March Avery’s modern blue figure, oil on canvas, signed and dated “March Avery ’63,” 21 by 27 inches, sold to a European trade buyer, new to the auction house, for $18,750. It was the highest selling lot of the sale ($5/8,000).

Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Nye & Co.

BLOOMFIELD, N.J. — New bidders and buyers that join an auction house’s list of long-standing clients are an optimistic sign, not only of a healthy market, but also an indicator of longevity for the firm. So, it was good to see that all but one of the top 10 lots at Nye & Co’s Estate Treasures Auction July 26-27 were sold to buyers making their inaugural purchase with the New Jersey house.

The top price of the two-day event was $18,750, realized for a modern blue figure of a nude by March Avery (American, b 1932), which was painted in oil on canvas and dated “’63.” Consigned by a regular client of Nye’s, the 21-by-27-inch work sold to what John Nye said was a “buyer new to us who appears to be part of the European trade.”

Another overseas new buyer — one in China — spent $6,875 and more than triple the high estimate for a Kangxi period (circa 1661-1722) Chinese blue and white gu-form beaker that had been drilled and fitted as a lamp, with a later hardwood stand.

This blue and white gu-form beaker stood 17-3/8 inches tall and more than 19 inches overall with a later hardwood stand. Dating to the late Seventeenth to early Eighteenth Centuries, it found a new home with a buyer in China – new to Nye & Co – for a third-place finish at $6,875 ($1/2,000).

A private collector in Florida had a substantial first- ever invoice — $11,250 — for an 18½-inch-high crystal rooster designed by Marc Lalique around 1953 that was signed “Lalique France.”

Midcentury Modern and contemporary furniture was a strong category overall, with more than 75 lots of Italian furniture for Giorgetti on offer, including seating furniture, case pieces, tables, lamps and even a never assembled closet, new in 20 boxes of various sizes. Exceeding expectations at $6,080 and purchased by a new buyer in the Great Lakes area who purchased about a dozen lots was a “Vittoria” sofa. The 112-inch-long sofa in brown leather was designed by Carlo Colombo and dated to 2013. As to the new-in-the-box closet, it is staying more local and going to a new home in Staten Island, N.Y., to a buyer — also buying for the first time from Nye — who is renovating his house and who Nye said, “will make it fit.” Estimated at just $300/500, it made more than 10 times that at $5,625.

A private collector in New Jersey who was relocating to the West Coast gave Nye two “Soriana” lounge chairs designed by Afra and Tobia Scarpa for Cassina. Nye said she had low expectations ($1/2,000) so was “thrilled” with the $5,313 price paid by a new buyer in Brooklyn.

Two Afra and Tobia Scarpa “Soriana” lounge chairs, made by Cassina by Atelier International, found a new home with a new bidder from Brooklyn, for $4,250 ($1/2,000).

The condition of an Eames lounge chair and ottoman was so good that some buyers questioned the age, and many bidders speculated the lot would sell within its $3/5,000 estimate. A new buyer from North Carolina blew several underbidders away with a final bid of $5,625.

New bidders did not make a clean sweep of the leaderboard. A private collector from Pennsylvania, who John Nye said has been a client of his for a few years and purchased in 26 different auctions, paid $4,375 for a lot of two similar Chinese gilt-metal ancestor figures that were cataloged as Ming dynasty and stood 10½ inches tall.

Antique period furniture saw a Federal inlaid bowfront chest of drawers from Massachusetts and a late Eighteenth Century Boston Queen Anne maple easy chair each sell for $2,125.

Nye & Company’s next sale will take place September 13-14.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house.
For additional information, or www.nyeandcompany.com, info@nyeandcompany.com or 973-984-6900.