Sales were shining and glittering this past week at auction. Both A.B. Levy Palm Beach and Ahlers & Ogletree auctioned off fine pieces of jewelry with outstanding examples of precious stones. Schmitt Horan & Co chimed in with a pendulum regulator clock with a mahogany case. Andrew Jones planted a Copenhagen porcelain jardiniere and Crumpton’s Sportsman sale produced a Winchester trench gun. Read on for more top lots.
Raven Mask Brings Cultural Lore, Strong Price At Pook & Pook
DOWNINGTOWN, PENN. – Pook & Pook’s Native American Indian and Ethnographic auction was online only and wrapped up on November 16 with a Pacific Northwest Coast Kwakiutl Indian wolf spirit mask taking top honors at $1,764. That price was quite a premium over the $600/800 estimate placed on the mask, which featured ravens and a man’s face on underside. The mask was signed Jason Baker, Alert Bay, and measured 22 inches high by 34 inches long. The artist is from the Coast Salish tribe of the Squamish Nation, British Columbia. According to his artist’s statement, his dream has been to carry on a cultural tradition of bringing knowledge to the people through Northwest Coast Native art and its legends. For more information, www.pookandpook.com or 610-269-4040.
Asian Ideals Combine With Abstraction In Top Selling Work At Swann
NEW YORK CITY – An untitled oil on canvas, circa 1970, by Whanki Kim (Korean, 1913-1974) doubled its high estimate at Swann Auction Galleries’ contemporary art sale on November 17, realizing $60,000. Kim belongs to the first generation of Korean abstract artists, mixing Asian concepts and ideals with abstraction. Like the one featured here, his artworks largely dealt with diverse hues and patterns. His early works were semi-abstract paintings, which allowed viewers to see certain forms, but his later works were more deeply absorbed abstract paintings, filled with lines and spaces. Kim gave this painting to his daughter and it descended to the consignor in a private Florida collection. For information, 212-254-4710 or www.swanngalleries.com.
Bidders Pull The Trigger On Trench Gun In Crumpton Sportman Sale
CRUMPTON, MD. – Crumpton Auction presented its Sportman Sale, which closed on November 15. Leading the firearms was a Winchester model 12 trench gun offered in 12 gauge. A total of 72 bids pushed it from a $10 opening bid to $4,033. The model, once used by the military, is an internal-hammer pump-action shotgun with an external tube magazine. For information, 410-928-3006 or www.crumptonauctions.com.
Irolli Interior Scene Rolls Big At Showplace
NEW YORK CITY – One of the highest prices realized in Auctions at Showplace’s November 20 New York City Estate Auction was $15,000, for an interior genre scene by Vincenzo Irolli (Italian, 1860-1949). The 17½ by 13½ oil on canvas, which was signed and housed in a gilt and gessoed wood frame with shell motif, sold to an Italian bidder. It was one of 280 lots in the sale, which was more than 97 percent sold. For information, 212-633-6063 or www.nyshowplace.com.
A.B. Levy’s Golden, Sapphire & Diamond Circle
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. – On November 17, A.B. Levy’s Palm Beach hosted just less than 200 lots of property from a Boca Raton estate, corporate and public institutions, a Palm Beach gentleman and a prominent Japanese art expert in its Fine Jewels, Art, Antiques and Chinese Jade sale, the last of its fall 2022 season. The crown jewel of these was an 18K yellow gold necklace mounted with multicolor sapphire and diamond collar necklace. These stones were unheated, showing natural colors, and were cut in emerald, pear, oval and marquise shapes with round and brilliant-cut diamonds throughout. The necklace weighed 134.2 grams with 143.14 carats in total stone weight and sold for $84,000. For information, 561-827-0652 or www.ablevys.com.
DuMouchelles Screenprints It Black
DETROIT, MICH. – DuMouchelles conducted its two-day sale of jewelry, fine and decorative arts on November 17-18. Day 2 saw an Andy Warhol screenprint of Mick Jagger as its top lot and the highest selling lot of both sales. Signed by both Warhol and Jagger circa 1975, the screenprint was also numbered 87/250. Jagger was a frequent guest at Warhol’s Factory and their friendship is well documented in photographs from this time. The screenprint sold just under its high estimate at $117,800 ($80/120,000). For information, 313-963-6255 or www.dumouchelles.com.
Ahlers & Ogletree Puts A Ring On It, And How!
ATLANTA, GA. – Ahler’s & Ogletree Auction Gallery presented 470 lots of time pieces and fine jewelry on November 18, consigned from the collections of entertainment attorney and philanthropist Joel Katz and civil rights attorneys and law professors Marjorie and Ralph Knowles. The highest selling lot was from the Katz collection, a three-stone ring mounted with a 7.20-carat, brilliant-faceted oval diamond, set between two shield-cut diamonds each weighed around 1.50 carats. This was quite weighty for a small finger, as the ring was only size 4¾ and modeled on a little finger in the catalog. The ring sold over its $50/75,000 estimate at $78,650. For information, 404-869-2478 or www.aandoauctions.com.
Schmitt Horan & Co Regulates Big Sales
CANDIA, N.H. – On November 20, Schmitt Horan & Co conducted its live sale of rare American and European precision regulators, clocks, watches and antiques. The auction’s top lot was an early Twentieth Century type B astronomical regulator, signed by Munich physicist Sigmund Riefler (1847-1912). Unlike astronomical clocks that track extraterrestrial transits, regulators such as these were pendulum clocks used in observatories for more accurate timekeeping during their observations. Riefler is credited with significantly improving the accuracy of pendulum clocks in the early Nineteenth Century. This example more than doubled its $25/35,000 at $72,000. For information, 603-432-2237 or www.schmitt-horan.com.
Andrew Jones Gets Royal Price For Copenhagen Porcelain Jardiniere
LOS ANGELES – One of the top lots in Andrew Jones Auctions’ 406-lot DTLA Auction on November 22 was a Royal Copenhagen porcelain oval jardiniere, in the Blue Full Lace pattern, circa 1894-1900, which achieved $4,750 against an estimate of $500/700. The piece, 5-5/8 inches tall by 15 inches wide, was considered a rare form with an early date code that was in what the company’s vice president and senior specialist, Aileen Ward, called “remarkably good condition.” A local collector prevailed against competitors. For information, 213-748-8008 or www.andrewjonesauctions.com.
