Furniture and Decorative Arts

Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, Chicago, Illinois

by Danielle Arnet

We bring upbeat antiquing news from Chicago. In a week when the Dow fell almost 5%, Leslie Hindman had a packed sale and realized $1.92 million. So many attended, there wasn't an open space in the large parking lot, and the viewing area was full. Many viewers held bidding paddles, and many more preregistered to bid via Internet or telephone.

That's not all. We're also here to tell you that Hindman has bought the farm. Not that farm; hers is a Green Acres type of plot. But more on that later.

Granted, Hindman's furniture and decorative arts sales are always loaded with eclectic merchandise, but the January 24 and 25 sale was something else. Perhaps it was the sheer volume—1300 lots makes for acres of merchandise. The mass filled two huge viewing rooms—to the point that it was near perilous to turn around. There was great stuff, from choice Meissen to a nice selection of Americana to 20th-century design, and an especially large selection of Oriental goods.

The sale was divided into sections. On Sunday from 11 a.m. to about 5:30 p.m., English, American, and Continental furniture and decorations were sold. ("I was home for 60 Minutes," said Hindman.) On Monday, starting at 11 a.m., Asian works of art, rugs and carpets, silver, and 20th-century furniture and decorations were sold.

Auction highlights and the two top lots came from the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. A parade of deaccessioned pieces, sold to benefit the institution's acquisitions fund, started with the sale of a George II-style red-lacquered and parcel-gilt secretary. Sold to a British dealer present for the sale, it brought $207,400 (includes buyer's premium), making it the sale's top lot.

A three-piece 19th-century silver, marble, and bronze garniture, also from the High Museum of Art, went at $134,200 to a European buyer bidding by phone. Raised bottom letters read "Bointaburet à Paris" plus marks. The impressive centerpiece alone measured 28" across, and together the three units were a symphony of excess. There were silver putti, cast dolphins, spouting mask fountains, waterfowl, and mirror plateaus. The eye did not know where to look first.

The High Museum's gold, jade, and diamond Fabergé cigarette case with the mark of workmaster Henrik Wigström sold for $36,600. A custom cabinet holding a ten- volume circa 1896 set of folios with plates by Louis Prang, A Complete Set of Oriental Ceramic Art, brought $21,960.

The High Museum of Art consignments came through "relationship," Hindman told us. In 2009 she handled a benefit wine auction there, and talks began about this sale.

Many lots were "pretty" (yes, we're biased), but a section of American furniture and decorations offered aesthetic respite. Four Boston and Sandwich fluid lamps, especially a stately pair in opaque white and emerald green that brought $18,300 for the pair, had bidders energized.

The fluid lamps and many lots of Americana came from the Fred J. Funk Jr. estate. Much had been purchased by Funk in the era of Hindman's first Chicago auction house, before she sold to Sotheby's, before the restoration happened on what became Oprah Winfrey's block, and before the move to her present digs under the "L" tracks.

We flatlanders don't see many serious clusters of silhouettes, but 14 from the Funk collection had phone bidders hanging on the lines for each lot. One Edouart silhouette, a woman riding sidesaddle, brought $1464; another of a young boy was $1586. A family by W. Seville sold for $1098. A ship's model from the Funk estate was $2440. A collection of early tintypes, ambrotypes, and union cases from another collection, separated into clusters, brought $122 to $336.

It was what Hindman called "a very strong sale," and it fed her intent to be a truly international house. Eighty percent of the winning bids by dollar value came from outside Illinois. Almost 31% of the lots sold outside the U.S., to 23 countries.

Action on the phones got fierce. The seats were full, and there were standees, but for some lots, we saw that all bids came by phone and Internet. Some 200 registered to bid in house, and over 900 registered on LiveAuctioneers. On-line bids accounted for 16% of the sale total.

A signature Persian sculpture by Dale Chihuly did not sell, perhaps because of the $10,000/15,000 reserve. A set of six "Adam and Eve" Fornasetti plates also did not sell, but moose and elk antlers sold for $366. A 6" jade brush pot, carved with mountain scenes and consigned by a midwestern collector, brought $34,160 in the Asian section of the sale.

We asked if Hindman saw any surprises sale-wise, and she replied, "I don't think anyone's surprised these days. In this day and age you know what's happening." Requests for condition reports and other inquiries give staff a good idea of what's hot.

Once the Asian section started, "I looked out into the room, and literally, there were two Caucasians," she added. Looking over the crowd examining merchandise before the sale, we too noticed more Asian faces than we'd seen before at a Hindman sale.

We were surprised, but Hindman wasn't. "Andrew [Lick] and Mike [Intihar] of furniture and decorative arts went to Miami for the art fair earlier in the month and talked to the Asian dealers. A lot flew in for the sale."

Another non-surprise-a lot of five canes, four with carved ivory tops sold for $5124 (est. $800/1200). "We keep interest files, and we really work them." Nor was the Funk merchandise coming home to roost before flying off again, and profitably so, a surprise. "It happens. A lot."

So much merchandise comes in that staff has agitated for a separate Asian auction. Hindman isn't so sure.

"We need to think about the lady who comes for a piece of furniture but sees a Chinese vase that she also has to have." Such buyers "bring a lot of eyeballs to the table."

In February Hindman opened a 3000-square-foot branch in Naples, Florida, that will host sales. "We saw that there was so much property in Florida," she told us. "We have a big Midwest base in the area, and people from Fort Myers, Naples, Ocala, and central Florida contacted us. Many resisted shipping to Chicago. Miami sellers can ship to us there as well. The South is full of wonderful property."

When it all becomes too much of a good thing, Hindman can retreat to the farm. She was hired by a real estate company to auction off Fond Memory Farm, the Stouffer family spread 50 miles northwest of Chicago. When she found no bidders, she bought it, all 22-plus acres of woods, ponds, houses, and a magnificent converted barn. She dubbed it Fair Warning Farm, for the last words spoken before the gavel descends. She's thinking that maybe the barn just might make a good retail venture.

For more information, call (312) 280-1212 or visit the Web site (www.lesliehindman.com).

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