The auction's top lot was this 1816 fraktur by Peter Bernhart of Rockingham Co., Va., 8 by 13 inches, that achieved $20,900, a record auction price for the artist.
:Green Valley Auctions conducted its semi-annual Antiques and Americana auction over three sessions on June 23-24. The firm's three galleries were packed with nearly 2,000 lots, which grossed just under $700,000. The event had more than 550 registered bidders in-house as well as 1,500-plus absentee bids and nearly 200 phone bids.
The auction featured furnishings from the historic Willson-Walker House Restaurant of Lexington, Va.; part one of a large Northern Virginia collection assembled in the 1950s and 60s; property from two old New England collections; the early ceramics collection of Dr and Mrs Philip E. Duncan along with many other collections and estates.
The top lot of the sale was a watercolor and ink 1816 fraktur by Peter Bernhart of Rockingham Co., Va., that quickly flew to $20,900, a record auction price for the artist.
A selection of Nineteenth Century Virginia ledgers drew strong interest Friday highlighted by an 1846 Shepherdstown (now West Va.) example, which sold for $715 and an 1848 example from Albemarle Co. that fetched $495. Other ephemera included an estate collection of American stamps, which sold as one lot for $990.
A lead and manganese-glazed earthenware figure of a seated monkey, attributed to the Bell family of potters, 4 3/4 inches high, took $11,000.
Friday's evening session began with a recently discovered estate accumulation of Virginia obsolete currency, which drew much interest despite apparent condition issues. Top lots included an 1862 Staunton Bank of the Valley in Virginia $4 note at $522 and a pair of 1818 Winchester Bank of the Valley in Virginia $50 and $100 notes at $440.
A collection of ironware included a Griswold skillet-form advertising clock at $2,530 and a collection of figural doorstops, primarily floral, ranging from $55 to $385. A virtually mint 2 1/8 -inch onionskin marble with a lobed core and mica flecks rolled off at $770.
A collection of Victorian ladies' accouterments featured more than 30 coin purses including a lot of two inlaid tortoiseshell examples at $352.
Saturday's morning session led off with more than 90 lots of Green Valley's traditional selection of Shenandoah Valley and other folk pottery.
A standout was a lead and manganese-glazed earthenware figure of a seated monkey, attributed to the Bell family of potters. This 4 3/4-inch-high figure, which probably originally held a jug between its outstretched arms, demanded an $11,000 final bid from a Virginia collector. Other earthenware highlights included a signed J. Eberly & Co., Strasburg, Va., decorated slip-washed urn that brought $8,800.
Treenware was led by a carved and turned burl bowl, 17 3/4-inch diameter, first half Nineteenth Century, that sold to a phone bidder for $3,740.
Virginia folk art included a watercolor and ink portrait of a young lady wearing what was described in the catalog as a "loaf-of-bread" hat that fetched $7,150.
A large selection of silver and objets de vertu included an English Egyptian-Revival plated silver epergne featuring three camels and Sheffield hallmarks from the fourth quarter of the Nineteenth Century, which was hotly contested to $3,575.
A Virginia paint decorated hard poplar miniature blanket chest, 11 inches high, early Nineteenth Century, sold for $9,625.
Fine art was led by a massive oil on canvas Wisconsin landscape attributed to Mark Robert Harrison and featuring Native American figures, which made $4,125.
The furniture portion of the sale got off to a slow start when the expected star, a Johannes Spitler decorated yellow pine blanket chest, failed to meet its reserve of $100,000. The chest had undergone recent professional conservation.
Furniture that sold well included a late Eighteenth Century Frederick Co., Md., transitional Chippendale walnut semi-high chest of drawers that fetched $4,675 and a rosewood with mahogany veneer 36-drawer apothecary cabinet that brought $3,850.
A small selection of art glass included a 15-inch Dorflinger Honesdale decorated cameo vase, which after a prolonged battle between a floor bidder and a phone bidder, was hammered down at $2,310, shattering its $200/300 estimate. English ceramics highlights included a 9 3/4-inch diameter Mocha ware bowl with slip-marbled decoration, which fetched $2,530 after a battle between two dealers bidding by phone.
Green Valley's next Antiques and Americana auction will be November 10-11. All prices reported include the ten percent buyer's premium. For more information, www.greenvalleyauctions.com or 540-434-4260.
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