MILFORD, CONN.- Shannon’s online-only Fine Art auction on April 30th exceeded expectations, selling 80 percent of the 185 lots. Shannon’s spring auction is usually a destination for collectors, with a busy preview, a full saleroom and a bank of 20-plus phone lines. Adapting to the COVID global pandemic, Sandra Germain, managing partner, made the decision to hold an online sale with fewer lots in place of the full catalog auction, which has been postponed.
Instead of in-person interactions, the staff at Shannon’s fielded phone calls and emails from their home offices, sent video previews to clients and scheduled previews by appointment. The day of the sale, the absentee bid book was full and online demand soared. Bidders from all over the world participated online driving the strong results.
Leading the auction were two paintings by New York School Abstract Expressionist, Milton Resnick. Ulysses from 1956 sold for $137,500 and Apparatus from 1958 sold for $30,000. During the sale, auctioneer, Peter Coccoluto, opened the bidding on Ulysses at $45,000 and fielded aggressive bidding from online bidders and competing absentee bids. Listening to the auction felt like being present in the saleroom. In a matter of minutes, the bidding jumped past the $100,000 mark before slowing down and ultimately selling to an absentee bidder.
Late 19th and early-20th century American Art, a leading genre in every Shannon’s sale, also did well led by a Daniel Ridgway Knight painting Summer Afternoon, Seine Valley that sold for $52,000 and a J.G. Brown, Shoeshine Boy, that sold for $20,800.
Other highlights in American Art, include an Eric Sloane, Berkshire Barn, that sold for $27,500 against a $12,000-18,000 estimate; a Peter Sculthorpe, watercolor that brought $10,635; an Arthur Wesley Dow, Marshes and Dunes at Ipswich, sold for $8,750 and a Reginald Marsh, Three Girls on the Boardwalk, sold for $7,500.
Germain reported increased international participation in the sale, commenting “We achieved excellent results with our international lots and were pleased to see active participation from Europe, Asia and Latin America. People around the world are paying attention to online auctions now more than ever.” Argentinian artist Romulo Maccio’s, Palabras, sold for $28,600 to a Latin American buyer.
The star-studded sale featured lots by notable artists including Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Helen Frankenthaler, Antonio Jacobsen, Henry Gasser, Edward Bannister, Martha Walter and others. Shannon’s is already gathering consignments for their next online auction scheduled for June 25th and planning their full cataloged sale for later this summer.
