July 2024 Highwaymen Auction and Market Review
I continue my introduction sentiment as discussed in May and June…
The Highwaymen market continued to show some headwinds this month. While there are NOT any meaningful signs of market declines, there is clearly some turbulence with market weakness. The influx of 2 new auction platforms, with weak performance in the Highwaymen market, has contributed to the weak market sentiment. At the same time however, 2 established auction platforms, have shown more consistent, stable performance. The market environment is clearly affecting some artists more than others.
Some may say this is all about the summer slowdown, but my records indicate that for at least the last 2 summers, we did not see much seasonality in pricing. This summer is different.
Before discussing the market analysis this month, a few notes and reminders:
- All results refer to only the original 26 Highwaymen. Sales of paintings by Backus, and other legacy and Florida artists are not included in these results and analysis.
- All auction results listed here are hammer prices and do not include any impact of auction house fee’s
- “Target prices” refer to the low estimate provided by the auction house. They are not a midpoint between low and high estimates as some people have suggested.
There were 3 Highwaymen auctions in July:
| Vero Beach Auction | July 13 | 32 Highwaymen Lots |
| Manor Auctions | July 20 | 60 Highwaymen Lots |
| Auction Wallstreet | July 27 | 24 Highwaymen Lots |
This July total of 116 paintings compared with 158 Highwaymen paintings sold by auction in June.
More importantly, the performance of the auctions these 2 months shows a clear weakness among the newer auction houses compared with the more established houses of Manor and Vero. (Note: Florida Art Auction was established April 2023). This has likely been exacerbated by the general slowdown.
| Date | No. Lots | Lots Passed | Target Totals | Hammer Totals | % Lots Reaching Target | |
| Auction Wallstreet | July 27 | 24 | 9 | $44,450 | $22,800 | 21 % |
| Manor Auctions | July 20 | 60 | 2 | $129,350 | $165,675 | 71% |
| Vero Beach Auction | July 13 | 32 | 0 | $85,900 | $103,550 | 75% |
| Fl Highwaymen Auctions | June 30 | 29 | 12 | $135,300 | $46,200 | 14% |
| Manor Auctions | June 22 | 96 | 2 | $210,800 | $243,750 | 71% |
| Florida Art Auction | June 8 | 33 | 2 | $103,100 | $40,725 | 39% |
These results, across the board, are clearly weaker than the statistics from January – March, where the dollar volumes were considerably higher, and the percentage of paintings reaching their target prices was also higher.
For comparison purposes, in January – March, Manor results were as follows for Hammer totals and % of lots reaching their targets. $302,475 with 80% reaching the target, $217,400 with 86%, and $399,125 with 70%. Rennick, the other large and long established auction house, in January and March had the following performance: $321,050 with 78%, and $261,050 with 82%.
Clearly, during the first quarter of this year, the market was larger, stronger, and performing better, even with the common views at the time that target prices and estimates by the auction houses were too high !
Comments on the 3 auction in July, in order of most recent first, are as follows:
AUCTION Wallstreet is a long established auction house based in North Miami, handling tradition estate offerings similar to the large selection of product offerings offered regularly at Vero Auctions. During the last 6 months I have met with the principals several times as they have expressed an interest in developing a regular offering of Highwaymen paintings, and they were looking for sources of paintings to offer. Of course, every auction house specializing in Highwaymen offerings is looking for the same thing!
Auction Wallstreet does monthly auctions. Their July auction was the first with a reasonably sized collection of Highwaymen paintings. However, the paintings were extremely unbalanced with 16 of the 24 paintings by Al Black, although the sale also included a nice Sam Newton, Harold Newton, and beautiful Willie Daniels.
Although the auction was conducted over Live Auctioneers – the usual platform that handles most Florida auction houses, the results were not very successful. The auction had 9 passed paintings, including the first 7 paintings (Sam Newton, Mary Ann Carroll, Gibson, Daniels, and Black) all passing ! 14 of the 16 Al Blacks passed or did not reach their target. The Willie Daniels with a target of $2,000 hammered at $3,500, and the last lot – the Harold Newton with a target of $8,000 hammered at $9,000.
It should be noted that the Buyers Fee was set at 25%, unusually high as most online auctions use 20%. Additionally, most paintings had weak descriptions. The descriptions were either all the same, or there was no description. Many paintings did not indicate what the painting was painted on, and in some cases the listed dimensions were with frames, while in other cases they excluded frames.
