Günther Förg’s (Swiss/German, 1952-2013) untitled 1988 acrylic on lead over wood, 94½ by 65 inches unframed, sold for the highest price of day two, and all three days, for $107,100 ($80/100,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
EAST DENNIS, MASS. — Eldred’s conducted its three-day fall auction event, The Fall Sale, at its Cape Cod headquarters between November 19-21, offering 755 lots spanning various categories. With an 80 percent sell-through rate across the three days, the sale garnered $1.34 million.
President Josh Eldred commented, “I was very pleased overall, with a strong sell-through rate and performance of the top lots, as only a handful of the sale’s premier lots did not find new homes. Overall, the sale was largely comprised of fresh-to-the-market material and the top material brought strong prices. More modest material remains steady, but also a great opportunity for new collectors to enter the market. I was particularly pleased with the bowie knife [the top lot of day one] and pleasantly surprised by Canadian furniture.”
Cheryl Stewart, head of marketing, offered a few words on the bidding pool, explaining, “There were 451 registered bidders — this number includes phone, absentee, in-person and successful online bidders. This also includes several international bidders. The total number of people participating online is harder to discern, but about 13,000 were approved to bid.”
Day one was led by this silver- and gold-mounted presentation gentleman’s bowie knife by Michael Price, 10½ inches long, believed to have descended from a Mr Gibson of Nashua, N.H., who was a California gold rush miner. It sliced down a $63,000 finish ($5/10,000).
Day one, featuring almost 300 lots of sporting and marine art, decorative arts, furniture, rugs and other collectibles, was led by a silver- and gold-mounted presentation gentleman’s bowie knife crafted by Michael Price. Stewart noted that it was “One of the more hotly contested lots of the day, with a few phone bidders and online bidders chasing it to the final $63,000, sold to one of the phone bidders, a Texas collector.” She explained further, “It came from a southeastern New England collection and was consigned through our office in Mystic, Conn. It’s very similar to another Gold Rush-era knife, possibly the same maker, that we sold in 2023.”
While better known for his decoys, A. Elmer Crowell also painted sporting art, including “Duck and Goose Blind,” an oil on board that was shot down for $25,200. “This lot also had significant online, phone and absentee bidding, eventually selling to the trade bidding on LiveAuctioneers,” said Stewart. “The painting came out of a Cape Cod estate and was painted months before Crowell died.”
A Canadian green-and-gray-painted pine cupboard earned the highest price of more than 40 lots of furniture at $27,720, far surpassing its $1,000 high estimate. The Nineteenth Century example had two paneled doors, which enclosed a single shelf, as well as a scrolled skirt and tapered legs. A very similar Nineteenth Century Canadian red-painted pine cupboard — this one with two drawers set over two paneled doors — followed closely behind at $25,200 ($1/1,500).
“All the action on this was online, eventually selling to the trade bidding on LiveAuctioneers. It came from a southeastern Massachusetts seller,” said Cheryl Stewart of this Nineteenth Century Canadian green-and-gray-painted pine cupboard, 32 inches high by 41 inches wide by 19½ inches deep, which made $27,720 ($500-$1,000).
Nearly 75 lots of decorative arts were led by a Northwest Coast carved wooden storyteller’s mask, which bested a $2,5/3,500 estimate to make $10,710. It “came from the collection of Bob and Nina Hellman of Nantucket,” shared Stewart. “Hellman noted that it was a Kwakiutl tribal speaker’s (storyteller’s) mask used in a potlach, a traditional ceremonial feast, and it was purchased in Haines, Alaska, in 1973. All competition was online, and it was purchased by a West Coast buyer bidding on our website.”
Day two — which honed in on furniture, decorative and fine arts and more rugs — yielded the highest price overall, for an untitled 1988 acrylic on lead over wood painting by Günther Förg. The consignor, a Cape Cod collector, purchased the work from Luhring Augustine Gallery (New York City), and it sold to an overseas bidder on “an old-fashioned absentee bid left here with the auction house,” said Stewart, for $107,100.
A Louis Vuitton steamer trunk made in the early Twentieth Century more than doubled the high end of its $3/5,000 estimate at $11,340. “A phone bidder prevailed against stiff online competition. It came from a southeastern Massachusetts seller. Vintage Louis Vuitton is always popular,” said Stewart.
Adorned with the “LV” monogram and bearing a tan label with “RFR 7 In Bond To Providence” stenciled in black, this Louis Vuitton steamer trunk closed shut for $11,340 ($3/5,000).
Slightly less than half of the lots offered on day two were in the furniture category, including several pieces by Eldred Wheeler, which earned top prices. A tiger maple desk with a central long drawer and pedestals with paneled sides ($7,560), a tiger maple king-sized canopy bed ($5,355) and a tiger maple bonnet-top secretary in two parts ($5,040), all by Wheeler, found new homes.
“While it wasn’t a ‘top seller,’ lot 5488 was one of the more interesting pieces in this session,” explained Stewart. “It was an album of collages, mostly made from used postage stamps, but also stickers, postcards, currency, photos and other ephemera, kept by Edward Vogel of Dedham, Mass. The collages depicted national events, historic figures, holidays and much more — Amelia Earhart, the 1899 America’s Cup, the USS Maine, etc. It’s fascinating to leaf through and was a staff favorite. It sold on the phone for $4,355.”
The third and final day of the sale focused primarily on art, with 216 of the 218 lots on offer falling into the category. A bronze by Adolph Alexander Weinman, titled “Chief Black Bird, Ogalalla Sioux,” landed within its $40/60,000 estimate, at $44,100, to earn the highest price of the day. The 17-inch-tall work had a Roman Bronze Works foundry mark on its base.
Selling over the phone for $44,100 was Adolph Alexander Weinman’s (American/German, 1870-1952) bronze “Chief Black Bird, Ogalalla Sioux” ($40/60,000).
“We were thrilled to see two Mumford’s break the previous auction records, with the top one more than doubling it,” said Eldred of Elizabeth Mumford’s “When A Man Comes To Like A Sea Life, He Is Not Fit To Live On Land.” The work bore a label for Tree’s Place Gallery (Orleans, Mass.) and realized $37,800. “We have noticed a huge surge in in interest for Liz Mumford’s work in the past few years. This one was a quintessential example, which came from a consignor down South and sold to an Eldreds.com bidder from Massachusetts,” added Stewart.
Anne Packard was represented by just four lots, including “Red Dory” ($30,240). “At 25 by 30 inches, this was a somewhat unusual but desirable size for the artist, who tends to do either small works or very large ones,” said Stewart. “It saw fierce online competition, with an Invaluable bidder finally winning out.”
Stewart shared another painting that drew attention, saying, “I think another interesting result from this session was Robert Remsen Vickrey’s ‘Sister Celestine.’ It was a very typical example of the artist’s work, with a nun in a cornette and a butterfly against a blue ground. This one came from a Cape Cod collection and sold online to a California buyer for $10,710 on a conservative $2/3,000 estimate.”
Eldred’s next sale, British + Continental Art, is January 8. Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 508-385-3116 or www.eldreds.com.
