Ahlers & Ogletree's three-day, online-only A Collector's Dream auction, Jan. 15-17, tops $2 million

ATLANTA - Jan. 21, 2021 - PRLog -- A Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) carved cinnabar lidded box sold for $81,250, an oil on canvas equestrian painting by John Frederick Herring (British, 1795-1865) realized $62,000, and golf legend Bobby Jones's personal 1950s-era shag/range bag finished at $27,900 in Ahlers & Ogletree's three-day A Collector's Dream Auction held January 15^th-17^th.

The online-only auction featured important art and objects from the estate of the noted American art collector and philanthropist Jack Warner (1917-2017), items salvaged from the wreckage of the RMS Carpathia, and more than 1,000 lots of fine art, period antiques, decorative arts, silver, jewelry and Asian arts from prominent estates and collections. It netted a little over $2 million.

The rectangular Chinese Ming Dynasty carved cinnabar lidded box was the sale's top lot. The 11 ¾ inch tall by 13 inch wide box showed a dragon chasing the flaming pearl and had a character mark to the pearl on the lid. Eager bidders were not deterred by some small scattered losses and vertical cracking to the enamel (consistent with age). Despite those flaws, it presented very well.

The oval equestrian painting by John Frederick Herring, titled Horses and Goat Eating Turnips and Carrots (1848), was the top earner of items from the Jack Warner (and Warner Foundation) estate. The work was signed and dated. Herring was famous for his lively depictions of race horses and agricultural scenes. He's considered one of the top animal painters of his time.

The Bobby Jones personal golf shag bag – brown leather, personalized with Jones's name in original stencil ("R. T. Jones Jr., an abbreviation of his full birth name, Robert Tyre Jones) – came with three golf balls (unassociated) and a copy of a photograph of Jones, all housed in a Lucite and wood display case. The lot boasted an impeccable provenance.

The auction grossed just over $2 million and was hosted online via LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com and Bidsquare.com. Phone and absentee bids were also taken. All prices quoted include the buyer's premium.

Ahlers & Ogletree has two big auctions planned for spring. The first is a Modern & Mid-Century Art & Design auction scheduled for the weekend of March 28^th. That will be followed by an auction featuring the lifetime collection of Billy Arant of Chattanooga, Tenn. (dates and times TBD). Watch the website for details: www.AandOAuctions.com.