East Dennis, Mass. – Highlights from Eldred’s Fine and Decorative Art Auction, conducted November 6 and 7, were as diverse as the sale itself, which included 990 lots of silver, jewelry, paintings, furniture, ceramics, Oriental rugs, and much more. Top lots were “Encounter”, an M.C. Escher lithograph, which sold for $6,600, a Continental School portrait of Mozart, which brought $6,250, and a Tiffany Studios bronze student lamp base in a rare form, also bringing $6,250.  

The student lamp base was one of twelve lots of Tiffany Studios items. Others included silver plated candle shades, favrile glass tableware, a bronze picture frame in the Zodiac pattern, and a favrile glass mosque lamp. Each lot saw competitive bidding from floor, phone, absentee and Internet bidders, and the total for the twelve lots, nearly $14,500, was almost double pre-sale estimates.

Other highly contested lots that pushed hammer prices far beyond estimate include an Arts & Crafts sterling silver an enamel box by Gertrude Twichell (1889-1937), which sold for $5,400 on an $800/1,200 estimate, and seven pieces of highly collectible lettuce and cabbage leaf ceramics by Palm Beach artisan Dodie Thayer, which sold for $4,500, more than 25 times the conservative pre-sale estimate.

Other top sellers include a Bigelow, Kennard & Co. leaded glass and patinated bronze table lamp, which sold for $5,150, twelve Stone Associates Arts & Crafts sterling silver coffee spoons, which brought $4,260, and a platinum, sapphire and diamond dinner ring, which sold for $3,600. In addition to the Mozart portrait, top paintings include a captivating oil by Charles Zacharie Landelle (French, 1821-1908), titled “The Egyptian Girl”, which sold for $3,240, and a bold figural study by Carlos Alonso (Argentinian, b. 1929) titled “Figura de Mujer”.

Two antique English George III pieces, a base to a welsh cupboard and a chest-on-chest, and a 20th Century maple and cherry bed and were top earners in the furniture category, selling for a combined $6,470. “Though there were no eye-popping results with furniture, we were pleased with the overall consistent sale prices, in furniture as well as a number of other departments” said William Bourne, assistant vice president of Eldred’s. “There was a good crowd both auction days, and very strong absentee and phone bid participation. And as we are always seeing now, Internet bidders are taking an increasingly larger share of sales.”  

Eldred’s next auction, the Fall Americana, Paintings and Maritime Art Auction, will be held Thursday, Friday and Saturday, November 19-21, 2015. The firm’s fall auction season conclude with the Asian Art Auction, scheduled for December 3 and 4. All auctions are being held at the company’s main facility located 1483 Route 6A, in East Dennis, Massachusetts.

The Robert C. Eldred Co., New England's oldest established antiques and fine arts auction house, holds approximately 25 auctions per year encompassing Americana, paintings, Asian art, European decorative art, maritime antiques and collectibles. It was recently named one of the top worldwide auction houses by Art + Auction. For more information please call (508) 385-3116 or email info@eldreds.com.