An astonishing 41 percent of bidders were new customers at the Ketterer Kunst auction of Old Masters and Art of the 19th Century on October 29 in Munich, Germany. The successful sale pushed figures to an overall result of nearly € 3 million for all three of the firm's October auctions.

“The bidding behaviour was quite selective,” said company owner and auctioneer Robert Ketterer. “More objects than usual remained unsold, but the sold ones achieved great results. The top ten results alone were all well above the € 20.000-mark.”

The leading lot was Ludwig von Hofmann‘s “Tanzfries“ (lot 1179) with a stunning result of € 172.000 (prices include 22% buyer's premium) which went to a persistent Southern European bidder.

The same bidder stood his ground for Eduard von Grützner‘s “Stillleben mit Pfingstrosen“ (lot 1172), which had begun with a bid of € 8.000. The intense bidding skirmish between the phones stopped at € 62.000 and made for the second sharpest bid increase of the day, right behind a German “Landschaft mit Wanderer“ (lot 1145), which went to a museum for € 21.000 (starting price: € 2.500).

Five works by Edward Theodore Compton proved to be particularly sought-after. They had received more than twenty bids even before the auction started. Accordingly, it was no surprise that the 90.5 x 150.5 cm oil painting “Blick auf den Großglockner vom großen Wiesbachhorn“ (lot 1124) soared to a final result of € 54.000, offered by a German collector. After the starting price of € 6.000, the “Felspartie am Lyskamm“ (lot 1125), went to Tyrol for a remarkable amount of more than € 30.000*.

Another name to be found in the list of top positions is Franz von Defregger with his
“Strickende Bäuerin mit Buben“ (lot 1133), which, as expected, remained in Southern Germany. A
private collector honored the work with € 46.000.

Much wooed was “Die Darbringung im Tempel“ (lot 1044), an ink drawing by a Rembrandt student, althought the ascription was much discussed. Despite the lively international bidding skirmish on the phones, the small-sized sheet remained in Germany for a result of € 37.900* (starting price: € 8.000).

London will be the new home of Lovis Corinth‘s “Porträt des Herrn Lilienthal“ (lot 1130), which was
acquired by a bidder in the auction room for € 29.000, who stood his ground against numerous
written bids.

Also much sought-after were eight works (lots 1088-1095) by Jusepe de Ribera, called Lo
Spagnoletto, which were not only entirely sold, but even achieved results far beyond their starting
prices. Besides domestic bidders, they also attracted customers from Europe, Japan and the USA.

Earlier Francisco de Goya had already enthused the audience with several works (lots 1030-1042) and outstanding results. A customer from Belarus, for instance, managed to get his hands on the “80 sheets: Los Caprichos“ (lot 1030) for a price of € 29.000, while the “80 sheets: Los desastres de la guerra“ went to Canada for € 15.900.

Objects that remained unsold in the auction can be acquired in the post auction sale until late
November 2010. List of results are available by phone at 0049-89-55244-0.