$234,000 Robin’s Egg Glazed Chinese Vase tops Litchfield County Auctions’ first Million Dollar Sale.

Litchfield County Auctions Online sale, which began on April 18th and ended May 2nd, was their first sale to breach the million dollar mark. Including major paintings from the Julius Levy Estate, Asian art, Jewelry & Antiques, the sale was hosted on iGavel.com, the increasingly popular alternative to eBay, for fine art and antiques.

Although the sale was completely online, participants viewed the sale in person during a five-day gallery exhibition that also included a tag sale which grossed $45,000. The actual day of the sale was both surrealistically quiet and extremely exciting. The Chinese vase had begun on April 18^th with a starting price of $360—in fact, it was lotted together with another green vase. By the first few days of the sale, it was clear that the vase was going to take off, as it climbed steadily to $8,000, where it sat still for nearly a week. Throughout the exhibition, it received tremendous attention. By the morning of May 2, however, the vase had climbed to $21,000. As vice president Nicholas Thorn was getting ready to go to work, he watched it climb on his home computer. By the time he was dressed and out the door, it was up to $31,000, and by the time he arrived at the auction house, it was up to $37,000—a lot of money for a small vase, but still far from over. Auction day during an online auction is mostly like auction day at a live auction, except there are no customers, and nothing is being shown. Chief cataloger, Kristin Haswell was giving last minute condition reports, several staff members were managing multiple telephones and cellular phones, executing bids for “non-computer people” and head auctioneer Weston Thorn was busy “re-listing” passed items— much as he would in a live auction. By the time the vase reached $99,000, however, no one was doing anything but watching the auction. It climbed in fast increments to $125,000, $150,000, $175,000, and excited shouts could be heard from the back offices. When it finally hammered down at $234,000, applause erupted from the employees throughout the gallery.

The vase was not the only excitement throughout the day, though. A rare “equivalents” painting by Arthur Segal, that was optimistically estimated at $100,000-150,000 brought a record price for the artist when it “iGaveled” down at $162,000. A Hans Hartung painting from 1970 that had been purchased directly from his 1971 New York show at Lefebre Gallery was estimated at $20,000-30,000 and almost tripled the high estimate to sell for $84,000. Furniture that sold well included a fine satinwood side cabinet, estimated $7,000-10,000 that sold for $15,000—and this in a supposedly slow English furniture market.

A portion of the sale, what one could call a “late afternoon session”, was devoted to L.C.A.’s first ever Jewelry sale. Selling over 65% of the lots for approximately $125,000, Mr. Thorn compared it to their first ever auction 13 years ago, when the entire sale grossed about $125,000. Maybe in 2020 we will have our first million dollar jewelry sale, he speculated. The top jewelry lot was a fancy emerald cut aquamarine, round and baguette diamond platinum brooch. Estimated at $10,000-15,000 it sold or $15,000 including premium.

Over all, 524 of 699 lots sold for an average sell-through rate of 75%. Of the items that sold, the presale estimate was about $600-900,000. The gross total of $1,020,000 was well above the high. While the results were very strong, there were certainly still a few good buys for savvy auction-goers. One of the best paintings in the sale was by Jorge Castillo, Spanish, B. 1933 entitled 'Petit Dejeuner'; conservatively estimated at $8,000-12,000, it sold for just $5,250 plus premium. A fascinating Italian walnut commode, 17th C., received a lot of attention during the preview. It was highly carved and very large and sold at the lower end of its $7,000-10,000 estimate for $7,850 plus premium. A coffee table by the popular Philip and Kelvin Laverne, in an Asian style of patinated gilt bronze was a bargain at $2100 plus premium. Finally a pair of Lalique Swans that normally retail for $15,000 sold for just under $3,000 plus premium, though they did have a small chip.

LCA is busily collecting estates for their summer sale which goes online July 4^th and runs through July 18^th. Following sales include Americana, Fine Art & Antiques in September and Modernism and Collectibles in November. For more information, visit www.litchieldcountyauctions.com or call 860-567-4661.