The highest-priced lot in the sale was this set of four covered silver entree dishes made between 1804 and 1820. Each was engraved with the armorial of George III. The set of four brought $17,220.
Review by Rick Russack
CAMBRIDGE, MASS. — Karin Phillips and Carl Nordblom advertised CRN Auctions’ April 21 sale as an “Eclectic Blend.” That’s a way of saying the offerings were broad. One of the most important items in the sale — from a historical point of view — was a 1796 “sea letter” signed by George Washington for a ship whose owners were involved in the slave trade. There was early American furniture, more than 70 paintings and a strong selection of English and Continental bronzes and decorative arts. Louis Vuitton luggage included a very rare “flower” trunk. Asian material featured Meiji period Japanese carvings and Chinese porcelains with a large offering of Fitz Hugh and other export wares. The crowd in the gallery was not large but they were serious bidders, purchasing numerous lots.
The important Washington-signed sea letter was sold immediately after the painting lots, and it realized $12,300, one of the highest prices of the sale. Beginning in 1778, American vessels were required by various laws and treaties to carry sea letters, like a ship’s passport, to document that the ship was American. They had to be signed by the secretary of state and approved by the president and were meant to identify the ship, the ship’s nationality, and to serve as evidence of treaty privileges, or of neutrality, when the ship arrived in foreign ports or when it was boarded by naval officers of nations at war. In May 1796, such a letter was issued to the schooner Fair Lady, sailing to St Croix out of Kingston and Duxbury. As most of these letters were, it was printed in English, French and Dutch and was signed by President George Washington and Secretary of State Timothy Pickering. According to the document, the ship was captained by Joshua Delano and owned by Boston merchants Benjamin Homer and Benjamin Cobb, who the catalog indicated were also traders of enslaved people.
Signed by George Washington and Timothy Pickering and dated 1796, this sea letter, which sold for $12,300, was one of the exceptional items in the sale. Sea letters were required on American vessels after 1778 and had to be signed by the president and secretary of state, to identify the ship and its nationality.
The sale had more than two dozen lots of silver and it was one of these lots that provided the highest price of the day. A set of four Georgian silver covered entrée dishes, engraved with the British royal arms and dated to the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century, earned $17,220. The lids were engraved with a crowned lion and unicorn with the motto of King George III. They were made by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell between 1804 and 1820. Other silver included an elaborate Viennese enameled silver candy dish, with fanciful scenes of mythological figures in clouds that had four decorated hoofed legs and brought $3,383, while a nest of four Tiffany sterling platters, the largest of which was more than 20 inches wide, realized $4,613.
CRN’s sales always include a selection of quality Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century American furniture. Bidders considered a mahogany Philadelphia Chippendale Pembroke table with shaped drop leaves and bowed drawer fronts to be the most desirable of the offerings in this sale. With pierced brackets and block feet, it sold for $13,530. They also liked a small New England Queen Anne walnut tea table with dovetailed corners that brought $5,535. Five pieces of reproduction early American furniture by the D.R. Dimes company included a Chippendale-style tiger maple four-drawer chest with a hidden drawer and shell carving ($2,583) and a cherry and tiger maple corner cupboard ($1,845). The catalog noted that Dimes made his first Windsor chair in Epping, N.H., in 1964; in 1976, Independence Hall commissioned him to reproduce Windsors for the historic site. He has also made furniture for the Smithsonian and Old Sturbridge Village.
Bringing $13,530, this mahogany Philadelphia Chippendale Pembroke table was just one of the quality pieces of early furniture in the sale. Though its high estimate was $6,000, bidding on it opened at $6,500 and phone bidding progressed rapidly.
More than 60 paintings and other fine art were offered at the beginning of the sale. The most popular of the paintings was an impressionist painting of a woman collecting wood in a winter landscape by Emil Carlsen (Danish-American, 1848-1932); it sold for $3,998. A scene of birch trees by Benjamin Champney (American, 1817-1907) earned $1,599, while a moonlit seascape by Lionel Walden (American, 1861-1933) went out for $1,845.
Bronzes included “La Danse de Nymphes” by Eugène Marioton; it had a clock in the base and traded hands at $6,765. The catalog noted, “It is rare that this bronze is mounted on an original marble base with an inset clock. The porcelain dial is marked ‘Emile Colin and Cie, Paris, 29 Rue Sevigne 29.’” CRN Auctions sold an identical bronze — without this rare base — in October 2023 for $8,540. An Art Deco bronze figure with face, hands and feet of carved bone brought $4,305. The large, eye-catching sculpture was signed “Demetre Chiparus” on the decorative marble base and it measured more than two feet wide.
After the sale, Nordblom commented, “I liked seeing the bidders in the room as successful as they were. We really had a varied assortment of merchandise and I think there were some bargains for dealers. We finished with over $400,000 so there’s no complaint there.”
All prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For additional information, 617-661-9582 or www.crnauctions.com.
