PANAMA CITY, FLA.- A live and internet multi-estates auction packed with more than 400 lots in a rainbow of collecting categories will be held on Saturday, April 22nd, by
The Specialists of the South, Inc., online and in the firms gallery at 544 East 6th Street in Panama City, beginning promptly at 8 am Central time. An in-house preview will be held April 17-21 from 9 am to 4 pm.
Items will include carnival glass lamps, Chinese carvings, Asian wooden dolls, Cybis and Lladro nude sculptures, artwork (including pieces by Salvador Dali, regional African-American painter Dean Mitchell and Paul Brent), illustrative nudes (by the accomplished artists Leo Jansen and Vincent), Fenton pieces, Ethan Allen furniture and a fine collection of chamber pots and decoys.
Also sold will be Royal Vienna, Meissen, sterling silver (goblets, a punch bowl, a tray and cups), Waterford crystal, cut glass, Swarovski, milk glass, lamps (Victorian Gone with the Wind lamps, contemporary lamps), mirrors, Hummel figurines and plaques. Internet bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com and Invaluable.com. Telephone and absentee bids will also be accepted.
Several items will be vying for top lot. One is a large, Chinese 11-part wooden screen, late Qing or early modern, with the original 1981 bill of sale from Peking, where it sold for $16,000. The 66 inch by 88 ½ inch screen, with a well-carved frame, inset porcelain plaques with famille rose figural narratives of Eight Immortals and others and two floral patterns should hit $3,000-$6,000.
Another expected high earner is a gorgeous set of six Danish Mid-Century Modern Niels Otto Moller #78 teak side dining chairs, with upholstered seats. The set carries an estimate of $2,400-$4,000, mainly because of their designer. Niels Otto Moller is one of the most highly collected and renowned of the Danish furniture designers. His chairs, especially, are greatly sought after.
Other Danish Mid-Century Modern pieces will include a pair of narrow, Sutherland-style teak connecting dining tables with large drop leaves (est. $1,000-$1,500); a low, teak coffee table-size table that swivels to open, doubling in size; three teak rectangular stacking tables; and two Illums Bolighus Kobenhaven teak tables, one rectangular and the other a 35-inch diameter square, both with round, graduated legs and the Danish makers tag.
Tops in the jewelry category is a dazzling ladies 18kt gold necklace with a central pear-shaped sapphire weighing approximately 1.27 carats, and twelve 2mm round brilliant cut diamonds set in bezels surrounding the sapphire, all on a yellow gold U pendant on a 15-inch link chain. The necklace, appraised in November 2016 for $4,555, has a pre-auction estimate of $2,000-$3,000.
Fans of Lladro will have much to choose from, including several lovely gres matte examples: Nude with Rose, 18 inches tall, introduced in 1978, retired in 1995; The Bathing (or Innocence), 28 inches tall, introduced in 1984, retired in 1991; and Daydreamer, a nude sitting on a rock, 18 inches tall, introduced in 1988, retired in 1997. All were done by the sculptor Salvador Debon.
Artworks by Salvador Dali are always a hit with collectors. Offered will be a wood engraving titled Hell Canto 26 (aka Centaur), framed and artist signed in black pencil and believed to be from one of 70 sets purchased from Jean Estrade, the man Dali worked with for the series; and a lithograph etching titled Cheval Allegre (aka Happy Unicorn), framed and pencil signed by Dali.
The artist known as Vincent (full name Lawrence Vincent Garrison, 1923-2007) is best known for his nude paintings, many of which hang today in Nevada casinos and in collections around the world. There are two Vincent nudes in the auction, including a painting of a seated nude done in oil on Masonite. The work, 35 inches by 23 inches (less the frame) should bring $700-$900.
Leo Jansen (Dutch, 1930-1980) was another noted painter of nudes and there are four by him in the auction. One is an oil painting of a nude with backlit brunette hair, 35 ½ inches by 17 ½ inches (less frame). Its expected to make $600-$800. Jansen was born in the Netherlands, became a talented portraitist in Paris and moved to New York, where he did nudes and portraits of famous people.
A few of the more beautiful lots in the auction include a Swiss-made Le Coultre Atmos perpetual motion clock, made in the 1950s and in excellent condition; a California sterling punch bowl with ladle and tray weighing a total 153 troy ounces, plus twelve footed matching punch cups totaling 54 troy ounces (est. $1,500-$2,000); and a blue iridescent carnival glass pinched vase, unmarked Fenton, with a ruffled edge and standing 8 inches tall.
Asian lots will feature a 20th century Chinese soapstone carving, depicting a landscape with a rock and hut, 6 ¼ inches tall; a pair of Chinese sculptures being sold as one lot, both decorative composite carvings in a traditional style, with the Qianlong reign mark, 16 inches tall on stands; and a wood carving of a fisherman with his catch, with inlaid teeth and eyes, 11 ½ inches tall.
Furniture lots will include a vintage Norwegian commode with marble top and back splash, with a chamfered (beveled edge) back and drawer bottom, originally purchased in an antique store in Norway in 1952; a Victorian table with huge ball and claw feet; and a fine Victorian marble turtle-top center table.
Gone with the Wind lamps are also sure to get paddles wagging. Examples in the sale include a Victorian lamp with ball and flattened shades, 22 ½ inches tall; and another Victorian lamp, 26 inches tall. Also up for bid will be a vintage Daisy & Button Vaseline glass with scalloped edge.
The Specialists of the South, Inc. has been serving the Panama City community for more than 35 years. The company specializes in a broad range of services, to include estate auctions, furniture refurbishing, interior decoration, personal property appraisals and business liquidation services. It has been named the Small Business of the Month by the Bay County Chamber of Commerce.