“Rodger’s Meadow,” Daniel Garber, $242,000.

Hepplewhite secretary bookcase, $14,300.

Revolutionary War-period powder horn, $16,500.

HATFIELD, PENN. – Daniel Garber paintings were the hot topic at the Alderfer Auction Company on Wednesday, March 6. These paintings were featured at Alderfer’s quarterly cataloged auction that was held March 6-7.

The auction also included many other pieces of fine art, estate jewelry, furniture, historical rdf_Descriptions and decorative accessories. A large quantity of these rdf_Descriptions came from the “Mansion on the Main Line,” a Bryn Mawr, Penn., property.

The Daniel Garber paintings were featured on the catalog’s front and back cover. The paintings were sold with provenance of exhibition and family descent supplied by Lance Humphries who is coordinating a catalogue raisonné of Garber’s works.

The first Garber painting sold was titled “Rodger’s Meadow,” painted in the fall of 1922. According to Garber’s record books, the piece was painted “outside of Centre Bridge looking toward Stock-ton.” The painting measures 30 by 30 inches and was framed in a Ben Badura carved gilt frame.

With strong interest on the phones, the attention moved swiftly to the floor. The painting sold to a Northern New Jersey collector in the audience for $242,000, setting a record price for a single rdf_Description sold by the Alderfer Auction Company.

The second painting by Garber, “Gray November Day,” measuring 22 by 18 inches, was painted from “River Road above Lumberville looking toward the Berger farm in New Jersey. Boat landing in Foreground,” in November 1933. The painting was well suited in a carved frame by Frederick Harer and sold to a local collector for $110,000.

Other artworks in the auction included works by Bucks County artist Arthur Meltzer and his wife Paulette Van Roekens. An oil painting titled “Four O’clock” by Van Roekens sold for $8,800. Two 12- by 14-inch paintings by Meltzer, titled “Covered Bridge” and “Last Rays of Sunlight,” sold for $7,700 each.

Several works by Hobson Pittman came to Alderfer’s from the Bryn Mawr property. These works sold for $5,225, $2,475, $2,200 and $2,900. A 1929 painting by Philadelphia artist Antonio P. Martino titled “Autumn Trees” and measuring 36 by 40 inches, was included in the auction and sold for $16,500.

A Raymond Vanselous carved frame that measured 25 by 30 inches sold for $3,850. Several Old Master paintings brought sales of $15,400, $11,000 and $8,800.

A Revolutionary War-period powder horn included in Alderfer’s auction also attracted much presale interest. The horn came to Alderfer’s from a local family who had owned the it for more than 200 years. The horn was engraved with designs including the owner’s name and date, “Dan Pond – His Powder Horn – 1776,” a circle of 12 interlocking rings “American Congress – We are One,” and a nautical scene with two ships, the larger being identified as Rose-Ship of War, the smaller identified as a tender. It sold over the phone to a collector for $16,500.

Besides the artwork and the powder horn, other fine antiques crossed the auction block. A Baktiari rug that measured 16′ 4″ inches by 12′ 3″ sold for $7,700. An example of a highly carved J.E. Caldwell tall-case clock sold for $11,000 over the phone. A Hepplewhite cherry secretary bookcase from a Bucks County, Penn., estate sold for $14,300. A monumental cut glass vase/lamp sold for $3,300, while a Loetz art glass vase sold for $1,540.

All prices quoted include a ten percent buyer’s premium.