Kamelot’s Apr. 14 auction of garden antiques a walk in the park

Oscar Bach Bench $32,400

PHILADELPHIA – Kamelot Auctions’ annual Garden & Architectural Sale was held on Saturday, April 14, in Philadelphia, attracting a large bidding contingent that included landscape designers and private collectors. With additional participation from online bidders using LiveAuctioneers.com, the sale offered a huge selection of fine furnishings and fixtures almost exclusively for the outdoors.

This year’s auction included nearly 800 lots of statuary, urns, fountains, planters, potting tables, lighting, stained glass, and architectural elements in terracotta, stone, iron, steel and carved wood. It also featured a good collection of industrial furnishings and large-scale antique bars, counters and vitrines.

The success of the sale was palpable in the smooth and seamless stream of big-ticket wins that seemed to manifest with ease throughout the day. Opening the sale, a life-size 19th-century figure of Diana (Lot No. 1) sold swiftly for $23,000 to a dealer in Paris. Soon afterwards, the same price bought a 17th-century carved Istrian marble wellhead (Lot. No.161), purchased for a private garden in Austin, Texas.

An antique Italian carved marble term figure of a Bacchanalian satyr (Lot No. 213) standing 76 inches tall was listed with estimates of $5,000 to $8,000. It sold for $8,400 to an estate owner in New England. And, a good pair of lead-winged putti figures perched on spheres estimated, at $1,200 to $1,600, were purchased for $6,700 by the owner of a large Pennsylvania estate.

Strong sales continued well into the middle of the afternoon, peaking with the presentation of Lot. 363, an Oscar Bach bronze and wrought-iron curved bench having a central figural cartouche and dolphin-decorated back panel, circa 1910. Bearing estimates of $1,000 to $ 1,500, the bench sold to a New York state antiques dealer for $32,000.

Near the conclusion of the auction, three lots of highly crafted architectural artifacts with significant provenance inspired stiff competition. The beautifully carved wood doors, columns and wainscoting comprising Lots 638, 640 and 642 originated from the Manhattan mansion of Cornelius Vanderbilt II. The legendary property once occupied the corner of Fifth Avenue and 57th Street. Its construction in the early 1890s involved a great quantity of commissioned work from the very best artisans of the period. When the mansion was demolished in the 1920s, however, very little was salvaged. The pair of Vanderbilt columns (Lot 640) earned $9,000. A set of three massive carved doors sold for $21,600 (Lot 642). And 46 running feet of figural carved oak molding removed from the famed chateau achieved $13,000 (Lot 638).

Kamelot Auction House hosts the specialty Garden & Architectural Antiques sale once a year, in April. It is an event that is now firmly established as a leading source for top-quality antiques and furnishings for the outdoors, as well as cutting-edge industrial objects and impressive architectural pieces. The collections are always beautifully displayed the week prior to the sale and well worth the visit for those who opt to preview in person. Contact Kamelot Auction House at 215-438-6990 or log to www.kamelotauctions.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog from Kamelot’s April 14 auction, complete with prices realized, at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

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