New Hamburg, ON, Canada, June 3, 2023 — An important, circa 1820 Quebec armoire in alligatored yellow paint with the family nickname “Armoire Crocodile” sold for $29,500, and a Louis XIII armchair from the Bastien family on the Huron-Wendat reserve in Loretteville, Quebec rang up $21,240 at the sale of the Jean-Marc and Danielle Belzile collection held May 13th by Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd., online and live at the Marriott Courtyard West Island in Quebec, Canada.
All prices quoted are in Canadian dollars and include an 18 percent buyer’s premium.
It was the first auction ever held outside of Ontario for Miller & Miller, which typically holds online-only auctions that have been highly successful, but the Jean-Marc and Danielle Belzile collection was too excellent to pass up. Beginning in the 1960s, the couple set out to find the rarest, most iconic and most unusual antiques in all of Quebec. They retained most of what they found in their personal collection, and many of the highlights from their collection are documented in reference books.
“The Quebec audience is like none other,” observed Ethan Miller of Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. “These people have passion. Seeing those live expressions of joy and disappointment simultaneously was invigorating. While many of the armoires fell beneath our expectations, others soared well beyond their estimates. The sale average was in line with what we expected. The honesty and integrity that is synonymous with the Belzile name instilled buyer confidence.”
The 72-inch-tall “Armoire Crocodile” in exceptional polychrome paint featured a layered dentil cornice, deeply molded raised panels on the doors, two raised panels on each side, a shaped base, and eight recessed panels on the center stile. The yellow paint was in dramatic contrast with the deep blue found on the moldings, panel edges and lower rail.
To learn more about Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. and the firm’s upcoming auctions, please visit www.millerandmillerauctions.com.
