Lions Club Fundraiser

Art Auction Opened The Weekend

At Edmond Town Hall

By Shannon Hicks

Newtown Lions Club welcomed about 100 people to an art auction the service organization hosted last weekend at Edmond Town Hall. Between ticket prices and partial proceeds from the sale of works of art and a few pieces of sports memorabilia, the Lions were able to raise money to continue to support the nearly three dozen charities and projects the local club has undertaken.

Bob Atlas served as the auctioneer for the evening, representing the Holbrook, N.Y., company AJ Ross Auctions. Of 160 lots that had been selected for the March 14 event, the vast majority were passed. Forty-five lots sold, however, giving a few dozen bidders new pieces of art for their walls or, in just a few cases, a new piece of porcelain for a favorite place.

A piece of Boehm porcelain, a Patriot Eagle Box, opened the sale with a successful bid of $25. Two hours later, a small porcelain rose called My Funny Valentine, also by Boehm, closed the sale with a bid of $95.

The artist with the largest representation in the auction was Sam Park, who had six pieces offered during the sale. “Twilight at Pont Neuf,” from the artist’s “The Streets of Paris” suite of four images, and “Café in Cassis,” from his “Provinces of France” suite of four, each sold for $575.

In an unusual move, the auctioneer sold two copies of the same work during the auction. When two bidders raised the price of a David Lorenz Winston offset lithograph to $200, and both appeared to be backing off anything higher, auctioneer Bob Atlas sold the same work to both bidders. One bidder went home Friday night with a copy of “Past Dreams,” and Mr Atlas promised the second bidder that a copy of the Winston image would be shipped to him, with the gallery taking care of the cost of shipping.

Also, in the auction catalog there were two lots of Lun Tse works, offset lithographs called “Bamboo I” and “Bamboo III,” but Mr Atlas decided to sell the two as one lot. In return, he received a bid of $90 for the pair.

A pair of offset lithographs by Luntz, “Best of Friends II” and “Best of Friends IV,” were also combined into one lot and ended up selling for $70.

Mr Atlas also allowed a number of lots to be called back up for bidding, even while the auction was still progressing through the catalog.

Among those that sold following a second look was an offset lithograph by Rusty Frentner called “Are You Nuts?” that showed a squirrel on a birch branch, looking squarely at the viewer, which was pencil signed and numbered, and came with a certificate of authenticity. It was picked up for $85 upon callback. “Country Hydrangeas,” an offset lithograph by the self-taught artist and photographer Cristin Atria, was sold for $125, also on callback.

Boston Red Sox fans had one lot to bid on, a framed photo of Ted Williams in uniform that went for $65. Yankees fans picked up a collage of Joe DiMaggio photos, including one of the Yankee Clipper with Marilyn Monroe, that went for $95, and “Yogi-isms,” a collection of Yogi Berra photos and quotes, that went for $85; and a photo collage called “Old Time Yankees” went for $150.

Other Yankees memorabilia did not sell, including “3-D Yogi,” a photo showing the Yankees legend reading a comic book while wearing 3-D glasses; a Phil Rizzuto autographed photo; and an offset lithograph called “Dream Season 1998 NY Yankees.”

Two sports items that did sell were an autographed copy of the legendary baseball photo “The Shot Heard Round the World” sold for $175, and an image called “Vince Lombardi,” showing the coach standing on a fiend in his trench coat as seen through the shoulders of two players, sold for $75.

Also, one of the biggest prices of the evening went to a piece of Mets memorabilia. A set of autographed cards from Jose Reyes and David Wright brought $475.

Two pieces of music memorabilia failed to sell. The first was a guitar signed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards that opened at $2,700. Even knowing the historic value of that guitar and the longevity of the Rolling Stones (“Come on! These guys have been going around longer that dirt,” Mr Atlas said, drawing laughter from the crowd), the guitar did not elicit a single bid. Also going back to New York without drawing a single bid was a second guitar, which was not listed in the catalog but was shown during the auction’s preview. Even knowing it had been signed by Eric Clapton was not enough of a draw for anyone to pay $2,500 for the instrument.

In addition to the auction itself, the Lions offered a few more pieces of entertainment Friday night. There was a silent auction with 15 items, among which sold was a Staffordshire bone china plate for $20; a four-pack of car washes from Newtown Car Wash that went for $40; a pair of Versace sunglasses, $110; an eight-foot screen gazebo for $60; and a foursome for golf at Ridgewood Country Club that went home with the winning bidder for $125.

A pair of door prizes were also awarded before the event ended. Pat Denlinger won a television and Tom and Kathy Donnelly won a Nobuo Watanabe offset lithograph called “Evening Mass.” The snowy winter scene of a moonlit village and church was pencil signed and numbered.