Litchfield County Auctions’ (LCA) February 16 online auction on iGavel was one of several very successful auctions that kicked off 2006 for the online website. Overall, the sale was a great success, according to the auctioneer, selling 509 out of 571 lots for a sell-through rate of 89 percent. The 509 items had a combined presale estimate of about $400/600,000 and sold right at the top of that estimate for $600,000.

The sale was very evenly distributed, with many lots reaching or exceeding their presale estimates, but few huge surprises. There was a very good level of property, which buyers recognized, and they bid accordingly. The highest priced single lot was a Tiffany desk set in a rare Spanish pattern that earned $25,200. The result was well above the estimate, but not a total surprise in that Tiffany always does well.

An exciting Old Master painting depicting a battle scene between Christians and Turks doubled its presale estimate of $4/6,000 to finish at $13,800. And a pair of Dutch Italianate Seventeenth Century paintings estimated at $5/8,000 sold for $10,500. There were a great many paintings in the sale that did extremely well, from Old Masters to Nineteenth Century paintings, like the little European School, Nineteenth Century “Town Harbour Scene,” which was estimated at $800-$1,000. It was featured on LCA’s homepage and eventually sold for $6,300. The Marcellin Laporte painting “Boat ride” was estimated at $4/6,000 and brought $8,100.

Pair of large terracotta recumbent figures of lions, possibly Italian, late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Century, sold for $10,530.

One of the most striking lots in the sale was a pair oflife-size terracotta recumbent figures of lions, possibly Italian,that sold above their $5/8,000 estimate, bringing $10,530. What wasparticularly interesting about this sale was that the lions hadbeen offered previously at a major New York auction house wherethey were bought in. The lions were purchased by a Western buyer,who bid for them online and is having them shipped – each oneweighs approximately 500 pounds.

Modern art continues to do well. There was a selection of Modern prints and paintings, including a late pair of Roy Lichtenstein lithographs that made $9,420; of two Jasper Johns “Flag” prints, one sold for $6,600 and the other for $5,640; a Matisse etching fetched $8,100; a series of Motherwell lithographs made $6,900; and a Jim Dine lithograph, estimated at $1/1,500 was the “heart” of the valentines sale and realized $5,160. A painting by Gerald Coarding sold for $9,600, while seven works by George Pearse Ennis sold in five lots for a combined total of more than $10,000.

Although traditional “basic brown” furniture continues to struggle, several lots of decorative antique furniture did quite nicely. A Georgian-style paint decorated two-part bookcase, that was partially Eighteenth Century and partially Nineteenth and Twentieth Century, sold for $7,620, and an interesting little Eighteenth Century Continental fruitwood inlaid chest of drawers made $5,460.

Pottery, porcelain, silver, glassware and other smalls all did very well. A group of 21 Canton porcelain items, Nineteenth/Twentieth Century, sold for $4,026, and a Tiffany & Co. sterling silver water pitcher brought $1,920. Group lots did well, including jewelry. One buyer’s assessment was that dealers were starting to collect material for their spring shows and the group lots were appealing to these dealers. Whatever the reasoning, demand pushed group lots such as 97 small sterling and silver items and 57 posters, prints and paintings 20-30 percent above their high estimates.

Roy Lichtenstein, “Still Life” and “Table, Chair and Lamp,” sold for $9,420.

As in all auctions, even on the Internet, there were a fewitems that slipped though the cracks and were purchased veryreasonably. A series of nine lithographs by Charles Le Corbusierestimated at $5/8,000 sold on a single bid for $3,600, while alarge, humorous, illustration painting by Irving Sinclair soldbelow its $6/9,000 estimate, bringing $4,680. Another illustratorpainting titled “Old Tree” by Steven Dohanos sold for just $464.

In the furniture department, a folky, Swiss paint decorated marriage armoire, dated 1824, Hans Jacob Schled and Anna Barbara, sold at its starting price of $2,160. An Eighteenth Century Chippendale chest of drawers, together with a glass door bookcase top, estimated $2/3,000, sold on a single bid for $1,440.

All prices reported include the 20 percent buyer’s premium. For information, 860-567-4661 or email info@lcainc.us.