: Unsigned, in need of cleaning and with a puncture wound inflicted
by Hurricane Charlie, Antonio Jacobsen's oil on canvas ship
portrait "Fetching the Mark" still managed to fetch a world
record price of $281,000 at Skinner's February 19 Americana sale.
The circa 1873 painting was originally identified as a J.E.
Buttersworth ship portrait during an Antiques Roadshow
segment taped in Tampa, Fla., but when it came to Skinner,
extensive and meticulous scholarship revealed it to be a Jacobsen
image of the schooner Dreadnought about to round the mark
in a New York Yacht Club race. Said consultant Charlie Lanagan,
who researched the picture for Skinner, it is simply "a
masterpiece."
Because of the uncertainty about the artist when the catalog went
to press, no estimate was published. The successful bidder was
collector Bill Mayer.
During a gallery talk several days before the sale, Lanagan waxed
eloquent about the picture and the attribution process. After the
picture sold, he demonstrated his points with copies of Jacobsen
works tracing the evolution of his style. He said the distinctive
handling of sails and shadows, the backlight, the striations of
the American flag and the luminescence of the waves point
consistently to Jacobsen. The race was the Cape May Challenge Cup
of October 1872.
The 28 3/4-by-49 7/8-inch picture had been in the consignor's
family since the late 1880s when the husband's grandfather
spotted it in the window of a New York shop. He made repeated
lunch-hour visits to view it and received it finally as a gift.
The family decided to consign the picture after it barely
survived the ravages of several hurricanes that struck Florida.
The Chippendale mahogany slant front desk by John Townsend of
Newport, R.I., attracted substantial presale interest, and sold
on the phone after a lively bidding spell for $82,250. The desk
retained the original Townsend label but not the feet.
The strong money went to good painted folk art, of which
there was a proliferation. An early Nineteenth Century fireboard in
amazing fresh condition painted with a scene of a federal farmhouse
with two smoking chimneys elicited phone and room competition, but
went ultimately to a phone bidder for $82,250. Another fireboard, a
three-panel example attributed to Rufus Porter and depicting a
colonial landscape with water and a distant village, had some
replacements and paint loss and sold to an Internet buyer for
$4,113.
An 1836 watercolor portrait attributed to Joseph H. Davis of Asa
and Susannah Caverly brought $76,375. The subjects are pictured
sitting in opposing painted chairs with Asa reading the newspaper
the Dover Gazette and Susannah with a small book in hand
in a room with a vibrant geometric carpet and surrounded by two
cats. It, too, went to a phone bidder. The circa 1836 watercolor
portrait of the 9-year-old Lydia Ann Tasker that was also
attributed to Davis was $17,625.
An unsigned watercolor pair of portraits of two children in
profile on green upholstered chairs was attributed to James
Sanford Ellsworth and sold for $27,025. The portraits were hung
in opposition in a grain painted frame. Another watercolor
attributed to Ellsworth was a charming portrait of a girl holding
a white rose. It sold for $6,463.
Two circa 1830 unsigned watercolor portraits of a lady and a
gentleman that were attributed to Jacob Maentel sold in the room
for $15,275.
A circa 1820 pastel portrait of a woman holding a book was
attributed to New Jersey artist Micah Williams and sold, also on
the phone, for $49,350. The woman has greenish-gray eyes that are
enhanced by the similarly colored background, a trait particular
to Williams. An unsigned portrait of an elegantly garbed lady in
period dress was attributed to Erastus Salisbury Field and sold
for $23,500. The sitter's hair was done in the style of the era,
with velvet attachments of some kind in her hair. She wears
jewelry, including an earring on one ear. Her other ear and its
earring are absent.
Two room bidders chased a sketchbook of meticulous watercolor and
ink views of Newport, R.I., and the coastal area, along with
calligraphy and a poem, that ended at $27,025. The sketchbook was
attributed to Captain Joseph Harris of Nantucket. As he hammered
it down, auctioneer Stephen L. Fletcher recounted that he had
first seen it some 20 years ago in a wood box in the consignor's
kitchen.
Another Rhode Island painting was "The Great Providence, Rhode
Island, Hurricane of 1815" that was painted in about 1850, which
sold for $17,625. The colorful and action-packed painting shows
buildings and boats afloat along with citizens in the devastating
storm that destroyed some 500 buildings in the city.
A pristine early Nineteenth Century fireboard with a painted
image of a federal farmhouse with two smoking chimneys was
contested vigorously between the phone and the room but sold on
the phone for $82,250.
