Racing into the lead was this early Twentieth Century molded copper fire pumper weathervane attributed to Cushing and White that had originally been used on a Somerville, Mass., firehouse. It brought $48,000 from a private collector ($20/40,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring, Catalog Photos Courtesy Fairfield Auctions
MONROE, CONN. – Nearly 92 percent of the more than 400 lots offered at Fairfield Auctions on April 29 sold for a total of approximately $350,000. Speaking with Antiques and The Arts Weekly after the sale, Jack DeStories said that total was less than average, he usually has 20 percent more in both lots and dollars.
The sale had originally been scheduled for March 29 but once Connecticut started to impose COVID-19 related closures, DeStories made the decision to push the sale back. Previews were available one at a time and by appointment only. DeStories and his wife and partner, Rosie, were the only two staff manning the auction on the day the sale closed, to watch the online bidding on both LiveAuctioneers and HiBid.
“The sale was online for about six weeks and had way more viewers than we usually get; we also had a record number of online registrations. The number of people watching kept the prices from falling too low; we saw pretty solid results all the way through,” he commented.
American furniture and folk art were represented by some of the top lots in the sale. Bringing the highest price of $48,000 was a molded copper fire pumper weathervane attributed to Cushing and White that had originally been on a firehouse in Somerville, Mass. With considerable bidder interest, it raced past its $20/40,000 estimate to sell to a private collector. A primitive Hudson River School landscape sold for $7,800 to a trade buyer. Two different private collectors bought a Chippendale chest on chest for $5,760 and a Chippendale cherry serpentine chest of drawers for $4,250.
Modern American art also did well. William Copley’s mixed media “C is for Coply” brought the second highest price in the sale, selling within expectations, for $14,400; while the third highest price of the day was $11,400, for a lithograph by Roy Lichtenstein titled “Red Lamp.” Falling just shy of its high estimate, Nicolai Fechin’s pencil on paper “Portrait of a Girl” made $7,200.
Fairfield Auctions’ sales typically begin with jewelry and this sale was no exception, with an 18K gold and diamond necklace bringing $5,760 and a platinum diamond ring finishing for $4,800.
Other sale highlights include a mid-Nineteenth Century Italian micromosaic circular table top that finished at $6,600, a Chinese carved jade cup that was sold with a hardstone lotus-form cup that topped off at $4,560 and a 162-piece lot of Gorham sterling silver flatware in the Buttercup pattern that finished at $3,120.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house.
Fairfield Auction’s next sale will take place at the end of May.
Fairfield Auction is at 707 Main Street (Route 25). For information, 203-880-5200 or www.fairfieldauction.com.
