Capo Auction Fine Art and Antiques enjoyed a successful first auction of the fall season on September 24. Included in the auction were some rare jewels from the former collection of the maharajah of Jaipur, the political, cultural and religious icon who died earlier this year at age 79, along with items from various other estates.
Capo’s auction brought in more than $400,000, matching the amount realized at the firm’s late July sale. Both auctions turned out to be Capo’s most successful since opening its doors with monthly sales in late 2010. Its three consecutive spring auctions featured the furnishings, fine art, antiques and historical artifacts from New York’s historic 25-room Steinway Mansion in Astoria.
Highlights in the most recent auction included some much higher than anticipated sales, some surprising bargains and buyers from locations around the globe, including Bahrain, Afghanistan, China and the United Kingdom.
A pair of Chinese porcelain famille rose bowls with floral decoration on rose ground, signed on the bottom, 3 inches high and with a diameter of 5¾ inches made their way back home to China. They were valued at $800․1,200 and sold to an art dealer in China on a phone bid for $8,400.
Bidding was frenzied for a Tiffany Favrile glass vase. The gold iridescent floriform vase with green stem and folded foot, bearing a Tiffany Glass and Decorating Co. paper label, 14 inches high, was valued at $2/3,000. Capo on had nine phone lines going with bidders on this item, which ultimately sold for $8,800.
A pair of assembled Middle Eastern taborets, each a mixed metal, octagonal form with raised and pierced decoration, 31 by 22 by 22 inches, sold in a phone bid to a third-party buyer in the Middle East. Selling at $5,000, the taborets were shipped to the buyer’s client’s palace in Bahrain.
An unusual purchase was made by a US soldier based in Afghanistan, who bought an American New England (probably Massachusetts), circa 1740, Queen Anne-style side chair with a slipped seat. Estimated at $1,2/1,800, it sold for just $800. The soldier then asked to have the chair shipped over to the base in Afghanistan.
A Lladro porcelain Ganesha figure, 15 inches high and valued at $500/700, sold to a phone bidder for $7,200. That bidder turned out to be one of the largest Lladro collectors in the Midwest.
An after Giacometti abstract bronze figure estimated at $1,2/1,500 sold for $7,200 to a phone bidder in Beverly Hills, Calif.
Capo Auction owner Michael Capo took over as auctioneer when the valuable jewelry pieces came up. The pair of Gajredar Bangri bangles from the former collection of the maharajah of Jaipur featured Nineteenth Century rose-cut diamonds set in gold and enameling on the borders and inner surface. Value on the bangles was $10/20,000, and things started off slowly with bidders in the room, until they started competing with online bids. The bangles went to an online buyer at $14,500, with applause breaking out in the room.
A Fred Leighton gold and diamond Indian Mughal-style necklace turned out to be the bargain of the day, selling for just $14,500 to an absentee New York dealer bidder despite its estimate of $20/30,000.
Another high-selling item again went to a New York art dealer bidding the phone. A tortoise-form-base table with a circular smoked glass top estimated at $400/600 took $2,000.
Also selling high were two alarm carriage clocks, one with enamel decorated brass case and the other a white metal clock. Valued at $300/400, the pair sold for $2,500 to a phone bidder in England who had them sent to a home in the English countryside.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, 718-433-3710 or www.capoauction.com .
