Midwinter sale at Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches brings out international buyers

Sept. 11 , 2007

West Palm Beach, FL - Sometimes an auction in the middle of the summer in South Florida can be received with the enthusiasm of an outdoor cookout in New England in the middle of winter. But Brian Kogan, owner of Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches, continues to assemble inventories that are deep enough, eclectic enough and intriguing enough to interest both local bidders and national and international treasure seekers.
Such was true of the sale August 13 in West Palm Beach, the third installment of the estate of local artist, gallery owner and collector Tanya Brooks.

This was the third sale a consignor offered a work by Indian born artist Avanash Chandra, (1931-1991). Works by Chandra had been well received in the past and this time was no exception. A 1985 Avinash Chandra (Indian, 1931-1991) oil on canvas titled Pahar Hill topped the prices realized. The vibrant Impressionist-influenced work measured 50 inches by 80 inches and was presented in a gilded French frame. A phone bidder battled it out with an internet bidder through LiveAuctioneers.com. Bidding opened at $30,000 and proceeded in $1,000 increments to the prevailing LiveAuctioneers bid of $46,360 including the buyer’s premium. The winning bidder was in India and that’s where the paining will be shipped, although there was an indication that it may wind up in New York.

Another lot headed overseas, a J. W. Fiske cast iron architectural garden aquarium, circa 1901 New York, will reside at an aquarium museum in Sweden. The firm of J. W. Fiske and Company was one of the preeminent makers and retailers of ornamental iron and zinc objects in New York City in the second half of the 19th century, producing a wide range of garden fountains, statues, urns, and furniture. The hexagonal top of the aquarium with glass panels is supported by three water birds with snakes or worms in the beaks. The birds stand among large leaves and cattails. Painted white, measuring 49in high by 39in wide, the aquarium sold for $5,290.

A large, signed bronze by Eugene Antoine Aizelin, French, (1821-1902), 34in high by 16½in wide by 20in deep, entitled Shepherd Boy and Dog rose above its estimate of $2,000 - 2,500 to settle at $4,313.

The Brooks estate still had over twenty paintings by Russian artist Vladamir (Volodia) Lazarev, Russian (b 1904) in the inventory after selling sixteen of them in the June sale. The paintings ranged in price from $500 to $1,000. Three works by Noel Harry Leaver, A.R A. C., British (1889-1951), attracted some tightly focused attention from the English trade. Two of the paintings, A City Gate, watercolor on paper, signed lower left, sight 9¾in high by 14in wide with verso label “J Assenheim & Son, importers of etchings....etc., 37 New Street, New York. Established 1870” mounted under glass and overall 17⅜in by 21½in and A Street in Jerusalem, watercolor on paper, signed lower left, with same dimensions and labels, sold to a single buyer for $1,840 while a third by Leaver, An Arabian Mosque, watercolor on paper, went to the same buyer for $1,495.

Three lots of Steuben sold within or above estimate. A large double etched vase with Chinese Pattern in double gourd shape in exterior plum color, acid cut to rose, with intricate Chinese etching, finely ground top and base with factory ground pontil, 13⅛in high, sold within estimate for $3,220. Blue Aurene Fan Vase with applied threading and stylized hearts, incised "Steuben Aurene 6297" on the bottom, with some stress crazing to the top of the fan, 9in high by 7½in wide, rose above estimate to $2,530 and a large cased glass vase with three sides, custard coloration top changing to off-white lower with random air bubbles throughout, applied clear glass rim top is factory ground and polished, 10⅜in high with acid stamp Steuben fleur-de-lis mark on base and multiple scratched surface base with ground and polished pontil, sold within estimate at $2,070.
Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches has a three day onsite sale scheduled in September, October and November. As with other Auction Gallery of the Palm Beaches auctions, bidders can visit www.liveauctioneers.com in advance to view the entire catalog and leave absentee bids.