It seems most Vanderbilt’s of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries each became known for something different. Business, shipping and railroads, museums, and even horse racing. It didn’t take long for Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr, to make his mark on the track, becoming president of Pimlico in 1932 at 20 years of age and going on to buy it while also president of Belmont Park. But he was a breeder at heart, and his Sagamore Farms would churn out no less than four champion horses during his tenure: Discovery, Next Move, Bed O’ Roses and Native Dancer. Native Dancer finished his career at 21-1, his only loss the result of a bump at the start of the 1953 Kentucky Derby, where he finished second. The horse would go on to win both the Belmont and Travers Stakes as well as the Preakness Stakes that year, amounting to what, I suppose, you could call home-field advantage. Vanderbilt’s and Native Dancer’s trophy for the Preakness that year, the first year the track stopped lending the famed Woodlawn Vase, which now resides in the Baltimore Museum of Art, and instead presented a replica to every winner thereafter, approaches the block at Doyle. It joins other top lots from around the world in this week’s top picks.
DOYLE
Sale Date: May 23, 2018
Lot 275
1953 Preakness Stakes American Sterling Silver Trophy
Won by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt Jr’s Native Dancer in the 1953 Preakness Stakes, marks for Schofield Co. Baltimore, Md. Surmounted by the figure of the jockey-mounted horse “Lexington” above a rosette-mounted ring and a bowl with four figures of Winged Victory, holding wreaths in each hand, the sides with four cartouches, two engraved “WON BY / NATIVE DANCER / OWNER ALFRED G. VANDERBILT and THE PREAKNESS / $100,000 ADDED / MAY 23, 1953,” 21 inches high, 97 ounces.
Estimate: $20/30,000
WILLIAM A. SMITH, INC.
Sale Date: May 28, 2018
Lot 9
S. Pezzoli, “The Abbott-Downing Concord Coach”
Nineteenth Century, oil on canvas, the Abbott-Downing Concord Coach, Concord, N.H., with a view of Mt. Monadnock in background, 1888, 24 by 60 inches.
Estimate: $2/4,000
AUCTION TEAM BREKER
Sale Date: May 25–26, 2018
Lot 188
Tin Toy Kitchen With Accessories By Rock & Graner
Mid-Nineteenth Century, Biberach an der Riss, Germany. Hand painted tin, two stained glass windows, large wood-burning stove with bar for the pots, wall racks, painted tiled floor, corner cabinet with painted wood decoration, 22¼ inches high.
Estimate: $12/18,000
STRAWSER AUCTIONS
Sale Date: May 23–26, 2018
Lot 467
Jean H. Halter (American, 1916–1981)
Oil on canvas painting, Bucks County winter scene, 24 by 36 inches.
Estimate: $4/6,000
MORPHY
Sale Date: May 24, 2018
Lot 494
Original Route 66 Aluminum Shield Sign With Plastic Reflectors
Sign is painted aluminum and shows all original paint. All reflectors are intact.
Estimate: $1,250/2,500
KIMBALL STERLING
Sale Date: May 26, 2018
Lot 45
Atlantic Cable Cane
Circa 1865, the handle made of a piece of the transatlantic cable, the cable has two silver collars of which one is inscribed “Atlantic 1865,” exotic wood shaft and a metal ferrule, 33 inches high.
Estimate: $800–$1,200
ASHCROFT & MOORE
Sale Date: May 23, 2018
Lot 97
Wall Hung Apothecary Cabinet
A rare and unusual apothecary cabinet with central broken arch pediment framed by a pair of revolving bottle form shelves, 43 inches high.
Estimate: $800–$1,200
SUSANIN’S
Sale Date: May 23, 2018
Lot 2036116
John Steuart Curry (American, 1897–1946)
“John Brown,” lithograph dated to 1939, pencil signed lower right from the edition of 250, published by AAA, with full margins, 18¼-by-13¾-inch sheet.
Estimate: $600/800
ABINGTON AUCTION GALLERY
Sale Date: May 23, 2018
Lot 130
Pair Of Rock Crystal Parrot Lamps Attributed To Maison Bagues
Pair of French table lamps with gilt-bronze and rock crystal elements. Double arch-shaped bronze frames with frosted rock crystal parrot, sitting on gilt perch, surrounded by crystal leaves & flower on crystal base, 33-5/8 inches high.
Estimate: $1/1,500
