BASKETS AND MORE
A prominent basket collection leads Leslie Hindman Auctioneer’s Arts of the American West sale in Denver.
A prominent basket collection leads Leslie Hindman Auctioneer’s Arts of the American West sale in Denver.
DENVER, CO
One of the lots in Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ next
Arts of the American West sale is coming from a collector in Europe. Complicating matters further is it’s an Allan Houser stone work, which created its own shipping challenges. “They were very committed,” says Maron Hindman, managing director of Southwest materials for the auction house. “Any work coming that far can be difficult, but one made of Tennessee marble…that’s a whole other challenge.”
Hindman says this particular lot, as well as past successful sales, reflects a re-invigoration of the market, one in which sellers are more willing to part with major pieces, and bidders are ready to bid, and bid, and bid. “We had a big November sale so we’re excited to ride this momentum into April as we prepare this auction,” she says. “The market seems very enthusiastic about selling, and that’s what our clients are telling us. No one is complaining about the market or the economy, which is always good.”
Arts of the American West will feature as many as 400 works when it takes place April 21 at the auction house’s Denver location. Some of the top lots will likely be Western paintings, including a work by Charles M. Russell that is estimated at $100,000 to $200,000, but a hefty portion of the sale, more than two-thirds of it, will be devoted to Native American artwork and jewelry.
Top Native works include Kevin Red Star’s
Intertribal Dancers, a colorful grouping of dancers in full regalia, which is estimated at $4,000 to $6,000. The Crow painter was recently honored at the Masters of the American West exhibition at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles, where he was given the museum purchase award for a similar work that will not remain in the museum’s permanent collection. The Houser work, a 20-inch-tall Tennessee marble work titled Mescalero Mother is estimated at $10,000 to $15,000.
Other pieces in the sale include a Haida polychrome totem pole, estimated at $6,000 to $8,000, and a Tlingit ceremonial bowl and carved spoon estimated at $1,500 to $2,500 and $1,000 to $2,000, rexpectively. Other highlights include Navajo blankets, pueblo pottery, and more than 100 works of Native jewelry, including top pieces by Charles Loloma, Dennis and Nancy Edaakie, Lee Yazzie, Julian Lovato and many others.
Arts of the American West will also sell baskets from the estate of Roger Pendleton Wood of Boulder, Colorado.
April 21, 2018, 10 a.m. Arts of the American West
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, 1024 Cherokee Street, Suite 200, Denver, CO 80204
(303) 825-1855, www.lesliehindman.com