Alfred E. Backus Florida Paintings Draw Record Prices At CRN

Cambridge, Mass.

:Two Florida paintings by Alfred E. Backus not seen previously in the market were the hot lots at CRN Auctions November 18 sale, where they drew record prices for the artist. "Florida Beach at Low Tide" sold for $44,850 and "Florida Everglades" fetched $29,900. Both were estimated at $5/7,000 and both went to South Shore dealer Arthur T. Garrity. Backus, who mentored Florida Highwayman Alfred Hair, was an indirect influence on that group.

The sale offered a good array of art and antiques that resulted in a full house and more than 300 phone bidders, the largest number to date in a CRN sale.

A detailed Arab street scene with figures by Charles Sprague Pearce was another high point when it sold for $28,750 to a bidder on the phone after a bidder in the gallery hesitated.

Bidding on a circa 1835 pastel on paper was active when a phone bidder took the Ruth Henshaw Bascom portrait of a young woman with ringlets against a green background for $23,000. The painting attracted diligent presale interest and retained the original veneered frame; a partial page from an old Worcester, Mass., newspaper was found behind the backboard.

A telephone bidder took the watercolor "Blackhead, Monhegan Island" by James Edward Fitzgerald for $14,375, which may be the second highest price for the artist at auction. The same buyer took Fitzgerald's watercolor "Maine Winter Scene with Oxen" for $3,738.

A Roxbury Federal mahogany tall clock with inlay was signed by Simon Willard and retained the paper label printed "J and Jos N. Russell, Quaker Lane, Boston." It also had a rare alarm device and sold on the phone for $35,650. The same buyer paid $12,225 for a large round gilded gallery clock that was attributed to Simon Willard and John Doggett.

The phones came alive for a selection of highly desirable weathervanes, and one caller took them all: A 32½ inch full-bodied copper weathervane in the form of a hunting dog realized $28,750; an 18- inch Nineteenth Century index verdigris copper horse weathervane attributed to A.L. Jewell & Co., of Waltham, Mass., went to $27,800; and a 31-inch Nineteenth Century verdigris copper running horse weathervane that may have been made by L.W. Cushing, also of Waltham, fetched $3,738.

A large cast iron rooster weathervane with a cut-out tin tail was made at the Rochester, N.H., ironworks and realized $5,464.

A Massachusetts Hepplewhite mahogany, D-shaped sideboard with a family history in a drawer sold in the gallery for $23,000.

A Boston Federal mahogany lolling chair attributed to Boston maker Lemuel Churchill sold for $17,825. Another lolling chair, a sweet and beautifully formed Newburyport Chippendale mahogany example, circa 1770–1780, was unusually small and carried the provenance of Benjamin G. Blanchard of Charlestown. It went for $12,075 to a collector on the phone. An Eighteenth Century New England Hepplewhite mahogany lolling chair brought $2,588.

An Eighteenth Century New England tiger maple chest-on-chest containing a label from Independence Hall and an accession number, which referred to a 1928 loan to that institution by antiques dealer Gertrude H. Camp who, with her husband, loaned several hundred objects. The chest realized a fairly reasonable $17,250 from a phone bidder.

A handsome Eighteenth Century Queen Anne walnut lowboy from a Cambridge house drew $17,250. An Eastern Massachusetts Chippendale mahogany bow front chest on ball and claw feet fetched $6,325, while an Eastern Massachusetts transitional Queen Anne walnut side chair on well-defined pad feet from the Cambridge house brought $1,035.

From the Cape Cod estate of a man who acquired the piece in Vermont came a Nineteenth Century cherry apothecary cabinet in a sort of tombstone form with a glazed door, 53 drawers and a work slide. It sold for $10,875.

A Newport Chippendale dining table in Santo Domingo mahogany from the Goddard Townsend school had suffered some neglect, but had a finely scalloped skirt and stop-fluted legs and sold for $10,035.

An Eighteenth Century Pennsylvania dovetailed and paint decorated dower chest with three panels, each with a central tulip, above three drawers, realized $7,475.

