1907
See also : Pond by Monet Matisse Flowers Bouquet Orientalism Austria Far West Gold coins US dollars 20th century coins Photo Photos 1900-1940 Books Glass and crystal
1907 Flowers for the Woman
2017 SOLD for £ 48M including premium
The greatest artists express their vision of the world. Klimt goes further : he wants to change the life.
The Klimt and Flöge families are closely linked. Gustav Klimt becomes the brother-in-law of Helene Flöge in 1891 and her tutor in the following year. Helene and her sister Emilie open a business of couture and fashion in Vienna in 1904. Emilie was Gustav's companion from 1891 until the artist's death in 1918.
The Schwestern Flöge workshop is experimenting with new garments for the Viennese avant-garde, including loose dresses hung from the shoulders without using a corset. The very famous blouses of Gustav Klimt, which give him such a neglected attitude according to the conceptions of today's fashion, proceed from the same trend.
The shape of the garment is not enough : women also deserve a shimmering decoration. Gustav observes trees and flowers as patterns of texture. Their bright colors were created by nature. Gustav does not cancel the shapes of the flowers. If he had, he would have been the first abstract artist.
Gustav reveals the woman's head as the only realistic element in his portraits. The body is hidden by an ample garment whose limits loosely overlap the background of the image and whose details are luxurious and colorful. Adele Bloch-Bauer I, oil on canvas 138 x 138 cm painted in 1907, was sold for $ 135M on June 18, 2006 in a private sale by Christie's to Ronald Lauder.
On March 1 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 11 Bauerngarten, oil on canvas 110 x 110 cm painted in 1907 during the holidays of Gustav at the Attersee. Poppies, daisies and zinnias spread their colors in an endless meadow with no horizon. These flowers are dominated by a triangle of roses that confirms the artist's intention for the design of a dress.
Please watch the very short video shared by Sotheby's.
The Klimt and Flöge families are closely linked. Gustav Klimt becomes the brother-in-law of Helene Flöge in 1891 and her tutor in the following year. Helene and her sister Emilie open a business of couture and fashion in Vienna in 1904. Emilie was Gustav's companion from 1891 until the artist's death in 1918.
The Schwestern Flöge workshop is experimenting with new garments for the Viennese avant-garde, including loose dresses hung from the shoulders without using a corset. The very famous blouses of Gustav Klimt, which give him such a neglected attitude according to the conceptions of today's fashion, proceed from the same trend.
The shape of the garment is not enough : women also deserve a shimmering decoration. Gustav observes trees and flowers as patterns of texture. Their bright colors were created by nature. Gustav does not cancel the shapes of the flowers. If he had, he would have been the first abstract artist.
Gustav reveals the woman's head as the only realistic element in his portraits. The body is hidden by an ample garment whose limits loosely overlap the background of the image and whose details are luxurious and colorful. Adele Bloch-Bauer I, oil on canvas 138 x 138 cm painted in 1907, was sold for $ 135M on June 18, 2006 in a private sale by Christie's to Ronald Lauder.
On March 1 in London, Sotheby's sells as lot 11 Bauerngarten, oil on canvas 110 x 110 cm painted in 1907 during the holidays of Gustav at the Attersee. Poppies, daisies and zinnias spread their colors in an endless meadow with no horizon. These flowers are dominated by a triangle of roses that confirms the artist's intention for the design of a dress.
Please watch the very short video shared by Sotheby's.
The New York Times Thinks Sotheby’s Is Getting Frisky with Its Klimt https://t.co/3mgODvO8HY pic.twitter.com/etX2peYay3
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) February 24, 2017
1907 The Lengthy Evolution of Monet's Pond
2014 SOLD 27 M$ including premium
In 1893, when Claude Monet obtains the administrative authorization to create a pond in his garden at Giverny, he already knows that it will be a laboratory for his artistic creation. He was then interested in the reflections in the water of the tall trees and of the Japanese bridge.
