: - Strong sales were recorded at Skinner Inc.'s three-session
auction this past Halloween weekend, October 31 and November 1,
with numerous impressive prices resulting in a total of more than
$5.1 million realized.
Americana, Shaker and books and manuscripts were sold, with the
first and last sections doing extremely well, while the Shaker
material was somewhat soft.
Leading the auction was the highly important circa 1765-1780,
Robert "King" Hooper Chippendale bombe chest-on-chest of Boston
origin, one of six known, that sold in the room to Pennsylvania
dealer Todd Pricket after intensive bidding for $1,766,600.
From the "Birds of America" Audubon folio that reached
$160,000.
Other stellar Americana lots included a brightly colored
pierced and appliqued Civil War memorial quilt, with a bold eagle
surrounded by grape and floral vines with perched birds and
three-dimensional grapes, which nearly doubled estimates selling at
$149,000.
A set of eight Grecian mahogany carved dining chairs from Boston
that had been discovered in a New Hampshire farmhouse and carried
a presale estimate of $8/12,000 sold to New York City dealer Meg
Caldwell for $215,000, and a James Buttersworth portrait of the
"Yacht Columbia" sold to a phone bidder for $138,000.
The top lot of the book portion of the sale was an Audubon folio,
Birds of America published Rowe Lockwood and son, Julius
Bien lithographer, 1860, with 150 plates that sold for $160,000.
A yellow painted cabinet and cupboard from Enfield was the top
lot of the Shaker session, selling above estimates at $31,725.
A complete review of the sale will appear in a future issue.
