February in Boston has little to recommend it, but discerning dealers and collectors demonstrate an unsuspected hardiness when they converge anyway, drawn by the toothsome Americana offerings at Skinner’s quarterly auction February 17.
The most recent event showcased an enviable selection of clocks, the most exciting of which was the E. Howard No. 67 oak regulator wall clock that was the top lot when it sold for a record $165,900. The prior record for the form was $143,500 for an E. Howard No. 36 wall regulator achieved at Skinner’s June 2007 Americana auction.
The pediment of the 104-inch clock in this sale was carved with the head of a bull, the zinc astro dial was painted and it had a No. 3 eight-day movement. The clock was presented to the People’s National Bank in Marlborough, Mass., in 1892, and the collector who bought it intimated that it may end up hanging in another such institution. It came from an area collection that had been in storage for many decades.
Time did not stand still for any of the clocks: a circa 1790 Boston Chippendale mahogany tall clock by Aaron Willard from the same collection was another treasure, and sold to a collector for $100,725 against the estimated $30/50,000. The dial was inscribed “Aaron Willard, Roxbury,” and was signed on the reverse by dial painter J. Minott. The clock retained the original label that was engraved by Paul Revere and printed in red ink. The same buyer paid $18,960 for a circa 1815 Federal mahogany tall clock by John Bailey Jr of Hanover, Mass.
A Federal mahogany tall clock attributed to J.B. Jones of Pittsfield, N.H., with bird’s-eye maple and birch veneer sold for $20,145.
A 67-inch mahogany regulator wall clock, attributed to Simon Willard, and made around about 1830, with a painted iron dial and foliate carving sold for $31,995 to a patient bidder in the room, who outlasted several determined phone bidders.
A Roxbury Federal mahogany tall clock made by William Cummens in about 1800 sold for $37,920. The clock had been owned by Captain Nathaniel Gladding of Warren, R.I. A Federal cherry tall clock by Benjamin Willard of Grafton, Mass., circa 1800, realized $14,220, and a mahogany banjo clock attributed to Boston maker Daniel Munroe Jr drew $8,888.
The runaway favorite among the furniture lots was the cover lot: a carved pair of circa 1730 maple side chairs in black paint with graphically compelling arched and molded crests. Estimated at $50/75,000, the pair brought $130,575 on the phone. They had been owned by Eighteenth Century patriot Meshech Weare, the first colonial president of New Hampshire and were acquired at the 1943 auction of Weare’s property.
They sold to the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, N.H., which has a significant collection of New Hampshire furniture and decorative arts. Museum director Susan Strickler said that the museum as an art museum is interested in aesthetically distinct objects and these chairs are decidedly that. The Currier owns a court cupboard from the Meshech Weare collection. That and the chairs will be showcased when the museum reopens March 30 after a lengthy expansion project.
Two other important chairs with Weare provenance excited major presale interest, but the Seventeenth Century Ipswich or Salem great chair and a North Shore Massachusetts or coastal New Hampshire banister back chair were withdrawn by the consignors two days before the auction. Still, with four lots garnering more than $100,000 each, it was not a bad day out.
A Chippendale mahogany block front chest of drawers with a molded top was determined to be a Boston piece and set the phones hopping to garner $88,875. The piece came from a New Hampshire consignor, a gentleman who helped Skinner’s Stephen Fletcher carry it out to his car!
A set of six New York Federal mahogany side chairs with exceptional inlay sold for $82,950. The chairs came from the collection of George A. Cluett, and were exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in 1936. Cluett began collecting that year and bought four examples of his major pieces so that each of his children would have equally fine objects. A Federal mahogany sofa attributed to Duncan Phyfe, and from the Cluett collection, was carved with cornucopiae and sheaves of wheat, swagged drapery and other classical elements; it went to a phone bidder for $30,810. The sofa was also from the Cluett collection, as was a sweet mid-Eighteenth Century Queen Anne tiger maple dressing table from Massachusetts or New Hampshire that sold on the phone for $15,405.
A Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany games table with a gadrooned apron, circa 1770‱780, realized $23,700.
A diminutive Pennsylvania Chippendale walnut chest of drawers that descended in the Marshall Pyle family of Philadelphia sold for $15,405. From the same collection, a Philadelphia Chippendale side chair with shell carving went to a phone bidder for $11,850.
A Federal mahogany sideboard with a serpentine top, made possibly in New York circa 1790‱815, sold for $11,850.
A circa 1825 classical carved mahogany piano with ormolu mounts and inlay made by Robert Nunns, Clark and Company in New York sold, with a carved mahogany stool, for $6,814. A classical mahogany and mahogany veneer music cabinet with ormolu mounts was thought to have been made around 1820 in Boston. It realized $5,629.
A William Matthew Prior portrait of a young boy in a red dress holding a whip and a white rose was $112,575 against the estimated $15/25,000. The painting depicted the boy with a slightly mischievous expression and with his dress slightly askew. The unframed 1853 oil on canvas was inscribed on the reverse “Wm. M. Prior East Boston Trenton Street Kingly Express.” It came from an old collection, and went to author/illustrator Marc Brown, creator of Arthur, who was bidding in the room, and of whom Fletcher said “has wonderful taste.” A high accolade, indeed.
