Upcoming Auctions – Antiques, Art and Collectibles
On February 2, Christie’s in London will present its Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale and The Art of the Surreal featuring 48 lots, including: “Gitane” by Kees van Dongen (1877-1968), estimated at £5.5 million to £7.5 million; “Espagnole” by Natalia Goncharova (1881-1962), estimated at £4 million to £6 million; Pablo Picasso’s “Homme assis sur une chaise,” estimated at £3.5 million to £5.5 million, and “Tête de femme” (Jacqueline), estimated at £3million to £4 million); and “Nu aux jambes croisées” by Henri Matisse (1869-1954), estimated at £2.5 million to £4 million. Also offered will be a portrait by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919).
Image 1: ''Gitane'' by Kees van Dongen. Image 2: Pablo Picasso’s ''Homme assis sur une chaise''. Image 3: ''Tête de femme'' (Jacqueline)
__________________________
On February 4-5, James D. Julia in Fairfield, Maine, will feature documents, books, and ephemera descended through the Tobias Lear and Stephen Decatur Families of Kittery Point, Maine, including works by historical figures, including Colonel Tobias Lear, personal secretary to and closest friend of George Washington and books once housed in Washington’s personal library. Up for auction will be:
*A four-page letter written by George Washington in his own hand to his nephew George Augustine Washington in which he speaks of family issues, offers marital advice, and promises the latter’s eventual inheritance of a parcel of land, estimated at $40,000-$60,000.
*A letter written by General Washington about his purchase of 90 acres of property adjacent to Mount Vernon from Edward Williams for 30 pounds of Virginia currency, 130 pounds of tobacco, and dismissal of a lawsuit brought by Washington against Williams. It is estimated at of $25,000-$40,000.
*A letter by Thomas Jefferson to Tobias Lear stating the necessity of a navy and encouraging Lear’s son to study for the bar in Maryland among other things. It is expected to bring $5,000-$10,000.
Other historical items to be auctioned will be: Barbary Wars items, including a treaty between the Dey of Algiers and Tobias Lear (council to Algiers for the U.S.) and various European dignitaries, estimated at $3,500-$5,000. Books presented to Colonel Tobias Lear from George Washington; 1798 leather-bound encyclopedias from George Washington’s library, $5,000-$10,000; a highly-detailed 1781 Battle of Yorktown map executed at the direction of Jean Baptiste Gouvion who took part in the siege, believed to have been given to George Washington and later acquired by Lear, $5,000-$50,000; approximately 20 military flags, including a 16-star American flag identified to the “USS Scorpion” from the War of 1812, $5,000-$50,000; Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln Presidential dinner china ordered by Mrs. Lincoln in 1865 for use in the White House; and many more items.
__________________________
On February 11, Swann Auction Galleries of New York will feature signed historical historical photographs from the Jerome Shochet Collection. Highlights include: an Abraham Lincoln carte-de-visite portrait by Gardner and signed, “A. Lincoln”; George Armstrong Custer’s own portrait of officers of the Seventh Cavalry, inscribed and signed twice, “G.A.C.”; a carte-de-visite portrait of Christopher “Kit” Carson by Brady, signed, “Kit Carson”; a large photograph signed and inscribed by Antonin Dvorák; and a photograph postcard signed by Orville and Wilbur Wright.
Image Left: Lincoln CDV, signed. Image Right: Kit Carson CDV, signed. (Photos, courtesy of Swann Auction Galleries, New York.)
__________________________
On February 12, Heritage Galleries of Los Angeles will offer Colonel John S. Mosby’s farewell address to his men. Signed, “Jno: S. Mosby Colonel,” and dated, “April 21st 65,” the address is one of two known copies to exist and is estimated to sell for $70,000 to $90,000.
Mosby led a group of cavalry guerilla fighters that numbered up to 700 at one time behind Union lines, disrupting supply lines and cutting telegraph wires. Because of his ability to strike like lightning and then escape by melting into the countryside earned him the title of “The Grey Ghost.” He and his rangers were so effective in their attacks on the Union that standing orders required any captured to be hanged immediately without a court martial.
