BOSTON — A signed enamel miniature portrait of George Washington by William Russell Birch (1755–1834) dated 1797 led Skinner’s Americana and Folk Art sale on November 3. Birch was born and trained in England and came to the United States in 1794, settling in Philadelphia. He quickly began producing works in enamel, the first to do so in the country. He did more than sixty miniatures of Washington based on a Gilbert Stuart painting. Estimated at $25,000, it sold for $123,000. The sale started with a separately cataloged selection of 116 lots of outsider folk art, much of it cutting edge, from the Marvill Collection assembled by Mickey and Jill Baten, some of which brought prices far in excess of estimates.

The sale included powerful formal American furniture, including a Philadelphia lowboy, a circa 1800 dwarf clock by Joshua Wilder and a good Pennsylvania spice box. Other folk art included further selections from the Sybil and Arthur Kern collection, some of which had brought top dollar at Skinner’s August sale; several weathervanes; tobacconist figures; Paul Revere Jr silver; numerous White Mountain paintings; and much more.

A full report will follow.