January Auction Block
By • January 13, 2026 0 260
We begin 2026 with the following auction highlights: a first edition of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women” in two volumes, a Tiffany “Venetian” table lamp, a gold bracelet from Diné artist Jesse Monongya, a Basquiat work on paper and a Gandharan terracotta.
Doyle
A Scarce First Issue Set of ‘Little Women’
Courtesy Doyle.
Estimate: $2,000–$3,000
Sold for: $5,120
This two-volume set of “Little Women,” published in Boston by Roberts Brothers in 1868-69, sold for well above its high estimate at Doyle’s Rare Books, Autographs & Maps auction. It features illustrations by author Louisa May Alcott’s youngest sister May, who inspired the character Amy. The auction house noted: “As commonly encountered, this is a tired copy.”
Weschler’s
Estimate: $50,000–$70,000
Sold for: $85,000
This Tiffany Studios “Venetian” table lamp of gilt bronze and leaded glass, made around 1915, sold for $15,000 over its high estimate. Lamps in this style were produced to go with Tiffany’s “Venetian” desk sets. “TIFFANY STUDIOS” is stamped on both the base and the shade. The sockets appear to be original. Twenty inches high, the lamp was acquired by descent from the estate of Oak Park, Illinois, industrialist Alfred S. Adams.
The Potomack Company
18K Gold Spider Woman Bracelet by Jesse Monongya
Courtesy The Potomack Co.
Estimate: $16,000–$22,000
Sold for: $22,500
This 18-karat gold, tufa-cast cuff bracelet, accented with one pearl and seven round, brilliant-cut diamonds, is signed “JMONONGYAS.” From the collection of Torleif Tandstad in Fort Collins, Colorado, it was purchased directly from the Diné (Navajo/Hopi) artist, Jesse Monongya (1952-2024). The bracelet also features one Akoya cultured pearl and onyx, coral, jasper, turquoise and spiderweb turquoise cabochons.
Christie’s
Untitled by Jean-Michel Basquiat
Courtesy Christie’s.
Estimate: $60,000–$80,000
Sold for: $114,300
Selling for well over its high estimate, this untitled work in oilstick on paper, executed in 1981 by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), measures 34 ¾ by 16 1/8 inches. The Brooklyn-born Basquiat, of Haitian and Puerto Rican ancestry, began as a graffiti artist in the late 1970s. After becoming a young star of the contemporary art scene, he died of a heroin overdose in 1988, aged 27.
Bonhams
A Terracotta Head of Youthful Bodhisattva
Courtesy Bonhams.
Sold for: $61,440
From a New York collection, this terracotta head of a youthful Bodhisattva, an enlightened being in Buddhism, sold for more than $61,000 in Bonhams Discovery | Interiors online auction in December. In the Gandharan style — a Greco-Buddhist style that flourished more than 1,500 years ago in western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan — the piece is 15 inches high (21 inches including the base).
