The ‘Fifty Ways’ auction from 17 to 19 June had a few surprises, but not every lot reached its target appraisal price. For instance, some works from the romantic period remained unsold like Venneman, Lies or Vandenabeele and it was also quiet around 1980s works by Pistoletto, Stallaerts or Allington. Yet there were also (sometimes more than) satisfactory results for works by e.g. Joseph Dillens (lot 26, res.: € 3000), Petersen-Angeln (lot 21, res. € 2400) or Eduard De Jans. His ‘Lost in thought’ even increased the estimate sixfold (lot 36, res. € 5000). Two terracotta animal figures by Albéric Collin (lots 63, 64) did not disappoint either, selling for € 4500 and € 3200 respectively, while a marble group by the recently much-discussed Victor Rousseau (lot 69) commanded € 5500. Later period sculptures by Erwin Peeters (lot 81: res.: € 4500), Irenée Duriez (lots 76, 77, res. € 2600/€ 3100) or Joris Marijn Gaymans (lot 80, res.: € 4000) changed hands just as quickly.

A ‘Symphonie en blanc’, a canvas by the prematurely deceased Frans Van Holder from 1912 fetched € 10000, as much as what was offered for a small self-portrait from 2004-05 by Sam Dillemans (lot 676) while ‘Staand Geel’ by Bram Bogart, a work from 1978, then doubled its estimate in turn (lot 508, res.: € 40000).

‘A selection of the other results: a 19th-century inro (lot 119, res.: € 3500), an 18th-century Venetian sofa (lot 248, res.: € 4000), ‘Corona Gloria’ by Emile Vloors (lot 85, res.: € 3800), a Jules Wabbes rotating wall coat rack from 1958 (lot 507, res. : € 4500), a 1965 canvas by Elie Borgraeve (lot 535, res.: € 7000), ‘Chariot 2’ by Didier Vermeiren (lot 620, res.: € 6000), Braco Dimitrevicj (lot 586, res.: € 4500) and, finally, two viewing boxes by Edith De Vries (lot 658, res.: € 3800).

The concluding Works on Paper auction of the spring showed stable results in literature, graphics, drawings and post-war editions.

A fine copy of Dodoens’ ‘Cruydt-Boeck’ (1644 edition, lot 1002) sold for € 1700, while an edition of Doudelet’s ‘Beatrice’ (lot 1125) in a rare splendid binding, sold at € 800.

In this auction there was a solid offering of Frans Masereel with many editions and some binders from the former estate of his good friend and maecenas Maurits Naessens. Thus, the beautiful suite ‘Expiations’ (lot 1089) was sold for € 850 while ‘Die Apokalypse unserer Zeit’ (lot 1184) found its way at € 650.