Sparkling at $11,840 was this GIA-certified, 3.17-carat diamond and sapphire ring on a 14K yellow gold band, which earned top lot status ($8/12,000).
Review by Kiersten Busch
REHOBOTH, MASS. — Americana Auctions ushered in the month with its Fine March Collectors Auction, conducted on March 2. The sale saw 521 lots cross the block, with offerings including antique guns, vintage Western items, more than 300 pieces of Sandwich glass spanning 40 lots, fine jewelry, silver and gold coins, a collection of 25 rare gadget canes, Arts and Crafts furniture, Navajo rugs, fine art, antique food molds, porcelain and more.
A 3.17-carat diamond and sapphire ring earned top lot status, slipping onto the finger of its new owner for $11,840. The large, round mine-cut brilliant diamond at the ring’s center was flanked by two trilliant-cut sapphires, all of which were mounted on a 14K yellow gold band. The lot was also accompanied by a recent GIA certificate.
The first four lots of the sale were salesman’s models of various products, including a windmill, a plow, a mower and a boiler and lathe, which all sold at prices between $384 and $11,200. The highest price went to a Nineteenth Century Monitor Wind Engine windmill model, which came with three original pamphlets from the Monitor Manufacturing Company of Auburn, Ind., and were dated to 1888. In very good condition, the model featured wooden fan blades advertising the maker, as well as a metal shaft and gears. According to the auction catalog, “Windmill manufacturing was an important industry in the Midwest during the latter half of the Nineteenth Century. Names like Samson, Monitor, Challenge and Star were as familiar as IBM, GE and Xerox are today.”
This Valin fusee bracket clock was made circa 1750 in Quebec, Canada, had an eight-day movement and both a strike and silent mode. In working order, the clock ticked to $9,375, almost three times the high end of its $2,5/3,500 estimate.
Chiming at $9,375 was a rare, early Canadian walnut bracket clock with a brass fusee eight-day movement by Valin. The 15-inch-tall clock was made circa 1750, had a brass and silver-plated dial and a date box signed “Valin Quebec.”
Gold items were popular with bidders and they took a 1907 gold $10 US Indian Head Eagle coin mounted to a 14K gold stamped watch fob to $3,968, surpassing its $2,5/2,800 estimate. In addition, a 44.8-pennyweight, 14K solid gold card or cigarette case marked “RB Co. 14K” snapped shut for $3,840, while an ungraded 1907 US $20 Saint Gaudens gold coin, rated 900/1000 for fine gold content, flipped to $3,072.
A Browning BT-99 trap shotgun fired up a $3,200 finish, earning two times its high estimate. The burl walnut 12-gauge gun was “elaborately engraved,” according to catalog notes, sporting a checkered stock with parcel-gilt designs of flowers and ducks. Its barrel, measuring 34 inches long, was stamped “Special Steel.” The weapon was also signed “Browning Arms Company, Morgan Utah, Made in Japan, Miroku” and was made circa the mid 1970s. The lot came with its original case, instruction manual and accessories.
Prices quoted include buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 508-771-1722 or www.americana-auction.com.
