: Auctioneer Kaja Veilleux of Thomaston Place Auction Galleries
recently conducted a fantastic two-day on-site auction at Powder
Hill Farm on. The sale consisted of a lifetime collection of
American and European furniture, European paintings and fabulous
accessories.
The tent on the auction site was packed with eager customers at
the beginning of the sale. The top lot of the auction was sold on
day two. It was a pristine group of Nantucket baskets, each one
marked with the maker's name of Ferdinand Sylvaro, 97 Orange
Street, Nantucket, Mass. This lot of seven swing handled baskets
was hotly contested and sold for a very solid $59,400.
Another important American antique that surfaced at this auction
was sold on day one. An American mahogany chest-on-chest,
probably from Charleston, S.C., and dating from around 1800, had
original surface and brasses. An antiques dealer from Savannah,
Ga., went home with it after paying $16,500.
An American mahogany chest-on-chest, probably Charleston, S.C.,
circa 1800, went home with a Savannah, Ga. dealer for $16,500.
Also on the first day of the auction, a pair of portraits
depicting Captain and Mrs Henry Holdridge, which were signed and
dated "William Hamilton [British, 1751-1801], 1838," were sold. The
pair brought $13,200. A hand colored lithograph from John James
Audubon's The Birds of America, Elephant Folio,
London, dated 1833. was offered. In a period frame, this rendition
of a boldly drawn eagle sold for $8,800.
Day two produced the painted period fire buckets, marked PFS,
from the Phoenix Fire Society, Exeter, N.H. In wonderfully vivid
original paint, with some dry rot to the handles, the pair went
off the block for $10,450.
The big news at this auction was the plethora of European
paintings. Perhaps it was the cold, rainy day, or the fact that
it is hard to sell European anything in September in Maine, but
there were plenty of wonderfully rare paintings that seemed to be
going for very fair prices.
A depiction of Venus on a shell throne with King Neptune to her
left was signed Anton Enzinger and dated 1735. It sold to a
dealer for $8,250.
A pair of oils on canvas stretched over oak panels, Old
Master depictions of Venus, were offered on day one. These were
sold to an antiques dealer for $8,250 and $9,350, respectively.
Antiques dealer David Robichaud had a field day at the auction.
Robichaud, a dealer and designer from South Thomaston, Maine, and
Indianapolis, Ind., bought the Old Master's Flemish portrait, circa
1600. This portrait of a young gentleman with a high lace collar
and cuffs was in a magnificent carved and gilded period frame.
Robichaud paid $3,850 for it, afterwards commenting, "The frame
alone is worth that price."
A life-size period Jacobean portrait of a young boy in a red
frock with his arm resting on a carved stone eagle base table was
estimated at $5/7,000, mainly due to the moisture damage on the
surface of the picture. With very few takers, the portrait was
sold to a customer in the audience for $2,475.
Perhaps one of the most notable lots, featured prominently in the
advertising of the auction, was the fabulous depiction of Madonna
and child in a hexagonal Flemish floral border. The figures were
done by Jan Breughel the Younger, a Flemish painter (1601-1678)
and was estimated at $20/30,000. The painting opened at $5,000
and fell flat, selling for just $6,600. After the picture was
sold, auctioneer Veilleux commented, "Boy, nobody did their
homework."
This Seventeenth Century Spanish Vargueno sold to a left bid
for $15,400.
Day two of the sale also produced a fine Hepplewhite American
tall-case clock in mahogany with calendar and moon dial, and 100
percent old original surface. After competitive bidding, it brought
$27,500. Veilleux sold the property, a choice waterfront with two
dwellings and a barn, for $725,000.
Also sold from this choice estate was the sharp and cool Mercedes
Benz 190 SL roadster with a matching hardtop that brought
$13,750.
This was a fantastically interesting and provocative sale, with
tons of fresh-to-the-market, top-quality merchandise offered.
Prices were somewhat soft for the European offerings, especially
the paintings, but the American furniture and accessories were
strong. Veilleux and his professional crew did a top notch job
dealing with this very complex offering of material.
All prices quoted above include a 12 percent buyer's premium.
