Underbid by Chuck Weber, a North Carolina collector of Western American views, Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait’s historical canvas “A Check †Keep Your Distance†exceeded estimate, selling to the phone for $381,000. Discovered in 1991, the signed 14-by-20-inch canvas, stamped on reverse with the name and address of Tait’s New York dealer, Williams, Stevens & Williams, was reproduced by lithographer Nathaniel Currier in 1853 and is the companion to Tait’s “One Rubbed Out.†Denver dealer Steve Good paid $2,841,000, a record for the artist at auction, for a larger version of “A Check †Keep Your Distance†at Christie’s in 2007. “Images like this one resonate in the American consciousness. They shaped the way Americans saw the frontier,†explained Regan Upshaw of Gerald Peters Gallery in New York City.

Collectors look forward to Northeast Auction’s annual marine, China Trade, and sporting art auction, a kind of three-ring circus under a big tent at Treadwell House each summer. I say circus, not because it is chaotic †it is so civilized you can order a lobster roll delivered to your seat while you bid †but because it is a variety show featuring one great act after the next, from decoys to Chinese porcelain.

The August 15‱6 sale filled dozens of such specialty niches, some with distinction. The tally was around $3.4 million, including premium, on 1,200 lots, a smaller gross than in past years, when totals have approached $10 million. The message? Consignors and buyers are still holding back and condition is more important than ever.

Thus, what was considered a likely contender for top lot, a supremely graceful preening duck decoy by master carver A. Elmer Crowell, passed at $75,000, even after its initial estimate of $150/250,000 was lowered. Auctioneer Ron Bourgeault later negotiated a private deal to sell the sculpture for $105,300, including premium, a good result.

The big gal with auctioneer Ron Bourgeault is a carved and painted full-length figurehead from the ship White Lady. Sold to Hyland Granby Antiques of Hyannis Port, Mass., for $183,000, the sculpture belonged to the New Bedford Whaling Museum between 1926 and 2007, when it was deaccessioned. It is attributed to John Rogerson, a Scottish-born carver who immigrated to Boston in 1849. The bronze architectural eagle fetched $25,740; the China trade portrait of a woman, $819.

Made around 1903 for Dr John C. Phillips, Crowell’s friend and employer, the decoy was given to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1934 along with other family relics.

“We are a research library and don’t collect many artifacts. We quickly loaned it to what is now Peabody Essex Museum,” explained Dennis A. Fiori, president of the Massachusetts Historical Society. The decoy was a centerpiece of an exhibition that opened in 1989 at the Peabody Essex Museum, where the bird remained for decades. Repairs were made to its lower beak and wing tip around the time of the show. Neither institution kept records, said Fiori, who had been unaware of the restoration.

“We only know now because Northeast Auctions recognized the conservator’s initials on the underside of the sculpture, contacted her and got her records and photographs,” said Fiori. “Fortunately, the repairs are completely reversible.”

Turf, Not Surf

Turf, not surf, prevailed at the end of the day. The auction’s top lot was a small oil on canvas by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, a British-born artist made famous by Nathaniel Currier, who reproduced his Wild West views as lithographs. Discovered in 1991, the 14-by-20-inch “A Check †Keep Your Distance” is stamped on reverse with the name of Tait’s New York dealer, Williams, Stevens & Williams and is the companion to “One Rubbed Out.” Both pictures were painted around 1852. American art collector Chuck Weber traveled from North Carolina only to lose “A Check †Keep Your Distance,” which depicts an Indian fighter in buckskins on the Plains, to a phone bidder for $381,000 against the $100/200,000 estimate.

Anderson Collection

As a young dealer exhibiting at shows in Texas, Ron Bourgeault met Sallie and Wesley Anderson of The Boll Weevil Antiques. Sallie chose her longtime friend to sell their 33-lot collection of Texas artifacts, including Texian Campaigne earthenware printed with views of the Mexican-American war. A James Beech tureen, cover and stand printed in light blue with “The Battle of Resaca de la Palma” led the way at $11,115. A rare Texas quilt printed with the same view made $2,340 and 25 Nathaniel Currier Mexican-American war lithographs fetched $7,254.

