Auction Highlights

Case Antiques’ April 19 Important Southern Antiques auction enjoyed a strong Internet presence, with 900 visitors to online catalog lot 342, a Gustav Stickley oak sideboard #814 with plate rack and original hardware. Measuring 48 inches high and 66 inches long, the sideboard retained its original Stickley label, and sold online for $7,080 against an estimate of $3,000-$4,000.

Noel Barrett’s 11-13 Antique Toy & Americana sale featured the last of the Hallmark Corporation’s collection of early American advertising and antique novelties, originally amassed by pioneer antiques dealer Jerry Smith. Among the 394 pieces that sold online in this auction was an 85½-inch painted and carved-wood cigar store Indian scout figure attributed to master carver Samuel A. Robb. The handsome advertising piece attracted 24 bids before selling online for $26,400 – more than twice its high estimate.

Sollo Rago’s April 12-13 Modern Auction brought roaring prices on Paul Evans designs from the personal collection of Evan’s longtime collaborator Dorsey Reading. Two successive lots comprised a suite of four circa-1968 verdigris-copper cube chairs with blue leather cushions of futuristic design. Each lot contained two of the chairs – said to be the only ones Evans ever finished in verdigris. Each of the lots sold online for $29,400, or a total of $58,800.

In Sollo Rago’s April 12-13 Modern Auction, a superb George Nakashima 84-inch-long conoid bench with walnut back and hickory spindles finished online at $42,875. More than 43 percent of those viewing the lot online entering the search keyword “Nakashima.”  

Fine art drew fine prices in Trinity International Auctions’ April 12 sale. The top-selling Internet lot was an untitled 28-inch by 26½-inch Evgeny Ivovich Rukhin (Russian, 1943-1976) oil on canvas work with a Modern graffiti-style image. The 1972 painting was one of 56 items purchased via LiveAuctioneers. It handily made its estimate, selling for $44,100.  

Among the online winners in Trinity International Auctions’ April 12 sale was Diego Rivera’s (Mexican, 1886-1957) 25-inch by 19-inch watercolor titled Fiesta Tehuanas. Signed at lower right and titled at lower left, it made $23,275.

Online bidders claimed 76 items in Kamelot Auctions’ April 12 offering of garden and architectural antiques, including a circa-1890 carved-stone and bronze armillary sphere on a rounded base. Supported by a fluted column and Corinthian capital, and measuring 72½ inches in overall height, the decorative garden antique more than doubled its high estimate to sell through LiveAuctioneers for $10,200.