The Noble Maritime Collection will host the 37th Annual John A. Noble Art Auction, a fundraiser for the museum, on Friday, November 14. The live auction at the museum will also be streamed on LiveAuctioneers.com, with a remote bidding option.

The auction is the Noble Maritime Collection’s major fundraising event of the year, and helps to cover up to 20% of the museum’s annual budget, making possible exhibitions and free and low-cost public programs including arts education for children of all ages and abilities.

This year’s lots include original lithographs by the museum’s namesake, John A. Noble (1913-1983); watercolor and oil paintings; work in a variety of mediums by noted local contemporary artists; antique and vintage prints; and unique objects, including a hand-crafted sailors’ knife by auctioneer Scott Van Campen.

“The Noble Art Auction is a perennially successful fundraiser for the museum thanks to the incredible generosity of our community—artists and donors who contribute extraordinary works of art, passionate bidders who compete to add the pieces to their collections, loyal volunteers who work the event each year, and sponsors whose support makes it all possible,” said the museum’s Executive Director, Ciro Galeno, Jr.

He added, “As we enter a new year which will mark the Noble Maritime Collection’s 40th anniversary, we are deeply grateful for the ongoing sentiment of community ownership of this museum. It is what makes the Noble Art Auction meaningful to so many people and ensures its continued success. I think John Noble would appreciate the work that we do collectively in his name—celebrating New York’s working waterfront and preserving maritime history, including our landmarked building, for generations to come.”

Scott Van Campen, Executive Director of MakerSpace NYC, will return for his seventh year as auctioneer, joined by Mr. Galeno, who will present commentary on each piece of art and its artist.

The in-person event will begin at 6:30 PM with an open bar and a light supper. Catering by Framboise, led by Chef Frank Puleo, will once again cater the event with cuisine inspired by the traditional Thanksgiving feast.

The art auction will start at 8 PM and will be simultaneously streamed on LiveAuctioneers.com for virtual bidding.

Major underwriting for the event has been generously provided by lead sponsor Caddell Dry Dock and Repair Company, as well as other business and community supporters that can be viewed at noblemaritime.org/auction.

Tickets are $125 each, or $95 for museum members. Reservations are required. Those who wish to participate on LiveAuctioneers can make a free account to register for the Noble auction. LiveAuctioneers registrations will be accepted through the day of the event on November 14.

To purchase tickets, view the art, and learn about live online bidding via LiveAuctioneers, visit noblemaritime.org/auction.

The auction art is currently being exhibited in the museum’s second floor library and features 44 lots.

There are three lithographs by Noble, including Cape Horner from 1955, which has never before been offered in the museum’s auction. The others are Dying in the English Kills from 1966 and Iron Pirate from 1979.

The limited edition print New York East River by the museum’s late trustee and noted maritime artist John Stobart (1929-2023) will likely spark lots of competitive bidding.

Additionally, there is a selection of prints by Herman Rose (1909-2007), Anton Seder (1850-1916), Philip Steinman (1924-2006), and Rudolf Veit (1892-1979)

Contemporary artists who have contributed prints to the auction or are represented include Staten Islanders Ann Marie McDonnell and Colman Rutkin, as well as William Behnken, Colleen Pike Blair, Diego Briceno, Ann Chernow, Martha Ives, Andrea Kornbluth, Tomomi Ono, Sachin Pannuri, Yakub Shalmiyev, Ellen Nathan Singer, and Annamarie Trombetta. The selection includes lithographs, aquatints, etchings, giclées, and linocuts.

John Spinks, a new artist to the auction, donated a collage combining text and imagery related to the Titanic.

Kathy Noble, the daughter-in-law of the museum’s namesake John A. Noble, donated a pen and ink abstract drawing of trees by her twin sister Margaret Carr (1945-2025) to this year’s event, while local artist and auction committee member Elle Finn also donated a pen, ink, and metallics drawing of a butterfly.

Bill Murphy, *Near Harpersfield,* Watercolor, 2024, 14 ½” x 19”, *Framing donated by the artist*

A watercolor by Bill Murphy of a barn near Harpersfield, New York will be on offer. Murphy’s 50-year retrospective exhibition Waterfront Tales is currently on view at the museum, and will be until January 18, 2026.

Additionally available are paintings in various mediums by Lillian Chestney (1913-2000), featuring the door to a Victorian captain’s house in Nova Scotia, and Richard Dey de Ribcowsky (1880-1946), featuring the coast of Maine. There are also paintings by Staten Islanders including Anthony Butera (1940-2021), Linda Butti, Paul Landgraf, Halina McCormack, and Frederick Joseph Sklenar (1938-2024).

The auction includes photographs by Eric Holmes (1960-2014) and John Sanderson, as well as noted Staten Island photographers Bill Higgins, Michael McWeeney, Len Rachlin, Vincent Verdi, and J. Michael Verhey.

Trustee Eileen Montanez donated a reproduction of a vintage poster from 1937 promoting the first United States Foreign Trade Zone which opened on Staten Island that year. Also on offer are two photographs by an unknown photographer featuring trees seen on the West Coast of the United States.

Scott Van Campen, Sailors’ Knife, Hand-forged 120-layer Damascus steel featuring a handle of reclaimed heart pine salvaged from a beam removed during the renovation of the 1840-built Noble Maritime Collection, 2025

Some especially unique objects in the Noble Art Auction include Carey Boone Nelson’s (1923-2021) cast stone sculpture Habille Commence; a handcrafted crofter’s bench by woodworker Roger Sherry using old growth oak reclaimed from a venerable Virginia estate; and a hand-forged, 120-layer Damascus steel sailors’ knife created by auctioneer Scott Van Campen, featuring a handle made from reclaimed heart pine from historic Building D, the museum’s home.

Funds from a special paddle raise conducted in the middle of the event by Director of Programs Dawn Daniels will directly support the museum’s presentation of the new, ethnomusicology-based education program Musical Voyage Around the World to students at PS 59 and PS 373 on Staten Island.

Winning bidders through LiveAuctioneers can pick up their purchases at the museum beginning on Tuesday, November 18.

Shipping is available directly through LiveAuctioneers or through the museum’s partner, Postal Connections, 1365 N. Railroad Avenue, Staten Island. Interested bidders can get a quote before bidding and arrange for shipping by contacting them at (718) 980-2000 or postalconnections210@yahoo.com.

The Noble Maritime Collection is located in Building D, a former mariners’ dormitory at Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, 1000 Richmond Terrace, Staten Island, New York.

The museum is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday from 12 until 5 PM, during which time the auction preview exhibition can be viewed. Admission to the museum during regular gallery hours is by donation.

To learn more about this unique maritime museum, or for more information about the auction, call (718) 447-6490 or visit noblemaritime.org.