DALLAS, TEXAS — Achieving a sell through rate of 96 percent, Dallas Auction Gallery’s fine art auction on October 5 achieved strong results from top American artists. The sale, which featured the collection of Dallas’s Sam Wyly, achieved $5.9 million in sales and was led by Thomas Hart Benton’s “Roasting Ears” ($700/900,000), which sold on the phone for $1,877,000. “We were not surprised by the amount of interest or the result as this is a wonderful example of how Benton was at the forefront of the American realist modern art movement. The two Benton works on paper also had strong demand and sold for $200,000, including premium.” said Scott Shuford, president of Dallas Auction Gallery.

David Martin’s “Portrait of Benjamin Franklin” ($250/450,000), one of three portraits of Benjamin Franklin by the artist, sold for $785,000 to a private buyer on the telephone. The other two reside in the collections of the White House and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Watch for a full report on this sale later.