: The parking lot at Merrill's Auction Gallery was nearly full at 8
am, the starting time for the preview for the Americana sale on
May 31. The brightly lit gallery was full of Americana dealers
and collectors, on hand to see and perhaps buy the rare and
important American antiques that auctioneer Duane Merrill had
assembled. The reason for all this excitement was that Merrill
was offering material from the Holly Webb Froud estate in
Shelburne, Vt. Webb Froud was the granddaughter of Electra
Havermeyer Webb, the founder of Shelburne Museum. As expected,
this estate had lots of period Vermont furniture, both formal and
country.
The auction also featured folk art, and some significant military
items, some of which had been consigned from an old Burlington,
Vt., dealer's estate, and from other local estates and homes.
For the lover of clean American period furniture and accessories,
there was much from which to pick. The top lot of the sale,
offered midway through the auction, was a Hepplewhite mahogany
bow front sideboard, a rare example from Massachusetts, with
molded top and string inlay, banded drawers and accelerated
tapered legs. Hotly contested, it ultimately sold to a buyer on
the phone for $27,500. Early in the sale, antiques dealers Mike
and Lucinda Seward purchased an 1820 sampler, a family record
from Grand Isle, Vt., for $1,705. The Sewards also went home with
a 30-inch Harris horse weathervane in great original surface for
a solid $5,500. A very folky and crisply painted Vermont painted
child's Windsor chair brought $715.
Antiques dealer Richard Kenney purchased a stylish northern
Vermont Hepplewhite cherry one-drawer inlaid tapered leg stand,
which brought $1,100. A Nineteenth Century portrait of a young
woman, diminutive oil on board, a portrait of Sophie Hodgson
Haymaker sold, in one left bid for $4,400.
A striking Vermont Sheraton cherry and bird's-eye maple
four-drawer chest, which, according to the auctioneer, had come
out of the bedroom in the Webb Farm, opened at $500 and sold to a
buyer at the sale for $1,760. A very folky painted dome-top trunk
with early decorative painting sold for $1,265.
There was a lot of action on this period Queen Anne dressing
table from Connecticut, which was made of cherry and poplar and
had a molded top. It brought $16,775 from the floor.
Antiques dealers Harold Cole and Bettina Krainin from
Woodbury, Conn., had made the very long trip to Williston to attend
the Merrill sale. The pair went home with a rare and unusual South
Carolina mahogany Chippendale bow front commode on well-developed
ogee feet, which brought $9,900. Vermont dealer Norman Gronning was
the underbidder. Cole also went home with a Queen Anne table made
of cherry and poplar with a one-drawer molded top, which brought
$16,775.
Early in the sale, a very desirable L & JG Stickley #729
cabinet was offered for sale. This stylish glass door cabinet had
impressive large hinges and was the object of much attention. It
opened for bidding at $5,000 and went off the auction block for
$15,400.
A significant Civil War item materialized at this auction. A
painted and decorated drum carried by Vermont soldier Charlie
Swift of Starksboro, Vt., right out of the house complete with
his drum sticks, brought $6,380.
A collector couple from Vermont went home with the folky painted
secretary, made in Franklin, Vt., circa 1886. When the couple,
Polly and Dick Gadbois, purchased the piece, Merrill said, "It's
going home." After much competitive bidding from the floor, the
couple paid $7,700 for the piece.
Several pieces of art pottery were offered at the sale, among
them a 12-inch Rookwood vase by Liz Lincoln, 1924, in beautiful
colors, that sold for $1,210 to a buyer in the room. A bronze Art
Nouveau statue, measuring 37 inches high, depicting a female
figure, signed "Pollety 7/500," went off the block for $2,475. An
Arts and Crafts hammered and riveted copper lamp sold for $1,100.
Several paintings that surfaced at the auction, including an oil
on board, a depiction of a house attributed to L. Lucioni, which
sold to a customer on the floor for $2,310. Another Lucioni
offered was a small watercolor of a ram's head on a wall, which
brought $2,200. An oil on canvas, circa 1860, a view of Jericho
Village, measuring 30 by 18 inches, opened at $1,000 and sold to
a left bid for $3,300.
Among the pristine American country pieces was an elegant
Eighteenth Century tall chest of drawers, in original old red and
brown paint. With six drawers and missing one foot, it sold for
$4,400.
This painted and decorated Civil War drum was carried by
Charlie Swift of Starksboro, and was made by Horstman Brothers.
It was found in a local home of one of Swift's descendants. It
reached $6,380.
A large 126-piece set of Tiffany sterling in the Colonial
pattern sold for $5,821. John and Barbara Delaney went home with
the Howard and Co. banjo clock, which sold for $3,300. A 12-inch
Scinde Flow Blue scalloped fruit bowl brought $1,183 and the
16-inch Scinde Flow Blue platter sold for $969.
Antiques dealer Kenney purchased the circa 1790 42-inch North
Shore Massachusetts Chippendale mirror with phoenix. The mirror
opened at $500 and sold to Kenney for $2,475. Antiques dealer
Jeffrey Kohn of With All Due Ceremony was present for the sale.
Kohn purchased a 37-inch star chintzed and silk American flag,
dating from 1867-1876, for $825. A Charles Heyde painting of the
Winooski covered bridge brought $2,750.
Merrill stated that the Americana auction had been "a very strong
sale." Indeed it was, with the very large auction hall packed
with buyers. Prices were very healthy throughout, and the crowd
remained for most of the sale.
Prices include a ten percent buyer's premium.
