hood. Hybrid cars have battery-powered motors. Since a battery-powered motor is not something that typically comes to mind when people think about what's under the hood of a car, it's a good idea to get a good understanding of the hybrid-car battery-pack.  Below are a few facts about it.

Battery packs in hybrid cars do not need to be replaced

Made to last over the lifetime of the vehicle, a hybrid car's warranty covers the battery for a time period that lasts between eight and ten years. In terms of mileage, a battery pack is expected to last between 150, 000 and 200,000 miles, and it probably lasts longer than that.

Battery toxicity is a concern, but not a major concern

Hybrid cars use NiMH batteries, not the rechargeable nickel cadmium. Nickel cadmium batteries are usually detrimental to the environment, but the NiMH batteries that are used in hybrid cars are fully recyclable.

Hybrid batteries contain hundreds of cells

Hundreds of cells means that hybrid cars have a lot of complexity going on underneath their hoods, and complexity does usually mean expensive, but with the generous warranty car manufacturers are giving on these cars, there is little involved in purchasing a hybrid.

The numbers of battery failures in hybrids have been really low

When I say low, I mean really low. If failure happens, it's probably before the cars even get off the lot. Toyota has even said that some of its original Prius models have packs that have gone over 300,000 miles.

The cost of replacing hybrid batteries isn't even an issue

It isn't an issue because the battery packs in hybrid cars are built to last. The Department of Energy looked into hybrid vehicles, but stopped its test when the capacity was "just like new" after 160,000 miles. So no one really seems to know for sure what it costs to replace the battery pack in a hybrid car.

The battery packs in hybrid cars are evolving

If we look further into the future, the next generation of hybrid batteries is in the works. The goal: To discover a technology that gives lots of power, lasts for the hybrid car's lifetime, and costs less to make.

If the battery pack in your hybrid car does run out, there is a solution

Toyota has put out some advice on what to do if your hybrid battery should run out after the warranty has ended. The advice is to recondition the battery. The solution works well because if something goes wrong, the problem lies within only one of the 28 modules that the battery is made up of.  So if you simply replace the problematic module with one that matches the chemistry of the other 27 modules, your hybrid car's battery should be in good shape. You can find a match by getting a battery pack from another car that has a similar mileage and age.

Thursday, April 5, 2018

Finding Vintage Disneyana

Vintage Disneyana has become a personal passion of mine.  I’ve been searching for it for years now.  I attend art auctions regularly, but usually only find vintage Disneyana at a small percentage of them.

I found a darling 1938 Knickerbocker Mickey Mouse dressed in a Santa suit at an art auction a few years ago.  This was an extraordinary vintage Disneyana find.  There was some very fine crazing to the face, but no flakes in the paint.

I did some research after the art auction and it turns out that my vintage Disneyana has quite a history.  This toy was a one of a kind Mickey Mouse toy made by Knickerbocker for a department store at Christmas and was given away for a contest.  I was happy that the beard was real wool fur.

I searched for several years at art auctions until I found a Mad Hatter china teapot.  This vintage Disneyana was made in 1951 by Regal for Disney.  I always loved Alice in Wonderland and this teapot was very special to me.

My love of vintage Disneyana runs through lots of mediums.  I buy figurines and paintings and anything else that strikes me as special while I’m at art auctions.  If something is really rare or unusual and still has a whimsical feel to it, I’ll try to win it.

I found a painting that I fell in love with.  It fit with my love of vintage Disneyana.  The painting was created in 1949 and depicted the Cinderella castle.  It was originally created for a Disney holiday card.  I won the painting for four thousand dollars and felt like I had gotten a great deal.

The old Disneyland maps have become very expensive pieces of vintage Disneyana.  I have been finding more of the old maps at art auctions, but they are usually not in good shape.  The nicest map I’ve found was from 1958, which is also the year I was born.

The 1958 map of Disneyland was the first one that was made poster sized.  The art auction I found this piece of vintage Disneyana at had numerous Disney lots up for auction that day.  I had not expected to find such a great item.  This map had been stored rolled and had never been folded.  I paid two thousand dollars for it and it was worth every penny.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was my little sister’s favorite movie when we were kids.  I look for vintage Disneyana that features it when I am art auctions.  The best item I’ve found for her was figurines from the 1950s that were of Snow White and six of the seven dwarfs.  There was one figurine missing, Sneezy.

