At $16,640, the top lot from the Wendel collection, and the top lot overall, was this 23-by-23-inch American Nineteenth Century Parcheesi gameboard with checkers on its reverse, in original paint on framed wood panel ($2/4,000).
Review by Carly Timpson
BRANFORD, CONN. — New England Auctions presented two sales October 21-22: Americana Featuring Bruce Wendel Gameboards and Clifford A. Wallach Tramp Art on the first day, followed by Fine Estates Including Vilnis & Co Antiques Shop on the second. Across the auction action, the firm saw bidder registrations from the United States, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Australia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland, Romania, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt.
“We were exceptionally pleased with our American sale,” gallery manager Kate Brashears said, commenting for the firm. The Americana auction was anchored by the second installment of gameboards from the Wendel collection that the auction house began to disperse in July and the Wallach collection, realized $413,386. “As expected, the Bruce and Doranna Wendel gameboard hammer prices were consistently high due to the quality of the items.” Additionally, she said, “The standouts were some of the tramp art pieces, which sold for double their high estimates.”
The tramp art kicked off the sale, with nearly 25 lots from the personal collection of scholar Clifford A. Wallach. The collector is the author of Tramp Art: One Notch at a Time (1998) among other respected titles. “We felt very privileged to be entrusted with the fine tramp art pieces from the premier collector of tramp art, Clifford Wallach,” Brashears noted.
The leading tramp art lot from the Wallach collection was this corner cupboard/desk with scallop-framed glass doors, American, early Twentieth Century, 69 inches tall by 50 inches wide by 24 inches deep. It made $8,645 ($2/3,000).
The tramp art selections were led by a corner cupboard slant-front secretary. With hearts in the chip-carved details and scallop-framed glass doors, the desk was featured in Wallach’s first book and sold for $8,645, more than doubling its high estimate.
Another piece of furniture was a vanity with lift-top mirrored desk and swivel mirror. The circa 1916 desk’s seven drawers, as well as the top, were all chip-carved and had bone handles. Signed “C. A. Eden ’16,” the desk was in excellent condition and rested on caster wheels. It went out at $5,586.
With less practicality but all the same artistic quality was a tramp art frame with ship diorama. The Twentieth Century frame had 14 stacked graduated chip-carved layers of wood and featured a three-dimensional wooden clipper ship against a hazy yellow sky. After a battle between two determined bidders, the ship sailed off for $5,320.
The top lot of the day was a Parcheesi gameboard from the Wendel collection that was pushed more than four times its high estimate to achieve $16,640. In original paint on a framed wood panel, the board was also painted for checkers on the reverse. The board was painted in bold red and yellow against a dark ground and had circular pinwheel-like motifs in the corners and center. Made in the Nineteenth Century, the game had additional provenance to Shaker specialists Courcier & Wilkins.
In original paint on framed wood panel, this late Nineteenth Century American Parcheesi board, 24¾ by 25 inches, was won for $14,080 ($1/2,000).
In a classic design, a late Nineteenth Century Parcheesi board painted with red, mustard yellow, gray-green and having a deep blue center surrounding a simple four-pointed star finished at $14,080, the second-highest result of the day. This not-quite-square example was published in the Wendels’ Gameboards of North America (1968) and retained its original surface. Coming in at $9,600 was an example with folky charm, including appealing wear and imperfections. The off-white background was marked with colorful circles in each of its four corners and had a central square that read “Home” in black with yellow highlights.
Though tramp art and gameboards comprised much of the auction, it also included other Americana and folk art highlights. Extensive provenance and family genealogy records helped lift a pair of unsigned portraits past its estimate to achieve $7,680. Attributed to Federal era painter Dr Samuel Broadbent, the portraits depicted Connecticut residents physician Dr Luman Wakefield (1787-1850) and his wife, Betsey Rockwell Wakefield (1789-1831). The portraits passed through the Wakefield family, from the original couple to their daughter, Lucy Clarissa Wakefield Phelps (1820-1867); to her daughter, Elizabeth Newhouse Phelps Soule (1856-1945); to her son, Launcelot Phelps Soule (1883-1968); thence by descent in the family.
“In our Estates sale, our Asian porcelain buyers showed up strong and provided great bidding competition,” Brashears said. The 234-lot auction, featuring period furniture, Chinese porcelain and Asian arts, American and European paintings, clocks and carpets, including selections from Vilnis & Co Antiques Shop in Strasburg, Va., realized $152, 46.
The second day’s auction was led at $15,360 by this Nineteenth Century tooled brass bracket clock in a veneered case, likely English for the Italian market, 24¾ inches tall by 13¾ inches wide by 11 inches deep ($800-$1,500).
The leading lot was a large Nineteenth Century bracket clock, likely English for the Italian market. With a high estimate of just $1,500, the clock usurped control, driving bidders to the height of $15,360. The tooled brass face featured scrolling acanthus leaf motifs and various textural details, a moon phase window and additional dials for the month, day of week, date and seconds. Its dark veneered case with brass elements housed the clock and nest of ten quarter-hour bells. Brashears noted that it saw two highly passionate bidders fighting for the win.
The Asian categories also performed well, with an ovoid blue-and-white porcelain jar claiming top-lot honors for the selection. The Chinese jar, detailed with an outdoor genre scene with figures and natural elements, and it had a band of stylized clouds and sun motifs around the neck. Possibly from the Kangxi period (1662-1722), the jar had a Spink & Son, London, label to its underside and sold for $4,096, handily surpassing its $600 high estimate.
Topping furniture on day two was a mahogany dressing table that was attributed to Duncan Phyfe. New York-made in the early Nineteenth Century, the mahogany and flame mahogany veneer table on reeded sabre legs with a rope-twist stretcher had a swiveling rectangular mirror on lyre-form supports. With provenance to Ginsburg & Levy, New York, the vanity table cleaned up for $2,527.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. The firm will offer a Bakelite & Modern sale November 18. For information, www.newenglandauctions.com or 475-234-5120.
