Western Union lamp, $6,875.
By Rita Easton
YORK, PENN. – Following two preview sessions, York Town Auction held an important two-day auction on November 2 and 3.
Crossing the block was the lifetime collection of Donald H. Goodyear of Carlisle, Penn.; the estate of Dr Samuel Morrison of Baltimore, Md.; the estate of Beatrice S. Blatner of York; and rdf_Descriptions from homes in Carlisle, Gettysburg, Hanover, Harrisburg, Lancaster, New Oxford and York, Penn. Lots also hailed from Bethesda, Towson, Silver Spring and Westminster, Md.; Lovettsville and Williamsburg, Va.; Shepherdstown, W.Va.; Washington, D.C.; and Newton, Mass.
The event was held in the old Main Building of the York Fairgrounds. Four hundred eighty-three bidding numbers were issued for the 1,300 catalogued lots offered, with additional uncatalogued lots, resulting in a gross of $411,000.
A Pennsylvania long gun with relief carving and eagle inlay with characteristics of G. Shroyer-York Company, won the starring bid of $14,500, purchased by a collector.
A polychromed life-sized cigar store Indian in full headdress, the polychrome being a 1930s or 1940s repaint, made $12,500; a 19-inch high Bru Bebe doll with original wig and some original clothing brought $12,400; a York tall-case clock in a Federal style cherry case reached $9,750; and a John Rupp of Hanover County tilt-top table, estimated at $1,800/2,200, painted to look like pie-inlaid veneer panels, went to an institution at $4,400.
A New England hutch table with round table surface, in original black paint with scrub top, reached $6,750; an oil on canvas by Illustrator Hall of Fame artist Walter Biggs, 36 by 31 inches, depicting a period couple in evening dress dancing in a romantic garden setting, sold for $6,750; and an iron antique food grinder with trough, having iron handles on the grinding wheel, estimated at $150/250, sold for $800, going to a major collection of cooking and hearth-related rdf_Descriptions.
A paint decorated wood box with double lids, one for firewood and one for kindling, in pristine condition, grained in brown and yellow, brought $2,300; a 23 by 29¾-inch oil on canvas of a portrait of a bull, signed by artist Louis Robbs, from the Carroll family of their prize bull, “Comet,” brought $7,250; and an English pictorial sampler, clean and crisp, from a local collection, 121/4 by 12 inches, signed “F. Lawson, 1832,” depicting Adam and Eve with a house and a dog, with a verse, estimated at $700/900, realized $1,100.
Of a group of ethnic masks and carvings, a Sri Lankan Bentota devil mask garnered $110, while a second Sri Lankan ceremonial example went out at $90.
An early glass compote, very large, from the Goodyear estate, estimated at $250/350, sold for $1,750 to a glass dealer; a sterling silver New York coffeepot by Sayre achieved $1,050; coin silver local spoons reached as much as five times their estimates, with a lot of 16 spoons, including six by John Grey of Boston, circa 1692 to 1720, estimated at $100/150, bringing $875. Six Carlisle, Penn., teaspoons marked “George Hendel,” estimated at $200/300 brought $975; and six Lancaster, Penn. coin silver teaspoons by William Haverstick fetched $675.
Five Carlisle teaspoons by Hende brought $525; and three coin silver teaspoons from Hanover by D. Gobrecht, estimated at $150/250, brought $650.
A two-drawer and two-door corner cupboard with a single 12-light door above reached $4,750; a tiger maple single-drawer stand brought $2,300; and an oil on canvas of an Indian maiden grinding food in a bowl on her lap, first quarter of the Twentieth Century, signed “K. Shelden,” an unknown artist, the canvas measuring 391/2 by 331/2 inches, made $1,300.
A bracket foot Pennsylvania chest realized $5,500; a copper rooster weathervane from the Goodyear home, taken from the smokehouse on their Eighteenth Century farm, with attractive patina, went to a Pennsylvania collector at $4,750, the underbidder being the Pennsylvania Historical Society; a pair of Tabriz carpets, 4’7″ by 7’5″ each, made $3,500; and a jewelry trade sign in the form of a huge pocket watch did $650.
Prices quoted above do not reflect a 12.5 percent buyer’s premium.
