Nothing makes a collector’s home more complete than a piece of fine or decorative art and a collectible or two. Many of the top-selling lots this week fell under one of these three categories. For fine art, a portrait of Mrs Luther Greene by Salvador Dalí brushed the winning stroke for $720,000 at Clars; at Brunk a decorative art Norwegian Dragestil Viking Revival hand mirror achieved $36,900 and, for collectibles, an autographed Babe Ruth baseball card hit a home run for $20,000 at Freedom Bidders. Read on to learn more about these and other top-selling lots of the week below.
SJ Auctioneers Goes Global With Online Father’s Day Auction
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — An online-only Father’s Day auction featuring 150 lots of décor items, vintage trains and toys, sterling silver, estate jewelry and more was conducted on June 16 by SJ Auctioneers. Internet bidding was via LiveAuctioneers.com. Notable was a Buccellati sterling silver and parcel-gilt Millennium Globe, a limited edition, which came with its original box. It sold for $4,160. The piece featured an olive tree that enfolds a handcrafted silver globe bearing parcel-gilt continents, the idea being that it protects earth’s seven billion inhabitants. It was crowned by a gilt gold dove, the contemporary symbol of peace, and was securely rooted in an ironstone base. The Millennium Globe is a unique collector’s item, limited to only 500 signed and numbered pieces. This particular Millennium Globe was numbered 005/500. For information, www.sjauctioneers.com or 646-450-7553.
‘Lake Project 16’ By David Maisel Takes Cautionary Look At The World We Inhabit
BERKELEY, CALIF. — The collection of John Peter Grossmann (1947-2018) was one of two collections spotlighted in PBA Galleries’ fine photography sale on June 13. Grossmann was the owner and principal of an architecture firm operating in the Bay Area since the 1980s. The sale disgorged David Maisel’s 2003 C-print from Grossmann’s collection, “Lake Project 16,” illustrative of the foreword passage by Robert A. Sobieszek in Nazraeli Press’ The Lake Project by David Maisel: “The traces and marks of human culture are present no matter how far the reaches, how stratospheric the heights or how abysmal the depths. The dystopian has replaced the pastoral, and the dystopian has its own subjective beauty.” The print sold for $7,500. For information, 415-989-2665 or www.pbagalleries.com.
Final ‘Underworld Crime’ Issue Shoots To Top At Bruneau
CRANSTON, R.I. — Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers conducted its Comics, Sports, TCG & Toy auction on June 15, realizing $235,769 with a sell-through rate of 98 percent. Of the 580 lots offered, issue seven of Fawcett Publications’ Underworld Crime from September of 1953 led the sale. The lot received a Certified Guaranty Company (CGC) Universal rating of 4.5 with off-white/white pages. Issue seven was the last within the series, and this example came in a CGC case measuring 13 by 8 inches. It sold to a long-time client of the firm, a collector and dealer from Portland, Ore., for $3,960. For information, 401-533-9980 or www.bruneauandco.com.
Gorham Sterling Silver Plates Load Up At Sloans & Kenyon
CHEVY CHASE, MD. — Eighteen Gorham sterling silver plates constituted the Big Door Prize in Sloans & Kenyon’s May 23 sale. The plates carried a relief border with floral and shell motif. They were monogrammed on reverse “F.G.M.” on each 9¼-inch diameter plate and went out at $6,900. For information, 301-634-2330 or www.sloansandkenyon.com.
McInnis Bidders Flock To Chelsea Bird Dinner Set
AMESBURY, MASS. — On June 23, John McInnis Auctioneers conducted an online-only auction assembled from several North Shore and Cape Ann, Mass., estates. With more than 680 lots of fine art, Oriental rugs, maritime antiques, glass, sports memorabilia and furniture, the sale attracted a diverse bidding pool. The top lot of the sale, an extensive set of Chelsea Birds plates by Mottahedeh, found a buyer at $2,424. The set’s more than 80 pieces — which included 10-inch plates, 8-inch plates, bowls, cups and saucers, serving dishes, pitchers and vases — were all adorned with the Williamsburg revival Chelsea Bird pattern after James Giles. For information, www.mcinnisauctions.com or 978-388-0400.
Salvador Dali Society Portrait Sets West Coast Dali Record
OAKLAND, CALIF. — The 282 lots of fine art featured in Clars’ June 20 Important Summer Fine Art sale featured works by many blue-chip artists, but it was a portrait of Mrs Luther Greene (Bay Area native Ellen Chamberlain) that not only earned the highest price of the sale at $720,000 but was, according to auction house chief executive officer and president, Rick Unruh, the first time a significant Dali work had sold on the West Coast. Commissioned in 1941 and executed in 1942, the 24-by-20-inch oil on canvas had extensive exhibition and publication history and had remained in the Greene family until being consigned to Clars. Unruh confirmed the buyer was a private collector on the East Coast. For information, 888-339-7600 or www.clars.com.
Norwegian Dragestil Viking Revival Mirror Is Fairest At Brunk
ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Brunk Auctions’ approximately 200-lot British & Continental Auction on June 26 was led by a group of seven Dragestil Viking Revival yellow gold dresser implements by silversmith Henrik Moller (1858-1937) that had been auctioned previously by Brunk in 2018 and was divided into three lots. A 22K hand mirror, depicting interlaced strapwork designs with dragons, monsters, figures, birds and animals, achieved the sale’s highest price of $36,900, exceeding the lot’s $20/30,000 estimate. A Norwegian buyer, bidding online, won the mirror and the other two lots of dresser implements. For information, 828-254-6846 or www.brunkauctions.com.
Freedom Bidders Hit Babe Ruth Card Out Of The Park
SARASOTA, FLA. — A rare-to-find autographed Babe Ruth baseball card, certified by PSA/DNA to be in Mint 9 condition, brought $20,000 in Freedom Auction Company’s June 22 Americana Collection sale. The card had been discovered in a vintage album assembled by Jimmy Young of Canisteo, N.Y., in 1947-48. The 12-year-old Young sent cards to players and asked for their autographs. The buyer of the card was a private collector in the United States who was a previous Freedom bidder. It was the top lot of 1,105 offered. For information, 941-725-2166 or www.freedomauctions.com.
Flemish Painting Leads Gutjahr Collection At Tom Hall
SCHNECKSVILLE, PENN. — On June 24, Tom Hall Auctions presented Elizabeth Gutjahr’s Timeless Collection, featuring items from Gutjahr’s Old China Shop and her Clifton, N.J., home. The 233 lots included art glass by L.C. Tiffany, Daum Nancy and other makers; porcelain; Tiffany & Co., sterling silver; paintings and other decorative arts. Earning the highest price was a John Angus (Flemish,1821-1874) painting of a man, woman and young child at home. The work was signed and framed in an ornate gilt frame that was plaqued and measured 20 by 18½ inches. Despite some minor losses to the frame, bidders pushed the painting to $1,093. For information, www.tomhallauctions.com or 610-799-0808.