Virtually all of the high-stakes Americana players were in town on Saturday evening, April 10, for Joseph Kabe’s Americana auction, and those that were not present in the gallery were there in spirit †bidding telephonically. The excitement was created by a selection of materials consigned from the Pease estate of Rhode Island, whose lineage stretched back in the Eighteenth Century in the Newport area.
Highlighting the selection was an extremely rare Goddard Townsend-made Newport bonnet top highboy. The rare case piece was one of 12 known examples, according to Kabe. With the exceptional reticulated talons on the ball and claw feet, the highboy had descended in the same family for more than 200 years.
Present in the standing-room-only crowd at the auction was David Schorsch, Roberto Freitas and Ohio dealer Bill Samaha. Leigh Keno had been seen looking over the highboy during preview and he was one of several rumored to be on the telephones. Names such as Guy Bush, Arthur Liverant, and C.L Prickett were being tossed about by the crowd in the auction hall as other possible phone bidders.
As the lot crossed the block, Kabe asked for $100,000 and Schorsch’s hand shot straight up into the air as he vigorously waved to catch Kabe’s attention. Freitas hit the lot at $125,000 and Schorsch countered at $150,000. It was not long before Samaha, who was seated just a few feet away from Schorsch, jumped into the fray, with the Ohio dealer claiming the lot a short time later at $431,250. A small sampler from the same family also sold to Samaha for $17,250. A full report will appear in a future issue.
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