The top lot of the auction
was the Francis Martin Drexel self portrait with family that
sold to a representative of Drexel University for
$225,000.
Drexel Self
Portrait Brings $225,000 At Pook & Pook
DOWNINGTOWN, PENN. - The first catalog sale of 2003 by Pook &
Pook, Inc. was conducted February 22 at their newly renovated
facility, a state-of-the-art setting that is both patron and
consignor friendly.
The 650-lot sale included a plethora of fine Eighteenth Century
brown wood and 300 pieces of spatter deaccessioned by Franklin
& Marshall College of Lancaster, Penn., from their Dr Robert
J. Schaeffer, Jr's collection.
Three percent of the lots failed to find buyers, while all
spatter lots found new owners. The sale grossed a robust
$2,028,251, including buyer's premium.
The Lehn ware bucket did well, selling at $9,200.
The cover lot of the profusely illustrated catalog was a family
portrait of and by artist Francis Martin Drexel, 1793-1863, with
his wife and daughter posing behind him. It was also the top lot
of the sale. As reported by the gallery, a representative of
Drexel University in Philadelphia, Penn., took the fiercely
contested prize to $225,000 against a modest $15/20,000 estimate.
Drexel University was founded by the artist's son, Anthony Joseph
Drexel, 1826-1893.
Of 38 hand woven carpet lots offered, a room size Serapi, with a
larger central medallion on a peach field, made a bid below its
low $10,000 estimate. Depicting an allegorical garden scene, a
fine silk and painted oval needlework picture left at $9,775
($3,5/4,500). A walnut drop leaf table, circa 1780, sold to the
gallery against two phones at three times its high $6,000
estimate.
A fine winter landscape titled "Sunny Brook," 26 by 32 inches,
oil on canvas, by Edward Willis Redfield, (1869-1965) sold to a
persistent floor bidder against the phones at $115,000
($40/60,000).
A watercolor ink on paper birth certificate, dated 1801, by John
Van Minian (1805-1842), made $20,700 ($7/9,000). A vivid 38 by
53-inch oil on canvas racing scene depicting 20 jockeys on their
mounts, by Peter Howell, made $3,565 ($3/5,000).
Seldom seen in its form, a Thomas Willis (1850-1925) oil on
canvas and needlework portrait titled "St. Yacht Susquehanna,"
sold for $6,057 ($5/7,000). In pristine condition, a very fine
carved giltwood girandole mirror, circa 1780, brought an
expensive $10,975 ($6/8,000).
Philadelphia Queen Anne armchair, $41,400.
Collectors of Lancaster County carver Joseph Lehn had nine lots
to choose from. The prize, an 8 by 10-inch bucket, painted in
vibrant salmon and orange graining with typical trailing vine
design, made $9,200 ($8/10,000).
Featuring four short drawers and original brasses, a Queen Anne
walnut dressing table was a good buy at $21,850 against a
$12/18,000 estimate. In cherry, a Chippendale two-part tall
chest, circa 1770, made its low $20,000 estimate. The phones at
$28,750 won a fine Queen Anne walnut candle stand that featured a
circular dish top and birdcage support ($12/15,000). The phones
were active but failed to win a fine walnut single drawer tavern
table, circa 1760, balls of feet restored, that walked far past
its $6,000 low estimate at $17,250.
Perhaps it was a signed and dated alphabetic sampler, wrought by
Annie E. Forney, offered with a Chippendale mahogany tea table,
circa 1770, that had two phones bidding against the gallery to
$14,850 ($1,5/2,500). Provenance may also have dictated this sum
as the table was originally owned by General Forney of
Revolutionary War fame.
Rare in form, a 2-inch high by 6-inch long Nineteenth Century
redware bank disguised as a beetle with wings and eight legs sold
at $9,200 against a low $6,000 estimate. Also rare, a Moravian
redware bowl attributed to Auston Christ, circa 1800, made $8,050
($2,5/3,500).
A large offering of spatter was sold. This pitcher and bowl set
in yellow, green, red, black and blue sold at $25,857.
Patience was required for collectors of spatter, as 210 lots were
placed at the end of sale, but it was worth the wait. There were
many spatter cups with saucers, even miniatures; some bowls, both
shallow and deep; pitchers for cream and larger; some platters
and plates; and a plethora of plates, all sizes, numbering 50
lots. Patterns, colors and different designs seemed to have made
the extreme difference in the lot prices of these similar yet
dissimilar plates.
An 18-inch long octagonal platter in vibrant black and purple
rainbow brought $14,950 ($6/8,000). An 81/4-inch rainbow swirl
plate in unusual brown, green, yellow and red made four times its
high $5,000 estimate. A blue and red rainbow plate with a center
sprig climbed to $6,325 ($500/700).
Miniatures elicited the major interest. Selling at $16,100, a
miniature red, blue, green and yellow rainbow cup and saucer in
the drape pattern carried a teaser estimate of $700/800. Again in
miniature, a red and purple horizontal rainbow with tulip, cup
and saucer, brought $17,250 ($400/500).
A fine 13-inch pitcher and its 14-inch bowl in rare, vibrant
five-color red, green, blue, black and yellow was the lead lot of
the Schaeffer group. Featured on the catalog back cover, it made
a strong $25,875 against an $18,000 high estimate.
