'Dogs playing poker' paintings fetch $600,000

Art Forum

'Dogs playing poker' paintings fetch $600,000 US

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The painting 'A Bold Bluff,' by artist Cassius Marcellus Coolidge

NEW YORK — A pair of paintings from the famed series depicting dogs playing poker fetched nearly $600,000 at auction Tuesday.

The two works -- A Bold Bluff and Waterloo -- were among 16 paintings artist Cassius Marcellus Coolidge was commissioned to create for a Minnesota-based advertising company in 1903. Of the 16, nine are of dogs playing poker.

The two works that sold Tuesday for $590,400 capture moments in a poker game played by five dogs, among them a St. Bernard that ends up collecting the pot on a bluff.

The winning bid set a new auction record for Coolidge, whose previous top sale was $74,000, said Alan Fausel, director of paintings at Doyle New York, which handled Tuesday's sale.

The winning bidder was a private collector from New York.

Doyle had estimated the two paintings would bring in between $30,000 and $50,000.

The sale was part of Doyle's annual Dogs in Art auction, which coincides with the Westminster Kennel Club dog show.

$600,000. They're alright paintings, but they're not THAT good.

I guess they're pretty famous though and it's a good investment, their value is only going to go up and up.

I've never understood what the big deal is about those paintings. They're cute, but I can't imagine why anyone would want to spend anymore than $100.00 on them.

do you know who they were commissioned for, that might be part of it

I'd pay that much for those, if I was an art collector. They're really awesome paintings