LARCHMONT, N.Y. — An elaborate pair of silver raised center bowls from English makers John Mortimer and John Samuel Hunt found the top of the block at Clarke Auction’s July 9 sale. Bidding up to $26,250, the pieces featured crystal inset bowls raised on top of elaborate pedestal form bases with scroll feet and a foliate motif wrapping around the stem and overflowing from the platform atop. The piece dated to 1843.

Not far behind at $25,000 was an American winter scene oil painting from Henry Martin Gasser. The painting depicted a country scene of snow melting off a farmhouse with a man trudging along beside it through a well worn path, a strong scene of muted colors and dark shadows against a white snow ground cover.

A complete report on the auction will follow in an upcoming edition.