Exceptional Regional Pieces Star At Northeast Auctions

Manchester, N.H.

:Major dealers and collectors were represented as New Hampshire Antiques Week kicked off with Northeast Auctions' three-day sale July 31–August 2. The sale brought some exceptional regional material to market.

One such example was a Chippendale carved walnut lowboy made in Philadelphia or Maryland, which sold on the phone for $58,500. The exact origin of the piece is unclear because of design similarities, such as the shell and foliate carving seen in Philadelphia pieces and other design elements seen on Maryland pieces. Similar examples believed to be from the same workshop are in the collections of major museums and individuals.

Another important regional piece was a Southeastern Massachusetts Queen Anne mahogany drop leaf breakfast table that sold for $46,800. The table retained the original surface described as "undisturbed" and bore Boston influences and the hand of a Southeastern Massachusetts maker. The piece came from an old South Shore family and similar examples of the form include one owned by Benjamin Lincoln of Hingham and documented in Harbor and Home: The Furniture of Southeastern Massachusetts by Brock Jobe, Gary R. Sullivan and Jack O'Brien. A walnut example was owned by John Hancock.

A Boston Classical mahogany two-part banquet table attributed to Thomas Seymour sold for $46,800. The table, which opens to 130 inches, has drop leaves and four ring- and baluster-turned pedestals on reeded saber legs. The table descended in the Lawrence family and was probably used in the family home at 8 Park Street in Boston. A related example is discussed in The Furniture Masterworks of John and Thomas Seymour by Robert Mussey.

The buyer of the table paid $5,382 for a pair of English cut glass covered sweetmeat jars that Abbott Lawrence probably acquired in England and that descended in the Lawrence family.

A Portsmouth Sheraton card table in mahogany with flame birch panels and turreted corners on a shaped top attracted $33,930. A nearly identical table is documented in American Antiques from the Israel Sack Collection.

Other noteworthy Portsmouth pieces were the William and Mary banister back side chair carved with a sunburst along the crest that realized $17,550 and a William and Mary maple and walnut gate leg table that drew $14,040.

A Massachusetts Chippendale mahogany oxbow chest of drawers sold on the phone for $30,420, and a Massachusetts Chippendale carved mahogany bowfront chest was $10,530. A Massachusetts Queen Anne tiger maple highboy from the Newbury area sold for $11,115, and a Massachusetts Chippendale mahogany lolling chair, possibly by Joseph Short of Newburyport, was $8,775. A Maryland Classical gilt and painted box decorated with griffins and a lyre, with a basket of fruit on the lid, sold for $4,212.

Sold on the phone for $28,080 was a pair of Salem mahogany Queen Anne side chairs that descended in a Salem family. A pair of Boston Federal mahogany side chairs with carving attributed to Samuel McIntire sold for $11,700. The shield back chairs were each carved with Prince of Wales feathers, a kylix and a basket of fruit. A Washington D.C., Federal mahogany side chair with a splat carved with drapery above a central column carved with bellflowers went to Milly McGehee. The Morris family Philadelphia Chippendale walnut side chair with shell carving to the crest and knees and on trifid feet brought $9,360 from Deanne Levinson.

A New Hampshire Sheraton painted secretary with tulip decoration, reeded paneled doors and a shaped apron sold for $14,040.

A New Hampshire Queen Anne tiger maple highboy made by a worker of the Dunlap School had a carved shell and a shaped apron with a diamond cutout. It went on the phone for $11,115, while a 79-inch Dunlap School example in maple was $4,680.

Going to a phone bidder for $22,230 was a Massachusetts Queen Anne walnut highboy made in the Boston area. As he hammered it down, auctioneer Ron Bourgeault said that he had offered it in March with a reserve and it did not sell. This time out, it sold easily.

A Massachusetts Pilgrim Century oak and pine three-drawer chest with striking herringbone inlay came from the Bolles collection and had been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1929–1930. It sold for $8,658. A New England Pilgrim Century ladder back great chair with robust sausage turned front stretchers sold for $3,276.

A Massachusetts mahogany banjo clock with a scale thermometer within the throat, a turned and gilded acorn finial and an eglomise tablet depicting the Battle of Lake Erie was attributed to Aaron Willard Jr, and sold for $40,950. A Pennsylvania Chippendale walnut tall clock signed by Samuel Bispham brought $14,040. The 94½-inch clock was carved with sunflower rosettes and flame and urn finials; a brass lunette above the dial warned, "Ab Hoc Momento Pendet Aeternitas."

Impressive English and Continental lots included a set of four English Chippendale mahogany side chairs with shell and volute carving that brought $37,440.

A handsome pair of English Chippendale gilt mirrors carved with leaves and vines, and carved birds on the crests, sold for $28,080. A 17-inch George II mahogany footstool with acanthus and volute carved knees on claw and ball feet was $6,435.

