ASHEVILLE, N.C. - Twice in the past six months, a piece of 18th century Chinese famille rose porcelain offered for sale at Brunk Auctions has risen from humble beginnings to stardom. In May, bidders took a 12 inch vase from an opening bid of $800 to $1,236,250. On September 13, a tiny bowl began at $150 and finished at $115,000. That's not déjà vu all over again, but it's close.

The vase in the May sale was Imperial porcelain from the Qianlong dynasty (1736-1795). Lot 738 in the September auction, a famille rose bowl with peonies and insects and a two inch repair to its rim, was smaller and earlier. It dated from the Yongzheng dynasty (1723-1735) and measured a scant 2 inches by 4 ¼ inches. In May and again in September, a low pre-sale estimate reduced in-house expectations.

The improbable little bowl was part of the Chinese porcelain collection of the late Thomas Benjamin Williams (1898-1974). Williams moved from Hendersonville, North Carolina, to Washington, D.C. in the 1930s. He purchased the bowl and other porcelain items in the 1940s from Washington's The Chinese Shop. Other items from his collection came from Hammer Galleries, New York.

Earlier in the day, another Yongzheng period piece from Williams' collection destroyed its pre-sale estimate. The finely textured 11 inch liver red bottle vase purchased in the 1940s had a respectable $4000 to $8000 estimate. Originally from the William Randolph Hearst collection, the vase sold for $105,800, the second-highest price achieved in the sale.

The two-day sale began early on September 12 with another unusual collection. Lots 1 through 34 were rare Oriental carpets deaccessioned from North Carolina's famous Tryon Palace after 30 years in storage. They generated strong interest among antique rug collectors and within the textile trade.

Purchased in the 1950s and ‘60s from textile experts such as Vojtech Blau, French & Company and others of equal reputation, many of the carpets were installed in the reconstructed capitol building when it opened in 1959. They were removed from exhibition after it was learned that no carpets of any type were part of Tryon Palace's 18th century décor.

Five of the 34 Tryon carpets topped $15,000; 13 (38%) exceeded the high end of their pre-sale estimate.

Leading the way was a 21 ft. 7 inch by 11 ft. 6 inch Ottoman carpet, from late 16th to early 17th century Cairo, Egypt. Blending several carpet-weaving traditions, it was probably produced for the royal court. The Ottoman opened at its $25,000 reserve and sold to a bidder in the house for 74,750.

The second highest Tryon carpet and the cover lot for the catalog was a 30' 10" by 11' 11" Indo-Persian carpet dating from the Safavid period (16th to 17th centuries) in Persia. Tryon Palace purchased it in 1958 from French & Company, New York City. Records indicate that it was purchased originally for the Braganza Palace, Lisbon, Spain. The massive carpet and an 11 ft. 11 inch by 32 inch fragment sold for $57,500.

The Hickory Museum of Art, the second oldest art museum in North Carolina, deaccessioned 112 lots of British, German, Italian, Mexican, French and Spanish paintings and Asian art and ceramics. Two of the museum's portraits exceeded $20,000: Mrs. Thomas Babington at $46,000 and James Hamilton, Marquess of Abercorn at $29,900. Both were unsigned, but strongly attributed to Sir Thomas Lawrence (British, 1769-1830). Verso on Mrs. Babington's portrait was an inscription giving information of the portrait's date, subject and artist. There was also a long auction history beginning at Christies in 1901.

Brunk Auctions Fine Art Specialist Laura Crockett did extensive research on the Hamilton portrait. She found a photograph of it in London's National Portrait Gallery and it is mentioned in the complete catalog of Lawrence's work. Crockett compared the crackle pattern of the Hickory Museum portrait with the London photo and they matched. "It was a neat find," said Crockett.

Other Hickory Museum lots that sold well include a 16th century Italian School portrait of an elegant woman in profile in an embroidered and jeweled gown. It far exceeded its $1500-$2500 estimate to sell for $21,850. A lovely scene, "Consolation in Prayer" by Carl Wilhelm Huber (German, 1814-1879), depicts a family gathered around a fireplace in prayer. It sold to the phones for $14,950 (est. $5000-$10,000).

