CINCINNATI – An incredibly rare antebellum quarter plate daguerreotype believed to be the earliest known image of enslaved African Americans with cotton sold for $324,500 in Cowan’s American History auction on Nov. 15. The photograph, likely taken sometime in the 1850s, depicts an upland Greene County, Georgia, plantation owner, his family, and 10 enslaved African Americans. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.
LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. – Rago’s latest Fine Art sale realized $3.4 million across two days, Nov. 8-9. The highest selling lot of the weekend came from Friday’s Post War + Contemporary Art sale, an untitled ink on poster board rendering of the classic Crawling Baby by Keith Haring that sold for $117,500 against a high estimate of $50,000. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.
MOUNT CRAWFORD, Va. – Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates’ Americana Auction on Nov. 15-16 was a highly successful event and produced robust prices in multiple categories. The two-day format consisted of 1,734 lots of high-quality material, much of which was fresh to the market, and, in a number of cases, had descended directly in the families of the original owners. Bidding was intense throughout each day with thousands of registered bidders from numerous countries participating online in competition with a standing-room-only gallery crowd eager to acquire something rare and desirable. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.
YORK, Pa. – Hake’s, America’s first auction house specializing exclusively in pop culture memorabilia, has rewritten the history books yet again with their $185,850 sale of an elusive Star Wars action figure. Finishing at the top of Hake’s Nov. 6-7 online-only auction, the Boba Fett J-slot rocket-firing prototype came with a storied history that began at the 1979 New York Toy Fair. Although the figure made its debut there, it never actually saw production, making it exceedingly rare. According to Hake’s president Alex Winter, its astronomical selling price is a world auction record for any Star Wars toy. The fully illustrated catalogs can be viewed on LiveAuctioneers.
LOS ANGELES – Over 400 historic sports artifacts from Atlanta physician and collector Goodman Basil Espy III hit the auction block on Thursday, Nov. 14, Julien’s Auctions billed the auction as a Southern Gentleman’s Collection: The Personal Property of Goodman Basil Espy III, M.D. The event also included the sale of his spectacular 150 lot collection of items from the life and career of Marilyn Monroe, as well as vintage radios, walking canes, first edition classic novels and many other fine collectibles from his vault. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.
MONROVIA, Calif. – Moran’s California & American Fine Art auction on Nov. 3 realized strong prices for works by the 19th and 20th century’s plein air artists. California artists continue to draw a crowd and inspire awe with their masterworks of California and American landscapes. Artists often travel for inspiration, several works painted by California and American artists abroad featured prominently in the auction. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.
DALLAS – An outstanding pair of carved alabaster angels having gold-gilded wings and amazing overall detail sold for $28,800 and an important oil on canvas painting of Columbus’s discovery of America by Nicolaas Pienemann (Dutch, 1809-1860) brought $41,600 at an auction of items from the estate of Lonnie “Bo” Pilgrim (1928-2017), the co-founder of Pilgrim’s Pride. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.
STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET, UK – A Chinese vase bought for just £1 ($1.29) in a charity shop has sold for a staggering £484,000 ($620,945) on Friday, Nov. 8, after it was found to have been made for an 18th century emperor.
YORK, Pa. – A Star Wars Boba Fett J-slot rocket-firing prototype that made its debut at the 1979 New York Toy Fair but never actually saw production has set a new world auction record for any Star Wars toy. Hake’s Auctions in York, Pennsylvania, sold the figure in an online auction on November 7, 2019 for $185,850.
MOUNT CRAWFORD, Va. – Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates’ Fine & Decorative Arts Auction Oct. 18 and 19 was a highly successful event and produced robust prices in multiple categories. The two-day format consisted of 1,720 lots of high-quality material and generated record levels of participation for the firm, a solid indication of vigor in this diverse segment of the marketplace. Bidding was intense throughout both days with over 7,000 registered bidders from over 50 countries participating in house and online. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.