Notable New Orleanians: A Tricentennial Tribute

Founded in 1983 by Neal Alford and John R.
Neal, Neal Auction Company is the oldest auction
house in New Orleans. The firm is credited
with pioneering the market for Southern artists,
and is widely considered the country’s leading
auctioneer of Southern regional material.
It all starts with knowledge. Over the course
of his forty-plus years as an appraiser and auctioneer,
Alford has cultivated an expertise in
fine arts and antiques. Today, this expertise
extends throughout Neal Auction Company’s
highly experienced professional staff, who are
known for their integrity and personal service.
Because of this tradition and the trust
which it instills, Neal Auction Company has
been able to sustain long term relationships
with leading regional and national museums
and corporations, trust and estate lawyers,
executors, private collectors, and individuals
within the trade—all of whom have come to
rely on the firm’s professional presentation
and sale of valued objects.
A few of the company’s notable recent consignments
illustrate its well-earned reputation:
the Bayou Bend Collection, Crystal
Bridges Museum of American Art, Dallas
Museum of Art, High Museum of Art,
Mississippi Museum of Art, Montgomery
Museum of Art, Morris Museum of Art, and
the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and closer
to home, the New Orleans Museum of Art,
Hermann-Grima and Gallier Houses,
Louisiana Landmarks Society, and the Paul
and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum.
Every two months, Neal Auction Company
schedules auctions at their historic galleries on
Magazine and Carondelet Streets. These sales
consist of fine art and antiques drawn from all
over the U.S. It is here that the firm’s expertise,
knowledge and research capabilities are joined
with its unsurpassed marketing and presentation
of objects of value. Each sale is highlighted
by a carefully curated, intelligent, and descriptive
full-color catalogue and the company’s
expert marketing campaign targets both national
and international audiences. All this assures the
highest prices are realized for the objects sold
under the auspices of Neal Auction Company.
The November 2017 Louisiana Purchase
Auction is illustrative of Neal’s wide-ranging
scope of interest and activities. The event
drew from such diverse areas as eighteenth
and nineteenth century American, English,
Continental, and Asian sources, including
antique furniture, paintings, sculptures, decorative
arts, and historical material. It featured
notable Louisiana paintings, early Louisiana
furniture, Spanish Colonial Art, and Asian
items, including a Chinese bronze figure of
Amitayus, which sold for the world-record
price of $783,000.
Indeed, with such remarkable achievements
over the years, Neal Auction House has
firmly marked out its place among “Notable
New Orleanians.”
NEAL AUCTION
COMPANY
Top: Jacques Guillaume Lucien Amans
(1801-1888), “Portrait of Jeanne Roman,”
o/c, 30 x 24 1/4 in. Sold for $197,175.
Below: Regency Gilt Bronze and Cut Crystal
Chandelier, c. 1820, attr. John Blades, dia.
38 in. Sold for $107,550.
THE MARKETPLACE
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