This oil on canvas painting, Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century, was most likely Italian, and multiplied its estimate to achieve $18,750.
Review by Z.G. Burnett; Images Courtesy of Hyde Park Country Auctions
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — Hyde Park Country Auctions conducted a multi-category estate auction of more than 600 lots on July 23, offering everything from medieval statuary to vintage toys. The highest-selling lot by far was an oil on canvas painting of a mother and her sleeping baby, possibly Mary and Jesus and probably Italian, that was bid to $18,750 against a $400/600 estimate. From a Rochester, N.Y., estate, the painting dated to the Eighteenth Century or early Nineteenth Century. It was housed in a custom, but later, gilt frame and only showed some crazing and signs of overpaint. Another pair of Continental paintings from this era did well, one showing a young woman with a book in her lap and another with an Eighteenth Century genre scene. Both were in Twentieth Century gilt frames and in good condition with some buckling, selling together for $1,500.
One of the more unusual items in the auction was second in price, an original Kingery popcorn wagon steam engine that achieved $1,875. Made around 1900 by the Kingery Popcorn Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, the engine appeared to be complete aside from a missing screw. It had not been tested and was sold as-is.
Another mechanical curiosity was a Simon & Halbig German automaton in working order that was bid to $1,375. From the Doris Soldner collection, Lake Carmel, N.Y., the doll had not been examined unclothed but its exposed parts were in very good condition, and it moved to the music that its internal mechanisms produced. Its bisque head was signed by the manufacturer on the rear. Simon & Halbig was founded in 1839 in Thuringia, Germany, and was bought in 1920 by Kammer & Reinhardt, which continued to produce dolls until 1932.
Once belonging to a Kingery Popcorn wagon circa 1900, this steam engine for its popper was untested but still placed second in the auction at $1,875 ($500/1,000).
Decorative arts were the most consistent category in the auction. Selling third in price at $1,750 was a pair of French marble urns that had been converted into table lamps. Likely from the Nineteenth Century, each lamp was on a stepped marble based and showed applied gilt ormolu with ram’s head handles. Next was a monogrammed, sterling silver Fisher tea service in the Kent pattern, that sold with a silverplated tray for $1,625. Selling at the same price was a pair of “massive” midcentury Chinese storage jars decorated with dragons in very good condition.
Halloween enthusiasts recently asserted that “spooky season” starts as early as July 5, following Independence day, and bidders for an antique collection of Halloween postcards may have agreed. The group numbered 36 in total, and sold for $1,250. The postcards were rehoused in acid-free folders transparent windows, and were in very good condition despite slight losses on a few cards’ back surfaces from their previous album.
Prices quoted with buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. Hyde Park Country Auctions next sale will be in October. For additional information, 845-471-5660 or www.hpcountryauctions.com.
