Heated Competition For Fireboard And Mantel At Thomaston Place

THOMASTON, MAINE

:An extraordinary colonial American overmantel and companion fireboard became the hot lot of Kaja Veilleux's two-day sale August 27-28 when it sold for a handsome $605,000 at the Thomaston Place Auction Galleries. The 821/2-inch overmantel was thought to have been painted in about 1789 by Jonathan Welch Edes for David Thacher of Yarmouth, Mass., a Revolutionary War soldier and state legislator for nearly 30 years.

The overmantel depicts Thacher's Cape Cod farm with ships off shore and drying racks for cod. Two images below show Boston Light, built in 1783, and Fort Warren in Boston Harbor separated by an image of the newly elected president, George Washington. The companion fireboard presents an image of Yarmouth militia drilling.

The overmantel and fireboard have remained in the Thacher family since they were painted, although the family had relocated them to Yarmouth, Maine, where auctioneer Kaja Veilleux discovered the pieces on a house call.

Veilleux commented that he "found the fireboard stored behind the furnace and that a hole had been cut in its center to accommodate a stove pipe, but the cutaway piece had been tacked neatly onto the back." It had since been restored to its original position.

The successful bidder was William Samaha who also bought the unsigned circa 1830 "Portrait of a British Warship in Rough Seas" for $3,850. The picture was found in an attic in Northport, Maine.

Compelling pieces from the vast collection of Richard L. Hatch and his late wife Rakia of Cundy's Harbor, Maine, were a huge attraction throughout the sale. "The Beautiful Spindrift," an imposing oil on canvas ship painting by Montague Dawson, sold for $71,500. The catalog notes indicated that the work was painted for Mrs June Mooney of New York. It was later purchased at Kennedy Galleries by Mrs Hatch for her son.

Bidders had a lot to choose from with respect to marine paintings. The ship's portrait, Conrad Freitag's 1875 painting of the barkentine Lizzie Merry, realized $35,750 from a collector. The picture was sold to benefit the Skidompha Library in nearby Damariscotta. The picture descended from the ship's builder Charles Glidden Merry to his daughter who donated it to the library in the 1960s.

Two marine paintings by Albert Pinkham Ryder attracted bidders who drove his "Lone Fishing Skiff on Stormy Sea" to $33,000 and his "The Smugglers' Retreat" to $49,500. Both pictures went to the same buyer but they came from two different Maine homes.

An especially appealing watercolor and gouache by J. Alden Weir, "After the Hunt," an 1887 image of dogs at rest before a fireplace, sold for $27,500. E.L. Henry's oil on canvas "Homestead of Walt Whitman" sold on the phone for $23,000. The picture was inscribed on the back, "Done in 1889 for the 70th birthday of Mr Walt Whitman, given to him at a public dinner tendered to him by his friends and admirers in especial friendship & esteem of his friend & comrade in the late Civil War, E.L. Henry, later give to Mrs Burdett Stryker."

A Canadian picture, "View of Old Montreal in Winter" by Cornelius David Krieghoff, sold for $22,000.

A pair of portraits of Christopher and Kuneigunda Liebel of Cincinnati that was attributed to William Matthew Prior realized $14,300. The pictures were accompanied by documentation of their provenance.

A Nineteenth Century French watercolor of two men and a horse-drawn cart by Anton Mauve was a surprise when it sold for $13,750.

Of a selection of watercolors of Maine and New Mexico by John Marin sold for $11,500 each. A Maine coastal scene was $10,450, a New Mexican landscape realized $8,250 and an abstract with trees was $5,500.

Despite competition from four phone bidders, a single bidder swept up four works by Chilean artist Roberto Matta. His pastel drawing "Crucifixion" was the high lot when it brought $8,250 while a circa 1965 architectural abstract and two mixed media "Especial" abstracts all sold for $2,475 each. The Marin and the Matta pictures all came from the same consignor.

"Circus Horse Act," an oil on canvas with heavy impasto knife work by Jean Dufy, sold for $8,250.

The oil on canvas "Portrait of a Woman Seated on the Floor" signed G. Danilovitsch exceeded estimates when it raced past its estimated $400/600 to $3,025.

A three-panel needlepoint screen depicting Cobble Pond Farm in Sharon, Conn., in 1937 exceeded expectations when it roared past the estimated $300/500 to $31,400. Cobble Hill Farm was Rakia Hatch's family home and the screen was said to have been executed by a family friend. It was signed "Louise Thatcher." As Veilleux inspected it while he emptied the Hatch house, Mr Hatch dismissed the piece saying that no one would want it.

A colorful Russian silver tazza in enamel and plique-a-jour bore a Moscow hallmark for 1908-1917 and sold for $24,200. The piece was executed in the manner of Maria Semenova and had been secreted in a vault in the Hatch home.

A beautiful Rookwood pottery vase with a striking black crow and ginkgo leaf decoration had an iris glaze with mottled green and black and sold for $23,100. It was unearthed in the Hatch house with two other vases: a bottle-form example by John Bennett enameled with blue and white flowers on an aqua ground that sold for $3,300 against the estimated $300/400 and a 71/4-inch Grueby vase in green matte glaze that brought $1,650.

An impressive pair of 48-inch-tall French Empire figural candelabra, each with eight lights, in gilt bronze sold for $22,000.

The undisputed star of the furniture across the lot was an Eighteenth Century American Queen Anne mahogany lowboy that realized $55,000. The piece was initially thought to have a replaced top and was estimated at $2,5/3,500 but bidders seemed confident that the top was original.

An Eighteenth Century American William and Mary walnut two-part highboy with a flat top sold for $24,750. As he hammered it down, Veilleux recalled that the highboy had been filled with candy. An American Queen Anne flat-top highboy in mahogany drew $19,800.

An Eighteenth Century English bracket clock by Marwick Markham and decorated in chinoiserie sold for $14,300, while a New England tall case clock by Silas Hoadley of Plymouth, Conn., drew $7,700.

An exceptional 1936 Gibson Florentine tenor banjo in a white holly finish with an enameled crest sold for $7,150.

A lot of 15 undecorated and mostly unpolished pilot and sperm whale teeth were deemed quite desirable and garnered $5,005.

All prices quoted reflect the ten percent buyer's premium.

For information call 207-354-8141 or visit www.thomastonauction.com