Two items in the sale each sold for $31,200, the sale’s top price. One was this Thomas Webb cameo glass vase carved by George Woodall in the Chinese style popular around the turn of the Twentieth Century.
Review & Onsite Photos By Rick Russack; Catalog Photos Courtesy Poulin Antiques & Auctions
FAIRFIELD, MAINE — Nick Poulin has been running auctions of high-quality firearms for several years and is one of the largest specialty firearms auctioneers. Until he retired in 2017, Jim Julia, Poulin’s uncle, was one of New England’s best known and largest auctioneers, running a company with several specialty departments. Poulin, in conjunction with Julia, who is now back in the business, have decided to jointly open a new division that will conduct antiques and fine art auctions. The Premier Major Summer Antique Auction, their first joint endeavor, took place on August 29. Poulin continued his tradition of producing a lavish color catalog with numerous color photos and extensive, guaranteed, descriptions. The sale was conducted live, with internet bidding available on five platforms, as well as phone and absentee bidding.
The company is a family affair. Nick Poulin’s father, Steve, and his mother Jeannine, are active; cousin Jackie Julia is the general manger and other cousins are all involved in the day-to-day running of the business. Sales are conducted on the premises that were used by Poulin’s grandparents, Arthur and Lilla Julia in the 1950s, and after their retirement, by their son, Jim. Poulin says, “I was an auction brat. I grew up right here and the auctions were part of everyone’s lives.” The family’s combined auction sales over the years are more than $1 billion. Times have changed since those early days and so has the way Poulin conducts business. Many auctioneers utilize social media platforms to promote sales, and some use the various platforms to promote special items. Poulin, for his firearms sales, utilizes several YouTube videos in which he discusses especially noteworthy firearms. They run two to ten minutes each and often draw more than 10,000 views. There are currently more than 100 of his videos on YouTube.
Nick Poulin, left, and Jim Julia, shown just before their first collaborative sale began; the sale totaled $833,000.
The firm’s first foray into the world of general antiques had high spots in two totally different items that tied for the highest prices of the sale. Both were representative of strong selections in their respective categories. A Thomas Webb cameo glass vase carved by George Woodall in the Chinese style earned $31,200. It was a translucent red, carved in white with flower blossoms, foliage and a Greek key design below the neck. Bringing the same price was a 4-carat diamond ring set in platinum. It had a GIA clarity of SI 1 (slightly included) and color H, (near colorless).
The sale also included an emerald and diamond ring, with both the emerald and the two diamonds grading the same as the 4-carat diamond above. This ring, which achieved $12,000, had descended for multiple generations in the Sladen family, members of which had impressive military backgrounds. One family member was a Governor of India, one member was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for service in the Civil War and another member of the family was awarded numerous medals for his service.
In addition to the Webb cameo vase, the glass selection included Royal Flemish pieces, a selection of elaborate Mount Washington brides’ bowls, Tiffany and cut glass. Leading the Royal Flemish offerings was a late Nineteenth or early Twentieth Century dragon and gryphon vase more than 10 inches tall. It had a raised gold gilt dragon on one side and a similarly decorated gryphon on the other side, along with six-point jeweled stars. It sold for $4,800. According to the Corning Museum of Glass website, Royal Flemish was one the most elaborate types of art glass produced by the Mount Washington Glass Company and was introduced in the late Nineteenth Century. The half dozen brides’ baskets in the sale ranged in price from $510 to $900, depending on the amount of decoration of the bowls and the form of the silverplated stands, which were sometimes quite elaborate and which were made by the Meriden Silver Company and other silver companies.
The offerings of several Mount Washington Glass Company bride’s baskets included this heavily decorated one on a silver-plated base of three young women. It earned $900.
A Tiffany Studios desk lamp with an iridescent damascene shade with blue and pink highlights brought $3,300. The shade was signed “LCT Favrile” and the base was marked on the underside “Tiffany Studios New York 419.” There were a number of small favrile glass pieces, such as salt cellars, which were sold in small groups. A 31-inch-tall cut glass lamp, sold with two shades, was the most sought-after of the cut glass offerings, finishing at $1,440.
The first 60 lots or so were American and European paintings. Each category was led by a $12,000 painting. An oil on canvas by Italian painter Cesare Auguste Detti (1847-1914) of two young women with flowers led the European selection. Bringing the same price, leading the American offerings was a double-sided marine watercolor by James Edward Fitzgerald (1899-1971). One side depicted a fisherman wearing a yellow/orange rain slicker. On the reverse was another watercolor depicting two fisherman climbing into a dory. Also popular with bidders was an Aldro Thompson Hibbard (1886-1972) oil on canvas of a winter Vermont landscape with a road going through a small town; it earned $10,800. Finishing just a little behind, at $10,200, was a Charles Herbert Woodbury (1864-1940) winter landscape, titled on the reverse “First Snow.”
