This Nineteenth Century or earlier Russian Orthodox gilt metal icon of the Madonna and Child, attained $23,680 ($300/500).
Review by Andrea Valluzzo
SUDBURY, MASS. — Provenance was the throughline that ran through many of the top offerings in Tremont Auctions’ Antiquities, Books & Estate Collections auction on September 13.
Nearly 550 lots crossed the block, including a diverse grouping of Egyptian, Roman and Middle Eastern antiquities, featuring just more than 50 lots from the collection of Dr Bruce L. Ralston, assembled in the 1960s and 70s, which nearly all sold within or above estimate. History buffs who prefer to study or collect printed material also had plenty to choose from in this sale, with a wide range of books, ephemera and historical material, including nearly two dozen items from historic Americana specialist Rex Stark, who passed away in 2023.
“We are very pleased with the auction results,” reported owner Matthew Buckley. “The antiquities, books and manuscripts did very well and drove the sale total to just under $400K at $397,325. There were a number of strong results on items that indicated to us that the sale was good interest and participation.”
Of the Ralston and Stark collections, he added, “The two collections did certainly bring in more bidders. We had sold a couple dozen of Dr Ralston’s items in a sale four years ago, and those did quite well. The buyers all recalled those items and participated based on the reputation of that collection. The Rex Stark items are much that same. He was so very well-known and respected with a great eye for Americana that bidders loved.”
The auction kicked off with Egyptian antiquities, including the very first lot: this double-sided carved stone stele fragment with an image of female deity that sold for $6,985 ($600/800).
The auction started off on a strong footing with the first lot across the block coming from Ralston’s collection: an Egyptian double-sided carved stone, probably limestone. The stele fragment, carved with an image of a female deity, easily surpassed its $600/800 estimate to earn $6,985. “The icon was unusual in that it had seed pearls and was gem-set,” Buckley added. “There was a number of parties bidding on it on the phone and online.”
Among the antiquities offered from the Ralston collection, Egyptian examples seemed to be the most desirable, led by a Late Ptolemaic period cartonnage mummy mask, depicted wearing a smooth blue-painted wig, a broad collar and having a gilded face with black eyebrows and cosmetic lines. Measuring 9 inches tall, the cased mask went out at $8,060. Also performing well was a pre-Dynastic slate palette in the form of a fish, having incised details and a suspension loop beneath the dorsal fin, that bested its $500/700 estimate to realize $7,930.
The top lot of the auction came about the halfway point of the auction in the form of a Nineteenth Century or earlier Russian Orthodox gilt metal icon of the Madonna and Child with standing saints that continued the trend of far outperforming estimates. Conservatively valued at $300/500, the icon, which showed the Madonna with a seed pearl- and gemstone-set halo, attained $23,680.
This first edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s St Irvyne; Or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance went out at $22,860 ($2/3,000).
A pleasing and highly curated selection of books also saw robust sales, led by a first edition of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s St Irvyne; or The Rosicrucian: A Romance that achieved $22,860 ($2/3,000) and a leather-bound seven-volume set of John James Audubon’s The Birds of America (1859) that made $14,880 ($3/5,000).
Selling within estimate was a first edition of Michel Jean Cazabon’s Views of Trinidad, once described as containing the “finest set of engravings that has ever been produced of the West Indies.” It achieved $11,780.
Presidential material is always a popular genre among historical ephemera, and leading this sale was the first of nine Thanksgiving proclamations issued by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. This example known as Proclamation 85, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer,” tripled its high estimate to fetch $7,320. With this proclamation, delivered shortly after the Battle of Bull Run, Lincoln set the day Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer as September 26, 1861. Adding to the document’s interest and rarity, it was printed on the same sheet as a proclamation by Massachusetts governor John A. Andrew, who was elected in the fall of 1860.
Abraham Lincoln was represented with a copy of the first of his nine Thanksgiving proclamations he issued during the Civil War, “A Proclamation for a Day of Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer,” which made $7,320 ($1,5/2,500).
There is unending interest in Napoleon Bonaparte at auction. A signed autograph letter from Bonaparte, as Emperor of France, to General Berthier was written in Paris on January 12, 1813, mere weeks after the emperor’s retreat from Russia. Bonaparte detailed plans to reorganize the army in the letter. More than doubling its high estimate, the letter made $4,712.
A group of four documents, dating a few years earlier, related to the Barbary Wars and included a French paper from May 1808 titled “Certificates of the Consuls at Algiers respecting outrages on their Persons with double signatures and seals of the consuls of the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Holland and Great Britain.” The grouping brought $4,572, well over its $300/500 estimate.
Rounding out the auction was a collection of 13 original travel posters designed for Qantas Airways by Australian graphic designer Harry Rogers in the 1960s. Renowned for their strong use of color, which was the artist’s signature style, the posters brought $3,556, just over estimate and included examples for New Zealand, Europe, Japan, Canada, Australia, New Guinea and South Africa.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. Tremont’s annual Fall Art & Antiques Auction will be November 1 with nearly 700 lots. For information, www.tremontauctions.com or 617-795-1678.
