This week’s Across The Block highlighted several unusual and exceptional offerings that garnered top results. A Babe Ruth rookie card – the finest known example – hit $630,000 for Heritage while one of the “most attractive and pleasing forms of all early pontiled bitters bottles” nearly tripled Glass Works Auctions’ high estimate to fetch $23,400. Tiffany lamps often feature in the Across The Block column but William Edmondson sculptures rarely do; the one Case Antiques & Auctions realized $122,000, well ahead of its $40/44,000 estimate. Sporting and historical art from Eldred’s and Shapiro, respectively, garnered high praise from bidders, as did a Tag Heuer men’s wristwatch. Read on for additional auction highlights.
Babe Ruth Rookie Card Hits Home Run For Heritage
DALLAS — The highest-graded 1916 M101-5 blank backs Babe Ruth Rookie No. 151 rookie card, graded EX+ 5.5 by SGC, sold for $630,000 to lead Heritage’s Winter Sports Card Catalog Auction January 26-27. This example stands alone with this grade, with none higher. For many years, Ruth was considered the most dominant athlete in baseball — or perhaps in any sport — because he did not just break records. He obliterated them…and this is the finest example of the only universally recognized Ruth rookie card. It was the highest price in a sale that drove $11,150,904 home to Heritage. For information, 214-528-3500 or www.ha.com.
Shapiro Bidders Go To Battle Over Piotrowski Painting
MAMARONECK, N.Y. — Shapiro Auctions’ January 27 Important Fine and Decorative Art auction hosted 429 lots that was more than 70 percent sold by lot. Earning a place at the top of the sale was Antoni Piotrowski’s (Polish, 1853-1924) large “Battle Scene,” oil on canvas, 45-5/8 by 78-3/8 inches, which was painted in 1900. It came to Shapiro from a private New York City collection and was sold to an online buyer for $35,750, ahead of its $20/30,000 estimate. For information, 212-717-7500 or www.shapiroauctions.com.
Eldred’s Works On Paper Sale Flies Pair Of Pintails
EAST DENNIS, MASS. — Eldred’s online-only works on paper sale that closed January 29 gave bidders 178 lots to chase and choose from. Flying to $1,088 from an estimate of $400/600 was “Pair of Pintails,” a drypoint etching made by Frank Weston Benson (Massachusetts, 1862-1951) in 1930, in an edition of 150. The work was signed in pencil lower left and housed in a giltwood frame measuring 17½ by 19 inches. For information, 508-385-3116 or www.eldreds.com.
Edmonson Sculpture Stands Tall For Case
KNOXVILLE, TENN. — A William Edmondson carved limestone “Mother and Child” sculpture brought the top price at Case’s Winter Auction, selling for $122,000 to a private collector, one of five phone bidders competing for it. The circa 1940 sculpture was just shy of 12 inches tall, had a partial buff-colored painted surface and carried a $40/44,000 estimate. The work had descended in a Nashville African American family. It was the top lot of approximately 900 lots offered by Case January 27-28. For information, 865-558-3033 or www.caseantiques.com.
Bountiful Bids For Baltimore Bitters Bottle
EAST GREENVILLE, PENN. — Glass Works Auctions conducted its Premier Catalog Auction #170 on January 22. Capturing the top position in the sale was a yellow-olive Wheeler’s Berlin Bitters Baltimore bottle, which earned $23,400 against an estimated $6/9,000. The circa 1850-65 hexagonal bottle had an applied double collar mouth and iron pontil. Glass Works Auctions cataloged it as being in perfect condition and “Considered by many to be one of the most attractive and pleasing forms of all early pontiled bitters bottles!” A representative for the company shared that these bottles are very rare and don’t come to auction often. For information, www.glassworksauctions.com or 215-679-5849.
Competitive Interest Takes Early Twentieth Century Painting Upstream
EAST MORICHES, N.Y. — Harold Harvey’s 1907 “On The Thames” led South Bay Auctions’ January 31 Fine Art, Antiques, Silver, Estate Jewelry & Sporting Auction. Standing out against 295 other lots, the British oil painting achieved more than two times its high estimate, earning $54,000 against the projected $10/20,000. At 25 inches tall and 30 inches wide, the painting depicted three men in a rowboat on the river. For information, www.southbayauctions.com or 631-878-2909.
Tiffany Poppy Lamp Shines In Kaminski’s Two-Day Sale
BEVERLY, MASS. — After two days, Kaminski Auctions’ January Great Estates Auction closed with a Tiffany table lamp scoring the highest price. Sold on the second day of the sale, January 28, the Tiffany Studios Poppy lamp achieved $27,500 ($10/15,000). The focal yellow poppies were highlighted by a ring of wire mesh leaves at the shade’s rim. The 20-inch-wide conical glass shade was paired with a bronze twisted vine base, Tiffany Studios model no. 443. For information, www.kaminskiauctions.com or 978-927-2223.
Tag Heuer Watch Times Lead For Casco Bay
FREEPORT, MAINE — Casco Bay Auctions’ Fashion Fete auction on February 1 comprised 226 lots of vintage and modern clothing, accessories, watches and jewelry. At the top of the sale, with a $5,535 result, was a Tag Heuer Carrera man’s watch with Stuller leather band that despite some minor surface scratches was in good cosmetic condition and was in operational. It had carried an estimate of $600/900; according to auctioneer and owner Andrew Davis, the watch sold to a reseller bidding online. For information, 207-370-4592 or www.cascobayauctions.com.
Library Shelf Stand Takes Top Lot W For Public Sale
HUDSON, N.Y. — Public Sale’s 768-lot “Anticipated” sale on February 3 was led at $15,600 by a library bookshelf and reading stand. Designed as an open grid of shelves topped by four reading slopes along the top with four pull drawers, and two pull-out surfaces, the unit measured 44 inches high and 72 inches wide. Though it was of indeterminate age, it was noted to have been made with quality construction; bidders apparently agreed as it had been estimated at $500-$1,000 prior to the sale. For information, 518-966-7253 or www.publicsale.com.