Monet is an amateur but careful and skilled horticulturist. Without having his original preference, the water lilies impose themselves as his most prolific theme, up to obsession. Unlike the ivy on the wall, they will not cover the entire available surface. Spreading their leaves flush with water, they materialize in perspective the real surface of the pond.
From 1904 to 1908, Monet produced his first series of Nymphéas. With more than 60 paintings which he wants all different from one another, the artist expresses the most subtle variations of color and light, changing the distance and population of the flowers, the importance of the reflections from the trees and the expressive power of color.
The horizon disappears, the details become abstract but the botanical accuracy remains. One of the first trials in this new figurative style, dated 1904, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2007.
A beautiful fleet of well colored water lilies dated 1905, 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44 million including premium at Christie's on November 7, 2012.
A particularly poetic oil version in pastel tones dated 1906, 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 20.9 million including premium at Christie's on May 8, 2000 but failed to meet in 2010 its new estimate of £ 30M.
An oil on canvas 100 x 80 cm painted in 1907 for sale by Christie's in New York on May 6 comes in the following of that trend with soft shades more highlighting the reflections than the botany. It includes an innovation of Monet from that year : he realized that he was no longer a painter of landscapes and experienced the vertical format.
This painting is estimated $ 25M.
POST SALE COMMENT
This good example of the Nymphéas series came from the Clark collection and was fresh on the market. It was sold for $ 27M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's :
Monet is an amateur but careful and skilled horticulturist. Without having his original preference, the water lilies impose themselves as his most prolific theme, up to obsession. Unlike the ivy on the wall, they will not cover the entire available surface. Spreading their leaves flush with water, they materialize in perspective the real surface of the pond.
From 1904 to 1908, Monet produced his first series of Nymphéas. With more than 60 paintings which he wants all different from one another, the artist expresses the most subtle variations of color and light, changing the distance and population of the flowers, the importance of the reflections from the trees and the expressive power of color.
The horizon disappears, the details become abstract but the botanical accuracy remains. One of the first trials in this new figurative style, dated 1904, 81 x 100 cm, was sold for £ 18.5 million including premium by Sotheby's on 19 June 2007.
A beautiful fleet of well colored water lilies dated 1905, 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 44 million including premium at Christie's on November 7, 2012.
A particularly poetic oil version in pastel tones dated 1906, 90 x 100 cm, was sold for $ 20.9 million including premium at Christie's on May 8, 2000 but failed to meet in 2010 its new estimate of £ 30M.
An oil on canvas 100 x 80 cm painted in 1907 for sale by Christie's in New York on May 6 comes in the following of that trend with soft shades more highlighting the reflections than the botany. It includes an innovation of Monet from that year : he realized that he was no longer a painter of landscapes and experienced the vertical format.
This painting is estimated $ 25M.
POST SALE COMMENT
This good example of the Nymphéas series came from the Clark collection and was fresh on the market. It was sold for $ 27M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's :
1907 Peonies in Collioure
2012 SOLD 19 M$ including premium
In 1905, two young painters dazzled by the light of Collioure open a new path in art. They are named Henri Matisse and André Derain. Since then, color supersedes drawing as the dominant element in the composition of a painting.
These new colorists immediately seek to vary the subjects, and flowers are ideal for their research. The vases, tablecloths and wallpapers complement unprecedented color balances.
On May 1 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas, 65 x 55 cm, painted by Matisse in Collioure in 1907, estimated $ 8M. This work showing a vase with peonies was admired by Félix Féneon who was the effective promoter of Fauvism.
The bouquets painted by Matisse at that time are highly appreciated on the art market. One of them, 81 x 66 cm, dated 1911, showing coucou flowers in an elegant vase on a table mat with blue and pink patterns close to abstraction, was sold € 36M including premium in February 2009 by Christie's and Pierre Bergé. This bid is memorable: it was the highest price in the famous Saint-Laurent - Bergé auction sales.
