Under The Hammer – Antique Auction News (Oct. 2009)
~ Christie’s First Open-Post-War and Contemporary Art sale in New York on September 23 was highlighted by Andy Warhol’s (1928-1987) “Flowers” which hammered for $1,082,500, including buyer’s premium. The work is synthetic polymer and silkscreen inks on canvas, 22 x 22 inches, and is signed and dated “Andy Warhol 64” twice. Another leading work was Roni Horn’s (b. 1955) “Steven’s Bouquet,” which sold for $242,500, including buyer’s premium. The piece is aluminum and Plexiglas, 30 x 50 x 15 inches, and was executed in 1991. It is from an edition of three.
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Andy Warhol’s “Flowers.” |
Steven’s Bouquet by Roni Horn. |
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~ Swann Galleries Printed and Manuscript Americana on September 17 included American Bibles from the library of Mel and Julie Meadows and duplicates from the John Carter Brown Library. Early American religious works, Arctic material, and Latin-American books saw the strongest results. The top lot at $57,600 was a circa 1669-1682 edition of the “Bay Psalm Book” from the Meadows Collection. A 1782 Aitken Bible from the same collection brought $43,200 even though it was lacking a title page.
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The “Bay Psalm Book.” |
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~ Alderfer Auction’s Fine and Decorative Arts auction in Hatfield, Pennsylvania, on September 9-11 was highlighted with the sale of a grouping of 19th Century hand-carved and -decorated animals and birds, including pairs that would have been part of a Noah’s Ark set (giraffes, hippopotamuses, alligators, lizards, seals, and camels). Sold in four lots, the grouping totaled $51,187. Also sold were some of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s belongs, including his personal “Ike” jacket ($43,875) and his personal golf tee ($1,287).
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Ike’s jacket. |
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~ Better World Books sold a rare Peter Force “Declaration of Independence” 1848 facsimile for $16,000 to an anonymous Connecticut buyer. Printed on rice paper, the Force “Declaration of Independence” was folded and bound into Force’s “American Archives: A Documentary History of the United States of America, Series V.” The sale will benefit Dobbs Ferry Library at Mercy College and Books for Africa. Better World Books collects and sells new and used books online and donates a portion of each sale to help fund literacy initiatives worldwide.
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