One of a pair of husband and wife portraits attributed to Prior Hamblin which sold, collectively, for $14,850.

Celestial globe on stand by J. Wilson and Sons, $11,275.

Garth’s Conducts Early American Furniture Auction

Hamblin-Attributed Portraits Lead Offerings

DELAWARE, OHIO – Early American furniture, accessories, pewter, blown glass and historic Indian pieces from the collections of Paul Jacques Gordon, Jr., the Lockwood family of Cincinnati, John and Lee Watkins, Frances Koos and Renee Housel comprised a recent auction at Garth’s.

A celestial globe on a stand sold for $11,275, two lots into the auction. The globe, in mahogany with old finish, was signed “J. Wilson & Sons, 1826, Albany St. N.Y.” It followed the offering of a Chippendale card table attributed to Newport, R.I. (ex coll Joe Dush and sold at Garth’s November 28, 1997 auction). The mahogany piece sold for $4,620.

Susan and Ben Ventresca of West Chester, PA., were the buyers of a two-piece Chippendale corner cupboard in refinished cherry.

Among more than two dozen pewter pieces sold was a mug bearing the partial touch of Jacob Whitmore (Middletown, Conn., 1758-1790), which sold for $4,015. A small pewter porringer with a pierced floral handle and the touchmark for “Richard Lee” (Senior or Junior) sold for $1,182.50; a pewter flagon with the embossed line signature for ‘I. Trask,” (Israel Trask, Beverly, Mass., 1807-1856) sold for $1,400; a pewter basin with the large eagle touchmark with “T.D.” in the bottom of the bowl (Thomas Danforth, III, Stepney, Conn., and Philadelphia, 1777-1818) sold for $1,155; and a pear-shaped pewter teapot with the touchmark “TD & SB” sold for $880.

Bidding for an olive green sunburst half pint, which the auction catalog noted as “rare,” stopped at $660. An olive blown three-mold bottle sold for $715; and a clear blown three-mold footed bowl sold for $990.

A pair of oils on board of a husband and wife were attributed to Prior Hamblin and sold, in old beveled frames, for $14,850. Immediately following that lot, a reverse portrait on glass of George Washington, in full uniform with a sword, sold for $1,265. Another painting, an unframed oil on canvas, was a Victorian portrait of two young girls which sold for $2,310.

A Shaker bentwood box, oval with one finger on the lid and two on the base with copper tacks, bore its original mustard paint and sold for $4,070. A decorated bride’s box, bentwood with laced seams, had its original painted decoration, including yellow, white and tan buildings on the lid with background trees and white, red, salmon and yellow flowers and foliage around sides of the lid and the base. It sold for $2,200.

A small decorated pine box with a dovetailed case, a hinged lid and an iron bale handle had an old mustard yellow ground with a blue long-tailed bird on the lid. With the initials “M.P.D.,” the box sold for $935.

An rdf_Description described in the catalog as “an early washtub or bucket” had its original blue green paint, and a cream colored interior and sold for $2,970.

Among larger pieces offered was a two-piece Hepplewhite corner cupboard in refinished cherry, with two doors in the base and one door in the top with 12 panes of old glass. It sold for $7,425. A decorated jelly cupboard in poplar, with yellow grained decoration over an earlier red and black, had two dovetailed drawers at the top and dovetailed gallery with shaped corners. With white porcelain knobs and hardware, the cupboard sold for $1,540.

A country tall case clock, in poplar with old red finish, had brass works, its original painted face and the signature “Turner,” and sold for $2,530. A country Queen Anne tavern table, in maple with old red paint, sold for $3,850; an early trestle table in pine with old worn dark finish brought $1,320; a one piece corner cupboard in cherry with old mellow finish had 16 panes of wavy glass, some of it original, and sold for $3,520; and a Chippendale slant front desk in refinished mahogany (ex Paul Cooley), attributed to Salem or Ipswich, Mass., sold for $3,630.

Several pieces by the folk artist Popeye Reed were offered, including a sandstone sculpture of an Indian chief. Signed “E. Reed” and purchased directly from Reed, the sculpture sold for $2,530.

Two other sandstone carvings by Reed, busts of an Indian man and woman, sold for $660. The unsigned man was a bookend (flat in the back). The woman was carved in the round and signed “E. Reed 1976.” The catalog noted that these two also were purchased directly from Reed. Another pair by Reed, seated bookend figures of Adam and Eve in what the catalog delicately referred to as “all their glory,” sold for $495.

Lots of mocha was offered at the auction, including a blue and tan striped pepper pot with brown check tooled bands that sold for $1,210. A mocha creamer with green beaded and quilted bands, black stripes, ochre band and black seaweed decoration had an impressed leaf handle, it sold for $1,320; a mocha stein signed “Furg” Luhrs, Becke Luhrs, 1816,” (ex Mary Thornton) had ochre stripes, green bands and brown machine tooled lines and brought $990; and a mocha mug, with tooled foliage bands with green, brown stripes, and light blue and burnt orange bands, also had an impressed leaf handle and sold for $715.

Other rdf_Descriptions included three cast iron deer – a buck, a doe and a fawn – that sold for $6,820; and a pair of cast iron garden urns with the signature “J.W. Fiske, No. 21 & 23 Barclay St N.Y., Patd. June 1, 1875” on the top side of the base, which sold for $660. A pair of cast iron greyhounds, (ex Joe Dush) previously sold at Garth’s Nov. 27, 1997 and which might have been whippets, brought $990. A primitive candlebox, in pine with old red paint with three lollipop finials on the crest, sold for $6,600 (ex Nina Fletcher Little collection). The box was pictured in Little’s book, Country Arts in Early American Homes. A letter from Little confirmed this information.

A spatterware handleless cup with a rooster in yellow, blue and red that sold for $1,100; an octagonal pearlware covered sugar with a Leeds-type yellow tulip and green and ochre flowers that brought $1,485; a watercolor on paper of a colorful bird on a flowering branch with tulips signed “David Graybills Ad 1832 Fir [sic] you” that sold for $605.

A curly maple eleven drawer apothecary sold for $770; and a Cavalry saber, one of several Civil War rdf_Descriptions sold, was identified as Confederate from North Carolina and sold, with an iron scabbard, for $4,125.

Prices listed include a ten percent buyer’s premium.