“The Reapers” by Winslow Homer, watercolor and gouache on paper mounted to cardboard, 11 by 14 inches in a giltwood frame, sold to an East Coast buyer for $78,000.

Review by Madelia Hickman Ring

HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — In the second week of December, Leland Little conducted three auctions, December 11-13, in which fine art, jewelry and decorative arts were offered, respectively. All but five of the 280 lots offered across the three sales sold, and a cumulative total of $1.14 million was realized. With two sales to go before the end of the fiscal year — luxury accessories and estate jewelry on December 19 followed on December 20 by a holiday estates auction — Leland Little was happy as the firm’s year came to a close. He noted they were exactly where they wanted to be, having had a “really good couple of weeks.”

Fine Art

A watercolor and gouache on paper landscape of reapers in a field, titled “Reapers” and painted by Winslow Homer (American, 1836-1910) brought $78,000, which was the highest price realized in the December 11 Fine Art auction and, indeed, for any other day that week. Previously owned by the late Raleigh, N.C., collector, Frances Stagg Nicholson Sanders, the extensive catalog note that accompanied it outlined a detailed history back to 1880 and noted it had been published in Lloyd Goodrich and Abigail Booth Gerdts’ Record of Works by Winslow Homer: 1867-1876, volume II (New York, 2008). An East Coast collector had the prevailing bid.

“Le Cavalier,” a blue-toned composition of a horse and standing figure by Vũ Cao Dàm (Vietnamese French, 1908-2000), will be leaving the country to a new owner who won it for $33,600. The painting had gone from the artist’s studio to Findlay Galleries in 1965, then to two private collections, including one in Southern Pines, S.C.

An international bidder paid $33,600 for Vũ Cao Dàm’s “Le Cavalier,” 1965, oil on canvas, 26 by 29½ inches in a gilt composition frame.

“Where the Buffalo Roam,” a contemporary Western American landscape by Nathan Solano (American, b 1950), finished in third place, at $14,400. Little noted it attracted “unexpectedly high interest” and found a new home with a North Carolina collector.

Also staying in North Carolina is “Lyceum Avenue,” a circa 1950 oil on canvas landscape by Francis Speight (American, 1896-1989) that epitomized the sympathetic scenes of the blue collar industrial towns surrounding Philadelphia, where the artist lived as an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. The composition had been in two North Carolina collections prior to crossing Leland Little’s block and it rose to $11,400.

Fine Jewelry

Jewelry auctions are often conducted before the winter holidays so that those who like to give jewelry as gifts have as many options as possible but Little said they have strong jewelry sales throughout the year. Leading the 101-lot sale on December 12 was a platinum and diamond ring with a round brilliant cut 4.9 carat diamond, graded E for color and I1 for clarity, flanked on each side by tapered baguette cut diamonds totaling an additional .28 carats. Estimated at $10/15,000, the size 6¾ ring exceeded expectations and made $21,000, from an East Coast bidder.

Leading the jewelry selection at $21,000 was this platinum and diamond ring that an East Coast buyer won.

North Carolina and Southern bidders prevailed on some of the other jewelry highlights, namely a bi-color 18K gold and diamond bracelet by Carlo Weingrill that came from a North Carolina estate and also surpassed its high estimate to close at $17,400. It will be staying in the state, as will a 2.77-carat platinum and diamond cocktail ring that came from the same estate as the top jewelry lot. Estimated at $7/12,000, it finished strong, at $13,200. Two additional pieces will be staying in the South, though to different buyers outside of North Carolina: a 15-carat 18K gold and diamond bracelet from a Wilson, N.C., estate ($12,000) and a platinum, 18K gold, ruby and diamond ring that centered a 2-carat oval brilliant cut diamond.

Not all the jewelry is staying in the US, as evidenced by the international buyer at $10,800 of a pair of vintage platinum, jadeite jade and diamond dangle earrings that was noted to be from the estate of a New York socialite.

Decorative Arts

Slightly more than 100 lots were presented in the Decorative Arts auction on December 13, which saw a strong range of Southern pottery and furniture and other forms from around the United States and beyond.

This late Eighteenth Century Chippendale walnut china press from Virginia came to sale from a Virginia collection and is returning to the state for $30,000.

An important Chippendale walnut china press, which came from a Petersburg, Va., collection and was attributed to the Deloney family shop of Mecklenburg County, Va., set the day’s high bar at $30,000. Little confirmed it was returning to Virginia with a private collector.

More Southern furniture followed. A North Carolina Federal walnut cellarette, dated to circa 1780-1800 from the Roanoke River Basin. The piece had been published in John Bivins, Jr’s, Summer 1996 Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts (JESDA) article “Furniture of the North Carolina Roanoke River Basin in the Collection of Historic Hope Foundation” and was being deaccessioned from Historic Hope Foundation in Windsor, N.C. A Southern collector topped it off at $14,400.

Another Historic Hope Foundation deaccession — A Chippendale inlaid mahogany serpentine chest of drawers from Charleston, S.C. — brought $6,600.

A May 1992 JESDA article as well as Ronald L. Hurst and Jonathan Prown’s Southern Furniture 1680-1830, The Colonial Williamsburg Collection (1997) featured a late Eighteenth Century Virginia Chippendale mahogany chest of drawers that was consigned by the same estate as the top-selling china press. It, too, is returning to Virginia.

Two lots vied for “most impressive” and each brought impressively strong prices. Realizing $27,600 and selling to “a world class organist” was a circa 1960 Flentrop practice tracker organ with a teak and rosewood case that measured 94 inches tall. According to the catalog note, it is one of the first organs made during the 1960s, when Flentrop built many instruments abroad. Earlier owners of the astonishing piece were John and Margaret Mueller, who were recognized as being “key players in the revival of the classic organ in America.”

This circa 1960 teak and rosewood cased Flentrop practice tracker organ sold for $27,600 to “a world class organist.”

Standing even taller than the organ at an even 11 feet was a set of three English Gothic revival mahogany bookcases that were acquired in 1928 for Carter’s Grove, the James River plantation owned by Pittsburgh, Penn., industrialist, Archibald McCrea and his wife, Molly, a native Virginian. The North Carolina buyer will save a little on shipping, though they paid $18,000 for them.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house.

Leland Little will sell collector cars on January 15, the Pilloff Collection on January 16, rare and collectible books on January 22, Modern and contemporary art and design on January 30 and prints and multiples on January 31. For information, www.lelandlittle.com or 919-644-1243.