Press

Press Release – February 1, 2019

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA — Idyllic, Iconic, Italian, Icy: What a Rare Devotional Panel, a Long-Unseen Icon, an Italian Bertuzzi Shotgun, and the Pennsylvanian Schuylkill River Have in Common.

Etching formative lines in the historic landscape, these four items claim Brunk Auctions’ top lots in the Premier and Emporium Auction January 25-26, gathering total sales of $1,679,799.50.

A highlight from a private collection in Florida was one of three known paintings by Master H. B. of the Griffin Head to exist– Christ Blessing the Children, circa 1550. Estimated at $80,000-$120,000, this tender scene flew to an incredible $192,000 including buyer’s premium to another private collector, who intends to restore the panel. Hanging over the enthusiastic crowd in gilt is the German inscription of Matthew 19:14– “Lasset die Kindlin zu mir komen . und weret in nicht . Denn solcher ist das Reich Gottes”, or “Let the Children come to me, forbid them not, for such is the Kingdom of God.” This subject, which was rarely depicted before the 16th century, “occupied a central role in reformation iconography” according to the Lucas Cranach Digital Archive. Only two other signed and documented works by this artist are known to exist, one is held by the Episcopal Cathedral and Diocesan Museum in Mainz, Germany and the other by The Louvre, Paris, France.

“If you can call an icon painter an innovator, Angelos was exactly this,” reports Laura Crockett, Fine Arts Specialist at Brunk Auctions. Angelos Akotantos (pronounced Eng-uh-lohs) is considered to be the most important painter bridging the late Byzantine period and the beginning of the Renaissance. When the center of art shifted from Constantinople to Crete amidst sieges and war, Angelos was perfectly positioned for his art to expand into Europe. He became extremely significant as a painter, setting standards of iconography that would be followed in subsequent centuries. So revered was his painting that Domenikos Theotokopoulus, better known as El Greco (1541-1614), was one of many artists to be influenced by his paintings. Until now, only twenty-two icons were known to have been signed by the artist. This rare piece Anastasis (Descent into Hell) was reviewed by scholar Maria Vassilaki, who confirms that this is a “completely unknown Angelos icon”– until now. Selling for $144,000 (with an estimate of $10,000-$15,000), this important piece of early art illuminates the immense hand, concentration, and parameters of the bridging of two eras.

“Ingenuity. Investment Beyond Currency. Elegant.” With an estimate of $75,000 – $125,000, the Fine and Rare Flli. Bertuzzi Gullwing Shotgun was sealed and delivered to a regional buyer for $96,000.  All existing F.Llli. Bertuzzi shotguns are of remarkable technicality and stunning detail. This is in part due to the tight intergenerational lineage of brothers Elio and Remigio following in the footsteps of their mastercraftsmen father and grandfather. In addition to family tradition, this workshop was small– just two brothers– which allowed for exquisite quality and control over each shotgun. This piece is a stunning example of engraving by Giancarlo and Stefano Pedretti, with semi-relief engraving of game bird scenes and a retriever on underside.   

Philadelphia was a center of skating in the mid-nineteenth century, drawing much artistic attention. William H. Willcox (American, 1831-1929) captured Skating on the Schuylkill in a most attractive, frigid moment in 1875. Totaling a grand $66,000, this painting crossed a line for Willcox, becoming his highest grossing piece ever at auction. a fine selection of skating posters also from the Dick Button collection drew in $46,200, many of which commemorate the visual revolution of the Belle Époque. Sublime combinations of font and color became possible with Jules Cherét’s “three stone lithographic process,” achieving every color of the rainbow by using three stones in red, yellow, and blue. Quite extraordinary considering the particular constraints and materials of the time– even reproductions today do not carry the same textural appeal as these original posters.

Other highlights to note included:

• Matched Pair J. Purdey & Sons Shotguns Consecutive S/N : $36,000
• E. J. Churchill Premiere Over Under Shotgun : $22,800
• Connecticut Shotgun Co. by Galazan Half-Scale Model 21 : $16,800
• Ice Skating Hooked Rug : $8,400 (estimate $1,000- $2,000)
• Louis John Rhead  : $7,200 (estimate $1,500 – $2,000)
• William and Cluer Dicey – Map of North America : $6,600 (estimate $400 – $600)
• Joan Miró (Spanish, 1893–1983), Les Deux Amis (The Two Friends), 1969 : $12,000
• Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901), La revue blanche : $10,800

With 250 floor bidders, along with our three online bidding platforms and two banks of phone bidders equally active, the January 25th and 26th sale was memorable.  All prices listed include appropriate buyer’s premium.

Brunk Auctions’ next Premier and Emporium Auction will be March 21-23 in Asheville, North Carolina and online via three platforms (BA Live!, LiveAuctioneers, BidSquare).

