November - "Blog following" and the market place

Blog Following
Regular visitors may notice an extra widget on the right hand side of the Home page titled Followers. This is a new Blogger feature which apparently makes it easier for potential regular readers to keep in touch with blog updates. I am not yet familiar with it, but for those who are interested, here is the Blogger section which explains it.

What is Following?

Do you have a favorite blog and want to let the author and readers know that you are a fan? Well now you can do that and more with the Blogger Following feature! You can even keep track of the blogs you follow via your Reading List on the Blogger dashboard.

How do I become a Follower of a blog?

There are several ways to become a follower of a blog. One of the easiest ways is to visit a blog that has added the Following widget and click on the "Follow this Blog" link under the "Followers" widget:

You'll then see a popup window with the options to either follow publicly or anonymously:

Select how you'd like to follow the blog, then click the orange "Follow" button. It is that simple, you are now a follower of the blog! If you elected to follow the blog publicly, your profile picture will be displayed on the blog with a link to your Blogger profile (Note: The widget may not show all followers of the blog. If this is the case all followers will be linked from the widget). When you become a follower of a blog, the blog will also be added to your Reading List on your Blogger dashboard. Additionally, you can become a follower of any blog or URL (even if the blog doesn't have the Followers widget) by adding the blog to your Reading List on the dashboard.

The Market Place


When commenting in the previous post about George Washington miniatures, I mentioned the genuine miniature of him which sold for a hammer price of $260,000, or say about $300,000 including buyer's commission.

A number of other interesting miniatures have recently sold in America for much lesser prices. They include a pair sold by Cowans Auction for $1500 which were painted by Carl Weindel and described as "Pair of Identified Miniatures by Carl Weinedel, Pennsylvania, ca 1814, watercolor on paper, one signed. Sitters are identified in writing on verso as John C. Lessig (a War of 1812 soldier) and Eliza Dentzler, Mrs. John C. Lessig; each 3.25" high x 2.50" wide. Accompanying the miniatures is the Lessig Family provenance, images and a brief history of the sitters from the family bible.

Carl Weinedel(1795-1845) was known for his portraits, most often in miniature. He was born in Germany and immigrated to the U.S. about 1821. Advertisements for him appeared in Richmond Va., but in 1834 he was in NYC until his death in 1845."

An unusual auction offering was a pair of Japanese miniature portraits sold by Burchard Galleries for $500. Knotty Pine Auctions sold a typical James Sanford Ellsworth miniature for $2200.

Apart from the George Washington miniature, Skinners sold a number of other miniatures by a range of artists, as well as a number which were unattributed.

The more interesting included this portrait miniature of Eleanor Calvert Custis Stuart, who was the widow of Martha Washington's son, John Parke Custus by her first marriage to Daniel Parke Custus.

This miniature is a good example of an instance where the importance of the sitter outweighed the crack that can be seen on the left hand side and also the lack of an attribution to a specific artist. It sold for $6000.

Skinners other sales included a British miniature of two children by John Goddard for $1400; a portrait miniature of a Young Woman, attributed to Clarissa Peters Russell (American, 1809-1854) for $1,100; a portrait miniature of a gentleman, attributed to William Verstille, (American, 1757-1803) for $1200; and a portrait miniature of a young man attributed to Mary Way (New London Connecticut, 1769-1833) for $2100.

The Russell and the Way sold for well below their pre-sale estimates, probably as the sale date of November 2, was in the middle of the financial crisis.


Several other unattributed miniatures sold cheaply at Skinners, although the one showing on left hand, of Horace Trowbridge Wildman, September 29, 1829, done when he was 21 years old, sold for $1200 at its top estimate. To me it looks as if it is by Nathaniel Rogers, which explain the greater interest.

A most unusual miniature was sold by a dealer for GBP850. It is only the second British miniature portrait painted prior to 1850 I have seen painted on a porcelain plaque. The other example being of Mrs Samuel Keys (wearing a pink bonnet) by Michael Keen which is in this collection, see Kean, Michael - portrait of Mrs Samuel Keys

Very appealing, it was described as "William Corden the elder (British 1797-1867); a superbly painted portrait miniature of Harriet Bainbrigge; enamel on a J Rose & Co, Coalport porcelain plaque; inscribed to the reverse: Harriet Bainbrigge / Married to Lieut Coll Rbt Dale Dev(on) 1811 / Painted by Wm Corden Oct 1822”; incised Coalport marks; in a glazed, period gilt composition frame; 14 x 12cm sight size."