What’s more exciting than million-dollar hammer prices? Competitive bidding in every corner of an auction, regardless of the size of the starting bids. A prime example of this phenomenon is John Moran Auctioneers’ June 3 Art of the American Westsale in Monrovia, California. The auction certainly saw large results with a Charles M. Russell work that sold for $285,000, but it also had lots sell for 10 times over their high estimates.
Charles M. Russell (1864-1926), At the End of the Rope, 1919, gouache, watercolor and pencil on illustration board, 13 ¼ x 19 ½ in. Estimate: $120/180,000 SOLD: $285,750
While not the top lot, Edith Hamlin’s Night Blooming Cereus (Taos) rocked the auction when it sold for $60,325, beating the high estimate of $6,000 by a factor of 10. The work, created in 1932 when the artist was only 30 years old, also set a new world auction record for Hamlin, whose previous record was $33,000 set in 2005. Interestingly, Night Blooming Cereus, the third-best lot in the sale, was directly behind a painting by her husband, Maynard Dixon. His 1943 painting Road to the Mountains (Santa Catalina Range) was the second-best lot in the sale after selling for $88,000, beating a high estimate of $70,000. Immediately after the Hamlin was another Dixon work, Catalinas at Sundown, that sold over its $35,000 high estimate for $47,000. Both Dixon images featured the Santa Catalina Mountains, which were visible from Dixon’s home in Tucson, Arizona.
Dale Nichols (1904-1995), Saguaro cacti in an Arizona landscape, 1944, oil on canvas, 14 x 20 in. Estimate: $6/8,000 SOLD: $22,860
The Russell painting, the gouache and watercolor work At the End of the Rope, completed in 1919, sold for $285,000, more than $100,000 over the high estimate of $180,000.
Another work that sold over estimates was Dale Nichols’ Saguaro cacti in an Arizona landscape, a 1944 painting with a high estimate of $8,000. Consistent and competitive bidding sent the work nearly three times over that number. It sold for $22,000. Although not as dramatic, a Gerard Curtis Delano painting also saw strong bidding when it sold at $28,000, clearing a high estimate of $25,000. The work, Navajo Boy and his Burros,is classic Delano colors, forms and compositions.
Maynard Dixon (1875-1946), Road to the Mountains (Santa Catalina Range), 1943, oil on canvas laid to artist’s board, 16 x 20 in. Estimate: $50/70,000 SOLD: $88,900
Other artists to defy estimates were Michael Stack, Theodore Roosevelt Lambert, Millard Sheets, Gary Ernest Smith, Dustin Van Wechel and John Coleman, who had a number of small bronze busts that all sold over estimates.
Edith Hamlin (1902-1992), Night Blooming Cereus (Taos), 1932, oil on board, 25 x 22 in. Estimate: $4/6,000 SOLD: $60,325
One of the more curious lots, and further proof collectors were in a bidding mood, was the sale of a sculpture inspired by, or possibly cast from, a Russell bronze. The Bluffers was not sold as a Russell work, but listed as “after Charles Marion Russell.” With estimates of only $200 to $400, the piece sold for $20,000—50 times over the high estimate. —
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