At Koller Auctions, the Swiss auction house with the highest turnover, 2010 came to a successful conclusion, with many high points at its winter auctions notably Alfred Sisley's "Bords du Loing à Saint-Mammès" from 1892 which made a stunning CHF 1.75m ($1.77m).
 Alfred Sisley's Bords du Loing à Saint-Mammès (oil on canvas) (Click to enlarge) |
A great highlight of the Swiss art was the Hodler Portrait of Giulia Leonardi which made the price of CHF 710,000.
Amongst the antique furniture pieces, many items did well, notably a rare Breguet longcase clock which made CHF 526,000, far over the CHF 100,000 marker.
The exceptional astronomical longcase clock by Breguet served from 1836 to 1855, with a gap of two years, as reference clock in the workshop of the Waadtland clockmaker. It then entered a Swiss family collection where it remained until the present day.
Breguet is of course a watchmaking legend and lends his name to a number of features of fine timepieces in modern times. We reported on the sale of his memoirs for a staggering $2.1m earlier this year.
 Longcase Breguet clock |
The clock was the highlight of the auction of antique furniture and fine decorative objects on December 2.
It was acquired by a private collector after a long bidding war.
Typical of this trend towards high prices for especially rare and interesting objects is the selling price of CHF 420,000 for a pair of Baroque Porphyry busts of the Emperors Caesar and Antonius Pius.
A fireplace suite "aux animaux" made of Meissen porcelain dated 1740 and Paris bronzes from the 18th century reached a sale price of CHF 141,600.
An example of the rising market in 19th century furniture is a Louis XV style cabinet by the sought-after master of period styles Franz Linke.
This piece reached a sale price of CHF 102,000. Also much coveted were the numerous classic objects of the time such as a Louis VI barometer/thermometer circa 1780 which sold for CHF 3,600.
Antique furniture is sometimes underrated as an investment. Collectors of such furniture will be interested to know that a George III period cabinet designed by John Linnell is currently up for sale.
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