“I bought it for inventory,” Albert Sack said with a big smile after he successfully bid in the Nicholas Brown Chippendale carved and figured mahogany scalloped-top tea table at Sotheby’s on Saturday afternoon, January 22. The hammer bid was $7.5 million, bringing a total of $8,416,000 with the buyer’s premium.

The bidding went from the front row of the gallery, where Albert was seated, to the back where Leigh Keno was registering every other bid and finally coming up the underbidder.

This table, with open ball and talons, is attributed to John Goddard of Newport, R.I. It dates circa 1760, is in a remarkable state of preservation, and the underside bears a paper label with the inked inscription, “Belonged to Mrs Hope Ives.” The table was the major lot among the single-owner sale of the property of the Goddard Family.

This sale also included two roundabout chairs, both attributed to John Goddard, the first bringing $1.4 million ($1,584,000 with premium) and the second $1.5 million ($1,696,000 with premium). Both were bought by Leigh Keno.

The sale included 50 lots and brought a total of $13,104,340.

A full review of this important sale will appear in a future issue of Antiques and The Arts Weekly

-RSS