A smallish mahogany tall clock by the Quaker artist Allen Kelley of Sandwich, Mass., one of only a few known examples by that maker, was the lot of considerable interest at Blackwood March’s September 16 sale, where it fetched $8,050. The clock came from the estate of Cape Ann artist Aldro T. Hibbard and had stood in his studio. It is one a dozen or so tall clocks made by Kelley. The clock was sold disassembled, in what auctioneer Michael March described as “in the rough.” It measured about 7 feet 6 inches or less, according to the successful bidder, John Delaney of Townsend, Mass, who said the exact height will only be determined when the clock is reassembled.
Delaney was more than pleased with his purchase, noting that the clock is “basically all there, all original, and is distinguished for its condition, form and proportions.” He said the clock appears to date from the 1820s. Kelley’s work features in Harbor and Home: Furniture of Southeastern Massachusetts, 1710‱815 , by Brock Jobe, Gary R. Sullivan and Jack O’Brien. He maintained shops in Sandwich, Provincetown, South Yarmouth, Nantucket, Falmouth and New Bedford and was married five times.
“Autumn Near Arlington, Vermont” by Cape Ann artist and founding member of the Rockport Art Association Aldro T. Hibbard came from the artist’s estate and sold for $4,945. The unframed oil on canvas bore an estate stamp and sold in the room. A fine Victorian Eastlake carved center table from the Hibbard estate, which had been decorated by the artist, was a modest $201.
Auctioneer March specializes in the work of Cape Ann artists, and he provided a tempting selection for bidders, who represented a neat split of trade and retail. A view of Pigeon Cove, Rockport, an oil on canvas by Carl W. Peters, also bore an estate stamp and sold on the phone for $3,910. Peters’s autumn landscape with a horse-drawn cart and figures sold for $2,990.
An early oil on paper harbor scene by Anthony Thieme came from a Florida estate; it sold to an upstate New York collector on the phone for $3,220.
Arthur Wesley Dow’s 1891 watercolor “View of Water Street, Ipswich, Mass.” was framed and signed and sold for $2,990. A watercolor scene by Lester W. Stevens of a rowboat on the wreckage of a dock along a rocky shore was executed in dark hues and sold for $633.
The James McNeill Whistler lithograph “Reading” sold for $1,495, and an oil on canvas still life with a brook trout attracted $460 from a Cape Ann dealer. A scene of Don Giovanni and a statue by the colorful painter Waldo Peirce was inscribed to his friend Arthur Fiedler, the late conductor of the Boston Pops Orchestra, and realized $460. A Wesley Webber oil on canvas still life with brook trout was also $460. A watercolor of a river scene by coastal Rhode Island artist Samuel Roscoe Chaffee sold for $460.
Three cast iron firebox panels with images of witches created and copyrighted by New York and Newport artist John Whetten Ehninger (1827‱889) attracted considerable interest and sold separately. The first, a side panel with the image of a witch on a broomstick, brought $3,450 from area dealer Arthur Garrity. He was buying for a client, who intends to use them in the Florida home he is building.
Once Garrity captured the first one, other bidders were less inclined to compete, and he paid $1,035 for the central panel, which depicted three witches surrounding a cauldron, and $978 for the third panel that depicted a witch with skulls. The panels were signed and the copyright date was 1886.
Another set of three cast iron firebox panels with the image of a bodacious Art Nouveau woman whose hair ends in sun rays was marked and copyrighted by expatriate artist Charles Caryl Coleman; it sold to an Art Nouveau collector for $3,680. Both sets had some negligible rust, but neither exhibited burn marks.
The panels all came from a North Shore barn belonging to longtime collectors who were also the source of the group of albums of photographs, postcards and news clippings that also attracted interest. One group of two Victorian Grand Tour photograph albums included images of Venice and sold for $4,370. A lot of two albums of early photographs of Central and South America was $662.
A Nineteenth Century photograph album of Newburyport firefighters attracted $288, and two albums of early Twentieth Century photos of the White Mountains and other New Hampshire sites brought $259.
The framed World War II poster drawn by Lesley Carr and published in England for the Royal Air Force, “Beware the Hun in the Sun,” warned pilots to watch for German pilots coming at them from the direction of the sun. It realized $87.
Silver culled from Hamilton and Ipswich estates held its own, although it was disconcerting to see bidders with their own scales previewing the sale. A 15-inch Tiffany & Co. sterling silver serving dish brought $1,035 from the same dealer who took a 13-inch Victorian sterling silver vase that was monogrammed and dated 1897 for $748. The same bidder paid $633 for a pair of 5-inch Georg Jensen sterling compotes or master salts. Their exact nature was under debate; they were either very large salts or compotes for serving caviar or the like.
A pair of 3-inch sterling master salts with ram’s horn decoration brought $317; a 4-inch Georg Jensen sterling creamer was $748; while a Georg Jensen silver sugar spoon went for $115 and a 4-inch Tiffany creamer made $115.
A 9½-inch sterling bowl by Arthur Stone was $575, and a -inch silver bowl by Crichton and Co. of London realized $288. An unusual sterling paperweight in the form of a tortoise by S. Kirk & Son was not a production piece and brought $429.
A Canton Chinese Export platter realized $547; a lot of four Chinese porcelain brush pots that included two with figural decoration and two with floral decoration was $575.
Brown furniture was under the money, with a Nineteenth Century Sheraton mahogany server, circa 1840, going for $345, and a Sheraton two-drawer stand bringing $173 from an area dealer. An Empire mahogany center table attracted $259. A perfectly fine New England candlestand was $115, as was a Hepplewhite-style mahogany dining table with a leaf and inlay. An oak, ten-drawer chart case by Hamilton sold for $489.
All prices reported include the 15 percent buyer’s premium.
For more information, www.blackwoodauction.com or 978-768-6943.
