Elmer Stennes Tall Case Clock Chimes in as Top Lot for New Hampshire Estate Sale

Elmer Stennes clock, $6,750.

By Rita Easton

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - "It was a strong sale overall," noted Maureen. Boyd, referring to the August 27 antiques auction conducted by Boyd Auctions at The Jarvis Center.

The estate auction featured furnishings from a home in Boston, along with the partial contents of a Cohasset, Mass., home from the same estate and other select additions from seacoast homes. The major consignor was the estate of the Albri family, founder of the Albri Marble and Tile Company in Boston.

A total of 245 bidding numbers were issued for the 430 lots offered, generating a gross of $175,000. A two-and-a-half-hour preview preceded the sale.

A private collector won the top lot of the auction, an Elmer Stennes tall case clock bringing $6,750.

Mosaic circular table, $5,000.

Furniture highlights included a Victorian sofa with mother-of-pearl inlay and a matching chair, each upholstered in a salmon brocade with gold threading. The sofa and chair sold as one lot and reached $3,750.

A 36-inch- diameter marble top Empire table with a pedestal base with three supports standing on bun feet achieved $2,500; and a French cabinet sold for $1,150. The cabinet featured a center door with an oval porcelain medallion centerpiece flanked by two shaped corner bookshelves, the marquetry piece in burled walnut.

Imperfect due to a hairline, a 15-inch-high, two-handled Merrimac pottery vase in brick red over a green glaze, described by Maureen Boyd of the gallery as "very drippy, very nice," nonetheless went out at $2,400. A Handel table/ desk lamp, the shade of slag glass with perforated bronze overlay, garnered $1,750; and a three-splat-back Chippendale settee was the good buy of the day at $1,250.

Victorian sofa, $3,750.

Three marble figurines, each approximately 28 inches high, ranged from $2,100 to $2,200; a pair of painted marble-top chests made in New York state and done in the Adams style, each with a single door painted in three panels, fetched $2,600. A Caucasian rug with center medallion, three feet by five feet, did $1,650; a gold leaf curio cabinet with a painted scene on the base was purchased for $1,850; and three "fun" multicolor floral decorative metal Italian umbrellas from the 1930s meant to be garden decorations made $2,400.

A 28- by 48-inch oil on canvas by Carl Webber, depicting a pastoral scene with haystacks, went out at $1,700; a micro mosaic circular table, 34 inches in diameter, made in the 1920s by the founder of Albri Tiles, with a central motif of roses surrounded by a pinwheel geometric pattern, sold for $5,000; and a 15- by 22-inch sampler made in 1824 reached $2,750.

Prices quoted do not reflect a 10 percent buyer's premium.