Christmas may be just around the corner but Easter and Halloween saw notably high results in recent auctions. Bodnar got nearly $4,000 for a papier mâché pumpkin-headed figure playing a banjo that might once have been a bobblehead, while a composition duck and chick candy container tallied the highest price of $3,750 in Pook & Pook’s online-only decorative arts sale. Trains were the focus of Art Pappas’ Main Street auction and were led at $594 by a Lionel O gauge locomotive and tender. Artwork and furniture highlights were outpaced by a 1964 Chevy Corvette Stingray that William Smith sold for $48,000. See below for all the details…
Pendant Light Fixture Swings To Top At Benefit Shop
MOUNT KISCO, N.Y. — The Benefit Shop Foundation’s November 20 Red Carpet Auction presented nearly 750 lots from local estates. Exceeding its $50-$200 estimate to achieve the sale-high price of $2,903 was a pendant light fixture designed by Gabriel Hendifarn for Apparatus. The Synapse light is composed of two white glass domes and a brass orb suspended between them, measuring 18¾ inches wide. The buyer was a first-time Benefit Shop bidder from the US. For information, www.thebenefitshop.org or 914-864-0707.
Stingray Finds Success At William Smith Auctions
PLAINFIELD, N.H. — Leading William Smith’s 540-lot Pre-Thanksgiving sale was an 11-carat princess-cut diamond platinum ring, purchased by a South Carolina jewelry collector for $90,000. Possibly more “fun” was the story of a 1964 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Coupe that achieved $48,000 (pictured). Matt Zayatz noted, “it was consigned by a local Plainfield man who inherited it from his father and the car sat in the garage since 1971. The buyer was a friend of the father and always lusted after his car. All these years later the gentleman got his opportunity at auction and bid competitively on the floor.” For information, www.wsmithauction.com or 603-675-2549.
Allen & Brother Center Table Sees Local Interest For Ralph Fontaine
CHATHAM, N.Y. —Ralph Fontaine assembled more than 500 lots for his December 1 Anniversary Sale from estates in Alford and Dalton, Mass., Chatham, N.Y., and Connecticut. An Allen & Brother marble top center table that came to auction from an estate he said was “within 20 miles of the gallery,” was the top seller of the day. Described as “spectacular,” it featured griffins with bird heads, shields on each leg, lions on the ends and Jenny Lind heads on both sides, with a well-done replaced marble top. “It got a lot of interest and sold to a private collector in our area,” he said, for $16,250. For information, 518-781-3650 or www.fontaineheritage.com.
Lionel O Gauge Locomotive & Tender Goes The Distance On Main Street
WOODBURY, CONN. — Art Pappas’ Main Street Auctions & Estate Liquidators conducted a vintage train sale on December 2, offering two local lifetime collections that included pre-, post-war and contemporary models by Lionel, American Flyer and Louis Marx, in O and HO scale. Leading the 299 lots in the auction was an O gauge Lionel 773 steam Hudson locomotive and Pennsylvania tender that included the box and sold for $594, more than double pre-sale expectations. For information, 203-233-1736 or www.artpappas.com.
Pook Bidders Sweet On Duck & Chick Candy Container
DOWNINGTOWN, PENN. — Decorative arts was the topic du jour in Pook & Pook’s online only sale on December 4, with more than 800 lots covering nearly every conceivable collecting sub-category. “Holiday” was a popular category, featuring the sale’s top lot: a composition duck and chicks candy container that stood 5¾ inches tall, was dated to circa 1900 and earned $3,750 against a $160/220 estimate. For information, 610-269-4040 or www.pookandpook.com.
Western Landscape Lands On Top For Beattie
HAMPTON FALLS, N.H. — Edward B. Beattie Auctioneers started December off with a small, 66-lot sale of items from the Gloucester, Mass., estate of the Swift family. The Swifts were most known for being the major owners of the Chicago Stockyards in the Nineteenth Century. The sale included artwork, vintage Christmas items, various smalls and bronze plaques from sculptor Carlo Romanelli. A painting by Alson Skinner Clark (American, 1876-1949) led the sale. The oil on board, which depicted a desert scene, measured 20 by 24 inches framed. After 62 bids back and forth, the painting sold for $4,447. For information, 603-770-9878.
Pumpkin Man Figurine Plays To Highest Price At Bodnar’s
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — On December 4, Bodnar’s Auction Sales conducted The 90-Year Estate Hoard! Part 2, Antiques! This sale was a continuation of the firm’s November 21 sale, which offered 326 lots from the estate collections of two antique dealers, one from West New York and the other from Somerset, N.J. This session featured another 424 lots of antiques, led by a vintage papier mâché figurine of a pumpkin man playing a banjo. According to the auction catalog, the figure’s head was removable, as it appeared to have once been a bobblehead. It measured 5¼ by 4 inches and strummed to $3,835, surpassing its $100/200 estimate by almost 20 times. For information, 732-951-2100 or www.bodnarsauction.com.
Harry Bertoia Sculpture Chimes In At Number One For South Bay
EAST MORICHES, N.Y. — South Bay Auctions rang in December with its Fine Art, Antiques & Jewelry Auction on the fourth of the month. The sale offered 280 lots of fine art, collectibles, modern design, American and European furniture and decoration, jewelry, silver and firearms from various estates and private collections. Leading the sale was Untitled (Sonambient), a beryllium copper, bronze and brass sculpture by Harry Bertoia (American, 1915-1978). The work consisted of 16 chiming cylinders perched atop rods, which were arranged in a four-by-four pattern. With provenance to collector and pioneer publisher of fine art photographs, Dan Berley, the sculpture made noise at $43,920, just surpassing its $30/40,000 estimate. For information, 631-878-2909 or www.southbayauctions.com.
Weston Nude Pins Up Top Price For Doyle
NEW YORK CITY — Nearly 250 lots of fine art and photographs were auctioned by Doyle on December 5, with an initialed 1936 gelatin silver print titled “Nude [Charis], Santa Monica” by Edward Weston earning the premier price of $70,350 and more than doubling its high estimate. According to the auction catalog, signed lifetime prints of Weston’s magnificent nude portrait of his wife-to-be Charis are quite rare in commerce. For information, 212-427-2730 or www.doyle.com.
