Fuller’s Fine Art Auction’s West Mount Airy location was packed with lively bidders from the trade as well as the general public for its October 3 sale of works of art from the estate of Betty Gordon and various private collections. A great success, according to the firm, the auction achieved 34 percent above its high estimate with a less than three percent buy-in rate. Bidders from across the United States and from 17 other countries participated in person, by phone and online.
The sale featured the collection of notable Philadelphia collector and patroness Betty Lacey Gordon. Gordon’s commitment to helping persons with emotional, developmental and educational disabilities through her support of the Devereux Foundation was paramount. Proceeds from Fuller’s sale of items from Gordon’s estate will ultimately support Devereux’s mission to change lives and nurture human potential.
Gordon’s collection of fine and decorative arts reflected her wide-ranging interests from Impressionism to Pennsylvania folk art. Highlights from the Impressionist group of paintings were a Blanche Hoschedé-Monet painting, “La Meule (The Haystack),” which fetched $50,150 from a phone bidder. An oil painting titled “Environs de Giverny” made in 1921 by American Impressionist Theodore Earl Butler brought $35,400 from an online bidder.
A surge of excitement permeated the room when auctioneer Jeffrey P. Fuller opened a 1985 pastel and watercolor on paper, “Diptych,” by Joan Mitchell measuring only 6¼ by 5¾ inches (each sheet) with 11 competing telephone bidders. In the end, the Mitchell brought $26,550 †more than three times its estimate of $5/7,000. A 1928 signed and numbered Pablo Picasso lithograph, “Visage,” also caused a stir. The image depicting Picasso’s young lover, Marie-Thérèse Walter, sold for an impressive $44,250.
From Gordon’s extraordinary folk art collection, “Two Doves” by sculptor William Edmondson sold for $35,400. Gordon’s collection of Pennsylvania folk arts incited strong bids as well. An exceptional bird tree sculpture created in 1997 by Daniel and Donna Strawser and measuring 43 inches high sold for $825, and a bird tree created by Barbara Strawser’s parents, Walter and June Gottshall, brought $650. A hand painted and stenciled chest of drawers from Seven Hills Road near Winesburg, Ohio, dated to the first half of the Nineteenth Century and brought $4,720, and a corner commode richly embellished with watercolor, silver leaf and lacquer by Max Kuehne sold for $5,015.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium.
On December 5, Fuller’s Fine Art Auctions will present designer jewelry and fashion items from the Gordon estate. The sale will include more than 20 handbags by Chanel and Judith Lieber, jewelry by Tiffany and Cartier, and fine art from hers and other private collections.
For information, 215-991-0100 or www.FullersLLC.com .
