CLEVELAND – During the last few months, Rachel Davis Fine Arts has been the place to go for works by Rockwell Kent (1882-1971). The top lot in its March 2 Discovery Online Auction was Drawings by Rockwell Kent: A Portfolio of Prints, a complete limited edition portfolio of 28 black-and-white prints by the American artist, produced by Egmont Arens at Flying Stag Press in New York in 1924. Only 30 sets were produced, of which this was number 8, and each plate was signed in pencil by Kent. This very same portfolio appeared at Christie’s New York in May 1995. It was offered at Rachel Davis Fine Art with a sheet of 100 Easter Seals stamps, 96 having a Kent illustration. Estimated in the modest range of $200-$400, it hammered for $11,000 and sold for $14,080 with buyer’s premium.

The house’s previous sale, held on February 10, boasted 11 Rockwell Kent lots, several of which beat their estimates. The leader among them was a pen-and-ink coastal scene, signed in pencil by the artist, which hammered for $5,000 and sold for $6,400 with buyer’s premium. An undated pencil and watercolor of figure studies, bearing Kent’s stamp at the lower right, hammered for $2,200 and sold for $2,816 with buyer’s premium, while a powerful 1931 wood engraving of Prometheus, signed in pencil and from an edition of 170, hammered for $1,100 and sold for $1,408 against an estimate of $400-$700.