A Hayley Lever oil on canvas depicting Marblehead Harbor brought more than double the presale estimates at Shannon’s Fine Art Auction this past week, Thursday May 6.
The circa 1915 painting, which illustrated the Modernist direction that Lever embarked on early in his career, carried an estimate of $30/50,000. Bidding on the lot was brisk; the painting opened at $18,000, with virtually all of the action initially coming from bidders in the room. The lot advanced quickly, first in $2,000 increments to the $50,000 mark, and then in $5,000 advances, with most of the action coming from the floor till the $65,000 mark.
At $70,000, one of the 14 telephones that were poised for bidding jumped into the fray and battled back and forth with a bidder seated in the middle of the gallery. At $85,000 the bidder in the room dropped from the action and the phone hit the lot at $90,000, a second phone hit it at $95,000 and the original phone bidder countered at $100,000, where the lot was claimed for $115,625, including premium.
Other top lots included a David Johnson landscape at $105,750, a small Thomas DeWing pastel at $56,400, a David Burliuk oil at $58,750, an Edward Henry Lamson $58,750 and a John Henry Twachtman sold for $64,625.
A complete review will appear in a future issue.
-DSS
