The Magazine Antiques - March 1990

Overview

The March 1990 issue of The Magazine Antiques presents a particularly strong cross-section of decorative arts scholarship, architectural history, collecting research, and American cultural heritage. Long regarded as one of the premier publications in the antiques field, The Magazine Antiques occupied a unique position between the worlds of museums, collectors, dealers, auction houses, and academic researchers. This issue demonstrates that breadth through articles spanning American architecture, French decorative arts, Tiffany silver, industrial history, fine art, and collecting scholarship.

The cover features a detail of the front portico of the Gardner-Pingree House in Salem, Massachusetts, one of the finest surviving examples of Federal architecture in the United States. The image immediately establishes the issue's emphasis on historically important architecture and decorative arts. The frontispiece illustrates the celebrated Commanche Race Cup made by Tiffany & Company in 1873, introducing one of the issue's most significant decorative arts subjects.

Dating / Background

Founded in 1922, The Magazine Antiques became the leading periodical devoted to antiques and decorative arts in the English-speaking world. For generations it served as a trusted source of scholarship, attribution, collecting trends, and museum research. Back issues remain useful because they preserve articles, photography, and research that often never migrated into easily searchable digital formats.

The March 1990 issue contains a notably diverse group of articles. Gary A. Reynolds examines the paintings of interiors created by Walter Gay, whose work captured elegant domestic spaces and remains of interest to collectors of American art and Gilded Age taste. Frances Gruber Safford and Ruth Wilford Caccavale contribute a study of E. J. Soligny, the chaser associated with the famous Bryant Vase, a masterpiece of nineteenth-century American silver and decorative metalwork.

Deborah Gimelson explores French Rococo decorative arts, a field that continues to influence collectors, designers, and scholars interested in eighteenth-century European style. Jane Shadel Spillman and Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen examine the Dummer glass and ceramic factories in Jersey City, providing valuable insight into American industrial production and decorative arts manufacturing. Dean Lahikainen's article on the Gardner-Pingree House places one of New England's architectural treasures into its historical and artistic context.

Together these articles create a richly layered issue appealing to collectors across numerous specialties including architecture, silver, decorative arts, Americana, fine art, ceramics, and glass.

Why Collect

Historic issues of The Magazine Antiques have become increasingly appreciated as collectible reference works. They preserve a record of scholarship, collecting interests, museum interpretation, and object photography from a period before widespread online publication. This issue is especially attractive because it touches several major collecting categories at once, from Tiffany silver and Federal architecture to French decorative arts and American manufacturing history.

For collectors building a decorative arts library, these issues function as enduring reference resources while also documenting the evolution of antiques scholarship itself. The March 1990 issue stands as a strong example of the publication at a time when it remained one of the most influential voices in the collecting world.

Dimensions (inches)

• Height: 11 7/8
• Width: 9 1/8
• Depth: 3/8
• Weight: 1.4 lbs

Condition

Good to very good condition with minor cover wear and light evidence of reading. Interior pages are clean and well preserved. The first few pages exhibit slight dog-earing. Overall, the issue presents attractively and remains entirely suitable for research, collection, or display within a decorative arts reference library.

Collector's Resource

Particularly useful for collectors interested in Tiffany & Company silver, Federal architecture, Salem history, French Rococo decorative arts, American glass and ceramics, and decorative arts scholarship. Issues of The Magazine Antiques continue to serve as valuable references for attribution, collecting history, and museum research.