“This must be an important sale; just look at the front row,” Bill Smith said as he got ready to start the Monday, October 20, auction of the estate of the late Richard “Dick” Withington. He went on to say that it was “an honor to be selling Dick’s estate” and noted that “my father worked for Dick many years ago and came into the auction business via Dick Withington.”
The auction was laced with some familiar sayings of Dick Withington, including Bill Smith’s opening remark, “Don’t pay too much, you might have to resell it.” With that he offered lot 1, a rare miniature firkin in the original green paint, branded “‘C.H.,” measuring 2½ inches high. It sold for $4,400, including the buyer’s ten percent premium. All prices quoted in this review include the buyer’s premium.
A fine leather fire bucket in green paint, P. Cutter No. 1 in red, went for $715; a needlework sampler of the alphabet, poem, field and trees, Massachusetts origin, 1809, 15½ by 19½ inches, went for $2,475; and a historical blue Staffordshire basin, entrance to Erie Canal scene, 12 inches in diameter, sold for $770.
A 70-hole tin candle mold, with two applied handles, sold for $412; a Nantucket lightship basket, 8½ inches in diameter, brought $1,045; a Hepplewhite candlestand in cherry with round top, tripod tapered legs, Eighteenth Century with old surface, sold for $440; an oil on canvas of a sea captain with ships in the background, 27 by 23 inches, made $4,400; and a set of four New England birdcage Windsor side chairs realized $1,100.
“This is the largest butter stamp we have ever sold,” Smith said about lot 47, an exceptional tub-sized butter stamp with fruit leaf and chip carved motif, 9½ inches in diameter; it went for $3,960. Several lots later a skater’s lantern with blue globe, 7 inches tall, sold for $440; an early barn lantern with cranberry globe, 11 inches high, $1,595; a pair of cast iron andirons in the form of owls with glass eyes, $275; a pewter coffee pot with markings, Moret and Ober, 8 inches high, $550; and an early tin hog scraper candlestick with wedding band, 7 inches high, $440.
A Chippendale slant lid desk in maple with fluted interior, four graduated drawers, on bracket base, 36 inches wide, went for $1,540, while two pairs of fireplace tools with brass lemon tops sold for $4,620 to a phone bidder. A pair of paint decorated leather fire buckets with inscription “J. Emerson 1833,” 12 inches high, brought $8,800; a pair of cast iron andirons in the form of golfers, 12 inches high, $550; an octagonal Leeds porcelain plate with blue feather edge decoration and red transfer of an American eagle, $1,100; and a Shaker ladder back rocker in maple with cloth tape seat and grain painted, Nineteenth Century, New Hampshire origin, 42 inches high, brought $1,045.
A Bennington flint enamel poodle with basket supported from its mouth, 9 inches long, sold for $1,320; a piece of sailor’s art, shell tree of flowers in a glass dome on a mahogany base, 20 inches high, went for $1,210; and an early pewter porringer marked S.G., along with four other porringers, sold for $605.
The sale comprised 373 lots, along with several tables filled with single items and box lots. “We sold tray lots for two hours after the cataloged items and there was lots of fun stuff there,” Smith said. He indicated that smalls did well and “considering the economy, the sale went very well.” The auction grossed $259,600, including the buyer’s premium.
The next major auction at Smith’s Auction Gallery, William A. Smith, Inc, will be on November 29. For additional information, 603-675-2549 or www.wsmithauction.com .
