Auction block

Art Business News, Nov, 2001 by Vanessa Silberman

* At the recent sale of 20th-century British and Irish Art held at Phillips in London, several world auction records were set. "The Hive, Morning, St Ives" by Samuel John Lamorna Birch R.A. (1869-1955) sold for a world auction record price of $76,236 (est. $14,500-22,000), while "Window Still Life with Conch Shell," by Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981) set a world record when it sold for $86,000 (est. $30,000-44,000).The top lot was "The Pier Head," by Stanhope Alexander Forbes R.A. (1857-1947), which sold for $388,000.

* An important 1888 court dress with train offered at Doyle New York's recent Couture and Textiles auction set a new world auction record for an antique dress when it sold for a staggering $101,500. The gown, with a 23-inch waist and a 10 1/2-foot detachable train, was designed by the world's first couturier, Charles Frederick Worth. The dress belonged to Esther Maria Lewis Chapin (1871-1959), the great-great-granddaughter of George Washington's sister, Elizabeth Washington Lewis.

* Beginning Nov. 1, Sotheby's will no longer hold auctions in Chicago--yet another cost-cutting measure made in the wake of a slow second quarter and the price-fixing scandal. As Helyn Goldenberg, chairman of Sotheby's Midwest, explained, "Sotheby's has had a presence here for more than 20 years, and recently we've almost tripled sales. But when we went into the Internet business, we began competing with ourselves." Sotheby's will keep its Chicago office and will continue to offer collectors' services.