This ink and watercolor taufwunsch for Petter Schollge by the Sussel-Washington artist, 10½ by 12 inches (framed), was the first lot and also the top lot, won by dealer Jim Kilvington for $262,500 ($60/90,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
DOWNINGTOWN, PENN. — “What a fantastic sale! It almost reminded me of the 1980s! Almost…” raved Jamie Shearer, Pook & Pook’s vice president, appraiser and auctioneer. “Pook & Pook was thrilled with the results. It was the largest sale ever by lot count that we have ever had in our 40 year history. The market continued to show exceptional strength at the top end but was also bolstered by a very sound middle ground. Many lots exceeded even the highest of expectations. Condition and color continued to inspire collectors to buy form and function over regional collecting categories. Many new collectors have registered to bid across several bidding platforms as well as a return of some of our older collectors who have not actively added to their collections in quite some time.”
Such was the enthusiasm felt by the Downingtown firm after its September 25-27 Americana & International auction, which saw more than 99 percent of the 1,432 lots sell successfully and achieved $3.9 million against a $2.4 million aggregate high estimate.
The first lot of the sale, an important taufwunsch, or baptismal fraktur, for Petter Schollge (b 1779 Berks County) by the Sussel-Washington artist that was described in the catalog as “arguably the finest in private hands and rivals that in any institution” and “one of very few by the artist known,” was the top lot of the three-day event. Identified as having provenance to the Modesto, Calif., collection of Albion P. Fenderson, it was acquired for $262,500 by Delaware dealer, Jim Kilvington, who was bidding from the salesroom.
Samuel Miller’s (American, 1807-1853) portrait of a young boy, oil on canvas, 42 by 33 inches (framed), brought $40,000 from a trade buyer in New England ($12/18,000).
Prices may not have reached such heights throughout the rest of the sale but it would be a mistake to say the sale was “downhill from there” as there were many choice lots that followed it and also exceeded expectations.
Fenderson’s collection was a significant portion of the first day’s offerings and had more than a few lots in the sale’s upper ranks, with all lots trading hands. A vibrant oil on canvas folk art portrait of a boy in a red dress standing next to a rocking horse and holding a riding crop, rose to $40,000 and sold to a New England trade buyer.
A carved and painted spread-wing eagle by Wilhelm Schimmel (Cumberland Valley, Penn., 1817-1890) that, at 8½ inches tall, was of impressive size, tripled its high estimate and sold for $150,000 to a very active Florida collector bidding on the phone. For bidders who were outbid on Fenderson’s example, the sale offered two other Schimmel eagles to compete for. Both were offered on the third day and both came from the collection of Walter Pyle Smith and Jeannette Chaffee Smith. The first to cross the block flew to a collector in central Pennsylvania, for $57,500, while the third and final Schimmel eagle, which was mounted to a twig stand, more than doubled expectations and went out at $27,500.
The Philadelphia Museum of Art fought hard for and won this important Philadelphia pewter coffeepot made by William Will. It was the second-highest price of the event and came from the collection of Melvyn and Bette Wolf ($50/80,000).
Another significant portion of the first day’s lots were those from the Flint, Mich., collection of renowned pewter dealers, Melvyn and Bette Wolf. Predictably, there was a considerable amount of pewter, including the second-highest selling lot of the event, an important Philadelphia coffeepot made by William Will (Philadelphia, 1764-1798) that was elaborately engraved with the “MS” monogram for Margarita Schuyler. It was given to Schuyler by Thomas Jefferson for her wedding to Stephen Van Rensselaer. Explained in Pook’s catalog as “one of the finest pieces of American pewter in existence,” the pot was included in no less than six publications and had been owned by Thomas Williams of Litchfield, Conn., and Dr Robert Mallory of Rye, N.Y. Shearer noted that after contentious phone bidding, the Philadelphia Museum of Art prevailed to win it for $237,500. It was the second-highest result earned.
Another piece from the Wolfs’ collection that saw institutional interest was a pewter church cup made by Boston pewter smith Robert Bonnynge (1731-1763) that was noted to be the only marked example in a private collection. With three publication sources cited, it was topped off at $75,000 by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, for its Bayou Bend collection.
Pook & Pook has a long tradition selling Pennsylvania German decorative arts and several notable pieces followed the top lot. A trade buyer, bidding via phone on behalf of their client, paid $125,000 for a dome lid box made by the Compass Artist (Lancaster, Penn.) that retained its rare salmon-colored ground with original pinwheel flower decoration. The box, which was from the Walter Pyle Smith and Jeannette Chaffee Smith collection, related to a blue-painted example from the Herr collection that Pook & Pook sold in 2022, but the salmon-colored box far exceeded the result of the blue one.
A tulip-decorated lid and sides augmented the landscape decoration of this painted pine dresser box by Jonas Weber. It found a new home in New Jersey, for $93,750 ($15/20,000).
A dresser box, painted with a landscape scene on a black ground and featuring tulips at either end, that was also from the Smith collection and made by Jonas Weber (Lancaster County, Penn., 1810-1876), was acquired by a New Jersey collector who paid $93,750, more than quadruple its high estimate.
Daniel Otto’s (Centre County, Penn., Eighteenth-Nineteenth Century) ink and watercolor parrot-decorated fraktur birth certificate for Wilhelm Biehrly (b 1818) that came to Pook from a Montgomery County, Penn., collection but also had provenance to Emma Thompson Logan and James and Nancy Glazier, flew to $30,000 and was the newest acquisition of a Chester County, Penn., collector.
Pook & Pook had previously sold a dated “1811” redware charger from Southeastern Pennsylvania to the Smiths in 2004. The 11-7/8-inch-diameter sgraffito example that had an eagle and was initialed “NxM,” finished at $25,000 and sold to the same Florida collector who purchased the Schimmel eagle on the first day.
Going to its new home in Central Pennsylvania was a Northampton County, Penn., painted pine dower chest inscribed “Katerina Eberharten 1782” that depicted three front panels with figures and flowers against a blue ground.
Pook & Pook’s next Americana & International sale is scheduled for January 16-17.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For additional information, 610-269-4040 or www.pookandpook.com.
