It was business as usual for auctioneer Ron Bourgeault and his staff at Northeast Auctions as they established an energetic pace for the start of Antiques Week in New Hampshire. Bourgeault got things rolling on August 1, the first of three days, with close to 2,000 lots offered at auction during Northeast Auction’s annual summer Americana sale. Posting yet another impressive tally, the Americana auction grossed $9.37 million.
The auction included the standout Shaker collection of Drs John R. Ribic and Carla M. Kingsley, for which a separate catalog had been produced, and during which a handful of record prices were established. The folk art collection of Michael Schnall was also presented with its own catalog and it, too, received substantial interest and hefty prices.
The remainder of the auction was filled to the brim with coveted items consigned from numerous other collections, including an assortment of pewter from the descendants of Ledlie Laughlin, the Pilgrim Century furniture collection of Henry and Lorene Cone and mocha from the collection of Jonathan Rickard.
The auction got off to a quick start on Friday with 80 pieces from Rickard’s mocha collection crossing the block first. The opening lot was a rare double-handled presentation cup with blue and brown bands decorated with swag decoration made up of slip dots and cat’s-eyes. A panel on the front was marked in script, “W. Rogers, Boiler Maker, Moorfields, Bristol.” Featured in Rickard’s tome on the ware, Mocha and Related Dipped Wares, 1770‱939 , and also a highlight of recent exhibitions, the rare cup attracted a great deal of interest.
First out of the gate, the rare mug was the subject of substantial interest and it established a fast pace that would continue throughout the weekend. A strong price of $8,625 was realized. A 7-inch-high pitcher with a buff colored body decorated with two rows of white, blue and brown cat’s-eyes above a large earthworm pattern also did well at $7,130.
The top lot of the mocha came as a 9-inch-tall coffee pot with domed cover was offered. In a light brown glaze, it was decorated with four large white circles that were filled with a red and black slip fan motif. The rare piece, listing a provenance of Ada Musselman prior to it making its way into the Rickard collection, sold at $16,200.
Americana filled out the remainder of the Friday session with a two-tier tin and iron candle chandelier selling at $6,900, a harvest table at $5,100 and a Pennsylvania corner cupboard realized $5,865.
Shaker
The Saturday session started off with the Ribic/Kingsley collection, and a full house was on hand for the excitement. Shaker expert Tom Queen, whose name appeared with great frequency in the catalog listing for the provenance associated with each lot, conducted a well-attended lecture the previous evening titled “To Last A Thousand Years: The Shaker Legacy.”
Ribic, according to the catalog, first became interested in Shaker materials while visiting Washington, D.C., more than 20 years ago. He stumbled across an exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art that was curated by June Sprigg and was taken with the Shaker style. Since that time, Ribic and Kingsley became “major forces” in the field, with noting in the catalog’s foreword that the “outstanding forms, surfaces and colors of the objects and the impeccable provenance of much of the collection reflects their desire to buy only the best.”
In contrast to the session conducted the previous day, Bourgeault started things off quietly with the offering of a first edition book by Edward and Faith Andrews, Shaker Furniture: The Craftsmanship of an American Communal Sect , with it selling at $201. A small stack of six other reference books followed at $230.
A few lots later, a blanket box from the Canterbury community in “periwinkle” blue paint would be the first lot to take off, selling at $24,150.
The top lot of the session came a couple lots later as a rare dwarf tall case alarm clock attributed to New Lebanon maker Isaac Newton Youngs crossed the auction block. With a provenance listing Nina and Bertram Little, the clock utilized what was termed an “ingenious device,” cast pewter gears with inserted carved wooden teeth. This “prevents the need to replace the entire works of timeworn wooden mechanisms,” stated Queen in his catalog description. Actively bid, the clock went out at a record price paid at auction for a Shaker clock, realizing $265,500.
A tall case clock from the Watervliet community by master Shaker clockmaker Benjamin Youngs Sr listed a provenance of Courcier and Wilkins, a private collector and Queen. A member of the Church family, Youngs learned the craft from his father and also trained his nephews. The clock, retaining the original red stain, sold at $64,400.
A Shaker music staff pen in a small wooden carry box with a sliding top, also made by Youngs at New Lebanon, was hotly contested. It had originally been acquired from Sister Flora Appleton in 1952 while she was at the Canterbury community. Youngs, said to have been an accomplished musician, invented the pen with five points for drawing a music staff. “Only a few examples are known and one is in the Hancock Shaker collection,” stated the catalog. Bidding on the lot was fast and furious, with it selling at $35,650.
An oval fancy twilled tub basket from the New Lebanon community, measuring 3 inches high and 9 inches wide, was termed “one of the finest Shaker baskets in existence” and sold for a record price at $112,700, while a Canterbury-made Shaker carrier in chrome yellow paint realized a record price at auction of $117,000.
Oval finger boxes did extremely well, with a 13-inch-long box in lipstick red paint selling at $40,100, a yellow 15-inch box was $27,450, and an 8-inch box in yellow went out at $27,400.
Shaker furniture from the collection was received with enthusiasm, with a New Lebanon two-drawer blanket chest in red paint selling at $98,900. The rare chest had been discovered in a house on the Shaker Museum Road in the 1970s and listed John Sideli, Corey Daniel and Courcier and Wilkins as previous owners. A similarly constructed chest in chrome yellow sold at $82,800.
One of only a handful of elder’s rockers to have survived from the Enfield community, a rare rocking armchair with original red stain, sold at $69,000. A tall, slender and stylish revolving chair from New Lebanon’s South Family went reasonably at $50,600.
