The auction’s top lot was this Neoclassical bronze centaur and putto that galloped to $4,250 ($2/2,500).

Review by Andrea Valluzzo

RED HOOK, N.Y. — Featuring choice pickings from select Hudson Valley, N.Y., estates, George Cole promised audiences at his June 20 gallery auction “terrific treasures” and an evening of fun, either sipping wine in their pajamas or attending in-house to follow along with and join in on the bidding action.

People took him up in spades. In addition to having strong in-house attendance that added to the energy in the auction hall, George Cole Auctions drew a strong contingent of online bidders, who gave the room and phones stiff competition for the top lots of the day.

After being in the antiques trade since the early 1970s when he first began exhibiting at antiques shows, before launching auctions at the Ramada in nearby Kingston, N.Y., Cole is a well-known figure in the business and has an easy rapport with his audience.

Of the recent auction, he said, “We were very pleased. We had like 2,000 people sitting home in their jammies with their glasses of wine and a full audience here in the hall. And they were very receptive in bidding.”

This English Queen Anne-style oak drop-leaf table, 30 inches tall, about 7 by 5 feet when open, sold for $1,440 ($1/1,200).

Offering what he likes to call “the best of the Hudson Valley,” Cole has a nose for the good stuff and routinely manages to suss out items that perform well. While this auction didn’t have a six-figure high flier, it had plenty of strong performers that sold above estimate, especially in the furniture category, where one does not always see that.

Highlights included an English Queen Anne style oak drop leaf table that sold just over its high estimate at $1,440 and a set of vintage Model 780 stacking tables by Gianfranco Frattini for Casina, also a robust seller at $1,440. A Nineteenth Century Swedish grain-painted Mora clock, dated 1855 but lacking a pendulum and weights, still managed to tick past its $200/300 estimate to toll for $1,320.

“We do quite well with what people call ‘brown furniture,’ and we get higher prices than most people do,” Cole explained. Asked what he attributes that to, he replied with a laugh, “My personality.”

Noting their central location between New York City, Albany, N.Y., and Connecticut, he said the firm attracts a strong audience of retail and private buyers, as well as their share of interior designers. “We also do seem to have a very good quality for choosing, and that’s all we shoot for.”

This vintage Model 780 set of stacking tables by Gianfranco Frattini for Casina took $1,440 ($300/500).

Thanks to two fine estates in particular, the auction also had a selection of sculpture on offer that several buyers eagerly bid on. One buyer in particular, bidding online from Connecticut, scored quite a few, including the top-selling lot of the grouping, a bronze centaur and putto that was estimated at $2/2,500 but galloped away for $4,250. The 46-inch-tall Neoclassical sculpture was quite rare and desirable, according to Cole. “I have never seen another one like it, so because of the scarcity, other people have not seen it and wanted it.”

Also performing well was a carved marble sculpture of Pan that stood 51½ inches tall and bested its $600/900 estimate to attain $3,000.

The type of merchandise on offer was far-ranging, and even the toy category was represented with three Buddy L pressed steel ice trucks from the 1920s. Two of them were in black paint and sold for less than $200 each. However, the example retaining a vibrant yellow paint on its cargo bed crushed its $175/225 estimate to bring $1,080. “They’re scarce and we had two collectors in the audience. They both wanted it, but one wanted it more and paid more,” Cole said.

Rounding out the auction were a pair of cast iron urns that nearly doubled its $450/550 estimate and a 41-inch-tall vintage French sculpting stand that soared over its $200/300 estimate. Both lots sold for $1,020.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. George Cole Auctions’ next sale will be July 18. For information, www.georgecoleauctions.com or 845-758-9114.