High prices and museum purchases

Denmark’s most expensive book

The party got underway on Monday 28 November with the hammer falling on the auction’s absolute high jumper – a rare first edition of Tycho Brahe's “De Nova Stella” from 1573, which was sold to a foreign buyer for a record hammer price of DKK 4.1 million, making it the most expensive book ever sold in Denmark.

C.W. Eckersberg went to “The Met”

Another surprising hammer price was fetched by C.W. Eckersberg's prospect from Rome, as the bidding war did not stop until it reached DKK 3.4 million. Victory was had by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the spectacular painting will now be making its way across the Atlantic to Manhattan, where it will become part of the museum’s Danish Golden Age collection. The museum also purchased one of H.C. Andersens paper cuts, a watercolour by Martinus Rørbye and a drawing by Vilhelm Hammershøi.

Museum-calibre art

The Danish museums were also on the lookout for tasty new treats for their collections. Denmark’s National Art Museum acquired a painting by Anna Ancher and Bornholm Art Museum is the new owner of Kristian Zahrtmann's depiction of the death of Leonora Christina, while Læsø Museum could go home with two works by Lauritz Tuxen and P.C. Skovgaard respectively.

Russian art sells

The same day, a wide selection of Russian art and antiques went up for auction, resulting in total sales of DKK 2.8 million. One of the high jumpers was Sergei Arsenievich Vinogradoff's motif of a Russian woman in local dress mushroom picking in the forest. The hammer did not fall on this until DKK 860,000.

Fabulous jewellery

The first week ended with jewellery and wristwatches, and this auction proved popular with bidders seeking Christmas gifts for their loved ones. A briiliant-cut diamond bracelet of a total of 23.50 ct. and a pendant with an old mine-cut diamond of 6.44 ct. featured among the evening’s high jumpers, achieving hammer prices of DKK 210,000 and DKK 185,000 respectively. A total of DKK 4.6 million was fetched on jewellery.

Antique furniture is in

The second auction week kicked off with antique furniture, revealing a new trend. Over the past few years, antique furniture has rather been left in the shadows by modern furniture classics, but the anniversary auction clearly showed that antique furniture is making a comeback. Some of the highest hammer prices were achieved on en Napoleon III commode which went for DKK 150,000 and a cople of French garden figures DKK 125,000.

Modern art

The anniversary auction offered a wide selection of modern Danish and international art, and there was no shortage of bids here either. Vilhelm Lundstrøm's still life was sold for DKK 750,000 Walasse Ting's “I am Snow White” went for DKK 475,000. There was also fierce competition for Kurt Trampedach's "Walking man", for which the happy buyer had to part with DKK 230,000.

The anniversary auction came to a close with modern furniture and design, topping a total hammer price of DKK 6.8 million. A rare games table by Kaare Klint fetched the evening’s highest price of DKK 260,000. Hans J. Wegner was also in sharp focus this evening, achieving great hammer prices – among other things on a desk, which sold for DKK 155,000. Two large chandeliers designed by Vilhelm Lauritzen were sold for DKK 130,000 and 120,000 respectively.

We look forward to welcoming you to the international auction at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen in February!