An advanced Southern baseball collector making their first at-bat bidding at Mid-Hudson Auction Galleries hit a home run with this graded complete set of 1941 baseball cards. It brought $15,000, the top price of the day ($10/15,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Mid-Hudson Auction Galleries
NEW WINDSOR, N.Y. — On October 28, Mid-Hudson Auction Galleries sent about 450 lots under the gavel, including the second part of lots from the Estate of Woodstock, N.Y., artist and photographer Harriet Tannin (1929-2009), as well as some sports collectibles and other property from various other estates.
More than two dozen lots of works by Harriet Tannin from her estate were in the sale, largely group lots of her photos. This landscape was the only oil on canvas piece in the grouping, which helped drive interest in the piece. It was the highest priced work by Tannin in the auction and sold to an online bidder for $313 ($200/300).
A graded group lot and complete set of 72 baseball cards from 1941 sold to what company president, Joanne Grant characterized as a “very advanced baseball collector” from the American South, who had never previously bid with Mid-Hudson and who took the lot to its high estimate of $15,000. Some of the cards in the set included Ted Williams, Mel Ott, P.W. Reese’s rookie card and the only card set to feature cards for all three DiMaggio brothers: Vince, Dom and Joe. Grant shared with Antiques and The Arts Weekly that the seller had taken advantage of consigning it early and they’d been able to promote it broadly, which she said helped to bring the price it did.
An online bidder paid $1,188 for a signed ungraded set of seven 1991 Mickey Mantle cards ($400/600).
A signed seven-card set of Mickey Mantle cards from 1991 that was fresh to the market and was ungraded, from a different seller, also outperformed expectations, bringing $1,188, nearly doubling its high estimate. Each card had been signed in bold blue Sharpee pen.
American art in the sale saw strong results. Leading the category at $14,640 was a winter landscape by Fern Isabel Kuns Coppedge (American, 1883-1951) that Grant said had been consigned for sale from a regular client. The oil on canvas composition found a new home with a buyer in Illinois.
“Winter Evening” by Fern Coppedge, oil on canvas, 22 by 26 inches (framed) sold to a phone bidder from Illinois for $14,640 ($12/18,000).
A charming pastel drawing by Mary R. Williams (American, 1856-1907) depicted the Campo San Zaccaria in Venice. Estimated $200/300, it sold for $1,625 to a woman who had written a book on the artist and who told Grant the scene was familiar to her, that in her mind she could see the artist there.
“I’m shocked it did so well,” said Joanne Grant, about Mary R. Williams’ pastel drawing of the Campo San Zaccaria in Venice, which sold to an expert on the artist for $1,625. Overall, it measured 17 by 22-5/8 inches ($200/300).
One of the lots that received the most presale interest was a 1984 Andy Warhol drawing with vertical red, white and blue color blocks and the portraits of two figures. An online bidder outlasted a phone bidder to win it for $625.
Andy Warhol drawing, signed and dated in pencil, 11¾ by 8-5/6 inches, sold to an online buyer, underbid by a phone bidder, for $625 ($100/150).
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house.
Mid-Hudson Auction Galleries’ next sale is scheduled for November 18. For information, www.midhudsongalleries.com or 914-882-7356.