More Property From J. Welles Henderson

Combining utilitarian purpose with exceptional artistic grace, this painted black duck decoy made around 1903 by A. Elmer Crowell of East Harwich, Mass., for his friend and employer Dr John C. Phillips sold privately on Sunday for $103,500 after passing in the room on Saturday and after its reserve price was lowered. Given to the Massachusetts Historical Society in 1934, the sculpture was on loan for decades to the Peabody Essex Museum, which displayed it beginning in 1989 as part of a Massachusetts waterfowl decoys exhibit. Recently discovered repairs to the wing and lower beak, undertaken around the time of the exhibition, lowered the price on what otherwise could have been a record-setting decoy.

Several times over the past several years Northeast has offered property from the collection of J. Welles Henderson, notably in 2008 when it auctioned the bulk of the late Philadelphia lawyer’s marine art and antiques trove. There were bargains this year among Henderson’s stash of early satirical nautical prints, some reproduced in his book, Marine Art & Antiques: Jack Tar, A Sailor’s Life . One lot that did not get away was a group of broadsides, prints and articles related to Japan’s opening to the West in 1853 by Commodore Perry. The assorted papers reached $17,550.

Collection of S. Robert Teitelman

Some say that Bob Teitelman’s (1917′008) collection of early English pottery decorated with American historical subjects was the best ever assembled. Winterthur Museum chose several fine pieces for itself. Another 51 lots went to Northeast Auctions, prompting lively competition among dealers, collectors and curators. Ronald Fuchs, curator of the Reeves Collection at Washington & Lee University, purchased the Ship Lady Washington bowl, $8,775, and a Thomas Jefferson embellished jug, $9,360. A slew of pieces, including a creamware pitcher with a portrait of Major General Israel Putnam, $6,318, went to Rex Stark, a Massachusetts dealer in historical Americana. An anonymous phone bidder claimed a Thomas Jefferson portrait plaque for $9,360. Hyland Granby Antiques bought a jug hand painted with views of an American brig in stormy seas, $10,530. Another treasure, a pink lustre jug with portraits of Oliver H. Perry and Z.M. Pike, realized $9,360.

Sailor’s Wool Embroideries

Figural soup tureens are among the most coveted examples of Chinese porcelain made for the West. A bid of $93,600 ($80/120,000) won this 13½-inch enamel decorated goose tureen for Bill Stahl, a Sotheby’s consultant who presided over the $11.1 million Meyer sale at Sotheby’s in 1996. Both this tureen and a similar one in the Meyer collection came from Michigan dealer Jess Pavey. Stahl said he was representing a private client at Northeast.

Over the past several years, interest and, consequently, prices have risen for needlework by sailors. Popularly called “woolies,” these folk embroideries were generally made by British sailors and usually depict British ships, making American examples and subjects all the more desirable. Thirty-four woolies, many of them choice examples, from an outstanding private collection animated Sunday’s sale. Though the collector, who is said to own many more fine pieces, has not been identified, portions of the holding were displayed at the Seaman’s Institute Church in Manhattan in 2000. One of a handful of woolies specialists, New York City dealer Paul Vandekar bid by phone to claim a dozen of the offered pieces. Heading the group was a signed embroidery by George McCarthy picturing a fleet of 14 named ships. It went to Vandekar for $14,040. Two sailor’s woolwork valentines, offered by Vandekar at the Wilton Antiques Show some years ago for $1,200, brought $6,435. Hyland Granby Antiques secured a view commemorating the Great Ocean Race of 1866-67, illustrated with three American yachts, for $9,945. Janice Hyland and Alan Granby include James Buttersworth’s painting “Start of the Great Ocean Race” in their new book, Flying The Colors: The Unseen Treasures of Nineteenth Century American Marine Art.

Prices reported include the buyer’s premium.

We await with anticipation next year’s installment of what remains the industry’s foremost marine and China Trade auction.

For additional information, www.northeastauctions.com or 603-433-8400.