The August auction for Auction Wallstreet, already posted online, does not have any Highwaymen paintings being offered.
Willie Daniels (No title) 24 x 30 Oil on Canvas
Target $2,000 Hammer $3,500
Harold Newton “Rio Mar Storm” 24×48 Oil on Upson
Target $8,000 Hammer $9,000
Manor Auctions was held a week earlier on July 20. Estimates were reasonable, but the performance was still not quite up to the results of those earlier in the year, as discussed above.
Overall, most people indicated that the quality of the paintings were not as high as usual. Perhaps a result of those consigning paintings not wanting to put them up for sale during what has seemed to be a slowdown this summer. Only 2 of the 60 paintings offered had target prices above $5,000 – both of the Harold Newtons. This compares with 15 out of 74 paintings in the March auction having target prices above $5,000.
What was interesting in this auction was that 9 of the reasonable priced paintings with target values between $400 – $1,500, more than doubled their target prices. This included 3 paintings by Sam Newton and 2 by Willie Daniels – both artists who have shown some weakness in recent months due to the large number of paintings by these artists coming into the market.
On balance, this was a nice auction with some good buys!
The two top paintings in the Manor Auction. The most interesting item in this auction was that the Newton “Poinciana Breeze” was announced to have been found in a thrift store earlier in the month, and was purchased by its owner for $3.
Harold Newton “River Road” 24×36
Oil on Upson
Target $10,000 Hammer $10,500
Harold Newton “Poinciana Breeze” 20 x 24, Oil on Canvas
Target $10,000 Hammer $16,000
Paintings at Manor that more than doubled their target price included a Carnell Smith, Curtis Arnett, 2 Lem Newtons, 3 Sam Newtons, and 2 Willie Daniels. Examples below:
Sam Newton “St.John Serenity” 8 x 12 on Upson
Target $1,000 Hammer $3,200
Harold Newton “Poinciana Breeze” 20 x 24, Oil on Canvas
Target $1,500 Hammer $3,100
Two additional examples of paintings with strong performance at Manor included:
Curtis Arnett “Cypress Cathedral” 20 x 24 Oil on Masonite
Target $1,500 Hammer $3,100
Willie Daniels “Poinciana” 12 x 16 Oil on Art Board
Target $750 Hammer $1,600
Vero Beach Auction conducted a nice sale the week after the July 4 holiday. There were 32 solid paintings, none passed, and three quarters of the paintings hit their target price.
The 2 top sales were an $11,000 Mary Ann Carroll and a $10,000 Harold Newton – both strong prices given the $7,000 target price set for each of them. There were no paintings in the sale that doubled their target price, as contrasted with the 9 paintings that did so in the Manor auction. Nonetheless, it was a very solid auction with no surprises, either in the positive or negative directions.
The top paintings were:
Mary Ann Carroll “Backwoods River” 24×36 Oil on Canvas
Target $7,000 Hammer $11,000
Harold Newton “River Palms”
24 x 36 Oil on Upson
Target $7,000 Hammer $10,000
Another interesting painting in the sale was an R.L. Lewis, which was featured in his RL Lewis calendar of 2004. It brought a strong price for an RL Lewis. To me, more of an illustration style painting, rather than a traditional landscape style – but it had strong and active bidding.
R.L.Lewis “Fish Camp at Tocoi”
28 x 22 on Board
Target $2,500 Hammer $4,000
Coming Up !
August is a slow month… Thus far there has only been one announcement of an auction.
Manor Auction will have approximately 62 Highwaymen paintings offered for sale. The auction will be on premises and on Live Auctioneers on August 17; 1:00pm EDT
In order to take advantage of the slow season and provide all Highwaymen art lovers and collectors with something to do this month, The Highwaymen Collectors (Myself and John Biederwolf) will be hosting a Dog Days of Summer party on August 3 from 4:00 – 8:00pm. Held at: This Is It Café and Gallery in West Palm Beach. Please join us for Watermelon Mint Mojitos, a fabulous taco bar, and of course more than 100 Highwaymen and Legacy paintings for sale !!
We are also offering our free appraisal service. If you would like to know what your paintings are worth – bring them in for an Antiques Roadshow type appraisal ! See our recent ad on the next page !
Happy Hunting !
Mark Lerner MJL@TheHighwaymenCollector.com 786-599-5816
www.TheHighwaymenCollector.com
Buying and selling Highwaymen art of exceptional quality, unusual scenes, and rare paintings by the Buckners. Always available: select paintings that have been published in books and catalogues.
