Italian Marble Shrouded Skull Sculpture Sells For $29,000 At Kaminski's Summer Auction

August 17, 2018

Kaminski Auctions held its summer auction on the weekend of July 14 and 15 at its gallery in Beverly, Mass. The top lot of the sale was an early 19th-century sculpture of a carved marble shrouded skull from an estate in Rome. With an estimate of $3,000-$5,000, the statue, standing 22.5 inches tall, was hotly contested, both on the phones and internet, before selling for $29,000. Prices reported are hammer prices and do not include buyer’s premium.
A pair of circa 1950 platinum, diamond, and cabochon ruby earrings with approximately 32 grams troy weight from a West Palm Beach, Fla., estate sold for $8,000 against an estimate of $2,500-$3,500, while a vintage Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust calendar wristwatch in original condition sold for $6,000.
Paintings from the collection of David and Janet Grey of Wenham, Mass., were featured in the sale and did well. In particular, a genre painting of a mother and daughter at the water’s edge by the Pennsylvania artist Howard Logan Hildebrandt sold for $8,000. The Cape Ann paintings from the collection sold well, with local collectors coming to preview and bid on day two. A Max Kuehne “Rockport Harbor From the Headlands” oil-on-canvas, with its original Max Kuehne hand-carved silver leaf frame, achieved $7,500. Other paintings included a David Hatfield, titled “Spring Smith Street,” with a North Shore Art Association label and a Ken Knowles, “View From Governors Park Gloucester.” A landscape painting by Paul Strisik ANA, titled “Autumn Jewels,” and a Wayne Morrell landscape of “Spring Stream Jeffersonville, VT,” both achieved $3,250.
California paintings from the collection also garnered a lot of interest on the internet, with a Ray Roberts “Winter Sun” oil-on-canvas mounted on wood panel selling for $3,350. An Emile Gruppe oil-on-canvas winter scene of a woodcutter sold for $4,500.
Modern art in the sale included a Giulio Turcato abstract work, circa 1960s, that sold for $4,750. One of the rarest, circa 1865 American Civil War decks of playing cards complete with 52 cards, made by the A. Dougherty Company of 26 Beeker St., N.Y., sold for $3,250 to a Civil War collector. The set of playing cards was described as an Army and Navy Civil War deck of playing cards, titled “The Monitor and the Merrimac.” The ace of Monitor and ace of Merrimac both bore the maker's name. The ace of Monitor read, “To Commemorate The Greatest Event in Naval History, the Substitution of Iron For Wood.” The four suits included the Monitors, Merrimacs, Soaves, and Drummers.
The top decorative art lot was a portrait of Czar Alexander, oil-on-porcelain, in a Russian silver Fabergé frame hallmarked 88 (for .916 silver), with marks for the master Michael Perchin (1860-1903), St. Petersburg, Russia. The portrait and frame, one of the top lots viewed on the KaminskiLive website, was from a Lviv, Ukrainian estate. It brought $3,200.
The top furniture lot were a pair of 18th-century Irish Chippendale mahogany side tables with finely carved ball and claw feet. They sold to a bidder in the salesroom for $4,000.
For further information, visit www.kaminskiauctions.com.

 

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