I invite you to see these peonies on the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was too conservative for this nice painting, made in the period of one of the deepest changes in the history of art. It was sold $ 19M including premium.
These new colorists immediately seek to vary the subjects, and flowers are ideal for their research. The vases, tablecloths and wallpapers complement unprecedented color balances.
On May 1 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas, 65 x 55 cm, painted by Matisse in Collioure in 1907, estimated $ 8M. This work showing a vase with peonies was admired by Félix Féneon who was the effective promoter of Fauvism.
The bouquets painted by Matisse at that time are highly appreciated on the art market. One of them, 81 x 66 cm, dated 1911, showing coucou flowers in an elegant vase on a table mat with blue and pink patterns close to abstraction, was sold € 36M including premium in February 2009 by Christie's and Pierre Bergé. This bid is memorable: it was the highest price in the famous Saint-Laurent - Bergé auction sales.
I invite you to see these peonies on the video shared by Christie's.
POST SALE COMMENT
The estimate was too conservative for this nice painting, made in the period of one of the deepest changes in the history of art. It was sold $ 19M including premium.
1907 The Light of the Golden Horn
2019 SOLD for $ 16.2M including premium
Passionate about sailing, Paul Signac immerses himself in the atmosphere of the ports. In the spring of 1907, for visiting Constantinople, he made an exception to his practice by traveling by train. He probably feared for the safety of a private boat in this military port.
Signac had seen Venice in 1905. Yet it is in Constantinople that he integrates the extreme conjunctions of light and mist of Turner's Mediterranean masterpieces. He concentrates his sketches on the Golden Horn and its minarets that go up to the sky.
Back in France, Signac wants to express this dazzle. He takes a canvas in standard '50', 89 x 116 cm, which is the largest size compatible with the painstaking of his pointillist technique. After a month of effort, surprised by the unusual difficulty of this work, he scraps a first painting and starts again from scratch.
The second version is satisfactory. Signac retrieved the pleasure of expressing a great sun, as in Saint-Tropez fifteen years earlier, but this time he replaces the blinding yellow by a subtle palette of pinks and purples. Even better : he renounces for this view to a strict division between the color dots, accepting a blending inspired by Turner's art.
This painting is by far the most achieved of the nine or ten oils on canvas of Constantinople painted by Signac in 1907. In 1937, two years after his death, it was bought at auction by his daughter and her husband. It was sold for £ 8.8M including premium by Christie's on February 7, 2012. It is estimated $ 14M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 12, lot 21.
Signac had seen Venice in 1905. Yet it is in Constantinople that he integrates the extreme conjunctions of light and mist of Turner's Mediterranean masterpieces. He concentrates his sketches on the Golden Horn and its minarets that go up to the sky.
Back in France, Signac wants to express this dazzle. He takes a canvas in standard '50', 89 x 116 cm, which is the largest size compatible with the painstaking of his pointillist technique. After a month of effort, surprised by the unusual difficulty of this work, he scraps a first painting and starts again from scratch.
The second version is satisfactory. Signac retrieved the pleasure of expressing a great sun, as in Saint-Tropez fifteen years earlier, but this time he replaces the blinding yellow by a subtle palette of pinks and purples. Even better : he renounces for this view to a strict division between the color dots, accepting a blending inspired by Turner's art.
This painting is by far the most achieved of the nine or ten oils on canvas of Constantinople painted by Signac in 1907. In 1937, two years after his death, it was bought at auction by his daughter and her husband. It was sold for £ 8.8M including premium by Christie's on February 7, 2012. It is estimated $ 14M for sale by Sotheby's in New York on November 12, lot 21.
