Auction News Network

More Than $150,000 Expected For Totem Used As Coat Stand

For the past 30 years, it’s been used as a coat stand in a home in Dorset, England. Then an auctioneer, visiting to assess the value of some other items, happened to see it, draped with coats and scarves in a back room of the house. Next week the early 20^th century Native American totem pole will be auctioned at Dukes in Dorchester, where it’s expected to sell for as much as $157,000.

Coeur d’Alene Art Sale Realizes $17.2m

The Chief Joseph war shirt, which is pictured in the first photograph of the celebrated Nez Perce warrior following his surrender in 1877, is among the most prized Native American artifacts, and its price at an auction this weekend reflected it: the beaded and fringed shirt sold, within estimates, for a substantial $877,500. It wasn’t, however, the most expensive lot at the Coeur d’Alene auction in Reno, billed as the world’s largest Western Art sale. “Scout’s Report,” a painting by Howard Terpning, realized $994,500, and Frank Tenny Johnson’s “Cowboys Roping the Bear” closed at $965,250.

Chief Joseph War Shirt May Reach $1.2m

In the earliest known photograph of the great Chief Joseph, leader of the Nez Perce Wallowa band, he is wearing this beaded and fringed war shirt. The picture was taken following his surrender to General Oliver Howard on October 5, 1877, after Joseph’s famous 1700-mile flight, in which he led his people across the mountains of Montana toward the freedom of Canada. Along the way, he held off the American army in 18 engagements and 4 major battles. One of the rarest of American Indian artifacts, it’s valued at $800,000m-$1.2m at a Coeur d’Alene auction tomorrow in Reno, Nevada.

Bierstadt Landscapes Lead Coeur d’Alene Sale

Although born in Germany, Alfred Bierstadt came to the United States when he was just a year old. Long associated with the Hudson River School of painting, he made a number of trips through the American west, which resulted in the sweeping western landscapes for which he became so well known. Two of those works—“Sunset Over The Plains” (1887) and “The Hetch Hetchy Valley”(1873)– are featured in a sale of 19^th & 20^th century Western and American art at Coeur d’Alene Auctions, in which each is estimated at $500,000-$700,000.

Judson Ball Native American Collection At Bonhams

Over several decades Judson C. Ball and his wife assembled a distinguished collection of Native American art, concentrating on three areas: kachina dolls, Southwest baskets and weavings, and New Mexican religious art. Bonhams will offer the collection in New York on May 14^th, when the featured item will be a red and blue Navajo double saddle/child’s blanket estimated at $50,000-$70,000.

Famed Basket Weaver’s Rare Work Offered

Datsolalee was nearly blind but recognized as Native America’s finest basket weaver whose intricate designs and precision work is expected to reap a great price when Bonham’s stages its 3-part Native American auction in San Francisco.

Sotheby’s Signals American Indian Art Sale

In the boom years before the recession, leading examples of American Indian art and artifacts commanded some huge prices, such as the $2.1 million paid in 2006 for a Tingit war helmet. It’s unlikely any of the 171 lots that Sotheby’s will offer on May 18 in New York will match that record, but there are some items of exceptional interest. Foremost is an extremely rare Navajo “chief blanket” estimated at $400,000-$600,000.

Native American Art At Christie’s

Centuries ago Native Americans from the Great Lakes region painted on hide, often using abstract designs.  Examples of this style are in a variety of museum collections, including the Musee de l’Homme in Paris. At its Native American sale on January 21^st, Christie’s will auction another, a painted and fringed shirt created in the early 18^th century. It’s expected to sell for $250-$300,000.

Update: the painted hide shirt sold for $362,500.

Cigar Store Indian Sets Record

A little noticed Americana auction in Texas produced a now widely noticed price for a cigar store Indian that had been sitting in a Dallas basement for at least two decades. The remarkably well preserved, hand carved icon went for $203,150 (including buyer’s premium) at a Heritage Auction gallery on May 22, 2010.

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