Bidders had faith in the Stickley attribution of the unsigned but rare Morris bow armchair and pushed it to $27,600.
:Fifty years in hot pursuit of antiques and he manifests no signs of slowing down. Carl W. Stinson has chased antiques now for half a century and every new day is as fine as the first.
Stinson estate auctions are a family affair, with son Douglas as auctioneer spelled by his brother Ned who comes up from Wilmington, Del., where he lives and runs auctions. Carl runs the lots with Ned, and his wife Brenda works the phones and keeps track of the action. When Ned runs an auction in Delaware, the auctioneer's role is his and Carl, Brenda and Douglas are on hand to help out.
The most recent Stinson sale on July 1 at the Hillview Country Club was a test of everyone's endurance with somewhere between 850 and 900 lots from area estates crossing the block. The sale began early at 3 in the afternoon and ended around 9 pm. Bidders were steadfast, however, attracted by the freshness of the estate material.
A Morris bow armchair was early and unsigned, but bidders believed firmly in the attribution to the Stickley brothers and drove it to $27,600. The rare chair was found in a New Hampshire camp and sold to an unidentified woman in the room.
A charcoal on canvas self portrait of William Morris Hunt dated 1866 realized $17,250 from a phone bidder. The portrait was inscribed, "William Morris Hunt by himself given by him to John Heard [signed by] Alice Heard." Heard was a descendant of China Trade and West Indies merchant John Heard of Ipswich, Mass., whose house is part of the Ipswich Historical Society. Doug Stinson said the portrait was executed when Hunt spent time in France with Jean Francois Millet and Camille Corot.
Half a century later, Carl W. Stinson is still chasing antiques. His original Nash Rambler station wagon is long gone, however.
Another highlight was a 29-inch Russian bronze of a North African warrior on horseback by Eugene Alexandro Lanceray that was dated 1886 and realized $13,800 after a competition among four phone bidders. The figure came from the estate of the president of Suffolk Downs, a Boston racetrack.
A Gloucester Harbor scene by Cape Ann artist William Lester Stevens that was extracted from the basement of a house in Lincoln, Mass., had never been cleaned and garnered $8,625. The same basement revealed a 10¼-inch Grueby matte green vase with yellow floral elements that brought $9,775. The vase attracted seven phone bidders, but sold in the room.
A selection of 15 oil paintings from the estate of Katherine Brooke Hamlin Whittier of Beverly Farms, Mass., by Cape Ann artist Harry Aiken Vincent (four of which were unsigned attributions) pleased bidders. Whittier and Vincent were friends and she bought the pictures directly from him, according to the Stinsons.
Many were beautifully framed and had hung in her house; still others were stored in the attic. "The Green Sail Rockport" went to a phone bidder for $7,763. A European harbor scene with a boat at low tide with red sails brought $7,475 from the same buyer who bought a European coastal scene with dinghies for $5,750. A harbor scene with boats under sail was also $5,750, while a Cape Ann scene, possibly a view of Lane's Cove, brought $4,025.
Vincent's "Waterfront — St Tropez" drew $6,325 and a Bretagne street scene, inscribed "H. A. Vincent, Rockport, Mass.," went for $5,175, while a Moroccan market scene was $3,450.
"Old Barn in Jackson, N.H.," an 1887 oil on canvas by White Mountain artist Frank Henry Shapleigh, sold in the room for $4,313. A box of Chinese Export paintings on pith paper was $1,265, and two small and well-executed Venetian watercolor scenes were signed "HBB" and realized $1,150.
Rare form took precedence over age when a Wallace Nutting Chippendale mahogany slant front desk made around 1940 sold for $18,400.
Four watercolors by Howard Everett Giles, a New York artist and illustrator who practiced dynamic symmetry, came from a New Jersey estate. A 1904 scene of a Princeton-Yale football game sold for $1,035, and a watercolor and gouache scene of the Yale baseball team in the dugout was $920 to the same phone bidder who paid $978 for a view of a 1903 Harvard-Yale game. A scene of football players was $403.
An American silhouette of a woman holding a red book may have been by the Puffy Sleeve or Red Book artist and sold for $3,450. It came from Whittier's estate. Whittier's husband Ross had been a silent partner of Israel Sack.
A gleaming pair of Civil War epaulettes decorated with shields and Old English letters, with the original fitted tin case, sold for $4,485.
Military medals from an area estate were beautifully wrought and evoked interest: a Greek medal of the Royal Order of the Phoenix sold for $1,380, a medal with a cross and an oval medallion with the image of St George and the Dragon sold for $1,150, and a medal of the German Order of Ernestine realized $1,035.
