“Walt Whitman,” daguerreotype attributed to Gabriel Harrison, 1850s. From the collection of the New York Public Library.
NORWALK, CONN. – Braswell Galleries was the site of a recent summer’s end auction featuring more than 1,000 lots. Chief among the antique and estate furniture offered was an Eighteenth Century Philadelphia carved mahogany armchair on ball and claw feet. Onlookers witnessed an animated bidding skirmish, which tapered down to one floor and one phone hopeful, culminating in the sale of the $30,000 chair to the phone bidder.
Other pieces among the estate furniture included a satinwood inlaid Hepplewhite style sideboard with a brass gallery selling below estimate at $2,250, a Federal mahogany bowfront chest going high at $3,250 and a pair of Georgian compatible benches selling low for $1,000.
A large selection of period Biedermeier furniture, most from a Fairfield County estate, generated interest among collectors. A fruitwood three-drawer commode sold above the high estimate for $4,500; a burled maple butler’s desk with a pull out writing surface went right on the low estimate for $4,000; a pair of matching window benches hit above the high estimate for $4,000; a set of four tiger maple side chairs sold low for $1,250; a number of mirrors, including a large burlwood surrounded by Ionic columns, fetched on the low money $1,500; and a fruitwood atrium-form armoire sold slightly under the low estimate for $3,000.
Diverse porcelain also crossed the block. A collection of antique Canton, broken down into small lots, went reasonably: a pair of floral lidded jars sold for $115, a pair of sauceboats with interior decoration went for $125 and an octagonal form platter with river landscape sold for $150. A pair of slender taper-form gilt and enamel decorated Satsuma vases were grabbed for $500, while a set of eight Minton for Tiffany & Co. blue and gilt decorated bowls sold well above their high estimate at $3,000. A set of 12 Cauldon for Tiffany 11-inch service plates went high at $1,500.
Other rdf_Descriptions of interest included a Jems Risom Twentieth Century design sofa and chair set going fairly at $650, and a nine-foot Steiff giraffe selling for $1,400.
Prices listed do not reflect the 15 percent buyer’s premium.
