The vibrant abstract oil on canvas, “Concierto de Guitarra,” by Cuban artist Mario Carreno stunned bidders when it realized $253,000 at Kaminski Auctions’ April 26′7 sale. Bidding opened at $50,000, bounced from phone to phone, but the successful buyer was a woman in the room. The 1946 painting was accompanied by a certificate authenticity signed by Ida Gonzalez de Carreno, the artist’s wife.
The Ralph Cahoon painting “Sirene’s Tonsorial Parlor,” in an octagonal frame made by the artist, sold for $43,700. The painting, which included two sailors and two mermaids, a hot-air balloon and a ship, was accompanied by the April 1981 receipt signed by Cahoon indicating that the original buyer paid $2,310, including tax. It went to area dealers.
The oil on panel “Ships at Sea” by James E. Buttersworth, a view of sailing vessels in a stormy sea, brought $39,100 on the phone. The oil on panel bore the label of Newport, R.I., gallery Roger King.
Two snowy views of New York City by Guy C. Wiggins came from a New York collection and generated much attention. The oil on board “In Central Park” fetched $20,700. The picture was accompanied by a letter of authenticity from the artist’s son, Guy A. Wiggins, who wrote that he believed it to have been painted in the 1950s. Wiggins’s 1941 oil on canvas view of midtown was $11,500. They sold to two different area collectors.
Bidding on a Seventeenth Century Neapolitan painting depicting Joseph and Potiphar’s wife opened at $3,500 and ended at $11,500. The painting was relined more than a century ago.
Richard Hayley Lever’s 1908 impressionist oil on canvas “Night Time and Light House, St Ives, Corwall [sic]” realized $10,350 from a New Jersey buyer on the Internet. The vibrant oil on canvas by American artist Francis Luis Mora “A Spring Romp,” a landscape with a woman, a girl and a dog, realized $6,900.
John Wilson’s lithograph “Native Son” was signed and dated 1945. Estimated at $250/350, it sold for $5,463. The image of the African American man was highly sought after and went to an online bidder.
Another art standout was William Chadwick’s “Blossoms, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 1940,” which realized $10,925. It had been in the artist’s family until 2006. An oil on board view of the Gloucester docks by William Lester Stevens brought $3,163, while his landscape with a farm at Conway, Mass., sold for $1,725.
Three avant garde gouache and watercolor drawings, including an image of a clown signed “Andreenko 22,” fetched $2,530. A Nineteenth Century scene with an institutional brick building and houses suggestive of Litchfield County, Conn., realized $2,645.
Harry Aiken Vincent’s autumnal oil on canvas view of a horse-drawn wagon along a marshy road realized $2,990, and a Nineteenth Century Venetian scene was signed indistinctly and sold for $2,875.
A daguerreotype of a primitive portrait of a child and a spotted dog took $1,265.
An American piece topped the furniture for sale when a Nineteenth Century Chippendale mahogany chest brought $34,500. The four-drawer chest had been refinished and had some interior restoration, but as auctioneer Frank Kaminski put it, “It was a real gem.” Bidders agreed and it went to the Maine trade.
A pair of Belter laminated rosewood recamier sofas were a late addition to the sale and they achieved $11,500. They came from a Salem estate and went to the Southern trade. An early Nineteenth Century Massachusetts or Rhode Island Windsor armchair with a writing surface realized $1,265.
An Italian walnut secretary desk with a serpentine front and a checkered writing surface sold to a phone bidder for $21,850. The piece came from a New York City collection. An Eighteenth Century Italian walnut table with turned legs and two drawers was pegged throughout and brought $2,300 on the phone.
A Civil War surgeon’s kit containing the requisite tools bore a brass plaque identifying it as having been issued by the “USA Hosp. Dept.” It opened at $1,900 and sold online for $3,910.
Two Twentieth Century Inuit carvings stirred interest as a large stone figure of a woman and child realized $3,745 and a smaller figure of an Eskimo with a bear over his shoulder brought $2,875.
A selection of estate jewelry was headed up by a diamond brooch and earrings owned by Mary Todd Lincoln that sold for $24,150. Lincoln sold the set at an 1867 public sale of her “superfluous property,” which included “articles of dress and jewelry,” according to an article from the time that appeared in Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper describing the sale.
The 14K gold brooch was set with 24 old mine-cut diamonds and the earrings were set with 34. The successful bidder was the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, whose Yvonne J. Markowitz, Rita J. Kaplan and Susan B. Kaplan curator of jewelry, David and Roberta Logie Department of Textile and Fashion Arts, described the museum’s jewelry collection as encyclopedic, with particular strengths in the ancient Greek pieces and Twentieth Century studio pieces.
Markowitz said that provenance rendered the Lincoln jewelry highly desirable, and suspects that it was made in America because it was more modest than European creations of the period. She also said that Lincoln probably purchased the set from Galt and Brothers jewelers, the firm established in 1802 in Washington where many first ladies acquired jewels until its closing in early 2001. Lincoln was known to be a very good customer at Galt’s.
Another jewelry item of interest was a gold dress clip in the form of a beetle with diamonds and rubies made in the Faberge style and contained in a box signed Faberge. It realized $2,185.
From an area collection of Russian silver, jewelry and paintings was a Russian silver kovsh with a gilt interior that bore pre-1899 hallmarks for Moscow. It realized $2,645. A group of five Russian silver and enamel spoons, the largest of which measured 53/8 inches, bore Moscow hallmarks of years prior to 1899. The lot sold on the Internet for $1,150.
A late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century faience cat with a yellow ground with blue dots and green glass eyes was signed “E. Galle, Nancy” and attracted $2,990. A faience figural rabbit vase with floral decoration on a white ground was also signed “E. Galle, Nancy.” It sold on the phone for $2,195.
Two flatware services were sold. One, a Tiffany service for eight in the Faneuil pattern, comprising 44 pieces, bore no monogram and sold for $1,610, while a 97-piece service of Towle flatware in the King Richard pattern drew $2,415 from an Internet bidder.
A Nineteenth Century sailor’s whale bone pie crimper carved with doves with inlaid brass studs realized $3,335 despite two breaks in the jump ring.
A 30-piece collection of Camillo Ferniani Faenza faience from about 1760 was a good value at $1,725.
A late Nineteenth Century French gilt bronze torchiere urn with ormolu mounts stood 50½ inches tall and sold for $1,495.
An early Twentieth Century cranberry glass bowl with a sterling enameled and hammered cover and a sterling undertray was signed by Boston artist Rebecca Cauman. It realized $4,945. It went to a Washington state buyer.
All prices reported include the 15 percent buyer’s premium. For information, 978-927-2223 or www.kaminskiauctions.com .
