Among the tens of thousands of pieces of redware created in the mid-Atlantic region during the late Eighteenth to mid-Nineteenth Centuries, a limited number of them bear the slip decoration now desired by collectors and even fewer are found with the rarest sgrafitto decoration. Potters were generally creating plates, loaf dishes, crocks and jars for primarily utilitarian purposes. As such, it is no great surprise that American pieces with these ornate, originally European, sgrafitto designs command the highest dollar from redware collectors.
Proving the point, on January 11 Pook & Pook, Inc set a new auction record of $351,000 for an exceptional sgrafitto plate attributed to George Hubener, one of the most renowned of the identified potters. (see related article below).
In a refreshing turnaround to the current fluctuating economic trends in the antiques market, the Pook & Pook sale offered a broad range of very strong prices. The 708-lot sale was 96 percent sold by lot and produced a total revenue of $2,747,326, with more than 1,400 registered bidders both in-house and via the Internet.
The estates of Oliver Ireton Shoemaker of Media, Penn., and of Anne Brossman Sweigart of Ephrata, Penn., achieved impressive results. Sweigart, who died in February 2007, had been voted the eighth greatest resident of the century by her area newspaper and had amassed a tremendous collection both in scope and in size. The highlights of her estate consisted of a very rare T.G. Hawkes and Co. clear glass goblet engraved with historical scenes by William H. Morse, which brought $70,200, and a five-piece Chinese Export garniture set that made $25,740.
The consignment from the Shoemaker estate revealed the family’s rich and deep Philadelphia history with many items descending through the family from Nineteenth Century sea captain George Robinson and three-time colonial Philadelphia mayor Benjamin Shoemaker. An oil on canvas of the Philadelphia ship Electra off the white cliffs of Dover by British artist Miles Walters sailed to a final price of $35,100.
The second highest priced lot in the sale was a pair of New England oil on panel folk portraits from the late Eighteenth Century. Depicting a husband and wife in appropriate costume, the portraits were hotly contested as auctioneer James Pook accepted bids from phone bidders, floor bidders and dealer David Wheatcroft, who ultimately won the lot for $128,700.
Folk art fared well. A lot comprising a New England hearth rug, central basket of flowers within a vine border, together with a smaller sewn rug with central red panel and shirred wool surround, sold for an outstanding $28,080. A Southeastern Pennsylvania watercolor fraktur from the early Nineteenth Century depicting two mermaids above a pond with fish, flanked by tulip vines, sold for $19,890.
With 18 tall case clocks of both American and European origin offered during the sale, the most striking example was a Chester County, Penn., Chippendale walnut tall case clock with an eight-day silvered dial, inscribed “Isaac Thomas Willistown,” which sold for $42,120.
Prices reported include the 17 percent buyer’s premium. For information, 610-269-4040 or www.pookandpook.com.
Sgraffito Redware Dish Goes To $351,000
Early in the day at Pook & Pook’s January 11 sale, a Montgomery County, Limerick Township, Penn., sgraffito redware dish dated 1785 crossed the auction block. Descended in the family of pioneer collector Arthur Sussel, the plate was adorned with a three-tulip vine and floral pinwheels.
The 12¼-inch-diameter plate also had an inscribed border, which was translated for Pook & Pook by retired Lutheran minister and Pennsylvania-German historian Reverend Frederick S. Weiser to read, “If it weren’t for the boys and the roosters, then cradles and hen houses would be empty.” The wonderfully, bawdy verse was just a bonus to the vibrant surface with a yellow and green glaze over the deep-toned earthenware body, as well as the pristine condition, since the plate had only sustained a very few small flakes over its 222 years.
Estimated at $50/70,000, the dish was opened up for bidding in the saleroom by Pook & Pook auctioneer Kellie Seltzer for $40,000. She guided a lone phone bidder and multiple bidders in the salesroom through 31 bid increments to end at a final price of $351,000, including the 17 percent buyer’s premium. American folk art dealer David Wheatcroft of Westborough, Mass., who was bidding in the room, was the eventual winner to the hushed exclamations of the audience.
The Hubener plate sales price more than triples the previous auction record for a sgrafitto plate, which had lasted only nine months and was also held by Pook & Pook. In April 2007, Pook & Pook handled the landmark Americana collection of Dr and Mrs Donald A. Shelley. It was the Shelleys’ Bucks County, Penn., earthenware charger attributed to Isaac Stout, bearing the date 1790 and central decoration with a leaping stag, flanked by tree, flowering vine and fence, which then sold to a collector in the salesroom for $111,150.
Asked about the results and Wheatcroft’s monumental purchase following the January 11 auction, a collector from Pennsylvania stated, “Things have sure changed. Ten and 20 years ago, no one would have dreamed of six-figure redware sales. The big collectors and dealers keep pushing the spending ceiling for the truly amazing pieces higher and higher.”
While items from the Sussel collection were not the only significant results, there were several additional prices of note among the items descending in the family of the pioneer collector. A Montgomery County, Penn., sgraffito redware dish by Samuel Troxel, dated 1828, with central spread winged eagle, a banner inscribed “Liberty” and a potted tulip vine sold for $70,200. A Bucks County, Haycock Township, Penn., sgraffito decorated redware plate attributed to Conrad Mumbouer, circa 1815, was adorned with tulip vine and stylized floral pinwheel decoration and sold for $76,050.
