CHICAGO – Massimo Micheluzzi (b.1957-), who began his glassmaking career as a photographer for the Venini factory, has become a name to watch in the modern design market. After years in private collections, his work from the late 1990s and early 2000s, much admired for its use of classic Venetian techniques such as murrine and battuto, is now appearing on the secondary market with some frequency.
Battuto, an Italian word meaning ‘struck’ or ‘beaten’, is the cold-working carving technique that produces the rhythmic channels and grooves that grace many of Micheluzzi’s works. While glass artists typically would employ assistants for such laborious and repetitive tasks, Micheluzzi insists on completing the battuto carving himself.
This 15in tall glass vase dated 2002 generated unforeseen levels of competition when offered at Wright on August 15 with an estimate of $1,500-$2,000. It hammered at $32,000 and sold for $41,920 with buyer’s premium – a record for Massimo Micheluzzi glass at auction.
BIRMINGHAM, UK – The August 29 Watches auction at Fellows included a Rolex Explorer II, reference 1665. Introduced in 1971, the watch was specifically designed for cave explorers who operated in environments of total darkness for long periods of time. Its most distinctive feature is the large orange 24-hour hand, intended to help wearers differentiate between day and night.
The watch struggled commercially as the niche target audience was too small. Low sales and a brief production run meant it is now prized by collectors. Estimated at £8,500-£9,500 ($11,175-$12,490), this example sold for £9,550 ($12,560), or £12,415 ($16,325) with buyer’s premium.
SAN ANTONIO, TX – Leading the August 3 sale at Vogt Auction Texas was this portrait of the early 20th-century champion homing pigeon Texas Star. Against a stark mustard yellow ground, the bird is shown perched on a plinth that lists its winning races in 1906 and 1907 and the name of its owner, Vinck & So of San Antonio, Texas. The 11-by-15in oil on panel is clearly signed ‘MH Paget’ for the British artist Henry Marriott Paget (1856-1936).
Although best known as an illustrator, providing paintings for popular Victorian newspapers such as the Illustrated London News, The Graphic, and The Sphere, he painted a lot of these folksy portraits of champion homing pigeons. Texas Star was estimated at $400-$600 but hammered for $8,500, or $10,625 with buyer’s premium. The picture was part of the collection of Mickey and Barbara Hunter, who spent many years furnishing their historic San Antonio, Texas home as well as at a large warehouse in the Olmos Park neighborhood.
EDINBURGH, UK – The second-largest freshwater pearl ever discovered in Scotland hammered for £75,000 ($98,620) and sold for £98,250 ($129,200) at Lyon & Turnbull on August 21.
Discovered in 1967 by freshwater pearl fisherman Bill Abernethy (1925-2021) in the River Tay near Perth, the pearl weighs 43.6 grains. The only pearl found in Scotland that is larger is the Kellie Pearl, which was discovered in the 1540s and is included in the Scottish Crown.
It has been estimated that about one in 5,000 freshwater pearl mussels in Scotland contains a pearl, but overfishing resulted in them becoming one of the world’s most endangered species. This pearl, known as the Abernethy pearl, would have been growing in its mussel for 80 years before it was found, dating its creation to the 1880s. It was part of the stock of Scottish jewelers Cairncross of Perth, which closed its doors in July 2023 after 154 years of trading. The estimate was £40,000-£60,000 ($52,600-$78,900).
MIDDLE CLAYDON, UK – This 6in lithographed tinplate motorcycle, offered for sale at Claydon Auctioneers on August 18, is the early work of Georg Levy, or GeLy of Nuremburg, Germany. His firm operated from 1920 until 1932 when, like other toymakers of Jewish descent under the Nazi regime, he was no longer permitted to work at his own company. GeLy later became the Nuremberg Tin Toy Factory.
Levy produced many clockwork tinplate motorcycles. Those from the early 1930s are seen with some frequency, but the toys from the early 1920s are much harder to find. This well-presented example, with its gentleman driver, lady pillion, and a child passenger in the sidecar, appeared at auction with an estimate of just £100-£150 ($130-$200). It hammered at £9,000 ($11,830) and sold for £11,385 ($14,965) with buyer’s premium.
