– Two late additions to Nadeau’s Important Fall Auction, an early Connecticut River Valley chip-carved box and a pair of old squaw decoys by Oscar Bibber, garnered top prices at the firm’s sale this past Saturday, September 20.

Auctioneer Edwin Nadeau was called to a local home two weeks ago to pick up the pieces, which he slipped into his final advertisement in Antiques and The Arts Weekly on September 19.

The box, a rare pine survivor dating to about 1700, easily surpassed its $10/15,000 estimate selling to Ohio dealers Sam Forsythe and David Good for $32,200 including premium. The piece was underbid by Harold Cole of Woodbury, Conn. Hartford’s Wadsworth Atheneum museum was in the running to $25,000.

The decoys went to Hyannis, Mass., auctioneer and consultant Ted Harmon for $17,825.

Other sales highlights included a Massachusetts serpentine chest of drawers, $39,100, and a New York sideboard, $26,450. Total sales exceeded $700,000.

Look for a complete report in a future edition.