: - Nearly 2,000 lots of paintings, Americana, Victoriana, jewelry
and folk art were sold during an action-packed, three-day auction
presented by James Julia during his annual event at the Samoset
Resort this past week.
The auction, which took place August 20-22, was subject to a
great deal of action from the capacity crowd and telephones
bidders with numerous hefty prices paid throughout the sale.
The two highest-priced items came on the third day of the
auction, with a Walt Kuhn painting of a clown selling first at
$149,500 after a battle between nine telephone bidders, three of
whom were active till the end.
The Kuhn was thought to be a preliminary painting for work that
recently sold at Sotheby's for record price of $1.1 million. The
painting carried an interesting history, having been bequeathed
from Vera Kuhn to the Sloan Kettering Institute, where it
eventually wound up in its thrift shop and was purchased less
than two years ago for $2,500.
The Walt Kuhn painting, at $149,500, had been purchased from a
thrift shop within the last two years for $2,500.
The top lot of the auction came moments later as a rare
Alexander Roux walnut Victorian carved server with life-size dog
supports was offered. The piece was elaborately carved with a deer
mount above the lower shelf, a hanging grouse on the pierce carved
crest, ornately carved grape and leave scrolls across the aprons,
and an oak leaf and acorn pattern on the front panel.
The server was called a "masterpiece" by Julia's American
antiques specialist Bill Gage, who further commented that it was
undoubtedly "one of Roux's finest works."
As with the Kuhn lot, every phone in the hall, including numerous
cellular phones, was in use as the server crossed the auction
block. It opened for bidding at $15,000 and moved rapidly in
$5,000 increments all the way to a final selling price of
$189,750 (prices include the 15 percent buyer's premium charged).
A complete review of the auction will appear in a future issue.
