“Lower Broadway in Winter,” Guy Wiggins, $92,500.

Sheraton server by Seymour, $45,000.

By Rita Easton

OLD LYME, CONN. – Russ Antiques Auctions, LLC held a June 1 auction at the Old Lyme Inn, hosting an audience of approximately 600 in competition for the 263 lots offered. A major draw was the chance to bid for 14 Guy Wiggins paintings.

Wiggins was a personal friend of the Old Lyme family of George Cummings, who had consigned additional furniture and decorations, with additional rdf_Descriptions from a Manhattan estate, and fine art and antiques offered on behalf of the Florence Griswold Museum and other shoreline estates.

Fetching the starring bid was a Guy Wiggins oil on canvas entitled “Lower Broadway in Winter,” a scene depicting high-rise buildings on either side of the avenue, including Trinity Church, 20 by 24 inches, going to a private buyer at $92,500.

“Blizzard at the Plaza,” a 24- by 36-inch oil on canvas by Wiggins reached $86,500, going to a private buyer; “Broad Street, Winter,” a 9- by 12-inch oil on canvas by Wiggins went for $61,000, breaking the artist’s previous record for a canvas of that size; “Wall Street, Winter,” and a 9- by 12-inch canvas by the same artist, sold for $26,000.

A William Chadwick 28- by 36-inch oil on canvas, “Autumn in Lyme,” was purchased privately at $12,250; an illustrative art work by Sundblom, depicting a woman leaning against a tree holding a hat, 28 by 35 inches, sold for $15,000; “The Gale,” depicting a stormy sea with white capped waves by Bzigurski, 70 by 36 inches, set a record at $5,200; and “Bay of Naples” in a silk needlework by Matilda Bailey, measuring approximately 25 by 30 inches, brought $6,500.

A Sheraton marble top server with cookie corners, having four inlaid cupboard doors across the front with original wood knobs, a Seymour piece made of mahogany, went to the trade at $45,000; an interesting 1790 original Boydell edition Hogarth folio with 107 images was sold for $6,000; a Georgian mahogany butler’s secretary with fitted interior below a pair of glass doors with Gothic motif reached $5,100; and an oak Eighteenth Century gate-leg table garnered $3,100.

A Grant Wood, “Approaching Storm,” achieved $3,600; a large American tavern table with single drawer and stretcher base escalated to $5,750; a pair of mid Eighteenth Century sterling silver candlesticks approximately eight inches high reached $2,500; a French telescope on a stand with a fitted case did $2,600; a five-piece sterling silver tea and coffee set achieved $1,700; a pair of ball and claw foot mahogany Georgian stools upholstered in a yellow fabric made $2,100; and a Georgian mahogany butler’s tray on a folding stand did $1,350. The stunning buy of the day was a handsome French settee at $250.

Prices quoted do not reflect a 15 percent buyer’s premium.