A truck-load of Southern furniture deaccessioned by Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA), Winston-Salem attracted bidders in all venues - in-house, on the phone and Internet and absentee. The in-house favorite - judging from how often it was inspected during preview - was a circa 1770 Virginia Chippendale spice chest. Its figured walnut door opened to reveal 10 interior drawers, five of which extend the entire width of the chest (17 ¼"). The skirt and bracket feet were original. It sold for $12,650 (est. $4000 - $6000).

The top MESDA furniture lot was another unusual piece: a1780-1800 North Carolina Chippendale pewter cupboard in walnut with poplar the secondary wood. Constructed as a single unit with two dovetailed drawers and two panel doors on bracket feet, it brought $48,300 (est. $5000-$8000).

Outside of collections by Thomas Williams, Tryon Palace, Hickory Museum and MESDA, there were a number of exceptional individual consignments:

· A 1760-1780 Boston Chippendale game table in mahogany that descended in the Harwood family of Littleton, Massachusetts, exceeded its high estimate to sell for $74,750.
· Six 17th or 18th century Flemish Old Master panels that gave a panoramic view of a busy town and attributed to J. Grauwels (Flemish, active 1798-1815) sold just above its reserve for $25,300.
· "The Brook," a signed 32 inch by 40 inch oil on canvas by Walter Emerson Baum (Pennsylvania, 1884-1956) of a woodland scene sold just above its low estimate for $18,400.

"It was hard to narrow this sale down to a few key lots," said principal auctioneer Bob Brunk. Hammer price plus buyer's premium for 990+ lots was $2,542,190.

Visit the catalog with prices realized for this sale at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

Click here to view Brunk Auction's complete catalog.

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A Southern collector paid the record price for the Havell engraving of Audubon's Blue Crane, or Heron, which was an elephant folio engraving. Bidding soared past the $30,000-$50,000 estimate.

An early 18th-century American William and Mary maple and mixed woods armchair, deaccessioned from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, sold well above its presale estimate to achieve $42,300. Accompanied by a distinguished provenance which includes that of legendary collector Ima Hogg and dealer Israel Sack, as well as a by a copy of Hogg's 1953 purchase receipt from John Kenneth Byard of Norwalk, Conn., the armchair witnessed considerable attention and scrutiny from museum professionals, dealers and private collectors.

Part I of Neal Auction Co.'s sale of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston deaccessions achieved a total of $153,000.

English furniture consigned by an East Coast collector included a professionally restored George III mahogany and satinwood breakfront bookcase, which generated significant presale exhibition interest from the local collecting community where many old homes are large enough to accommodate such a substantial piece. The breakfront bookcase, which stood 8 feet 6 inches by 9 feet 9 inches, sold for $41,125 to a New Orleans family.

Neal Auction Co. offered Part I of the Robert and Edna Moore collection of American Art, which included four William Aiken Walker (American/Charleston, 1838-1921, active New Orleans, 1876-1905) paintings. Lot 260, the first of the Moores' Walker paintings offered this sale, was a 6 1/4- by 12-inch oil on board depicting male and female cotton pickers with children. Carrying a low estimate of $20,000, the painting rose to $35,250 amid intense competition.

A second painting by Walker, also depicting male and female cotton pickers, more than doubled the low estimate of $12,000 to achieve $27,025.

Neal Auction's sale included a customary selection of English and European art, including an Edouard Léon Cortès (French, 1882-1969) painting, a Parisian street scene, which commanded a respectable $28,200. Capturing a $21,150 winning bid was a sporting painting of a foxhunt by Thomas Blinks (English, 1860-1912).

A painting of a swamp by Joseph Rusling Meeker (American/Missouri, 1827-1889) finished just shy of its high estimate at $22,325.00.

An early English case piece from the East Coast collection responded well to a New Orleans sale venue. The circa 1770 George III inlaid mahogany bureau bookcase, 92 1/2 inches tall, sailed past its high estimate of $18,000 to finish at $22,200.

Also, the John W. Mecom Collection of Mardi Gras memorabilia exceeded the estimate with $36,000 in proceeds going to benefit the Galveston Art Center, Hurricane Ike Restoration Project.

For details contact Neal Auction Co., 504-899-5329 or go to the Web site www.nealauction.com.

AMHERST, N.H. - RRAuction.com of Amherst, N.H., has auctioned a 1966 magazine autographed by John Lennon for $12,713. The magazine includes an article in which Lennon's controversial quote appears about the Beatles being "more popular than Jesus Christ."

