Fresh Faces
New collectors and younger collectors bring excitement to the Coeur d’alene Art Auction in Reno, Nevada
New collectors and younger collectors bring excitement to the Coeur d’alene Art Auction in Reno, Nevada
Seats were full, phone lines were busy and internet bidding was consistent, yet what most impressed Mike Overby, auction partner at the Coeur d’alene Art Auction, one of the top Western auctions in the country, were the new bidders.
“The crowd was great, and we even had to add chairs as the auction was about to begin.and the phone bidding was up, as was the internet bidding,” Overby says.“but the thing we really liked to see were the new faces in the crowd bidding.when you get new eyeballs in the room that’s always positive.”
Those new bidders— along with veteran collectors—helped propel the Coeur d’alene Art Auction to realize more than $13.3 million in sales with more than 91 percent of lots sold during the July 28 sale in Reno, Nevada.
The top lot was Alfred Jacob Miller’s 1850 oil
The Thirsty Trapper, which sold for $1,715,000, within estimates of $1.5 million and $2.5 million. “This painting is such an important historic work from this artist. Good oils like this from Miller are very hard to find,” Overby says.“it’s just a very aesthetically pleasing painting, one of the best to come to market.the figures are so well done, and the scene itself is very uplifting with the landscape and the teepees in the background. It shows the best of his abilities.” Other tops lots were two strong landscape works: Henry Farny’s 1901 Native American piece Pastures
New (est. $400/600,000) that sold for $535,500, and Edgar Payne’s 1921 Solitude’s Enchantment, that just missed its high estimate of $500,000 when it sold for $476,000. “The Farny is a tremendous painting,” Overby says.“his oils are very rare because he
did a lot of gouache and watercolors, so oils are rare to the market.when they do pop up they sure cause a scene.”
William R. Leigh’s pastoral West Virginia Woodchopper sold for $297,500, just missing its $300,000 low estimate. Earlier in the sale Laverne Nelson Black’s Along the Old Trail sold for $238,000, barely missing its high estimate of $250,000.Two works by Taos artist Eanger Irving Couse also performed strongly: the nocturne Night Birds (est. $150/250,000) sold for $238,000 and Quail Hunters (est. $150/250,000) sold for $202,300.
One lot that generated considerable fireworks was Peter Hurd’s 1947 egg tempera The Horse Wrangler. The 20-inch-tall piece was expected to fetch $20,000 to $30,000, but soared more than three times its high estimate before selling at $107,100, crushing a previous auction record for a Hurd work by more than $35,000.
Also in the top 10 were three works by Western painter Howard Terpning: Dust of Many Pony Soldiers sold for $819,000, Chased by the Devil sold for $651,000 and Beaver n’ Blackfeet sold for $386,750.The 90-yearold painter is widely considered to be the greatest living Western artist and is still very active in his Arizona studio.