Rare bronzes and paintings highlighted a major two-day sale at Brunk Auctions over the weekend of September 15. Among the top lots were works by Frederic Remington, Henry Moore, Nicolai Fechin, Eugène Boudin, and Jane Peterson.

Leading the charge in the sale was Frederic Sackrider Remington’s iconic bronze, The Bronco Buster. As both Remington’s debut cast as a sculptor and one of his most iconic works of art, castings of the Bronco Buster are prized by institutions and collectors alike. Over the weekend, Brunk Auctions offered an 1899 casting by the Henry-Bonnard Bronze Foundry, numbered 51 of an approximate edition of 64. The rare casting was consigned by a Private North Carolina Family, who acquired it in 1966. Initially estimated at $150,000 to $250,000, serious interest from dozens of bidders brought the final sale price to $510,000. Brunk Auctions is happy to note that the buyer of the bronze is the Wadsworth Atheneum, the oldest public art museum in the United States.

From the same private collection, Henry Moore’s Maquette for Spindle Piece, from 1968, sold for $312,000. The staff at Brunk Auctions had a cell phone in one hand and a land line in the other assisting phone bidders with this lot. An anonymous private phone bidder was the successful bidder of the lot by the important British Modernist.

Two works by Russian-American artist Nicolai Ivanovich Fechin from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Tooley of Brevard, North Carolina crossed the auction block in the sale. Both paintings brought exceptional prices. The first, a still life with Hollyhocks, sold for $264,000. The second, a portrait of Baby Eya, the artist’s daughter, completed in Russia, sold for $144,000. Also from the Tooley Collection was a Jane Peterson painting entitled Fishing Boats, Gloucester Massachusetts, selling for $120,000, Indians at Taos by Laverne Nelson Black, selling for $60,000, and Conversation by Julius Gari Melchers selling for $38,400.

Overall, the sale brought $3.36 million during the Friday and Saturday auction. Other notable results include $288,000 for a Eugène Boudin painting entitled Fécamp, Le Bassin from 1892 and a rare 9.82 carat Padparadscha Sapphire Gemstone selling for $90,000. In total, 91.7% of lots sold at auction. All prices listed include appropriate buyers premiums. Brunk Auctions next sale will take place over three days on the weekend of November 11.

Brunk Auctions held an auction of Fine and Decorative Arts on July 21-22, 2017. Over one thousand lots were offered in the two-day, two-session auction, with significant interest coming from buyers of Cut Glass and Southern objects.

The top lot in the auction was a Fine and Rare Green Cut to Clear Dorflinger Montrose Punchbowl Set. The piece was one of the gems of the Collection of George Siek, Founder of the Museum of American Cut and Engraved Glass. Included in the exceptional punchbowl set is thirteen cups and ladle with Dorflinger marks. The final selling price for the Pennsylvania-made piece was $114,000, to a private bidder.

Several lots from the Collection of George Siek piqued the interest of cut glass buyers over the weekend. Among the top lots from the collection in the sale are Brilliant Period Blue-to-Green Cut Glass Tray selling for $26,400, a New England Amberina Cut Glass Cologne selling for $38,400, and a Queens Pattern Hawkes Cut Glass Punch Bowl and Cups selling for $11,400. The collection consisted of 138 lots and featured a 100% sell-through rate.

Southern objects performed well over the course of the weekend. The top lot in the category was a Rare Edgefield Face Pitcher, which sold for $60,000. Consensus indicates production of these vessels was undertaken by working African slaves of the period. A Fine Southern Federal Inlaid Cherry Bottle Case, attributed to Mason County, Kentucky sold for $48,000. Created 1790 – 1810, the lot features MESDA Provenance and was illustrated in the Magazine Antiques. Other top Southern lots include a Rare Kentucky Federal Cherry Sugar Desk selling for for $38,400, a Maud Gatewood acrylic entitled Herd Spring Storm selling for $18,000, and a Rare Richmond, Virginia Federal Inlaid Mahogany Sideboard circa 1800 selling for $16,800.

Other top lots in the sale include a John Emms painting of beagles, entitled After the Chase, selling for $45,600, a Hermann Herzog landscape of a High Country Lake selling for $20,400, and a Monumental Claire du Lune Moon Flask selling for $21,250. In total, the auction brought $1.55 million over two days and featured a 92.5% sell-through rate. All prices listed include applicable buyers premiums.

Nearly 1300 lots were offered over two days at the May 2017 Premier Auction at Brunk Auctions. Fine estates and collections graced the auction block, with bidders showing substantial interest in rare jewelry, fine art, and furniture.

