SANTA FE, N.M. — The third highest auction price ever paid for a San Ildefonso inlay jar by Tony Da (1940-2008) capped Santa Fe Art Auction’s three-day sale on February 11, realizing $61,000, against a $25/35,000 estimate. The turquoise inlay jar with silver lid was studded with Da’s trademark turquoise, heishi, clam shells and silver. It came out of a private Pennsylvania collection and was 12 inches high. Da, whose life was cut short in a motorcycle accident, was called a “rock star” of his craft by King Galleries, breaking cultural barriers as a “modern Indian,” steeped in San Ildefonso Pueblo tradition but living in a contemporary world. A grandson of Maria Martinez and the son of Popovi Da, his precision designs and techniques revolutionized Pueblo pottery and created a new vocabulary for the art. The first sale of the year for Santa Fe Art Auction focused on one of the house’s most renowned areas of expertise, Native American arts, comprising more than 600 lots and totaling nearly $1 million with a 96 percent sell-through by lot. “The top selling lot, a very rare example of Tony Da’s work, was highlighted by Charles King at an educational talk during our Friday night reception,” said Gillian Blitch, chief executive officer at Santa Fe Art Auction. “King co-authored with Richard Spivey the outstanding book, The Life and Art of Tony Da, and pointed out that this pot, featuring Da’s classic blackware with sienna tones, inlaid with turquoise, heishi and clam shell, along with a silver lid, was one of only two such pots Da ever made. The other is in the Philbrook Museum.” Watch for more highlights from this sale in a later review.