November Auction Highlights

November Auction Highlights

November brought a chill to the air and, as always, exciting happenings at Potomack Company Auctions.

An obvious highlight was the Estate of General Colin L. Powell auction, to benefit America’s Promise Alliance and the Colin Powell School at City College of New York. The auction was an outstanding success, reflective of General Powell’s inspiring and far-reaching legacy.

The auction featured some of the medals and awards the General had received throughout his illustrious career, many fetching high prices. The General’s breast star and sash badge from the Order of Kuwait went for $18,000, and his Order of the Rising Sun medal and pin, awarded by the Japanese government, went for $7,500. Memorabilia from General Powell’s celebrity friends and acquaintances were also very popular: a model Luke Skywalker ‘Reveal’ lightsaber sold for $10,000, a copy of The Beatles: An Anthology signed by Paul McCartney sold for $8,000 and a Christmas card from Princess Diana sold for $1,600.

The auction’s total proceeds exceeded our expectations by over 300%, and Potomack is so honored to have played a part in allowing those who admired the General to take home a piece of his story.

The very next day, Potomack held its Art, Asian & Antiques: Classic & 20th/21st Century auction. This sale featured two recently-discovered works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, antiques deaccessioned by the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley, and Asian textiles and ceramics from the collection of Shirley Z. Johnson, former member of the Board of Trustees at the Freer and Arthur M. Sackler Galleries, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art.

Many lots sold well above our estimates, but the abstract paintings by artist Hilda Shapiro Thorpe (1920-2000) were an undeniable high point. Thorpe gained recognition as a member of the Washington Color School’s second generation; her career evolved alongside artists like Thomas Downing, Kenneth Noland, Sam Gilliam and Gene Davis. Despite a previously sparse auction record, Thorpe’s paintings skyrocketed in price during our sale. The eye-catching Untitled sold for $19,000, setting an impressive new auction record for the artist.