This portrait of General George Washington At Princeton, by Charles Peale Polk, was executed between 1791-93 in oil on canvas measuring 35 ½ by 29inches. It earned $406,900, the highest price of the day ($200/300,000).
PHILADELPHIA — Freeman’s | Hindman’s 263-lot April 29 American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts sale achieved $1,470,000; vice president and head of the department, Lynda Cain, confirmed that with post-auction sales, the sell-through rate had improved from an initial 81 percent.
“People seem to know what they want and they buy what they want,” she summarized. “We had an immense crowd to the gallery — more than 200 people visited — and we had a great reception one evening with the Fine Objects Society, which brought in 66 people!”
Cain reiterated that buyers are still keenly interested in wanting to know as much as possible about the exhibition and publication history, as well as provenance. “It gives buyers confidence, it’s very important.”
Some of the top lots of the auction had been previewed in New York City, at the firm’s recently opened office and gallery. Among these was the top lot of the day, a portrait of General George Washington at Princeton by Charles Peale Polk (1767-1822), which sold to an institution for $406,900. The painting descended in the family of Darius Ogden Mills (1825-1910) and came to auction from the collection of Ambassador and Mrs Ogden R. Reid. The catalog noted it was “an example of the artist’s largest and most inclusive composition of his famous subject,” showing details of the historic 1777 battle at Princeton-Nassau Hall. It had once hung in the offices of the New York Herald Tribune, which was owned by the Reid family until 1958.
Topping off at $292,600 and a second-place finish was this large alkaline-glazed two-handled stoneware storage jar made in 1859 by David Drake in Edgefield, S.C. A collector local to Edgefield prevailed over other competitors ($150/250,000).
While the Polk portrait had been exhibited in New York City in April, a large alkaline-glazed two-handled stoneware storage jar made in Edgefield, S.C., by enslaved potter David Drake put in an appearance during Americana Week in January. Cain was pleased to say it was returning to South Carolina, to a private collector near Edgefield, who paid $292,600 for it. Standing 22 inches tall and bearing the inscription, “LM April 7, 1859 / Dave,” the vessel had been purchased originally by Eatonton, Ga., farmer, Ralph Jones (1821-1890); it descended in Jones’ family to the present seller.
“We have a handful of very avid Clemens sand bottle collectors who duke it out each time we have one,” Cain told us. She was, of course, referring to the detailed sand bottles made by deaf-mute Iowa artisan Andrew Clemens (1857-1894) that have been popular highlights of some of Freeman’s | Hindman’s recent auctions. A 6-7/8-inch-tall example with a label inscribed “Geo. Brumder / 1888 / From J. Fischer” that featured an eagle, flag and floral wreath, traded hands carefully, for $108,450. The bottle was also fresh to the market, tracing a history of ownership back to Milwaukee businessman, George Brumder (1839-1910).
Two of the half-dozen clocks in the sale not only exceeded expectations but sold high enough to rank in the top tier of prices. Leading the category at $48,000 was a Federal mahogany tall case clock by Sag Harbor, N.Y., clockmaker, Ephraim Niles Byram (1809-1881) that was a rare astronomical regulator. Despite competition from institutions, a private collector had the winning bid.
A Federal carved and inlaid walnut and cherrywood tall case clock, the case by John Shearer, probably Berkley County, Va. (now W.Va.), was noted to be one of three known tall case clocks assembled by Shearer; it was illustrated in Elizabeth A. Davison’s The Furniture of John Shearer, 1790-1820: “A True North Britain” in the Southern Backcountry (Lanham, Md., 2011). It more than tripled its high estimate and sold for $35,200.
This tall case clock, in a case made by John Shearer, was deaccessioned from the Atlanta History Center, sold to benefit the care and preservation of the collections; it raised $35,200 towards that goal ($5/10,000).
“We’re seeing a bit of a revival in statesman and politicians who battled conflict, especially Lincoln, who maintained dignity and had a ‘country first’ mentality; that’s a focus we haven’t always seen in the past,” Cain said, speaking about several lots in the sale that had history or connections to the presidents or Founding Fathers of the US. Among these was a lock of George Washington’s hair mounted in a mourning brooch within a gilt bronze and glass vitrine. A note accompanying the lot indicated that the brooch was given by Lucy Payne Washington Todd (1769-1846) to her granddaughter and a founder of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Eugenia Scholay Washington (1838-1900). It sold to an institution for $24,320.
Other lots sold to institutions, too. Among these was “The Plague of Darkness” by Erastus Salisbury Field ($9,600); “Interior of the William Cooper Boat Building Shop, Sag Harbor” by Annie Cooper Boyd ($1,024); and a Federal inlaid mahogany lady’s writing desk, made circa 1800 by John Aitken ($8,960).
Dates have not yet been announced but Freeman’s | Hindman will sell Americana in an Americana Collection auction in September and the firm’s annual mid-November auction, scheduled to coincide with the Delaware Antiques Show.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.hindmanauctions.com or 215-563-9275.
