This New England painted pine blanket chest brought $3,450, the top price of either day ($4/6,000).

Review by Madelia Hickman Ring

STURBRIDGE, MASS. — David Straight’s two-day auction August 29-30 offered both a single-owner collection and property from various owners. The entire inventory belonging to Carole Conn of Litchfield, Conn., crossed the block on the first day, with more than 1000 “smalls” offered in 475 lots in a session that was about 94 percent sold. Another 533 lots of furniture and decorative arts were sold on the second day.

Conn’s collection reached its apex at $863 with a 25-inch carved and painted American wall eagle signed “Dupuy.” Two other eagles each sold for $575, including the first lot of the day, a 22-inch-long carved example on an arrow and one made by Art Durant of Kittery, Maine, that was dated “1 May 1967” on the reverse.

The fine art in Conn’s collection also reached the top levels of the session, with a pair of miniature portraits of a husband and wife — unidentified sitters by an unidentified artist — in black wooden frames, that finished in second place, at $633. An oil on canvas portrait of a gentleman — also unidentified and unattributed — traded hands at $489, well above its $300/500 estimate.

This carved and painted American eagle was signed “Dupuy” and measured 25 inches in length; it realized $863 to be the highest price achieved by a lot from the Conn collection ($100/300).

For $460, someone went home with two blue-painted baskets in a lot that included a small circular berry basket and a 7-inch-long rectangular basket with two loop handles at each end. It was the highest price for an example from Conn’s sizeable basket collection, which saw about 50 sold in about 25 lots.
More than a dozen quilts brought prices ranging from $81 for a 36-inch-by-36-inch patchwork quilt to $431 for a larger patchwork example in reds and browns on a white ground.

A one-drawer Hepplewhite stand brought $374 to top Conn’s furniture section.

Prices were a little higher on the second day. A New England painted pine blanket chest that dated to circa 1820 and exhibited “exuberant” original paint and an “elegant tall-footed base” as well as its original embossed brasses and iron hinges scored the highest price of the two-day event with a $3,450 finish.
Other furniture highlights included a circa 1700-30 Hudson River Valley red painted shoefoot hutch table that traded at $2,300, a circa 1670-1720 red painted Pilgrim century cross-base stand ($2,070), a Pilgrim three-drawer chest attributed to Boston, circa 1660-80 ($1,495) and an early Seventeenth Century English oak box-wainscot chair ($1,380).

The only full-bodied horse weathervane in the sale was the 29-inch-long example attributed to JW Fiske & Company of New York City. It ran to $2,990 ($2/3,000).

For weathervane collectors, the sale presented eight examples to chase. Leading the section with a $3,220 price was a 22-inch-tall tin Lady Liberty characterized as a “unique form.” It was followed at $2,990 by a 29-inch-long running horse weathervane Straight attributed to JW Fiske & Company of New York City, circa 1880.

A dome-top pine box with vibrant yellow, brown and ochre paint that was cataloged as probably from southwest Vermont was one of the highest selling “smalls,” capping a varied selection at $1,610; its original condition helped drive interest. Another box — a Nineteenth Century tortoise-shell tea caddy with mother-of-pearl inlay was close behind, with a $1,495 price.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 508-769-5404 or www.dlstraightauctioneers.com.