The first of two Louis Vuitton trunks of identical size – 21 by 39 ½ by 12 ½ inches – this example sold for $5,428, the same as the other one on offer and the highest price of the day. Both trunks came from the same seller but sold to different buyers in sequential lots, both more than quadrupling expectations.
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Catalog Photos Courtesy Crowther & Brayley
CHESTER, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA — A highlight of the antiquing community in Nova Scotia is Crowther & Brayley’s annual summer auction, which is now in its 31st year in Chester. The firm conducted its most recent edition on August 3, when it closed bidding on more than 500 lots of fine art, jewelry, furniture and decorative arts, local interest and Inuit items, to name a few. After the sale, Antiques and The Arts Weekly spoke with Bill Brayley about his thoughts on the sale’s performance and the state of the market.
“We were pleased overall with the sale, particularly some of the local and Indigenous items. My overall view of the market would be that there’s some firmness returning to some areas, including Oriental rugs and vernacular furniture or local craftsmanship; also, quirky items, which, while not of significant value, have an appeal as esoterica.”
The auction’s top price of $5,428 was achieved by two Louis Vuitton trunks that had descended through the same family of their original owner but sold to different buyers. Brayley said the trunks had once belonged to someone who had been on the first Canadian women’s ski team and who, though going to school in England, learned to ski in the Swiss Alps. Not only were the trunks of identical size and fresh to the market but both bore the initials “A.A.M” and a red and white sticker.
“A L’aube, Saint-Urbain” by Andre Bieler, 20 by 25 inches, signed and with publication and exhibition history, was a top selling of the fine art category, earning $4,140.
The fine art category was led at $4,140 by a watercolor by Andre Bieler, RCA, OSA (1896-1989) titled “A L’aube, Saint-Urbain,” a 1939 watercolor that was illustrated in Frances K. Smith’s Andre Bielver, An Artist’s Life and Times (Merrit Publishing, 1980) and bore labels to galleries in Montreal and Kingston. Brayley said the work — one of three by the artist in the sale — was a good example of the work of the artist, who was known for his Quebec village, market and festival scenes in which he captured the flavor and personality of his locations.
Nearly 60 lots of jewelry crossed Crowther & Brayley’s block, led by a Birks platinum and natural blue sapphire ring with 1.8-carat stone surrounded by diamonds. It more than tripled expectations to bring $4,002. Bidders unrolled a circa 1890 Bakshaish carpet to $4,600 and a circa 1920 Heriz to $3,956, while furniture saw as a highlight a Nineteenth Century seaboard mahogany two-drawer stand that stood 27¾ inches tall and rose to $1,242, six times its high estimate.
For local interest, it would be difficult to beat a collection of Lorenzen pottery, including 23 of their species-specific mushrooms made by Danish naturalist Ernest Lorenzen and his Acadian wife, Alma Goguen. According to Brayley, Alma sketched the mushrooms out in the field and came back to the studio, where they would render them from clay. Of the 23 on offer, a 3-1/8-inch-tall “Rusula Atrorubens” brought the highest price of the group: $3,450.
Making nearly 20 times its high estimate, and the top price of any of the 23 different mushroom species in the sale rendered by Ernest and Alma Lorenzen, “Rurula Atrorubens” bloomed to $3,450.
A needlework sampler, stitched by Isabell Robb in Halifax and dated March 18, 1845, which Brayley characterized as “quite unusual,” more than doubled its high estimate to finish at $920.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house and have been converted from CAD to USD based on the exchange rate on the last day of the auction. For more information, www.crowther-brayley.com or 902-423-3226.
