Date: Fri 15-Jan-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Burchard-Easton

Full Text:

Auction Mania At Burchard

By Rita Easton

ST PETERSBURG, FLA. - Burchard Galleries held an "Auction Mania" event in two

sessions on November 21 and 22. The first session featured dolls, toys, banks,

radios, and related items, while the second day offered estate, antiques, and

investment art.

A preview was held prior to each session. The capacity crowd on the floor was

in sharp competition with phone bidders.

Art was the driving force of the sale, with a 26-piece serigraph suite

entitled "The Alphabet Suite" by Erte (de Tirtoff, Romain-Russian/French,

1892-1990), garnering the top bid of $12,000.

A phone bid from France won the next highest lot, an oil on canvas, believed

to be School of Van Dyck, at $7,500. The subject was a portrait of Queen

Isabella in an interior, done in the Eighteenth Century, inscribed "Herr

Florscheim" and "Einlargen" written in chalk, circa 1938/1946 verso.

Prior to the most recent owner, artist Frances Norris Streit of Long Island,

in 1938, the painting belonged to the Florscheim family in Munich. It was

believed to have been confiscated by Nazi party official Gerom late that year

for the Bavarian National Museum under the direction of Nazi art adviser

Professor Loehr, and returned to the Florscheim family circa 1946 by the

Office of Military Government Reparations. The lot fell within estimate.

A French School theater scene "The Theatre Box," unsigned, with an "A.

Dellafosse, Paris" canvas stamp verso (est $8/12,000), went for $4,800; an oil

on canvas by Eliza Barchus fetched $4,000; an Arthur Woelfle oil on canvas

realized $3,500; and a Cirilo Martinez-Novillo oil on canvas garnered $3,250.

A Nineteenth Century marble grouping after Canova's "The Three Graces," having

fine detail, 23 inches high, signed illegibly on the base (possibly "O.

Pucci"), brought $2,750; an oil on canvas by Francis Streit (American,

1918-1997), depicting a seated boxer, signed verso, achieved $2,200.

"Circulation," an oil on cardboard with acrylic/steel reinforced synthetic

paper, monogrammed verso by Mark Kostabi (American, b 1960), rang up $1,200;

and a Venetian School oil on canvas of Madonna and Child, with no visible

signature, in a magnificent eight-inch gilt frame, reached its low estimate of

$2,000.

Period furniture reached a high bid of $3,500 for an early German inlaid

vanity; a Victorian three-piece walnut bedroom suite went out at $3,250; an

antique nine- by 12-foot Bidjar sold at $2,500; a Herman Miller large chest of

drawers reached $1,650; and two more Miller pieces brought $750 for a small

chest and $700 for a desk.

Jewelry commanded $5,000 for an emerald and diamond necklace (9.07 carats of

emerald, 15.08 carats of diamond) and a .93 carat diamond ring finished at

$2,250.

Prices quoted do not reflect a 13 percent buyer's premium (ten percent for

payment by cash or check).