OAKLAND, Calif. – Clars Auction Gallery’s Important Fine Art, Decorative Art, Furniture, Jewelry/Timepieces and Asian Art Auction on Feb. 24 and 25 drew high profile and investment level collectors, celebrities and global bidders for the important property that was offered in all categories of this sale. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.
The star of this sale was the circa 1910 Tiffany Studios “Venetian” table lamp (above) that was offered with the estimate of $50,000-$70,000. The bidding on the piece opened at $25,000 and highly competitive bidding quickly drove this lamp well beyond expectation selling for $102,850.
Deric Torres, vice president of Decorative Art & Furnishings commented, “We were extremely pleased with the global reach we achieved and securing the results we did for our consignors and the collectors we serve. Achieving the price we did for the Tiffany lamp, setting a new world fine art record, confirms that Clars competes and succeeds in this robust world market.”
Musical instrument collectors were also present during the auction. Aggressive bidding on a Lyon and Healy concert grand harp drove the final price to twice its high estimate selling for $12,100.
The modern portion of the sale was also quite strong highlighted by a Herve Van Der Straeten “Astrolab” patinated bronze chandelier that realized $11,495.
Breweriana collectors bid robustly on a collection of items from the Pacific Coast Brewing Co. The highlight of this collection was a circa 1900 Victorian mahogany and leaded glass bar, back bar, and cabinet that was original to the Pacific Coast Brewing location on Washington Street in Oakland for 29 years. This beautiful piece sold for well over high estimate at $11,495.
The best fine art outperformer by far on the day was a watercolor titled Kentucky River Near Jessamine Creek by Paul Sawyier (American, 1865-1917). Multiple telephone bidders took this lot well past its $8,000-$12,000 estimate to a world record price of $54,450 for the artist’s watercolors (and second-highest overall).
Next to soar past its estimate was a Circle of Domenico Feti (Italian, 1589-1624) oil painting titled St. Jerome (circa 1615-1624). A recent deaccession from the Triton Museum of Santa Clara, California, this 17th-century rare work sold for $57,475 – well past its $10,000-15,000 estimate.
Last, but not least, of the top three highest performers was the painting Red-Haired Acrobat (1944), by New York artist, Walt Kuhn (American, 1877-1949), selling for the very respectable price of $60,500.
Robert Wood (American, 1889-1979) was known for painting many different landscape locales, but one particular area with its abundant charming purple wildflowers is the most sought after. Bluebonnet Time in Texas is one such work and it blossomed on Sunday, February 25th at Clars selling for $24,200.
Portuguese artist Silva Porto (1850-1893) is an uncommon sight in California or most anywhere in the U.S. Once noticed, however, his works command high prices internationally, which was the case with his oil on canvas Village Street Corner with Figure. This work doubled its estimate selling for $12,100.
Taking the top spot in the Jewelry and Timepieces category was a stunning Edwardian-era 14K rose gold ring which featured a 4.90-carat Ceylon sapphire surrounded by diamonds. This ring sold very well for $15,730.
Also performing well was a diamond and 18k white gold ring centered by a 2.11cts princess-cut diamond flanked by two trapezoid-cut diamonds and 56 full-cut diamonds. This ring commanded the final sale price of $13,860.
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