Downtown Los Angeles, CA, USA, January 27, 2023 — Bidders nationwide and around the world responded enthusiastically to the collection of Jack and Ellen Phillips of San Diego, California, which blasted through its pre-sale estimate by more than one and a half times, totaling $1.487 million and ‘White Glove’ status in an online auction held January 15th-16th by Andrew Jones Auctions.
The auction was a time capsule collection of important California plein air paintings, Americana, clocks, fine silver, antiques, Native American works and decorations amassed over fifty years by the Phillipses. Jack, a Naval engineer, and Ellen, a schoolteacher, were high school sweethearts in Colton, Calif. They married in 1961 and a year later began their collecting journey together.
“The busy pre-sale preview brought in a host of new faces to our galleries as well as established buyers, collectors and art and antique aficionados who braced the unusually soggy Los Angeles weather,” said Andrew Jones, the president and CEO of Andrew Jones Auctions, based in Los Angeles. “Clients remarked it was the best local private collection they had seen in decades.”
The two-day auction featured over 500 lots and was led by paintings from acclaimed California Impressionists Granville Redmond (1871-1935) and Guy Rose (1867-1925). Redmond’s oil on canvas titled Rolling hills with California poppies and Rose’s oil on canvas titled View from Arroyo Terrace, Pasadena each sailed past estimate to post identical selling prices of $237,500.
Another work by Redmond, titled California wildflowers, fetched $40,000. Other notable prices included Fisherman’s Harbor, Concarneau, France, an oil on canvas painting by Edgar Payne (American, 1883-1947), that achieved $81,250; and Pasadena poppy fields (looking up Allan St. from Colorado St.), which realized $32,500. All prices quoted include the buyer’s premium.
To learn more about Andrew Jones Auctions and the firm’s calendar of upcoming auction events, please visit www.andrewjonesauctions.com. Updates are posted frequently. They can be reached by telephone at (213) 748-8008, or via email at [email protected].
