Auction Highlights
Among the fine artworks that sold to Internet bidders in Whyte’s Nov. 26 auction of important Irish art was an unsigned but very well-executed oil and pastel titled Shower, Monday. The 14¼ inch by 15½ inch depiction of a nude settled within estimate at $26,660.
At Garth’s big Nov. 23-24 auction of Early American antiques and decorative arts, a Late Classic Period Navajo serape blanket, circa 1875-1885, garnered significant attention with its fine weaving, serrated diamond pattern and vibrant medley of colors. The 51 inch by 73 inch textile sold through LiveAuctioneers for $32,400 against an estimate of $9,000-$12,000.
Sporting memorabilia was the focus of Graham Budd’s Nov. 20-21 auction. The top lot sold online was a collection of metal and enamel members’ badges from the County Stand at England’s Aintree Racecourse, home of the Martell Grand National Steeplechase. The badges ranged from the 1940s through 1973, and had been estimated at $500-$1,000. A LiveAuctioneers bidder claimed the price with a winning bid of $16,800.
Fine books and manuscripts were on the sale roster Nov. 18 at Skinner. Topping the list of 118 lots that sold online was a 7-volume first edition of John J. Audubon’s (1785-1851) The Birds of America. Containing exquisite color plates of various bird species and presented in gilt-finished, tooled Moroccan leather binding, the lot attracted 27 bids and nearly doubled its high estimate in realizing $79,625.
Seventy lots - more than one-fourth – of David Rago’s Nov. 17 sale of postwar and contemporary art changed hands through LiveAuctioneers. Twenty-five bids were lodged on an Andy Warhol (American, 1928-1987) color screenprint titled Jackie II, 1966. The double image of Jacqueline Kennedy, measuring 24 inches by 30 inches and stamped Andy Warhol on verso, flew past its $6,000-$8,000 estimate to sell online for $27,562.50.
Kamelot, Nov. 17, On Nov. 17, Kamelot Auctions offered its usual superb array of American and architectural antiques. A circa-1890 Horner mahogany partner’s desk with carved scroll-and-leaf design and corners decorated with carved lions found success online at $4,800 against an estimate of $1,200-$1,800.
