Chinese painting sells for $241,000 at Vancouver auction

Winston Churchill's autograph is seen in a 19th-century autograph book on display in Vancouver, Wednesday, Sept., 11, 2013. The autograph book containing the signatures of 300 famous and powerful visitors to the White House has sold at auction for nearly double its asking price.

A traditional Chinese “ink scroll painting” sold for $241,000 at a Maynards auction in Vancouver Wednesday, doubling its pre-auction estimate.

The painting by Guan Shanyue was the high point of Maynards’ fall sale of Antiques and International and Asian Art, which brought $926,242 from 568 lots.

A 19th century autograph book that once belonged to Major Charles D.A. Loeffler, the head doorkeeper to the U.S. President’s office from 1869 to 1909, sold for $25,300. It contained over 300 autographs from luminaries like Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Theodore Roosevelt to former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

A trio of beautiful ivory, bronze and onyx art deco sculptures by German artist Johann Philipp Ferdinand Preiss also did very well, selling for $ 21,850 (for Con Brio), $23,000 (for Torch Dancer) and $9,775 (for Clock with Arab Servants). All date to about 1920.

A 70 million year old triceratops dinosaur skull from the late Cretaceous Period brought $63,250. It was consigned by a museum in Japan.