This 60-piece sterling silver flatware service for 12 was made in the Blossom pattern by Georg Jensen and set the table for $21,250, earning top-lot status ($6/8,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
SARASOTA, FLA. — Amero Auctions’ 483-lot August Ablaze Sale on August 24 featured everything from fine art to fine silver to a collection of 31 vintage wristwatches and more. “The auction went very well, with energetic bidding from all over the world. We registered the most online bidders for any of our auctions,” explained gallery director Christopher Ball. With a 90 percent sell-through rate, the sale raked in a total of $494,000.
The day was led by a 60-piece sterling silver flatware service for 12 by Georg Jensen, which was the first lot to cross the block. The service, which was in the Blossom pattern, was not monogrammed and weighed approximately 90.6 troy ounces. It far exceeded its $6/8,000 estimate to achieve $21,250. “Lot one was a great surprise,” added Ball. “It sold online with several underbidders.”
The second-highest price of the auction came from the paintings category, beating out 62 other works to realize $11,875. The winning price was awarded to “Bacchanals,” a painting depicting three semi-nude dancing maidens in a field by American artist Robert Van Vorst Sewell. Its provenance to J. Harrison Mills in New York City may have helped it sell close to the high end of its $8/12,000 estimate. The rest of the lots in the category ranged in price from $63 for an allegorical or fantasy depiction of a hooded and robed man with a third eye by Roi Merriman, to $5,625 for a set of four Seventeenth Century Flemish School tavern paintings of “whimsical figures or gnomes.” Seemingly a set, the works included a flute player, a tambourine player, a figure with a gourd and a figure with a jug and goblet.
“Bacchanals” by Robert Van Vorst Sewell (American, 1860-1924), 42¾ by 37 inches framed, danced to $11,875, most likely due to its exhibition provenance ($8/12,000).
Sculptures also did well with bidders, with a Modernist Greek bronze of Alexander the Great standing tall at $5,938 to lead a group of 28 lots. Other notable sculptures included a patinated bronze sculptural bust titled “Hommage a John F. Kennedy,” which was done after Salvador Dalí (Spanish, 1904-1989) ($5,000) and a carved wooden figure of a page boy holding a torchiere in the manner of Valentino Besarel ($3,375).
A Philip and Kelvin LaVerne serpentine-form coffee table in the Chan pattern was the third-highest price of the day, besting its $6/8,000 estimate at $9,375 to sell to a Northeast collector on the phone. The acid-etched and polychrome-decorated brass over wood top rested on bundled bronze tube legs and retained its original shipping label underneath. Two other pieces by the LaVernes were offered and both sold: a coffee table in the Chinese Dance pattern that depicted festivities on an island shoreline made $5,938, while a bronze wall panel with Chinese figures and an ox made $2,125.
Additional furniture highlights highlighted both modern and traditional design. Leading the latter was an Eldred Wheeler bonnet-top secretary bookcase made with tiger maple wood. The upper case had two arched blind doors, while the lower case had a slant-front that opened to a fitted interior with multiple drawers, as well as four even lower graduated drawers. Sold with a copy of its original receipt priced at $11,500, one lucky online bidder from the US scored a deal and took it home for $9,375.
This 90-inch-high bench-made tiger maple bonnet-top secretary bookcase by Eldred Wheeler towered over its $2/3,000 estimate to make $9,375.
Watches were very popular with bidders, with 34 lots offered and only one going unsold. Nearly half of the top 10 highest prices of the day came from the category, beginning with a vintage Omega Seamaster 300 automatic movement wristwatch which sold to an online collector in Austria for $8,125, almost tripling the high end of its $2/3,000 estimate. The watch had a 39-millimeter glass case, a black dial with orange markers and a 6½-inch-long stainless-steel bracelet. Additional high-performing watches included a Piaget 18K gold automatic men’s wristwatch ($6,875) and a vintage Heuer Autavia manual-wind chronograph wristwatch with a black leather band ($6,875).
Jewelry was led by an 18K gold six-link bracelet with bezels set with 1955 Mexican gold five-peso coins. The 7¼-inch-long bracelet weighed approximately 90 grams and went to a new home with an online bidder from the US for $6,875. A 14K yellow gold bracelet with five charms ($4,375) and a 14K diamond and sapphire hinged bangle bracelet ($1,000) were the other two bracelets on offer.
Amero’s next sale will take place November 9 and will include items from a prominent New York collector.
Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 941-330-1577 or www.ameroauctions.com.
