DALLAS, TX.- A Henning Koppel Silver Fish Dish and Cover sold for $87,500, claiming top-lot honors for the year and leading Heritage Auctions’ Silver Department to $1,771,421 in total sales in 2019.

“This has been an exciting year, with strong interest spanning the best of well-known designs by Henning Koppel for Georg Jensen to the little-known works by the Peruvian-Italian silversmith, Graziella Laffi,” Heritage Auctions Silver and Decorative Arts Director Karen Rigdon said. “Strong bidding has been seen across categories from Early American Silver to Contemporary Design. We continue to seek the best and rarest works to feed the interests of our growing clientele.”

Heritage Auctions’ Nov. 7 Fine Silver & Decorative Arts Auction amassed $978,864 in total sales, and the April 24 Fine Silver & Objects of Vertu Auction brought in $697,955.

The Silver Fish Dish and Cover that became the year’s top lot was not the only piece by Koppel for Jensen that fared well, a list that also included a Henning Koppel Silver Water Pitcher No. 1052: The Swan for Georg Jensen, Copenhagen, designed 1956, which drew $17,500.

Demand was high for silver by Laffi, who came from a family of artists and designed and made extraordinary jewelry and hollowware that intermingled pre-Columbian imagery and techniques with modern design concepts. Top Laffi lots included, but were not limited to:

• A Large and Important Graziella Laffi Silver Snake Bowl, Lima, Peru, circa 1970: $12,500.

• A Graziella Laffi Silver Necklace and Cuff, Lima, Peru, circa 1960-70: $4,500.

• A Large Graziella Laffi Silver Vase, Lima, Peru, circa 1970: $3,000.

Interest thrived in 2019 for early American silver, such as a Rare Francis Richardson Sr. Silver Tankard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1710 that sold for $23,750, a Gorham Mfg. Company Partial Gilt Silver Wine Cooler Made for Charles M. Schwab, Providence, Rhode Island, 1906, which brought $16,250, or Twelve David Willaume II Silver Dinner Plates, London, 1737, which sold for $15,000.

In addition, silver steadily gained popularity in Heritage Auctions’ Fine & Decorative Arts Monthly Online Auctions. The department’s annual total also included $112,602 in the department’s weekly sales. Among the 2019 highlights from monthly auctions:

• A Seven-Piece Reed & Barton Francis I Pattern Silver Tea and Coffee Service, Taunton, Massachusetts, designed 1907, manufactured circa 1949: $11,875.

• A Four Hundred and Eighty-Nine Piece Stieff Co. RepousséPattern Flatware Service, Baltimore, Maryland, introduced 1828: $7,500.

• A Twenty-Four-Piece Puiforcat Royal Pattern Silver Flatware Service for Six, Paris, designed 18th century: $6,875.

• A Two Hundred and Twenty-Five Piece Wallace Grande Baroque Pattern Silver Flatware Service, Wallingford, Connecticut, introduced 1941: $4,250.

• A One Hundred Forty-Two-Piece Reed and Barton Francis I Pattern Silver Flatware Service with Naken Wood Case, Taunton, Massachusetts, designed 1907: $4,125.