A private collector on the phone, underbid by another phone bidder, won this portrait of Samuel Tracey Coit by Joseph Steward, circa 1790, for $239,400 ($100/150,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
EAST DENNIS, MASS. — Cape Cod was ground zero for Americana the last full week of July, when Eldred’s offered four days of back to back sales — including three single-owner collections — in which nearly 1,000 lots took center stage. With more than 85 percent of all lots gaveling down successfully, and with some post-auction sales pending at press time, the house had amassed a total of $3.352 million. House owner Josh Eldred was pleased with the results, noting participation came from a “healthy mix of both private buyers and dealers.”
He continued. “The results were so strong I hope it signals renewed interest in Americana. We haven’t seen this level of demand in years, with both new bidders and returning bidders. It’s unprecedented.”
The Hamilton Collection
First on deck, the morning of July 22, more than 225 lots from the estate collection of former Skinner specialist, Martha Downey Hamilton, who passed away in February 2025. Hamilton had a well-recognized eye and her collection was full of both high style and country furniture as well as folk art, many pieces of which Hamilton had purchased from auctions in New York City and elsewhere. Leaving its $100/150,000 estimate in the dust was the sale’s top lot, a circa 1790 portrait of Samuel Tracey Coit by Joseph Steward (American, 1753-1822), which had been included in two Connecticut museum exhibitions and had provenance to landmark collectors, Bertram K. & Nina Fletcher Little and Richard & Joy Kanter. Two phone bidders battled it out, with one of them prevailing at $239,400.
This watercolor, pen and ink on paper portrait was inscribed verso “Mr. Jas. Ragland and wife taken August 1820 on Clark Co., Kentucky by Dupue.” It checked all the provenance, exhibition and publication history boxes and found a buyer from its home state, for $113,400 ($20/30,000).
A six-figure sum was also realized for a portrait of Mr and Mrs James Ragland on their Kentucky estate, attributed to Dupue, who is also known as the Guilford Limner. It, too, had provenance to the Little collection, as well as that of Jon & Rebecca Zoler, and had been included, between 1964-65, in a Smithsonian traveling exhibition on American primitive watercolors. An online private collector in Kentucky is bringing it home for $113,400.
Prices stepped down a bit from folk art to furniture, with the highest price in the latter category established at $40,950 for a set of six paint-decorated step-down Windsor side chairs made in Farmington, Maine, by Daniel Stewart, circa 1815-25. A private collector on the phone had the winning bid.
Another furniture highlight was a circa 1750 New England Queen Anne grain-painted cherry and pine tea table that related to examples in the Faith P. & Charles L. Bybee collection of American furniture and the Bertram K. & Nina Fletcher Little collection. A trade buyer, bidding online, topped it off at $27,720.
Peter & Judi Hersey Collection
This miniature portrait of Samuel Norton by Sarah Goodridge, in a case measuring 3½ by 2¾ inches, found a new home with a New Jersey buyer bidding online, for $21,420 ($2/4,000).
Approximately 150 lots from Peter & Judi Hersey’s collection were offered the morning of July 23. The collection was unique in several ways but perhaps the most important was, as the catalog noted, that it “preserves and celebrates Hingham’s [Mass.] special place in history through its objects, from its Seventeenth Century roots as one of the earliest incorporated towns in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, through its vital role in the Revolutionary War, its pre-Industrial Revolution dominance in woodenware craftsmanship, which coined the town’s nickname ‘Bucket Town,’ its deep agricultural and tourism sectors and its thriving miniature furniture and toy manufacturing industry.” Many of the pieces in the Herseys’ collection had been published by Derin T. Bray, in his 2014 Hingham Historical Commission book, Bucket Town: Woodenware and Wooden Toys of Hingham, Massachusetts, 1635-1945.
The top lot of the Hersey collection, at $21,420, was Sarah Goodridge’s miniature portrait of Samuel Norton, who was a Hingham merchant and the half-brother of General Benjamin Lincoln (1733-1810), who the catalog went into some detail on. It sold to an online bidder from New Jersey.
