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MELBOURNE, FL - For the first time in its history Matheson�s AA Auction of Melbourne, FL will conduct an auction event live online through LiveAuctioneers.com. Auction owner Lloyd Matheson said, �We owe it to our consignors to open up this sale to the world.�

And what is so special about this sale? The 800 lot sale on March 29-30 will begin with thirty-five pieces of Asian art and antiques from the collection of Lillian Watson, noted collector and world traveler. Twenty of the thirty-five pieces were exhibited at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY and were insured for over $5,000,000 in 1997. Matheson�s will offer the thirty-five pieces sequentially as the opening lots of the sale.

Mrs. Watson normally traveled with art and antiques specialists to advise her on her purchases. Among those advisors were Dr. Marty Young, curator of the Johnson Museum, Dr. Mary Linda, curator of the Rockefeller collection, Dr. Richard Howard of the Birmingham Museum and Dr. Richard Gramley. The descriptions of the individual lots in this sale from the Watson collection were provided by the committee of experts that vetted the display for the Museum. Mrs. Watson also purchased items from C. T. Loo in Paris and New York and the Aladdin Gallery.

Lot 01 of the sale will be a 14in high underglazed copper red and white pear shaped bottle, 14th century, from the early Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Reign. When this bottle was first exhibited in the Museum in 1997, on loan from Mrs. Watson, it was insured for $2,000,000. A bottle with the same design, underglaze and similar provenance, one inch shorter, sold at Christy�s Hong Kong in 1997 for $2,800,000. Matheson will open the auction with this lot at $100,000 with no reserve!

Among other items from the collection are a 10�in Imperial Chinese yellow enamel saucer dish, underglaze blue and overglaze yellow, with a floral decoration from the Ming Dynasty bearing the Emperor Chenghua mark (1465-1487), a 19�in tall Chinese Famille Noire glazed vase with court scenes from the Qing Dynasty with Kangxi mark (1661-1722) and a life size Khmer Baphuon sculpture of a male, Baphuon period, 10th century, 49in tall with base.

Following the initial group of Watson lots will be what Matheson is calling a �Discovery Asian Art� session featuring another thirty to forty Asian artifacts from other collections. This may be the opportunity, according to Matheson, for someone to find an undiscovered treasure. This section will include items like an 18th-19th century Qing Dynasty flambe� glazed vase, 9�in tall, an eight panel Ming Dynasty style blue and white table screen and six important early Japanese tiles framed together, each one signed.

In addition to Oriental art the sale will feature some significant American and European art as well as estate jewelry and select furniture items. One piece of artwork that is of special interest in this sale was previously sold by Matheson�s a little over two years ago. It is a work by American painter Ernest Lawson (1873-1939). Lawson was one of The Eight, a group of Impressionist painters working in New York after the turn of the century. The painting at hand is an Impressionist work of a young girl in a forest.

When originally offered at Matheson�s the unusually large painting by Lawson seemed to be covered by a white film. The consensus in the room was the painting had been �skinned� by over zealous cleaning. The painting sold for $40,000 plus buyer� premium and the buyer sent it to a restorer where the film was determined to be a discoloration of over varnish. The original buyer has now consigned the fully restored colorful painting to Matheson�s to be sold without reserve.

The sale will begin at 9:30AM Saturday March 29 and will continue at 11:00 AM Sunday March 30. Preview will be Friday March 28 from 11:00AM to 6:00PM, Saturday 8:30 � 9:30AM and Sunday 9:00 � 11:00AM. Matheson�s AA Auction is located at 600 E. New Haven Avenue in Melbourne, FL 32901. Seating for 180 can be reserved by phone, (321) 768-6668 or by email at aaauctions@earthlink.net. Selected portions of the catalog are available for viewing on the Matheson�s AA Auction website at www.mathesonsaaauction.com and at www.LiveAuctioneers.com. The auction will be called by 33 year veteran auctioneer and auction co-owner Lloyd J. Matheson, Jr. Phone and absentee bids are welcomed. For more information call auction owners Lloyd or Jan Matheson or Auction Manager Carey Lucas (321) 768-6668.

PHOTO CAPTIONS FOR MATHESON�S MARCH 2008

Bottle � This 14th century Ming Dynasty bottle with copper red underglaze was insured for $2,000,000 while on display at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art.

Centerpiece � This 30in diameter Baccarat crystal and dore bronze centerpiece was made for and owned by Gen. Porfirio Diaz, President of Mexico 1876-1911. It bears his seal.

Lawson � This painting by Ernest Lawson sold for $40,000 plus buyer�s premium in unrestored condition two years ago. In professionally restored condition it will now be offered without reserve.









