Estate material drew a full house to the spacious ballroom overlooking a bleak and frozen golf course for the Carl W. Stinson January 17 auction. The crowd was still standing-room-only more than three and one half hours into the sale. Nine hours later, bidders were still bidding and the Stinsons were still selling.
An 1878 oil on canvas portrait by Eastman Johnson of young brothers William Watson Caswell and John Caswell Jr of Boston and Beverly, Mass., was charming and attracted significant attention before it sold for $74,750 to a Bay Area California buyer. The oil and canvas picture had descended from the estate of William Watson Caswell, who had headed the Bank of Boston in Havana through his daughter, Sumner Pingree.
A late Nineteenth Century Russian bronze figural group signed in cyrillic “V. Gratchev” (Vassily Yacovlevitch Gratchev) and cast at the C.F. Woerffel Foundry in St Petersburg sold on the phone for $17,250. The bronze came from a Belmont, Mass., estate. A Nineteenth Century bronze garden statue of Artemis with a bow and a wreath on a marble base sold for $2,070, while a bronze figure of “Punter,” a 1935 bronze sketch for Punter Joe Brown realized $1,295. A bronze group of two oxen by French sculptor Henri Alfred Jacquemart cast at the F. Barbedienne foundry sold for $1,840.
Timepieces were headliners as an 85½-inch Connecticut Chippendale cherry tall clock by silversmith and clockmaker Peregrine White of Woodstock, Conn., brought $10,350. The case was made with fan, swag, bellflower and paterae inlay by David Goodell of Pomfret, Conn. The clock was made for Captain John Work of Ashford, Conn., and descended in the family of John P. Grosvenor of Pomfret.
An Aaron Willard mahogany shelf clock, circa 1815, elicited $8,050 from a phone buyer. That clock, along with many other objects in the sale, came from the former home of Frank Gilman Allen, governor of Massachusetts between 1929 and 1931.
A banjo clock marked Simon Willard and Son, Boston, was not a first period production, having been made by Howard or Waltham. It sold for $2,875.
A George III tall clock with works signed “George Flashman, Fleet Street, London,” brought $3,000 from a bidder in Australia, who was also a big buyer of the Duke of Wellington material collected by Governor Allen.
The collection featured the circa 1814 watercolor “Field Marshall The Duke of Wellington” by William Heath that was in fine condition and sold for $1,295. A carved marble bust of Wellington by John Francis went to a London buyer on the phone for $1,610, and a Wellington bronze sold for $2,530. A cast bronze figure of Wellington aboard his horse marked “W. Forrest, Oct. 1841, 54 Strand, London” on a bronze base sold for $1,495.
When the Commonwealth of Massachusetts wanted a portrait of Governor Allen to hang with others at the State House, Allen chose artist Henry Wolff to depict him casually. A state arts commission was outraged, opining that the picture of the governor with his hands in his pockets was undignified.
Fourteen lots of Thomas Webb stemware in the Wellington pattern were used in the butler’s pantry of Allen’s Boston residence and sold for a total of $4,313.
A Russian goblet with gilt intaglio cutwork on one side and a cartouche with Allen’s monogram on the other realized $2,645; a group of Egyptian stone carvings from the Allen estate fetched $4,615 and a mantel by Salem carver extraordinaire Samuel McIntire sold for $3,450. The mantel came from the estate of Katharine Whittier of Beverly Farms, Mass.; she purchased it in the late 1940s from an Eighteenth Century house in Beverly.
An interesting Boston artifact, an oak corbel removed from the John Hancock home built in 1727 and demolished in 1863, sold for $1,093. The corbel bore a silver label.
Three paintings by Aldro Thompson Hibbard crossed the block. The Vermont late winter snow scene with a stream was $10,925, and the snow scene “Open Valley” sold for $8,050. Both paintings came from the Wellesley, Mass., estate of Evelyn Walker who had purchased them from Hibbard’s Rockport gallery.
An oil on artist board view of Kingston, Jamaica, by Charles H. Woodbury brought $2,875. Doug Stinson said he found it in a Providence storage warehouse. The oil on canvas portrait of Lady Margaret Morton by Scottish artist Sir Henry Raeburn came from a Boston home and sold for $2,875.
Two Colorado scenes by American Symbolist artist and member of The Eight, Arthur Bowen Davies, sold for $2,645. One, a mountain landscape of Ouray, retained the ownership stamp of Abel William Bahr, collector and long-time friend of the artist. The other picture depicted the second of “Twin Lakes.” Both went to a Colorado buyer on the phone.
A watercolor portrait of Sally Nourse drew $1,668. The painting was inscribed on the reverse, revealing that the subject was born in 1800, married in 1825, died in 1891 and descended from Rebecca Nourse, who was hanged as a witch in Salem in 1693. A lot of two schoolgirl watercolors of Worcester, Mass., subjects brought $1,035.
“River Bend, Moretown, Vermont,” an oil on canvas autumn scene by Vermont artist Robert Shaw Wesson drew $2,070, and his “River Road, Seignory Club, Ottawa, Canada,” fetched $748. A Hudson River School luminist mountain landscape went for $2,415. As he offered it, auctioneer Doug Stinson noted that he had had “hundreds of calls” on the picture.
Two seascapes by English Victorian artist Gustave de Bréanski realized $3,738, and an oil on board scene of a camel in the desert that appeared to be signed “Boufsaton” and bore a Paris stencil and an inscription on the back sold for $1,380.
A Southwestern bowl brought $2,185 from a Dallas, Texas, bidder.
The 1881 lithograph “Bird’s-Eye View of the Town of Nantucket in the State of Massachusetts Looking Southwest” published by J.J. Stoner of Madison, Wis., had been stored in a closet for 30 years and was fine and fresh. Its condition resulted in a final price of $6,038.
Art pottery was of interest and included a Marblehead Pottery cylindrical vase decorated by Arthur Bags with blue fruit trees on a darker blue ground that realized $2,588, while a Grueby vase in deep matte green with a raised leaf and flower design brought $1,438, and a 6-inch Grueby bud vase in a dark blue mottled glaze went for $1,208. A Newcomb Pottery bowl decorated by Kenneth Smith went for $1,035.
A tiger maple and cherry corner cupboard made by contemporary Vermont artist Johns Hopkins Congdon was among a group of uncataloged material offered before the sale. It realized $1,495 and came from an area home.
Silver offerings provided buyers with some fine opportunities. Two silver covered vegetable dishes by Christofle were monogrammed “J S” for John Sargent of Richmond, Va., and sold for $4,025, and a lot comprising a Tiffany sterling vase, a Tiffany sterling spoon and a Gorham sterling ladle brought $3,450. Two Towle flatware services in the D’Orleans pattern were offered. One comprising 177 pieces sold for $2,990, and the other, comprising 179 pieces, drew $3,105.
A six piece sterling tea and coffee service with bright cut decoration was made by Hodgson, Kennard and Company and dated 1916. It realized $2,588. A sterling loving cup presented by the Spee Club at Harvard University to John Caswell Jr, one of the subjects of the day’s top lot, was $575. Another presentation item, a sterling double handled trophy inscribed “The Masters of Foxhounds Association of America” and presented to owners of several hounds went for $2,415.
All prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, www.stinsonauctions.com or 781-944-6488.
