John Singer Sargent, “Candelabra With Roses,” $457,500.

BOSTON, MASS. —  Grogan & Company’s 30th anniversary auction on November 5 was led by John Singer Sargent’s “Candelabra With Roses,” which finished at $457,500.  The painter had given the painting to the family of fellow artist Francis Davis Millet around 1885 and it descended in the Millet family. 

A hitherto unknown trove of 20 mammoth plate photographs of Yosemite, taken by Carleton Watkins in the 1860s, collectively realized $187,514.  “First View of Yosemite Valley from Mariposa Trail” topped the group, earning $27,450. Weston Naef, longtime curator of photographs at the Getty, stated, “It is among the dozen or so most important pieces in Watkins’s entire body of mammoth plate work that consists of almost 1,300 images. Moreover, this image would certainly fall into any list of the 100 most important American photographs of all time.”  According to Naef, who co-authored the catalogue raisonne of the Watkins mammoth plate views, only ten examples of this photograph are known and six are in museums, adding to the desirability of this one.

In addition, other paintings did well, and three pieces of jewelry finished well into six figures, with an emerald cut 8.31 carat diamond and platinum ring bringing $212,000.

A full report will follow.