Cordier’s Summer Antique and Fine Art Auction Sales Surpass a Quarter of a Million Dollars

August 19, 2016

Day one opened with coins, featuring a single-owner collection of gold coins which realized a combined price of $22,975. A 70 piece Bicentennial first edition sterling ingot proof set hammered down at $1,900, while in the jewelry category a beautiful Victorian 14K gold watch chain with an engraved slide fetched $2,100.

 

Other categories sold on the first day included pottery and porcelain, highlighted by a pair of pieces by George Ohr, who christened himself the mad pottery of Biloxi. The two pieces together sold for $2,900. The collectibles category also drew heavy interest, with a Mills Bell 5 cent slot machine bringing $1,200 and a 19th Century Spanish Santos ivory head and hand achieving $1,100. A small collection of Russian icons inspired spirited bidding, with the top lot being a pair of portrait oklad icons including Lady Kazan and Pantokrator, which sold to an enthusiastic collector for $4,600.

 

The excitement began early in day two when a rare eight day tall case clock by Eli Bentley out of Taneytown, MD in fair condition, sold for $1,600.  A little later in the day, an ethereal 29 inch tall white Carrara marble sculpture of a young woman signed Donatello was won for $2,100.

 

In Asian Arts, two single-owner pre-ban ivory collections drew energetic bidding from the floor, phones, and internet.  Top lots of the collection included a carved mother turtle with 18 of her children ($1,900), an ivory Shibayama tusk with a mother of pearl floral design ($3,200), and a Japanese Okimono of a performer with monkeys ($2,800).  The top lot of the auction, a carved ivory wedding dragon boat from the Meiji period, brought competition between multiple internet bidders and the floor, finally hammering for $6,500.