: - Weathervanes and mocha ware were the hottest objects at
Skinner's August sale in sultry Bolton, where bidders packed the
saleroom for country goods, seeming pleased to be back in the
familiar auction gallery. Bidding was lively, sparking from the
telephone to the desk to the room, despite the humidity, only a
few objects failed to any attract interest and the sale total
went about the high estimate to $802,348.
Two vanes each brought $25,850. The first, a late Nineteenth
Century molded copper rooster example with jazzy tail feathers,
probably made by L.W. Cushing & Sons of Waltham, Mass., sold
on the telephone for five times the low estimate. A dealer in the
room took the other, a cast-iron full-bodied horse with a great
old gritty surface that came from Rochester (N.H.) Ironworks.
A telephone bidder took a Nineteenth Century copper and zinc
cow-form vane with gilt horns for $14,100. The appealing
full-bodied cow came from a Rhode Island farm. A cast zinc
rooster-form vane with a stylish corrugated copper tail and
copper feet by Howard and Company of West Bridgewater, Mass.,
went on the phone for $11,750.
Buyers spent freely to get some of the 20 or so pieces of mocha
ware from Jonathan Rickard's collection. Why was he selling? To
make room for more, he says. He did not hesitate to replace the
objects he consigned as he was seen bidding on other mocha ware
pieces.
A barrel-form jug made in England in about 1820 that Rickard
originally got from Stephen-Douglas was decorated in bands of
ochre, blue and black with green-glaze rouletting in a
herringbone pattern and brought $7,050 from a telephone buyer.
The same bidder took a circa 1810 English mocha ware pepper pot
in a baluster form creamware banded in ochre and black with
dipped fans on an ochre field for $6,463 and another English
barrel-form jug, circa 1790, that was exhibited at Colonial
Williamsburg in 1993-94 for $1,645.
The top in mocha was this barrel-form jug, England, circa 1820,
which fetched $7,050.
He (or she) was successful with a London-shaped bowl
attributed to Enoch Wood & Sons at $1,116 and an English
pearlware quart mug that was $1,528. A mocha ware porringer made in
about 1810 in England with bands of pale orange and black with
dipped fans that was also exhibited at Colonial Williamsburg was
$4,113.
A mocha covered serving bowl in the London shape made in the
early Nineteenth Century with a banded earthworm decoration
fetched $5,875 despite imperfections and a pint mug with three
brown bands sold for $2,703 against its estimated $4/600.
Not exactly country, but certainly of interest was a handsome
1955 Jaguar XK140 Drophead coupe from a New Hampshire consignor
with an odometer reading of 20,060 miles, with a cream color
exterior and burgundy interior that sold for $25,850 to a
collector whom we hope gets it running again.
Tramp art from the collection of Sam and Myra Gotoff, other parts
of which were sold previously at Skinner, also went on the block
but bidders were indifferent. They sat still for such pieces as a
1929 tall-case clock carved with eagles, roosters and birds and a
notch-carved breakfront, both of which are illustrated in
Tramp Art: One Notch at a Time by Clifford A. Wallach and
Michael Cornish. Highest price for a tramp art piece was the
$1,058 paid for a Nineteenth Century child's slant lid desk.
Furniture offered some good values for some good objects. A
painted poplar cupboard made in 1865 in Fulton, Ohio, came from a
Rhode Island collector and sold for $12,925 and two Queen Anne
high chests of drawers attracted attention despite refinish. A
mid-Eighteenth Century Connecticut cherry example with a carved
scroll top sold on the phone for $8,813 while an early Eighteenth
Century walnut Massachusetts or New Hampshire example with a
heavy dominant cornice fetched $8,225 in the room.
A fine set of seven circa 1830 English Windsor chairs in yellow
paint that auctioneer Stephen Fletcher said have been in a
Providence storage facility brought $3,408. A couple of bidders
really wanted a circa 1825 New England Federal maple candlestand
painted green with an unfinished top and drove its price to
$3,819 against its conservative estimate of $150/200.
Painted poplar 1865 Fulton, Ohio cupboard, $12,925.
A desirable and beautifully painted view of an 1893 race
between the American yacht Vigilant and the British
Britannia signed and dated "J Edmonds 1893" sold on the
telephone for $9,400 against the estimated $1/1,500 and despite
needing a good cleaning. William Howard Yorke's signed 1897
"Portrait of the Barque Phonizia at Tunsburg" realized
$8,225.
The highest money for a clock was the $8,930 a phone bidder paid
for a circa 1825 mahogany banjo timepiece by Simon Willard and
Son of Roxbury, Mass. A circa 1830 New England wall timepiece in
gilt gesso and ebonized wood with what Fletcher noted was
"strange restoration" went for $881 and can be restored nicely.
Bidders were largely indifferent to carpets and rugs except when
Fletcher began speed-auctioning a colorful woven wool carpet in
geometric patterns in green, blue, red and black. He chased the
price up to $9,694, asking attendees if they remembered when
auctioneers used to auction in speed patter. He nodded solemnly,
"All dead."
A lot of eight reference books on the Chinese trade and antiques
estimated at $100/150 realized $1,763. A couple of carved birds
were of interest also: a lot comprising a painted wood shore bird
and a carved and painted wood nuthatch sold for $1,528 against
its estimated $100/150, and a carved and painted wood redwing
blackbird was $1,116.
