It was a week of other-worldly sales at auction. Bruneau lassoed $54,000 for a copy of Wonder Woman #1 with a CGC 5.5 rating, and Kensington had a vision of $18,000 for a retablo of the Our Lady of Guadalupe for $18,000. Beyond the five senses was a hu vase at Roland showing the celestial “Hundred Deer” motif that pranced up to $16,640, and Doyle bent perception with a Di Suervo abstract sculpture that achieved $94,000. Read on for more extrasensory sales.
‘Apparition’ Inspires Bids At Kensington Auctions
CLINTONDALE, N.Y. – Kensington Auctions’ estate fine art and antiques auction was conducted online on October 10, with 175 lots that dated from the Seventeenth to the Twenty-First Centuries. An Eighteenth Century Spanish colonial retablo took the top lot, showing an apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe with vignettes of Juan Diego and the Miracle at Tepeyac. According to legend, the Virgin Mary appeared to the Indigenous man Juan Diego, born with the name Cuauhtlatoatzin, which means “the talking eagle,” four times in 1531. She requested that he ask the bishop to build a church in her honor at Tepeyac Hill, outside of Mexico City. When the bishop required proof, Mary told Juan to return to Tepeyac and pick the roses that bloomed there despite the winter weather. When he took these to the bishop in his mantle, the petals revealed an impression of the apparition on the fabric and the bishop granted Mary’s request. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of Mexico and is nationally celebrated on December 12. A miracle of its own, the retablo sold for far over its $1/2,000 estimate at $18,000. For information, www.kensingtonestateauctions.com or 917-536-3748.
Queen Victoria-Era Stumpwork Burse Bags Good Price In Lark Mason Sale
NEW YORK CITY – Lark Mason Associates conducted a furniture, fine and decorative arts online sale that closed on October 11. Following the passing of England’s longest reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II, there was much interest in memorabilia associated with the royal family. Two items that were sold were a legal document with the second seal of Queen Elizabeth I, ink on vellum, which realized $1,500, and an English silk metal wrapped thread velvet stumpwork burse with lion and unicorn royal coat of arms (shown), which brought $2,500. Historically, a burse, or bag, was made for functionality only, and would have been produced from plain fabrics and threads. When Elizabeth I came into power, 1558, the burse became a physical symbol of the monarchs themselves, often illustrating the royal coat of arms, and doing so with rich velvet fabrics and silver and gilt threads. This particular burse bore the coat of arms for Queen Victoria, who reigned 1837-1901. For information, www.larkmasonassociates.com or 212-289-5524.
Harry Anderson’s ‘Wonder Woman’ #1 Lassoes Record Result For Bruneau
CRANSTON, R.I. – Leading Bruneau & Co.’s October 1 sale of the original childhood collection of Henry Anderson was a CGC-rated 5.5 issue of DC Comics Wonder Woman #1, the first of that issue to come to auction since August 2019. The issue exceeded expectations and sold to an avid collector for $54,000, notably the highest price that issue in that condition has realized at auction. According to the catalog, it is just one of 11 copies in the CGC Census at that grade, only 20 copies are known to have a higher grade and it is #20 on the Overstreet Top 100 Golden Age Comics list. The 150-lot sale was 100 percent sold by lot. For information, 401-533-9980 or www.bruneauandco.com.
Thomaston Place Gets Big Price For Confederate Flag Fragment
THOMASTON, MAINE – One of the top lots in Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ October 7 “Blast from the Past – Militaria & Sporting Arms” was a framed fragment of a Confederate flag that brought $3,000 against an estimate of $150/250. It was framed alongside a small hand-written note saying that it had been cut from the Capitol flag captured at Richmond, Va., on April 3, 1865, by Lt. Col. A.B. Lawrence, the former chief quartermaster of the 24th Army Corps. For more information, 207-354-8141 or www.thomastonauction.com.
Extensive Royal Crown Derby Service Sets Table At Capsule
NEW YORK CITY – Capsule Auctions’ LX: Art and Antiques, an October 13 sale of paintings, prints, design, sculpture, furniture and other estate finds, kicked off the autumn season with affordable works from New York and New England estates and collections. An extensive Royal Crown Derby Imari partial porcelain dinner service, 206 pieces, in the “Old Imari” pattern (shown), sold for $5,980. Second place went to a leaded glass table lamp with water lily motif (bearing an apocryphal Tiffany Studios mark to inner metal rim of shade) lit up to $5,200 against its $400/600 estimate. For information, 212-353-2277 or www.capsuleauctions.com.
Henry Jones Clock Chimes At Withington
GOFFSTOWN, N.H. – Withington Auctions conducted its Historic Fall Auction on October 7, offering 300 lots of fine art, decorative art and other categories. At the top of the hour of this sale was an English bracket clock made by Henry Jones of London, circa 1670. The clock was brought to America by a Captain Raitt, who crossed the Atlantic in his own ship. On October 2, 1747, Captain Raitt married Miriam Frost and settled in Kittery, Maine. The clock was passed down through the family to John W.P. Frost, and this written provenance was included with the lot. The clock struck $23,910, almost tripling its $4/8,000 high estimate. For information, 603-731-9876 or www.withingtonauction.com.
Kaplan Collection Kicks Off Roland’s Fall Season
GLEN COVE, N.Y. – Roland Auctions’ Fall Kickoff Sale took place on October 8, hosting 921 lots, including a group of works from the collection of Long Island real estate heir Jeffrey M. Kaplan. An Eighteenth Century Chinese famille rose hu-form base emerged as the top sale among the auction’s many categories, bidding to $16,640. The vase was decorated with an enameled “Hundred Deer” motif, a continuous scene of deer frolicking by a river in a mountainous, wooded landscape. The Chinese word for deer, lu, is a homophone for “civil service salary” and deer symbolize longevity, therefore the “Hundred Deer” motif represents the imperial Chinese ideal and wish for a long, successful career in government service. For information, 212-260-2000 or www.rolandauctions.com.
Di Suvero Sculpture Welds Top Price For Doyle
NEW YORK CITY – A 1966 welded steel sculpture by Mark di Suvero (American, b 1933) led 120 lots in Doyle’s October 12 Twentieth Century Abstraction sale, nearly doubling its $30/50,000 estimate to close at $94,500. “Untitled (Rectangles)” had been exhibited globally, in St Louis, Mo., in 1967, in Kassel, Germany, in 1968 and in Valencia, Spain, where it was part of the artist’s retrospective at the IVAM Centre Julio Gonzalez. Its original owner had acquired it directly from di Suvero and it remained in the family since then. It was the top lot in a sale that totaled $1,156,441 and was 81 percent sold by lot. For information, 212-427-2730 or www.doyle.com.
