For the third year in a row, Nadeau's Auction Gallery sailed past the $1 million mark at its annual New Year's Day auction, posting a $1.25 million+ gross at the Jan. 1 event and cementing its reputation as Connecticut's only auction house that consistently conducts sales that surpass $1 million. This year's auction featured 650 lots in a wide array of categories.
The top lot of the auction was an original oil-on-artist board painting by one of America's first internationally renowned African-American artists, Henry Ossawa (H.O.) Tanner (1859-1937). The work, titled “Flight into Egypt” sold for $84,000 following a fierce bidding war. The painting was signed by Tanner in the lower right and measured 17.5-by-20-inches. All prices quoted include a 20 percent buyer's premium.
The auction was held in Nadeau's gallery, located at 25 Meadow Road in Windsor, Conn. A standing-room only crowd of over 350 people packed the showroom, while 2,000 registered bidders participated online, through Invaluable.com. Between 500 to 600 phone bids were posted and over 300 absentee bids were recorded.
"It was right up there with previous New Year's Day sales that also surpassed the $1 million mark," said Ed Nadeau of Nadeau's Auction Gallery. "The day started strong with jewelry and progressed from there. Furniture did very well, better than expected, thanks to the quality of the items and several Oriental rugs sold for $6,000 to $12,000. Art also did very well."
Many paintings and prints in the sale were from the huge, 3,500-piece Americana collection of banking giant Credit Suisse, featuring large framed portraits, period American furniture, quilts, maps and more. On Nov. 7, Nadeau's Auction Gallery sold Part I of the collection. The balance of the collection will be sold in subsequent auctions throughout 2016.
Original artworks dominated the list of top lots. An oil-on-panel rendering of Diamond Cove on Waikiki Beach, Hawaii by Frank Chamberlin (1873-1961), measuring 11.75-by-20-inches, realized $27,600; and a signed oil-on-canvas by Marin Rico y Ortega (1833-1908), titled “Venetian Canal,” measuring 28-by-18.25-inches and signed lower left, hit $27,000.
Many large and impressive portrait paintings, all formerly housed in Credit Suisse's opulent headquarters building in New York City, found new homes. A full-length portrait of the iconic American inventor Thomas Edison by Ellis Meyer Silvette (1876-1940) measuring a larger-than-life 90-by-40-inches, signed by Silvette and inscribed by Edison, brought $16,250.
The top-selling portrait painting was a three-quarter length rendering of Andrew W. Mellon (1855-1937) the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1921-1932, by Philip A. deLaszlo (1869-1937). The 1926 oil-on-canvas portrait reached $25,200. Also, an oil-on-canvas portrait of Collis Potter Huntington (1821-1900) by Francis Lathrop (1849-1909) done in the 1890s, sold for $17,500.
Tops in the furniture category was a coffee table made by Philip and Kelvin Laverne, titled “Eternal Forest.” The acid-etched and enameled patinated brass and pewter clad table, signed and 41.75-inches in diameter, realized $20,400. Also, a lovely R. J. Horner Victorian oak safe cabinet having carved winged griffins backsplash and fitted birds-eye maple drawers, sold for $12,000.
A Steinway & Sons East Indian rosewood grand piano, Model L (Crown Jewel Collection) with a high-gloss finish, matching bench and automatic humidistat, breezed to $24,000; a gorgeous Bidjar Oriental carpet, soared to $12,000; and a lady's platinum diamond bracelet set with 16 V-shaped links, boasting over 100 diamonds, brought $12,000.
Returning to artwork, an oil-on-canvas rendering by Guy Carleton Wiggins (1883-1962) titled “November in the Hills,” signed and dated (1920), with a sales receipt dated 1989, knocked down at $15,000; while and an engraving with etching, aquatint and hand-coloring of a male black-billed Cuckoo bird, after John James Audubon by Robert Havell (1793-1878), changed hands for $17,500.
Two paintings posted identical selling prices of $25,200. One was an oil-on-canvas trompe l'oeuil (trick of the eye) image of American currency by Victor Dubreuil (1846-1946), titled “Hand Over the Money.” The other was an oil-on-canvas rendering of the Hills of Carmel Highlands, overlooking Mount Doud on Big Sur, by Arthur Hill Gilbert (1894-1970).
Two other portrait paintings sold well. One was a circa-1902 oil-on-canvas of James Jerome Hill (1838-1916), the Vice President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce from 1908-12, by Adolfo Muller-ury (1862-1947), signed ($15,600); and a 1921 oil-on-canvas of Jacob Henry Schiff (1847-1920), by George Laurence Nelson (1887-1978), after Seymour Thomas ($14,400).
For further information, call 860-246-244 or visit www.NadeausAuction.com.