Sotheby's Americana - Bernstein and Goldweitz Sales

NEW YORK CITY

:According to a piece in the catalog written by Albert Sack, the collection built for Diane and Norman Bernstein by Harold Sack is "one of the finest ever to be offered for sale." This event drew a standing-room-only crowd to the gallery at Sotheby's on Sunday, January 20. Fewer than ten lots were passed from the collection of 179 pieces, and the sale grossed $6,485,320, including the buyer's premium. All of the prices quoted in this review include the premium.

The Bernsteins live at The Lindens, Washington, D.C., in a home that was built in 1754 in Danvers, Mass., for Robert Hooper. Over the years the ownership of the house changed a number of time, eventually ending up in the hand of Harold Sack of Israel Sack, Inc, New York City. It was in the summer of 1934 when Harold Sack met Mr and Mrs George Maurice Morris at a sale and told them about this historic home he owned.

That same summer the house was bought by the Morrises and the next year was put back together on a double lot on Kalorama Road in Washington. The process took until November 1937, and The Lindens became the showplace for a fine and growing collection of American antiques.

Following the death of Mrs Morris, the contents of the house went to auction at Christie's, selling for $2.3 million and taking its place as the third largest amount realized for a single-owner sale to date.

In that same year, 1983, The Lindens became home to the Bernsteins and Mrs Bernstein noted, "It was not until we purchased The Lindens that we came to the firm of Israel Sack and Harold Sack exposed us to the best."

The collection received the attention of a packed gallery at Sotheby's and some of the prices realized, with the buyer's premium, are list below in addition to the objects pictured.

A set of four brass Chippendale candlesticks, circa 1770, marked EK, went well over the high estimate of $2,000, selling for $15,600. The sticks were followed by a Queen Anne mahogany card table with turret corners and C scroll cabriole legs, circa 1740-60, 28 1/2 inches high, that sold for $329,600, over the high estimate of $250,000. The provenance lists Israel Sack, Inc.

A few lots later a Queen Anne mahogany card table, Boston, also with turret corners, same vintage and provenance, went over the high estimate of $200,000, selling for $240,000.

A Federal tall case clock, figured and inlaid mahogany, signed and labeled Aaron Willard, Roxbury, Mass., sold just under the high estimate of $100,000 for $96,000.

It measures 88 inches high and dates circa 1800. This clock retains the original fretwork and brass finials, has an eight-day movement, and rests on ogee bracket feet.

The Gilbert family matching Queen Anne carved and figured walnut high chest of drawers and dressing table, Salem, Mass., did not come near the high estimate of $500,000, selling for less than half of that at $240,000.

The pieces date circa 1750-70 and have a long provenance that includes Israel Sack twice and a sale at Christie's in 1990, the collection of Mr and Mrs Eddy Nicholson.

A phone bidder was determined, and the successful bidder, for a stack of six Chinese Export pigskin-covered graduated trunks, Nineteenth Century, ranging in size from 6 1/2 to 11 1/2 inches high. The final bid was $21,600 against a high estimate of $3,000.

Another one of the Robert Salmon paintings, "Shipping on the Mersey off Birkenhead," signed with the initials RS and dated 1810, lower right, oil on canvas, 27 by 43 1/2 inches, went over the high estimate of $200,000, selling for $284,800. It came into the collection in 1985 from Richard Green Gallery, London.

Several lots later a Chippendale figured mahogany scalloped top tilt-top candlestand, Salem, Mass., circa 1790, sold for $36,000, six times the high estimate.

It was followed by the Wharton family Chippendale mahogany camelback sofa, Philadelphia, circa 1770, at $464,800, well over the high estimate of $300,000.

The sofa is 90 inches long and Israel Sack is listed twice in the provenance. Among the pieces of Chinese Export was a porcelain cylindrical mug made for the American market, circa 1810-20, painted on the front with an American eagle above a group of military trophies beneath a green enamel and gilt fruiting vine border. It measures 51/2 inches high, carried a $6/8,000 estimate, and sold for $25,200.

Interest in small decorative pieces was shown again when a Victorian traveling desk box, inlaid with various woods, full rigged ship on the top, Nineteenth Century, sold for $7,200 with a high estimate of $1,500. A pair of Georgian brass candlesticks and a double-sided brass pestle was included with this lot.

Following this one-owner sale, session three of the Americana sale continued in the seventh floor auction gallery. A complete listing of all the realized prices appears on the Sotheby website, Sothebys.com.

