And now for something completely different †that could well have been the auctioneer’s introduction to Copake Auction’s unreserved cataloged estate sale on October 24.
Not only did the offering veer from the firm’s usual showcase of estate Americana †presenting instead the continental sensibilities of a businessman who once owned the land upon which the iconic Hollywood sign now perches †but it also attracted a record number of left bids, 852, according to Seth Fallon, the firm’s co-owner. What accounted for such keen interest? “The stuff,” replied Fallon.
This “stuff” consisted of the unreserved contents of the Wattles estate from Amenia, N.Y., Sutton Place in New York City and Hollywood, Calif. Gurdon Wallace Wattles was an early businessman, banker and civic leader in Omaha, Neb., who became responsible for bankrolling much of early Hollywood.
“This is one of the most interesting auctions we have ever held,” said Mike Fallon. “It is unusual for us to sell this much continental furniture and furnishings.” This sale featured artwork, furniture, china and glassware, silver, toys, 25 Oriental rugs from the Wattles’ three homes and period accessories.
Top honors in the sale were recorded in the art category, where a Nineteenth Century oil on canvas of a woman with cows, signed Julien Dupre (1851‱910), sold for $19,210. Working during the last half of the Nineteenth Century, Dupré was considered by most to be one of the leading exponents of the second generation of Realist painters, who devoted their artistic careers to the depiction of the toils of the French peasant. This 26-by-32-inch scene was signed by the artist in the lower left corner.
Far behind the Dupre painting in terms of presale estimate †at $800․1,200 †a Zsolnay Art Nouveau handled iridescent vase quickly caught up, chased by four phone bidders †one of the underbidders on the phone was from Hungary †and ultimately went to a US phone bidder for $12,995. The 10½-inch-high vase was marked on the base “Zsolnay Pecs 6045 1003.”
Wattles built his Mission Revival-style estate, originally known as “Jualita,” as a winter home in 1907, a time when Hollywood was primarily agricultural and a wintering home for wealthy Easterners and Midwesterners, furnishing it with marble floors, intricately carved walnut bookcases and a hand-painted ceiling in the library, among other things. One of the items in the sale that had been removed from the mansion’s 49-acre grounds was a late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Century Italian carved marble garden bench. Estimated at just $2/4,000, the 6-foot-9½-inch-long bench, missing one of its corner finials, sold for an impressive $12,995 to a dealer in the room.
Wattles was also instrumental in organizing the Trans Mississippi and International Exposition of 1898 in Omaha. And the sale’s focus quickly turned back to art as two paintings by John R. Key (1837‱920) depicting scenes from the expo crossed the block. Measuring 23½ by 28½ inches and 24 by 40½ inches, the paintings brought $5,650 and $4,520, respectively. They were both purchased by a descendant of the painter, who himself was grandson of Francis Scott Key, author of the “Star Spangled Banner.”
From a Copake home, three Nineteenth Century portraits of Najah Taylor, his wife and son by Waldo and Jewett (Samuel Lovett Waldo, 1783‱861, and William Jewett, 1792‱874) were offered “Round Robin” style, meaning that bids were totaled and the bidder willing to exceed the total of all three lots could keep them as a family. All three thus sold together to a New York City gallery for $7,345. Taylor was the first president of Seamen’s Bank, and accompanying the portraits was Taylor’s autobiography, which provided “an interesting insight from a businessman at the time of the American Revolution,” according to Seth Fallon.
A watercolor painting by British artist Lillian Stannard (1877‱944) titled “The Dell Hyde Park, London,” was estimated at $800․1,200, and is going back to Europe, having realized $2,599. It was one of two Stannard garden scenes offered in the sale and measured 13½ by 19½ inches.
Inscribed with the Wattles monogram, a Gorham 14K gold dresser mirror and brush set marked “3876” was a surprise when it leapt way past its $200/300 presale estimate to command $4,181 from the trade.
The same dealer who purchased the marble garden bench acquired another lot from Wattles’ Hollywood home “Jualita” †a pair of carved granite temple dogs standing 34 inches high for $2,712.
A Steinway and Sons upright piano that once graced a parlor in one of the Wattles’ homes now sits in a Copake-area residence, purchased by a local auction house customer for his home in the country for $2,938.
Other top highlights in the sale included six reproduction chairs by Stickley, which sold for $2,486. A sale surprise was registered when some hearth tools †separate lots that included andirons, fireplace tools and a matching screen †collectively brought $14,000. The andirons alone, estimated at $50․100, realized $6,780. The winning Internet bidder had found them by typing the phrase “Arts and Crafts” into his computer’s search engine, according to Seth Fallon.
Prices reported include the 15 percent buyer’s premium.
Copake Auction’s next sale is November 21, when it will offer the contents of an Eighteenth Century Kinderhook house. For information, www.copakeauction.com or 518-329-1142.