One of the sale’s higher prices, $30,000, was earned by one of the several slot machines. It was an upright 25-cent Caille Centaur machine, 68 inches tall, which had been fully restored and was working and paying correctly. It was built by the Caille Brothers Company, circa 1907. An unrestored 10-cent “8 Star” slot, made by the Pace Manufacturing Company, circa 1948, in unrestored working condition, went out for $1,140. Some of the slot machines in the sale were passed.
Earning $30,000 was this upright 25-cent Caille Centaur slot machine, 68 inches tall, which had been fully restored. It was built by the Caille Brothers Company, circa 1907.
There were two spread-wing eagle weathervanes of dramatically different sizes. One, attributed to Fiske, was huge, with a wing spread of 56 inches and was 32 inches from beak to tail. It came from the Morrill house in Portland, Maine, and had been professionally restored in 1991 by a conservator at the Shelburne Museum. The original directionals were intact and a collector in the room paid $14,400 for it. Does size make a difference? Yes, a big one. The smaller of the two, with a wing spread of 18 inches, sold for $1,680, a fraction of the price the larger one brought.
For those interested in military memorabilia, the sale included several regimental, battalion and similar flags. Included was the official flag for Vice President Dan Quayle, who served in that office from 1989 to 1993 under President George Bush. This flag would have been used in his office, along with the flag of the United States, and would have also traveled with him, being flown on Navy ships and military installations when he was present. It brought $5,400, well above the estimate. Selling for $780 was a circa 1922 flag representing the 6th Composite Group, then part of the Army, which was extensively discussed in the auction catalog. A flag for the 185th Infantry Regiment, also fully described in the catalog, sold for $660. Even flags in this collection that sold for as little as $120 featured extensive catalog entries.
A varied selection of photographs included an Edward Curtis gold-tone plate depicting a Navajo (Diné) chief, titled the “Chief of the Desert.” Dating to the first decade of the Twentieth Century, the chief was wearing a headdress and a woven Navajo blanket. The original Curtis label identified the subject. It sold for $24,000, more than twice the estimate. A signed Curtis platinum print of an Indian woman preparing food sold for $720.
This gold-tone plate by Edward Curtis depicting a Navajo chief, titled the “Chief of the Desert” sold for $24,000. From the first decade of the Twentieth Century, the chief was shown wearing a headdress and a woven Navajo blanket. An original Curtis label on the back identified the subject.
Included in the photography selection were movie stills of Greta Garbo, a beautiful recluse who allowed few photos of her to be taken. As a result, most images of her are stills from her various film roles. Two 10-by-13-inch images showing her as the title role of the 1933 film, Queen Christina, sold for $300; the photos were taken by Clarence Sinclair Bull, who is known for his work with the movie stars of the period. Other lots with two images of her from the same film earned the same amount of money.
Chansonetta Stanley Emmons (1858-1937) was a photographer living and working in Maine in the early Twentieth Century. Her images were specifically posed to convey a feeling of earlier times and carefully eliminated any “modern” features of the times she worked in. Her unsigned portrait of an elderly farmer earned $480.
Decoys and fish carvings included a life-size carving of a Kingfisher with a small perch in its beak by Elmer Crowell. Signed and mounted on a simulated stump, it realized $9,600. A pair of Ward Brothers pintails, each dated 1938, realized $9,000. A mid-Twentieth Century decorative carving of a grouse in a fully displayed mating pose, by Massachusetts carver Mark Holland, realized $1,020. Perhaps one of only a half dozen decoys made by Elmer Stennes, a bufflehead, realized $360. Stennes, who was convicted of murdering his wife — and who was himself murdered by his son when he was released from prison — is better known as a clockmaker. Fish carvings included a signed sunfish plaque by Oscar Peterson, which realized $1,920.
There were several decoys and decorative carvings in the sale. Elmer Crowell’s life size carving of a kingfisher with a small perch in its beak went out for $9,600, topping the selection.
After the sale, Nick Poulin commented, “We accomplished everything we wanted to with this sale. Our gross of $833,000 is where we hoped it would be. We introduced the new division of our company and had a good crowd in the room and strong interest from the five internet platforms we use. We generated some good leads on collections for future sales and I was really glad to see the way our entire staff was enthusiastic about this new division. They all felt a sense of ‘ownership’ and worked together to make it happen. I firmly believe that the cost of generating the printed catalogs, with the extensive descriptions and background stories, is money well spent. Our numerous photographs and guarantee help to make internet buyers comfortable with bidding from a distance.”
Jim Julia added, “Nick is a hardworking guy and I’m really delighted that we’ll be working together. This sale went over well. There were a lot of positive comments and I think we’re off to a good start.”
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For more information, 207-453-2114 or www.poulinauctions.com
