: Plucked from the wall of a home where it had descended in a
single family, a rare Martin Johnson Heade oil depicting a
Newbury marsh scene at sunset sold at Shannon's Fine Art on
October 21 for $830,625.
The work became the highest priced painting ever auctioned in
Connecticut.
Estimated at $400/600,000, Gene Shannon smiled broadly when asked
if he thought it would stay within estimates. "There is a lot of
buzz," he said, "and all I am telling everyone is that it is
going to sell." He then leaned in close and quietly and
confidently commented that it was not going to stay in the
estimates.
Bidding opened at $275,000 and bounced back and forth between an
absentee bid and the room for a while, then between a telephone
and the room all the way to a hammer price of $750,000, plus a
tiered 17.5/10 percent buyer's premium.
A complete review will appear in a future issue.
-DSS
