Goddard Family Property Yields Second Highest Price at Auction for American Furniture

NEW YORK CITY

:There was no question that the sale of the property of the Goddard family at Sotheby's on January 22 would draw a crowd. By the start of the auction at 2 pm the gallery on the seventh floor was filled, with some standing, and the heavy hitters were there, including Albert Sack in the front row and Leigh Keno toward the right rear of the gallery. By the time the sale had ended, Albert had bids approaching $9 million, while Leigh's total ran about $3.5 million.

This sale comprised 50 lots and all furniture and accessories were sold with one exception, the Ives family Chippendale inlaid plum pudding mahogany secretary bookcase, Providence, R.I., circa 1800, with a presale estimate of $150/300,000. It was passed at $135,000 by William Stahl, auctioneer. Three letters signed by George Washington, at the end of the sale, were also passes. The sale totaled $13,104,340.

It was clear from the start that people were there to buy a piece from this well-known collection and presale estimates fell as fast as the snow outside. The sale started with a Chinese export porcelain part service, circa 1800, each piece painted with a sepia and gilt flower spray within narrow foliate patterned borders. The 12 pieces, estimated at $5/700, went for $1,800, setting a pattern that would continue for most of the sale.

In other early lots, a part suite of engraved table glass, second half of the Nineteenth Century, 30 pieces with minor damage, sold for $2,700 against a presale estimate of $½00, and a group of Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Century glassware, 11 pieces, brought $1,680 against a high estimate of $700. The lot contained several decanters and stoppers, a jelly glass, small basket with loop handle, and a white glass painted tankard.

The lot everyone had been waiting for came up nine lots into the sale, the Nicholas Brown Chippendale carved and figured mahogany scalloped-top tea table with open ball and talons. This piece, attributed to John Goddard, Newport, R.I., drew a constant line of viewers to the left front of the gallery before the sale. The provenance begins with Nicholas Brown (1729-1791), Providence, R.I., to his daughter Hope, who married into the Ives family, and on to R.H. Ives Goddard when he inherited the Thomas Poynton Ives house in 1910-11. It was consigned to Sotheby's by his grandchildren.

The attribution to John Goddard is based on two nearly identical tea tables that have been documented as his work. One of them was made for John Brown in 1760 and is now at the John Brown House, and the other, now in the collection of Winterthur Museum, was made for Jabez Bowen in 1763.

The bidding opened at $1 million and from there on Bill Stahl looked down to recognize a bid from Albert Sack, and then up to pick up Leigh Keno, who underbid the piece. The hammer fell at $7.5 million ($8,416,000 with the buyer's premium), with Albert buying the second highest priced piece of American furniture at auction. Still holding the record for the most expensive piece of American furniture at auction is the Nicholas Brown desk/bookcase by John Goddard, circa 1760, sold in 1989 at Christie's. That piece was bought by Israel Sack for $12.1 million.

When the applause faded away, lot 810 was shown, a Chinese export teacup and saucer, circa 1785-90, painted iron-red, grisaille and gilding with the monogram HB for Hope Brown. The cup was listed as being cracked, the saucer with a riveted repair, and the presale high estimate was $500. The final bid was $4,800.

Among the works of art in the sale was a Vienna porcelain plaque, circa 1854, "The Herring Seller and the Maid," after Gerrit Dou, 18 by 151/8 inches, in a distressed frame. The estimate was $2/3,000, and the final bid was $18,000.

Some of the lesser furniture included a set of 22 George III-style mahogany dining chairs, late Nineteenth Century, four arms and 18 sides, for under high estimate at $3,500, and a set of 12 Chippendale-style carved mahogany chairs in the Philadelphia style, late Nineteenth Century, for $8,400 to a private collector, well over the $2,000 high estimate.

Lot 822 brought the audience back into the John Goddard world with the sale of the Nicholas Brown Chippendale carved and figured mahogany roundabout chair, circa 1760. The interior top edge of the seat rail bears the numeral 1 with the corresponding number on the original maple slip seat cushion frame. Leigh Keno won the bidding on this piece for $1,584,000, and was also the top bidder for the second roundabout chair, lot 842, for $1,696,000. Each piece carried a presale estimate of $400/600,000.

Sandwiched between the sale of Nicholas Brown furniture were several lots including an Anglo-Indian style caned hardwood planter's chair, second half of the Nineteenth Century, that sold for $4,800 against a high estimate of $800; a classical carved and veneered mahogany sofa, Rhode Island, circa 1820, old dry surface, $5,700 with a high estimate of $5,000; and a paint decorated and grained plank-seat nursing bench, New England, first quarter of the Nineteenth Century, 28 inches high and 47 inches long. It sold for $12,000 against a high estimate of $300.

More Nicholas Brown furniture came up with lot 827, a pair of Chippendale carved mahogany side chairs, attributed to John Goddard, Newport, R.I., circa 1760. The chairs were numbered II and VI and sold to Leigh Keno for $352,000. The presale estimate was $300/500,000.

The next pair of chairs, lot 828, made en suite with lot 827, numbered V and VIII, sold to Albert Sack for the same price as the first pair.

Eight letters signed by George Washington, and one signed by Edmund Burke, were at the end of the sale and all but three found bidders. The top price for a letter was paid for lot 844 (pictured), $174,000, within estimate. It was to Major General Charles Lee from Washington and addressed several issues including the British evacuation of Boston, his reinforcement of Canada, the controversial resignations of Generals Ward and Frye, and the brutal treatment received by Boston Tories in Halifax.

One of the other letters was addressed to William Smith and talked about celebrating Maryland's ratification of the United States Constitution. It brought $60,000, the high estimate.

When auction goers left this sale, snow had been falling for some time and cabs were almost as rare as Nicholas Brown's furniture.