The winning bidder was Dr. Ron Grelsamer, an orthopedic surgeon at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.

"These were Lennon's first public thoughts on matters outside the entertainment world, and the reaction to his statements was more a reflection of the Bible Belt's concerns with rock 'n 'roll and declining morality than anything else," said Dr. Grelsamer, shortly after being notified that he had placed the winning bid. "I also liked that this was the last time Lennon would apologize for any of his views."

"Christianity will go," Lennon said in the September 1966 issue of the American teen magazine Datebook. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now. I don't know which will go first - rock and roll or Christianity."

Lennon, whose middle initial at birth was "W" for "Winston" (later changed to "O" for "Ono"), signed across the photo accompanying his printed interview with the name "John C. Lennon." Presumably this was a sacrilegious reference to Christ.

The autographed magazine belonged to Datebook publisher Arthur Unger, who sent reprints of the Lennon article to Bible belt radio stations. Subsequently, masses of people burned their Beatles records in protest.

Unger recounted in a 1998 New York Times story that Beatles Manager Brian Epstein had been unconcerned about the outcry, stating, "They have to buy the records before they burn them."

According to Professor Brian Ward, expert on the Beatles and American popular culture and Chair of American Studies at the University of Manchester, England, the uproar was most intense in the American South, where many members of clergy condemned

Lennon's remarks as blasphemous. Ward added that most Beatles fans were easily able "to reconcile their love of the Lord with their love of Lennon."

Ironically, the original interview with Lennon stating that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus" had been published by a British newspaper six months before the Datebook article, but there had been no backlash in England.

"Given that the mysterious ‘C' in John's signature falls right under the ‘C' in ‘Christianity' (in the Datebook article), and knowing Lennon's mischievous sense of humor, he was probably just punning on the name of another well known ‘JC,'" Ward said.

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Solid prices reflect the market's continued interest in stylish, mid-priced design, said John Sollo, who directed the auction.

Other top lots included:

• Leather-covered three-drawer dresser in the style of Jacques Adnet, estimated at $1,500-$3,500, sold for $3,660;
• Rare glass-top sculptural cocktail table in the style of Ibram Lassaw, estimated at $4,000-$6,000, sold for $5,490;
• Sculptural leather and walnut frame lounge chair and ottoman by Adrian Pearsall for Craft Associates, estimated at $1,200-$1,800, sold for $2,074;
• Edward Wormley for Dunbar oak desk on brass frame, estimated at $1,200-$1,800, sold for $3,050;
• First-generation Isamu Noguchi for Herman Miller wooden and glass coffee table, estimated at $1,200-$1,800, sold for $2,074;
• Radiating 34 3/4-inch sculpture constructed of steel nails with gold and silver leaf finish, in the style of Curtis Jere, estimated at $400-$600, sold for $1,952;
• Bleached mahogany 12-drawer dresser by Tommi Parzinger for Charak Modern, estimated at $1,500-$3,500, sold for $3,416;
• James Mont dresser in black enamel, estimated at $1,200-$1,800, sold for $3,538;
• Florence Knoll 10-drawer rosewood credenza, estimated at $2,000-$4,000, sold for $4,880;
• Eero Saarinen for Knoll marble-top side table, estimated at $400-$600, sold for $1,037;
• Straight-sided glass vase by Edwin Ohrstrom for Orrefors of an early Ariel Girl and Dove, 1960s, estimated at $1,200-$1,800, sold for $1,342;
• Mogens Lassen for K. Thomsen pair of sculpted solid teak stools, estimated at $2,000-$3,000, sold for $3,416;
• Hovmand Olsen wall-hung rosewood and black laminate server, estimated at $1,000-$1,500, sold for $2,562;
• Hans Wegner for Carl Mansen oak armchair with woven cord seat, estimated at $800-1,200, sold for $1,952.

For details phone 609-397-9374. For additional prices realized go to www.ragoarts.com

Click here to view Dan Morphy Auction's complete catalog.

CHICAGO - Americana and Chicago-related material were highlights of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers' July 28 Fine Books and Manuscripts auction. The event was right on target with expectations, achieving $212,210 against the high estimate of $211,250, with 85 percent of lots selling.

