Ivey-Selkirk Celebrated 175 Years With A Winter Gallery Auction

ST LOUIS, MO.

:Ivey-Selkirk Auctioneers celebrated its 175th year as the oldest auction house in the Midwest and one of the oldest locally owned businesses with a Winter gallery auction held on December 3 and 4, at 7447 Forsyth. Ivey-Selkirk sold more than 700 lots of fine art and antiques and achieved a total result of $1,103,390. All prices quoted include the buyer's premium.

The headliner for this auction was the "Autumn Aspens" oil on canvas by Oscar E. Berninghaus, (American, 1874-1952), that sold for $151,000 to a very active telephone bidder.

Another American artist, Frederick Oakes Sylvester, was represented by four oil paintings in the sale that sold from $5,000 to $8,500. Sylvester is best known for his lyrical paintings of the Mississippi River Valley; he lived in St Louis beginning in 1892.

Continental art, specifically Italian paintings, doubled and tripled their presale estimates.

A Nineteenth Century painting of a vast landscape with shepherdess and cattle by G. Segantini, tripled its presale estimate to sell for $23,000 to an East Coast telephone bidder. An elegant painting of cherubs, measuring 36 by 49 inches, attributed to Andrea Vaccaro (Italian, 1598-1670), sold for $8,625. An additional Italian oil painting by Giorgio Lucchesi (1855-1941), bearing an exhibition label from the Associatione Nationale Degli Artisti, Florence, sold for $20,700. This painting, dated 1923, depicts a still life with a basket dripping colorful grapes and apples placed on a ledge.

A set of 12 rare George II mahogany dining chairs doubled its presale estimate to sell for $72,900. These chairs were originally purchased from Frank Partridge & Sons, Ltd, in 1933 by a prominent St Louis family for $6,400, exactly one-tenth of the gavel price on December 4. The chairs were formerly from the collection of S.B. Joel and of Sir Blundell Maple.

An important American fine and rare Chippendale period cherrywood long case clock by Jacob Young, Elizabeth-Town, Md., estimated to sell between $15,000 and $20,000, sold for $46,000, returning to its origins on the East Coast.

Among the highlights in Continental decorative arts, glass and sculpture was a beautiful decorated Austrian Lobmeyer enamel glass service of 54 pieces. Each gold rimmed piece was decorated with colorful polychrome enamel figural reserves and flowers. The entire service was estimated at $4/5,000; it sold for $10,925.

An elegant marble female allegorical figure by Batachi of Florence, standing at 76 inches tall, tripled it estimate at $29,900 and an exceptional Austrian enamel cornucopia vase depicting mythological and classical scenes on a robin's-egg blue and black ground and mounted with jeweled and enameled bronze sold for $24,150, quadruple its estimate.

Rare, turn-of-the-century Oriental carpets invited competitive bidding in the rug department. A fine French Aubusson flatweave palace carpet in the Louis XV style on a pale celadon field, circa 1860, sold for $10,120 to a local floor bidder. An unusual and fine Manchester wool Luristan room rug, circa 1930, exceeded estimate to sell for $10,925. This carpet came from a weaving region south of Hamadan, which extends into North Luristan.

Ivey-Selkirk is now accepting consignments for its spring auction, scheduled for March 25-26. For further information, 314-726-5515, 800-728-8002 or iveyselkirk.com.