Dazzling jewelry from the Estate of June Montague Ficklen of Greenville, North Carolina brought staggering prices during the first session on Friday. The top lot from the Ficklen Estate, as well as in the sale, was an Important Cartier Platinum and Diamond Bracelet. Consisting of 143 round, pear, and marquise diamonds, the 60-70 carat vintage bracelet brought considerable interest from an assortment of active bidders. When the hammer dropped, the stunning Cartier piece sold for $204,000 to a phone bidder. (Lot 0517)

Mrs. Ficklen served on several boards of directors including the North Carolina Art Museum, North Carolina School of the Arts, Greenville Art Museum, and Kenmore. She was also a fervent supporter of her community, and founded Women for Women in 2005, an organization dedicated to promoting women and girls near Greenville. Mrs. Ficklen somehow found time to travel the globe with her husband, and was known for her refined taste in jewelry.

A few of the other impressive lots from the Ficklen Estate include:

• • A 2.32 Carat Diamond and Platinum Cartier Ring, D color, selling for $26,400 (Lot 0492)

• • Platinum, Sapphire, and Diamond Earclips, each with a central 6 carat natural Sapphire, selling for $31,200 (Lot 0518)

• A Platinum and Diamond Brooch with a total diamond carat weight of 14-20 carats selling for $22,800 (Lot 0515)

A Jeremiah Theus (1716-1774) portrait of Young William Branford (1753-1776) of Charleston, South Carolina sold for $180,000. This marks a new record for Theus at auction, surpassing the previous record total of $123,900. That record was set by Brunk Auctions in May 2012 with the portrait of Elizabeth Allen Deas, a relative of William Branford.
(Lot 0842)

In the portrait, Theus depicts Branford as a young boy with a battledore and shuttlecock. Presumably after the portrait, William Branford was sent to England for his education. While there, he met with a terrible fate, dying as a result of falling from a window, either by accident or suicide at the age of 23.

Other exceptional results in the auction include:

• • Jean Dufy (French, 1888-1964) Le Jardin des Tuileries et l’Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, selling for $36,000
    (Lot 0766)

• • A Bust of Daphne by Harriet Goodhue Hosmer (Massachusetts/Italy, 1830-1908) selling for $43,200. This lot was featured on the catalog cover. It was purchased by an institutional buyer. (Lot 0935)

• Jack Saylor (Beaufort, NC, born 1960) a painting Running for Cover from 1999 (Lot 0815) which sold for $16,800, a new record for the North Carolina artist at auction. Brunk Auctions is proud to hold the record at auction for Saylor, who joins the likes of Maud Gatewood and Claude Howell as renowned North Carolina artists with recent record prices at auction set by Brunk Auctions.

In total, the sale brought over $2.3 million. All prices include applicable buyers premiums. Brunk Auctions will hold their next premier auction on the weekend of July 22.

This weekend saw a bidding jamboree in our two-day, two-session auction on July 8-9. The sale focused predominately on American Furniture and Fine Arts with exceptional results and record-breaking prices coming for Southern objects.

The top lot in the summer auction was an Important Daniel Huger Horry/Rutledge Family Chinese Chippendale mahogany arm chair. The chair, attributed to 1765-75 Charleston, South Carolina, was met with profound interest by in-house and phone bidders. The prized piece of Southern furniture ultimately sold to an anonymous phone bidder, realizing $120,000.
A museum letter from 1923 accounts for the existence of a pair of these chairs, but their whereabouts were an uncertainty until recently. They are illustrated in Rauschenberg and Bivins, The Furniture of Charleston 1680 – 1820. The mate to this important chair was previously sold at Brunk Auctions in March 2013 for $47,200.

View From My Window, an architectural scene by prolific North Carolina artist Claude Howell sold for $36,000. This price marks a new record for the Dean of North Carolina Artists. The previous record for the artist was set in July 2013 at Brunk Auctions with the coastal scene entitled Weighing Shrimp, selling for $23,600. Howell, who was active for seven decades, was the first North Carolinian to show his works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Down Church Street, Charleston by Alfred Hutty sold for $90,000 during the second session of the July auction. The lot was accompanied by an old photograph of the painting and a 1951 letter from Hutty to the original buyer. The balcony of white house depicted in the painting, 78 Church Street, is said to have been the site where George Washington addressed the residents of Charleston, South Carolina during his week-long visit to the city in 1791.

Other Southern objects to achieve exceptional results include a pair of North Carolina/Virginia Cellarets selling for $60,000, a signed and dated 1845 North Carolina painted table selling for $33,600, and a Tennessee townscape by Will Henry Stevens selling for $31,200.

Significant jewelry also sparked attention at the auction block during the auction with a fine 5.39 carat diamond ring selling for $45,600 and a storied Cartier Platinum, Sapphire, and Aquamarine Brooch Clip selling for $64,800. The brooch was presented to Mrs. John King Lucey by the Sun Shipbuilding Dry Dock Company as a gift for christening the ship Sea Serpent during WWII. The Sun Shipbuilding Dry Dock Company was one of the major shipbuilders of the day and presented gifts to an estimated 6000 women sponsors including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. The brooch offered in the auction was consigned by the estate of Mrs. John King Lucey, and was accompanied by the original Cartier case.

