Snow and resentment filled the air on the cold night of March 5, 1770, as a group of American colonists formed a party outside of the Customs House in Boston and began taunting the British guard on duty. British Captain Thomas Preston, the commanding officer, was unimpressed and ordered his men outside the gates to support his guard. The mob grew and more soldiers arrived, and tensions escalated as snowballs and stones were hurled by the colonists. In return, the British soldiers fired into the crowd, and three men laid dead in the snow, with two others dying later and six more wounded. The Boston Massacre is considered the night that smoke turned to flame and ignited the American Revolution, a full five years before Lexington and Concord. Anti-British sentiment smoldered during this time, with patriots like Paul Revere etching a now famous image depicting the massacre, which appears in the book A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston (cont.)… printed in 1770. The book includes an appendix of more than 120 pages consisting of 96 sworn affidavits from eyewitnesses who saw the murders. It approaches the block at Skinner, joining other top lots from around the United States in this week’s picks.
SKINNER
Sale Date: November 18, 2018
Lot 55
A Short Narrative of the Horrid Massacre in Boston (cont.)
Perpetrated in the Evening of the Fifth Day of March 1770 by Soldiers of the XXIXth Regiment. London: Printed by Order of the Town of Boston, re-printed for E. and C. Dilly and J. Almon, 1770.
Estimate: $7/9,000
MILLEA BROS LTD
Sale Date: November 15-17, 2018
Lot 1271
Benton Henderson Clark, “Washington in the Old West”
Illustration painting, 1947, oil on board, signed and dated, gallery label verso, 23½ by 23½ inches sight.
Estimate: $1,5/2,500
ELDRED’S
Sale Date: November 16-17, 2018
Lot 352
Folk Art Wall Mirror
Circa 1930-1940s, believed to be made in the area of Franklin, Tenn. Mirror glass flanked by cutout bathing beauties. Pierced scalloped crest, 28 inches high.
Estimate: $300/500
BRUNK AUCTIONS
Sale Date: November 15-17, 2018
Lot 1493
American Queen Anne Child’s Size Desk on Frame
New England, Eighteenth Century, fine delicate form with slender legs and scalloped skirt, walnut and maple with white pine secondary, inlaid fall board and fitted interior, inlaid dovetailed drawers, engraved brasses, 35¾ inches high.
Estimate: $5/7,000
NEAL AUCTION COMPANY
Sale Date: November 16-18, 2018
Lot 527
Newcomb College Art Pottery High Glaze Wall Pocket
Decorated by Katherine Wood with lotus blossoms motif, blue, green and yellow underglaze, interior marked with Newcomb cipher, 1901, 11¾ inches high.
Estimate: $10/15,000
DuMOUCHELLES
Sale Date: November 16-18, 2018
Lot 112001
Alfred Thompson Bricher (American, 183-1908)
Mount Desert Island, Maine, oil on canvas, 1873, 24 by 20¼ inches.
Estimate: $15/25,000
TREMONT AUCTIONS
Sale Date: November 17-18, 2018
Lot 55
Double Snuff Bottle
China, Nineteenth Century. Grey and white jade. Coral stoppers. 2½ inches long.
Estimate: $1/1,500
GUERNSEY’S
Sale Date: November 17-18, 2018
Lot 45
Pair Of Nineteenth Century Russian Empire Candelabra
Gilt bronze and malachite. Electrified. Circa 1800, 47 inches high.
Estimate: $30/40,000
FREEMAN’S
Sale Date: November 14, 2018
Lot 389
Two Opalescent Stained Glass Casement Window Panels, Tiffany Studios
New York City, circa 1900. In the Gothic Revival style, retaining original metal frames and stays, one panel signed, 23½ by 18-7/8 inches, from the Bethany Church of Montpelier, Montpelier, Vt.
Estimate: $4/6,000
