Strong Sales
Works from many categories performed strongly at the Coeur d’alene Art Auction
Works from many categories performed strongly at the Coeur d’alene Art Auction
The Coeur d’alene Art Auction brought a number of important works to bidders on July 25, including works from a variety of categories such as wildlife, landscapes, scenes with cowboys and Native Americans, works from Taos Society of Artists members and contemporary Western works.the sale realized $10.4 million.
“We were extremely pleased with the results for the sale. In the face of the uncertainty with COVID we were quite happy with total sales of over $10.4 million,” says auction partner Mike
Overby.“we made a decision this spring to offer less lots but of high quality, capping the auction at 260 lots instead of the 320+ we typically take in.this strategy paid off with strong bidding across the board. Online bidders were up over 50 percent from last year and we enjoyed many firsttime buyers, which is always exciting.we’re now looking forward to seeing everyone at the 2021 auction.”
The top lot was Thomas Moran’s 1883 oil Green River,wyoming, featuring one of the landscape painter’s most famous subjects.
The relatively small work, measuring only 20 inches wide, was estimated at $1 million to $1.5 million and sold just over estimate at $1,568,000.“This is one of Moran’s most desirable subject matters, and this one has this very nice luminescence in the beautiful coloration in the sky and on the cliffs,” Overby said about the work before the sale.“if you’re collecting Moran, you have to get your hands a Green River painting, and this one really wonderful.”
An early highlight from the sale occurred just 40 lots in withvictor Higgins’ floral still life New Mexico Zinnias. Prior to the start of the sale, Overby said the auction was getting a lot of interest in the work from the Taos painter, and that was certainly the case as bidding sent the price well over its $300,000 high estimate. It finally sold at $416,500.The work is now the second best-selling still life by Higgins at auction, behind another zinnias piece that sold in 2016 for $497,000. Another Taos artist with a noteworthy lot was Ernest L. Blumenschein, whose 1927 portrait White Suni soared past its $250,000 high estimate when it sold for $357,000.
Elsewhere in the sale Carl Rungius’ Herd Bull (est. $200/300,000) sold for $339,150;William Gollings’ The Red Man’s Directions
(est. $250/350,000) achieved $297,500; Henry Shrady’s bronze Bison (est. $70/100,000) sold for $154,700; and Gerard Curtis Delano’s The Mountain Man (est. $250/350,000) sold after the close of the auction for $238,000.
Charles M. Russell had three works totaling more than $500,000 in the top 10. Russell’s top lot was Blackfeet War Party (est. $200/300,000) that sold for $190,400.