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.