Stephen and Carol Huber won
the four-foot-wide chimneypiece, one of only eight known
examples.
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. and BROOKLINE, MASS. - Bonhams &
Butterfields conducted two very successful auctions recently on
the East and West coasts.
Eighteenth Century Needlework Brings $611,250 in San
Francisco
A large and impressive needlework chimneypiece created to hang
above a fireplace in a proper Boston home sold after highly
competitive bidding on Monday June 23, at Bonhams &
Butterfields for $611,250.
The four-foot wide needlework featured an extensive landscape
with flowering trees, rolling hills and various houses and
animals in the background and workers in the foreground.
The needlework, one of more than 550-lots offered to collectors,
dealers, interior decorators and designers during a sale of
European and American Furniture and Decorative Arts, had been
included in a book on girlhood needlework as well as a 1941
magazine article on embroideries. It is considered unique due to
its depiction of an African American as a central figure in the
work.
Contemporary research is inconclusive as to the makers, but
scholarly opinion leans toward students of a noted Boston-based
instructor Susanna Hiller Condy whose drawings and patterns for
needleworks were seen advertised as early as 1742. The needlework
was estimated at $20/30,000 with the lot selling to Stephen and
Carol Huber, of Old Saybrook, Conn. According to the successful
bidders, this example is one of only eight known similar
embroideries, the other examples are within museum collections.
Auction Action in Brookline, Mass.
By Bob Jackman
On May 3 and 5 the firm conducted a pair of interesting and sales
at the Museum of Transportation. The firm's motorcar department
conducted Saturday's sale, and the decorative arts department ran
the Monday auction. Total sales nudged $4.8 million.
A 1913 Simplex needing restoration was the surprise top lot at
$335,000.
For Bonham's, this was its second Massachusetts auction since May
2002 when it hosted a transportation auction on the same
premises. While last year's auction occurred inside the museum
building, this year's auction took place outdoors under a large
tent. A Dover, N.H., woman commented, "This year's auction is
proceeding very smoothly. Last year it was dark in the museum.
This year the tent is brighter and open and more festive."
For the California-based Butterfields, this was its first foray
into Massachusetts in two decades. EBay sold Butterfields to
Bonhams last fall. Vice president and decorative arts specialist
Brooke Sivo headed the Bonhams & Butterfields staff
presenting the decorative arts auction. The preview was conducted
on two floors of the museum building, and the auction was under
the same tent used earlier for the car auction.
Many seasoned auctiongoers were highly impressed with the
auctioning style of Malcolm Barber, chief executive officer of
Bonhams & Butterfields. Previous to joining Bonhams, Barber
ran the motorcar department at Sotheby's. After the car auction,
Barber said, "That was a personal record for me. The previous
record had been six hours and 45 minutes; today was seven hours,
15 minutes." Two days later Barber was back at the block where he
called half of the decorative arts auction.
Mrs Donald Schoeny, a Massachusetts collector, commented,
"Malcolm is a great auctioneer. He is dynamic, witty and very
entertaining. He is genuinely excited to be doing this and he has
a great sense of theater. You can see that he really knows his
buyers, and the buyers really like him."
The firm's chairman, Laura Pfaff, also worked enthusiastically.
At one moment she was handling logistical matters and in the next
she was phone bidding. She and Barber also entertained the
audience with clever exchanges of quips about her yachting
interests.
The estate of Edwin "Ted" Jameson, Jr, of Sharon, Conn.,
consigned all the decorative arts items and more than half the
transportation items. Barber commented, "It was great pleasure
having meet Ted in 1980, and him having followed the auctions
since then until literally one year ago. It was a pleasure and
privilege to officiate at the sale for him -- a landmark sale."
Decorative Arts Auction
The decorative arts auction proceeded at a steady pace, ranging
from 80 to 100 lots per hour. In addition to Barber, auctioneers
were Sivo and Patrick Meade, another vice president. In the
decorative arts auction 772 lots sold for a total of $1,288,304.
A world record was established for an 1899 Amoskeag "Jumbo"
that fetched $225,000.
The William Reese Company of New Haven, Conn., won many items.
The firm paid $89,800 for a 1782 printed map based on Major
Sebastian Bauman's drawing of the campaign plan of the Battle of
Yorktown. This was the first American map showing the alignment
of forces in the decisive final battle of the Revolutionary War.
