Bob and Sallie Connelly staged an onsite estate auction August 8 that was highlighted by items as diverse as a Tiffany Venetian frame, an ivory-handled folding cane with a matching umbrella and a papier mache cartouche for “seegars.” “What we had was a time capsule,” Bob said. “We had two auctioneers running simultaneously and it still took us all day to sell off this estate.”
The top lot of the day was something of a sleeper, according to Bob. An oil on canvas by Fernando A. Carter (1855‱931) dated 1917, in an elaborate frame that sold for $7,910, including the buyer’s premium.
“It had a label from the Everson [Museum of Art in Syracuse, N.Y.], so I knew it was good. And the frame was pretty elaborate,” he said. Everything was sold at no reserve, so when bidders started to compete for the Carter painting, the Connellys knew it was moving high. “We didn’t have a huge crowd at this estate, so I was a bit worried. But I was told, ‘You have every power buyer in eight counties here,’ and that proved to be true.”
Other artwork also garnered some serious bidding. An oil on canvas winter scene by Frank A. Barney (1862‱954), also in a good, old frame, went to $3,616. A pair of crewel work embroidered French pictures were circa 1830 and carried a tag from Macy’s, circa 1920, when the pair sold for $40. A savvy buyer snapped up the textile pair for $745.
A Tiffany Venetian frame, 8 by 10 inches, sold $2,712, but a 1934 Texas motorcycle license plate went for just $90 †”It was worth three times that,” Bob said.
One of Bob’s favorites in the sale was a pair of Victorian cameo belt buckles. “I wanted them for myself,” he said, but instead he sold the two, tied together with a ribbon, for $305.
The Connellys are known for offering great quilts, and in this sale there were two that caused a stir. An Amish quilt had some minor damage and a Star quilt was pristine. They each realized $395 to different buyers who were at the onsite auction. “We had toys, vintage clothes and textiles and tools selling out front, and in back, the rest was being offered,” Bob said.
Toy highlights included a Schoenhut Felix the Cat, Toonville Trolley and Barney Google toy. Felix and Barney each sold for $192. The estate attic had many treasures, Sallie said, but it was a box with a French Tete Jumeau doll without any clothes that caught many eyes. “There was a hairline crack but otherwise it was perfect, and it sold for $791,” she said. Then another box was filled original artwork for Jinny doll clothing. “The children of the estate had no idea where this came from, but they were original artist’s works for Jinny doll clothes,” which, after the dust settled, brought $848.
While furniture has been anything but shining at auctions of late, an R.J. Horner partners’ desk had five phone bidders competing with two floor bidders. Starting at a low figure, Bob pushed the buyers to keep going, with Binghamton, N.Y., dealer Brad Kirby making the winning bid at $4,068. Kirby said he was going to use the elaborately carved mahogany desk with Northwind faces, large gargoyles and claw feet in his shop, America’s Attic, for his own personal use. Sallie said, “The family told us their parents bought this desk from the Dey Brothers Department Store, Syracuse, N.Y.”
Other furniture highlights included a Hepplewhite mahogany chest of drawers at $847, a salesman’s sample furnace brought $588, an English lift-top blanket chest sold for $497 and a set of nine Stickley cherry dining room chairs and table, in the Colonial Revival style, together went to $203.
Some miscellaneous lots ended up doing “very well,” and made for an interesting, eclectic sale. A carved ivory, folding eagle-head cane with matching umbrella handle realized $1,158; a signed P.E. Guerin, N.Y., brass organ/piano lamp sold at $723; a Weller Dickensware #676 vase that was drilled for a lamp went to $316; a French figural bronze clock, with the movement upside down, was 24 inches high and left the sale at $1,328. An Edward Favre Brandt chronometer, in a 14K gold case, KW & KS, sold at $768; a Fusee watch, KW & KS by Wm Williams, Dublin, Ireland, in clam shell sterling case went to $814.
There was some stoneware offered. Topping the category was a Whites of Utica blue-decorated, paddle-tail bird on a crock that realized $1,412; another with a similar beaver-tail bird, but on a jug, brought $847; and a Bennington flower jug sold at $622.
A papier mache cigar holder was a folding type that could hold three cigars. Labeled “Seegar,” the cartouche sold for $475. The first lot of the day, a coffee tin, went for $802. Bob thought that was a portent of things to come.
Bob & Sallie Connelly, Antiques-Auctions-Appraisals, is at 205 State Street, Binghamton, N.Y. A longtime member of the American Society of Appraisers, Bob is an accredited senior appraiser. For information, 607-722-9593 or www.BobConnelly.com .
