A painted chest-on-chest found in a local home was the top lot at Brunk Auctions’ September 24 sale, realizing $276,000, a price believed to be the second highest price ever paid for a Dunlap.

The chest, made in New Hampshire by a member of the Dunlap family of cabinetmakers about 1780-1820, had descended in the family of the consignor. A treasured family possession, it traveled to North Carolina many years ago, and the owner had cared for it meticulously. It survived in nearly untouched condition, with the dramatic faux-grain red and black paint still intact.

A dozen telephone bidders from around the country competed with absentee bids, Internet bidders and live bidders among the large crowd in attendance. The bidding started at $10,000, with many hands in the air until the pack finally narrowed to just two at the $160,000 mark. From there, a phone bidder battled a bidder in the room in $10,000 increments until the phone bidder, folk art dealer David Wheatcroft of Westborough, Mass., finally prevailed at $240,000 plus the 15 percent buyer’s premium for a total of $276,000.

“Windward Koko Head Honolulu” by Joseph Henry Sharp, 20 by 24 inches, was hammered down at $30,000.

Grain-painted furniture did well as evidenced by the sale’ssecond highest lot, a Pennsylvania step back cupboard in excellentcondition that was hammered in at $86,250. Other New Englandfurniture standouts were a Federal secretary bookcase attributed toWilliam Appleton in Salem, Mass., and an American mahoganybreakfront, probably Norfolk, Va., that each sold for $17,250.

The sale included other examples of American and European furniture, paintings, silver, jewelry, folk art, Asian arts, and carpets. Many of the items saw stiff competition from floor versus phone bidding.

Fine art highlights included “Steamer Golden Gate on Fire,” circa 1862, by Claude S. Hugard, 24 by 39 inches, that fetched $16,100 and “Windward Koko Head Honolulu” by Joseph Henry Sharp, 20 by 24 inches, that was hammered down at $34,500. Both were bought by private collectors. Four works in the manner of Francésco Guardi, each 41 by 27 inches, brought $23,000.

Southern decorative arts performed strongly. A coin silver covered sugar and pitcher by James E. Spear & Co., Charleston, S.C., did well with the sugar fetching $24,150 and the pitcher realizing $18,400.

A set of four George II silver candlesticks, Elizabeth Godfrey, London, 1752, sold for $16,100 and a Russian silver/enamel triptych made by P. Ovchinnikov, one of Russia’s leading jeweler firms in the late 1800s, sold to the phone for $16,100.

An Eighteenth/Nineteenth Anglo Irish chandelier sold to the phone for $24,000.

A lot of fine chandeliers included an Eighteenth/NineteenthCentury Anglo Irish chandelier that realized $28,750 on the phone.

Up for bid was a grouping of George Custer ephemera and photographs that descended in the family of Daniel Kanipe, one of two men under the direct command of Custer who survived the Battle of the Big Horn, according to the auction house. One featured item in that lot was a George Custer signed appointment that was hammered down at $18,400.

A group of Spanish copper lusterware deaccessioned from The Hickory Museum of Art was hotly contested and one piece depicting a cat sold for $8,625.

All prices include the 15 percent buyer’s premium. For more information, www.brunkauctions.com or 828-254-6846.