The sale of important Americana at Sotheby’s kicked off at 2 pm on Friday, January 23, with 146 lots of Chinese Export porcelain, prints and silver. The sale continued the next day at 2 pm, with 193 lots. Together, the sale brought in $6,183,500, including the buyer’s premium, with 57.1 percent of the lots selling. At present, the buyer pays 25 percent on the hammer price up to and including $50,000, 20 percent of any amount in excess of $50,000 up to and including $1 million, and 12 percent of any amount in excess of $1 million.
Friday, January 23, 2 pm
A Chinese famille verte large jar and cover, Kangxi period (1662‱722), 24 inches tall, went for $11,250, just above the low estimate, and a group of Chinese Export Rockefeller pattern dinner and dessert wares, circa 1785‱800, a total of 20 pieces, brought $22,500, just above the high estimate. Included in the porcelain portion of the sale were 66 lots, of which 23 sold.
More interest was shown in the prints offered, including a few by Audubon. Lot 69, the “Carolina Parrot” (Plate 26), sheet measuring 385/8 by 22 inches, sold for $86,500, just below the $90,000 high estimate. The “American Flamingo” (Plate CCCCXXXI), 377/8 by 25 inches, fell in the middle of the presale estimate, selling for $122,500. The last John James Audubon in the sale, lot 80, the “Jaguar Female” (Plate CI), hand colored lithograph by J.T. Bowen, Philadelphia, 1846, 21¾ by 27¾ inches, went above the high estimate of $7,000, selling for $10,625.
Among the silver was an American 12-light candelabra by Tiffany & Co., New York, mark of Edward C. Moore, circa 1870, 30 inches tall, that brought $25,000, under the low estimate of $30,000. Several lots later, an American coffeepot by Joseph Richardson Jr, Philadelphia, circa 1790, 15¾ inches high, urn form with beaded borders, square pedestal foot, brought $31,250, just above the low estimate.
The $30,000 high estimate was quickly passed when an American silver caster, Jurian (Jeuriaen) Blanck, New York, circa 1700, sold for $86,500. It had a flared circular foot chased with spiral gadroons and measured 5½ inches tall. A Bermuda silver tankard, Thomas Savage Sr, circa 1710, with molded foot rim and flat-domed cover, 71/8 inches tall, had a high estimate of $50,000 and sold for $62,500.
Highlights of the silver portion of the sale were six pairs of American silver beakers that were sold. property of the First Parish Church in Cohasset, Mass. Lots 141 and 142, the Deacon John Jacobs beakers, Jacob Hurd, Boston, dated 1728, sold for $80,500 each, within the estimate of $70/100,000. The next two lots, and the last lot, were passed, with lot 145, the Susanna Lewis beakers by Nathan Hobbs, Boston, dated 1824, bringing $8,750, just over the high estimate of $8,000.
Saturday, January 24
It was standing room only, with people in the back of the gallery about three deep, for the furniture and folk art in the sale. A Boston William and Mary armchair got things rolling promptly, with William Stahl calling the bids. The armchair was followed by a William and Mary gumwood kas, possibly Albany County, N.Y., that sold to a Pennsylvania dealer for $16,250, just above the high estimate, and next a massive double-handled ash burl bowl, 24½ inches long, was passed. A bid of $31,250, against the $10/20,000 estimate, took a Queen Anne bonnet top high chest of drawers in cherry, Connecticut, circa 1785.
The first piece of folk art was sold from the collection of Doug and Kathy Cox, a pictorial hooked rug, American, Twentieth Century, showing a rooster, house and American flag, “Haste Ye Back” across the bottom, and measuring 30 by 39 inches. With a high estimate of $7,000, interest in the piece drove the final bid to $25,000. A portrait of a young child with a gray dog and a rose, American School, Nineteenth Century, oil on canvas, in period frame measuring 31½ by 35 inches, went for $22,500, just over the high estimate.
One of the top lots in the sale was a Queen Anne shell carved and figured mahogany dressing table, Newport, R.I., circa 1760, that sold just under the low estimate of $200,000 at $182,500. This table, with what appears to be the original hardware, represents a signature Newport case form with one long over two short drawers, a scalloped skirt with a large central shell and cabriole legs.
Lot 183 began the sale of property from the collection of Fred F. and Lois K. Rogers, a Federal checkerboard inlaid tilt top candlestand, New England, probably Connecticut, circa 1800, that sold for $10,000, the high estimate. A phone bidder bought one of the tall case clocks offered, a Federal inlaid mahogany example with works by Benjamin Guild, New Jersey, circa 1800. It had feet restored, measured 94½ inches high, and sold to a phone bidder for $12,500, above the high estimate of $8,000. The last lot from the Rogers collection was an American School oil on canvas of the ship Juanita with other sailing vessels, 23¼ by 25½ inches, for $7,500, just below the high estimate. Of the 29 lots offered from this collection, only seven were passed.
Listed as being from the estate of Peter Terian, a classical bone-mounted and satinwood veneered, carved and figured mahogany cylinder front desk and bookcase attributed to Duncan Phyfe, New York, circa 1825, opened at $20,000 and sold above the high estimate of $60,000 at $83,500. This piece measures 107½ inches high, 50 inches wide and 23 inches deep and a nearly identical example is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Nancy Druckman, head of the American folk art department at Sotheby’s, said, “Today it is a difficult process to sell, and a piece must be in great condition, show quality and be at the right price.” Apparently “Old Jake,” the 6-foot-tall molded copper weathervane in the form of a firefighter, failed to meet this criteria and did not sell. It was passed at $2.1 million against a presale estimate of $3/5 million.