Two phone bidders contended over the 1822 portrait of Mary Sophia Carroll Bayard of Baltimore that was attributed to Thomas Sully and propelled it to $77,025. The back of the painting was inscribed “Mrs. Bayard, Daughter of Charles Carroll of Homewood. Portrait by Thomas Sully.” Charles Carroll was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. The picture descended in the family.
Telephone bidders vied for an American School portrait of a woman in white with a lacy white bonnet dating from about 1805 and pushed it to $23,700.
Two ships portraits by William Pierce Stubbs crossed the block. The signed “Portrait of the Schooner Ida L. Hull with Shore and Lighthouse in the Distance” descended in the family of the ship’s captain and sold for $17,725. “Portrait of the Ship P.N. Blanchard ” was also signed by the artist and sold for $10,665.
A lot of five unsigned family miniature watercolor and graphite portraits by Justus DaLee comprised a double image of a husband and a wife and three smaller images of their young adult children. Bidding opened at $5,500 and went to $14,220. A DaLee watercolor and graphite portrait of a seated baby holding a rattle was $7,703.
A 10-inch covered burlwood box, made around 1830, attracted high interest and realized $41,475 from a dealer in the room speaking on the phone. It was estimated at $2/2,500. The same buyer paid $5,036 for a paint decorated tinware dome top trunk with exceptional exotic decoration. The piece measured 5¾ by 9 by 5 inches and was estimated at $800․1,200.
A carved oblong burl bowl was $3,851.
A slip decorated redware plate attributed to the Smith Pottery of Norwalk, Conn., bore the inscription “William & Mary” and dated from 1825‱850. The 111/8 -inch plate brought $15,405 from a phone bidder. A late Nineteenth Century sgrafitto decorated redware jug attributed to George W. Settles of Wilson County, Texas, inscribed “Christian Heess,” fetched $2,370.
A collection of about 50 Currier & Ives wintry prints showed unexpected strength. “The Road, Winter” published in 1853 by Nathaniel Currier elicited $30,810. The 21¾-by-29¾-inch lithograph is ranked number 22 in the original “Best 50” and number one in the “New Best Folio” large folio.
“American Forest Scene. Maple Sugaring” realized $11,850. It is ranked number two in the original “Best 50” and number six in the “New Best 50” large folio. “Central Park Winter, The Skating Pond,” a beautifully hand colored 1862 impression, sold for $10,073. Three American winter scenes each brought $8,295. They were the 1853 “American Farm Scenes No. 4,” the 1854 “American Winter Scenes Evening” and the 1861 “New England Winter Scene.”
A Massachusetts School watercolor picture memorializing Benjamin Witt of Braintree, Mass., who died April 17, 1818, sold on the phone for $20,145. The same bidder on the phone took two choice needlework samplers. A Boston sampler executed by Hannah Clap, aged 10 in 1807, with alphabets and a verse, flowers and vines, and a house flanked by lines of trees and fencing, was $6,518, while a sampler worked with the alphabet, numbers and “Nancy Owen Marsh Born May 24 1779” sold for $2,963.
In the case of at least two lots among the approximately 650 offered, the long lost was found.
An Eighteenth Century crewelwork panel executed by Mary Ballentine of Westfield, Mass., who married General John Ashley of Sheffield, Mass., fetched $5,036. The panel was described in the catalog as “probably a valence from a set of bed hangings.” It certainly was. It was part of the bed hangings on view at Historic Deerfield acquired by co-founder Mrs Henry Flynt in the 1950s from Ashley family descendants.
The panel sold to Historic Deerfield and will be reunited with the entire set of hangings. Edward F. Maeder, director of exhibitions and curator of textiles at Deerfield, said he was “over the moon” at locating the missing valence. He said the museum had planned to copy a bed from the Ashley family now on view in Deerfield for the Colonel John Ashley House in Sheffield, Mass., and had also planned to fabricate bed hangings. A reproduction of the entire piece will be made instead.
An Eighteenth Century painted sign from the Doty tavern in Stoughton (now Canton), Mass., sold for $28,440. The Doty tavern, run by Colonel Thomas Doty, served as a meeting place for patriots who were banned by the British from meeting in Boston. It was the site of the drafting of the 1774 Suffolk Resolves, which Paul Revere carried to Philadelphia where they formed the basis of the Declaration of Independence. The tavern was located on what is known today as Prowse Farm and the sign went to the Friends of Prowse Farm, a group that organized in the 1970s to prevent corporate development of the pristine site.
Harvey Robbins of the Friends group said they had known of the sign’s existence for nearly 30 years but were unsuccessful in locating it until they heard about the Skinner sale. He said they were overwhelmed when they saw the sign and simply thrilled to get it. More happy endings.
All prices reported include the buyer’s premium. For information, 978-779-6241 or www.skinnerinc.com .
