This monumental sterling silver Japonesque punch bowl, made by Gorham in 1885, topped the sale with a $54,400 result ($40/60,000).

Review by Madelia Hickman Ring

PHILADELPHIA — Freeman’s November 12 American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts auction presented more than 300 lots showcasing property from prominent and early American collectors in New York and Philadelphia, including the Astor, Morgan, Stotesbury and Scott families. Other offerings include fine Queen Anne, Chippendale, and Federal furniture, as well as portraiture from New England to the Southern states. The sale achieved a total of $1,097,080, with 81 percent of lots sold, and, of the bidders registered, 12 percent were new buyers to the firm.

“This sale offered a wonderful diversity of property, and there were passionate bidders across all categories, from Astor family material to Aesthetic Movement silver and folk paintings,” said Andrew Taggart, specialist, American furniture, folk & decorative arts. “The Lafayette pocket watch and the Gorham Japonesque punch bowl were highlights of the auction, and the sale concluded with a strong realized price on a Ralph Cahoon work.”

Notable collections from this sale included the Scott family, from which all lots were sold. Leading their collection was an extensive Chinese export porcelain dinner service from the late Eighteenth Century, which sold for $11,520. The Astor family also achieved a white glove result, with all lots sold. The top lot of the collection, a gold-mounted walking stick monogrammed for John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912), realized $23,040.

The provenance to the Astor family — most recently Brooke Astor — undoubtedly added interest to this gold-mounted walking stick monogrammed for John Jacob Astor IV (1864-1912) and it beat its $1/2,000 estimate with a $23,040 result.

Additional lots that took center stage included a rare and monumental sterling silver Japonesque punch bowl, selling for $54,400. Other top silver sales were a pair of Classical silver sauce boats, made by Fletcher & Gardiner in Philadelphia around 1825, which went from an estimate of $3/5,000 to $16,640. The sauce boats were followed at $14,080 by a sterling silver presentation tureen and undertray made for Admiral Francis H. Gregory by Tiffany & Compsny, circa 1864.

A historic 18K tricolor gold open face Jacquemart automaton quarter repeater pocket watch, which was purportedly owned by the Marquis de Lafayette, sold for $44,800.

Another lot that would qualify under the “Founding Father” category was a Nineteenth Century American School portrait of George Washington, after one of Gilbert Stuart’s portraits of the first president, that had descended in the Wister family of Germantown and had purportedly been included in a 1932 Colonial Dames of America exhibition on Washingtoniana. It finished at $9,600.

Ralph Cahoon’s (American, 1910-1982), “Seaman’s Bethel” — one of two offered — sold for $41,600, while “Figures Watching the Coast” achieved $10,880.

“Seaman’s Bethel” by Ralph Cahoon, oil on Masonite, 18⅝ by 24¼ inches (sight), came to auction from a California collection and realized $41,600 ($10/15,000).

American furniture reached its apex at $35,200, with a Philadelphia Chippendale carved walnut dressing table that had provenance to Philadelphian Sally Houston Henry (1860-1938). It had been handled twice by Israel Sack and had been in the Millhiser collections of Richmond, Va., and Piedmont, Calif. Other furniture highlights include a Philadelphia Queen Anne carved and figured walnut tall case clock ($12,800) and a Philadelphia Queen Anne compass-seat open arm chair ($10,240).

A good selection of folk art was assembled, with all major categories represented. Carvings included a carved and polychrome painted tobacconist figure ($21,750), a carved and painted wood carousel prancer ($5,760) and a painted and carved standing black duck by A. Elmer Crowell ($5,120). A sparse selection of samplers was good nonetheless. The sole lot — one from Marblehead, Mass., that descended in the family of the girl who made it in 1811, Jane Brimblecom — more than doubled its high estimate to finish at $19,200. A leaping stag weathervane, attributed to E.G. Washburn — leapt to $15,360, nearly tripling its high estimate.

Portraits made up one of the largest categories, with likenesses captured in a broad variety of media. A portrait of a young woman by Ammi Phillips (1788-1865) that had been discovered in Kent, Conn., where it was likely painted, had been handled by Phillips scholar Barbara Holdridge as well as early folk art dealer Edith Halpert. It also finished ahead of expectations, for $16,640.

Freeman’s will conduct an online only sale titled The Collect: Americana on January 28 and a live American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts sale on April 28.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 312-280-1212, 215-563-9275 or www.freemansauction.com.