Leading the sale at $13,530 was this seven-piece Tiffany & Company sterling silver tea and coffee service with matching silver tray, New York City, circa 1903, approximately 272.25 troy ounces ($15/20,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
ABERDEEN, MISS. — Stevens Auction Company celebrated America250 on July 11, with its Red, White & Bid: A 250th Anniversary of America Auction, which featured material from Twelve Gables (Columbus, Miss.), reportedly the birthplace of Decoration Day (later Memorial Day), as well as other selections from a Greek Revival estate in Muscatine, Iowa, and the Ormonde Plantation in Natchez, Miss. At press time, the sale totaled approximately $400,000 with a 98 percent sell-through rate.
“We were very pleased with the results of the Red, White & Bid auction,” said owner Jace Ferraez. “The sale showed strong demand across several categories, especially Southern and American furniture, sterling silver, Southern art, fine porcelain and decorative arts. We had active participation online, on the phones, absentee and in the room, with approximately 60-70 people attending in person. It was exactly the kind of broad, energetic estate auction we are working to build at Stevens.”
“Fresh estate material continues to bring bidders when it is properly photographed, cataloged and marketed,” Ferraez continued. “This sale was encouraging for us because it brought together traditional collectors, online bidders, private collectors, decorators and members of the trade. It also helped show the strength of the Stevens platform for future estates and quality consignments.”
The highest price of the day was a seven-piece Tiffany & Company sterling silver tea and coffee service with a matching sterling silver tray, which served up a $13,530 finish. For Ferraez, this “confirmed the strength of the silver market when the quality and presentation are there.” The circa 1903 set included a two-handled serving tray, hot water kettle or coffee brewer on stand, tall coffee pot, low teapot, covered sugar bowl, waste bowl and creamer. Each piece was marked “Tiffany & Co. / Makers / Sterling Silver / 925-1000 / M.”
Depicting botanical specimens and their Latin plant names, this set of 11 Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica porcelain plates, each 9 inches in diameter, bloomed past its $1,5/2,500 estimate to make $6,765.
Also used in the dining room was a set of 11 Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica porcelain plates which more than tripled its $1,5/2,500 estimate to make $6,765. Each plate was finely painted with a different botanical specimen and its corresponding Latin plant name, such as one example, marked “Anemone Vahlii Horn.” “The Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica plates were another strong result and one of the more active porcelain lots in the auction,” explained Ferraez. “We continue to see that fine table services and recognized porcelain patterns can perform well when they are fresh to market and properly presented.”
“The American and Southern furniture helped define the character of the sale,” Ferraez stated, speaking of the selection led by a Nineteenth Century cypress locking cabinet made on a Natchez, Miss., plantation, which closed its doors for $11,685. “The Natchez plantation cypress locking cabinet was one of the most meaningful Southern pieces in the sale and drew strong interest because of its regional history and attribution to enslaved craftsmen,” Ferraez added. Constructed of broad cypress boards with a projecting molded cornice, paneled double doors, a vertical board back, shaped lower skirt and original-style iron locking hardware, the piece measured 96 inches high.
“The [J. & J.W.] Meeks-attributed rosewood étagère [$8,470], the C. Lee stamped half tester bed [$5,143] and the American Classical [marble-topped] ham table [$5,015] all reflected the kind of historic furniture and estate material that Stevens Auction Company is continuing to emphasize,” Ferraez explained, in turn highlighting several more furniture pieces that sold well.
With provenance to the Annesdale Mansion in Memphis, Tenn., this American Rococo Revival carved and laminated rosewood marble-top étagère attributed to J. & J.W. Meeks, New York City, mid Nineteenth Century, 72 inches high by 55 inches wide by 21 inches deep, sold for $8,470 ($8/12,000).
Additional furniture that performed to the auction house’s standards included an American Renaissance Revival carved mahogany library table or desk attributed to R.J. Horner ($3,630), a circa 1840-50 American Empire mahogany pier table with a rectangular white marble top and molded edges ($3,509) and a circa 1820-40 Southern Sheraton cherry step-back cupboard, oftentimes called a “Jackson press” ($3,328).
Fine art was led by “Picking Cotton,” an oil on board by Louisiana folk artist Clementine Hunter depicting workers gathering cotton in a plantation landscape with birds, cabins, trees and waterways. The 1981 painting had provenance to Gasperi Folk Art Gallery in New Orleans, which purchased the painting in 1981; it was sold at Stevens for $6,765. Ferraez added, “The Clementine Hunter painting also drew significant attention, reflecting continued interest in Southern art and American folk art.”
Following at $6,050 was a Continental School oil on canvas after Cristofano Allori, most likely done in the Eighteenth Century. The work depicted Judith holding the head of Holofernes in one hand and a sword in the other, her attendant in the background. It had provenance to the Ormonde Plantation in Natchez, Miss., and was accompanied by a 2011 Hudson + Salah Art Conservation Studios document confirming a major conservation campaign that the painting underwent.
This Continental School oil on canvas after Cristofano Allori, likely Eighteenth Century, 65 by 54 inches framed, depicted Judith with the head of Holofernes and was bid to $6,150 ($10/15,000).
Several more Continental School works crossed the block for high prices, including “The Immaculate Conception,” an unsigned oil on canvas after Bartolom Esteban Murillo ($5,445); an oil on canvas after Raphael and workshop’s “Madonna del Divino Amore,” also known as “The Virgin and Child with the Infant Saint John the Baptist, Saints Elizabeth and Joseph” ($3,751); and an oil on canvas after Peter Paul Rubens depicting the abduction of the daughters of Leucippus, Phoebe and Hilaeira, by Castor and Pollux ($2,662).
Other notable lots that did not fit into a specific category but were mentioned by Ferraez as “standout” included a late Nineteenth Century gilt mechanical singing bird automaton cage marked “France” which flew to $3,267, and a pair of circa 1830 English gilt brass Argand table lamps by Messenger & Sons, Birmingham, that were bid to $2,904.
Stevens Auction Company’s next sale will be conducted on August 29, and will feature a large estate in Little Rock, Ark.
Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 662-369-2200 or www.stevensauction.com.