A Merrimac Ceramic Company vase in an experimental bluish green crackle glaze and in a gourd form was signed "S P" and dated 1903. Found in the pantry of a Salem home, it brought $3,565. A Quetzal art glass vase with silver over agate was numbered 723 and sold on the phone for $2,300. It came from another area home.
A brass jewelry box with an enameled scene of Adam and Eve and a velvet lined interior sold for $2,185. As he offered it, Doug Stinson suggested that the piece was probably by Josef Hoffmann.
A lyre-form banjo clock made by Walter H. Durfee of Providence, R.I., in 1914 went to a collector for $14,950. Durfee began as an antiques dealer in 1880, subsequently mastering the art of clock making. A George III red chinoiserie tall clock with and engraved dial inscribed "Edmund Martyn, Pidletown" realized $2,128. A French figural bronze mantel clock on a black onyx base, presented by the city of New Bedford to Mary R. Prescott and from the estate of Lydia Prescott Thayer, sold for $1,438.
His countenance was less than cheerful, but William Morris Hunt's 1866 charcoal self portrait realized $17,250.
A cocktail ring that had belonged to Prescott Thayer, comprising a 2¼-carat yellow diamond flanked by smaller diamonds, brought an impressive $14,950. An American mixed metal bracelet from Thayer's estate comprising seven oval Orientalist panels went for $4,888.
A folk art carved eagle with the American flag and shield, and a 36-inch wingspan, by Pennsylvania carver George Stapf went to the trade for $10,350.
A gimbaled barometer marked "C. Falconer, London and Hong Kong" fetched $2,990. A celestial globe in a satinwood veneered case with a compass rose was made by Henry Hughes and Son, Ltd, of London and was dated 1820. It realized $1,725.
A pair of Regency mahogany knife boxes with satinwood inlay sold for $1,438, while an English Regency Davenport desk, signed "Jno Wells Maker 210 Regent Street London," was made elaborately of bird's-eye maple and brought $805.
Wallace Nutting furniture from a Wellesley estate was a big attraction.
Rare form took precedence over age when a Wallace Nutting Chippendale mahogany slant front desk made around 1940 sold for $18,400. A pair of Wallace Nutting Chippendale curly and figured maple chests with raised panel ends brought $6,900 each, and a pair of Chippendale curly and figured maple mirrors, also by Nutting, took $863 each. One of the mirrors had been damaged during the preview and Doug Stinson guaranteed the successful bidder that it would be restored professionally.
A Sheraton mahogany two-drawer stand on reeded legs that had been owned by Esther R. Svenson, who had been Nutting's office manager, brought $1,035. It was numbered 608 and dated March 1941. Svenson had been in charge of photographic colorists at the Nutting factory and inherited that part of the business from Nutting's wife. She eventually ended up owning the entire business, which she operated until 1952.
A 1914 lyre-form banjo clock made by Walter H. Durfee came from a Barrington, R.I., estate and went to a collector for $14,950.
A Nutting maple tilt top stand was $1,265, a Nutting curly maple Pennsylvania Windsor chair was $863, and a curly maple fan back Windsor chair went for $633.
A neoclassical marble top pier table carved with acanthus leaves brought $5,175 from a telephone bidder. The table came from the estate of Lydia Prescott Thayer, who was born into a New Bedford family, and the table may have been made in New Bedford.
An Eighteenth Century New England figured maple slant front desk was $1,898, and a Connecticut River Valley, Vt., mahogany bowfront chest, circa 1815, with book matched bird's-eye maple panels and ivory escutcheons brought $2,645. It came from a local estate. A very nice New England Windsor rod back highchair with rosewood graining, pinstriping and faux bamboo turnings from about 1820 was a very good buy at $201.
A bench-made Newport-style blockfront chest-on-chest by a Boston maker was $4,255. It came from a Brookline estate. A companion four-drawer chest by Joseph Gerte of Boston went for $1,150.
In a sale of nearly 900 lots, there is bound to be something for everyone and this event included some Mid-Century Modern furniture, which revealed some devotees. A pair of Dunbar Modernist etageres brought $3,738. A picker found the duo at a Salvation Army store. A Dunbar wing chair and ottoman sold for $3,335, and a pair of chairs by Dunbar brought $805. A Heywood Wakefield mushroom stool, circa 1950, sold for $144.
A Mid-Century Modern Circasian walnut conference table with an exotic grain had been commissioned from Irving and Casson-A.H. Davenport by the Widener Library at Harvard University, but the transaction was never completed. At auction, it brought $1,380.
All prices reported include the 15 percent buyer's premium.
The next Stinson sale this fall will feature a group of Currier & Ives Darktown prints. For information,
www.stinsonauctions.com
or 781-944-6490.
