“A most unusual kind of yard sale” was how ABC News’ Good Morning America described Kodner Galleries’ May 20 and 21 auction. Some of the richest families in America woke up one morning last December to learn that they were broke as a result of the Bernard Madoff hedge fund scandal †and at least five such families living in Southern Florida subsequently turned to Russ Kodner and his auction house staff to help them sell precious family treasures and raise some badly needed cash.
Featured in what the firm advertised as the Bernie Madoff Victims Auction were items from several estates of the Ponzi schemer’s “fully invested” marks, as well as personal property from other collections. “We had a total of about 75 lots within the nearly 650-lot auction that were from Bernie Madoff victims,” said gallery owner Kodner. The event created a media feeding frenzy, with television crews from Good Morning America, Inside Edition and The Today Show converging on the gallery to record the schadenfreude inherent in such an offering. Kodner said he is more used to a crowd of about 100 to 150 in the gallery, but this sale attracted some 250 bidders and rubber-neckers, along with six different news crews, including reporters from The New York Post, The Washington Post and the Miami Herald .
One online blog recounted how one NBC-TV news reporter got swept up in the action and actually placed a bid on †and won †an antique desk, a story that was confirmed by Kodner.
“It was the best assortment of goods in a long time,” stated the auctioneer.
The auction hit its highest note with a vintage 70-carat diamond, emerald and platinum lady’s necklace, which wound up selling to a floor bidder who lives in Hollywood, Fla., for $88,500. “It started at $50,000. I thought it would go to $100,000,” said Kodner. The unsigned necklace featured approximately 70 carats of round, marquise, baguette and square cut diamonds of F-G color and VS clarity. Its 16 carats of Colombian emeralds gave it an intense blueish green color.
Jewelry was clearly an area of interest as a 4.07-carat emerald cut diamond and 18K yellow gold lady’s ring fetched $22,420. Featuring an emerald cut center stone with GIA certificate, the ring also had 34 diamonds weighing approximately 3.50 carats and 22 sapphires weighing approximately 2 carats.
Also, an Art Deco platinum, diamond and sapphire lady’s ring, unsigned with a center diamond weighing approximately .85 carats and sapphires weighing approximately 12 carats went out at $7,080.
Dispatching the family jewels was only part of the action. A trove of Marc Chagall (French, 1887‱985) lithographs collectively brought more than $50,000. First up was one titled “Daphnis and Chloe: Arrival of Dionysophanes,” circa 1960. It was signed in pencil lower right, with limited edition 31/60 in pencil lower left. Measuring 18½ by 14 inches, it sold for below its low estimate at $11,800. That was followed by a work after Chagall, a color lithograph “The Magic Flute,” circa 1967, that went out at $22,420. Realizing nearly as much, $21,240, was “Carmen,” printed by Charles Sorlier, circa 1967.
A work by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881‱973), an etching and drypoint titled “Recordant el Doctor Reventos,” signed by the artist lower right and presented in an 185/8-by-145/8-inch frame, realized $6,372, while an oil on canvas painting, possibly by Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin (Russian, 1836‱886), “Locomotive Turning the Bend” powered past its $6/8,000 presale estimate to a final price of $16,520.
Attributed to Alexander Calder (American, 1898‱976), gouache on Arches paper “Suns and Planets,” 1976, had been purchased in 1978 at Irving Galleries, Palm Beach, Fla., according to the gallery. It was estimated $10/15,000 and sold for $15,340. A small oil on board painting by Mariano José María Bernardo Fortuny y Carbó (Spanish, 1838‱874) titled “Odalisques” did $3,068.
Additional art standouts were Jehudith (Judyta) Sobel’s (Polish American, b 1924) oil on canvas “Boats in Harbor,” 1961, 30 by 36 inches, which garnered $3,540, and an oil on board by American artist Samuel Barber (b 1943), “Summer Breeze,” 1984, which lofted to $3,776.
Kodner expected an oil on cradled panel work after Sir Joshua Reynolds (British, 1723‱792), “Kitty Fisher Doves” to make $4/6,000, but the 35¼-by-27¼-inch work stopped at $3,540.
Hitting its high estimate was a circa 1925 bronze sculpture by American artist Harriet Whitney Frishmuth (1880‱980), “Rhapsody,” a gamboling couple with Gorham Company Foundry mark atop a marble base, measuring 15¾ inches overall, sold for $30,680.
Two other sculptures †these in marble †fell within their presale estimates. A Nineteenth Century marble sculpture of two chubby draped children with a lamb, mounted on a gray marble base with bronze mounts, 155/8 inches tall, was $3,540. Going out of the gallery at $8,260 was Emile Carlier’s (French, 1849‱927) “Allegory of Winter,” circa 1872 and 34 inches tall.
A fairly large collection of carved coral brought stronger than expected prices. One example, with beautiful deep orange color and mounted on a wooden base, 8½ inches tall, settled at $3,068 against an estimate of $800․1,200. Another example blew way past its $1/1,500 estimate to bring $8,260. Kodner said that of the eight pieces of carved coral offered, several went six to eight times over their estimate.
The better French furniture also did well. An important Nineteenth Century French marquetry and parquetry inlaid Louis XV tulipwood commode with marble top and bronze mounts went out at $16,520. And a Nineteenth Century French ebonized marble top cabinet with bronze mounts and Sevres plaques brought $5,900.
In decorative accessories, a Daum Nancy fire polished and carved cameo “Thistle” art glass vase, circa 1900, reached $9,735. A Nineteenth Century or earlier French bronze inlaid boulle bracket clock chimed at $4,720. They had been electrified, but a pair of Nineteenth Century French dore bronze six-light matched candelabra were still in good condition. They also brought $4,720.
Carved Nineteenth Century Chinese elephant ivory tusks excited bidders. Four lots of them were offered successively, with prices ranging from $7,000 to nearly $30,000.
Another Nineteenth Century work, this one an intricately carved Continental ivory knight figure triptych with a moveable helmet that opens to reveal a royal procession, marched to $29,500.
Other sale notables were a signed letter by Protestantism founder Martin Luther (1483‱546) that was dated 1542 and carried an attached watermark of a dagger, which sold for $5,900; a Nineteenth Century Swiss carved and cross-hatched ivory tankard with a frieze of Bacchanalian putti realized $17,700; and from a large selection of dolls offered in the sale, a Kathe Kruse doll #13278, reportedly purchased in Berlin in 1922, finished at $1,888.
Prices include the 18 percent buyer’s premium. For information, 954-925-2550 or www.kodner.com .
