Clars Auction Gallery is proud to support the Lamorinda Village | Senior Living through this Fundraiser. To learn more about this event, please email: [email protected].

Hagerty House Friday – August 19th
Ride and Drive 9 – 11AM | Panel and Discussion 11:30AM – 12:30PM | Lunch 12:30 – 2:00PM

Our morning starts out with a ride and drive featuring a 1968 Camaro SS, 1954 BelAir, and 1969 Firebird. Don’t know how to drive stick? No problem! Two of the vehicles are automatic and lots of fun. While waiting for your turn, enjoy grab-n-go breakfast items along with coffee and tea. Later, we will settle in for a panel on The Costliest Mistakes A Collector Can Make. Collecting items of value requires preparation, strategy, and proper risk management. Join Hagerty for a conversation with Clars Gallery and Draneas Law on the six most important factors to consider when advising clients with high value collections. Our panel features Rick Unruh – CEO and President of Clars Gallery, John Draneas – Attorney at Draneas Law, collector car specialist, contributor to John’s Legal Files in Sports Car Market magazine, and Brian Rabold – VP Automotive Intelligence at Hagerty. We will complete the afternoon with a delicious lunch and plenty of time to catch up with old friends..

Clars Auction Gallery had an excellent August sale with many highlights and strong prices in our Asian Art Department.

Dozens of telephone bidders were vying for two Chinese imperial bronze ‘dragon’ vases. These vases soared well above estimate to realize a price of $245,000.

Each features five-clawed dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls amid scrolling clouds in low relief. The precision and intricacy of the molding indicates the imperial origin, while the patina on the surface demonstrates the age. One statue has the inscription “Qianlong Nianzao of the Great Qing Dynasty” and the other has the book “Great Qing Jiaqing Nianzao,” both of which were purchased in Tokyo, Japan around 1949.

The June 17th Modern + Contemporary Art + Design sale at Clars totaled $1,070,250 across 239 lots.

Clars was pleased to establish the new, world auction record for Raimonds Staprans (American/Latvian, b. 1926) with the painting Blue Boats selling for $187,500. This beats the previous record held by Clars from September 2020 of $147,600. As Rick Unruh, CEO of Clars, stated, “Staprans has incredible upward momentum at auction at the moment. There is a scarcity issue with his exceptional works currently. Blue Boats was one of those exceptional works. Reaching a new price level and ‘raising the bar’ is challenging but rewarding when it occurs.”

Also of note was a rare collection of four works by Leonor Fini (French/Argentine, 1908–1996) that were offered at Clars Modern + Contemporary sale on June 17th. This combined collection sold for an astounding $250,625 with one particular painting, Zorniga, selling for $187,500.

Highlights for Design included a set of Mario Bellini Cab chairs that sold for $17,500, and a Phillip Lloyd Powell New Hope Chair that brought $15,000. Cristina Campion, Associate Director of 20th Century Design at Clars noted, “There’s always a strong market for good Design. We’re currently seeing bidders vying for the top lots, and as a result Clars is achieving strong auction records across the board.”

Clars Auction Gallery was a proud sponsor of The Junior League of San Francisco’s 110th Anniversary and Women at the Center Honors Awards Honoring: Mayor London N. Breed and Sallie Huntting, May 20, 2022.

Rick Unruh, President and CEO of Clars Auction Gallery, led the auctioneering efforts at the awards ceremony, where proceeds from each sold lot were donated back to the Junior League of SF and community programs.

The beauty of jewelry can last hundreds, even thousands of years if loved and cared for properly.

These attractive gemstones and precious metals are built into everyday forms, intended to withstand wear. There are simple steps you can take to ensure the safety and care of their precious jewels. This article will review simple at-home steps you can take to ensure the sparkle and longevity of their pieces.

Cleaning:

Gemstones were cut to sparkle, so it is important to keep jewelry clean. With over 3,000 species of gemstones, it is important to take note of which gemstones one has in their possession, and what sort of care they require.

Clean by hand:

Diamonds are famous for their brilliance, and ironically, heavily attract grease. Therefore it is important to be diligent about keeping diamonds clean in order for them to sparkle. Specialized jewelry cleanings products are not necessary to accomplish this. A household grease cutter, such as non-fragranced Dawn dish detergent in warm water, following by a soft-bristled toothbrush, will help to get the diamonds’ sparkle back. Make sure to also scrub underneath the diamond and in-between prongs.

For durable gemstones such as sapphires or rubies, which are still relatively less durable than diamonds, the same process but with a mild non-fragranced hand soap will do the trick.

For relatively soft gemstones, which are highly porous, such as emeralds, opals, and pearls, special care must be taken. The content of moisture is essential to for the gemstones to remain intact and retain their beauty. Dehydrating a gemstone like these can result in crazing, cracks or even breakage. Do not utilize abrasive products that include alcohol or grease cutters. This can reduce moisture in these stones, causing irreversible damage. When cleaning these jewels, use warm water with a household non-fragranced hand soap on a soft-bristled toothbrush to clean the setting around the stone.

Ultrasonic cleaners:

With so many personal and at-home adaptions of the ultrasonic cleaner available on the market, it may be a tempting purchase. However, not all ultrasonic cleaners are considered equal. Most commercial level ultrasonic cleaners can risk shaking gemstones loose from their mountings, risking a sparkly gemstone going down the drain! It is best to wash by hand in a contained space. Or, stop by the original retailer and ask for a quick cleaning!

Over 90% of the gemstones on the market have received some form of treatment to enhance their beauty. It is important to be informed about the treatment associated with the stones. Specifically, know (or assume) that your emerald is fracture-filled and do not place it in the ultrasonic cleaner. Fillers, which help enhanced the clarity (and color in some cases) of the gemstone can shake loose.

