MUNICH.- The auction of Old Masters & Art of the 19th Century with the special auction Collection Max Geiger provided a great opening of the spring auction season in Munich. The overall result is at € 1.2 million and thus excelled last year's result by around one third. Each sold object realized a remarkable average increase of more than 80%.
The Collection Max Geiger, a Munich local by choice, was particularly popular with bidders from Southern Germany. It motivated almost 30% of them to place a bid in an auction at
Ketterer Kunst for the first time. Additionally, it realized overall proceeds of around € 400,000* and a sales quota of almost 70% per object.
The collection's first place is shared by two lots which both achieved a result of € 57,500: Both Karl Altmann's painting “St. Leonhardsfest in Fischhausen am Schliersee” (lot 19) as well as Franz von Defregger's work “Großvaters Tanzunterricht” (lot 37), which adorns the cover of the catalog, were sold to Southern German art lovers present in the saleroom. While the first barely outbid the high written bids, the latter had to face fierce competition on the phones.
Three works by Heinrich Bürkel were also quite in demand and sold with good increase rates, first and foremost the painting “Rauferei vor einem Wirtshaus” (lot 30). With his offer of € 33,750 an art lover from Rheinland-Pfalz stood his grounds against the room and three other phone bidders from Germany and Austria. Eventually, he let the starting price of € 15,000 soar to more than twice the amount.
Works by Heinrich Adolf Lier were likewise popular. A collector from Southern Germany honored the oil painting “Frühlingsmorgen” with a result of € 25,000 (starting price: € 16,000) and relegated written bids and the saleroom to places second and beyond.
Also aside from the collection's catalog it was the section of Art of the 19th Century that provided particularly convincing results, including the number one lot of the day: Alexander Koester's large duck family (lot 330), which a private collector from the Rhineland made sure for himself against the room and a fierce competitor on the phone from Lower Saxony for a result of € 106,250. Accordingly, he let the starting price of € 16,000 climb to a seven-fold of the amount.
A bidding skirmish of a special kind broke out when lot number 340 was called up: Lady Laura Theresa Alma-Tadema's child that cheekily peeks from behind a graphic sheet. The oil painting from 1974 went to the French art trade, however, only after a long battle and against the will of nine other phones and three written bids from England, Holland, Great Britain, Canada and the U.S.A. The result of € 45,000 is almost a 23-fold of the starting price.
As far as increase rates are concerned it was topped by lot 281. The oil painting “Weintrinkender Mann am Tisch sitzend” let more than half a dozen phone lines run hot and the large amount of written bids had also foreshadowed something big to happen. The small-size work, estimated in the catalog with € 800, soared to a fifty-fold of its starting price and eventually reached remarkable heights of € 33,750 offered by a Northern German art trader.
First place in the section of Old Masters goes to Wilhelm von Kobell's watercolor “Reiter vor Schondorf am Ammersee” (lot 177). A Southern German collector was willing to pay three and a half times its starting price of € 15,000, that is the result of € 52,500 for the portrait picture on a horseback. Accordingly, he not only relegated the saleroom and the phones to places second and beyond, but also the long list of written bids.
