January 2024 Highwaymen Auction Review
The Running of the Bulls has reached Vero Beach !
I, like many others in the Highwaymen market, have been quietly talking about how we have seen the market softening in recent months. I don’t believe anyone was alarmed, but with the economic problems in the country, most people have said they were seeing a softening in the work of many artists. To be fair, there was also a recent strengthening of some artists (Mary Ann Carroll in particular), following some weakness in the past year. So to be objective, it is often hard to generalize about the market as a whole, because the market is made up of 26 distinct artists whose prices do not always move in lockstep.
The auctions this month seem to have made clear that the market is roaring back. For starters, there was significant volume by the 3 auction houses conducting their auctions this month.
| No. of Paintings Offered | Target Price Totals | Hammer Price Totals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vero Beach Auction | 33 | $72,600 | $95,700 |
| Manor Auctions | 90 | $248,500 | $302,475 |
| Rennick Auctions | 72 | $256,500 | $321,050 |
The quality of offerings was above average at each of the auctions, but Rennick in particular had an unusually high number of superior Harold Newtons (even more Harold Newton paintings than Sam Newton paintings ! Certainly an unusual occurrence as contrasted with 18 Sam Newtons and 3 Harold Newtons at Manor, which is more typical.
Additionally, Rennick had a spectacular Alfonso Moran – probably the best I have seen, following another great Moran that appeared last month at Manor. Surprisingly, they both hammered at the same $40,000, although the better Moran at Rennick cost the buyer $44,000 with the 10% buyers fee, while the buyer at Manor paid almost $47,000 with the 17% buyers fee.
The combination of the Moran, and the 12 exceptional Harold Newton paintings brought out the crowd at Rennick. In addition to all the regular local dealers, there were some rare appearances such as Gary Monroe (famed Highwaymen author), Raphael Periut (famed dealer from New Smyrna), and the well-known and longtime top dealer John Phillips (who is usually only at Manor, but this month missed Manor and was at Rennick).
Manor was also crowded ! The auction house ran out of chairs and promised more chairs for the next auction. They were clearly expecting an unusually large group as this was the first time there were 2 full turkey’s at lunch, instead of the usual 1 !
Vero Beach Auction was of course on-line only, so there was not a sense of how many buyers were following the auction on-line.
Looking specifically at the auction results tells a story of the strength of the auctions.
As everyone knows, I use only the LOW estimate produced by the auction house as the target sales price. Then, the auction can be analyzed on the basis of the number of paintings that did not reach their target price, as well as the number of paintings that sold for 150% of the target price, and the number that sold for 200%, or double the target price.
Historically, most auctions have a significant percentage of the paintings that do NOT reach their target price. This has averaged during the last 6 months at around 35% of all paintings offered – not reaching the target. This is likely a function of the auction houses being somewhat optimistic about the prices they expect.
This month the numbers were dramatically different, with much stronger results relative to the target prices:
| Pct. Not Reaching The Target Price | Pct. Reaching 150% of Target | Pct. Reaching 200% of Target | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vero Beach | 27% | 18% | 3% |
| Manor | 20% | 17% | 22% |
| Rennick | 22% | 21% | 10% |
When looking at the number of paintings that sell at 200% of the target price, that number averaged between 2-7% during the 4th quarter of 2023. This month the percentage reached 10% at Rennick and 22% at Manor – both unprecedented strong auction price results.
A few words about some of the paintings that drew such strong attention and results.
Vero Beach – The first auction this month had 2 excellent results. The two highest priced paintings at Vero were the Harold Newton Ocean Palms at $12,000, and Alfred Hair Rio Mar Palm at $7,500.
Harold Newton
Alfred Hair
Prices on all paintings are hammer prices and do not include buyers fees. Both were early paintings on Upson – The Newton 24×48 and the Hair 24×36. In my opinion, the Harold was right there in the same pricing results we saw at all the auctions this month. The Hair seemed like an overly strong price for the quality of the painting. But then again, I have been saying that the prices this month were unusual and surprisingly strong.
