Date: Fri 29-Jan-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Yamasaki-Boos-Easton

Full Text:

Yamasaki Collection Featured At Boos

(with 4 cuts)

By Rita Easton

BLOOMFIELD HILLS, MICH. -- Frank H. Boos Gallery held a two-session auction

December 9-10 featuring art, furniture, books, jewelry and decorative art. A

total of 1,103 lots were offered, bringing a gross of $632,500. Prices quoted

reflect a ten percent buyer's premium.

Of particular interest was the collection of Minoru and Teruko Yamasaki of

Bloomfield Hills. Mr Yamasaki's achievements as an architect include the World

Trade Center in New York City, the Metropolitan Life Insurance headquarters

building in Minnesota, the Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency head office, the King

Faud airport in Saudi Arabia, and major buildings at Princeton and Harvard,

among many other institutions of learning.

Fetching the starring bid of the event, an antique George II burl walnut

secretary/bookcase, 95 inches high, having two mirrored doors over a slant lid

over four drawers, reached $20,700. The privately purchased lot had been

estimated at $10/15,000.

Five Harry Bertoia (American, 1915-1978) sculptures inspired competitive

bidding, each going to a private buyer. "Bush," a globular work 9« inches in

diameter, brought $6,900; a gilded plane with vertical motion, 42 inches wide,

fetched $12,075 (est $8/10,000); an untitled work in brass and bronze, 28

inches high (est $9/12,000), sold at $18,975; a 75-inch-high work from his

"Musicals" group, consisting of bronze tonal rods (est $10/12,000) was

purchased at $13,800; and "Dandelion," in brass with a marble base, 79 inches

high, garnered $14,950.

A Nineteenth Century Sevres style porcelain urn, 36 inches high overall,

featuring a wreathed oval portrait of a woman (est $4/6,000), realized $8,625

from a member of the trade; a single volume by Charles Dickens, A Christmas

Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, the leatherbound book having

fine gold tooling and an oval portrait of a woman on the cover, reached

$8,050; and a volume of Shakespeare's sonnets in a fine Moroccan binding (est

$200/400), took off, selling at $3,850.

Contemporary furniture from the Yamasaki estate was in demand, with a

100-foot-long contemporary sofa in green upholstery, with a steel frame and

rectangular straight lines, crossing the block at $2,875; and a pair of

matching armchairs selling at $4,025. A Japanese sterling silver model of a

ship, presented as an award, weighing 28 ounces, achieved $1,100.

An acrylic on paper by Robert Motherwell (American, 1915-1991) went out at

$13,800; and a string of 10 millimeter pearls, 35 inches long, consisting of

82 pearls, realized $5,750. The jewelry had been consigned from the collection

of Mrs Yamasaki.