Joint Auction Reports

Plymouth, Thomaston

Aiden Lassell Ripley (1896-1969), Dove Shooting. Watercolor, 17 x 24½ in. Courtesy Copley Fine Art Auctions. Estimate: $30/50,000 SOLD: $114,000

Thomaston, ME
Thomaston Place Auction Galleries
July 7-9
July Splendor Sale
$1.9 million

Many pieces of art at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ July Splendor Sale on July 7,8 and 9 attracted aggressive bidding and contributed to an overall sales result of $1.9 million.

“I was excited to see so much interest in this auction. The great selection of art and decorative rarities certainly brought out the buyers from near and far,” says Kaja Veilleux, Thomaston Place Auction Galleries owner and auctioneer.

The Wyeth family name saw great success during the sale. An inscribed original watercolor remarque by Andrew Wyeth from the book “Christina’s World” fetched $34,375, against a a presale estimate of $2,000 to $3,000. N.C. Wyeth’s graphite on paper study of pirates was estimated at $12,000 to $16,000, ultimately selling for $22,800. Other top lots by American artists included New York painter Irving Ramsey Wiles’ Reverie (est. $10/20,000), depicting a contemplative young woman, which sold for $33,000; as well as a delightful mixed media work by American outsider artist Bill Traylor depicting a dancing man and dog, which sold for $51,000 against an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000.

Bill Traylor (1854-1947), Man and Dog Dancing, the man in top hat with pipe in mouth, raising cane and bottle, ca. 1939-45. Mixed media on the back of a Union Leader tobacco advertisement on cardboard, signed, housed in a modern gold cove frame, lacking glass, OS: 18 x 14 in., SS: 13½ x 9½ in. Courtesy Thomaston Place Auction Galleries. Estimate: $30/40,000 SOLD: $51,000

Plymouth, MA
Copley Fine Art Auctions
July 13-14
Sporting Sale
$3.6 million

On July 13 and 14, Copley Fine Art Auctions’ annual Sporting Sale posted a 92 percent sell-through rate and set multiple new world records. The two-day auction, consisting of 517 lots, surpassed $3.6 million, with eight lots reaching six-figure results.

The top painting lot was a watercolor by Aiden Lassell Ripley (1896-1969) titled Dove Hunting, which more than doubled its $50,000 high estimate when it soared all the way to $114,000. The auction house was 100 percent sold for the multiple Ripley watercolors and drawings on offer.

Arthur Burdett Frost’s Autumn Woodcock Shooting achieved $72,000, and Winter Golf - Play the Like in Four!—an important self-portrait of the artist golfing with his two sons as caddies—brought in $46,800. In addition, an acrylic on board titled The Cougar by famed wildlife painter Bob Kuhn fetched $49,200, against a high estimate of $40,000.