Ralph E. Cahoon Jr (1910-1982), seaside picnic scene of mermaids and a fisherman reading the Wall Street Journal, oil on masonite, 18 by 22 inches, signed lower right, realized $31,200.

EAST DENNIS, MASS. — A Ralph E. Cahoon Jr seaside picnic scene of mermaids and a fisherman reading the Wall Street Journal was the star of Eldred’s annual summer Americana and paintings auction, August 3–5. Realizing $31,200, including premium, the work depicted two mermaids and a child around table covered in conch and other shells. Nearby a mermaid feeds Canada geese and a child mermaid plays with a ship model. A sailor at left wears a straw boater marked “U.S.N.” and reads the Shipping News and the Wall Street Journal. Signed lower right, the 18-by-22-inch oil on masonite came out of a private Alabama collection.

The sale, which was well-attended, according to the auction house, featured approximately 250 paintings as well as period furniture, sporting art, antique firearms and militaria, silver, Oriental rugs and more

Also performing well was a contemporary painting by English artist Roy Cross, “Boston Liverpool Packet Parliament in Boston Harbor,” 1998, which sold for $26,400, and a Gilbert Stuart portrait of a young Mary Binney Sargent of Philadelphia, sister of Horace Binney, who became a well-known lawyer and member of Congress. It brought $25,200, as did an expansive depiction of Acadia National Park by contemporary Massachusetts artist Joseph McGurl.

Watch for a complete report on this sale in an upcoming issue.