Three Modernists – three spectacular locales. Lose yourself in the paintings of Paul Signac, Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, on offer in the Impressionist & Modern Art Evening and Day sales, this November 12 & 13 in #NYC https://t.co/q7soj4qFhj
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) November 11, 2019
1907 The Fauvist Enthusiasm of Georges Braque
2013 SOLD 16 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The Fauvist revolution of 1905 is due to the enthusiastic response of very young artists. Besides Matisse, most of them are less than thirty years old. Their invention of the primacy of color over all other elements of the painting opens up a new language.
Georges Braque was excited by the Salle des Fauves. Like many others, he sought inspiration in the shining light of the hills of Provence. More than the others, he painted his feeling in front of the landscape rather than the landscape itself.
The twisted trunks of olive trees are an excuse to get rid of verticality. An oil on canvas painted in 1907, 38 x 46 cm, perhaps inspired by the art of Van Gogh, was sold for £ 5.1 million including premium by Sotheby's on 8 February 2012.
On May 7 in New York, Sotheby's sells a view of the countryside near La Ciotat, also painted in 1907. This oil on canvas, 51 x 62 cm, is estimated $ 10M. Here is the link to the catalog.
The artwork is located, but the landscape is barely recognizable. Provence is more strongly evoked by the colors in thelight than by the mountainous horizon and the indefinable trees.
This synthesis of Cézanne's texture and Derain's light relies on well balanced shapes, close to a child's drawing. Later, cubism will reveal the appeal of geometry to Braque. He could have been one of the great inventors of modern art but his Fauvist pulse was too short. The place was still left open for the theories of Kandinsky in Murnau in 1909.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Fauvist landscapes by Braque are very rare, and the composition of this one is of high originality. It deserved $ 16 million including premium.
The Fauvist revolution of 1905 is due to the enthusiastic response of very young artists. Besides Matisse, most of them are less than thirty years old. Their invention of the primacy of color over all other elements of the painting opens up a new language.
Georges Braque was excited by the Salle des Fauves. Like many others, he sought inspiration in the shining light of the hills of Provence. More than the others, he painted his feeling in front of the landscape rather than the landscape itself.
The twisted trunks of olive trees are an excuse to get rid of verticality. An oil on canvas painted in 1907, 38 x 46 cm, perhaps inspired by the art of Van Gogh, was sold for £ 5.1 million including premium by Sotheby's on 8 February 2012.
On May 7 in New York, Sotheby's sells a view of the countryside near La Ciotat, also painted in 1907. This oil on canvas, 51 x 62 cm, is estimated $ 10M. Here is the link to the catalog.
The artwork is located, but the landscape is barely recognizable. Provence is more strongly evoked by the colors in thelight than by the mountainous horizon and the indefinable trees.
This synthesis of Cézanne's texture and Derain's light relies on well balanced shapes, close to a child's drawing. Later, cubism will reveal the appeal of geometry to Braque. He could have been one of the great inventors of modern art but his Fauvist pulse was too short. The place was still left open for the theories of Kandinsky in Murnau in 1909.
POST SALE COMMENT
The Fauvist landscapes by Braque are very rare, and the composition of this one is of high originality. It deserved $ 16 million including premium.
1907 Signac in Constantinople
2012 SOLD 6.2 M£ including premium
Around 1900, Paul Signac reuses pointillist techniques, but his style has changed, becoming more emotional. Socially engaged, he is naturally influenced by all modern trends but his art is profoundly original.
Landscape painter attracted by the sea, he was interested in maritime cities, including Venice in 1905. His colors became warmer. The post-Impressionist dots of Signac are precursors of the flat colors of Fauvism.
In spring 1907, he spent six weeks to soak up in the atmosphere of the Golden Horn in Constantinople at different times of the day. Back in France, he expressed his delight in a series of oil paintings. In the foreground, sea and boats symbolize the activity of the city.
The largest of these paintings, 89 x 116 cm, shows Constantinople in the extreme light of sunrise or sunset. It was sold £ 8.8 million including premium by Christie's on February 7, 2012.