Link :Matheson\'s AA Auction

I'm the type of person who believe what their eyes tell them no matter what provenance a said item is supposed to have. At least about those ceramics wares on auction, I would not touch with a 10 foot pole. Okey, one can take the time to collect some very good quality fakes and try to sell them. High quality fakes because of their quality can confuse possible collectors and be subjected to debate amongst buyers. Most of the ceramic pieces on the website are of better quality but then you include something like that "Chinese Porcelain Famille Noire Glazed Vase" which is anything but high quality and yet is supposed to be Kangxi mark and period. It's a one glance fake. Proportions are all wrong for a Yen Yen vase, foot is all wrong, painting style is all wrong, color of enamel is all wrong and to top it all off you have the ever present sprayed orange coating on the foot to give it some age. All in all the vase is all wrong. If that one vase is obviously wrong, what about the other pieces from the same collection eh? Just from the images in your website alone, I can see 5 out of 7 pieces that are VERY questionable.

Not wanting to sound rude since the last person that came on the forum to advertise to sell their wares were commented upon by other posters as peddlers of fakes. Since I'm sure these are all consignment sales, you and your company's good name may be taken advantage of by the seller who knows that the said items on offer are dubious. Why did the museum remove them from display? Is that museum specialist in Asian Art? I went to their web page; they do have an Asian art section but it was sprinkled with all sorts of wares from Asia. A little here and a little there....and only one ceramic item from China; a Han burial piece. Very different from the things on offer here.

I agree with pyro. The entire collection is fake. You better get the curator of asian art from the Art Gallery of Victoria to check them out. From what I can see they came straight off the boat from China. Either that get a second opinion from Sothebys Melbourne on Armadale street. Selling fakes can get auction houses in trouble with ASICS if a complaint is made.

Man! At first, I did not believe Pyromaniac and Larry when I heard of the convincing credentials and provenance of these ceramics. But, after I went to the site and looked at two pages of the ceramic items. There seems to be a scam somewhere. Maybe the original owner was a victim of being conned by the same people repeatedly also. Many of items such as the Blue And White and Red Inner-Glaze seem to be from the same maker regardless of the long stretch of the periods of the claims. No wonder these items did not show up at Christies' or Sotheby's! Now that the auctioneer's reputation may be affected too once the items are sold and sent for authenticaton.

Randy Li

To the anonymous person who categorically dismissed the wonderful asian collection that is advertised in a press release within the Asian forum, please read our reply: Mrs. Watson was a very intellectual and monied woman who was always advised by leading experts when buying and was, in many cases, made aware of highly important pieces that became available.

She purchased items from C.T. Loo, Aladdin Gallery, and Madison Avenue Dealer Eric DeKolb who also sold many items to Jackie Kennedy.

In the future, you should probably refrain from making sweeping negative generalizations without seeing, in person, the items you are commenting
on.

I guess you be speaking to me then? Well I shall NOT"refrain from making sweeping negative generalizations" when it comes to people selling obvious fakes as real. I see you have listed all the said fakes on eBay as real and period items. Hopefully most bidders will stay away from this obvious fakes as they know better but I sure there are some who don't. There always are. And that's where the money is made.

I also have to ask why such a fabulous collection was not pass to either Sotheby's or Christie's to be auction and instead passed to a smaller regional auction house? Hmmm? What these items are supposed to be if real are extremely valuable and both auction houses would be more than happy to auction it. But instead.... we have Matheson's AA Auction in Melbourne, FL selling under the eBay name of "mathesonsaa"

What kind of leading experts? Were they good at Oriental ceramics too? They could have failed her! Buying from big names don't mean a thing, even museums and large auction houses had made mistakes. As for Eric DeKolb, who had sold some items to Jackie Kennedy according to you, but what did he sell to Jackie? Was he specialized in ceramics too? It seems that your research only cares for who sells or who owns like gossip rather than the complete description and why the items are authentic basing on the items!

Lot 3 is definitely a wrong dating!

Randy Li

To further address the skeptics of the important Asian Art pieces that will be sold in Mathesons' March 29th auction starting at 9:30 A.M. EST, we have already sold in recent previous auctions, 2 Thai limestone buddhas from the same collection. The first one brought 25K & the second sold for 47K. I have been told by several bidders that they wished they had gone higher.

That's nice for the consigner and for Mr. Matheson but it does nothing to validate or authenticate the current ceramics on offer. If as you say the "collection" is very well-researched, then please provide verification and the name and credentials of the appraiser. For example, were the pieces evaluated at an well respected institution such as the Freer-Sackler? Were they evaluated by Sothebys or another major house? When you post on a public board such as this you are open to critical comment like anyone else.

Well none of the objects looks right to me. Funny as well as others, have mentioned why are they not offered at Sothebys in New York or Hong Kong where they can fetch millions, or even at Sothebys at Armadale street, Melbourne. Beware of auction houses that do not charge buyers premium and if you are silly enough to bid you can kiss your hard earn money bye bye, as you will find it hard to sue the vendor for selling a fake, as there is no warranty of it being genuine.

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