One hundred lots into the first day of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ two-day sale, August 25′6, “The Great Blue Heron,” an oil on linen by N.C. Wyeth (1882‱945), crossed the block with an estimate of $100/125,000. Those with phone bids were on their feet and a bid of $200,000 was registered in house. Four bids later, auctioneer Kaja Veilleux knocked the painting down at $220,000, plus the buyer’s commission, which brought the final price to $253,000.

The painting is signed upper left, inscribed as a wedding gift “To Carolin J. Chandler, June 1942,” and in a custom frame. The painting measures 40 by 30 inches sight, 47 by 37 inches framed. It was sold as found, never varnished, three tiny flakes in cloud upper left, and with provenance.

The painting was accompanied by a photograph of it hanging in the gift room the day of the wedding, unframed, “probably because the paint was still wet,” Kaja noted.

A full report of the sale will appear in a forthcoming issue of Antiques and The Arts Weekly.

⁒. Scudder Smith