Everyone says it is a new age of communication, thanks to social media, and on May 29, Garth’s Auctions helped the process along by posting hourly sale updates to its Facebook fans following the start of the Americana auction featuring the 4th Annual Ohio Valley Session. Watching sales online is not new for die-hard auction fans †it is the next best thing to being there.
For the newer fans, however, it is a great reminder of the event and the exciting lots they might be missing. Lot 1 of the auction session started the day off right and served as the content of the first Facebook post †”Auction day and the house is packed! Standing room only for the 4th annual Ohio Valley Auction. First lot, the Soap Hollow chest, hammered at $12,000. Many more to go!”
With premium the poplar Soap Hollow chest, which was marked for Jeremiah Stahl and dated 1864, sold for $14,100.
The excitement of the annual Ohio Valley auction session kept bidders on their toes throughout the morning across a variety of categories. The crowd was anxious for a Sheraton tall case clock with a curly maple case and wooden works signed “G. Lewis” (Garry Lewis of Warren, Trumball County, Ohio, the brother of clockmakers Lambert and Wheeler Lewis) that propelled the clock past the estimate of $4/6,000 to a final price of $8,519. A figured cherry Sheraton sideboard believed to be from Cincinnati, Ohio, was dated November 13, 1822. Showing the skills of the exceptional cabinetmaker, who completely covered the façade in a combination of matching and contrasting veneer, the sideboard sold for $9,400.
As with many items throughout the morning, Ohio provenance added significant value to the sale of two, whimsical pieces from Zoar, Tuscarawas County, Ohio. The first was a cherry footstool dating to the mid-Nineteenth Century. Viewed as one of the best of the Midwestern-German footstools known, this example was one of the few examples of Germanic furniture with cabriole or “bandy” legs that also has a solid history of ownership in Ohio. With its original finish and fanciful “S” cutout, the stool brought $2,938. The second piece was a poplar and walnut candlestand with a two-tiered top, a turned shaft and scroll-cut feet. Retaining its original salmon paint with grungy over-varnish, the candlestand realized an outstanding $5,053 against an estimate of $300/600.
In between the lots of furniture, several lots of portraits of the Collins family by Milton W. Hopkins crossed the block, finding a solid response from the audience. The portraits were among the few identified examples from Hopkins’s Midwestern period since the artist spent most of his life in Connecticut and New York, a fact made more important because of the shared abolitionist efforts of both artist and sitter. Rediscovered years ago in a Missouri attic, the 1842 painting of the sons, Alfred and James, appears to be the only known double portrait by Hopkins and easily sold within estimate at $17,625 due to the whimsy of the boys holding a small whip and the pet dog. The pair of portraits of the parents brought $4,700.
An hour into the sale, an Ohio Spencerian advertising watercolor from Doylestown, Wayne County, circa 1905‱5, provided the subject for the next Facebook status update. It soared past its estimate to $3,525, thanks to the central eagle with banner, interesting text for postal regulations and hand painted illustrations of various Doylestown establishments. With an original label for W.L. Jones, Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, dated 1830, a boldly carved mixed wood, two-part wall mirror measured just 35 inches long, but the deep cornice with acorn drops and frame with turned half-columns were impressive. The label and the craftsmanship helped advance the sale price to $3,290. A 4¾-by7-inch still life of fruit, including grapes and a cut watermelon, by Albert Francis King proved a temptation to multiple bidders, driving the price to more than triple its high estimate selling for $7,638.
The textiles sold during the sale confirmed the resilient power of the needle, thread and loom in today’s market. Coverlets surprised the staff by continually selling for well above estimate. A doubl-weave wool jacquard example with a double border of steamboats realized $705. A blanket from Northern Ohio Blanket Mills, Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, Ohio (one of the nation’s largest makers of horse blankets and carriage robes) was graphically stunning and sold for $558.
Two Ohio Western Reserve samplers were anticipated to sell well and they did not disappoint, each surpassing the high estimates at $2,703 and $4,818. Of the several dozen Oriental rugs in the sale, a late Nineteenth Century, Eagle Karaba went for about three times its mean estimate. Adorned with repeating medallions on a red ground within a main border of alternating rosettes in blues and reds on an ivory ground and two guard borders, the rug measured 8 by 5 feet and sold for $8,813.
Among a selection of child-size furniture, small pieces resulted in big prices. An American child-size two-drawer stand made of cherry, curly maple, figured veneer and poplar measured 14½ by 10 by 9½ inches and carried an estimate of $250/500, but it sold for an impressive $1,880. Another child-size Sheraton chest with a bit more detail, including incised beading, applied columns and an old red surface, sold for $1,567. A miniature Sheraton chest with four drawers sold for $2,233, while a more elaborate child size Queen Anne highboy garnered a high bid of $2,938.
An array of decorative arts and furniture rounded out the sale. A 17-inch-long articulated artist model sold for $1,058. A set of eight Chippendale-style chairs made $3,408. An English carved, broken arch pediment mirror with candle arms measuring a stately 59 inches long sold for $3,290. A Chippendale-style carved candlestand by Potthast Brothers of Baltimore, Md., exhibited all the “bells and whistles,” including a shell-carved top, a fluted and foliate-carved pillar and acanthus-carved legs ending in claw and ball feet, which all contributed to the sale price of $5,170.
A rare Winchester Cartridge advertising board, model 1890, originally from Saurer’s Hardware in Barberton, Ohio, included actual cartridges on the front and three vignettes and appeared to be in untouched original condition with its original oak frame. This example sold for $17,625. Of the decoys in the sale, a pair of tack eye mallard hens with original paint from the Michigan based Mason Factory sold for the most at $1,058.
The selection of Currier & Ives yielded a top price of $3,231 for a large folio example of “The New Era. Steam and Muscle” from the Life of a Fireman series. An English combware charger with brown combed lines on a buff yellow ground with a coggled rim was the highlight among the lots of redware in the sale, reaching $4,700.
Prices reported include the buyer’s premium.
Garth’s next sales include the July 23 and 24 auction with sessions of fine and contemporary art, as well as Asian, continental and American furniture and decorative arts. For information, www.garths.com or 740-362-4771.
