The highest price in the Valentine Estate Auction — $32,500 — went to “Forest Frolicking” by Howard Chandler Christy (American, 1872-1952), circa 1920s, oil on canvas, 39½ by 34½ inches framed ($30/50,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
LARCHMONT, N.Y. — Clarke Auction Gallery conducted two unaffiliated auctions February 7 & 8. The first featured 344 lots from the 40-plus-year curated collection of Cosulich Interiors & Antiques, New York City, followed by the firm’s Valentine Estate Auction, which offered 460 lots, in case you were still shopping around for that perfect gift for your significant other or loved ones. The Cosulich collection garnered a 99 percent sell-through rate, with only one lot going unsold, while the Valentine sale had an 88 percent sell-through rate.
Cosulich Interiors & Antiques
Top-lot status for the Cosulich collection was earned by a pair of one-of-a-kind fountain floor lamps custom-made with black and red-colored Italian Murano glass. The 84-inch-tall lamps had an illuminated central bowl with black glass scrolls and fine red glass rods “rising like sprays of water in a fountain” sticking out of their tops, according to catalog notes. The pair rose to $5,000 to top the sale.
The Cosulich Interiors & Antiques collection was led by a pair of one-of-a-kind fountain floor lamps made from black and red-colored Italian Murano glass, 84 inches high, which illuminated for $5,000.
More than 100 lots were made with Murano glass, including a few other high-earning pieces. First was a handmade Italian fine design bespoke chandelier with eight round, saucer-shaped shades done in blown opaline white Murano glass, which made $4,000. The chandelier’s “modern organic design” made it so the lights were “suspended on different levels like revolving planets” from the work’s handcrafted brass body, according to catalog notes.
Also earning $4,000 was a handcrafted “Luce Scultura” Murano glass sculptural chandelier. Fully customizable due to its removable Murano glass plates in crystal, red and smoked bronze, the Art Deco fixture was the winning design selected by interior designer Aline Matsika to have a home in one of the suites at the Palacio Can Marqués, a five-star grand luxe hotel in Palma de Mallorca, Spain.
Following behind at $3,000 was a contemporary blue Murano glass Sputnik-style chandelier created specifically in Murano, Italy, for Cosulich Interiors & Antiques. The handmade brass-center creation sported 30 spikes made from azure turquoise Murano glass paste.
A Murano glass curtain strung by chrome metal threads and with an Art Deco flair also did well, also finishing at $3,000. Incorporating glass in purple amethyst, grey, aquamarine blue and crystal with gold metal reflections, the work was multi-functional and could serve as “a very decorative solution for a screen, room divider and also as a wall-mounted sculpture,” according to catalog notes.
This Murano glass curtain, 97 inches high by 47¼ inches wide by 1½ inches deep, could be used a screen, room divider or wall-mounted sculpture; it crossed the block for $3,000.
Around 30 lots of mirrors were led by another Murano glass example, this one an Art Deco-style wall mirror with curved leaf designs in brass and hammered frosted white Murano glass. It realized $3,000. Additional mirrors ranged in price from $63 for a contemporary Italian square or diamond wall mirror, to $2,750 for a bespoke Italian Mondrian Décor multi-colored mirror.
Furniture was led by a one-of-a-kind Italian-made cabinet crafted in the 1980s, which sold for $4,000. Reflecting a postmodern Italian design, the cabinet featured colored glass panels with textured glass inserts in cream, emerald green, dark forest green, plum, deep wine purple and fuchsia pink; these were accented and divided by hammered brass geometric forms. Also attracting bidder attention were a pair of grey and cream two-tone ivory lacquered wood consoles or sofa tables designed by Alain Delon for Maison Jansen ($3,250) and an Italian multi-colored and Pop Art-inspired six-drawer dresser or sideboard ($2,750).
Valentine Estate Auction
The Valentine Estate Auction was led by “Forest Frolicking,” an oil on canvas by Howard Chandler Christy. Signed and dated lower left, the circa 1920s work had provenance to an estate in New York City’s West Side, and sold within estimate for $32,500.
Eugene Joseph Verboeckhoven’s (Belgian, 1798-1881) “Landscape with Dogs and Sheep,” 1861, oil on canvas, 38¼ by 30½ inches framed, was bid to $21,250 ($4/6,000).
Paintings dominated the top ten highest-earning lots, with “Landscape with Dogs and Sheep” by Belgian painter Eugene Joseph Verboeckhoven securing the second-highest total of the day at $21,250. The 1861 oil on canvas had provenance to a New York City estate and was purchased by the consignor from a sale at Parke-Bernet Galleries (New York City) titled “XVIII & XIX Century Paintings, Drawings & Watercolors,” which was conducted on October 30, 1969.
Verboeckhoven’s work was followed by an untitled oil on canvas depicting a semi-nude woman by David Forrester, signed lower left, which had provenance to a Brooklyn, N.Y., estate ($17,500), and Sigmund Menkes’ “Cornfield or Landscape – Woodstock,” an oil on canvas which was accompanied by a letter dated “March 1969” by the artist attesting to its authenticity ($15,000).
Doubling as a celebration of Black artists during Black History Month, artworks by Vincent Smith (American, 1929-2003) and Emma Amos (American, 1937-2020) were also highlighted. Six works by Smith found new homes, ranging in price from $375 for the monoprints “Dancing in the Dark” and “The Family,” to $1,750 for a set of three monoprints sold together, titled “Hey Mon We be Jammin’,” “Jonkonnu Festival Headdress” and “City Lights.” Amos, on the other hand, was represented by one work, a 1975 etching, aquatint and relief on cream Rives paper titled “Dream Girl.” Numbered “25/26” in pencil and with provenance to an estate in the Bronx, the work sold for $5,750 ($2/3,000).
Standing tall for $10,625 was “Revelation of Mysteries” by Bill Worrell (American, 1936-2021), bronze and mixed metals on stone plinth base, 43 by 43 by 19½ inches (without base) ($2/3,000).
Sculpture was led by “Revelation of Mysteries” by Bill Worrell, a bronze and mixed metals piece mounted to a stone plinth base, which soared far past its $2/3,000 estimate to make $10,625.
A vast selection of Chinese export items populated the highest earning lots of the sale, including a Nineteenth Century Chinese dragon and phoenix vase with a Qianlong mark to its underside. The 26-inch-high vase hailed from a White Plains, N.Y., estate and surpassed estimates at $8,125. Other notable Chinese export lots included a pair of Chinese Republic period enamel vases painted with scenes of children playing ($8,125), a wooden low table with carved dragon details ($6,250) and a pair of signed 17K yellow gold-mounted jade birds accented with bezel-set oval ruby cabochons and round ruby eyes ($6,250).
Even numismatists had their fill, with a 1989 four-coin set of American Eagle gold bullion coins which included a $50 coin, a Philadelphia-struck $25 coin, a $10 coin and a Philadelphia-struck $5 coin. The gross weight of all four coins was 2.01 troy ounces. The set sold above estimate for $9,375. Three 1988 $50 American Eagle gold bullion coins also sold separately for $5,000 each.
Clarke’s March Estates Auction will take place on the 8th of the month, followed by its online-only Fine Art Auction on March 25. Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house.
For information, 914-833-8336 or www.clarkeny.com.
