The Johnson family Philadelphia Queen Anne figured maple dressing table, attributed to William Savery, was estimated at $300/600,000, yet when bidding finally subsided, it achieved the highest price of the auction, selling to C. L. Prickett Antiques for $4,408,000.
:Americana Week in New York City is a time for auction houses and antiques dealers to strut their best stuff, and this year Sotheby's did some fancy strutting, capping off its sales with a grand total of $29,049,320.
Leslie Keno, senior vice president and head of the American Furniture Department, said "this is the highest total ever for a series of Americana Week sales at Sotheby's."
He noted that the various owner portion of the week went well, totaling $20,688,560, while the single owner sales, Susan and Mark Laracy at $7,075,680 and Marc and Laurie Krasny Brown at $1,285,080, went over presale estimates.
This pair of portraits by John Brewster Jr (1766–1854) of Major Daniel Coffin and Elizabeth Stone Coffin of Newbury, Mass., oil on canvas measuring 34 by 27½ inches, carried a presale estimate of $150/300,000 and after competition between a phone bidder and dealer David Wheatcroft, the portraits were knocked down to Wheatcroft for $801,600. The portrait of Elizabeth is signed and dated: Ae 39, June 10, 1801 J. Brewster Pinxt and the one of Daniel is signed and dated: Ae 49 June 13, 1801 J. Brewster Pinxt. The portraits were in the Susan and Mark Laracy sale and all prices quoted include the buyer's premium. —Laracy Collection
The sales were conducted January 19–21 and a number of the important lots are pictured. A complete report on the sale will be published in the near future. —R.S.S.
Among the painted furniture in the Laracy sale was this small lift top blanket chest in pine attributed to the Matteson School, South Shaftsbury, Vt., dating from the early Nineteenth Century. It measures 24½ inches high, 39 inches wide and 19 inches deep and was estimated at $5/10,000. Great interest in the piece drove the final bid to $228,000. It sold to an American private collector.
