Joint Auction Report
MARLBOROUGH, MA
SKINNER INC.
MAY 12-27 & MAY 31 American & European
Works of Art
$3 million
In May, Skinner Inc. usually hosts back-to-back sales for its two-session American & European Works of Art with one dedicated to Fine Prints & Photographs and the other for Fine Paintings & Sculpture.this year’s unprecedented health crisis shifted gears with the former auction held May 12 to 27 online, and the sale dedicated to paintings and sculpture happening May 31.The two auctions found great success with record-high interest coming through its virtual platforms.
American paintings had a strong showing with Hans Hofmann’s Image in Blue selling for $125,000 against an estimate of $80,000 to $120,000.William Herbert “Buck” Dunton’s Western painting The Water Hole also topped its estimate when it sold for $106,250 against an estimate of $70,000 to $90,000. View on the Sakonnet, by Worthington Whittredge, was another showstopper of the auction outpacing its estimate of $2,500 to $3,500 when it sold for $75,000.
BOSTON, MA
GROGAN & COMPANY
JUNE 14 Spring Auction $2,945,000
Grogan & Company’s Spring Auction saw record levels of participation that resulted
in 95 percent sell-through rate and more than 40 percent of lots exceeding their high estimates.there was active bidding on all remote platforms—online, absentee and telephone— pushing the auction on June 14 to a total of more than $2,945,000.“Our first remote auction was a resounding success,” says Lucy Grogan Edwards, vice president of Grogan & Co.“over 2,000 viewers tuned in to watch the live-streamed event on our website, as well as several thousand more participating through other live bidding platforms.the reach of today’s global auction market is astounding, and our record-breaking results reflect that reach.amidst all of the uncertainty in the world at the moment, our spirits are buoyed by collector’s continued interest and confidence in investing in quality items at auction.” In American art, a portrait by Gloriavanderbilt captured the eyes of collectors. Gerta depicts cousin and friend of the artist, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney Conner, also the granddaughter of Gertrudevanderbilt Whitney who founded the Whitney Museum.the work, estimated at $2,000 to $4,000, had a bidding war that resulted in a sold price of $53,125. It was a new auction record forvanderbilt.
PHILADELPHIA, PA
FREEMAN’S
JUNE 16
American Art @1600 featuring The Artist’s Studio: John Winters
$175,038
Freeman’s June 16 sale American Art @1600 featuring The Artist’s Studio: John
Winters was a rare white glove auction that achieved $175,038.Topping the 111lot auction, which included works by John Winters and his contemporaries, was Winters’ Train Platform (Chicago El).
The scene had an estimate of just $150 to $250, but sold for a robust $11,875.The next highest earning item of the sale was Adolf Arthur Dehn’s Easter Sunday in Harlem, which brought in $9,375 against an estimate of $3,000 to $5,000. “We are delighted to have achieved extraordinary results for the artwork of John Winters,” remarks head of sale Shannon Jeffers.“it’s clear that both new and established art collectors have an avid interest in previously undiscovered artists with great talent, particularly at reasonable price points.”
HINGHAM, MA
COPLEY FINE ART AUCTIONS
JULY 23
Sporting Sale
$956,838
More than $950,000 in sales was achieved during Copley Fine Art Auctions’ Sporting Sale,
which was its first live-streamed auction.the sale, which had strong results for decoys as well as wildlife and sporting art, had more than 740 bidders including 150 new registered bidders for the scaled-down sale. Of the 296 lots there were 94 percent of them sold, including the top painting of the sale Ogden M. Pleissner’s Quail Hunting.the watercolor sold just shy of its estimate when it came in at $37,200. Other notable sales in the art category included Thomas Aquinas’ Electric Mountain, which achieved a world auction record for the artist at $16,800 and two Aiden Lassell Ripley watercolors, A Pair of Pheasants and Pheasants Near the Old
Farm, which sold for $16,800 and $14,400, respectively.
PHILADELPHIA, PA FREEMAN’S
JULY 31
A Private Western
Collection of Fine Art $377,525
On July 31, Freeman’s in Philadelphia hosted a singleowner sale titled A Private Western Collection of Fine Art, which saw a 95 percent sellthrough rate and a total of $377,525.The auction, which had just 39 lots available, included pieces from Robert William Wood, Clark
Hulings, Daniel Ridgeway Knight and Guy C.wiggins, among others.
The top-selling lot of the sale was Jessie Willcox Smith’s Bob Cratchit and Tiny Tim. It appeared in the cover of the artist’s 1912 book Dickens’s Children and the cover of the Samuel Mcchord Crothers’ book The Children of Dickens in 1925.The painting estimated for $25,000 to $40,000, and topped that when it sold for $52,500. Rounding out the top three was Wiggins’ Wall Street Winter (est. $20/30,000) at $45,500 and Knight’s Midday’s Pause, which achieved $37,500 against an estimate of $20,000 to $30,000.