A letter penned by notorious 1930s-era bank robber John Dillinger sold for $60,400 - 10 times the presale high estimate of $6,000. Dated Dec. 18, 1932, the letter was written by Dillinger during his incarceration at the Crown Point jail in Lake County, Indiana. He writes his niece, Mary Hancock, expressing his wish to be with the family at Christmas, and says it will be his last Christmas in jail. He goes on to press his niece for details about her current boyfriend and jokes that he may need to borrow money once he's released from jail. Dillinger would later famously escape from the Crown Point jail using a fake gun carved out of wood.

Likewise, the highly anticipated Colt Army Special .38 revolver used by East Chicago Police Captain Timothy O'Neil in the final shootout with Dillinger at the Biograph Theatre ignited heated competition among five telephone bidders. The gun sold for $36,400 to Wayne Lensing, owner of the Historic Auto Attractions Museum in Roscoe, Illinois.

John Herbert Dillinger (June 22, 1903-July 22, 1934) was a feared criminal in the Midwestern United States during the early 1930s. He was responsible for the murder of several police officers and robbed no fewer than two dozen banks and four police stations. He escaped from jail twice, but some people idolized him as a modern-day Robin Hood. He was nicknamed "the Jackrabbit" for his close getaways from police and graceful movements during heists, such as leaping over counters.

After his escape from the Crown Point jail, Dillinger spent nearly a year running from police and hiding out in Florida, Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin. He was wounded in one escape from police and covertly recovered at his father's home. He returned to Chicago in July 1934, the site of several of his most highly publicized crimes. After a tip from a prostitute, police tracked down the fugitive. On July 22, they closed in on the theater where he was watching a movie, and waited to arrest him as he left the building. Dillinger pulled a weapon and attempted to flee but was shot three times and killed when a bullet hit his face.

His robberies and numerous escapes had been so sensationalized in the media that Dillinger's heinous legend remained in the American public's consciousness for many decades. In 1973, the movie Dillinger was released. In the acclaimed 2009 film Public Enemies, Johnny Depp plays the role of John Dillinger, attesting that the 1930s crime-spree era is still fascinating to many.

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers' next Fine Books and Manuscripts auction will take place on November 19. Call 312-280-1212 for more information.

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Some of the historical information in this article was sourced through Wikipedia.org.

CHICAGO - The ultra-stylish Chicago auction house Wright is known for its impeccable presentation of rare 20th-century decorative art, furniture and fine art. Once a year, however, the company holds its Mass Modern event, in which all but a few lots are sold without reserve. This year the special event so popular with budget-minded collectors took place on June 27, with Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.com.

"It's a fun day," said Richard Wright of Wright Inc., describing Mass Modern's environment. "Beginning collectors, design enthusiasts and just plain bargain-hunters come out, and no one complains about the prices."

What a smart event this was: a 10-hour sale of mid-to-late 20th-century furniture, lighting and objects, most without reserves. Chicagoans are design-lovers. They like to fuss over furnishing their rehabbed brownstones and lofts, their cool lakeside apartments in big shiny black Mies towers (they are on a first-name basis with their modernists in Chicago, it's "Mies" and "Charles and Ray"). The sale was perfectly suited to its locale.

So many great pieces sold for less than $200, some for less than $50! I will try not to get on my soapbox here, but this is one of those auctions that reminds me how many opportunities consumers have to buy truly fabulous, well-crafted and beautifully designed furniture and objects in the secondary market for less than they would pay for mediocre new things. I mean, nothing against Ikea, but someone got six very good Vico Magistretti circa-1975 dining chairs of lacquered wood and rope, made by the venerable Italian manufacturer Cassina, for about $50 each (see illustration.) The chairs are unique, great looking, functional and collectible.

Did the buyer of the torso-form lamp attributed to Antoine Zaccagnino and estimated at $1,500-2,000, do a little jig when he/she got it for $31? (All prices mentioned include a 25% buyer's premium.) Or, consider the set of six Ettore Sottsass
Mandarin chairs manufactured by Knoll, estimated at $2,000-3,000 that sold for $250. (I picture a stylish Art Institute Design School kid lashing those chairs to his bike in a teetering stack and pedaling off.) How about the chilly 1965 Jacques Adnet brass and vinyl-trimmed wall mirror that sold for $125.

Kelli Thoma, Wright's director of operations, told me the preview was well attended and that about 150 people attended over the course of the 10-hour sale. That's a lot of people in the saleroom for Wright, whose high-end auctions attract an international bidding audience through LiveAuctioneers and the phones. "Even our local buyers are apt to be phone or Internet bidders," said Thoma, "but the Mass Modern sales are crowded."

