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Persimmon Hill
Autumn 2004

Just as auctioneer Peter Stremmel was three lots away from the single biggest sale of his career at the Coeur d'Alene Art Auction in Reno, Nevada, fire alarm bells rang and the possibility of evacuating 700 eager buyers, and torrents of sprinkler water raining down on million of dollars worth of art, suddenly loomed large at the Silver Legacy Hotel & casino.

The auction is so named because it resided in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho for several years, until its wealthy audience's private jets over-ran the local airport's capacity.

Billed as the world's largest Western arts auction, the piece de resistance among the 283 lots was Thomas Moran's Mists in The Yellowstone, a 30" x 45" oil on canvas that topped all records for his paintings, selling at $4,928,000 to a phone bidder.

Later, Stremmel said, "At least 30 records were set for individual artists," and noted, "A lot of money was chasing a very few great paintings." But faced with imminent disaster, Stremmel kept his cool and deadpanned to the audience, "Could you keep your cell phones off, please!"

During five hours, with fire worries proving to be a false alarm, the auction reaped $18,051,000, besting its previous record in 2001 by $4 million.

Excerpt from, "Artists Strike Gold in Reno," by Harriet R. Modler.