Freeman’s American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts Auction
May 3 at 10 AM EST
americana@freemansauction.com
267.414.1237
PHILADELPHIA — Freeman’s spring auction season is highlighted by rare Americana collector’s opportunities, led by a May 3 American furniture, folk and decorative arts auction and a May 4 books and manuscripts auction. From manuscripts and documents to silver, furniture, art and design objects, these two sales bring the best of early American culture, politics and artistic production to market.
Freeman’s May 3 American furniture, folk and decorative arts sale brings collectors a selection of early Americana with impressive provenance, led by Nicolino Calyo’s “View of the Schuylkill River & Fairmount Park Water Works,” a sweeping oil on canvas view of Nineteenth Century Philadelphia ($100/150,000). A rare embroidered and painted “Plan of the City of Washington” offers a different kind of cityscape: a map of Washington DC worked with silk threads, watercolor and ink on a silk ground by Grace Turner Cleaver ($30/50,000).
Furniture punctuates the auction, including a Chippendale carved mahogany chest-on-chest ($20/30,000) and the Pemberton-Morris-Lloyd Chippendale carved and figured mahogany sideboard table ($40/60,000). Several Eighteenth Century silver pieces showcase early American craftsmanship: John Coney’s 1700 silver caudle cup ($10/15,000) and John Dixwell’s 1715 silver two-handled cup ($10/20,000), both early Boston metalworking highlights.
The undoubted highlight of Freeman’s May 4 books and manuscripts auction is a rare John Hancock letter that announced the Declaration of Independence to the state of Georgia on July 8, 1776 (estimate upon request). One of only five such letters known to exist, and one of only two still in private hands, this document is extraordinarily rare — a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for serious collectors of early American history.
Alongside this document are several significant documents that will delight Americana collectors, including the earliest available Connecticut printing of the US Constitution ($18/24,000), a contemporary manuscript of Benjamin Franklin, John Jay and John Adams’ peace journals during their negotiations with Great Britain to end the American Revolution ($50/80,000) and two Alexander Hamilton items: a letter to his beloved wife Eliza ($12/18,000) and a scarce first edition of the infamous Reynolds Pamphlet that revealed Hamilton’s affair and subsequent blackmail ($6/9,000).
Freeman’s is at 2400 Market Street. For more information, www.freemansauction.com or 215-563-9275.
Nicolino Calyo (Italian/American 1799-1884) A View of the Schuylkill River and Fairmount Water Works, Philadelphia, signed, and dated, “1853,” oil on canvas $100,000-150,000
A Mifflin Family Chippendale carved walnut side chair, Philadelphia, PA, circa 1770 $3,000-5,000
A carved and painted carousel figure of pig, attributed to Gustave Bayol Carousel Company (active 1887-circa 1914) Angers, France $2,000-3,000
A rare embroidered and painted plan of the City of Washington, D.C. worked by Grace Turner Cleaver (1786-1862), Alexandria, VA, circa 1802 $30,000-50,000
Three Chinese Export porcelain “Fitzhugh” tablewares, circa 1800 $3,000-5,000
A fine Chippendale carved walnut chest-on-chest, carving attributed to James Reynolds (1736-1794), Philadelphia, PA, 1766-1775 $20,000-30,000
A silver caudle cup, John Coney (1655-1722), Boston, MA, circa 1700 $10,000-15,000
The Pemberton-Morris-Lloyd Chippendale carved mahogany sideboard table, by tradition attributed to Thomas Affleck (1745-1795) Philadelphia, PA, circa 1775 $40,000-60,000
INQUIRIES: Lynda Cain at 267.414.1237 or americana@freemansauction.com
5 Church Hill Road / Newtown, CT 06470
Mon - Fri / 8:00 am - 5:01 pm
(203) 426-8036