The first time auctioneer Neil Vaughn saw the MacDonald estate in this Hudson River Valley town, he was only old enough to get around town by pedaling his bike. On June 21, Vaughn dispersed the trove of Nineteenth Century treasures and more that had gone relatively untouched for decades as his firm, Hudson Valley Auctioneers, sold the estate at auction to a full house.
“There were times that I wished I was sitting in the audience instead of standing at the podium,” said Vaughn, “as I had a real affinity for some of the items.” He acknowledged that the 624-lot sale was a bit of a deviation from the norm of multi-estate auctions, and there were a few select additions, but the event mainly comprised the property of the old Beacon family that through an antiques and realty business amassed a large collection of items acquired at auction in the 1940s and 1950s †all packed into the home, its basement and attic for decades. Vaughn chuckled as he recalled that Maureen MacDonald, the mother, “didn’t really like to part with anything.”
Theo de Haas, the firm’s manager, said that when they were going through the house, they found a lot of old photographs relating to Beacon and the Hudson River area †and even an early Poughkeepsie Journal with the obituary for George Washington.
Among the sale’s top highlights was a 6-gallon Haxston Ottoman & Co. Fort Edward crock with a Dalmatian dog decoration. It sold for $5,463. A West Troy 5-gallon urn with a pair of hawks as its decorative motif went out at $2,300.
A Duncan Phyfe-style period window bench that had been exhumed from the home’s attic elicited $1,725, while among a 15-lot selection of old bisque dolls from the estate, one clothed in purple drew $366 and another brought $920.
An early country corner cabinet had been repainted white and hit $1,150, and a set of sterling flatware, International Sterling’s Royal Danish pattern, achieved $1,955.
A rare Ithaca calendar clock was signed with the Nineteenth Century patent numbers by H.B. Horton and struck a final price of $1,610. Equally rare was the regal figure of a carved bust of a tobacco Indian princess, her crown, earrings and necklace polychromed gold, which brought $1,150.
Louis Vuitton steamer trunks and luggage seem to find second lives as one-of-a-kind end and coffee tables and blanket trunks. There was one featured in this sale, a reminder of a luxurious past when wealthy families made the Grand Tour of the Continent, that was not from the MacDonald estate but from another consignment, selling at $2,415.
A period console table with drawer fetched $1,725, and, among a selection of estate carpets, a small scatter rug brought $1,840.
Artwork offered in the sale ranged from Nineteenth Century portraits and sculpture to Midcentury Modern paintings. In the former, a pair of early portraits sold for $633 and a bronze bust of “Dalila,” signed Mercie (Marius Jean Antonin Mercie), Rome 1871, realized $4,255. An oil on paper abstract by Georges Mathieu (French, b 1921) was won by a gentleman from Luxembourg bidding by phone, selling for $2,588.
There were some toys crossing the block as well, including a German train set, complete with track and original box, that made $748 and a rare windup Santa Claus, looking more Old World than New, that elicited $920.
“The place was packed, and prices were pretty good across the board,” said Vaughn in summing up the sale, adding, perhaps a little wistfully, “it all went.”
Prices reported include the 15 percent buyer’s premium. For additional information, www.hudsonvalleyauctioneers.com or 845-480-2381.
