Earning $13,800, the highest price of the day, was an early Nineteenth Century olive green glass quart flask, which measured 8½ inches tall ($200/400).
Review by Kiersten Busch
BROOKSTON, IND. — On July 16, bidders gathered around their computers and phones for Davies Auctions’ Online Only Estate and Americana Auction, which offered 388 lots of early American country furniture and accessories, decorated stoneware, early redware, artwork, lighting, Civil War weapons and accoutrements, primitives and other listings. There were 619 buyers registered to bid through Live Auctioneers.
Antiques and The Arts Weekly caught up with Doug Davies, owner of Davies Auctions, who said of the sale: “It did fine, just like all sales. Some surprises, many items brought what they should, with few disappointments.” There was only one lot that did not sell, leaving the total sell-through rate just shy of 100 percent.”
The star of the show was an early Nineteenth Century olive green quart flask, which went out for almost 35 times its estimated $200/400. The glass flask, which sported ribbed shoulders, had an eagle and stars on one side and a cluster of grapes on the opposing side, with a rough pontil on its base. The 8½-inch-tall piece did not contain any chips or cracks but had general wear consistent to its age and usage. “Of course the olive green eagle flask was a surprise,” said Davies, “it’s evidently quite rare. It came from a longtime collection in Rensselaer, Ind.” The flask achieved a total of $13,800 and is headed to a Vermont buyer.
This folk art alien made from bottle caps was attributed to Clarence (1929-1987) and Grace (1921-1982) Woolsey from Lincoln, Iowa. The sculpture measured 47 inches tall, 29 inches wide and 13½ inches deep and had provenance to Thom Rawson. It sold to a Michigan buyer for $5,463, above estimate and the second-highest price of the day ($2/4,000).
A folk art bottle cap “alien” sculpture attributed to Clarence and Grace Woolsey, farmhands turned folk artists from Lincoln, Iowa, was the second-highest selling lot of the sale. According to the auction catalog, “The Woolsey’s started making bottle cap art in 1961 and worked into the 70s. After their passing, their entire collection was sold at auction for $100 and since then it has been traded all over the country.” The alien sold for $5,463, 54 times the original sale price of the Woolsey’s entire collection. There is a similar example to this alien in the American Folk Art Museum in New York City.
New England furniture from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century were a hot commodity, with two pieces bid into the top 10 lots. Rounding out the top three highest prices of the day was an Eighteenth Century pine step-back open bookcase, which went to a local buyer for $3,738. Original to the 82-inch-tall piece were two wrought iron brackets on the back, so that it could be attached to a wall. Categorized as “hard to find” by the auction catalog, the bookshelf had its “old” red paint with wear consistent to its age and use. Additionally, a Nineteenth Century New England painted pine step-back cupboard sold for $1,093.
Also from the Nineteenth Century was a large gilded tin spread-wing eagle with the federal shield. Wear to the original gilding, a few dents and a back piece of tin separating from the front piece did not deter bidders from pushing the 26-inch-tall-by-37-inch-wide sculpture to $1,495, more than double its high estimate. It will be perched in the home of its upstate New York buyer.
This large gilded tin spread-wing eagle with a Federal shield had bidders feeling patriotic, raising the late Nineteenth Century piece to $1,495. It measured 26 inches tall, 37 inches wide and 3½ inches deep ($400/600).
Davies Auctions’ next sale will take place in the fall, with no specific date assigned yet. It will feature early American country furniture, artwork, primitives, a large collection of porcelain and tin advertisements and a collection of Christmas and Halloween items.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.daviesauctions.net or 765-491-2018.