Polishing:

A loved piece of jewelry will eventually appear worn, with hundreds of little light scuffs and scratches. This is easily reconciled with a touch of metal polish. A standard metal polish, such as Noxon, can revive the brightness of the metal. Use a microfiber cloth to do the buffing. Be mindful that every time a piece is polished, a little bit of metal is removed from the piece. So it is important not to over polish. You should also be mindful about vintage and antique jewelry. An old patina is something that takes years to form and carries the beauty of history. Be sure to contemplate what you find attractive before taking out the metal polish.

Storage:

Storage is important to maintain the integrity of jewelry. Consider factors such as form, materials, and the characteristics of the gemstones. Always be sure that precious materials are not stored with non-precious materials. Gold will not normally tarnish, however if that gold bracelet is stored next to some loose change, that metal will eventually turn! For costume jewelry, it is important to keep the area clean and dry to avoid tarnishing.

Separate gemstones. Gemstones of differing hardness can cause damage to one another when rubbed together. To prevent your sapphires from chipping your emeralds, or your diamonds and chipping your diamonds, keep them separated. A nice and easy way to prevent this is to individually store your jewelry in plastic bags. However, best to keep your pearls in linen to prevent deterioration.

A little bit of tender love and care can make a jewelry collection last generations. Be sure to understand what you have, what its needs are, and take the time for care for them. And when in doubt, ask a professional!

Clars Auction Gallery proudly partnered with MoPAr on an NFT (Non-Fungible Token) workshop May 25th, 11AM PST. What is an NFT and How Do NFTs work?

Are you curious about how to buy and sell an NFT at Auction? The print of the photo, Girl with Candy, fetched $8,165 at auction, and the digital version is now being offered in Clars’ inaugural NFT auction. If you’re curious on how to get started and how to purchase your first NFT, Clars’ NFT offering of Girl with Candy allows buyers and collectors a chance to own on the blockchain while raising funds for Ukraine.

To learn more, please watch the recording of our workshop.

About MoPAr

The Museum of Permuted Art creates thought provoking NFTs to bring IRL classical art to web3 by collaborating with today’s NFT artists and institutions. Prioritizing innovation, they use their own blockchain technology to explore ways to connect present day art to the past, engaging their community with different cultures, periods and art forms. 4% of the total MoPAr mint proceeds are directed to their #ForTheArt fund that seeks to make an impact in the arts as directed by their collectors and community.

Clars’ Modern Art Sale Sets Loie Hollowell Record. Review by Madelia Hickman Ring, Antiques And The Arts Weekly.

OAKLAND, CALIF. – On Friday, March 25, Clars Auction Gallery set a new record for Loie Hollowell (American, b 1983), when Point of Entry (Blood-Orange Moon Over Orange Sac), a mixed media work measuring 48 by 36 inches achieved $1,050,000 from a buyer in the United States who was a new client for Clars. The price was not only the artist’s highest price realized in a sale in the United States (the current overall record for Hollowell stands at $2,126,095 for Linked Lingams [yellow, green, blue, purple, pink], set in June 2021 in Hong Kong) but it was the first time in Clars’ 50-year history that a lot has surpassed the million dollar mark. It was far and away the top lot of 1,579 lots of modern and contemporary art, design, furniture, decorative and fine art, Asian art and jewelry offered March 25–27; the tally for the three days of sales was about $3 million, a total that ranks in the top three in the firms’ history and the highest sale since the company changed ownership in 2019.

Rick Unruh, chief executive officer and director of fine art at Clars, said, “Clars showed the global art world that when one has an exceptional, contemporary piece, such as our Loie Hollowell, they (the bidders) will come – and they did. We went all out with marketing, we even marketed it in Asian newspapers to get to the Hong Kong market. We had clients from all over the world interested. Many of the bidders on it were new to Clars.”

The second highest price of the sale at $150,000 was a rare drawing by Pablo Picasso (Spanish, 1881–1973) titled, Etudes VII (d’apres Manet) from 1961. Well-documented in the artist’s catalogue raisonné, the lot had multiple international bidders but in the end sold to a buyer in San Francisco. Rounding out the top three at $106,250 was the double-sided oil on canvas work titled Fishing Town with Women on Beach/Seascape with Trees by Maria-Mela Muter (Polish French, 1876–1967). It received serious international attention, including from Poland and Israel and sold to a buyer in Poland.

Works by such iconic artists as Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, Wayne Thiebaud, Salvador Dali, Sol Lewitt and Richard Diebenkorn peppered the sale and brought strong results too. Particularly noteworthy was Roy Lichtenstein’s Shipboard Girl offset lithograph from 1965, which made $53,125, a price that is an improvement over the $20,000 hammer price the Napa Valley, Calif., seller paid for it when they acquired it from Clars in 2013. The seller of the Litchtenstein also sold a portfolio of 39 prints – etchings, aquatints, drypoints and soft ground etchings – by British artist David Hockney (b 1937), which nearly doubled its low estimate to finish at $34,925. Six Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm had been acquired at Sotheby’s New York in 2011 for $8,125.

Cristina Campion, Clars’ associate director of Twentieth Century design, was thrilled with the international response to works by American master woodworkers, like George Nakashima and Vladimir Kagan. A 1971 wall hanging cabinet by Nakashima that retained its original work card from the George Nakashima Studio topped off at $62,500, more than twice its high estimate and sold to an international buyer bidding on the phone. A contour rocking armchair from the Vladimir Kagan collection, circa 1999, had provenance to Dennis Miller Associates of New York City and found a new home with an online bidder for $16,900, more than three times its high estimate.

Another favorite among bidders was Danish designer Hans Wegner, who was represented in the sale with six lots. Leading the group at $17,500 was a valet chair, followed by a Papa Bear lounge chair that realized $13,700.