The next auction up was at Manor, with the extremely large crowd. It was an unusually large auction for Manor, with 90 Highwaymen paintings. Quality was high with several above average offerings. There was also a good amount of discussion in the crowd about the paintings on exhibit already for the February auction. Then, shortly following the January auction, Manor sent out notices that the February catalogue was now available online. To have the February auction lined up at the time the January auction was taking place is an indication that the number of paintings coming into the market is as strong as ever. In fact, likely due to the high prices, many great paintings that have been hidden in collections for years, are now becoming available.
The Manor auction had exceptional results for Harold Newton, with the 3 paintings hammering at $31,000, $18,000, and $6,800. – exceptional prices for 3 H Newton paintings in a single auction.
In my opinion, the biggest surprise and perhaps the best painting in the Manor sale was a Sam Newton hammering at $19,500 – almost certainly a record auction price for a Sam Newton painting. It was exceptionally large at 28×48, and exceptionally well painted. The painting had an unusually large and imposing frame giving the painting an even larger visual impression.
Harold Newton – McKee Poinciana
Sam Newton-Lifetime Masterpiece
Other artists in the Manor sale with strong results included Alfred Hair, Willie Reagan, and Roy McLendon.
The auctions ended this month with the Rennick sale, the day following the Manor sale. It seemed this was the sale collectors were waiting for given the abundance of extremely high quality Harold Newton paintings, as well as the rare and exceptional Moran.
Like the Manor sale, bidding was strong all around. Even most of the Al Blacks, R Demps, and monochrome Gibson’s seemed to be selling above their target prices – an unusual situation !
There were many exceptional and unusual paintings offered, besides the big ticket items like the Moran and Harold poinciana. The Sam Newton, Picking Up Coconuts was one of my favorites – and hammered at $6,000 against a target of $4,000. A beautiful Harold Newton, Storm Coming To RioMar was not expecting much also with a target of $4,000 – but hammered at $11,000. The George Buckner Glorious Florida Sunset had a tremendous amount of interest – which then dropped when it was announced that the painting was actually unsigned ! There were those who even questioned whether it was a G Buckner, but it still hammered at $6,000 against a target of $5,000.
The Moran hammered at $40,000 against a target of $30,000, with solid bidding. All-in-all though, the superstar of this auction was Harold, with extraordinary prices, and for a large quantity of paintings! The hammer prices for the best H Newton paintings were $30,000, $22,000, $17,000, $13,000, $11,000, $9,500, $8,000, $8,250 —- a breathtaking result with 5 paintings realizing hammer prices of more than $10,000. A normal auction might only have one. The high quality Manor auction had two, and the Vero auction had one.
Stars of the Show
H Newton – Royal Poinciana
Hammer $30,000
A Moran-Laundry Day Under the Poinciana
Hammer $40,000
Surprising and Exceptionally Strong Sales Results
R Demps – Tornado Coming
Target $1,000;Hammer $2,900
E Buckner – Moonlit River
Hammer $2,000 (5 x 7 inches !!)
With all of the incredibly strong prices realized at these auctions, were there any bargains or good buys to be found ? There are always some paintings that seem to sell for low values, and seem like bargains after the auction. Some good examples:
At Rennick, a large 24×36 Ellis Buckner on canvas, with a target of $3,000, hammered at $3,000. It was a nice river scene with a fish house. I believe buyers were waiting for the George Buckner sunset when this was presented for sale. In hindsite, even though the painting was a bit dark, this was a great buy – maybe the best value at the Rennick auction.
In the Vero Beach sale, an eerily beautiful Johnny Daniels monochrome backwater scene with birds and broken trees (24×48 on upson) hammered at $1,300 against a target of only $1,500. I’m sorry I passed on this one myself !
At Manor Auctions, an early 24×36 Willie Daniels pallet knife painting on upson (titled Billowing Clouds) hammered at $2,500. I strongly believe that Willie Daniels is undervalued in the market, and these early pallet knife paintings are exceptional. They are not easy to find.
It was an exceptional month for Highwaymen auctions !
Please look for my blog on artist pricing trends, which will be published tomorrow or Wednesday! Have a good week ahead ….
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Buying and selling Highwaymen art of exceptional quality, unusual scenes, and rare paintings by the Buckners. Always available: select paintings published in books and catalogues.