A smaller painting, 73 x 93 cm, is estimated £ 4M, for sale by Christie's in London on June 20. The atmosphere is quieter. On the horizon, mosques and minarets mark their distance by lighter colors that enhance the mystical feeling of the scene.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good price for this Signac, smaller than the painting of the same series that I took as reference. It was sold £ 6.2 million including premium.
Landscape painter attracted by the sea, he was interested in maritime cities, including Venice in 1905. His colors became warmer. The post-Impressionist dots of Signac are precursors of the flat colors of Fauvism.
In spring 1907, he spent six weeks to soak up in the atmosphere of the Golden Horn in Constantinople at different times of the day. Back in France, he expressed his delight in a series of oil paintings. In the foreground, sea and boats symbolize the activity of the city.
The largest of these paintings, 89 x 116 cm, shows Constantinople in the extreme light of sunrise or sunset. It was sold £ 8.8 million including premium by Christie's on February 7, 2012.
A smaller painting, 73 x 93 cm, is estimated £ 4M, for sale by Christie's in London on June 20. The atmosphere is quieter. On the horizon, mosques and minarets mark their distance by lighter colors that enhance the mystical feeling of the scene.
POST SALE COMMENT
Very good price for this Signac, smaller than the painting of the same series that I took as reference. It was sold £ 6.2 million including premium.
1907 The Pink Stone of Wyoming
2016 SOLD for $ 3.6M excluding fees by The Russell
2019 UNSOLD
PRE 2019 SALE DISCUSSION
In 1871 Thomas Moran joined the Hayden Expedition exploring Yellowstone. Influenced by the colors in Turner's art, he is seduced by Castle Rock, a spectacular peak that dominates the Green River valley in Wyoming.
For four decades, the artist wanders through Wyoming, Montana and Arizona in search of extreme landscapes. His paintings with subtle pink, yellow, orange, lavender and vermilion hues of the cliffs in the beautiful morning light make him famous while appealing tourists to Yellowstone National Park, created in 1872.
Throughout this period he also idealizes with many variations his Castle Rock, bringing an additional majesty to the mountain by reducing its width. Painted in 1878, an intensely colored 64 x 122 cm oil on canvas was sold for $ 17.7 million including premium by Christie's on May 21, 2008.
Another variant is less arid, with some trees on both banks. In this peaceful and slightly hazy atmosphere, Moran added an animation, a rare feature in his work : a caravan of Native Americans on horseback is crossing the river on a ford.
This oil on canvas 51 x 76 cm painted in 1907 was sold for $ 3.6M excluding fees in March 2016 in the annual sale organized by The Russell in Great Falls for the benefit of the C.M. Russell Museum. It is estimated $ 3.5M for sale in Scottsdale AZ on April 6 by Scottsdale Art Auction, lot 229 here linked on iCollector bidding platform.
In 1871 Thomas Moran joined the Hayden Expedition exploring Yellowstone. Influenced by the colors in Turner's art, he is seduced by Castle Rock, a spectacular peak that dominates the Green River valley in Wyoming.
For four decades, the artist wanders through Wyoming, Montana and Arizona in search of extreme landscapes. His paintings with subtle pink, yellow, orange, lavender and vermilion hues of the cliffs in the beautiful morning light make him famous while appealing tourists to Yellowstone National Park, created in 1872.
Throughout this period he also idealizes with many variations his Castle Rock, bringing an additional majesty to the mountain by reducing its width. Painted in 1878, an intensely colored 64 x 122 cm oil on canvas was sold for $ 17.7 million including premium by Christie's on May 21, 2008.
Another variant is less arid, with some trees on both banks. In this peaceful and slightly hazy atmosphere, Moran added an animation, a rare feature in his work : a caravan of Native Americans on horseback is crossing the river on a ford.
