Last Saturday, 14 December 2013, Artcurial Lyon, auctioned the collection of the anonymous Mr. C. You can download the catalogue here. Though mostly utilitarian objects, the sale contained some interesting items. The sleeper of the sale, the above Luba antelope headrest (info), estimated € 2K-3K, sold for € 26K (without costs). An old inscription mentioned it was collected in 1914. Compare it with a similar neckrest, illustrated below, from the Ethnologisches Museum in Berlin (#III.E.12755), collected in 1907 (height: 14,8 cm).
Again, this result illustrates, that no masterpieces in small auctions stay overlooked these days. Be it in Liège, Belgium; Lyon, France or a small provincial sale in the UK, the time of being the only knowledgable person at such a sale is definitely over. Secondly, since there were not many other suprises in the sale, it shows also how highly selective the market is these days. In this economy, everybody is watching his or her cash more carefully than ever and only the safe bets still generate interest.
