Silver Soars at New Year's Auction
January 23, 2012
Tiffany & Co Enameled Circus Set, Surprises at Kaminski New Years Sale
Kaminski Auctions of Beverly, MA closed out 2011 with a very successful two- day evening pre-New Years Eve auction.
A large audience in the gallery, over 300 phone bids and several hundred registered bidders on the Internet kept staffers busy.
The first lot of the night set the tone of the evening as a bronze horse sculpture on a wooden base with marble inlay, after Leonardo da Vinci, rose to $15,500 with 5 phone lines to Italy, and lively Internet bidding. The piece from a Madison Avenue gallery bankruptcy was one of several from the gallery that topped all pre-auction estimates.
The phone lines to Italy were busy all evening as the same five bidders vied for all lots with Italian provenance from the Madison Avenue gallery. A bronze and lead ancient Roman water spout in the shape of a lioness and labeled Giovanni Pisano estimated at $200-$300 sold for $6500, while an ancient alabaster Roman head of a woman with the same estimate sold for $5,500. A Neapolitan Madonna and child reliquary, in painted terracotta sold for $6500, while an antique Madonna and child with St John the Baptist, oil on canvas after Botticelli sold for $5500.
Surprisingly though, the top lot of the sale was a Tiffany &Co. circus set of enameled silver from the Robert Peterson estate of San Diego, CA, that reached a hammer price of $26,000. The set contained seventeen wonderfully detailed circus animals and performers with the largest being 13 inches high.
Everyone anxiously watched as a 1906 Model 7 Holsman horseless carriage, a two cylinder Highwheeler , featured in the sale sold for $20,000 to a lucky bidder in Australia. It will be the only Holsman in a private collection in the country as the only other is in an Australian museum. The Holsman was advertised with the motto” High Wheels Travel All Roads Because All Roads Are Made To Be Traveled By High Wheels”. “The Holsman Model 7’s body and motor were in remarkably good condition, with some repair needed to the seat. The rope drive has been upgraded with an automatic oiler at the time of manufacture and the paint is believed to be original. ”. Auctioneer Frank Kaminski stated “ These vehicles are very rare and do not come to market often, you can imagine any classic car collector or car museum would love to have one of these remarkable vehicles in their collection”.
Several Russian paintings did particularly well in the sale. A forest scene, oil on canvas by Konstantin Kryzhitsky (Russian 1858-1922) from a private collection in Dallas estimated at $6000-$8000 sold for $21,000. While another landscape, oil on wood by Feodor Vailyev (Russian 1850-1873) sold for $14,000. A view of Amalfi by Georgi Lapchin (Russian/French) oil on canvas sold for $5000.
A landscape painting by Jean Baptiste-Camille Corot (French 1796-1875) from the estate of Broadway and Hollywood director Rouben Mamoulian (1897-1987 sold at the high auction estimate of $20,000.
Two Brian Coole paintings, oil on panel the first a scene of “Boston Harbor “ in luminous light and the second of “Gloucester Harbor “ each brought a hammer price of $3250.
The Internet, audience and phones were alive with bidders the second evening of the sale as Kaminski had dozens of fantastic “Fortuny style “ drapes, soft furnishings, light fixtures and furniture from a famous Copley Square, Boston hotel. The second half of the Copley sale, along with a Chinese collection will be sold along with their January Estate sale scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, January 21st and 22nd starting at 11:00 am at their auction gallery at 117 Elliot Street, Beverly,MA . For more information go to www.kaminskiauctions.com or call 978-927-2223.
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