This oil on canvas 51 x 76 cm painted in 1907 was sold for $ 3.6M excluding fees in March 2016 in the annual sale organized by The Russell in Great Falls for the benefit of the C.M. Russell Museum. It is estimated $ 3.5M for sale in Scottsdale AZ on April 6 by Scottsdale Art Auction, lot 229 here linked on iCollector bidding platform.
1907-1930 The Cultural Heritage of the American Indians
2012 SOLD 2.9 M$ including premium
The work of Edward S. Curtis, The North American Indian, should be part of the cultural heritage of humanity. Without him, two worlds would never have met: the authentic traditions of American Indians, and photography.
When Curtis began to visit the western America, the tribal populations had declined dramatically, and many of them were snapped up by other forms of civilization. This is the end of an era.
When Curtis began recording thousands of photographs, this technique was already fully mastered. The photographer is no more a chemist or an experimenter, he can concentrate on his subject. This is the beginning of another era.
Compare dates: the first issue of Camera Work is published by Stieglitz in 1903. The first delivery of The North American Indian by Curtis, sold by subscription, in 1907.
Tirelessly, Curtis visited the 80 most authentic tribes. His friendship with some chiefs was facilitated by his application to use their own language, opening to him the path for the other communities.
When the publishing venture of The North American Indian ends in 1930 because of financial difficulties, Curtis had managed the most extraordinary and unsurpassed photographic documentary of all time: 2200 selected photographs distributed among twenty volumes of text and twenty portfolios.
The copy for sale by Christie's in New York on April 10 is complete. Kept in excellent condition, it is certainly the finest surviving example of this unusual work.
This lot is estimated $ 1M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
Its exceptional freshness enabled this highly important book to reach $ 2.9 million including premium.
When Curtis began to visit the western America, the tribal populations had declined dramatically, and many of them were snapped up by other forms of civilization. This is the end of an era.
When Curtis began recording thousands of photographs, this technique was already fully mastered. The photographer is no more a chemist or an experimenter, he can concentrate on his subject. This is the beginning of another era.
Compare dates: the first issue of Camera Work is published by Stieglitz in 1903. The first delivery of The North American Indian by Curtis, sold by subscription, in 1907.
Tirelessly, Curtis visited the 80 most authentic tribes. His friendship with some chiefs was facilitated by his application to use their own language, opening to him the path for the other communities.
When the publishing venture of The North American Indian ends in 1930 because of financial difficulties, Curtis had managed the most extraordinary and unsurpassed photographic documentary of all time: 2200 selected photographs distributed among twenty volumes of text and twenty portfolios.
The copy for sale by Christie's in New York on April 10 is complete. Kept in excellent condition, it is certainly the finest surviving example of this unusual work.
This lot is estimated $ 1M. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
Its exceptional freshness enabled this highly important book to reach $ 2.9 million including premium.
1900-1910 Lotus Lamp by Tiffany Studios
1997 SOLD for $ 2.8M including premium by Christie's
Illustrated in 2017 Features by Christie's.
1907 Ultra High Relief for the Double Eagles
2012 SOLD 2.76 M$ including premium
2015 UNSOLD
PRE 2015 SALE DISCUSSION
A wonderful piece of gold may sustain the claim of being the finest coin of the 20th century, sharing this achievement with another specimen from the same variant and condition.
This Ultra High Relief $ 20 coin was sold for $ 2.76M including premium by Stack's Bowers on June 29, 2012. It comes back for sale by the same auctioneer on May 20 at Sotheby's New York. It is now estimated $ 2.75M, lot 93.
Please find below my discussion of 2012 along with the video which had been shared by Stack's Bowers before that sale.
President Theodore Roosevelt never did anything like everyone else. For his second inauguration in 1905, he required Augustus Saint-Gaudens to design a medal in parallel of the version traditionally handled by the official mint departments.
The result pleased that rebellious President. The following year, he asked Saint-Gaudens to redesign the whole American coinage.
Already hit by his terminal cancer, Saint-Gaudens stubbornly began this task, starting with the top gold coins : the eagle ($ 10) and the double eagle ($ 20).
