This Soviet catalog of the Russian crown jewels titled Russia’s Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones led the auction, the jewelry and the rare books category at $17,500 ($2/4,000).
Review by Z.G. Burnett, Photos Courtesy Clarke Auction Gallery
LARCHMONT, N.Y. – The Spring Spectacular Estate Auction from Clarke Auction Gallery opened the season on April 16. Indeed, the sale brought almost 650 spectacular lots of jewelry, fine art and decorative arts, mainly from estates local to New York state. Though a sale total was not disclosed, it achieved a sell-through rate of more than 90 percent.
Jewelry was popular with bidders, but the top lot was not a wearable piece of the category. Fetching far above its estimate was a folio titled Russia’s Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones by Alexsander Evgenevich Fersman (1883-1945), published by The People’s Commissariat of Finances in Moscow and consigned from a Hollis, N.Y., estate. Fersen was a prominent Soviet Russian mineralogist and geochemist, as well as a member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences. The folio consisted of Parts I-IV with 102 plates in their original wrappers; Parts I-II were published in 1925 and III-IV in 1926. With detailed descriptions and illustrations of more than 400 pieces of jewelry, the folio was bid to $17,500.
The top piece of jewelry in the auction was an Art Deco bracelet, sparkling with three marquis cut diamonds and surrounding emeralds, old European cut diamond accents, all mounted in an articulated platinum setting. The bracelet’s gross weight was 24.6 dwt and sold slightly above its estimate for $9,375. Next in price was an 18K white gold and diamond brooch in the shape of a bow with trailing ribbons, featuring nine round cut brilliant diamonds of various sizes supported by 130 single cut diamonds, at $8,750. Both of these pieces came from a Sutton Place South, New York City, estate. The following jewelry lot was a pair of 18K gold hinged bracelets decorated with gold polished balls that terminated in clusters of round brilliant cut diamonds; these achieved $6,875.
The top jewelry lot in the sale was this platinum Art Deco bracelet mounted with diamonds and emeralds, which cuffed $9,375 ($6/9,000).
The top fine art lots in the auction all performed well over their estimates. Second in the overall sales was an oil on canvas titled “Hondo from the Peñasco #278” by Alyce Frank (American, b 1932) at $12,500. Frank is known for her landscapes, and this view of a valley displayed her distinctive use of color and perspective. Two portraits of Indian ladies ranked highly in the upper lots. An untitled portrait of a confidently posed woman consigned from a Great Neck, Long Island, N.Y., estate, attributed to Hemendranath Mazumdar (Indian, 1894-1948) that sold for $8,750. Mazumadar was a founding member of the Indian Academy of Fine Art, Kolkata (then Calcutta), in 1919. The second portrait of another unknown Indian subject, a young girl with downcast eyes, was painted by Horace Van Ruith (British, 1839-1923) and consigned from a Madison Avenue, New York City, estate. The artist was known for his genre scenes and landscapes of Bombay made during his travels in the 1880s, and participated in London’s Colonial and Indian Exhibition in 1886. This portrait may well have been counted among the works displayed there, and achieved $7,500.
Decorative art was not a prominent auction category, but a pair of Chinese lamps rose to upper ranks. The double gourd-shaped lamps were “most surely Eighteenth Century,” decorated in cloisonné enamel, showing two quail-like birds on a blue field with flowers. The lamps came from a local Larchmont, N.Y., estate and sold for $8,125.
Prices quoted with buyer’s premium as quoted by the auction house. Clarke’s Wonderful May Estate Auction will be on May 14. For information, 914-833-8336 or www.clarkeny.com.
