This 18K yellow gold Rolex Presidential Datejust, model #L244957, 35-millimeter case, became the top lot of the sale when it sold for $18,000 ($10/15,000).
Review by Carly Timpson
PLAINFIELD, N.H. — William Smith Auctions realized $841,476 in its January 28 auction featuring 519 lots of Twentieth Century design. Matt Zayatz, William Smith’s director of marketing shared, “The Exceptional January Live Auction featured a collection yielded from the former home of museum-collected artist, Ilse Bischoff, later purchased by Timotheus Pohl, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz North America. Highlights included many Rolex watches and other antique timepieces; abstract, contemporary and modern art; Asian carved jade and other high-end jewelry pieces; vintage musical instruments; and what appears to be the return of mission/craftsman/arts & crafts furniture and decorative. The auction started aggressively, realizing strong numbers and featured a large number of new international bidders.”
According to the auction catalog’s introductory note, Bischoff (1901-1990) was part of a group of New York City artists who summered in Hartland, Vt., including Jared French, Paul Cadmus and George Tooker, and some of their pieces appeared in her collection. She filled her Hartland home with Eighteenth Century European antiques, and her collection later expanded under Pohl (1939-2024), an avid collector of contemporary art. Bischoff’s Hartland house — originally built in the 1820s for Isaac Newton Cushman (1788-1843), a lawyer from southern Vermont, and likely designed by New England architect Asher Benjamin or a follower — became a fantastic example of the success in mixing European antiques with contemporary art, a decorative style that many collectors can take inspiration from today.
In a 50-millimeter 18K yellow gold hunting case, this antique Patek Philippe pocket watch monogrammed for Willard D. Brown earned $6,875 ($3/5,000).
Leading the sale at $18,000 was a Rolex wristwatch in 18K yellow gold. The Presidential day-date model #L244957 watch had automatic movement and the 35-millimeter case had a pie pan bezel. With its original Presidential bracelet, having three extra links, and a Rolex box, the watch was in good running condition with expected dings and scratches from wear.
Another timepiece to do well was an antique Patek Philippe pocket watch, also in 18K yellow gold. The signed and stamped watch was in a hunting case etched with a “WDB” monogram flourish on the outside and inscribed “Willard D. Brown, Father & Mother” on the inside. The side-wind watch had a gross weight of 108.5 grams and rose to $6,875.
A four-print artist’s proof set from Sabra Field’s “Upland Suite” exceeded expectations and brought $11,685. Each of the woodblock prints showed a view of a hillside from one of the four seasons, titled “Dandelion Galaxies,” “Fields and Mountains,” “Windows of Light on the Snow” and “Deer in the Orchard.” All four were signed and numbered in the margins in pencil and came from an edition of 150. The auction catalog indicated the suite was purchased directly from the artist, and this edition was created and offered only through Vermont Public Television.
This complete “Upland Suite” of four woodblock prints by Sabra Field (American, b 1935), artists proofs from an edition of 150, 20½ by 15½ inches framed each, brought the sale’s second-highest price: $11,685 ($6/9,000).
Other artworks to earn top prices included an abstract tempera by Steve Wheeler. In bold blues and oranges, the 1941 painting was unsigned but bore labels from Richard York Gallery (New York City), Snyder Fine Art (New York City), Valerie Carberry Gallery (Chicago) and Riva Yares Gallery (Scottsdale, Ariz., and Santa Fe, N.M.). It rose past its $6,000 high estimate to achieve $9,000.
A lithograph and screenprint “Still Life With Crystal Bowl” by Roy Lichtenstein, numbered “21/45,” was from the Bischoff/Pohl estate collection and brought $8,750. The work was signed and dated “1976” in pencil, and though the Rives BFK paper and frame both sustained damage due to a water leak in the house, it easily bested its $5,000 high estimate.
“Mere Coincidence,” a large oil on canvas painting by Art Green, came from a Center Harbor, N.H., collection and was dated 1973. The painting was sold, for $8,125, with its original receipt from Karen Lennox Gallery (Chicago), indicating a $5,000 purchase price in 1982. In addition to one from that gallery, it had another label from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (Philadelphia), indicating it had been on loan from Phyllis Kind Gallery (Chicago) for a 1974 exhibition of works by Art Green and Roger Brown.
“Mere Coincidence” by Art Green (American, 1941-2025), 1973, oil on canvas, 67 by 55½ inches framed, brought $8,125 ($4/6,000).
Dorothea Rockburne’s (Canadian, b 1932) mixed media “Leveling Series,” made with bord, masonry nails and paper, had provenance to the Bischoff/Pohl collection and was affixed with a label from Christie’s. The work measured 35½ by 25½ inches framed and more than doubled its high estimate to realize $6,600 ($1/3,000).
Painted on two canvases, Freya Hansell’s 1986 oil “Fire Man” was lit to $7,500. The top panel, a 36-inch-square section, depicted the rising flames, while the 76-by-36-inch bottom part showed a male figure leaning back and breathing fire from his mouth. From the Center Harbor collection, this large work had a label and receipt from Piezo Electric (New York City) that showed it was purchased in 1986 for $3,500.
Sculptural works also found favor with bidders, led by R. Carroll Todd’s “Snake Bench.” Signed “R. Carroll Todd ’98,” the 48-inch-long bronze sculpture had a serpentine cut-out along its top surface and came from the Center Harbor collection. It slithered past its high estimate more than two times to earn $5,400.
Following just behind in price at $5,000 was another bronze. This one, an Art Deco head on a black and gold marble plinth. Though it was unsigned, bidders took a liking to it and pushed it well beyond its $400 high estimate, possibly due to its Bischoff/Pohl provenance.
An exciting result, $8,400 on a high estimate of $2,500, was achieved by a cloisonne scent bottle for a chatelaine — a Victorian-era fashion to affix perfume to a woman’s waist, often paired with other useful accessories. The antique bottle and drop chain were stamped and tested for 14K to 18K yellow gold and had cloisonne details of birds, butterflies and flowers on white, blue and green panels with gilded accents
On February 24, William Smith will conduct an auction from a Higganum, Conn., estate, followed by an Important Winter Live Auction on the 25th. Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For more information, www.wsmithauction.com or 603-675-2549.
