CODY — At the close of the 43rd Annual Buffalo Bill Art Show & Sale (BBAS), bidders raised their paddles for more than $1.45 million in artwork between the weekend’s Live Auction, Quick Draw and Silent Auction events. According to auctioneer Troy Black, who has officiated the sale for decades, this was the highest total in BBAS history and the first time that the Live Auction alone has surpassed $1 million in sales.

The party venue, a gigantic party tent temporarily constructed in the parking lot at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, was full for the auction with over 625 registered attendees, according to a Cody Country Chamber of Commerce press release. Many people reported a great feeling of energy in the tent and that energy carried through to the bidding and sales of artwork throughout the night.

Out of 104 total Live Auction lots, 98 sold for an exceptional sell-through rate of 94% by lot. The night’s highest selling price for a 2-dimensional piece was $48,875 after buyer’s premium. The piece, Sally Maxwell’s colored scratchboard of a mountain lion crouched atop a stark black-and-white background entitled “Nuance or Nothing is Just Black and White,” brought in more than double its estimated value of $17,500. Maxwell’s piece also claimed the distinction of People’s Choice, voted on by more than 1,500 visitors to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in recent weeks.

Those weren’t the only wall pieces subject to bidding wars, as Ty Barhaug’s oil painting of the Shoshone River valley’s nearby South Fork entitled “Lighting the Valley Floor” sold for $37,375 with buyer’s premium after being estimated to sell for only $6,000. The highest-selling 3-dimensional piece was a figurative bronze by Vic Payne entitled “The Walk of Tombstone,” which brought in $40,250 with added buyer’s premium.

Saturday morning’s Quick Draw event featured 29 BBAS artists who, in only 90 minutes, created original pieces of artwork while more than 600 attendees observed the process. Artists showed their newly completed artwork on the runway and bidders snapped up all 29 pieces, as well as an artist’s apron signed by all participating artists.

Sculptor Chris Navarro created a sculpture of a bull moose with a woodpecker resting on its antler entitled “Woody and the Moose.” Bidders at the Quick Draw were eager to purchase multiples of the piece, which will be cast in bronze later this year. Navarro’s work commanded the sale of 25 copies of the piece at $1,725 each after buyer’s premium, a particularly strong showing for a Quick Draw sculpture.

“An event like this would not be possible without support from the whole Cody community. To every artist, patron, partner, sponsor, employee, vendor, and volunteer, thank you for your incredibly generous contributions that led to a wildly successful 43rd Art Show & Sale” said Jennifer Thoma, CEO of the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce.

BBAS is an invitational Western fine art sale that offers works relating to the land, people, and wildlife of the American West. Artists offer a broad range of stylistic interpretations of the West in a variety of mediums.

The sale brings Western artists and art collectors to Cody from across the United States. BBAS works to have a positive effect on Cody’s small businesses each September as the summer travel season begins to slow down.

BBAS is owned and produced by the Cody Country Chamber of Commerce and benefits the chamber, the Buffalo Bill Center of the West, and a variety of community organizations.

In addition to the art auctions, BBAS offers instructional classes and workshops during Rendezvous Royale, the weeklong celebration of the arts hosted in partnership with the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and By Western Hands.

Visit RendezvousRoyale.org for more information.