From $30 Estate Sale Discovery to $1.35 Million: Gertrude Abercrombie’s Alderman Merriam’s Shells Sets New World Auction Record at Freeman’s
Freeman's reset the world auction record for Gertrude Abercrombie today, as her work Alderman Merriam's Shells sold for$1,352,600 in the firm's Post-War & Contemporary Art sale, live in New York. The result marks the first work by the artist ever to hammer over $1 million. Rediscovered at an estate sale and purchased for just $30, the work led an auction that achieved a total of $3,449,560, with an 88% sell-through rateby lot and154% by value. The sale also brought 23%newbuyers to the firm, with participation from 12 countries.
Speaking to the sale is Zack Wirsum, Senior Vice President, Head of Department, Post War & Contemporary Art. “No fairytale would be complete without a storybook ending, and Gertrude Abercrombie's Alderman Merriam's Shells selling for a new auction record is as happily ever after as it gets. As happy as we are to have recaptured the record sale price for an artist we have long championed, we are even happier for our eagle-eyed consignor who saved this masterpiece from staying forever lost to time. I love it when good things happen to good people and when the story unfolds in reality just as we wrote it. The Abercrombie shooting the moon was obviously the high point of the day, but the rest of the sale shone bright, with great results across the board to add to the magic of the day.”
Collectors Battle for Gertrude Abercrombie’s Alderman Merriam’s Shells, 1951, Realizes $1,352,600
Pictured Above: Original Press Clipping of the Work Featured in The Chicago Tribune
Carrying a pre-sale estimate of $150,000 to $250,000, Alderman Merriam's Shells (Lot 3, 1951) opened at $80,000 before five phone bidders, and several online bidders contested the work. The bidding carried the painting to $1,352,600 (price realized, including buyer’s premium), more than five times its high estimate, and set a new world auction record for Gertrude Abercrombie (American, 1909–1977), the celebrated Chicago Surrealist. It is the first work by the artist ever to hammer over $1 million.
Missing from public view for 75 years, Alderman Merriam's Shells resurfaced this past summer at a Michigan estate sale, where a longtime collector of records and mid-century furniture spotted it in a dark hallway corner and bought it for $30 on the strength of its "Abercrombie" signature. Inspired by the find, the buyer visited the Abercrombie retrospective The Whole World Is a Mystery at the Milwaukee Art Museum, where the catalog reproduced a 1952 Chicago Tribune photograph of the painting in its original frame beside the actual shells it depicts. Dr. Susan Weininger, the leading Abercrombie scholar, subsequently authenticated the work, and the owner, recognizing Freeman's as a sponsor of the Milwaukee exhibition, entrusted it to the house.
Painted in 1951, the work depicts nine finely rendered seashells on a slate-gray surface, with a single conical shell suspended by a thread against a black wall, appearing to levitate above the rest. The shells belonged to Robert Merriam, alderman of Chicago's Hyde Park, where Abercrombie lived and worked. A rare instance of the artist painting directly from life, it confirms that the shell motif in her later solitary shell paintings, long presumed invented, was drawn from observation and memory. Exhibited in six solo shows in 1952 and 1953, the painting was given by Abercrombie to Dr. John Reynolds of Kalamazoo, Michigan, in exchange for medical services, and remained in his family's possession until its rediscovery this year.
Henry Moore Bronzes Lead $198,400 Offering of Sculpture from the Brooklyn Museum
Lot 53 | Henry Moore (British, 1898-1986) | Two Piece Reclining Figure: Maquette No. 4, 1961 | Estimate: $30,000 – $50,000 | Sold for $48,000
Lot 54 | Henry Moore (British, 1898-1986) | Two Piece Reclining Figure #6, 1964 | Estimate: $30,000 – $50,000 | Sold for $48,000
A selection of six sculptures from the Brooklyn Museum realized a combined $198,400, with every work finding a buyer. Leading the group were two bronzes by Henry Moore, Two Piece Reclining Figure: Maquette No. 4 (Lot 53, 1961) and Two Piece Reclining Figure #6 (Lot 54, 1964), each achieving $48,000 against estimates of $30,000–$50,000. Both works were bequeathed to the museum by William K. Jacobs, Jr.
Additional highlights included two further works by Moore, Mother and Child: Bone (Lot 52, 1963) and Slow Form: Tortoise (Lot 55, 1962), alongside David Hayes’s welded steel Armored Animal (Lot 56, 1964), which The Maremont Corporation gifted to the museum in 1977. Dimitri Hadzi’s bronze Bozzetto(Lot 57), exhibited at MIT in 1963 and gifted to the museum by Dr. and Mrs. Werner Muensterberger in 1971, rounded out the offering.
Rosenthal Collection of Newtown, Pennsylvania Sells 100%, Led by Alice Baber's Woodhenge at $124,800, More Than Double Its High Estimate
Lot 24 | Alice Baber (American, 1928-1982) | Woodhenge, 1966 | Estimate: $40,000 – $60,000 | Sold for $124,800
The Rosenthal Collection of Newtown, Pennsylvania, was 100% sold and led by Alice Baber's (American, 1928–1982) Woodhenge (Lot 24, 1966), which achieved $124,800 against an estimate of $40,000 to $60,000. Esteban Vicente's (American/Spanish, 1903–2001) D (Lot 23, 1959) followed at $73,600, against an estimate of $30,000 to $50,000. The group of 6 works realized a combined total of $288,640.
Those familiar with the Post-War New York art scene may recognize the family name. Louis H. Rosenthal, the patriarch of the collection, was the longtime proprietor of Rosenthal's Art & Hobby Supply Company in Greenwich Village, later continuing at New York Central Art Supply Company. For over four decades, Rosenthal was not only a supplier of materials but a trusted friend and advisor to a generation of artists whose work would come to define the modern and Abstract movements of the twentieth century, among them Willem de Kooning, Jackson Pollock, Alice Baber, Esteban Vicente, Mary Abbott, Milton Resnick, Karel Appel, and Paul Jenkins.
Before their breakthroughs, many of these artists worked with limited means, and it was not uncommon for them to trade their work with Louis in exchange for the very materials that later shaped their successes. The works from the Rosenthal Collection stand as a testament to the family's unique material and personal contributions to the Post-War New York artistic community.
Additional Highlights
- Lot 5 | Alex Katz (American, b. 1927) | Swimmer #2, 1973
Sold for $217,600 - Lot 29 | Paul Jenkins (American, 1923-2012) | Phenomena Divining Rod, 1971
Sold for $172,800 - Lot 76 | Hassan el Glaoui (French, 1924-2018) | Untitled
Sold for $83,200 - Lot 97 | Paul Feeley (American, 1910-1966) | Lacona, 1962
Sold for $76,800 - Lot 4 | Roger Brown (American, 1941-1997) | Michigan Color Watch, 1981
Sold for $70,400 - Lot 92 | Cosima von Bonin (German, b. 1962) | HALFWAY BUBBLES 1, 2, and 3, 2011 (three works)
Sold for $51,200
About Freeman’s
Freeman’s is a premier American auction house offering services in multiple categories including fine art, jewelry, design, books and manuscripts, furniture, decorative arts, antiquities, couture, and Asian works of art. With 16 regional locations nationwide, the firm provides auctions, appraisals, private sales, and art advisory services, connecting clients to the global art market. Freeman’s strives to bring art, history, and design to life by connecting people with extraordinary objects through exceptional service and expertise.