A pair of Anglo Spanish Bilbao neoclassical mirrors with carved giltwood and marble frames and panels with painted landscapes sold for $17,550. The catalog noted that the mirrors were probably brought to the United States by a sea captain sometime during the Federal period.

A copper and cast iron weathervane in the form of the famous trotter St Julien and a sulky was attributed to New York makers A.B. and W.T. Westervelt. Realizing $29,250, it went to the same buyer who bought much of the mocha ware.

A molded copper weathervane in the form of the horse Black Hawk was signed by the maker, Harris and Company of Boston, and sold for $9,068. The vane was removed from a barn in Texas. A lead and sheet copper example in the form of a cannon was attributed to J. Howard and Company of Bridgewater, Mass., and fetched $8,190. It had been removed from the officer's club at the Watertown, Mass., arsenal.

A Delaware collector bought a large copper weathervane in the form of a quill for $4,973. She said she bought it as a present for her son — and added that she hoped he will like it. No reason not to; it had a fine old verdigris surface and some gilding. A large copper weathervane with an early gilt surface was thought to have been made possibly by J.W. Fiske of New York. It realized $4,388.

An 1849 Connecticut River Valley landscape with a village and cows by William McDougal Hart, the Scottish born Hudson River artist, sold for $38,610.

A landscape with cattle and sheep in a meadow alongside a stream with the Blue Hills of Massachusetts in the distance by Thomas Hewes Hinckley was dated 1852. It realized $21,060 on the phone. The picture is thought to be the one that Hinckley described in his account book as "View in South Dedham" that he sold for Alvin Adams.

Three portraits of a husband, a wife and a son — the Chase family of Hampstead, N.H. — went to a Connecticut dealer for $21,060. The catalog notes reveal that Nina Fletcher Little traded the paintings to Roger Bacon, who sold them to the consignor.

A profile portrait by Ruth Henshaw Bascom of a young boy in a ruffled collar sold to a phone bidder for $9,360. The portrait came from the Pierce family of Worcester, Mass. The companion portrait of a boy in a high collar failed to sell.

A pair of miniature profile hollow-cut silhouette portraits by the Puffy Sleeve artist sold for $4,446. The subjects were identified on the back as Ann and Welcome Arnold Congdon of Providence, R.I.

A Sheldon Peck portrait of a woman with delicate features wearing a tortoiseshell comb and holding a book went to a Southern dealer for $18,720. The oil on canvas scene of De Lime Kiln Fancy Ball was inscribed with the title and signed "J. Roy Smith," who was thought to have been a former slave. The painting went to a museum for $14,040.

A folk art oil on panel painting depicting the stages of decline from the barroom where a keg is labeled "Pure/ Whisky / or / Poison," to the police station, to jail and then to the execution chamber went to an absentee bidder for $14,040.

The mid- to late Eighteenth Century watercolor and pen and ink "View of the House and Part of the Farm of the Hon'ble Benjamin Pickman, Esq., Salem" sold for $12,285. It descended in the Pickman family.

Fine needlework was in demand: The framed silk needlework "America" depicting Liberty holding a flag with a war eagle in a landscape with a palm tree sold on the phone for $18,720.

An Eighteenth Century sampler wrought in 1787 by Abigail Whitney of Roxbury, Mass., in silk on linen with the alphabet, numbers and a pictorial scene with animals, hills, flowers and trees brought $17,550 from the phone. The same buyer paid $16,380 for an 1830 New Hampshire sampler worked by Mary Osgood of Northfield with a verse, the alphabet, birds, flowers and foliage.

A framed crewelwork picture of a couple beneath a fruit tree with birds and a butterfly attracted several determined bidders, including two women in the room who kept their cards raised until they were defeated by an even more determined buyer on the phone. Opening at $1,000, the picture reaped $11,466.

A salt glazed stoneware jug decorated with an incised cobalt horse fetched $17,550.

A group of hat boxes included a 10½-by-16-inch example in blue and red paint with an eagle supporting a banner that was emblazoned with the company name, Putnam and Roff, Hartford, Conn., paper hangers and manufacturers of band boxes. It sold on the phone for $15,210.

Day one of the three-day sale had two surprises: The first, an early New England painted tape loom of beautiful form was $18,135 against the estimated $500–$1,000, while a Nineteenth Century whole-plate daguerreotype of two men playing chess was also $18,135.

Auctioneer Ron Bourgeault uttered the word "passed" more frequently than is his wont, mostly because of ambitious estimates; however, there was strength in certain unheralded objects: A Victorian silver oval tray by Charles Stuart Harris of London drew $9,945, a pair of George III Irish silver wine coasters, circa 1784, by William Thompson of Dublin was $7,020; and a group of American silver miniature table wares by William B. Meyers Co., of Newark, N.J., together with a Regency carved mahogany double pedestal dining table, sold for $6,786. A Georgian carved mahogany triple level games table brought $9,360.

All prices quoted reflect the buyer's premium. For information, 603-433-8400 or www.northeastauctions.com .