After Lee’s surrender, Mosby’s men were offered paroles for mustering out. Mosby was not. He hid out for a year before he was finally allowed to go free.
Before the Civil War, Mosby was an attorney. Afterwards, he resumed his law practice. He eventually served as Consul to Hong Kong and in the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Mosby’s final address was found in 2009 in a secretary at the country home of Jonathan Sturges, father-in-law of J. P. Morgan.
__________________________
On February 14 in Los Angeles and online, Bonhams and Butterfields’ Fine Books & Manuscripts auction will feature an archive of Frank Lloyd Wright’s photographs, building plans and correspondence. The collection includes approximately 600 black-and-white photographs of Wright’s buildings and interiors.
Other items in the auction include: two broadsides of John Wilkes Booth’s performances at the Boston Museum, one featuring “The Marble Heart,” which Lincoln saw Booth perform in Washington, D.C., in November 1863 (estimated at $1,000-$1,500); Peter Force’s 1848 printing of the Declaration of Independence (estimated at $25,000-$30,000); an Abraham Lincoln letter thanking those who helped celebrate former President Washington’s birthday in 1862 (estimated at $50,000-$80,000); a copy of Charles Darwin’s first published work, “A Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, 1839” (estimated $20,000-$30,000) and an archive of more than one thousand theatrical scripts, contracts and correspondence from the files of the American Play Company/Century Play Company with material from A.A. Milne, Eugene O’Neill and Tennessee Williams (estimated at $120,000-$180,000).
Approximately 600 photographs of Wright's buildings and interiors for sale by a variety of photographers, including Henry Fuermann of Chicago, Samuel H. Gottscho of Jamaica, NY, and G.E. Kidder-Smith of New York.
__________________________
Bonhams New York will present its 28th Dog Art Sale February 16th. Among the rare lots is a large work by John Emms titled, “The Bitchpack of the Meath Foxhounds.” Signed and dated 1896, it is expected to hammer for $500,000 to $700,000. A previous work by Emms, “The New Forest Hounds,” sold for $842,250 by Bonhams in February 2006.
One curious item to be auctioned will be a leather and brass dog collar once owned by Charles Dickens. The collar’s nameplate is inscribed, “C. Dickens, Esqe./Gad’s Hill, Place,/Higham.” It is estimated at $4,000-$6,000.
__________________________
Iconic American Red Cross imagery will highlight Heritage Gallery’s Illustration Art Auction on February 18. Works from the Collection of the American Red Cross by artists Haddon Sundblom, Walter Beach Humphrey and others will be featured.
__________________________
Detective Comics #27 depicting the very first appearance of Batman will be auctioned at Heritage Gallery’s February 25-27 Signature© Comics & Comic Art Auction. The CGC-certified 8.0 comic is estimated to sell for $300,000+.
Also to be auctioned will the only near-mint CGC-certified copy of Green Lantern #1, 1960. It is expected sell in the five-figure range.
(Photo, courtesy of Heritage Galleries.)
__________________________
Three 20th century paintings of the first America’s Cup sailing regatta of 1851 will be the highlights of The Marine Sale at Bonhams on March 24th. The paintings by Timothy Franklin Ross Thompson (British, born 1951) record three incidents in the race around the Isle of Wight: America and her rivals on the start line (estimate £25,000-35,000); America romping home to victory (estimate £25,000-35,000); and “Arrow and Alarm” (estimate £15,000 – 20,000).
Widely regarded as the most famous yacht race ever, it was convincingly won by the New York Yacht Club’s schooner “America,” so convincingly in fact that Queen Victoria’s question “Who came second?” was famously answered by, “Ah, your Majesty, there is no second.”
Timothy Franklin Ross Thompson, ''America Romping Home To Victory.''
__________________________