The Harriet Carlton Goldweitz Collection of English pottery, 177 lots strong, sold to a packed gallery at Sotheby's on Friday, January 20, resulting in a gross total of $1,980,780, including the buyer's premium. By the end of the day, only 28 lots remained unsold and a London Delftware Royal portrait charger had gone to an American dealer for $168,000 (Lot 12, pictured).

Christina Prescott-Walker, director of Sotheby's European ceramics department in North America, said, "We are pleased with the solid result of this single-owner sale and were honored to have been able to offer the collection. The buying was very international, with a strong representation by American and British clients."

In writing about Harriet Carlton Goldweitz in the sale catalog, Peter Arney said, "No use of the collection for decoration, or for investment, or for ostentation. For 25 years or so, the pots remained in an otherwise little-used third floor room, most of them densely scattered over the full-size billiard table in the center of the room."

It is certain today that each and every one of the lots sold is now proudly displayed either on the shelf of a dealer waiting for a client or in the home of a collector. Of the top ten lots sold, two went to an American dealer, one to a UK dealer, one to The Chipstone Foundation, and six to an anonymous party, more than likely a private collector.

The first piece in the sale to reach five figures was lot 5, a Southwark Delftware blue and white bottle, 1628, Christian Wilhelm, pickled herring painted around the bulbous body with birds either perched on rockwork or in flight amidst flower plants. It is inscribed 1628 below the handle, measures 7 5/8 inches high, and has a haircrack to the handle and minor glaze chips. It sold for $78,000, against a low estimate of $80,000. All prices in the review include the buyer's premium.

Lot 14, a London Delftware blue and white tankard, 1663, inscribed around the cylindrical body, "A RING IS ROUND & HATH NO END SOE IS MY LOVE UN TO MY FRIND," with a man smoking pipe cartouche beneath the initials and date, the strap handle painted with a band of scrollwork and terminating in a scroll. It has minor chips, measures 5 1/8 inches high, and sold for $84,000, over the high estimate of $70,000.

A rare English Delftware royal portrait charger, 17 1/4 inches in diameter, probably London, sold for $45,000, well under the low estimate of $60,000. The charger is painted in the center with an equestrian figure, probably King Charles II, crowned and wearing an ermine-lined cloak, astride a rearing steed. This lot, with sealed haircrack, was sold at Sotheby's London in 1974.

Lot 37, the seventh highest bid at the sale, went for a rare Staffordshire slipware large posset cup, 1703, decorated around the exterior with two panels of tulips and stylized flowers beneath the inscription, "THE BEST IS NOT TOO GOOD FOR YOU." It is dated 1703 and is set with two plain loop handles. This piece, 6 1/4 inches high, sold to an anonymous bidder for $60,000, under the low estimate of $80,000.

A rare Staffordshire slipware press-molded dish, 1715-50, decorated in the center with the figure of a stag filled in with deep brown and mid brown above the initials IC, within a border, 11 1/4 inches in diameter, sold for $45,000, just under the high $50,000 presale estimate.

Well into the sale, lot 76, a Staffordshire agateware teapot and cover, circa 1750-60, globular form, set with a loop handle and short curved spout, cream-colored body marked with vertical bands of blue stripes and russet loops, 4 inches high, sold over the high estimate of $8,000 at $10,800. The provenance lists Ginsburg & Levy, New York.

A Liverpool Delftware armorial plate, circa 1750-60, enameled in a famille rose palette with the gilt-heightened arms of de Cardonnel impaling Hilton with a diaperwork band, had a high estimate of $18,000 and sold for $19,200. It measures 8 5/8 inches in diameter.

Lot 133, a pair of Staffordshire green-glazed earthenware wall pockets, circa 1765, sold for $4,500, under the low estimate of $6,000.

Each piece was of cornucopia form and molded in relief with a "landskip" above a flower spray on the curved stem and beneath the foliate-molded rim. They measures 8 1/4 and 8 5/8 inches and have minor restoration to the rims.

The high estimate on lot 169, $8,000, was nearly tripled when an English creamware Chintz pattern teapot and cover sold for $21,600. This piece, circa 1775 and 4 1/2 inches high, was brightly painted with a vertical pattern of ribbons and zigzags radiating downward from the center of the cover beneath the floriform knob. The reeded entwined strap handle terminated in applied flower heads and acanthus leaves and the piece had minor chips to the spout.

Harriet Carlton Goldweitz spent three decades assembling, publishing, researching and sharing her collection with people from all over the world. Her collection has now been spread worldwide and into the hands of others.