All prices listed include appropriate buyers premiums. In total, the July Catalog auction brought $2.16 million, with a sell-through rate of 92.1%.

ASHEVILLE, NC – On May 12-14, Brunk Auctions held a three day sale consisting of over a thousand lots of fine art, furniture, and decorative arts. The successful auction drew interest from across the globe culminating in strong results for the regional auction house.

A view of Vermont Hills by influential American artist, Rockwell Kent was the top painting in the auction. The oil on canvas, signed in the lower right, “Rockwell Kent 1923-27”, was met with heavy bidding on the phones and in the room. The Vermont painting sold for $141,600 to a phone bidder.

American paintings garnered considerable interest in the spring auction. The Garden Party by Martha Walter from the Zelle collection of Nashville, Tennessee and Gulf Stream, Florida sold for $42,480. A view of McCall’s Ferry by Hermann Herzog from the Thalhimer Estate of Richmond, Virginia sold for $35,400. Milton Avery’s White Horse from the Thalhimer Estate also sold for $35,400.

In addition to great paintings from the Thalhimer estate was a very fine 18th century Chippendale side chair from Boston, selling for $33,040 and an 1805 Simon Willard tall case clock selling for $35,400.

The top lot in the sale was a pair of very fine Millefiori Enameled porcelain cups with iron red Qianlong marks and highly incised decorations. They were consigned from a private Georgia collection. The pair of two-inch cups sold for $177,000.

The sale totaled in at $1.79 million over the three sessions. All results listed include buyers premium. Brunk Auctions will hold their next catalog auction on the weekend of July 9th.

Estate of Charles G. Thalhimer, Richmond, Virginia

Lots 0234 – 0386

Charles Thalhimer, whose family founded the former Thalhimers Department Stores in 1842, has been custodian of a private art collection that is largely unknown outside of Virginia. Two generations of Thalhimer collectors traveled the country and world to build their collection. In Richmond, Virginia they enthusiastically opened their home to friends and philanthropic organizations, sharing the objects and ideas that they had acquired.

The epitome of 20th century collectors, they worked with the most reputable dealers of early American furniture and decorative arts. They sought out the very best of Fine Art and they knew the intrinsic value of superior objects – whether that was a painting, a tea table or a silver pitcher.

The items offered in this collection will provide a glimpse into the private rooms of this family, known for their broad community involvement and philanthropy at home.

The Estate of Sarah Temple Moore

Lots 0387 – 0438

Sarah Temple Moore’s love of art began with her interest in painting as a teenager on the Lookout Mountain, Tennessee property, where she was born, lived, and died at age ninety two. After studying art at her alma mater, Sweet Briar College, during the World War II years, she married family friend and returning Air Force combat pilot, Tom Moore, Jr. For the next twenty five years their focus was raising five sons. Sarah then returned to her interest in art as an entrepreneur in partnership with her husband and to her love of painting family and pastoral scenes.

In 1972 Sarah and Tom opened Mont Crest Art Gallery, one of the first galleries in Chattanooga to market original art by local, national and international artists. They later opened Gallery 210 one of the first businesses in the Bluff View area of the Hunter Museum of Art. Sarah also was appointed to the initial board of the Tennessee Arts Commission by Governor Winfield Dunn. This collection was amassed over forty years of representing and working with known and unknown artists.

Collection of Anne and Robert K. Zelle, Nashville, Tennessee and Gulf Stream, Florida

Jewelry: Lots 0142 – 0195 — General Collection: Lots 0694 – 1068

Robert K. Zelle was a dashing, Yale educated, World War II pilot from St. Louis, Missouri. Anne Zelle was a beautiful St. Louis debutante, who graduated from Fairfax Hall, Waynesboro, Virginia and attended Holton Arms School in Washington. It was love at first sight, and a brief courtship led to marriage. Their lives were filled with friends and travels. They shared interests in golf, skiing and collecting art and antiques. Much of their art and antique collection was acquired from their travels. Each piece in their collection triggered a story of places they travelled, artists they met or simply a memory too good not to share.
The Zelles were active in social and community affairs. They were devoted supporters of educational institutions and philanthropic causes and were committed volunteers. They were both avid animal lovers and supported animal rescue and related charities. Mrs. Zelle served on the advisory board for the Nashville Antique and Garden Show. Mr. Zelle served on the boards of Darlington School, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, The University School of Nashville and Alive Hospice. Mr. Zelle was a former president of Junior Achievement of Nashville and one of the founders of the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee.
For those of us who knew and loved the Zelles, we hope that these items will continue to be a part of a cherished collection and a new story.