This map also had great significance for flag collectors. At the
bottom of this map was a cartouche whose border was decorated
with patriotic symbols. Rising from the right hand side of the
cartouche is "Stars and Stripes" - the first known depiction of
that icon. The lot was ideally suited to Reese's business that
specializes in Colonial and Federal Americana on paper as well as
Seventeenth to early Twentieth Century literature.
Reese also won a two-volume set of History of the Expedition
Under the Command of Captains Lewis and Clark To the Sources of
the Missouri, Thence Across the Rocky Mountains and Down the
Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. Performed During the Years
1804-5-6. For the ultimate work on American exploration,
travel and adventure, Reese paid $56,400.
Reese's third major acquisition related to his interest in
literature. It was a pen and watercolor illustration titled
"Wandering Trees" created by the English artist Arthur Rackham
(1867-1939). In very good condition, the clever, fanciful work
portrays trees as human beings engaged in such daily activities
as tying shoes.
The top furniture lot was a library chair that was cataloged as
George III but rumored to be a Thomas Affleck chair. Estimated at
$1,5/2,000, it sold to a phone bidder for $72,550.
The top furniture lot was a George III library chair at
$72,550.
Another highly successful furniture lot was a New Hampshire chest
estimated at $10/15,000, but which sold for $70,250. The chest
stood on tall French feet that flared sharply at the base. A
broad drop panel with a flaming oval panel defined the lower edge
of the case. The case was decorated with chain inlay across the
skirt and the fore edge of the top. Drawers were not graduated.
The primary decorative elements were oval flaming birch veneer
panels that stretched nearly the entire length of the drawers and
contrasted smartly with the mahogany.
Another exceptional American lot was a Lancaster, Mass., sampler
estimated at $5/7,000, but which sold for $45,825. Samplers from
this academy are particularly robust and rare. While the center
medallion demonstrated fine, restrained work common on samplers,
its wide border with large, flourishing blossoms and vines were
far more dynamic than common schoolgirl works. In addition, the
sampler was very well preserved.
Motorcar Auction
Bidding in the motorcar auction was consistently competitive and
established three new world records. In the first section of the
sale, transportation parts, accessories and memorabilia were
offered. The pace was about 120 lots per hour. Vehicles were sold
in the second stage at a gradual pace, reflecting the money
involved. While bidding on individual lots often extended to five
minutes, Barber deftly managed the drama of the situation to
maintain excitement. Sales totaled $3,501,097 with 469 lots
selling.
A surprising top lot in the auction was a 1913 75-horsepower
Simplex needing extensive restoration. It was previewed in the
restoration tent where one dealer estimated that it would cost
$750,000 to restore. There are, however, only three extant cars
of this model. Estimated at $65/80,000, the vehicle drew
widespread bidding. Eventually it went to a New England collector
for $335,000. Hopefully, it will someday join the collection of a
New England museum. The selling price was a world auction record
for an unrestored Simplex.
The William Reese Co. purchased a two-volume set of "History of
the Expedition Under the Command of Captains Lewis and
Clark..." For $56,400.
Another world auction record setter was an 1899 Amoskeag steam
fire engine, referred to as "Jumbo," that heated to $225,000.
During the preview the audience lavished more attention on
examining and photographing this engine than any other item in
the auction. A century after its manufacture, it pumps 1,350
gallons per minute, a good stream even by modern standards. Its
road speed of 10 miles per hour, splendid in its day, is,
however, well below today's requirements.
After its manufacture in Manchester, N.H., the engine served the
Hartford (Conn.) Fire Department. Eventually, opera singer James
Melton added it to his collection and later it passed to Arkansas
Governor Winthrop Rockefeller. Around 1970 it entered the Jameson
collection. Estimated at $100/150,000, it sold to a phone bidder.
The third world record was established when a 1905 White type-D
canopy-top touring car sold for $138,000, against an estimate of
$70/100,000. The car was in superb condition with every detail
appearing mint-quality. Although less well remembered than the
Stanley Steamer, in the period White was the most widely owned
steam-powered car. The first car driven by a presiding pres-ident
was a White driven by Theodore Roosevelt in 1906.
The auction's Museum of Transportation venue is soon to be
renamed the Lars Anderson Museum. Lars and Isabel Anderson were
pioneering automobile enthusiasts. Their collection is exhibited
in a carriage house designed by architect Edmund Wheelwright
based on the Chateau-de-Chaumont in France. The museum is on the
grounds of the 65-acre Lars Anderson Park operated by the city of
Boston.
