WORCESTER, MA — A 7 x 5.5in silver gelatin 1930s-era print of legendary golfer Bobby Jones came to market June 26 at Central Mass Auctions with a number of other period golf-related images. Many of the prints were from Spalding, the sporting goods company, and featured time-lapse, multiple-exposure images used by the brand to analyze golf swings.
Most sold within range for a few hundred dollars, but there was particular interest in the Bobby Jones image, widely estimated at $100-$500. So much interest, in fact, that after more than 50 bids, the image peaked at an insane $9,000, or $10,800 with buyer’s premium. The price made it the top lot of the sale, with the next-closest one just over a third of that value.
New York, NY – Auctions at Showplace had a strong result for a painting by Haitian artist Jean Nehemy (1931–2007) on June 23. Signed and dated 1970, the 4ft 11in x 3ft 6in oil Dice Players hammered for $8,000 ($10,000 with buyer’s premium) against an estimate of $1,000-$2,000, making this one of the top-priced paintings by the artist to come to auction.
Nehemy was an alumnus of the Centre d’Art d’Haïti in Port-au-Prince but became one of the members to secede from the school and establish the breakaway Foyer des Arts Plastiques in 1950 and pursue what they called l’Indigenisme et le Réalisme de Cruaute (Indigenism and Cruel Realism). While he spent years building his commercial career in New York City, he later returned to Haiti to help found the Galerie Brochette movement. This painting of locals gaming to the light of an oil lamp came for sale from a Park Avenue estate.
NEW YORK — The American comic book industry boasts many legendary names — Stan Lee, Will Eisner, William Gaines, Jack Kirby — but in the modern era, one man stands alone: Frank Miller. Considered a one-man juggernaut by peers and readers alike, Miller (b. 1957-) began drawing for Marvel in 1979 on Daredevil and soon thereafter, his ability to pen noir-flavored storylines and illustrate his own pieces made him a golden outlier in the industry.
A Miller-drawn page from The Spectacular Spiderman dating to 1979 found its way into the collection of legendary satire cartoonist Jules Feiffer (b. 1929-). As the lot notes state in Feiffer’s own words, “When I was young, I preferred to be in the Superman school rather than the Batman’s.” Feiffer consigned the Miller Spiderman page with Swann Auction Galleries for their June 20 Illustration Art sale. Estimated at $4,000-$6,000, it opened with a first bid of $40,000 and sold a few bids later for $48,000, or $62,400 with buyer’s premium.
LITCHFIELD, CT — Since the early 1960s, the US Department of State has run the Art in Embassies program. Using American taxpayer dollars, the program recruits American artists to create works that are permanently displayed in US embassies around the world. Envisioned as a goodwill program by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, it was signed into law by President John F. Kennedy. The program runs an online registry for the public to view the contributed works and locate their present embassy homes.
Sally Michel Avery (1902-2003) was an Art in Embassies artist, creating Croquet, an oil on canvas, in 1975. Its reverse includes a label for the program, establishing its provenance. Apparently deaccessioned by the Art in Embassies program at some point, the work found its way to Arethusa Farm, a combination 300-head dairy operation and restaurant in Litchfield, CT. The farm decided to send the work to auction, selecting local house Litchfield Auctions, which included it in its June 19 Art, Antiques and Design sale. Estimated at $10,000-$15,000, Croquet soared to $32,000 ($41,600 with buyer’s premium), more than doubling its high estimate.
VALPARAISO, IN — Kraft Auction Service’s June 21 Summer Motorcycle and Advertising sale featured more than 1,000 lots in a single session — no small feat from an auction house’s perspective. Kraft used a generic $25-$10,000 estimate for every lot, but the house did feature this 1930s-era Harley-Davidson single-sided porcelain ‘shield’ sign as one of their most anticipated lots.
Bidders agreed. The opening bid was for $10,000 and floor competition kept driving the price skyward, finally coming to rest at an amazing $22,000 ($26,400 with buyer’s premium). Measuring 5ft by 2ft, the monumental sign was the leading Harley-Davidson lot, which included items from across the brand’s storied 120-plus-year history.
