David Dale Koning, 74, of Monroe, Wisconsin, passed away on Thursday, October 19, 2023.
Dave was born in Sterling, IL on August 8, 1949, the oldest of 8 children born to Willard and Mildred (Longanecker) Koning. He helped on the family farm and enjoyed sports, especially wrestling and football. Dave graduated from Annawan High School in 1967 and was employed by Morton Buildings. He married his high school sweetheart, Rena Detwiler, on October 20, 1968 in Annawan, IL and were married for 55 years.
In 1969, Dave took advantage of an opening within Morton Buildings and relocated to southern Wisconsin. In 1974, with a young family, he graduated from Reisch Auction College and started his career in the auction industry. As a licensed auctioneer in WI and IL, Dave specialized in buying and selling farm equipment. He worked with many area auctioneers and established Koning Auction Service. As Dave and Rena’s four children became involved in 4-H, they began establishing a herd of Angus beef cattle which the family showed throughout the Midwest.
Dave had strong passions for the auction and cattle industries and became heavily involved in the WI Auctioneer’s Association, WI Cattlemen’s Association, Green County Beef Producers, Green and Dane County Fair 4-H/FFA youth auctions and the Green County Cheese auction. Dave and Rena managed the WI Cattlemen’s Steak Trailer for eleven years. Dave humbly accepted accolades for his leadership and volunteer service fostering the success of 4-H and FFA youth. He was an example of hard work and was the first individual to be awarded both the WI Auctioneers Association titles of Ringman of the Year (2007) and WI State Champion Auctioneer (2014). Through these honors Dave was invited to auctioneer at the WI State Fair FFA Foundation Cheese and Cured Meat Products Auctions. In 2022, he was awarded the WI State Fair Governor’s Blue Ribbon Livestock Association’s Friend of the Fair award.
Dave believed in the “conception to consumption” model of breeding, raising and serving high quality beef products to consumers which led him and Rena on several entrepreneurial adventures including Koning Meats and Deli and Koning Maple Lane Event Center. Dave’s dream for Koning Maple Lane Event Center was to provide a gathering space for families and community members to build friendships.
Family was very important to Dave. He especially loved the role of Grandpa and Great Grandpa. He proudly supported his four children and eleven grandchildren by attending their activities and encouraging them to “give 110%” to anything they do.
Dave will always be remembered for his powerful voice from the auction block, his support from the bleachers, his passion for auctions, his never-ending stories, and most of all, his love and pride for his continually growing family.
Survivors include his wife, Rena; children, Matt (Sue) Koning of Amboy, IL, Kris (Curt) Sticha of New Prague, MN, Robin (Matt) Cowden of Mt. Horeb, WI, and Brad (Becky) Koning of Madison, WI; grandchildren, Lea (William) Henert, Cassidy (Kolton) Myrvold, Lane Koning, Erin (Jerod) Novak, Sam Sticha, Sydney, Lydia, and Meredith Cowden, Gillian, Justice and Bentley Koning; great-grandchildren, Wilson and Roy Henert, Brantley Myrvold; siblings, Steve (Judy) Koning, Mark (Karen) Koning, Jim (Mary Ann) Koning, Danny (Lisa) Koning, Kathy (Trey) Barker, and Kevin (Monica) Koning; many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Dave was preceded in death by his parents, Willard and Mildred Koning; brother, Joe (Cheri) Koning.
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History of Auctioneering
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The most expensive artwork by a living artist sold at auction is Jeff Koons’ “Rabbit”, which sold for $91,075,000 (£70,408,300; €81,145,400), including buyer’s premium, and was sold by Christie’s in New York, USA, on 15 May 2019.
Created in 1986, it is one of the most iconic pieces ever created by Jeff Koons. One of three, it is the last remaining sculpture in the series to be in a private collection. The other two are located in The Broad Art Foundation in Los Angeles, USA and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, USA.
According to reports, the Art dealer Robert Mnuchin, made the final bid for a client. This isn’t the first time one of Jeff Koons’ sculptures has held the record. In 2013, Jeff Koons’ “Balloon Dog (Orange)” – a 12-foot-high, orange-tinted, stainless steel sculpture resembling a dog made from balloons – was sold at Christie’s for $58.4 million (£36.49 million).
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The most expensive sculpture by a living artist sold at auction is Jeff Koons’ “Rabbit”, which sold for $91,075,000 (£70,408,300; €81,145,400), including buyer’s premium, and was sold by Christie’s in New York, USA, on 15 May 2019.
Created in 1986, it is one of the most iconic pieces ever created by Jeff Koons. One of three, it is the last remaining sculpture in the series to be in a private collection. The other two are located in The Broad Art Foundation in Los Angeles, USA and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, USA.
According to reports, the Art dealer Robert Mnuchin, made the final bid for a client. This isn’t the first time one of Jeff Koons’ sculptures has held the record. In 2013, Jeff Koons’ “Balloon Dog (Orange)” – a 12-foot-high, orange-tinted, stainless steel sculpture resembling a dog made from balloons – was sold at Christie’s for $58.4 million (£36.49 million).
