– Strong sales were recorded at Skinner Inc.’s three-session auction this past Halloween weekend, October 31 and November 1, with numerous impressive prices resulting in a total of more than $5.1 million realized.

Americana, Shaker and books and manuscripts were sold, with the first and last sections doing extremely well, while the Shaker material was somewhat soft.

Leading the auction was the highly important circa 1765-1780, Robert “King” Hooper Chippendale bombe chest-on-chest of Boston origin, one of six known, that sold in the room to Pennsylvania dealer Todd Pricket after intensive bidding for $1,766,600.

A set of eight Grecian mahogany carved dining chairs from Boston that had been discovered in a New Hampshire farmhouse and carried a presale estimate of $8/12,000 sold to New York City dealer Meg Caldwell for $215,000, and a James Buttersworth portrait of the “Yacht Columbia” sold to a phone bidder for $138,000.

The top lot of the book portion of the sale was an Audubon folio, Birds of America published Rowe Lockwood and son, Julius Bien lithographer, 1860, with 150 plates that sold for $160,000. A yellow painted cabinet and cupboard from Enfield was the top lot of the Shaker session, selling above estimates at $31,725.

A complete review of the sale will appear in a future issue.