: South Bay Auctions Inc conducted a significant auction recently
at the American Legion Hall. The company was offering property
from the estate of noted author and sportsman John W. Mackay of
Mill Neck, N.Y.
Among the things presented at this sale were several William
Aiken Walker paintings, an Edith Parson bronze fountain, many
fine European sporting paintings and formal furniture.
The top lot of the sale was an oil on panel by Belgian artist
Charles Henri Joseph Leickert (1818-1907), a depiction of a
sunrise over windmills. It opened with a powerful $10,000 bid
from the phone and, with eight phones competing, sold for
$25,300.
The first of the Walkers presented was an oil on board cabin
scene with children and animals. After a quick round of
competitive bidding, it sold for $20,700. The second of the
Walkers was a pair of oils on board, an appealing pair of cotton
pickers, a man and a woman. One of the paintings was cracked and
needed some restoration. Still, the pair was terrific and sold
quickly for a solid $17,825.
An oil on board of a cabin by William Aiken Walker reached
$20,700.
Among the decoys offered at the sale was a Dodge shorebird in
original paint, which sold to a customer at the auction for $4,945.
A chip carved Gelson-style curlew shorebird with a metal bill
realized $2,070, and a Merganser decoy, with a horsehair comb and
branded "A.P.," sold to a customer on the phone for $2,645.
An Eighteenth Century oil on canvas by British artist George
Morland (1763-1804) titled "Snipe Shooting," which came from the
Mackay estate, went off the block for $18,400. A Roland Clark
watercolor, "Raising Pintails," drew the attention of three phone
bidders and brought $10,100. A fine Otto Swarg, St Petersburg
#300 salmon reel in a leather case, which also came from the
Mackay collection, was offered early in the sale. It opened at
$1,000 and sold to a buyer on the phone for $1,725.
There was a lot of interest in everything from the Mackay estate.
For example, several watercolors from the American watercolorist
Roland Green (1874-1957) were offered. One of them, "Mallards
Swinging By," sold for $1,840. Another, "Partridge Over the
Moor," fetched $1,529.
Federal mahogany veneered drop front desk, signed illegibly on
the back and dated 1818, sold for $6,600.
Mackay had assembled a considerable sporting library, and
much of it was for sale here. Dogs in the Field by
Marguerite Kirmse, published by Derrydale Press, N.Y., 1935
#450/685, was offered along with a folder of six prints, all in
very good condition. The lot sold to the phone for $633. Clark's
Stray Shots, published by Derrydale Press, 1931, sold for
$374.
Folky Americana offered at the sale included a stoneware
one-gallon crock with blue-black swan decoration and three
interior cracks; opening at $900, it went off the block for
$2,740 to an onsite bidder. An American Nineteenth Century
grained painted blanket chest with bootjack ends, good old
surface and detached hinges achieved $1,840. A small and
appealing miniature blanket chest in an old, crackly
mustard-brown surface saw lots of action before going off the
block for $1,495. An American Nineteenth Century oversized wooden
mixing bowl with good old worn white paint sold for $1,150.
Prices reported include 15 percent buyer's premium.
