One of two lots to achieve the sale-high price of $7,800 was this 109-piece monogrammed Soviet-era Gerlach sterling silver flatware service ($6/8,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
ALAMEDA, CALIF. — On the 15th of the month, Michaan’s Auctions conducted its May Gallery Auction, a 422-lot affair featuring a mixed bag of furniture, fine art, art glass, jewelry and Asian wares, which garnered an 81 percent sell-through rate.
Leading the sale at $7,800 was a monogrammed 109-piece Soviet-era Gerlach (Polish) sterling silver flatware service, which landed on the high end of its $6/8,000 estimate. Several other sterling silver flatware services realized high prices, including an 87-piece set by International in the Royal Danish pattern ($7,800), 76 pieces by Towle in the French Provincial pattern ($4,875) and a 49-piece Gorham service with additions ($3,900).
Silver offerings took on other forms, such as a Sheffield (English) sterling composite tea and coffee service in the Regency style, with flat and partly ribbed bodies. The set included a teapot and cover, hot water kettle on stand, coffee and cover, creamer and sugar. Each of the pieces were stamped with marks including “R&B,” a crown and a lion passant. It landed within its $3/5,000 estimate, pouring out for $4,550.
Although not silver, another service earned an over-estimate $2,925 against its $1,2/1,800 estimate. The set in question was a Rococo-molded Meissen porcelain cobalt and gold dessert service, which comprised of a coffee pot and cover, sugar bowl and cover, creamer, a set of six cups and saucers, six dessert plates and a round tray or serving plate. Each piece was decorated with bands of polished matte gilding and glazed cobalt blue bands, as well as sparse polychrome painted flower heads.
Sparkling for $7,150 was this Art Deco platinum ring set with a 2.7-carat center transitional round brilliant-cut diamond ($5/7,000).
Jewelry also achieved high prices, led by an Art Deco platinum ring adorned with a 2.7-carat transitional round brilliant-cut diamond, which slipped onto its new owner’s finger $7,150. Following close behind at $5,200 was an 18K yellow gold textured tapering chain link necklace that measured 18¼ inches long.
A 14K yellow gold Effy bracelet set with multicolored sapphires and diamonds surpassed its $1/1,500 estimate to make $3,900. The bracelet featured 40 emerald-cut multicolored sapphires (10.15 carats) and 60 full-cut diamonds (1.75 carats). Also surpassing estimates was a 14K white gold pendant enhancer set with a centered round-cut aquamarine (22.1 carats) accented by approximately 200 round-cut diamonds (2.5 carats).
A handful of Asian export items interested bidders, including a gilt metal seated figure of Buddha in the Sino-Tibetan style, which sat pretty for $4,875. As described in the catalog notes, the figure was depicted on a lotus base incised with a central yin-yang motif and vajra-like forms and had one hand lowered in a gesture of earth-touching, while the other was resting in meditation. It also retained traces of its original gilding and pigment, including blue-painted hair curls.
Earning $2,600 against a $700/900 estimate was a framed landscape painting attributed to Chinese literati painter and art historian Huang Binhong. Following the painting in price at $1,950 was a jade cylinder pendant encased in 24K gold floral motifs.
Sitting on a lotus base inscribed with various Chinese cosmological symbols and Tibetan Buddhist iconography, this 6½-inch-tall gilt metal seated figure of Buddha in the Sino-Tibetan style was bid to $4,875 ($500/800).
Fine art was led by Duane Wakeham’s oil on canvas “Estero, Drake’s Bay,” which realized $2,600. The landscape was signed “Wakeham ‘97” and had a Hackett Freedman Gallery label affixed to its reverse. Also excelling were the 1977 oil on canvas “Echo and Narcissus” by Bruno Civitico ($2,080) and a collection of six oil on board landscapes by Gaston La Touche ($1,690).
The most unique lots of the day included a 1987 Acura Legend L coupe with an Antiqua blue exterior and tan and light brown interior, which drove off the lot for $5,200. The two-door car had an 18-gallon gas tank and 65,484 miles were recorded at the time of the sale. On the opposite end of the spectrum, a Model G1 Disklavier Yamaha ebonized piano made in Hamamatsu, Japan, played to the tune of $3,900.
Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 510-740-0220 or www.michaans.com.
