The success of John Moran’s July 28 fine antiques and estate sale proved that even in a difficult economy buyers are seeking exceptional items with undiminished enthusiasm. The two-session sale featured an intriguing mix of estate property, encompassing silver, porcelain, Western and Native American, Continental paintings, Modern art, jewelry and Russian icons.
Moran’s afternoon Discovery session, an uncataloged sale designed for the local market and open to floor bidding only, yielded such treasures as a magnificent pair of Nineteenth Century Meissen porcelain table lamps modeled after two of the Four Seasons, which realized $1,840. Doubling the high end of its presale estimate, a hand painted porcelain plaque depicting the Mother and Child realized $1,840, while an eight-piece lot of glass scent bottles, which included some Lalique and was estimated at $500/700, sold for $1,150.
Discovery sale silver offerings were plentiful, including English and Continental sterling, and Dutch, German and Mexican silver. A group of 20 Buccellati sterling silver serving utensils, the first of several Buccellati offerings, brought $1,725. In all, more than 150 lots were offered in the Discovery auction, and 85 percent of them sold.
The cataloged evening sale performed similarly well, with a continuation of the strong porcelain and silver sales seen in the earlier session. Silver in animal forms was a minor theme of the evening, and a popular one. A pair of sterling Buccellati candlesticks in a sinuous baroque-style dolphin form realized $3,738. A pair of German silver pheasants, probably from Augsburg, attracted a great deal of attention, and deservedly so. Estimated at $800․1,200, the realistic game birds, displaying detailed modeling and a wonderful sense of movement, became the object of fierce competitive bidding that brought their final price to $2,875. Realizing $2,185 was a pair of jointed, Buccellati-style sterling lobsters.
Among the porcelain offerings was a Berlin KPM plaque depicting a beauty, Clementine, after a work by C. Kiesel. This sublime work in an ornately carved gilt frame inspired a frenzy of telephone and Internet bidding, achieving a final price of $19,550.
An impressive price of $17,250 was paid for a pair of monumental Sevres-style porcelain vases decorated with scenes from Napoleon’s campaigns that were mounted as lamps.
Russian items continue to pull a large audience. Generating a great deal of presale interest were seven Russian icons ranging in estimates from $500 to $1,500. Two thought to date from the Seventeenth or Eighteenth Centuries performed particularly well. A calendar icon depicting the Resurrection and one depicting St George and the Dragon each realized $4,600.
Meanwhile, a watercolor portrait of a woman in a Russian folk costume by Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky (1839‱915) more than tripled its high estimate, selling for $9,775.
The eclectic character of this auction is made clear by some of the other highlights. An acrylic on canvas measuring 76 by 86 inches by noted American artist Robert Natkin (b 1930), titled “Abstract Strips,” sold for $11,500. A “Cod Fish” map of North America by Herman Moll dating from circa 1720 brought $1,725, while a morion helmet with comb, believed to have originated in Germany in the late Sixteenth or early Seventeenth Century, sold for $3,450, triple its estimate.
Ninety pieces of Saint Louis Thistle gilt glass stemware were divided into three lots that brought an aggregate price of $11,213. The fine jewelry offerings included an Art Deco platinum ring set with a 1.85-carat diamond that sold well at $6,900. Finally, two works by Edward S. Curtis (1868‱952), a bluetone and an orotone, sold for $2,070 and $1,955, respectively.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium.
John Moran Auctioneers’ next two-session fine antiques and estates auction will be conducted Tuesday, September 29. The no-reserve Discovery session (sold to the room only) will begin at 3 pm and the fully cataloged evening session at 6:30. For information, www.johnmoran.com or 626-793-1833.
