Coetzee Mixed Media Work Is Top Lot
At Michaan’s Auction

ALAMEDA, CALIF. – Michaan’s February 10 gallery auction offered diverse estate property to buyers with a traditional hands-on experience while also reaching a global base online. The sale featured the work of South African artist Christo Coetzee (1929-2001). His untitled abstract “No. 3,” a mixed media work dated 1959, was estimated just $5/7,000 but breezed to a final price of $38,400. Coetzee was an assemblage and neo-baroque artist closely associated with the avant-garde art movements of Europe and Japan during the 1950s and 1960s. For information, www.michaans.com or 510-740-0220.

Collection Of Great Britain Views, 1814,
Sells For $16,800

PASADENA, CALIF. – William Daniell’s A Voyage Round Great Britain, eight volumes, 1814, with 308 superb hand colored aquatint plates, sold for $16,800 at PBA Galleries’ February 11 sale of rare books and manuscripts. A collection of views, it is also bound by Riviere in full gilt-tooled morocco. The special morning sale was conducted during the 51st California International Antiquarian Book Fair, which was taking place just steps away at the Pasadena Convention Center. A total of 113 lots of rare and valuable books, manuscripts and photographs, plus 109 collectible books donated by members of the Antiquarian Booksellers Association of America, were sold for the benefit of the Antiquarian Booksellers Benevolent Fund. For information, 415-989-2665 or www.pbagalleries.com.

Contemporary Folk Art Sculptures
Please Bidders At Witman Auction

MANHEIM, PENN. – Witman Auctioneers conducted a public auction on February 9 at the Encks Banquet & Conference Center. There were 165 registered bidders in attendance. A collection of 21 pieces of Clyde Emmerick contemporary wood carvings (one shown) was well received by bidders, finishing at $3,865. An 1861 $20 gold piece earned $2,200, a walnut two-part corner cabinet brought $825 and Black Forest carved figures went out at $275. For information, 717-665-5735, 717-665-1300 or www.witmanauctioneers.com.

Pair Of Sculptures Lead The Waltz
At A-OK Auction

ABINGTON, VA. – At A-OK Auction Company on February 10, a large pair of Nineteenth Century bronze sculptures, each signed and dated in the cast, “Monti” and “1702,” came up for bid. With just two bids online, the 49‚½-inch pair sold for $9,200 and were the top lot of the day. For information, 877-963-0176 or wwwaokauctioncompany.com.

New World Record
For An Antique Doll Achieved

ANNAPOLIS, MD – A new world record for an antique doll sold at auction was achieved January 6 by Theriault’s. The Nineteenth Century doll created by Antoine Edmund Rochard soared to $333,500 with active bidding by agents from notable museums and private international and American private collectors. The winning bid was achieved for the Barry Art Museum of Norfolk, where the doll will hold a special place of honor when the museum opens this fall. The breastplate of the doll is decorated with an elaborately painted necklace featuring 28 crystal “jewels.” Hidden inside 24 of these jewels were tiny micro-photographs depicting historic scenes of France such as Fontainebleau, Louvre, Hotel de Ville of Paris and more. The doll was deposed in France in 1868 and was designed so that, when held closely to the eye, each image would be magnified 160 times. For information, 410-224-3655 or www.theriaults.com.

New London Collector’s Estate Yields
Choice Artwork & Antiquities

PLAINVILLE, CONN. – On February 12 Winter Associates presented the collection of Edith “Fuzzy” Gipstein, an inveterate New London, Conn., collector of artwork and antiquities whose sharp eye assembled a choice selection of material before she passed away last year at the age of 92. One of the sale’s leading lots was a Chinese Qing dynasty Manchurian court necklace, a traditional long strand composed of beads of various stones (probably agate, malachite and jade) and carved jade pendants, 42 inches long, which sold for $12,000. Also, Reginald Marsh’s (American, 1898-1954) “Hudson Burlesk,” 1949, oil on composition board, depicting a young blonde topless dancer in plumed hat and long slit skirt on an illuminated stage with theatrical surroundings and darkened audience, brought $7,200. It was sold to benefit the acquisition fund of the Wadsworth Atheneum, to which it was gifted by the Honorable William Benton in 1964. For information, 860-793-0288 or www.auctionsappraisers.com.

Skinner Sells Robinson Collection
Of African Americana

BOSTON – The Avis and Eugene Robinson collection of African Americana, titled “Please Remember,” comprised a two-part auction at Skinner that closed February 12. Mindfully chosen over many years, the Robinsons assembled a landmark collection of artifacts, documents and photographs that chronicles the full scope of African American history. The online sale was led by Twelve Years a Slave, an 1853 memoir and slave narrative by American Solomon Northup as told to and edited by David Wilson. Northup, a black man who was born free in New York State, details his being tricked to go to Washington, DC, where he was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the Deep South. Estimated $700/900, the volume finished at $6,150. For information, www.skinnerinc.com or 508-970-3225.

Rare Grueby Vase Climbs To
$5,000 At Fontaine’s

PITTSFIELD, MASS. – A rare Grueby George Kendrick-designed vase in heavy matte green with a nine-leaf carved design around the body pointing up to the shoulder was the top lot in Fontaine’s two-session antiques and estate auction on February 10. With a pinched neck and a wide rim with leaf decoration, the 12-inch-high piece was signed on the bottom with the round Grueby mark and also a paper label that reads “Approved by the Society of Arts & Crafts.” For information, 413-448-8922 or www.fontainesauction.com.

Jenack Sees American School
Autumn Landscape Go To $5,664

CHESTER, N.Y. – An American School oil on canvas of an autumn landscape with figure, signed George Inness (American, 1828-1894), was among the notable items sold for $5,664 in a diverse auction conducted by William Jenack Estate Appraisers & Auctioneers on February 11. The Nineteenth Century oil on canvas measuring 22‚¾ by 24‚¾ inches framed, was purchased at a Bruce & Crandal auction in Chester in 1976, from the estate of Ida Hoornbeek, Napanoch, N.Y. It was identified as “Trees, Cloudy Day” and had been restored by Newman Galleries, Philadelphia, in 2008. In the same sale, a Thai carved and giltwood standing Buddha, 33‚½ inches high, brought $1,121. For information, 845-469-9095 or www.jenack.com.