Auction Highlights
In Cowan’s Feb. 7-8 sale of paintings, sculpture and works on paper, a Thomas Hill (American, 1829-1908) oil-on-canvas painting titled View of Yosemite Valley was a solid performer. Signed and dated 1902, the 19¼-inch by 23¾-inch painting bears a label on verso from Wunderly Bros. Gallery, Pittsburgh. It showed the strength of California landscapes in today’s marketplace by selling online for $25,200.
This suite of four woodblocks by Hasui Kawase (Japanese, 1883-1957) depicts four different seasonal views of the Fujiya Hotel, a quintessential 19th-century resort in Miyanoshita, Japan. Each colored woodblock is pencil-signed and carries the publisher’s seal. A highlight of Cowan’s Feb. 7-8 sale of paintings, sculpture and works on paper, they sold as a group lot via LiveAuctioneers for $7,800 against a presale estimate of $500-$700.
Nearly 46,000 people visited the electronic catalog for Stout’s Feb. 8-9 Toy Train auction, claiming 327 lots. A LiveAuctioneers bidder prevailed on a Lionel black prewar standard gauge 400E steam locomotive with brass trim, coupled with a brass and copper-trimmed 400W tender equipped with rare factory whistle. Accompanied by their original boxes, the duo sold as one lot for $7,285.
A group of four early to mid-20th-century Chinese scrolls featuring calligraphy and landscape scenes painted on silk and paper had no shortage of suitors in Quinn’s Feb. 9 Fine & Decorative Arts, Asian Art and Icons sale. Estimated at $150-$300, the quartet set off auction fireworks as it climbed to an online selling price of $54,900.
Bidders put their stamp of approval on Philip Weiss Auctions’Feb. 9 auction of The Newport Collection, Stamps and Coins. In this auction, 84 bids were lodged on a crimson and gold postage stamp from the People’s Republic of China featuring a throng of smiling workers holding up their “Little Red Books” Estimated at $15,000-$20,000, the philatelic treasure of historical importance sold through LiveAuctioneers for $37,760.
California Auctions, whose Feb. 10 debut on LiveAuctioneers included fine art and estate items, including a signed Vilhelm Hammershoi (Danish, 1864-1916) oil on canvas of a reclining nude. It sold online for $16,100 against an estimate of $6,000-$10,000.
