First Phase Navajo Chief’s Blanket Headlines Successful Summer Antiques Auction at John Moran’s • Much anticipated Fine Antiques Auction Featuring Native American Items draws hundreds of bidders online, by phone, and on the floor
• Show-stopping first phase Navajo weaving sold to noted dealer
well at John Moran Auctioneers, with some finely wrought pierced silver heading the pack in June. The very first lot offered, a large German silver pierced center bowl, intricately decorated with floral garlands, vines, and birds, sold for triple the high estimate ($800 to $1200), at $3600, finally going to a floor bidder who had to beat out numerous absentee bidders as well as some online interest. Directly following that lot, three Shepheard & Co. English pierced sterling silver baskets outdid the high estimate to sell to a floor buyer at $6600 (estimate: $2500 to $3500). A pierced sterling vase by the ever-popular Gorham, decorated with birds, tulips, peonies, and daffodils and incised with great detail, hammered for an impressive $3600, well over the estimated $1500 to $2000. Perhaps most notable of the silver lots was an English sterling silver caviar server by Asprey, which sold for over double the high estimate, realizing $7,800. Weighing in at nearly one hundred troy ounces altogether, this server featured shell-form handles, dolphin-form feet, and a gilt sturgeon set upon the cover, as well as a matching spoon with dolphin handle and a shell-form bowl (estimate: $2000 to $3000).
Art glass pieces were also highly sought, with pieces by Lalique bringing the best hammer prices. A Lalique ‘Formose’ vase, made of cased opalescent glass, decorated with a shoal of shibunkin fish, realized a healthy $3,367.75 (estimate: $1500 to $2000). Another Lalique piece – a ‘Quatre Moineaux du Japon’ table clock, featuring four sparrows perched upon dogwood blossoms - another excellent example of Lalique’s adaptation of Japanese imagery- sold for $3000 (estimate: $1000 to $2000). An unsigned Durand ‘King Tut’ footed vase, featuring an opalescent orange-gold swirl pattern on a green ground exterior and a gold toned interior, evoked gold and gemstones fit for an ancient Egyptian pharaoh, and ultimately hammered for double the high estimate, bringing $1800 (estimate: $600 to $900).
