South Bay Auctions Inc conducted a significant auction recently at the American Legion Hall. The company was offering property from the estate of noted author and sportsman John W. Mackay of Mill Neck, N.Y.

Among the things presented at this sale were several William Aiken Walker paintings, an Edith Parson bronze fountain, many fine European sporting paintings and formal furniture.

The top lot of the sale was an oil on panel by Belgian artist Charles Henri Joseph Leickert (1818-1907), a depiction of a sunrise over windmills. It opened with a powerful $10,000 bid from the phone and, with eight phones competing, sold for $25,300.

The first of the Walkers presented was an oil on board cabin scene with children and animals. After a quick round of competitive bidding, it sold for $20,700. The second of the Walkers was a pair of oils on board, an appealing pair of cotton pickers, a man and a woman. One of the paintings was cracked and needed some restoration. Still, the pair was terrific and sold quickly for a solid $17,825.

An oil on board of a cabin by William Aiken Walker reached $20,700.

Among the decoys offered at the sale was a Dodge shorebird inoriginal paint, which sold to a customer at the auction for $4,945.A chip carved Gelson-style curlew shorebird with a metal billrealized $2,070, and a Merganser decoy, with a horsehair comb andbranded “A.P.,” sold to a customer on the phone for $2,645.

An Eighteenth Century oil on canvas by British artist George Morland (1763-1804) titled “Snipe Shooting,” which came from the Mackay estate, went off the block for $18,400. A Roland Clark watercolor, “Raising Pintails,” drew the attention of three phone bidders and brought $10,100. A fine Otto Swarg, St Petersburg #300 salmon reel in a leather case, which also came from the Mackay collection, was offered early in the sale. It opened at $1,000 and sold to a buyer on the phone for $1,725.

There was a lot of interest in everything from the Mackay estate. For example, several watercolors from the American watercolorist Roland Green (1874-1957) were offered. One of them, “Mallards Swinging By,” sold for $1,840. Another, “Partridge Over the Moor,” fetched $1,529.

Federal mahogany veneered drop front desk, signed illegibly on the back and dated 1818, sold for $6,600.

Mackay had assembled a considerable sporting library, andmuch of it was for sale here. Dogs in the Field byMarguerite Kirmse, published by Derrydale Press, N.Y., 1935#450/685, was offered along with a folder of six prints, all invery good condition. The lot sold to the phone for $633. Clark’sStray Shots, published by Derrydale Press, 1931, sold for$374.

Folky Americana offered at the sale included a stoneware one-gallon crock with blue-black swan decoration and three interior cracks; opening at $900, it went off the block for $2,740 to an onsite bidder. An American Nineteenth Century grained painted blanket chest with bootjack ends, good old surface and detached hinges achieved $1,840. A small and appealing miniature blanket chest in an old, crackly mustard-brown surface saw lots of action before going off the block for $1,495. An American Nineteenth Century oversized wooden mixing bowl with good old worn white paint sold for $1,150.

Prices reported include 15 percent buyer’s premium.