Kaminski Auctions celebrated with Jensen silver collection
Georg Jensen silver tea service, Blossom pattern. Price realized: $16,250. Kaminski Auctions image
BEVERLY, Mass. – Kaminski Auctions’ annual Thanksgiving sale, held over the holiday weekend of Nov. 25 and 26, featured an outstanding collection of George Jensen silver from a Chicago estate that brought out collectors from all over the globe. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.
Day Two, Sunday, saw many more bidders in the audience for the Jensen collection, and there was spirited bidding on all lots, with most selling for 25 percent above expectations. The Internet lit up for the featured lot, a silver Blossom tea set featuring a sterling silver six-piece No.2 set designed by Georg Jensen in 1908. With lightly hammered finish and approximately 141.2 troy ounces of silver, this exquisite tea set sold for $16,250. A set of 12 Jensen silver chargers sold for $15,000, while a pair of sterling silver two-light candelabra No. 244, designed by Georg Jensen in 1918, with openwork stems of leaves and berries and approximately 96.0 troy ounces of silver brought $12,500.
An attractive Grape pattern sterling silver footed bowl with raised foliate bottom No. 197A, circa 1926-1932, sold for $11,875, while a pair of Baccarat preserve pots in cut crystal with Georg Jensen “Blossom” sterling silver No. 2A covers in his signature lightly hammered finish sold for $5,300. A sterling silver kettle on stand No. 49, designed in 1914 and marked 1919 sold for $6,250 while a Grape pattern sterling silver pitcher with a lightly hammered finish, No. 407A, designed in 1925, sold for $7,500.
Georg Jensen silver footed bowl, Grape pattern. Price realized: $11,875. Kaminski Auctions image
Jensen flatware did equally as well with a Cactus pattern flatware set selling for $10,200.
As always, all things Tiffany brought a premium. A rare early Tiffany & Co. 18K gold round brooch with various precious stones was hotly contested on the phones and Internet and was eventually hammered down at $18,000. A Tiffany gold champagne ring sold well above estimate for $6,500.
Modern art, art glass and sculpture in Day Two did not disappoint with a Dali signed bronze sculpture titled Screaming Face selling for $13,800, a Venini glass bowl of coral, yellow and black murrine glass by Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978), circa 1950 to 1960, sold for $10,000, a Norman Rockwell painting of a boy brought $7,200 and a pair of circa 1950s hand-painted celluloid originals by Walt Disney of Minnie and Mickey Mouse, signed by Walt Disney, sold for $6,875 to the Internet.
Saturday, Day One, featured a selection of European, American and modern artists with many paintings selling far above their high estimates. The top lot of the day was a Mediterranean coastal view painting by the French Impressionist artist Armand Guillaumin (1841-1927). This attractive painting sold to a bidder in the gallery for $42,000.
Armand Guillaumin Mediterranean coastal view. Price realized: $42,000. Kaminski Auctions image
A French winter scene by Jacques Martin-Ferrieres (1893-1972) titled Le Pont-Marie Sous La Neige, Le Soir sold for 10 times above estimate to an Internet bidder for $25,000.
Jacques Martin-Ferrieres (1893-1972), ‘Le Pont-Marie Sous La Neige, Le Soir.’ Price realized: $25,000. Kaminski Auctions image
Contemporary artists fared equally as well with a Louise Nevelson work titled The Dark Ellipse, with a 1974 Pace edition label verso selling for $31,200 to the audience against a determined phone bidder. A signed F. Leger abstract oil on Masonite, monogrammed and dated “FL 55” sold for $15,000, well above its $2,000-$4,000 estimate.
Louise Nevelson, ‘The Dark Ellipse.’ Price realized: $31,200. Kaminski Auctions image
An entry from American artist Eliot Candee Clark (American, 1883-1900), titled Under the Trees was a sleeper lot. An oil on canvas painting signed L/R, and marked “Third Hallgarten Prize 1912” on an attached plaque was estimated at $500-$800 and eventually sold for $8,750.
Italian art in the sale included a capriccio of classical ruins featuring the Maison Carree at Nimes, the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli and the Borghese vase by the “vedutisti” or view painter, Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765). It sold for $18,200.
Two 19th-century Italian marble sculptures stirred up a bidding war with a 19th-century Italian anatomic sculpture of a man, 18 inches high with the initials A.F. selling for $27,500 and a 19th-century Italian marble sculpture of a horned demon standing 24 inches high sold for $7,500.