Saint-Gaudens was primarily a sculptor. He imagined for the double eagle a motif in very high relief, which was tested in February and March 1907. Two dozen of proof coins were produced.
The result was superb but disappointing. It had taken nine strikes of a high pressure medal hydraulic press, normally used for very small quantities. It was impossible to consider such a technique for producing the big quantities needed for currency. The design of Saint Gaudens will however be later used, but with a flattened motif.
The two best preserved specimens of these rare Ultra High Relief Double Eagles are both graded PR69 by the PCGS. They may be considered as the finest pieces of American coinage.
One of them was sold for $ 3M including premium by Heritage in November 2005. The other is for sale by Stack's Bowers.
A wonderful piece of gold may sustain the claim of being the finest coin of the 20th century, sharing this achievement with another specimen from the same variant and condition.
This Ultra High Relief $ 20 coin was sold for $ 2.76M including premium by Stack's Bowers on June 29, 2012. It comes back for sale by the same auctioneer on May 20 at Sotheby's New York. It is now estimated $ 2.75M, lot 93.
Please find below my discussion of 2012 along with the video which had been shared by Stack's Bowers before that sale.
President Theodore Roosevelt never did anything like everyone else. For his second inauguration in 1905, he required Augustus Saint-Gaudens to design a medal in parallel of the version traditionally handled by the official mint departments.
The result pleased that rebellious President. The following year, he asked Saint-Gaudens to redesign the whole American coinage.
Already hit by his terminal cancer, Saint-Gaudens stubbornly began this task, starting with the top gold coins : the eagle ($ 10) and the double eagle ($ 20).
Saint-Gaudens was primarily a sculptor. He imagined for the double eagle a motif in very high relief, which was tested in February and March 1907. Two dozen of proof coins were produced.
The result was superb but disappointing. It had taken nine strikes of a high pressure medal hydraulic press, normally used for very small quantities. It was impossible to consider such a technique for producing the big quantities needed for currency. The design of Saint Gaudens will however be later used, but with a flattened motif.
The two best preserved specimens of these rare Ultra High Relief Double Eagles are both graded PR69 by the PCGS. They may be considered as the finest pieces of American coinage.
One of them was sold for $ 3M including premium by Heritage in November 2005. The other is for sale by Stack's Bowers.
1907 The ASG Specimen of Saint-Gaudens Double Eagle
2015 SOLD for $ 2.1M including premium
In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt invited Augustus Saint-Gaudens to design a new coinage for $ 20 and $ 10. Saint-Gaudens was a sculptor, and he realized his models as high relief medallions from 28 to 36 cm in diameter.
Shrinking to the size of a coin was the first difficult step. The development of the manufacturing process was a technical feat. The double eagle in Ultra High Relief required seven strikings in the hydraulic press. Between two strikings, the piece was annealed and then washed in nitric acid to maintain the highest possible purity of the gold surface. The result was superb from the viewpoint of the color and brilliance of gold.
In the first trial in February 1907, one of the dies broke during the manufacture of the fourth unit, providing the argument to demonstrate that mass production was impossible.
The story did not stop there, simply because it was so tempting to repeat the feat. Twelve or thirteen additional coins were minted between March and July 1907, and three more on 31 December 1907 just before the yearly destruction of the outdated tools.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens had died on August 3, 1907. The informal promise to provide a sample to the Saint-Gaudens estate had not been met. When the widow claimed, the Mint chose to part with one of the pieces kept in its cabinet rather than recreating the tools.
The widow had marked the ASG initials on the edge of her coin before presenting it in long-term loan to the American Numismatic Society. Withdrawn many years later from ANS by the Saint-Gaudens estate, it is now resurfacing. In an almost perfect condition like many other units from this pattern model, it is graded PR68 by NGC and PCGS.
