: The contents of several local estates were sold July 12 at
Fairfield Auction. The Saturday evening event offered 354 lots of
furniture, accessories and fine art that attracted bidders from
several states. The gallery reported a full house as well as
numerous absentee and phone bidders, with a total of 234 bid
cards issued.
Artworks attracted considerable interest. A charming country
landscape by Henry Pember Smith, found in a local home, brought
the top price among paintings with a price of $6,900. A group of
etchings from a Newtown consignor who purchased them from Kennedy
Galleries in New York in the 1950s came to the block with seven
phone bidders and several additional bidders who traveled to the
sale at the ready.
"The Wine Glass," an etching by Whistler, sold for $4,025.
Also a small Whistler, "The Wine Glass," caught the fancy of
several bidders and climbed to $4,025. Two works by Edmund Blampied
sold for $920 and $633; a small Rembrandt, "The Circumcision,"
$1,150; a Frank Benson, $1,035; and an Anders Zorn was snapped up
at $1,265.
Victorian furniture included the top lot of the evening, a
rosewood marble-top parlor table, possibly by Belter. With
several phone bidders at the ready the table opened at $400, but
climbed swiftly to a final selling rice of $11,500 to a phone
bidder. From the same home came a Belter sofa in the scroll
pattern that sold for $1,150. A Victorian walnut étagère
consigned by a local museum earned a top bid of $2,013 and a
monumental Austrian marble-top sideboard in the rococo revival
style was a great buy at $2,013.
Nineteenth Century weathervane, $4,255.
A group of Americana from a Weston home attracted attention.
A Nineteenth Century rooster weathervane sold at $4,255; a redware
plate with slip decorated initials, $1,265; a large burl bowl,
$1,610; and a collection of approximately 30 miniature Victorian
irons, $374.
A sailor-made pie crimper signed and dated 1805 brought a final
bid of $2,300, a cherry graduated chest with carved quarter
columns earned $1,955, a cherry wood sugar chest was purchased at
$2,300, a room size hooked rug made $1,610 and a Regina music box
made a happy tune at $1,668.
Other items of interest included a 1968 VW convertible that went
to a Newtown resident at $3,163. A pair of Regency paint
decorated klismos chairs were highly sought after and climbed to
$1,265. A 27-inch marble grouping of Psyche and a cherub brought
$2,875, a Roseville "luffa" jardinière and pedestal earned $690,
a French farm table earned $2,070 and a pair of Rookwood bookends
was $633.
Prices include a 15 percent buyer's premium.