The unsigned oil on canvas, "Ice Cutting on the Kennebec
River at Dresden, Maine," attracted interest and sold for $10,575.
The circa 1860 painting had been part of the collection of Bob
Bishop as was an 1850 oil on canvas view of the New Hampshire State
Prison that brought $4,700. The unsigned New England snowy
landscape "Skating on Torsey Pond" was also $4,700. Documentation
found with the picture indicated that it was done by Lavinia Webber
in about 1837.
"View of San Francisco, California. Taken from Telegraph Hill,
April 1850 by Wm. B. McMurtrie, Draughtsman of the US Surveying
Expedition" published in 1851 by Nathaniel Currier sold for
$27,025. An interesting 1852 lithographic view of New Orleans
from St Patrick's Church by Benjamin Franklin Smith published by
Smith Brothers & Co., sold for $3,208.
An Index horse weathervane in cast zinc and molded copper
attracted $52,875 from a buyer on the phone. The circa 1860 vane,
which is attributed to J. Howard & Co., of Bridgewater,
Mass., had an applied feathery mane and a corrugated tail was
formed in a prancing form that was pure sculpture. A molded
copper horse and rider weathervane attributed to A.L. Jewell of
Waltham, Mass., realized $17,625. The vane was formed in the
image of a stovepipe hat-wearing rider aboard a full-bodied
horse. A handsome molded copper cow vane caused a flutter of
bidding numbers around the saleroom, but sold on the phone for
$16,450. A circa 1800 whimsical sheet and wrought iron peacock
weathervane thought to be Pennsylvanian in origin sold for
$12,925.
Good furniture was of importance to choosy bidders. A Chippendale
mahogany slant front desk by John Townsend of Newport, R.I.,
attracted much presale buzz and drew major dealers from all over
to inspect it. After a room competition, the desk was hammered
down to a phone bidder who paid $82,250. The circa 1780 desk was
carved beautifully with shells and had secret drawers and
retained the Townsend label. Alas, the feet had been replaced and
the desk was refinished, and it was constructed from Honduras
mahogany. An invoice for the shipment of 100 tons of that same
mahogany was found in the desk.
A Newport Chippendale card table made around 1780-1795 was
consigned by descendants of the original owners and brought
$11,750. The table had been refinished.
A New York classical mahogany carved and mahogany veneer work
table with inlay that was made possibly by Michael Allison or
Duncan Phyfe in about 1820 drew $14,100 and a nicely proportioned
Massachusetts federal carved mahogany server with mahogany veneer
went for $11,163. A circa 1825 Philadelphia dressing table by
Anthony Quervelle sold for $8,225. The table had an interior
mirror and a fitted interior with gilt-tooled red leather.
The Index prancing horse weathervane was attributed to J.
Howard & Co., and sold on the phone for $52,875. Its
beautiful applied mane had an almost feathery quality.
A Massachusetts Queen Anne cherry dressing table from about
1740-1760 drew $14,100.
A federal mahogany inlaid sofa was $7,050, while a classical
mahogany carved sofa from the school of Samuel McIntyre drew
$9,400 and a classical carved mahogany and mahogany veneer couch
that could have been made in New York was $3,173.
Silhouettes that crossed the block attracted vigorous bidding. A
double silhouette portrait of a lady and a gentleman with a cupid
and hearts was particularly desirable and bidders drove it to
$14,100 against the estimated $800 to $1,200. The piece was made
with hollow-cut paper over black fabric. The same phone bidder
paid $4,700 for two framed hollow-cut silhouettes of women.
A wide-mouth 3-gallon stoneware jar by J&E Norton of
Bennington, Vt., with a cobalt image of a stag by a fence was the
star of the stoneware on offer when it sold for $9,400. A Crolius
stoneware inkwell with two dipping holes and measuring 1 1/2 by 3
1/2 inches sold to a phone bidder for $4,113.
A pair of circa 1821 paint-decorated leather fire buckets bearing
the name "F.W. Mitchell" and "Mut'l Fire Society" fetched $8,813
and a bright red paint-decorated fireman's parade hat dated 1823
went for $4,113.
An 1800 brass and iron pair of 22-inch lemon top andirons by J.
Davis of Boston sold for a substantial $5,875.
All prices quoted reflect the buyer's premium of 17 1/2 percent
of the first $80,000 of the final price and ten percent
thereafter. For information, 987-779-6241 or www.skinnerinc.com.
