Exceeding Expectations
A report on Bonhams’ Native American Art sale
LOS ANGELES, CA
The market for quality Native American art has continued to show its strength, as witnessed by the most recent Native American Art auction at Bonhams on December 11, where more than half of the top 10 lots exceeded their presale estimates. According to Ingmārs Lindbergs, the auction house’s director of Native American art, “I had certainly a lot more people attending the sale than previously in Los Angeles, which I feel is a very positive thing in terms of having vitality and energy on the floor and not just by internet and phone.”
Stealing the show at the auction was a rare, noteworthy Tlingit rattle, which had been attributed to Kadjisdu.axch after research by Steven C. Brown, a Northwest Coast scholar, and former curator of Native American art at the Seattle Art Museum. The piece, which was marked by the quality of its carving and uniqueness, soared to more than five times its low estimate of $100,000 when it sold for $504,500.
“It was a rare privilege to handle such a work of art. It was a magnificent object and I’m grateful to have had that opportunity,” says Lindbergs,
who adds that along with obtaining the attribution there was strong provenance tied to the piece. “Our phone lines were basically booked up for the piece and there was absentee bidding as well, but it pretty quickly moved beyond the initial numbers. It came down to a handful of people on the phones, and we had international interest in it and activity.”
The auction also marked the third and final part of works on paper by James Kivetoruk Moses from the collection of H.W. Nagley II. As Lindbergs explains, anticipation for the Moses pieces seemed to grow with each installment, with this final outing yielding three pieces in the top 10 lots that all sold well above their presale estimates. Topping this sale from the group was The Eskimo Giant, which was estimated to sell for only $1,500 to $2,000 but achieved $18,750.
Another notable item in the sale was a Lakota Sioux three-bladed effigy club (est. $30/50,000) that bested its estimates when it went for $68,750. The club was another item Lindbergs has brought to Santa Fe for preview, and it had caught the attention of a number of bidders before selling to a European collector. An early Woodlands/great Lakes quilled and beaded pouch that had once belonged to Sir Francis Bond Head, Sixth Lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada also performed well in the auction. The piece, which Lindbergs says likely predated Head’s time in Canada by a generation or two, achieved its
high estimate of $40,000.