Eight Buddhist emblems decorated this Chinese censer, from the period of and featuring Qianlong reign marks (1736-1795), that had an old label inscribed “Property of Nath’l L Frear III.” A New York City trade buyer won the 11⅛-inch-tall piece for $41,820 ($15/25,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
BEDFORD, N.Y. — “It was a great sale. We had the highest number of registered bidders than for any of our other sales this year. We also had an enormous amount of silver with many people wanting to consign silver — probably because the price of silver is so high now — and we had 15 flatware services, which is the most we’ve ever had in a sale, but the silver didn’t disappoint.”
Such were the reflections of Butterscotch Auction’s appraiser and auctioneer, Brendan R. Ryan, who spoke with Antiques and The Arts Weekly following the firm’s December 7 Reflections of the Season auction, a nearly 550-lot event that realized a total of $831,483. To underscore the importance of the silver on offer, the sale featured more than 100 lots in a broad myriad of forms, from an important Regency silver soup tureen on the cover of the catalog to a 27-pound bag of silver coins with a face value of $500.
At the top of the sale was a Chinese doucai Eight Buddhist Emblems censer that came from an Upper East Side New York City apartment belonging to a 90-year-old woman. Ryan discovered it on her windowsill and recognized its quality, cataloging it as comparable to one offered at Christie’s in Hong Kong in 2023. A trade buyer from New York City paid $41,820 for it.
The auction had a “good number of new bidders,” one of which was in California who purchased for $18,750 this 18K gold necklace that had a 1966 Salvador Dalí two-sided bas-relief medallion ($8/12,000)
Several of the sale’s other top sellers were from the same New York City apartment. These included an 18K gold necklace with a two-sided .950 silver medallion by Salvador Dalí that showed “Dionisius and Unicorn” on one side and “Dionisius and Pallas Athena” on the other. Noted to be from a limited edition run of 500 pieces made by the Paris Mint, the necklace found a new home with a bidder from California, who made this her first Butterscotch purchase, at $18,750.
An online bidder from New York City prevailed over competition on a 22K yellow gold opera-length necklace made by Lalounis, that was from the Greek jeweler’s Minoans & Myceneans’ collection. Also from the same New York City apartment, it was offered with a $9/12,000 estimate and sold for $14,080.
Other jewelry lots of note included a pair of 18K yellow and white brushed gold clip earrings with cabochon purple stones made by Gianmaria Buccellati that were accompanied by their original box and came to auction from a Central Park West (New York City) estate. Their new owner, who won them for $7,040, is in California.
The silver tureen on the catalog’s cover exceeded expectations and came in second place overall, bringing $30,000 from a New York City buyer bidding by phone. The result thrilled the consignor, a Greenwich, Conn., family in which the tureen had descended.
This Regency silver soup tureen, made in the Egyptian Revival style in London circa 1811, bore the marks of Benjamin Smith I and James Smith III, and was the cover lot of the auction. It finished in second place, at $30,000 with a New York City collector bidding by phone ($8/12,000).
Ryan recalled being astonished by the weight of a bag containing approximately 2,000 quarters minted between 1899 and 1964, with most from 1964. Weighing slightly more than 27 pounds, the coins, which had a face value of $500, sold on an absentee bid to a buyer from the Midwest, for $19,690.
Most of the silver in the sale was by well-known makers, but a 102-piece sterling silver flatware service by the midcentury Scandinavian maker Frigast, also from the Upper East Side apartment, surpassed expectations to achieve $7,040 and will be going to a new home in Pennsylvania.
A private collector from New Mexico paid $13,750 for a circa 1480 oil on panel painting of a male figure, cataloged as possibly St Sebastian. The 10⅞-by-8⅛-inch composition had an extensive and well-documented provenance that included two auctions — one in 1955, the other in 1963 — at Parke-Bernet Galleries and three separate galleries.
The sale featured three works by Wolf Kahn (American, 1927-2020), all consigned by the same seller who had known the artist and acquired each of the works from him. Offered consecutively, the three vibrantly-colored landscapes sold for $12,160, $12,800 and $10,880, respectively. The same Massachusetts bidder purchased the first two while an online buyer from New Orleans bought the third.
“Vermont Salt Box” by Wolf Kahn, pastel on paper, 9 by 12 inches in a 16-by-19-inch frame, was the highest selling of three works by Kahn, all of which had been acquired from the artist by the seller. A buyer in Massachusetts won this for $12,800 ($4/6,000).
A few lots in the sale were not previewed in the gallery but visible in-situ and by appointment only. One of these was a group of three Nineteenth Century leaded glass windows that had been made for the Historic Field Hall in Cortlandt Manor, N.Y. Sold to benefit the Field Hall Foundation, “whose mission is to improve the lives of older adults and their caregivers,” the windows went to an online bidder from Texas, for $10,240.
Another lot that was not on view in the Butterscotch Auction gallery was EJ Keeling’s (British, fl 1856-73) “Horses in a Meadow,” an 1871 oil on canvas composition that came from a Bedford Hills, N.Y., seller. Ryan noted that little was known about the artist, but the quality spoke for itself; bidders agreed with this assessment and a bidder from Atlanta it to $8,320 and more than double its high estimate.
An online bidder from Delaware had the winning bid on a seven-piece Russian Imperial tête-à-tête tea service that was consigned by a Scarsdale, N.Y., seller. Estimated at $1/2,000, it realized $6,400.
Butterscotch Auction’s next sale will take place in March, date TBA.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 914-764-4609 or www.butterscotchauction.com.
