Notable sales found in our November 20, 2020 issue saw impressive results in art, furniture and more. The makeshift mask from a robber shot dead by the Wickenburg Sheriff’s office in 1884 found more than a number of bidders who reached for the sky to buy it. On the more traditional end, a gilt-bronze Buddha sold for five-figures at Tremont Auctions, while two paintings from well-known artists brushed up bids at Kensington Estate Auctions and Merrill’s Auctioneers. On the furniture front, a MCM credenza and a harvest table spread out active bids at Public Sale as the credenza brought more than 16 times its high estimate. Vintage cigarette cases and more round out the offerings for this week’s discerning auction observer.
Framed Dead Robber’s Mask Livens Cordier Auction
HARRISBURG, PENN. – The top lot at Cordier’s November 1 auction was a mask framed with a tag that reads “Dead robber mask shot by Wickenburg February 1884 Sheriff’s office.” A tag on the frame indicates that it was from the Arizona Historical Society. The lot got away with a $2,400 price. For information, 717-731-8662 or www.cordierauction.com.
Tibetan Buddha Tops At Tremont
SUDBURY, MASS. – Of the 575 lots to cross the block in Tremont Auctions’ annual fall Asian art and antiques sale on November 1, a gilt-bronze Buddha was the most expensive by a landslide. Selling for $54,740, nearly three times the price of the next highest-priced lot, the 8½-inch-tall seated figure on a lotus throne was in the image of Amida of the earth witnessing Mudra. Cataloged as Fifteenth Century Sino-Tibetan, although it was unmarked, it was very high quality and probably Tibetan, according to Tremont Auctions’ auctioneer and owner Brett Downer. Estimated at $6,5/8,500, the piece generated global interest, but, in the end, a buyer from Italy, bidding on the phone, prevailed. For information, www.tremontauctions.com or 617-795-1678.
Raspberries Still Life Sweetens Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers Sale
CRANSTON, R.I. – Estate fine art and antiques crossed the block at Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers on October 31, with the sale’s top prize going to an Emma Levinia Swan still life painting depicting a plate of glistening raspberries piled high and garnished with leaves. Estimated just $400/600, the painting exhibiting craquelure but in otherwise good condition sold for $4,688. Swan trained under Abbott Thayer (1849-1921) and taught at the Rhode Island School of Design. For more information, www.bruneauandco.com or 401-533-9980.
Vintage Luxe Cigarette Cases Smoke Competing Lots In Coyle’s Auction
MEDWAY, MASS. – Five vintage gold, silver and platinum cigarette cases, including Cartier and Tiffany & Co., sold for a combined $19,838 at Coyle’s Auction’s October 13, two-session estates auction. The firm is a family-owned and -operated auction house established in 1985. Its next sale is slated for Tuesday, November 17. For information, 774-571-8263 or www.coylesauction.com.
‘La Revue Blanche’ Headlines For Kensington Estate Auctions
CLINTONDALE, N.Y. – A vintage poster in colors on paper with design after Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901) sold for $5,350 in Kensington Estate Auction’s November 2 sale. The circa 1895 example was titled “La Revue Blanche” and featured the impression for printer Edward Ancourt, Paris, lower right, published by G. Charpentier and E. Fasquelle. The poster took 20 bids before selling to an online bidder. For more information, 917-331-0807 or www.kensingtonestateauctions.com.
Bicycle Trade Stimulator Coasts At Soulis
LONE JACK, MO. – An early Sun Manufacturing trade stimulator with a balloon tire bicycle rode ahead for $5,520 as the top lot in Soulis Auctions’ October 31 sale. The oak case measured just over 20 inches across and featured rope twist trims. When a nickel was deposited and the lever pulled, the wheels would spin in a roulette style game. These were produced by the company from 1896 to 1902. For information, www.dirksoulisauctions.com or 816-697-3830.
Black Forest Table Racks Up Bucks With Bill Smith
PLAINFIELD, N.H.- Inlaid with images of deer, an ornate Black Forest tilt top table stood proud at William A. Smith’s October Sportsman Auction, conducted October 30, when it sold for $2,768. The table measured 30 inches high and dated to the Nineteenth Century. It featured a large central cartouche on a dark wood ground with a family of deer, the buck with a magnificent rack. Four smaller cartouches flanked it to each side, those also in black grounds and joined in an elaborate design by foliate carved inlay that reached around the entire top. For more information, www.wsmithauction.com or 603-675-2549.
Painting Of Vermont Auction Tops For Merrill
WILLISTON, VT. – It was a matter of art imitating life, when Edmund Walton Blodgett’s (1908-1963) painting titled “Auction, Stowe VT” brought the top price at the November 6 Country and Estate Auction at Merrill’s Auctioneers & Appraisers. The circa 1940 watercolor on paper, which had come to Merrill’s from a collector in Stowe, measured 16 by 20 inches and had an estimate of $2/4,000. A private collector from Vermont, bidding via absentee bid, beat out online competition to win the painting for $4,600. For information, 802-878-2625 or www.merrillsauction.com.
MCM Credenza, Harvest Farm Table Furnish The Top Lots At Public Sale
It was billed as an “all the hits” kind of sale, and Public Sale’s November 7 auction lived up to that characterization with a Midcentury Modern credenza busting through a $100/300 estimate to bring $4,920 and a barn-fresh farm table selling for $2,280. The credenza, rosewood and metal, had a Midcentury Modern vibe that would look effortlessly cool in any room, and it stretched to 26½ by 72 by 18 inches. The farm harvest table was more than 9 feet long. For information, 518-966-7253 or www.public-sale.com.
