This Tiffany & Co., Art Deco 18K gold, diamond and ruby bracelet brought some bling to the sale, ringing out at $6,250 to an online bidder ($3/6,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
CAMDEN, S.C. — Jeremy Wooten, reached by phone the day after Wooten & Wooten’s January 18 New Year Catalogue Auction, was upbeat, telling us, “It was a really good, consistent sale.” It has been three months since the firm’s last sale, which featured the Natural Bridge, Va., collection of Peg and Lloyd Braford. In this sale, the house was offering more property from the Braford collection alongside items sourced from private collections in Arkansas, Virginia, Georgia and North Carolina as well as others in-state. More than 2,800 online bidders joined an in-house crowd of 60 during the sale, which achieved a total just short of $500,000.
Jewelry was a category offered early in the day and a Tiffany & Co., Art Deco 18K gold, diamond and platinum cuff bracelet had one of the highest prices of the day. Wooten said it generated a lot of inquiries prior to the sale and sold above estimate to an online bidder, for $6,250.
A selection of Eighteenth Century Charleston, S.C., furniture that was consigned just before the sale had uneven results, possibly because the house might have promoted them better with more time to do so. Also garnering a lot of attention, and achieving the highest of the group at $5,760, was a carved mahogany tea table attributed to Charleston, S.C., circa 1770. Wooten noted that it “is a very identifiable form” but that furniture from Charleston benefits substantially by having family provenance.
“Elegant Water Garden” by Kent Wallis was one of four works by the artist in the sale. Painted in oil on canvas and measuring 46 by 58½ inches in a giltwood frame, it sold to an online buyer for $5,500 ($1,5/2,000).
The fine art category featured four works by contemporary Utah painter, Kent Wallis (b 1945), all of which came to Wooten from an estate in Hilton Head, S.C. All sold to online bidders, with “Elegant Water Garden” achieving the most: $5,500.
Silver kicked off the sale and a number of the highest prices were from the category, which reached its apex at $4,560, for a set of four American Classical coin silver serving platters. Made circa 1840 by William Adams of New York, each was chased with a single family’s coat of arms. The set had provenance to the collection of a Marion, S.C., gentleman and will be going to a new home in Charlotte, N.C.
An antique Chinese bronze seated Quan Yin that measured 47 inches tall and dated to the Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century was part of the Braford Collection and achieved $4,560 from a local Camden collector who was bidding in the room. Interest in a group of three Chinese porcelain plaques or panels, also from the Braford collection, rose to $3,960 and will be going to a new home with a phone bidder in London.
A bidder in the room paid $4,560 for this Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century Chinese bronze Quan Yin from the Braford collection ($1/2,000).
A gentleman in Camden, Ark., (not South Carolina) sent in a small collection of antique carpets that saw several high fliers. Unrolling to $5,040 was a Persian Serapi carpet that measured 12 feet 11 inches by 9 feet, retained deep colors throughout and dated to the Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century.
Institutional bidders came to the table with one bidding online shelling out $3,375 for William Hemingway’s 1819 hand-drawn survey map of a South Carolina plantation called “Asylum” on the banks of the Pee Dee River. It had provenance to a private collector in Charlotte, N.C.
Wooten & Wooten’s next sale is scheduled for Sunday, April 6.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 866-570-0144 or www.wootenandwooten.com.
