Dutch School oil on panel, $135,000.

Chippendale case-on-case clock, $350,000.

A Surprise and a Superlative Clock Head $4.5 Million Sale at Northeast

MANCHESTER, N.H. — “The sale was a little soft here and there, but considering the economic picture, we are pleased,” Ronald Bourgeault of Northeast Auctions said after the Saturday and Sunday, November 2-3, sale at the Center of New Hampshire Holiday Inn. Close to 700 bidders registered for the sale including those in the room, phone and left bids.

One of the surprise lots (96) was a Dutch School oil on panel of “Poseidon and Bride in His Chariot,” a 117/8- by 91/8-inch work inscribed on the reverse, “Bartolomeus…fecit…opus/Fr sui memorium/Fo…Leonardis de Claris,” with loan labels from the Fogg Art Museum and the Busch-Reisinger Museum. The presale estimate was $2,5/4,500 and it sold for $135,000, plus premium, to a phone bidder from Germany. Stanley Moss, a collector/dealer from Riverside, N.Y., underbid the piece.

There were no surprises when lots of attention was paid to a Chippendale case-on-case clock in mahogany, Newburyport, Mass., circa 1790-1795, with a presale estimate of $150/250,000. Bidding opened at $140,000 and when it appeared it was all over, Bill Samaha of Milan, Ohio, registered the next bid, $350,000, and it was all over. With premium, the clock brought $387,500. The arched framed glass door encloses an engraved brass dial with demilune panel inscribed, “David Wood, Newbury Port.” The clock measures 29½ inches by 12½ inches and was displayed in a glass case for protection. “I bet I took the face off that clock and showed it close to 50 times during the previews,” Albert Sack, American furniture expert with Northeast, said.

A full report of the sale will appear in next week’s paper.