Art Rising In The West(ern)

The Coeur d’Alene auction of western art was first held in 1985. “That year, there were 132 lots and it brought in $200,000. Last year there were 276 lots fetching $27.4 million, a record that many thought could not be matched. Last month Mr. Stremmel raced through 307 lots in under five hours to bring in $35.4 million, or about $28 million, if you strip away a cache of French Impressionist and Latin American masters that were oddly tucked into this year’s sale.”