My daughter has fallen in love with Bambi.  She had me buy her the DVD and she has watched it over and over again.  I was at an art auction and found a nice Bambi figurine while they were auctioning off vintage Disneyana.  I gave it to her for her last birthday and she says that it is her most prized possession!

I was shocked at an art auction that I attended that had a wonderful 1930s Mickey Mouse lamp and lampshade.  The art auction had not even advertised that they were auctioning vintage Disneyana.  If they had advertised this item, I know that more people would have come to the auction.  I won the lamp for five hundred dollars because I had no competition.

The most common vintage Disneyana that I find at art auctions is watches.  I don’t like watches.  I never buy any of the Disney watches.  I am usually disappointed when an art auction advertises vintage Disneyana and all they have up for auction is watches.

I bought an autographed Fantasia album at a vintage Disneyana sale.  The art auction had a lot of signed and autographed items and Disney items were among them.  The signatures on my vintage Disneyana included Walt Disney, Leopold Stokowski (the conductor) and both of the original animators, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnson.  This was a fantastic find for my collection.


Credit Offerings For Hybrid Cars

If you have just bought another hybrid car this year, you might be in for a big headache. In fact, after you read this article, you would probably be berating yourself for having done so. The very expensive hybrid cars now comes with bigger headaches -- in the form of regulated tax credits.

Beginning January 1, this year, owners and buyers of several latest models of hybrid cars would be imposed hefty tax credits. Those credits will vary a lot. Several of the hybrid vehicles available in the market will still not be entitled to any tax credit at all.

What exactly is a tax credit?

The term refers to the dollar amount or tax imposed on certain hybrid car models. The tax credits vary from one hybrid model to another, sometimes depending on the unit's overall functionality and the popularity.

New hybrid car buyers at this point are already scratching their heads, thinking about the mess they would be entering. And they have enough reasons to take anti-depressant pills.

The new tax credit for hybrid cars in the United States is part of an energy legislation forged and ratified into a full fledged law.

The new rules are set to encourage consumers into buying green vehicles, or the so called hybrid cars, which are not only gasoline efficient but also environmentally friendly.

But, problems and discrepancies come in when the changes or modifications from the old tax breaks systems for traditional gas-powered cars are altered or modified for certain hybrid cars models.

Tracking the numbers

The problems and frustrations drivers and hybrid car owners encounter in the latest wave of tax credit grants are arising from the computations of the tax credit system.

These computations are not that simple and are made morecomplicated by the two important components. The first component is the fuel economy rating. This is where most of the problems arise when calculating taxes on hybrid cars.

This is because most of the hybrid cars available in the market today fail on fuel economy ratings, which are required by the federal government before the hybrid car is qualified for a tax credit. When this happens, the effort to reduce the tax imposition for hybrid cars, and eventually entice car buyers into buying them, turns into a futile and worthless initiative.

The other component of the tax credit computation is the ‘conservation credit.’ The conservation tax credit is based on the hybrid car model’s projected and computed fuel savings on its entire life span.

In this aspect, almost all the hybrid car models available in the market today are also failing. Thus, it is certain that if you are a hybrid car this year, there is a lesser chance for you to be able to secure tax credits or tax savings.

Computing and considering the tax savings you could probably save if your hybrid car is qualified for a tax credit would certainly make you regret facing the tax system. For sure, you would have the sentiment that it could have been better if the tax credit is simply not offered at all.

List of hybrid cars on the tax credit system

To be able to get a complete and accurate listing of the new hybrid car models that are qualified to secure tax credits, visit the online site of the US Treasury.

The site can be accessed at www.ustreas.gov. If you recently purchased a hybrid car, or are planning to buy one, check if your hybrid car model is qualified for hefty tax credits. You'll be thankful in the end.


Stuff to note Before Choosing an auto

Choosing a vehicle will be really tough assuming you have not finished your homework correctly. There are a number of things that has to be ...