It will be sold with no reserve by Heritage in Orlando on January 7, lot 4412. Two weeks before the sale, the bidding is at $ 1.3 million before fees. The only specimen graded PR69 (by PCGS) was sold for $ 2,76M including premium by Stack's Bowers on June 29, 2012.
Shrinking to the size of a coin was the first difficult step. The development of the manufacturing process was a technical feat. The double eagle in Ultra High Relief required seven strikings in the hydraulic press. Between two strikings, the piece was annealed and then washed in nitric acid to maintain the highest possible purity of the gold surface. The result was superb from the viewpoint of the color and brilliance of gold.
In the first trial in February 1907, one of the dies broke during the manufacture of the fourth unit, providing the argument to demonstrate that mass production was impossible.
The story did not stop there, simply because it was so tempting to repeat the feat. Twelve or thirteen additional coins were minted between March and July 1907, and three more on 31 December 1907 just before the yearly destruction of the outdated tools.
Augustus Saint-Gaudens had died on August 3, 1907. The informal promise to provide a sample to the Saint-Gaudens estate had not been met. When the widow claimed, the Mint chose to part with one of the pieces kept in its cabinet rather than recreating the tools.
The widow had marked the ASG initials on the edge of her coin before presenting it in long-term loan to the American Numismatic Society. Withdrawn many years later from ANS by the Saint-Gaudens estate, it is now resurfacing. In an almost perfect condition like many other units from this pattern model, it is graded PR68 by NGC and PCGS.
It will be sold with no reserve by Heritage in Orlando on January 7, lot 4412. Two weeks before the sale, the bidding is at $ 1.3 million before fees. The only specimen graded PR69 (by PCGS) was sold for $ 2,76M including premium by Stack's Bowers on June 29, 2012.
1907 Water in Northern Arizona
2014 SOLD 1.5 M$ including premium
Throughout his long career, Thomas Moran expressed the sinuous grandeur of the Rocky Mountains and the infinite shades of their colors.
Moran has also often visited Arizona and New Mexico. Curiously, his art is different. He finds the human element, and studies the role of water in these arid regions.
On July 26 in Reno, The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction sells an oil on canvas painted in 1907, 51 x 76 cm, showing a scenery in Northern Arizona. Executed in the studio from sketches taken during his trips, it recreates the warm light of the extreme hours of the day as Aivazovsky had done before him in the other end of the world.
Here, the hostility of the spectacular landscape is softened by the Indian village of mud brick that appears above the cliffs. The foreground in the shadow is occupied by an ephemeral water pocket created by scarce rainfalls, providing a refuge for the trees like an oasis in the desert. Indian women are watering.
This view offering both a stunning scenery and an observation of local life is rare in the art of Moran. It is estimated beyond $ 1.5 M.
This painting is illustrated in second position on the release shared by Fine Art Connoisseur.
POST SALE COMMENT
This rare landscape of Arizona by Moran was sold for $ 1.3M before fees.
Moran has also often visited Arizona and New Mexico. Curiously, his art is different. He finds the human element, and studies the role of water in these arid regions.
On July 26 in Reno, The Coeur d'Alene Art Auction sells an oil on canvas painted in 1907, 51 x 76 cm, showing a scenery in Northern Arizona. Executed in the studio from sketches taken during his trips, it recreates the warm light of the extreme hours of the day as Aivazovsky had done before him in the other end of the world.
Here, the hostility of the spectacular landscape is softened by the Indian village of mud brick that appears above the cliffs. The foreground in the shadow is occupied by an ephemeral water pocket created by scarce rainfalls, providing a refuge for the trees like an oasis in the desert. Indian women are watering.
This view offering both a stunning scenery and an observation of local life is rare in the art of Moran. It is estimated beyond $ 1.5 M.
This painting is illustrated in second position on the release shared by Fine Art Connoisseur.
POST SALE COMMENT
This rare landscape of Arizona by Moran was sold for $ 1.3M before fees.
