Three days, 1,818 lots, a one-owner sale, and $6.29 million later, Ronald Bourgeault and Northeast Auctions completed another marathon of sales at the Radisson Hotel on October 26′8. It all got off to a start on Friday morning with 105 lots from the second part of the Florence Durfee Dedham Pottery collection where an Elephant and Baby pattern plate, 10 inches in diameter, went for $2,438, and a Wild Rose pattern plate with impressed rabbit, 83/8 inches in diameter, brought $5,104.
A Hampshire Pottery matte glaze oil lamp base, circa 1905‱0, molded with elongated tulip stems flanked by curved leaves, 5¾ inches high, sold for $2,320. A bid of $5,104 took a Marblehead Pottery matte glazed vase dating from the early Twentieth Century, rolled rim and painted with panels of grapevines bearing grapes in green and peach, 8½ inches high. An American Arts and Crafts patinated metal and slag glass Grapevine pattern lamp, possibly Riviere Studios, early Twentieth Century, 22½ inches high, sold for $3,712.
On Saturday, following the sale of the Bisnoff collection, American furniture, paintings, folk art and accessories crossed the block. Among the paintings, an American primitive of a standing child in a coral dress with dog and tack hammer, oil on canvas, 34 by 26 inches, dated 1838, sold for $7,540, and a New England fancy painted two-drawer blanket chest in pine, ochre and red decoration, 39 inches wide, went for $30,160.
Three weathervanes came up in a row, starting with a full-bodied copper fish, gilt surface, 20 inches long, for $5,510, followed by a folk art carved rooster vane in white paint, 33 inches long and 22 inches high, formerly in the Barenholtz collection, for $3,480, and a large American full-bodied copper steer with gilded surface, 20 inches high and 33 inches long, Cushing & White, for $13,340.
Thirteen mural decorated wall panels by Rufus Porter, removed from the Adams Female Academy, East Derry, N.H., were offered in two lots, but were passed when a bid of $10,000 could not be gotten. Several lots following, the Dr Ftitz Talbot collection of A. Elmer Crowell bird carvings was offered, 52 lots, and lots of interest was shown in this part of the sale. “The birds were early and rare,” auctioneer Ron Bourgeault said, and the prices bore that out. This part of the sale was covered in a special review, with photos, that appeared in the November 9 issue of Antiques and The Arts Weekly, page 43.
A folk portrait of Major David Galliday of Virginia, circa 1790, oil on canvas measuring 26 by 32 inches, the stretcher with old label identifying the sitter, brought $4,640, and two pewter salts attributed to William Will, Philadelphia, 1764‱798, 2½ inches tall and 25/8 inches in diameter, went for $2,900.
Lot 976, an American primitive portrait of a sea captain’s son and daughter with dog, ship in the background, oil on canvas, 28 by 28 inches, brought $3,596. A New England Sheraton washstand in tiger maple, one long drawer and ball feet, 36 inches high, sold for $2,668, while a velvet theorem of a footed basket with fruit and bird by Fanny Stanton, 14 by 13½ inches sight, went for $3,480. A bid of $6,670 took a New England William and Mary red painted bible box with snipe hinges and rosehead nails, 8½ inches high and 19 inches wide, and a large early American round burl bowl with mellow patina, 20½ inches in diameter, sold for $4,060.
Five early treenware square carved plates with salt cups, the largest 8 inches, went for $6,728; an elaborately carved spoon rack with pinwheel and fan decoration, 20 inches high and 8½ inches in width, $6,670; and a New England Chippendale tiger maple bonnet top chest-on-chest, 86 inches high, 39 inches wide and 22 inches deep, molded crest with flame finials, center fan carved, molded base, sold for $14,500.
Toward the end of the sale, a New York classical marble top pier table in mahogany, apron with gilt lyre decoration, compressed bun feet, realized $12,760; an American Egyptian Revival marble top center table in mahogany, eight columnar legs with gilt capitals, carved sphinx-form feet, 34 inches high with a top 33½ inches in diameter, brought $5,800; and among a selection of Currier & Ives, a medium folio colored lithograph, “Home To Thanksgiving,” sold within the estimate at $13,920.
Another Currier & Ives, 1869, Cunningham 4450, “The New York Club Regatta,” large folio hand colored lithograph after Charles Parsons, made $10,440; “Mountain Showers,” an oil on canvas by Elliott Daingerfield, 30 by 45 inches, signed and dated 1906 on the reverse, fetched $30,160; “The Death of Julius Caesar,” Italian School, Eighteenth Century, oil on canvas measuring 49 by 72 inches, sold for $6,960; and the sale ended with a bidder paying $40,600 for a pair of William IV silver and silver gilt figural salts, Paul Storr, London, 1832″3.
In addition the lots from the Bisnoff collection and the Talbot collection of Crowell carvings (reviewed separately), the three days of sales included objects from the Robert Clifford collection of Pilgrim Century Americana, mocha ware from the collection of Jonathan Rickard, property from the Baltimore Museum of Art, the William Rockhill Nelson Trust of Kansas City, the collection of Betsy and Timothy Trace, glass from the collection of Harold A. Bair, American and European glass from the Florence Bushee collection, and the Florence Durfee Dedham Pottery collection.
Northeast Auctions’ 2008 schedule will begin with a sale on February 22′4 at the Radisson, Manchester, N.H. For information, 603-433-8400 or www.northeastauctions.com .
