Plucked from the wall of a home where it had descended in a single family, a rare Martin Johnson Heade oil depicting a Newbury marsh scene at sunset sold at Shannon’s Fine Art on October 21 for $830,625.

The work became the highest priced painting ever auctioned in Connecticut.

Estimated at $400/600,000, Gene Shannon smiled broadly when asked if he thought it would stay within estimates. “There is a lot of buzz,” he said, “and all I am telling everyone is that it is going to sell.” He then leaned in close and quietly and confidently commented that it was not going to stay in the estimates.

Bidding opened at $275,000 and bounced back and forth between an absentee bid and the room for a while, then between a telephone and the room all the way to a hammer price of $750,000, plus a tiered 17.5/10 percent buyer’s premium.

A complete review will appear in a future issue.

-DSS