For the gentlemen at the Coeur d’Alene Art Auction expectations for this year proved to be quite justified. At their 28th annual Auction, specialists in the finest classical Western and American Art reached a total of $30,555,818 million. The single largest event in the field of classic Western and American Art saw over 97% of all lots selling at the July 27th sale in Reno. Six lots sold for over $1 million and 39 items eclipsed the $100,000 mark. Also, numerous world-records were set.
As usual, the auction house was focused on quality, historical works by coveted American Western artists like Charles Russell, Frederic Remington, Taos Founders, and landscape artists Albert Bierstadt and Maynard Dixon. The top price of the sale was achieved for Frederic Remington’s 1908 painting Cutting Out Pony Herds (A Stampede), which sold to a bidder in the room for $5,625,000.
Norman Rockwell’s 1940 painting A Scout is Loyal fetched over $4.2 million. The final price is the highest for a Rockwell at auction in almost six years and sold to a bidder on the phone.
Works by contemporary artist Howard Terpning vastly exceeded expectations, surpassing $1 million each on two lots. With a presale estimate of $600,000-900,000, Telling of Legends sold for over $1.7 million. With a final price of just over $1 million, Terpning’s 1981 Shield of Her Husband outperformed presale estimates of $300,000-500,000. Charles Russell’s Buffalo Hunt #27 sold for north of $1 million.
