Category: News

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. — A few days before Peterborough Auctions’ third sale, co-owners Molly Williams and Nick Prior were justifiably concerned about how the weather might affect their March 19 sale. Although without power for a few days, the sale went smoothly, and they sold a Rolex GMT Master II for $11,250. That particular model has two sets of hands and can simultaneously tell time in two different time zones. There was a large selection of paintings, prints and etchings. “Picknik on the Dunes,” an Impressionist style oil on canvas by Rockport, Mass., artist Charles Paul Gruppe (1860-1940) brought $3,625, leading the fine art category. The sale included several pieces of jewelry, sterling silver, a 1599 bible, cased ship models, furniture and more. Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house; a full report will feature in a forthcoming issue.

ST LOUIS, MO. — Link Auction Galleries’ March Gallery Auction offered nearly 700 lots of dolls, porcelain glass, fine art and household furnishings March 17-18. One of the sale’s highlights — and setting a new auction record for a paper collage for George Morrison (Minnesota, 1919-2000) — was “Red Rock Rising,” which sold to a phone bidder from Florida for $7,800, including premium, a significant improvement over its $800-$1,200 estimate. Measuring 15¼ by 19½ inches, the work had been done in 1977 and was consigned from an unidentified corporate collection. The auction house thought the price realized was a result of direct marketing prior to the sale. Watch for a more extensive sale recap in an upcoming issue.

OAKLAND, CALIF. — A work on paper by American Pop art icon Andy Warhol offered on the second day of Clars’ March 16-18 auction series sold for $31,250, including buyer’s premium. The mixed media piece shows an ice cream cone with scoops of red, pink and white ice cream atop a cone that is decorated with playful linework reminiscent of Art Nouveau design. This work is one in a series of ice cream-themed designs drawn by Warhol during the 1950s and was likely inspired by the collaborative coloring parties that the artist would host at Serendipity 3, the New York dessert café at which he was a lifelong patron. Another top highlight was the largest single-owner precious metals collection to be offered in the gallery’s history, including uncirculated gold coins, silver bars, silver coins and presentation coins, some in unopened containers. More on this and other notable lots will be discussed in a future review.

LONE JACK, MO. — Coming just days before spring, this year’s late winter gallery auction of art and antiques conducted by Soulis Auctions on March 18 was later than usual to accommodate the arrival of important pieces from the collection of Josephine Bird Hall (1888-1948), whose father was a principal of Emery, Bird, Thayer Dry Goods, Kansas City’s oldest and finest department store, founded in 1884. Hall’s collection was assembled in the early days of the Twentieth Century. Topping the sale from her collection was a group of 12 Meiji Japanese zodiac symbol carved wood netsuke, bringing $71,340, including buyer’s premium, a nice jump up from the lot’s $1/2,000 estimate. Each artist-signed example with inlaid eyes was finely carved and displayed nice patina. This collection was displayed in a small, divided case with interesting labels and written information from Hall, a lifelong collector of Asian and other antiques. Additional highlights from this sale will be discussed in a forthcoming review.

CLEARWATER, FLA. — The American Sale at Blackwell Auctions offered almost 400 lots of material culture from throughout American history on March 18, including fine and folk art, early photography, ephemera and collectibles. Leading the sale was a portrait of the Lakota Sioux leader Thathánka Íyotake, better known as Sitting Bull (1831-1890), painted by Swiss American artist and activist Caroline Weldon (1844-1921). This was one of four portraits that Weldon made of Sitting Bull; two are in public museum collections, and two were presumed to be lost. This example was one of the latter, and belonged to Minnesota railroad construction engineer William Lafayette Darling and descended through his family. It was bid to $67,100 ($40/80,000). Price quoted with buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house, more on this and other top lots to follow.

DALLAS — Frank Miller’s 1982 cover for Daredevil #185 sparked one of the most ferocious bidding wars of the weekend to realize $225,000, leading Heritage Auctions’ March 10-12 International Original Art & Anime Signature auction. The auction achieved a $3,155,731 total with 814 lots. Before Miller’s star-making turn on “The Dark Knight Returns,” the writer-artist rescued Daredevil from Marvel’s margins, and the brink of cancellation, with what comics historian Les Daniels called “terse tales of urban crime.” Daredevil #185 was the first issue for which Miller handed the pencils to Klaus Janson. Miller wrote the story and drew the cover that featured two images of Daredevil, the heroic main rendering that fills the page and the smaller icon leaping out of the corner box. Prices quoted with buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 214-528-1425 or www.ha.com.

NEW YORK CITY — On March 15, Doyle hosted another of its popular Doyle + Design auctions, offering 315 lots of modern and contemporary decorative arts from prominent Twentieth and Twenty-First Century designers. Max Ingrand’s designs for Fontana Arte led the sale, the foremost being a gilt-metal and glass Dahlia chandelier. Made in the 1950s, the chandelier had 16 lights with curved and tapered translucent green petal-form shades. It was consigned from the property of a Miami collector and achieved $47,250. More on this and other top lots to follow; price quoted with buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house.