An English buyer flew across the Atlantic to bid successfully on a rare walnut gothic coffer, carved with a religious allegorical front panel that had been made in the Fifteenth or Sixteenth Century. At $28,750 the coffer was the top lot in Nadeau Auction Gallery’s annual spring estates auction on April 9.

The coffer, which Edward Nadeau described as probably French, had come out of a house in Guildford, Conn. “It was locked and very heavy,” said Mr Nadeau. Once he and his staff got the item back to his gallery, they were able to find a key that opened it. It was filled with books and records.

The 560-lot sale offered many choice items culled from Connecticut homes in Guilford, Essex, Waterford, West Hartford, Hartford and Mystic, along with items from the estate of Georgette Auerbach Koopman of West Hartford.

A signed oil on canvas painting of Indians on horseback in war paint by Frank McCarthy, titled “On the Warpath,” did well, selling for $16,100.

Prices reported include 15 percent buyer’s premium.

A complete report of the sale will appear in a future issue.

– W.A. Demers