Leslie Hindman’s Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts Auction Achieved $1.74 Million
Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ February Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts auction achieved over $1.74 million, with spirited interest in every category and 92% of all lots sold.
A large percentage of the property offered came from two prominent collections. Mark Fritz, an avid and educated collector from West Bloomfield, Michigan, had assembled arguably the world’s largest collection of operas glasses, monoculars, and other ophthalmic antiques. His collection attracted attention from the Ophthalmic Antiques International Collectors’ Club (OAICC), with many members bidding from the UK, Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands and the United States. Every lot in his collection of over 500 pairs of opera glasses sold, many tripling their auction estimates. His eclectic collection also included canes, card cases, seals, ink wells, and other vertu objects. Other highlights included a French articulated artist’s mannequin that sold for $15,000 and a collection of prosthetic glass eyes that brought $5,000.
Additional highlights came from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. William E. Benjamin II, owners and preservers of Casa Alva, an estate and one time social club in Manalapan, Florida. Strong results included an English side cabinet made by Gillows of Lancaster that sold for $32,500 and a Lavar Kirman carpet that achieved $13,750.
Other works from prominent collections were an Italian marble sculpture carved by Donato Barcaglia that sold for $86,500 and a French bronze figure of a Turkish warrior that brought $25,000, both from the Estate of Diane Allegretti, Ingleside, Illinois. An 18th/19th century wool tapestry brought $23,750 and a Revolutionary War era carved powder horn realized $22,500.
The next Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts auction is scheduled for April 28-29. Leslie Hindman Auctioneers’ auction dedicated exclusively to 20th Century Furniture and Decorative Arts will be held on April 30. Consignments for both auctions are welcomed through March 1.
