Press

Post-Auction Press Release and Prices Realized – May 16-18, 2019 AUCTION

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Consigned from an important Southern Collection, WILLIAM AIKEN WALKER’S Man Holding Possum SOLD FOR $52,500

ANTONIO NICOLO GASPARO JACOBSEN’S Paddlewheel Steamship, St. Johns, SOLD FOR $24,000, offered on behalf of an Important South Carolina Estate.  The estate was 98% sold and totaled $515,550

A COLLECTION OF JAPANESE SCROLLS OFFERED ON BEHALF OF THE WEATHERSPOON MUSEUM OF ART SOLD FOR $18,420

OBJECTS FROM HISTORIC BREMO PLANTATION, Fluvanna County, Virginia, generated spirited bidding with 15 HORSE BREEDING BROADSIDES and SOLD FOR a total of $34,400

FINE JEWELRY AND WATCHES ACHIEVED HIGHEST POST-AUCTION CATEGORY TOTAL AT $437,580, and included special offerings from the Estate of Dr. Colleen Conway-Welch

SILVER INGOT FROM THE NUESTRA SEÑORA DE ATOCHA SHIPWRECK, CA.1621, 85 troy pounds, finished at $43,200

A LIFELONG COLLECTION OF LALIQUE (OVER 160 ITEMS) SOLD FOR A TOTAL OF $154,380, offered from the Collection of Dr. Phillip George, Memphis, Tennessee

FLOOR BIDDERS FOLLOWED BY PHONE BIDDERS accounted for the largest bidding action

BRUNK AUCTIONS CHARITABLE INITIATIVE FOR THE JULY SALE RAISED $3,500 to support the Asheville Area Arts Council Veterans Program

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Asheville, North Carolina, 31 May 2019 — A wide variety of fine jewelry from the Estate of Dr. Colleen Conway-Welch surpassed its estimate of $120,700 – $178,650, selling at an impressive $225,350. Featured was an 18kt. Gold and Gemstone Necklace which sold for $19,200 –toppling its $3,000-$5,000 estimate.

A rare Virginia Chippendale Walnut Dressing Table, ca. 1760-1780, was among the fine selection of American furnishings offered. It finished as the top lot in the American Furniture category, garnering an impressive $55,200. A rare 1795 Federal Inlaid Mahogany Architect’s Table from New York drew significant attention, selling at $15,600.

We’re still enamored of keeping time as the Federal Aaron Willard Tall Case Clock, ca.1800-1810, encouraged lively bidding, finishing at $31,200. The Massachusetts signed “Aaron Willard/Boston,” tall case clock descended through the Reid and Settle families of Reidsville, North Carolina.

Collectors responded enthusiastically to the offerings from the historic Bremo Plantation of Fluvanna County, Virginia. The illustrated Bremo Horse Broadsides realized a collective $34,400, while the Robert E. Lee memorabilia sold for $14,400. Other successful highlights from the plantation included the 19th Century Federal Reserve Proof Notes which sold for $15,600, and a set of 14 Gothic Revival Mahogany Dining Chairs which finished at $14,400.

Seven Charleston Renaissance works by artists Alfred Hutty, Elizabeth O’Neill Verner and Alice Ravenel Huger Smith, together realized $103,500.

Additional successful sale highlights included a Chinese, Six Panel Porcelain Table Top Screen which well-exceeded its $800- $1200 estimate, selling at $32,500. The strong and enthusiastic bidding for this Brunk auction closed with the sale of a Monumental Boehm Golden Eagle which exceeded its $800 – 1200 estimate, selling at $12,500.

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS NOW SOLD:

Property from a Southern Institution – Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Joseph R. Gabriels – An Important Southern Collection – Estate of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Fleischer – Property from an Important Private South Carolina Estate – By Descent in the family of Governor Manning, South Carolina – Private Collection, Highlands, North Carolina – Collection of Clint Paul and Lois B. Herring, Post, Texas – Private Collection, Williamsburg, Virginia – Collection of Marion and Theodore Gore, Williamsburg, Virginia – Private Southern Collection – Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Proceeds to Benefit the Acquisitions Fund – Estate of Alice Carter Middendorf – Private Collection, Winston-Salem, North Carolina – Private Collection, Charlotte, Vermont – Estate of Dr. Phillip George, Memphis, Tennessee – Private Collection, Wilmington, North Carolina – From the Collection of Salem Academy and College,

Winston-Salem, North Carolina – Historic Bremo Plantation, Bremo, Virginia – Private Collection, Cary, North Carolina – Private Collection, Nashville, Tennessee – Private New England Collection – Property from a Southern Institution – Property from the Estate of Dr. Colleen Conway-Welch – Willard R. Sparks Estate, Memphis, Tennessee – Private Collection, Fearrington, North Carolina – Collection of James B. MacNeill, North Carolina

UPCOMING AUCTIONS & EVENTS:

June 6 / Online Photography Auction

July 17 / Connoisseur’s Circle Preview

July 19-20 / Emporium & Premier Auction

September 12-13-14 / Emporium & Premier Auction

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World Class Consignments and Exceptional Results– Founded in 1983

Results are listed in USD and include buyer’s premium

Complete results from sale available at https://brunkauctions.com/auctions/past

For media, photography and other public relations inquiries please contact Marketing team:

marketing@brunkauctions.com / BrunkAuctions.com / 828-254-6846

Based in Asheville, North Carolina, Brunk Auctions has grown from a small regional auction house to a national auction service with significant international clientele.

Founded by Robert Brunk in 1983, Brunk Auctions became well known for its integrity and professionalism. Bob brought to bear his experience as an anthropologist, writer, and professional woodworker, an unmistakable combination of skills that continues to illuminate catalog entries and inform auction-goers. He is now a valued consultant. Andrew Brunk joined his father in 2005. His curatorial experience has brought additional depth and expertise to the company. His experience as the head of the American Furniture Department at one of the world’s largest auction houses has allowed Brunk Auctions to align itself with the best in the business. Brunk Auctions employs a full-time staff of 22 with experience in New York and Boston auction houses, galleries, and museums.

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%.