In the unruly absence of reserves, it's hard to make sense of the statistics, other than to say it's a popular event and that things tend to sell when there's no minimum. With a total low estimate of $646,450 on 605 lots, the auction had an 89 percent sell-through rate by volume and just over 94 percent sold by value.

There were strong prices in this sale, as well, like for the unattributed Italian
1950s standing mirror
with three coffin-shape sections, estimated at $1,000-1,500 and selling for $11,250 (illustrated.)

The sale encompassed idiosyncratic as well as familiar pieces. Someone bought an interesting Lawrence Weiner circa-1989 MetaMemphis worktable and bench for $4,063 (estimate $5,000-7,000.) A selection of Edward Fields carpets, a set of Alexander Girard's La Fonda del Sol dishes, some terrific lamps and fixtures, lots of Knoll and Herman Miller staples, various pieces of furniture by Paul McCobb and TH Robsjohn-Gibbings, and some nice chests by Eliel Saarinen rounded out the sale.

Wright's fall season features two major auctions, Post War and Contemporary Art on Sept. 17; and Design on Oct. 6. The consignment deadline for the latter sale is August 7.

For further information call 312-563-0020. Wright 
is located at 1440 W. Hubbard
St., Chicago, IL 60642.

Visit Wright's June 27, 2009 Mass Modern auction catalog with prices realized online at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.

HONOLULU - A record 379 bidders from around the world turned out on July 17-18 for the fifth biennial Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction at Honolulu's Blaisdell Center, presented by Quiksilver Waterman Collection. Aggressive bidding led to a new record total for the specialty auction: $767,546.

One of the most surprising developments of the evening was the heated push for surfing collectibles from the 1970s. When the final hammer fell, two items had broken through the previous single-item record of $33,000, and five items had reached or exceeded $20,000.

The star of the show was the 11-foot Bob Simmons foam sandwich board (1949/50) from the James Arness "Gunsmoke" collection that topped the night at $40,000. The same bidder also walked away the second-highest item, a 1955 Matt Kivlin 10 ft. 4 inch balsa board, for $39,000; and the top-finishing paddleboard - a towering 13 ft. 8 inch wooden Tom Blake Rogers production that sold for $20,000. All three boards are now Australia-bound.

Without a doubt, it was the 1970s collection that broke down the door to a new era of collecting. An 8-foot Lightning Bolt board shaped by Gerry Lopez sparked a bidding war that resulted in a new record price for a 1970s-era board of $25,000. An outrageous George Greenough Flextail board from 1972, equipped with roughshod nose leash loop, release fin, and raw two-tone red and blue surface spray job rocked the house when it far exceeded its $7,500 reserve to fetch $20,000.

It wasn't all about surfboards, either. No one could have been more shocked than 1977 world champion Shaun Tomson (South Africa) to discover that his 1975 Duke Surf Classic set of white boardshorts, event program and Oscar-like gold trophy had sold for $10,300 - more than his trademark blue 7 ft. 10 inch Tom Parrish board that went for $10,000. All proceeds from those items will be going to the Mathew Tomson Foundation.

The top-selling non-surfboard lot was the Kahanamoku family album - 60 pages of incredible family history, original photographs and newspaper clippings. It sold for $14,000 to a young bidder from Hawaii who slipped through the door seconds after the item took the stage, and exited just as quickly upon winning it. The local community was happy to know the album would be remaining in Hawaii, since it pertains to the legendary father of surfing, Duke Kahanamoku.

Along with a powerhouse bidding pack, the evening experience was made richer by the stunning turnout of surf icons from across the generations. Among them were Greg Noll, Bing Copeland, Jock Sutherland, Mark Richards and Peter Townend. Also present were legendary shapers Matt Kivlin and Joe Quigg, whose combined board sales exceeded $100,000. Joining them was Dick Brewer, who commanded ultimate respect in his stylish Roy Orbison-inspired black trousers, deep lilac collared shirt and bolo tie combination.

A portion of every sale made will be donated to the Outrigger Duke Kahanamoku Foundation, along with the Surfing Heritage Foundation and the Surfrider Foundation, with the balance going to the individual consignors.

Visit Hawaiian Islands Vintage Surf Auction online at www.hawaiiansurfauction.com