Painting Soars to $1.8 Million
at New Years Day Auction
WINDSOR,
Conn. – Only a few times has an item ever sold
for over $1 million at a Connecticut auction, but this very rare feat
occurred on New Years Day 2018 when an
oil- on- board painting by American artist Wayne Thiebaud, titled
"Lollipop Tree," soared to $1.08 million at Nadeau’s Auction Gallery’s
annual New Year’s Day auction.
With a pre-sale estimate of $400,000 to $800,000, the painting was
easily the auction’s expected top lot, but what wasn’t expected was the
fact that it finished at more than $200,000 beyond even the high figure.
The colorful and whimsical painting, 13 inches by 10 ¼ inches, was
artist signed and dated 1969 in pencil and still had the Allan Stone
Galleries of New York label from 1970 on the back.
Wayne Thiebaud is a pop artist widely known for his colorful works
depicting everyday objects, such as pies, lipstick, paint cans, ice
cream cones, pastries and hot dogs. But he’s also renowned for his
landscapes and figural paintings. He uses heavy pigment and exaggerated
colors to depict his subjects, and the well-defined shadows
characteristic of advertisements are usually evident.
In all, nearly 700 quality lots came up for bid, online and in Nadeau’s
Gallery at 25 Meadow Road in Windsor.
LiveAuctioneers.com,
Bidsquare.com,
and Invaluable.com,
as well as the
gallery’s website, took online bids. Phone and absentee bids
were also taken. Overall the sale grossed $3.1 million, a new record for
Nadeau.
“This
was by far and away the largest and the strongest sale in our company’s
history,” said Ed Nadeau, owner of Nadeau’s Auction Gallery. “Breaking
the $3 million barrier was a first for us, and we saw strong results
across all categories, even to include furniture, which has been quite
soft for the past few years."
All prices quoted for the following items include the buyer’s premium.
A lovely art glass vaso mosaico or mosaic vase, executed by the
Italian entrepreneur and designer Ercole Barovier, sailed past its
$30,000 to $50,000 estimate to finish at $108,000. The 9½-inch-tall
vase, circa 1925, consisted of clear glass with a mosaic pattern of
clear, cobalt, amethyst and emerald. Ercole Barovier was the son of
glass furnace owner Benvenuto Barovier.
The
fine selection of Victorian furnishings from the estate of Frank Perotti
was led by a pair of Renaissance Revival walnut and burl walnut
cabinets, 75 inches tall, with pierce carved tops over bronze panels
over marble tops, made $39,000, and a Renaissance Revival walnut, burl
walnut and ebonized wood cabinet with mirrored etched doors, impressive
at 9 feet 3 inches wide, brought $46,800.
A Rolex stainless steel Oyster Daytona
Cosmograph engraved tachymeter bezel 39mm watch (serial #2788664, model
#6265), slipped onto a new wrist for $46,875. Also, a partially glazed
ceramic terracotta bottle by Pablo Picasso for Madoura, titled Bouteille
Gravee, having the bottom inscribed “Edition Picasso 15/300 Picasso,” 17
½ inches tall, rose to $20,400.
A pair of antique musical instruments combined for $50,000. One was a
Lyon and Healy concert harp, gilt and satinwood, 70 inches tall by 36
inches wide, brought $30,000, against a pre-sale estimate of $1,000 to
$2,000. The other was a Steinway rosewood grand piano dated 1859 with
scroll carvings and cabriole legs, 103 inches in length, made $20,000,
against a pre-sale estimate of $3,000 to $6,000.
Two
lots had identical estimates of $15,000 to $25,000. One was a Tiffany
Studios Daffodil table lamp having a leaded Favrile 20-inch glass shade
with cascading daffodils on a bronze base that brought $20,400. The
other was a 40-inch by 28-inch oil-on-canvas painting by Virginie Demont-Breton,
titled Mother and Child in the Garden, artist signed, that made $43,750.
A Regence French gilt bronze Boulle Cartel wall clock and barometer,
having brass inlaid brown tortoiseshell with heavy ormolu mounts and two
classical figures, circa 1725, garnered $42,000. Also, a Hugo Lonitz
Majolica game tureen depicting deer atop a cover, with fox handles and
ducks around the tree trunks, all on a base of sticks and ferns, 16
inches long, realized $23,750.
For more information, please visit
Nadeau’s Auction
Gallery Web site., please visit www.NadeausAuction.com. Updates
are posted frequently.
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