"Buster Brown" Comic Strip Originals Bring Excitement to Kaminski's
Preview days for Kaminski Auctions Thanksgiving sale were very well attended which was an indication of good things to come for the annual auction. Old faces and friends visiting the preview, plus 1700 visiting online and over 30% of them new users to the site brought a worldwide audience to add to the excitement of the sale. A collection of Richard F. Outcault (American, 1863-1928) "Buster Brown" Sunday comic strip original art works that had descended through the family of the artist brought the most excitement to the day. Buster Brown was a comic strip character created in 1902 by Richard F. Outcault and was adopted as the symbol of a children’s shoe company called the Brown Shoe Company in 1904. In the early 20th century Buster Brown and his pit bull terrier "Tige” were well known to the American public.
The six Buster Brown lots were hotly contested over the phones and through multiple Internet bidding platforms. They were finally hammered down at $47,700 with buyer’s premium and all sold to the same European bidder. The top lot of the collection was titled "The Worm Turns Twice," dated March 19th, 1916. It had been published in the Philadelphia Record. All of the Outcault artwork included the original newspaper sheet.
Other artwork and decorative arts on offer were from the Belvedere Guest House on Fire Island, New York. Three Robert Bliss (American, 1925-1981), paintings sold as separate lots with the highest titled "Boy at the Beach," oil on masonite, signed and dated bringing $7,800. A 19th century classical marble bust of Robert Burns brought $5,700 and another of Sir Walter Scott brought a similar price. Top lot from the Belvedere was an outstanding 18th century French Louis XV basin decorated with carved putti and figureheads. The basin had a particularly beautiful copper liner with a crest on the embossed center. Originally purchased at Park Bennett, New York in the 1940s to 1950s, it sold for $14,000.
A signed Tiffany Studios Turtleback table lamp from a private collector with an exquisite leaded stained glass shade was the top lot of the two- day sale with an $18,000 hammer price. A surprise lot was a set of twelve Baccarat crystal "Czar" pattern stemware comprised of three different forms including four each of wine, champagne and water goblets, each with four colors of blue, rose, green and chartreuse that brought $10,800.
Top name estate jewelry brought good prices with a signed Van Cleef ladies’ eighteen carat gold and diamond bracelet from a New York collection bringing $14,400, a circa 1920 Cartier diamond, platinum and sapphire fur clip sold for $8,400 and a ladies' diamond and platinum engagement ring with a 3.53carat center stone sold for $18,000.
Day one of the sale which featured the majority of Asian items in the auction saw a huge painting by Brian Coole (British, born 1939) titled “The Hongs of Canton from the Mainland”, oil on board from a New Hampshire estate sell for $11,400, while a circa 1950’s modern Chinese painting of a boat by the coast, signed lower right and inscribed verso "Given to George and Rosalie Humphrey, Sept. 1953, by Sergei Eliseev Professor at Harvard-Yenching Institute, Originally in Shanghai Museum then in Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge Massachusetts " brought $15,600.
All prices quoted include 20% buyer’s premium for all prices realized go to www.kaminskiauctions.com.
Image: Richard F. Outcault (American, 1863-1928), "Buster Brown" Sunday comic strip original art, titled "The Worm Turns Twice.”
