Neal Auction Co.'s Mar. 27-28 Spring Sale bursting with color

NEW ORLEANS – Various estates and institutions have consigned more than 1,100 lots of antique furniture, decorative art, paintings and prints to Neal Auction Co.’s Early Spring Auction on March 27-28. Many are important items, including an American Flamingo elephant folio hand-colored engraving from the Havell edition of Audubon’s Birds of America. Live Auctioneers will provide Internet live bidding.

“To an Audubon collector, the Pink Flamingo is as iconic an image as a Marilyn or Jackie would be to Warhol collector,” said Marc Fagan, director of consignments at Neal Auction Co.

The print, which will sell on the first day of the auction, measures 38 1/8 inches by 25 3/8 inches and has an estimate of $40,000-$60,000.

A single-page letter written and signed by George Washington in 1780 to Robert Morris and Blair McClenachan thanking them for a gift of spirits is another important item offered by Neal Auction Co.

“Given the letter’s recipients and subject matter, the Washington autograph letter to would be an important addition to any collection and could be particularly well suited for an American financier,” said Fagan.

Paintings include Paul Sawyier’s Fishing Club, Jamaica Bay, New York City, which he completed circa 1915, two years before he died at age 52.

“(It’s) one of the most compelling and attractive Sawyier images to have ever come up at auction.” said Neal Alford, president and co-founder of Neal Auction Co.

The 14- by 17-inch oil on canvas board, signed on the lower left, carries a $30,000-$50,000.

The Ohio-born Sawyier spent much of his early career studying and painting in Kentucky before eventually moving to New York.

“Known for works in bronze, this massive, monumental marble carving by Mercié is as lighthearted and quixotically playful as it is rare and important,” said Michele Carolla, Neal Auction Co.’s specialist in European sculpture and works of art.

Saturday’s session consisting of 628 lots will begin at 11 a.m. Central. Sunday’s sale will begin at noon Central.

For details call 800-467-5329.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com.