James D. Julia, left, and antiques dealer Don Heller review the features of a rare carved wood figure of the Goddess of Liberty during preview. The life-size polychrome carving showing the American icon holding a sword, laurel wreath and federal shield was the sale's top lot, selling for $143,750 to an unidentified phone bidder.
:Billed as an antiques and art extravaganza, James D. Julia's three-day sale at the Samoset Resort delivered on the promise with a $5 million auction on August 26–28. The sale's total was Julia's highest grossing Samoset auction to date, and the procession of more than 1,700 lots was led by none other than Lady Liberty. The folk art carved wood figure of the Goddess of Liberty sold for $143,750, including buyer's premium, on the second day of the sale.
Rare and important, the life-size polychrome carving originally resided in Tammany Hall in New York City during the late teens and had never before been offered at public auction.
The winning bid fell within the Goddess of Liberty's $100/200,000 presale estimate. More of a surprise was the kick delivered by a full-bodied standing mule weathervane. Made circa late Nineteenth Century, the likely unique form emanating from the Richard Paine estate of Seal Cove, Maine, was expected to hit $20/30,000. It finished at $117,300, pursued by a number of bidders, according to Julia's auction manager Bill Gage, before selling to the phone.
A complete review of this sale will appear in an upcoming issue. —WD
The rare American mule copper weathervane, circa late Nineteenth/early Twentieth Century, was restoration-free with a dark mottle patina over the original gilded surface. Estimated $20/30,000, it stubbornly held off until $117,300 was attained.
