Auction results were fine art-forward this past week, including Asian art and works on paper. Both Clarke Auction Gallery, Doyle and the Benefit Shop Foundation saw results with works on canvas, and New England Auctions and Roland NY supplied woodblocks and etchings. Other categories such as glass, documents and jewelry also found favor. Read on for more.
Isaac Friedlander Etching Head Of The Line At Roland NY
GLEN COVE, N.Y. — Roland NY presented a diverse collection of antique, modern and contemporary works on paper on May 10, as well as vintage posters from the Phyllis Lucas Gallery, New York City. An Isaac Friedlander (Latvian, 1890-1968) etching and drypoint, titled in pencil lower left “3 A.M.,” sold for $1,625 against a $500/800 estimate. Signed in pencil and dated “33” lower right, and “AP” (Artists Proof) to center, the unframed work measured 15 by 19¼ inches. For information, 212-260-2000 or www.rolandauctions.com.
1777 Broadside Plea For Clothing Leads CT River Book Auction
SOUTH GLASTONBURY, CONN. — The May 12 Connecticut River Book Auction saw three phone bidders competing with those in attendance for a 1777 Massachusetts broadside requesting that every Massachusetts town identify one male to seek socks, shirts and shoes for the Continental Army, then wintering in New Jersey. Owner Tom Gullotta remarked, “We expected this item to bring $1,000 and were pleasantly surprised to see it cross the auction block to a phone bidder for $2,633.” The biggest surprise of the evening, however, was a first edition lending library copy in dustjacket of Dashiell Hammett’s The Glass Key (1931). Despite its worn condition, it sold for $874. For information, www.ctriverbookauction.com or 860-908-8067
Vintage ‘Big Red’ Rolex Daytona Makes For Good Time At Jones & Horan
GOFFSTOWN, N.H. — On May 7, Jones & Horan conducted a webcast auction with no reserves, no buyer’s premium and no sales tax. Featured were rare timepieces from across the United States. A “Rolex Oyster Cosmograph Daytona “Big Red,” reference 6263, circa 1979, in original stainless steel Oyster case with original “reverse panda” dial hammered at $65,000. It was an unadulterated Daytona that is the exact model Paul Newman wore for many years following his gift of the famed “Paul Newman” dialed 6239 to his daughter’s boyfriend. For information, www.jones-horan.com or 603-623-5314.
Chinese Landscape Dominates Clars’ Asian Sale
OAKLAND, CALIF. — Earning $94,500 was “Landscape” by Hua Yan (1682-1756), a 63½-by-28-inch ink and color on silk composition that was inscribed, dated and signed with three seals. It claimed provenance to a Fox Chapel, Penn., private collection and had been acquired from the Frank Carol Gallery in New York City in 1973. According to a representative from Clars, the buyer was a private collector who fended off competing interest, including online bidders from Asia. It was the top lot in Clars’ 637-lot Asian art and Collectibles sale on May 13. For information, 510-428-0100 or www.clars.com.
New England Auctions’ Bidders Send Charles White Woodblock Into Exodus
BRANFORD, CONN. — The 486-lot May 10 estates auction at New England Auctions featured estates from Roxbury, Conn., and New York City, but the top lot of the day came from Maine. Charles White’s (American, 1918-1979) woodblock print “Exodus 25P” from 1961, which went into the sale with an estimate of $1/2,000, left with a local buyer — new to the house — for $27,500. For information, 475-234-5120 or www.neauction.com
Angel Botello Works Sweep At Clarke
LARCHMONT, N.Y. — Clarke Auction Gallery’s May 15 “Wonderful May Estate Auction” offered six works by Angel Botello (Puerto Rican, 1913-1986), all from a Scarsdale, N.Y., collection. Five of these lots secured bids high enough to rank in the top five prices of the day. Bringing $30,000 and matching the lot’s high estimate was a composition depicting children with cats, measuring 48 by 36 inches in oil on board. It was the top lot of the 703-lot sale. For information, 914-833-8336 or www.clarkeny.com.
Czech Still Life Tops Doyle Imp/Mod Sale At $756,000
NEW YORK CITY — A vibrant still life of a blue and white footed compote with apples by Frantisek Kupka (Czech, 1871-1957) took a bite out of Doyle’s Impressionist & Modern Art / Postwar Art & Contemporary Art on May 17 when it sold for $756,000, more than eight times its high estimate. Consigned from a private collector, the 17-5/8-by-23-5/8-inch oil on board had exhibition history in Paris and was included in three monographs on the artist; it had also crossed the block at Sotheby’s London in 2000. For information, 212-427-2730 or www.doyle.com.
‘Sans Souci’ Saratoga Bottle Spouts To High Price In Glass Works Auction
EAST GREENVILLE, PENN. — Part III of the Neil Moore collection of Saratoga and Saratoga-type bottles closed on May 15 at Glass Works Auction. A “Sans Souci Spouting Spring” (motif of a spouting spring) / “Ballston Spa. N.Y.,” (Tucker, S-49-B), New York, circa 1865-1875, was a price gusher, realizing $22,230. The bluish aqua pint featured a smooth base and applied double collar mouth. Deemed in pristine perfect condition, it had a nice glass whittle and great impression. It was thought to be one of only two known examples and rated by Bernie Puckhaber at number six in his The Ten Most Wanted Saratogas. A bonus: A handwritten note on the base read: “Jim & Rosemary Benton, Saratoga Springs. Became a reality by Lisa Anne on 25th, Christmas, 1994.” For information, 215-679-5849 or www.glswrk-auction.com.
Doerell Snowy Landscape Surprises At Benefit Shop Foundation Sale
MT KISCO, N.Y. — A standout and a surprise in the Benefit Shop Foundation’s Red Carpet auction on May 17 was a Doerell signed snowy landscape oil painting from 1871 that was purchased by a first-time international customer for $6,128. Ernst Gustav Doerell (1832-1877) was a German painter who lived in the Bohemian town of Aussig beginning in 1860 and made the mountain landscape around him one of his favorite subjects. Signed on lower left corner “Doerell, 1871,” this painting depicted an iced-over lake with boats sitting atop the ice with a stone bridge over the waterway with a forested sunset in the background. It was framed in an oval gilt wooden frame with ochre-toned mat board and gold leafed inner fillet under glass, measuring approximately 10 by 12 inches. For information, www.thebenefitshop.org or 914-864-070.
