“Those were really nicely carved and the condition was pretty good,” Andrew Jones said of the top lot from the collection of Mitzi Gaynor. This set of four carved limestone figures of the Four Seasons sold to a local landscape designer for $22,500 (500/700).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring, Photos Courtesy Andrew Jones Auctions
LOS ANGELES – As if it wasn’t hard enough to deliver white-glove results (all lots selling) for an auction, Andrew Jones has done the even more difficult feat of selling all lots offered in two sales, back to back. On the same day.
Such was the case on June 28, when Andrew Jones Auctions knocked down nearly 90 lots from the estate collection of Italian American film producer Dino De Laurentiis (1919-2010) and his wife, Martha De Laurentiis (1954-2021) in the morning, followed that afternoon with 171 lots from the collection of actress Mitzi Gaynor (b 1931). The De Laurentiis sale achieved a total of $118,000, while Gaynor’s collection tallied $184,000 on the books.
“The response [to Gaynor and De Laurentiis] was excellent,” Andrew Jones said after the sale. “Mitzi had a bit more coverage; like Michael Douglas [which Jones sold on May 18 to benefit the Douglas Foundation], she is still alive and people know who she is; her collection attracted an older crowd. Being a producer, Dino was less familiar to many people. He was an ‘old school’ collector but one wonderful thing about the sale was the number of younger buyers and collectors we had for his sales. Anything that is good is easy to sell; nice to see demand for the very best. It’s the mid-range that’s been suffering badly for years but we’re seeing an upturn in that market.”
The top price in the De Laurentiis sale — $16,250 from a local buyer — was realized by this room-sized Malayer long carpet from Central Persia. It measured nearly 24 by 13 feet and had been estimated at $2/3,000.
Estate Collection of Dino & Martha De Laurentiis
Topping the morning session at $16,250 from a local buyer was a Malayer long carpet from Central Persia, cataloged without an indication of age, that measured 23 feet 9 inches by 12 feet 10 inches. It was one of a small group of carpets in the sale that Aileen Ward, vice president and senior specialist, said “generated attention because of their age, size and colors. [The Malayer carpet was] room size and utilizes an unusual blue in the border and punctuated through the central ground.”
Another carpet from De Laurentiis that exceeded expectations was a Central Persian Kashan, approximately 23 by 12 feet, that finished at $6,250.
Jones said that someone who knew Dino came to the sale and commented that there was “not a lion he didn’t like.” De Laurentiis’ affection for lions was borne out in 14 leonine figures – sold in five lots – in a variety of mediums, including wood, bronze, marble and various compositions. A pair of Italian carved fruitwood relief panels of lions dating to the second half of the Eighteenth Century found a new home with a Southern California dealer / decorator for $9,375, nearly five times the pair’s high estimate.
“That table is one of the best I’ve seen,” Andrew Jones said of this English mahogany extension dining table, that had been cataloged as possibly by Gillows and described as “imposing.” It extended to nearly 16 feet in length and sold to a Georgia private collector for $8,125. The buyer also bought the set of 19 chairs that the De Laurentiises had used with it, for $9,375 ($2/4,000).
A pair of patinated bronze lions, of a much later date – second half of the Twentieth Century – had a similarly strong result comparative to expectations, starting with a $700/900 estimate and realizing $6,875. For an even $1,500, a buyer took a group of five lion form table decorations, including a pair of patinated composition models of recumbent lions, a serpentine model of the Medici lion and a pair of patinated bronze models of seated lions.
A new client for Jones was a private collector in Georgia who bought for $9,375 a set of 19 Twentieth Century Louis XV-style carved mixed wood dining chairs and, for $8,125, the late Nineteenth Century English mahogany dining table the chairs had been arranged around. Jones had attributed the table to Gillows and cataloged it as “imposing,” noting it had six leaves and reached a maximum of 190 inches in length.
Among De Laurentiis’ fine art offerings, six lots by Corrado Cagli (Italian, 1910-1976) were put up for sale, with an oil on canvas titled “Abstract Flora” from 1971 blooming to $5,750. The other five lots brought interest from Italian bidders, though most sold much more modestly, either within or below expectations.
Other noteworthy fine art results were $3,750 for a pair of Venetian oils by Alfred Pollentine (British, 1836-1890), and $1,375 for a pair of late Nineteenth Century Italian school gouache pictures of Naples and Vesuvius; Jones noted that the gouaches were purchased by a buyer in Italy.
More than quadrupling the high estimate was “Heart of the Forrest” and “Edge of the Forrest” by Warren Davis, which achieved $8,125 ($1,5/2,000).
Collection of Mitzi Gaynor
“She watched the sale and said she was absolutely delighted with the results,” Jones said when we asked him if she was pleased with the results of the sale.
A set of four limestone figures of the Four Seasons, second half of the Twentieth Century, stood tallest of any other lot in the sale, as well as of the weekend, and sold for $22,500. They were purchased by a local landscape designer for a local residential project.
Jones noted that both antique and vintage garden ornaments have been doing “incredibly well,” a trend he attributed to a significant backlog and long wait time for production of new pieces. He also observed that the carving on the Four Seasons was exceptional and that the condition was very good, with a little weathering.
A private collector from Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., who was interested in Gaynor’s circa 1965 Bosendorfer baby grand piano came up and tickled the ivories. He paid $20,000 for it, a song compared to what one would need to pay to have a new one.
“I’m in love with it,” was what the San Diego buyer of a portrait of Marie-Josèphe de Saxe, Dauphine of France, done in the manner of Maurice-Quentin de La Tour (French, 1704-1788) told Jones during the preview. The customer, who attends sale previews regularly, had come up with other things in mind but liked it so much when he saw it in person that he ultimately beat out competition from France and won it for $13,750.
The De Laurentiis’ collection featured six lots of works by the Italian artist Corrado Cagli. At $5,750, this oil on canvas, titled “Abstract flora” from 1971 brought the most ($1/2,000).
Fine art highlights from Gaynor’s collection would be remiss without the mention of a pair of oil on canvas paintings of nudes by Warren Davis (American, 1865-1928), titled “Heart of the Forrest” and “Edge of the Forrest,” which more than quadrupled high side expectations and finished at $8,125.
A Tiffany Studios patinated bronze “Three Scarabs” inkwell, the model of which is cited in not less than six scholarly works on Tiffany. From the Gaynor collection, standing just 4 inches tall, the circa 1900 piece brought $8,125 from a $3/5,000 estimate.
Though there were just two carpets in Gaynor’s collection, both doubtless capitalized on the quality of the rugs in the De Laurentiis collection and also outperformed expectations. A 9-by-13-foot Northwest Persian Tabriz pictorial carpet made $4,500 while a colorful Chinese carpet at approximately 9 by 8 feet sold for $2,375.
Andrew Jones Auctions will sell Part VI of the John Nelson Collection on July 24.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.andrewjonesauctions.com or 213-748-8008.