Schnall Collection
The second session on Saturday offered 400-plus lots from the Michael Schnall collection and this assortment of American folk art was equally received. Schnall had been described as a consummate collector, having inherited the bug from his father, who traveled extensively and always brought home unique gifts. “He fell in love with things, especially American folk art,” stated longtime friend Brian Ramaekers in the auction catalog’s foreword, “and once he fell in love with something, he stayed in love with it.” Schnall originally decided to be a collector “who wanted one perfect object for each great spot,” and not to be a “stacker” with numerous similar examples. The “collector” mentality got the best of him, however, as was evident by the stacked offering at the auction.
The session began with a Lancaster County painted and decorated dome top box attributed to the “compass” artist. In blue paint with red and white pinwheels, florals and vine decoration, the box measured 10 inches tall and 14 inches in length. Bids came from several in the room, with it selling at $23,000.
Painted boxes were a favorite of Schnall, and a colorful example coined the “rainbow” box attracted serious attention. Listing a provenance of Frank and Barbara Pollack, the diminutive 14-inch-long box measured only 8 inches tall, but as it crossed the block, it made up for what it lacked in stature with its good look. Bids bounced around the room for a while and the back and forth with the telephones until the box was finally hammered down at $108,100.
Another small document-style box to catch the eye of collectors was a flat-top box that measured only 5 inches high and 8 inches long. Placed in a collection by David Schorsch, and then purchased back by the dealer prior to being placed in Schnall’s collection, the vibrantly decorated box sold back to an exuberant Schorsch for $34,500.
Painted furniture brought hefty prices throughout the day, with a stunning Albany County miniature blanket box in a blue-green paint setting the pace. It was decorated with a vividly painted central basket of flowers that was surrounded by floral borders. With a host of telephone bidders on the line and anxious bidders in the room, the lot was quickly bid to a selling price of $92,000.
A large pewter cupboard with an oversized flared cornice above a scalloped surround encasing the two-shelf open top was decorated in a well-worn red and black paint. Thought to have come from either upstate New York or Canada, the attractive cupboard sold at $71,300.
Other painted furniture included a blanket box with wonderful cutout base and the old blue-green paint that sold for a substantial $66,700, and a Midwestern Sheraton country farm table in walnut with scrubbed top and red painted base that realized $48,300.
A Massachusetts paint decorated fireboard painted in white with a large colorful urn of flowers depicted in the center did well, as it reached $86,250. An early trade sign for ship timbers depicted a sailing vessel and sold at $50,600, and a naïve painting of a ship in turbulent seas by Jonathan Orne Frost realized $37,950.
Other items from the Schnall collection included a southeastern Connecticut embroidered bed rug with vine and floral decoration surrounding a flower and vase central motif. Thought possibly to have been made by the Foote sisters of Colchester, Conn., it sold for $78,200. A large Midwestern 8-gallon crock with folky stag and tree decoration brought an impressive $60,950, while a stylized running horse weathervane brought $43,700.
Various Owners
Sunday’s auction was also a heated event with bidders battling for select items throughout the day. The session opened with a large selection of pewter consigned by the descendants of Ledlie Laughlin. Garnering a reputation and having become known as “the” pewter auctioneer over the past couple of years, Bourgeault once again astonished the crowd with record-setting prices established for American pewter.
A William Will pewter coffee pot, circa 1764‱798, eclipsed the record price paid at auction that was established recently at Northeast as it hammered down at $315,000.
Other pewter pieces that brought premium prices included a Johann Heyne lidded chalice selling at $48,300, double the presale estimates, while a William Will quart-size pewter flagon also doubled estimates at $42,550. A Robert Bonning engraved pewter mug dated 1747 was another of the lots to handily exceed estimates as it realized $25,300; a tapered cylindrical beaker measuring just under 7 inches by New York City maker John Bassett went out at $24,150, and a pewter cream pot by New York maker Peter Young realized $25,300.
The top lot of the auction came late on the third and final day of the sale as a portrait of Samuel Phillips Savage by John Singleton Copley was sold for $634,000. Savage, born in Boston in 1734, began government service in 1743, serving as a constable of Boston. He later became a judge and he represented the town of Weston in the Provincial Congress of Deputies in 1774; two years later, he was chosen president of the Board of War, in which he served for the duration of his life. The painting, measuring 49 by 39 inches, was signed “J.S. Copley Pinx 1764” and it retained the original frame.
Property inherited from Boston’s Mary M. Sampson did well, with a select group of William and Mary and Pilgrim Century furnishings attracting a great deal of attention. Leading the way was a chest that is illustrated in Wallace Nutting’s Furniture of the Pilgrim Century . The oak and pine chest, circa 1650, had two drawers below a joined case decorated with three panels across the front and embellished with geometric turnings. Estimated at $70/90,000, the rare chest sold at $126,500.
A Pilgrim Century chair with strong turnings was sold, cataloged as having descended in the Stetson family of Scituate, Mass. A bold and masculine looking chair, illustrated in Robert St Blair George’s The Wrought Covenant , it sold for $23,000. An early William and Mary butterfly table with nicely splayed legs was hammered down at $24,150.
A Massachusetts mahogany chest with blocked and shell carved drawers was a sleeper amongst the crowded selection of “brown” furniture that was offered in the auction, and as it crossed the block, numerous hands shot up. The small sized chest with a bold ogee bracket base was bid to $73,600.
An attractive diminutive flat-top highboy in tiger maple, thought to be either Connecticut or Rhode Island, with boldly carved cabriole legs was another lot to do well, selling at $24,150.
A horse and sulky weathervane that had been removed from a stately home in Lake Forest, Ill., attracted its fair share of interest, with it selling at $46,000. Also doing well was a Liberty weathervane that realized $57,500.
Prices include the buyer’s premium. For information www.northeastauctions.com or 603-433-8400.
