NEW YORK, NY.- The Little Peach, 1902, Maxfield Parrish's touching oil painted to accompany a children's poem by the same name, sold for $515,000 in Heritage Auctions' $6.5 million American Art Signature Auction in New York. The Nov. 17 auction featured nearly 300 masterpieces, including an extraordinary selection of Modernism from the King Collection of American Art.

"As a result of the excitement surrounding The King Collection, bidders set artist records all day long," said Aviva Lehmann, Director of American Art at Heritage. "We were particularly excited to see many pieces sold to the floor."

Painted as part of a series by Georgia O'Keeffe in the early 1920s, Alligator Pears, circa 1923, brought $461,000. One of eight known alligator pear canvases from 1923, the artwork was part of the King Collection's comprehensive selection of Early American Modernism. Peaches in a White Bowl, 1910, by Charles Sheeler sold for $209,000 against a $70,000 estimate. The River (River Interpretation) by Man Ray, the sole American artist to claim a prominent role in the development of Dada and Surrealism in the United States, sold for $167,000.

Cubist Composition, 1917, by Henry Lyman Sayen hammered for $100,000, a record for the artist. Artist records were also set for William Henry Kemble Yarrow, as Synchromist Flowers, circa 1917-20, which sold for $56,250, and for Thomas Duncan Benrimo, as Running Man, circa 1918-25, which sold for $32,500.

Leading a diverse selection of Western and California Art, Howard Terpning's Slim Chance, 1978, sold for $395,000 and Tom Lovell's Captain Murie's Pawnees, 1983, sold for $161,000. A selection of works by G. (Gerald Harvey Jones) Harvey saw interest in multiple bidders as Seeking Winter Meat, 1980, brought $106,250 and The Country Post Office, 1982, ended at $100,000.

New Year's Baby (Cleaning Up), a classic Saturday Evening Post cover by Joseph Christian Leyendecker, sold for $137,000 to highlight an extensive selection of Illustration Art. A second Saturday Evening Post cover by Leyendecker, The Candidate, 1920, sold for $87,500. Norman Rockwell's Choosing Up (Four Sporting Boys: Baseball), a preliminary Brown & Bigelow "Four Seasons" calendar illustration from 1951, sold for $125,000 following interest from six bidders. Another painting in the series, Oh Yeah (Four Sporting Boys: Basketball), sold for $93,750.

A collection of artworks by Leroy Neiman, commissioned by Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, Nevada for display in their poker room, included 21 Dealers (The Girls of Caesars Palace), 1980, $87,500 and Roulette Dealer (The Girls of Caesars Palace), 1980, ended at $84,375. The collection of 10 artworks sold for a combined $515,625.

Additional highlights include, but are not limited by:

• Greek Backwards (Greek Restaurant), 1921, by Stuart Davis: Realized: $75,000.

• Trees, Rocks, and Schooner (Within the Three-Mile Limit), 1921, by John Marin: Realized: $75,000.

• Building a Sand Castle, Good Housekeeping magazine cover, July 4, 1924, by Jessie Willcox Smith: Realized: $71,875.

• Still Life of Vase and Fruit (Reflections in Red), circa 1911-13, by Stanton Macdonald-Wright: Realized: $62,500.