The sale’s highest selling lot attracted considerable attention from both phone and Internet bidders. The work, a sculpture titled Friends Forever by Russian artist, Demetre Chiparus, realized $60,000.
“Our two-day auction was a smashing success. I was particularly pleased with the results of the works by Henry Faulkner. Our exhibit brought many people in the door and the painting’s themselves sold tremendously,” said Graydon Sikes, director of paintings and prints. “Material from the Yost estate in Pennsylvania had a great deal of interest, especially the Choultse painting and Chiparus bronze. Other estates in the auction, some of which remained anonymous, sold very well because they were buried in collections for decades.”
The sale’s second highest selling lot was a painting by Ivan Choultse, titled Coucher De Soleil Sur La Mer, which sold for $50,400. An original receipt of purchase from New York accompanied the painting, noting that it was sold in 1932 for $700.
A collection of over 25 Civil War carved soldiers pipes from the estate of Jan Sorgenfrei of Old Barn Auction in Findlay, Ohio, garnered high prices in the sale. Heated bidding between the floor and phones drove the selling prices up considerably. A Reuben T. Woodward 21st Massachusetts Pipe trounced its estimate of $1,000-1,500 and sold for $15,600. A patriotic Lady Liberty carved pipe realized $10,800, and a Liberty or Death poatriotic carved pipe sold for $9,000. Cowan’s also offered Sorgenfrei’s collection of antique toys in the sale. A George Brown “Excelsior” clockwork locomotive sold for $5,535 and a Hubley cast-iron transitional ladder truck brought $3,600.
Works by Midwest regional artists, including Henry Faulkner, Paul Sawyier and Elizabeth Nourse did particularly well in the auction. A painting by Faulkner, titled The Cellist, sold for $11,400, and Faulkner’s Staircase in Taormina realized $10,224. A watercolor of a girl by Cincinnati native, Elizabeth Nourse, brought $11,600, and a river scene by Kentucky artist, Paul Sawyier, sold for $15,600.
American furniture brought competitive bidding in the sale. A Charles Tinges inlaid Baltimore federal tall-case clock sold to a phone bidder for $18,000, a Rococo Revival bed hammered down at $6,600, a Rococo Revival dresser and commode stand for $5,700 and a Rococo Revival etagere realized $4,920.
Silver attracted bidders on the floor, phone and Internet. Cowan’s offered Kentucky coin, Gorham, Tiffany and Chinese export silver in the auction. A Kentucky coin silver cup by well-known early maker Asa Blanchard started the auction off with a bang, selling for $4,800. A Gorham Classical-style urn realized $4,500; a set of Tiffany & Co. sterling trays sold for $3,360, a Chinese export urn form incense burner hammered at $7,995, and a Chinese export silver presentation bowl with dragons realized $5,400.
Other notable lots in the July 13-14 auction included an Andrew Clemens sand bottle. Two bidders on the floor battled back and forth for the Clemens bottle, which eventually sold for $22,800. A set of John J. Audubon bound octavo Birds of America books realized $27,600, a Fuse Box pinup by Harry Ekman brought $19,200, a folk art painting by Charles Wysocki, titled Lilac Square, sold for $10,800, and a sculpture by Ferdinand Preiss, titled Archer, hammered down at $15,600.
For more information call Cowan’s at 513-871-1670.
View the fully illustrated catalog of Cowan’s Auctions’ Fine and Decorative Art Auction July 13-14, complete with prices realized, at LiveAuctioneers.com.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
