David Wheatcroft won the Seifert village scene.
New York Chippendale chest-on-chest, $11,000.
Dealer Purchases Seifert Watercolor for $58,000 in Hudson, N.Y. Sale
By Rita Easton
HUDSON, N.Y. – Stair Galleries held a May 25 auction following three preview sessions. Properties from the estate of Senator and Mrs Terry Carpenter of Scotts-bluff, Neb.; a Southampton estate; objects consigned by a Midwestern Americana collector; the estate of Walter Rotan, a listed sculptor, and rdf_Descriptions from two Columbia County homes were offered. Approximately 120 bidders were on the floor, with additional left bids and phone bidders, in competition for the 339 lots offered. The auction grossed over $500,000.
Bringing the highest bid of the day, a watercolor on paper attributed to Paul Seifert (1840-1921) measuring 221/2 by 28 inches, escalated to $58,000, going to dealer David Wheatcroft of Westboro, Mass. The primitive view of a country village had an estimated at $3/5,000.
A pair of classical Federal carved giltwood mirrors, each measuring 67 by 41½ inches, was purchased by a member of the trade at $16,000; an Eighteenth Century New York Chippendale mahogany chest-on-chest reached $11,000; and a powder horn inscribed “Daniel Read’s Powder Horn made in Lisbon and State of Connecticut, March ye 3rd, 1802,” engraved with ships, fish, flowering tree, a manor house and figures, some being slaves bound in chains, brought $14,000. An additional inscription read “cruelty and presumption.”
A piece of Charles II stumpwork garnered $8,500, having been estimated at $1/1,500; a suite of walnut Regence-style furniture comprising a settee and four fauteuils in the original needlework sold for $10,000; a Pennsylvania walnut side chair realized $6,750; a Nineteenth Century Newport chest-on-chest achieved $6,500; and an oil on canvas portrait of a child in a blue dress, holding a cat, 331/2 by 27¼ inches, brought $5,750.
A portrait of Tyler Briggs, MD, the oil on canvas measuring 30 by 24 inches, made $5,750; a pair of Swedish Neo-classical marble and ormolu candelabra did $5,500, well above the $1,500 high estimate; a walnut Eighteenth Century highboy sold for $7,000; a set of George III-style mahogany side chairs was purchased for $8,000; and a Steinway grand piano went out for $14,000, going to a buyer in Japan.
A painted blanket chest reached $1,500, which was its high estimate; a George III mahogany linen press did $2,800; a Federal maple and painted long-case clock brought $1,400; and a mahogany Regency long-case clock garnered $4,250.
Prices quoted do not reflect a required 15 percent buyer’s premium.
