While most of the top lots in the sale fell within their estimates, including the Cassatt, Childe Hassam’s The Red Mill, Cos Cob, a walnut sculpture by Elie Nadelman, and Homer’s 1880 work The Shepherdess, there were a few that outpaced expectations. Norman Rockwell’s 1968 work Study for Orange Nip Boy (Future Leader) realized $118,750 on a $20,000 - $30,000 estimate.
“It was a newly found study that had not been previously known,” said Kestenman, and will be included as an addendum work in the Project Norman database created by the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge.
Also noteworthy was that all of the seven works on offer from the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth to benefit the museum sold above their pre-sale estimates including Paul Cadmus’s Apple Peeler, which brought in $56,250 on an estimate of $15,000 - $25,000, and Andrew Wyeth’s Prevailing Wind, which sold for $93,750.