A Nineteenth Century molded copper Hamburg rooster weathervane that was attributed to L.W. Cushing and Sons of Waltham, Mass., was the first lot at the John McInnis Auctioneers May 9 sale. It proved to be an auspicious opener, selling to a phone bidder for $18,400, underbid by several interested parties in the gallery. Another weathervane from the 1930s took the unusual form of a baseball bat and it realized $3,450 from the same phone bidder. It had been a gift from Babe Ruth to Eddie Collins, second baseman for the Philadelphia Athletics and the Chicago White Sox.
An 84½-inch birch tall clock with a painted dial and a Roxbury-style case, with the original red surface, was made on the North Shore of Massachusetts and had Noyes family provenance, and realized $10,350. An Eighteenth Century Chippendale maple tall clock made in Newburyport by Daniel Balch for Ephraim Dyer was a remarkably good buy when it fetched $2,300.
Another gem was a very good New Hampshire Dunlap school maple slant front desk that was dovetailed and carved; despite an obvious need of some work, it realized $8,913.
The previews were well attended and buyers picked out their favorites, such as the miniature double-handled wood bucket in dark green paint that realized $2,530 from a Cape Cod dealer. On the morning of the sale, auctioneer John McInnis was attending to last minute details. He gestured to the crowded gallery and said the day-to-day business is a three-person operation, and that having a full complement of runners and other staff was a bit like herding kittens. Nevertheless, the sale went smoothly and nearly 700 lots were sold.
A selection of grand English Adams-style furniture, circa 1890, was decorated in the style of Angelica Kauffman; it went to a single buyer. A canopy bed was $2,875, a six-drawer tall chest $2,588, a fire screen fetched $575, a serpentine dressing table $1,035, a secretary was $1,840 and a set of four armchairs $1,265. A similar pair of armchairs went elsewhere for $2,530.
A French-style bedroom set from the 1940s by Boston maker Joseph Gerte and comprising a lady’s chest, a tall chest, a night stand a mirror and a pair of twin beds fetched $1,725. A Nineteenth Century Gothic server with a marble top made $1,150.
An Eighteenth Century child’s highchair with robust turning and a rush seat realized $1,380 and a carved and turned two-part Welsh cupboard brought $1,150.
A swimming bird decoy by carver and shoemaker George Boyd of Seabrook, N.H., realized $3,738, while a carved and painted rooster attributed to Wilhelm Schimmel brought $2,645.
A stylish Nineteenth Century French pair of black marble obelisks with Egyptian decorations fetched $1,150, and an equally stylish pair of French candelabra mounted as lamps sold for $1,208.
The highlight of the paintings across the block was “At the Mouth of the Willamette River,” an 1882 oil on canvas view with Mount Hood in the distance by Cleveland Salter Rockwell; it brought $17,250. Rockwell trained as an engineer and conducted surveys on the West Coast, concentrating on the coast of Oregon and the Columbia and Willamette Rivers.
Other fine art highlights included “The Making of the American School Teacher” by the South Dakota-born artist Harvey Thomas Dunn, which was $14,375, and “Dandy au Petit Cigare” by Claude Monet, which was signed “O. Monet” and realized $12,650. By age 15 Monet was making money creating caricatures, frequently of his teachers, that he signed “O. Monet” †his full name was Oscar Claude Monet. His market was initially his fellow students, but eventually the artist Eugene Boudin discovered the drawings. An 1889 landscape by Arthur Wesley Dow came from a Newburyport house; “Field in Summer” sold for $6,038.
An unsigned landscape by Boston School painter Lilian Westcott Hale brought $5,750. It was consigned by a direct descendant of the artist, and a letter attesting to its authenticity accompanied the lot.
Emile Gruppe’s Gloucester Harbor picture “Mending the Nets” attracted $5,175 and “The Homestead” by New York artist James Renwick Brevoort sold for $3,565.
Frank Vining Smith’s oil on board scene “Geese over Marshes” had a Florida seascape with a galleon on the reverse side and sold for $4,600. The work was signed on both sides.
Three paintings by White Mountain artist William Preston Phelps were offered and all went to the same buyer. A view of a mountain, possibly Mount Monadnock, sold for $4,600, “Tending the Flock” brought $4,025 and “Gathering Sticks” drew $2,070.
Of three pictures by German American artist Rudolf Scheffler that came from a Portsmouth, N.H., estate, the abstract oil on canvas “Wild Stallions” realized $3,738. The other two did not sell.
A sweeping view of Mount Jefferson from Mount Washington by French artist Victor De Grailly sold for $1,725. De Grailly is not known to have left his native country, but he produced large oil paintings after the engravings by William Henry Bartlett in American Scenery . A view of the Execution Rock lighthouse in Long Island Sound by contemporary artist William R. Davis realized $3,450.
Early glass was of interest: an embossed emerald green Jenny Lind calabash bottle fetched $4,600, a bright yellow glass whisky bottle for Old Continental Whisky with the image of a soldier and the date 1776 sold for $4,235, and an early American blown-glass spooner that may have been made by Stiegel was estimated at $300/400 and realized $3,565.
A Nineteenth Century Chinese embroidered silk lady’s robe sold for $4,025, a Nineteenth Century man’s imperial silk kimono embroidered in a five-claw dragon decoration was $920, and a set of four Chinese scrolls brought $2,990.
A pair of Twentieth Century Chinese jade table screens on teak bases went for $1,150, while an Eighteenth Century carved ivory Chinese figure sold for $920 and a Nineteenth Century example was $805.
A Chinese Export famille rose punch bowl drew $1,150, and eight pieces of Canton blue and white porcelain garnered $920.
A very pretty lot of nine Coalport enameled and gilt cups and saucers was desirable and elicited $1,208.
An English repousse sterling lady’s 21-piece dressing set decorated with putti and fitted in an oak case sold for $4,313, and a 68-piece Georg Jensen silver flatware service in the Argo pattern brought $3,335. A 20-piece lot of Jensen silver flatware was $1,093. A 3½-inch Nineteenth Century silver beaker by John Ewan of Charleston, S.C., drew $1,955.
A working model of a chain-driven tractor made by Roger Hunter sold for an impressive $1,610.
A 1781 ship’s octant made for Edward Simpson, along with his copy of Nathaniel Bowditch’s The New American Practical Navigator , the volume published in Newburyport by Edward Blunt, brought $1,323. An early Nineteenth Century surveyor’s compass in the original dovetailed case sold for $863.
A group of baseball memorabilia from the Amesbury estate of Sammy Howard, who was a batboy for the Boston Braves during the 1940s, attracted diehards. A 1951 New York Giants program and a 1942 New York Giants score card from when the game was played at the Polo Grounds realized $288.
A lot of three Mickey Mantle trading cards by Topps brought $288. A Pittsburgh Pirates paper baseball was autographed by Roberto Clemente, but the signature was not immediately recognizable; it went out at a very reasonable $160.
All prices quoted reflect the 15 percent buyer’s premium. For information, 800-822-1417 or www.mcinnisauctions.com .
