KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — A cheerful bird’s-eye view of beachgoers by illustration artist George E. Hughes was the top seller at Case’s Summer Auction, held July 8-9, soaring to $103,700 against an $18,000-$22,000 estimate. Hughes, who lived from 1907-1990, was second only to Norman Rockwell as the most prolific artist for the Saturday Evening Post, and this oil-on-Masonite beach painting was the Post’s cover image for its August 2, 1952 issue. The anonymous buyer won it on the phone, underbid by a suitor in the saleroom and others online. The auction, featuring art from multiple Southeastern estates and private collections, attracted more than 7,500 registered bidders from more than 60 countries and achieved a 98% sell-through rate. Absentee and Internet live bidding was facilitated through LiveAuctioneers.

The Hughes painting was one of many 20th-century artworks that excelled during the course of the two-day event. An oil of women arranging flowers by Vietnamese-French painter Le Pho (1907-2001) earned $97,600, and a small (12 by 16in) painting of a man on the porch of a Southern post office and cafe by Tennessee artist Carroll Cloar, dated 1975, soared to $51,200 against a $14,000-$16,000 estimate. A Louisa McElwain Southwestern landscape from 1990 rose to $14,080, while an institutional buyer snapped up a watercolor and gouache painting by Octavio Medellin (Mexican-American, 1907-1999) of a Yucatan Turkey Dance processional for $8,540.

Sand art bottles by Andrew Clemens (American, 1857-1894), who lost his ability to hear and speak as a child, have become increasingly sought-after. This auction featured one of Clemens’ smaller bottles, a 5 5/8in patriotic-themed version with a flag motif. It tripled its estimate at $36,600. Sculpture and ceramic highlights included an Emmanuel Fremier gilt bronze of Minerva’s chariot, which galloped to $8,960, and a Picasso Madoura ceramic face plate, titled Visage Barbu, which garnered $6,144 despite a chip. A large burlwood chalice, hand-turned by Georgia artist Ed Moulthrop, brought nearly double its estimate at $7,930, and a ceramic trompe l’oeil mah jong set won $4,608, setting a new auction record for its artist, the late Tennessee ceramicist Sylvia Hyman. Two Western bronzes by Scott Rogers, We Fought Through Boggy Ground and The Chief Celebrates His New Hat, sold for $4,608 and $3,712, respectively.

One of the sale’s biggest surprises was a signed Herter Brothers Aesthetic Movement art easel, which shattered its $3,000-$3,400 estimate to claim $48,640. Other top furniture prices included $9,600 for a Kentucky Sheraton cherry sideboard matching one in the Old Kentucky Governor’s mansion, and $8,960 for a New York triple pedestal Classical period banquet table. A Tennessee Sheraton cherry sugar chest doubled its estimate at $6,710, and a Kentucky Sheraton sugar press closed at $5,612. An East Tennessee Federal chest of drawers with so-called “barber-pole” inlaid drawers brought $5,888, and a heavily carved 19th-century Asian round center table with a marble inset top and figural dog heads atop each of its four legs won $4,148.

Southern Pottery is a staple at Case. Audience members applauded when a nine-inch earthenware jug with impressed letters TIM4, attributed to Thomas J. Myers (1807-1863) of Smyth County, Virginia, shot to $29,280 against an estimate of $1,400-$1,500. A George Ohr four-inch pottery vase with periwinkle translucent glaze and what’s known as an “in-body” twist at the shoulder raised $4,880; an Ohr bottle-form glaze brought $3,538; and an Ohr pottery Joe Jefferson snake handle mug slithered away with $2,816. An eight-inch East Tennessee stoneware preserving jar from the Grindstaff pottery went for $2,560 against a $300-$350 estimate.

This auction featured Civil War-era flags, silver and ephemera owned by U.S. Rear Admiral John Ancrum Winslow of the USS Kearsarge, which famously sank the Confederate raider the CSS Alabama in 1864. The seven lots commanded a combined total of $63,892, with $19,520 paid for the ship’s abstract log, $17,080 for a 35-star flag, and $4,636 for Winslow’s Dolland telescope.

A large Tiffany sterling silver platter in the Renaissance pattern, designed by Paulding Farnham, served up $12,200, while a Reed and Barton Francis I pattern platter or tea tray realized $9,600. A Charleston coin silver mint julep cup by William Carrington with an agricultural premium award engraving for the Best Peaches earned $5,124, and a Texas coin silver mint julep cup by Samuel Bell made $4,148.

For more information, or to consign to Case, call its gallery in Knoxville at 865-558-3033; or the company’s Nashville office at 615-812-6096; or email info@caseantiques.com.

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