A selection of fine desks was offered, but buyers of American examples do not seem to be hot on writing. A New England Chippendale maple and tiger maple slant lid desk that was probably Rhode Island in origin was $3,738; an Eighteenth Century Boston Queen Anne walnut example was $3,450. An Eighteenth Century Rhode Island Chippendale tiger maple slant lid desk with a later application of gilt and black chinoiserie was also $3,450 to a phone buyer. An Eighteenth Century New England Chippendale mahogany block front slant lid desk sold for $2,875, while an English George III mahogany two-part secretary bookcase with glazed doors stirred a little more interest and realized $4,313. A William IV mahogany pedestal desk with a green tooled leather top went for $4,255.

An Eighteenth Century Irish George II mahogany settee on ball and claw feet with the splat carved and pierced with design elements akin to those of the Celtic cross went to the London trade on the phone for $6,325. Then an Irish George II mahogany gaming table with triple leaves and turret corners was $3,163 to a different phone bidder.

An English Regency mahogany dining table on a double pedestal base realized $6,038, and a Regency walnut liquor case with shell inlay, nine bottles, a tray and cordial glasses fetched $3,795.

A pair of Jacobean walnut armchairs, upholstered with Seventeenth Century Flemish tapestry, realized $5,750.

A diminutive English George III mahogany sideboard with inlay realized $2,875, while a George III satinwood demilune inlaid games table was $2,415. A set of 12 Chippendale-style mahogany dining chairs, made in the early Twentieth Century, sold for $6,325, while a Salem Chippendale mahogany side chair with a serpentine crest and ball and claw feet sold for $2,645.

A Rhode Island Queen Anne maple highboy from about 1760–1780 that realized $4,600 was fan carved, had removable legs and an old Nineteenth Century finish.

A New England Sheraton one-drawer worktable in bold tiger maple sold for $4,715, as did a New England Queen Anne maple duck foot oval tea table that retained traces of old red paint.

A pair of Hepplewhite mahogany serpentine knife boxes went for $2,300.

Auctioneer Carl Nordblom's favorite was a chunky folk art limestone bank, carved on two sides: an African American woman on one and a horse on another. It was etched on the bottom "P.F. 1737." The cover was missing a corner, but the bank was a very good buy at $4,313. Nordblom said it was probably Southern as it had come from a family originally from Georgia.

Tea caddies evoked positive responses: one English Regency tortoiseshell tea caddy in sarcophagus form drew $2,875 from a phone bidder, while another example, on ivory ball feet, went for $2,695 to the same phone bidder; so, too, did a cushion-shaped example with a sunburst design at $2,300. An absentee bidder took an Eighteenth Century Georgian rolled paper example for $2,530.

Good quality Chinese Export porcelain was well received. The star lot was a pair of Rose Mandarin garden barrels with a continuous panel of figures in a garden pavilion, which sold for $10,350 to a Cambridge resident. A pair of Rose Canton temple vases with applied foo dog and pup handles and dragons, birds and foliage sold for $6,900. A notation on the bottom read, "Wedding gift from Fred B. Taylor October 19th 1886."

A pair of orange Rose Canton porcelain elephant-form candlesticks was hotly contested, selling for $4,140, and an orange Fitzhugh oval meat platter from about 1795 bore the Great Seal of the United States and realized $3,840.

A blue and white Fitzhugh covered cider jug with a foo dog finial and strap handle sold for $3,450, and a Mandarin covered cider jug with a strap handle also realized $3,450. A large export Mandarin punch bowl drew $2,645.

A group of nice mirrors included a classical carved and gilded convex example with an eagle crest and the label "Elliott & Cooper's" realized $4,715 from an absentee bidder.

A lot of four Gorham sterling silver serving pieces in the Athenic pattern included a gravy boat and undertray, an oval covered entrée dish and a pair of smaller covered oval entrée dishes. The lot fetched $8,338 on the phone. A Tiffany sterling embossed water pitcher realized $5,175.

A bidder in the room grabbed the three sailor valentines that crossed the block. A double example in a hinged mahogany case sold for $8,624; another double example with the sentiment "Remember Me" sold for $4,000; a third example, with a heart decoration, brought $4,140.

A Nineteenth Century 10-inch celestial globe mounted on a fancy cast iron stand and made by Merriman and Moore of Troy, N.Y., sold on the phone for $8,338; a terrestrial library floor globe on a tripod, made in the Etruscan style by Gilman Joslin of Boston, went to the same buyer for $5,750. A Nineteenth Century Maltby celestial table globe on a turned mahogany stand brought $3,450.

All prices quoted reflect the 15 percent buyer's premium. For information, 617-661-9582 or www.crnauctions.com .