BOONTON, N.J. – Leaping into the lead at Millea Bros two-day “Select” sale June 4-5 was Konstantin Somov’s (Russian, 1869-1939) “An Old Ballet,” which pirouetted from an estimate of $70/100,000 to $531,250 from a trade buyer in London. The work, considered the earliest example of a theme that Somov returned to repeatedly, had been exhibited in “Russian Art Exhibition” at Grand Central Palace in New York City in 1924, auctioned at Anderson Galleries in 1926 and had been in a private collection ever since, its whereabouts unknown.

The lot was far and away the highest price, with the second and third highest prices – $41,250 and $40,000 – achieved for a ceremonial canoe-form inlaid figural bowl from the Solomon Islands and a Papuan Gulf gope board, respectively.

An extensive recap of the sale will follow in a future issue.