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The Ohio Auctioneers Association is a non-profit organization, founded in 1942. Since that time, it has continued to grow in strength and fellowship and is an association committed to improving and promoting higher standards in the auction profession.
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The most valuable Christmas card in the world was sold at auction in Devizes, Wiltshire, UK on 24 November 2001 for £20,000 ($28,158) and bought by an anonymous bidder. Measuring 13 x 8 cm (5 x 3 in) it was sent by Sir Henry Cole, a Bath-born businessman to his grandmother in 1843 and is hand-coloured by the London illustrator John Calcott Horsley.
The Christmas card is also considered the world’s first Christmas card. A total 1,000 were lithographed and sold at a shilling each. The card shows a Christmas dinner with three generations of a family enjoying a Christmas party. The side panels show charitable scenes with people clothing and feeding the poor. There are only 12 of the original 1,000 cards still in existance. At one shilling each, an average man’s weekly wage, they were only bought by the wealthier classes.
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A pair of flesh coloured foam and cotton bra pads once belonging to Marilyn Monroe, sold at auction for $5,000 (£;3,149) in Bedford, New Hampshire, USA on 15 April 2000.
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An original pair of Levi Strauss & Co (USA) 501 jeans aged over 115 years old were sold by Randy Knight (USA) to an anonymous collector (Japan) for $60,000,00 (£33,230) through internet auction site eBay on 15 June 2005. There are said to be only two or three complete pairs of authentic pre-1900 Levi’s 501 jeans in existence and these are the first pair found that is still wearable. This particular pair of jeans was found by four friends in an abandoned-silver mine in the Mojave Desert, California, USA in 1998. They feature the distinctive Levi’s Arcuate stitching on the back of one pocket, the two horse leather patch (still intact), a watch pocket, a button fly and copper rivets. When found, the jeans had never been washed and it is thought that the slurry and mud from the mine helped with their preservation. They have since been washed and wrapped in unbleached muslin material to store them.
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The record for the most expensive jigsaw puzzle sold for a charitable art auction to benefit a non-profit organization The Golden Retriever Foundation at a bid of $27.000 (£14.589). The hand-crafted wooden jigsaw puzzle was custom made by Rachel Page Elliott (USA). The charity event was held at the Eisenhower Conference Centre, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA on 28 September 2005. At the time, Rachel Page Elliot was 92 years old. She has lectured around the world, and just updated her world-renown book and video on canine anatomical structure and movement. In puzzle circles, she has received national awards from her fellow puzzlers and is renowned for her detailed craftsmanship. The puzzle consist of 467 interlocking pieces, many cut in her unique designs of birds, cats, horses, and, of course, Golden Retrievers in various poses. It features a signed print entitled “The Outing” depicting a Golden Retriever female and five puppies playing in the grass. (A photo is available upon request).
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On 13 December 2007, one of seven limited-edition handwritten copies of a manuscript entitled The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by Harry Potter author J K Rowling (UK), sold for £1.95 million ($3.97 million; including buyer’s premium) at Sotheby’s auction house in London, UK. The book was purchased by online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (USA).
The lot was originally predicted to make in the region of £30,000 to 50,000 ($60,000 to $100,000).
The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of children’s stories which is referenced in the final book in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows.
The limited-edition books, about 160 pages long, were bound in brown moroccan leather with silver decoration and moonstones mounted on the covers.
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The most expensive painting of a merperson sold at auction is John William Waterhouse’s The Siren, which fetched £3,835,800 ($5.08 m), including buyer’s premium, at Sotheby’s in London, UK, on 12 July 2018. More than doubling its £1–1.5 million estimate, it was purchased by an anonymous buyer and is currently in a private collection.
The Siren was sold as part of a wider sale of “Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art”. Painted in oil on a canvas measuring 81 x 53 cm (32 x 21 inches), the painting depicts a shipwrecked sailor clinging to a rock with his left hand. A beautiful woman sits higher up on the rock watching him. She is naked with pale white skin and long auburn hair. Below her knees the sea spray has transformed her legs into fish scales and fins. She holds a lyre made from an abalone shell, identifying her as one of the legendary sirens who lure sailors to their death through song.
The painting appears to have been completed in 1900 and first sold for £450 in London on Waterhouse’s behalf by Thomas Agnew & Sons (1 February 1901). It was purchased by James Gresham (1836–1914) of Woodheys Park in Ashton-on-Mersey. Upon Gresham’s death in 1914, his executors sold the painting at Christies (12 July 1917), where it was purchased by William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, who placed it in the Lady Lever Art Gallery. On 6 June 1958 the Lady Lever Art Gallery sold it at Christies, where it was purchased by an individual named ‘Goldschmidt’. It appeared on the market again in 1970 at D’Offay-Couper Gallery, London, where it sold to one M Bertonati. Sotheby’s sold the painting to Seymour Stein, an American entrepreneur and record producer, on 26 November 1985.
Before the 2018 auction, The Siren was included in Sotheby’s sale “The Collecting Eye of Seymour Stein” on 11 December 2003 in New York City, USA, but did not sell.
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