Native American Items Held Center Stage At John Moran Auction

PASADENA, CALIF.

:John Moran's recent auction was the perfect sale to launch online bidding for its antique and estate auctions, giving both national and international collectors the opportunity to bid on and buy a selection of Native American lots that were the highlight of the sale.

Moran's Fine Art auctions have been carried live online but this was the first of Moran's antiques sales to go on the Internet and it had a significant impact. There were 270 registered floor bidders and more than 750 registered online bidders from 46 states and 18 foreign countries. The competitive bidding between the floor and Internet drove the total gross sales figure to $370,800-plus on the 250 lots sold.

Drawing great national attention from collectors of Native American historical items was a late Nineteenth Century Chilkat dance blanket and a circa 1870 Navajo second phase chief's blanket. The Chilkat dance blanket came to the block with a presale estimate of $30/40,000.

Owner/auctioneer John Moran opened the bidding at $15,000 and it went off in heated bidding to a final hammer of $56,675 to a phone bidder. Just a few lots later, the Navajo second phase chief's blanket also opened at $15,000 with the same presale estimate. It did not take long for a bidding war to ensue, clinching a final sale price of $50,850.

A surprise in the Native American session was an Apache basket woven in an intricate geometric design. The bidding opened on this lot at $900 and very quickly soared to hammer at $3,390 to a phone bidder.

While the Native American session of the March 21 sale was indeed a highlight, the selection of very fine antique furniture and decorative arts drew strong bidding and solid sale numbers as well. Two pieces from Newcomb College soared well past estimate. The first, a signed blue and green glazed pottery bowl had a presale estimate of $700/900.

The bidding opened at $500 and this piece soared to $1,495. The next lot, a Newcomb College blue glazed creamer opened at $300 and very quickly hammered at $1,140, selling to an Internet bidder.

An Arts and Crafts style copper glazed vase signed Clewell Canton, Ohio, No. 813, had a presale estimate of $400/600, opened at $800 and landed on a final selling price of $1,495 to an absentee bidder.

In a time when the trend in antique furniture is said to be moving away from large ornate wood pieces, John Moran proved this trend wrong when an Italian Renaissance walnut dining suite comprised of an 84-inch-long dining table with six leaves, a sideboard, a serving table, two armchairs and ten side chairs sold for $24,850. The dining table bore a plaque inscribed "California Furniture of Los Angeles/Broadway 644-645."

Like all John Moran auctions, the March 21 sale was held at the Pasadena Convention Center. For the first time, it was also live online through eBay Live Auctions/Live Auctioneers. Prices include the buyer's premiums of 15 percent for floor, phone, and absentee bidders and 20 percent for Internet bidders.

For information, www.johnmoran.com or 626-793-1833.