The traveling artist’s box and supplies that once belonged to Isaac Sprague, who was an assistant to the naturalist John James Audubon, traveled a distance from its $2/4,000 estimate to the final bid of $15,120.
This Nineteenth Century artist’s box and supplies belonged to Isaac Sprague and sold to a phone bidder for $15,120 ($2/4,000).
“In the past decades, the market for Hingham woodenware was dominated by myself and Peter Hersey,” noted folk art dealer, David A. Schorsch, “It was gratifying to see strong interest across the board.” He told Antiques and The Arts Weekly that he had “underbid Peter Hersey on [an exceptional mid Nineteenth Century miniature blue-painted firkin made by Cotton Hersey] when he bought it at Skinners,” sharing he was delighted to have prevailed over competition this time, winning it for $12,600.
Collection of Arun & Barbara Singh
The Singhs’ collection — slightly fewer than 65 lots — were auctioned immediately following the Hersey sale. The couple, members of the American Folk Art Society and residents of Providence, R.I., had decided “after 45 amazing years of collecting, we’re now ready to pass the torch (and the pieces!) on to fellow new collectors, dealers and lovers of history and charm.”
This circa 1840 portrait of a lady seated on a sofa, painted in oil on canvas and attributed to the Prior Hamblin School, was the top lot from the Singh collection. An online buyer from Connecticut paid $44,100 for it ($8/12,000).
A portrait of a lady sitting on a sofa that was attributed to the Prior Hamblin School that the collectors purchased from Stonington, Conn., dealer Marguerite Riordan, charmed its way into first place, at $44,100. Two online bidders fought hard for it but the one from Connecticut had the winning bid.
Another lot that Riordan helped the Singhs acquire was the portrait of the steamer Thomas Collyer by James Bard (American, 1815-1897). It had also been owned by Alvin and Claude Bisnoff and referenced in two books on the Bard brothers. It sailed to a $26,460 finish.
The only thing comparatively small about a Federal dwarf clock made by Joshua Wilder (1786-1860) was its four-foot case. It had a sizeable provenance that included Israel Sack and Robert Cheney, a sale at Northeast Auctions in 2003 and a named Maryland private collection. It was noted to be the most elaborate form made by Wilder and finished just beyond its high estimate, for $40,950.
Antiques + Objets d’Art
Audubon’s “Great American Cock Male,” from 1827, sold to a phone bidder for $56,700; it was the highest price in the Americana sale on July 24 ($18/22,000).
Various-owner Americana in object form made up the nearly 300-lot session on July 24. The session’s top price of $56,700 was shared by two bird-themed lots that were vastly different in size. Realizing that price first was a hand-colored etching titled “Great American Cock Male” after John James Laforest Audubon (1785-1851) that measured 38 by 24¾ inches. Three lots later, a 12¼-inch tall, life-size marbled godwit, made circa 1930 by A. Elmer Crowell, also made the money. Both were purchased by different phone bidders.
American Art
About 250 lots of American art, from antique to contemporary, closed out the week in a sale that saw its top price of $69,300 achieved by a wintery landscape painted by Bob Ross (American, 1942-1995) — yes, that Bob Ross! According to the catalog, the 18-by-24-inch oil on canvas composition was painted during season 16 of Ross’ television show, The Joy of Painting. The consignor’s family had purchased it from a PBS Rhode Island auction in the mid 1980s for $250. A determined bidder in the room outbid every other competitor. Other highlights include $47,250 for a view of Gloucester, Mass., by Frederick John Mulhaupt (1871-1938) and “Miss Cotuit,” by one of Cape Cod’s favorite artists, Ralph E. Cahoon, Jr (1910-1982), that realized $32,760.
Eldred’s next Americana auctions will take place in November.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For further information, 508-385-3116 or www.eldreds.com.
