“Americans Abroad” by Ronald Searle, 19 by 14½ inches, in a 26-by-21-inch frame, journeyed from a $100/300 estimate to $7,800. It had been published in LIFE magazine and will be traveling to its new home in California.
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
HARWICH, MASS. — In late January, Eldred’s announced that it was relaunching auctions at longtime Harwich house, Sandwich Auction, which had, for nearly 50 years, conducted regular estate sales. Josh Eldred explained the decision as providing “an easy and affordable entry point for those who are new to the auction marketplace and a place for collectors or dealers to add to their stock.”
Sandwich Auction was established in 1974, by Janet Johnson, Duncan Gray’s aunt, when she would pitch a tent in a field on Route 6A in Sandwich. She did well enough that by 1976, she was able to build a permanent structure in the town. From 2004 to 2020, Gray ran the business alone but sold it to Eldred’s during the pandemic.
Now in Harwich and under the umbrella of East Dennis-based Eldred’s, Sandwich conducted its first two sales, both online-only, in mid February: a 264-lot Discovery sale on February 12 was followed by Collect: Art 101, a 143-lot auction of fine art on February 14.
“We attracted a lot of the preexisting clientele from Sandwich, which was good, and both sales were both very positively received. I feel it’s a big part of what we can offer, giving us an avenue to sell more moderately priced material efficiently while still having the ability to place premium works at Eldred’s,” confirmed Eldred.
“Bouquet of Flowers” by Eugene Edward Speicher, oil on canvas, 20 by 16 inches in a 26-by-21-inch frame, led the Collect: Art 101 sale at $2,340 and sold to a private collector in Illinois ($150/250).
Gray was upbeat when Antiques and The Arts Weekly spoke with him following the sale. “For me, it’s been a great change. Everyone at Eldred’s is wonderful and allows me to work with the material and people again. A lot of my old customers have reached out to me now that we’ve started sales again, which has been wonderful.”
Both sales met the directive of keeping things affordable — no lot in either sale reached five figures — but that does not mean quality was poor or that expectations were not exceeded.
February Discovery
A sepia ink and watercolor on paper drawing titled “Americans Abroad” by Ronald William Fordham Searle (American/English/French, 1920-2011) scored the highest price of either event, bringing in $7,800 from a California buyer. Sourced from a Connecticut estate, a representative confirmed that a stamp indicating it was used in the December 23, 1957, issue of LIFE magazine was discovered after it was cataloged.
A work titled “Just Beyond” depicted Cape Cod dunes by local contemporary painter Donald W. Demers (b 1956) and came from the collection of Henry and Sharon Martin. It realized $2,600 — below expectations despite exhibition history at the Cape Cod Museum of Art (2010), the Lyman Allyn Art Museum (2011) and the Maryhill Museum of Art (2012).
“Just Beyond” by Donald W. Demers, oil on board, 12 by 18 inches in a 20½-by-26½-inch gilt frame, with listed provenance and exhibition history, found a new home for $2,600 ($4/6,000).
The decorative arts were in plentiful supply, with silver jockeying with furniture for primacy in the category. Topping off at $3,900 was a five piece repoussé sterling silver tea and coffee service, by S. Kirk & Son of Philadelphia that were engraved with the name “Meisenhelder,” likely an earlier owner. It beat out the $2,860 realized for a 105-piece mid Twentieth Century sterling silver flatware set by Reed & Barton.
Capping the furniture category was a set of six modern Windsor bowback side chairs in blue-green paint, crafted by the Warren Chair Works Company of Warren, R.I. Handsome and well-made, the set surpassed expectations and earned $2,210. A two-part Nineteenth Century Welsh dresser that would perfectly display a set of dishes or glass sold to a buyer in New York for $1,950, just ahead of the $1,820 realized by a queen-sized tiger maple pencil post bed made in Massachusetts in the Twentieth Century by Eldred Wheeler, which sold to a buyer in Connecticut.
Collect: Art 101
Most of the February 14 fine art sale was from the Roslindale, Mass., estate collection of Jim Lyons, a court-appointed attorney and a self-taught collector who amassed an enormous group of paintings by largely New England artists.
A still life of a bouquet of flowers in a vase by Eugene Edward Speicher (American, 1883-1962) was the top lot of the day and the highest-priced result from Lyons’ collection. After heated bidding, it sold to a private collector in Illinois for $2,340, nearly 10 times the high estimate.
“Soft, Lovely Autumn” by Leo J. Meissner, mixed media on paper, in a 25-by-19-inch frame, achieved $715 and was the second-highest priced work from the Lyons collection ($200/300).
“Soft, Lovely Autumn,” a mixed media on paper landscape painted in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, by Leo John Meissner (American, 1895-1977) was one of two works by the artist in the sale. The same buyer paid $715 for “Soft, Lovely Autumn” and $228 for the other work, “Almost Bare Trees.”
A Twentieth Century American School landscape of a farmhouse with brick path and blue door surpassed expectations at $423, as did a wintry landscape titled “Return of Spring” by Floyd Gahman (American, 1894-1979) that improved on its estimate and traded hands for $390.
Some works not from Lyons’ collection also realized some of the highest prices of the day. Bringing $975 was “Morning Mist, Maine” by American/Irish artist Val McGann (1928-2016).
Standing out from the landscapes and still life paintings in the sale was a Nineteenth or Twentieth Century half-length portrait of Napoleon after the full-length portrait by Jacques-Louis David that nearly doubled its high estimate when it realized $780.
Prices quoted include the buyers’ premium as reported by the auction house.
Sandwich Auction House will conduct a March Discovery Auction on March 12.
For further information, www.sandwichauction.com or 508-385-3116.