The vane was originally made for the Union Fire Hall in Winchester, Va., the maker remaining unknown. Word on the street from folk art dealers was that the surface, an old silver-gray paint, and the strength of the reserve were against getting this important vane sold. The vane, if a sale is not met after the auction, will probably go on display in a Virginia museum and a reproduction is being made to go back on top of the Union Fire Hall. A new fire house is being planned, and a second reproduction will top that building, according to Druckman.
A few lots later a weathervane did sell, a molded copper sheep of New England origin, late Nineteenth Century, 24 inches long and with restoration to the legs and ears. It brought $10,000, above the $7,000 high estimate. Worthy of a double-page spread in the catalog was lot 236, a rare Chippendale carved and figured mahogany piecrust tilt top tea table, Philadelphia, circa 1750. It measures 27¾ inches high, 32 inches in diameter and descended in the family of John Phillips, who served as the first mayor of Boston, 1822‱823. The low estimate was $40,000, and it sold for $43,750.
A bid of $74,500 took a large oil on canvas, 42 by 72 inches, of “The Discovery of Martha’s Vineyard” by Charles Sidney Raleigh (1830‱925). It is signed and dated, 1902, and was estimated at $60/100,000. Only one cigar store figure was in the sale, a carved and painted Indian probably by Samuel Robb, New York City, circa 1880. It measures 88 inches tall, was found in Lancaster, Penn., and it is mounted on the original base inscribed “Ed A. Feltman, Cigars and Tobacco.” This figure came out of the Bernard Barenholtz sale at Sotheby’s in 1990.
Eighteen lots of decoys comprised part of the sale; however, little interest was shown and 14 of the lots were passed. One of the lots, a very rare miniature full-bodied screech owl by A. Elmer Crowell, East Harwich, Mass., early Twentieth Century, had good competition, selling for $16,250, just better than twice the high estimate. This carving had the rectangular stamp on the bottom.
Property from the estate of John William Boor, MD, included the du Bois family Federal inlaid and figured mahogany tall case clock with rocking ship work by Effingham Embree, New York, circa 1800. It measures 97¼ inches high and sold within estimate at $50,000.
A Sevres white biscuit bust of Benjamin Franklin, circa 1790‹5, modeled facing forward wearing an open jacket, waistcoat and jabot, incised numeral 9, 6 inches tall, brought $12,500, and a fine classical figured mahogany three-part pedestal dining table attributed to John Needles, Baltimore, Md., circa 1820, went for $25,000. Fully extended, the table measured 11 feet 11½ inches.
As usual, rugs brought up the end of the sale, and the top lot, a Bidjar carpet from North Persia, circa 1900, wool wrap, overcast sides, 18 feet 8 inches by 13 feet 3 inches, sold for just under the high estimate at $37,500.
Sotheby’s next sale of important Americana will probably be in October.
Sotheby’s Sells Landon Collection
“Without question, now is the time to have realistic estimates for a successful auction,” Leslie Keno, American furniture department at Sotheby’s, said after the Dr and Mrs Henry C. Landon III sale on Saturday, January 24.
The auction brought in $1,534,385, with 95.1 percent of the 112 lots selling. He noted that in the various owner portion of the sale on Saturday afternoon, only 57.1 percent of the lots sold. “We have not seen numbers like that since the late 80s,” he said.
Playing to a full house, things got off to a fine start with the sale of an assembled group of mortars and pestles, hand bells, brass measures, pewter weights and copper and brass ewers that sold for $3,438 against a high estimate of $1,200.
A few lots later, an oil on canvas by George Luks, “Snack-Boy Eating Apple,” signed G. Luks lower right, 20 by 16 inches, sold right in the middle of the presale estimate at $20,000.
A bid of $11,875, against an estimate of $2,5/5,000, bought a Queen Anne mahogany blockfront kneehole dressing table, Boston, circa 1745. There was some restoration to the top and feet, but it retained the original hardware.
A Chippendale walnut daybed, mid-Atlantic states, circa 1780, sold at $2,500, double the high estimate, while an oil on canvas by Oskar Gross (1871‱936), “The Automat,” 50½ by 43½ inches, signed and dated Oskar Gross, 1915, lower left, brought $21,250. The estimate was $2/5,000.
A Queen Anne cherry bonnet top desk on frame, Connecticut, circa 1775, 6 feet 11 inches tall, sold for $18,750, over the high estimate of $12,000. Five lots later, a Federal inlaid mahogany breakfront bookcase, in the Salem, Mass., manner, Nineteenth Century, 94½ inches high, sold for $16,250, three times the high estimate. Lot 70, a Queen Anne carved and figured mahogany dressing table, Philadelphia, circa 1760, carried a high estimate of $15,000 and sold for $11,250. Another dressing table, William and Mary ebonized and burl walnut-veneered, Massachusetts, circa 1715, sold within estimate at $37,500.
An oil on canvas landscape by Joshua Shaw, 29½ by 41½ inches, estimated at $5/10,000, went for $17,500, and a pair of parcel-gilt and rosewood looking glasses, Continental, circa 1760, 48 inches high, brought $13,750, just under the high estimate of $15,000.
One private collector had a busy morning at the sale, walking away with three of the top lots: the Queen Anne chest of drawers, lot 28; the set of six Queen Anne side chairs, lot 72; and the top lot in the sale, #92, the Garvan high chest of drawers.
“We are in a period of readjustment and it was nice to see some younger buyers at the sale,” Keno said.
