Selkirk Auctioneers & Appraisers’ Spring Eclectic Auction on Saturday, March 12, 2016, offers hundreds of reasons to emerge from hibernation and become energized to start a collection with fresh and imaginative items. There are many single items, pairs and groupings from private collections, with a Dali lithograph, Vanderveen bronzes and a KPM porcelain among the notable items to be auctioned.
The Spring Eclectic Auction begins at 10:00 a.m. Central Time and includes a wide variety of quality European and American furniture and decorative arts, fine art, prints, posters, jewelry and Asian works of art.
“Our Eclectic Auction is a great way to start the Spring auction season,” said Jeff Jeffers, CEO and Principal Auctioneer. “Our specialists have been very active with families throughout the region, helping them bring to market many unique and lovely items.”
“This is a terrific auction for collectors to start and expand their collections,” said Shane David Hall, Director and Specialist, Fine Art and 20th Century Design. “The key to building a collection is to buy what you love, and buy the best you can afford at the time. This auction will provide excellent opportunities to do exactly that because we are offering great variety and many very high-quality items, within a range of accessible price points.”
What represents Spring better than animal pairs: mothers with offspring? Loet Vanderveen’s bronze pairs of koalas, elephants, giraffes and monkeys are not only exquisite, but echo the significance of the Dutch sculptor’s work. His childhood home close to the Rotterdam Zoo was destroyed in World War Two. His love for animals developed in his early years is apparent in the bronze, signed and numbered, figures with intricate details such as the baby elephant’s trunks entwined with its mother’s and the baby koala suspended in tree limbs. The value of each pair is estimated between $200-500; together the four pairs would build an excellent collection in one afternoon of bidding.
Among the many notable individual items, several stand out as important examples of their forms – and an excellent opportunity to start or expand a collection.
A signed and numbered lithograph of “Cherries,” from Salvador Dali’s FlorDali or Les Fruits series, is an outstanding example of the artist’s hyper-fertile imagination. Said to be subversive and ahead of the times, the surrealist figure wears a harlequin shirt over a 19th century botanical lithograph. Matted and framed, and 38 inches high by 29 inches wide, the estimate of $600-900 will attract many astute bidders.
KPM, also known as Konigliche Porzellan Manufaktur, was founded in Berlin, Germany in 1761 and brought to prominence as a luxury brand by Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great). KPM porcelain is often highly valued for the beauty of the women pictured, as in this KPM porcelain plaque dating from the late 19th century. The plaque shows Jochebed, Moses’ mother, behind reeds watching her son in a wicker basket floating on the Nile River. Estimated at a value of $1,000-2,000, this conservatively estimated biblical depiction could see spirited bidding from KPM collectors.
Figures of Guan Yin, goddess of mercy, brought high multiples above estimates at the Winter Gallery Auction, so enthusiastic bidding is expected for a Baltic Amber figure of Guan Yin. Depicted in a carved full body carrying beads and elevated on lotus base, this stunning 13-inch figure is estimated at $300-500.
Distinctive home décor offerings can make a personal statement of style. For example, imagine a sitting room or boudoir that evokes European luxury with:
An Italian carved and gilt decorated mirror in an elliptical frame set with leaves and flowers and a late 19th or early 20th century European ebonized Louis XVI style cabinet. The cabinet has a shaped marble top over a gilt and mother of pearl decorated apron flanked by Corinthian columns. The mirror and cabinet are each estimated at $200-400.
A pair of slipper chairs by Edward Wormley for Dunbar with blue upholstered backs and seats are raised on square tapering legs and are estimated at $400-600.
A pair of Italian mid 20th century ceramic poodles will add whimsy to any tableau. Each is 23.5 inches, seated on an octagonal base, with the pair valued at $100-200.
Selkirk’s Spring Eclectic Gallery Auction flip book and full catalog may be browsed online. The Gallery is located at 4739 McPherson in the St. Louis Central West End. Previews will be held daily and with selected evening hours from March 6th through the auction on March 12th.
Selkirk is accepting quality items for its upcoming Spring Gallery
Auction on May 21, 2016 as well as other 2016 auctions. For further information regarding how to sell at Selkirk or for a valuation of your item(s), please contact [email protected] or call 314.696.9041.
For more information visit www.selkirkauctions.com, or find us on Facebook.