Marion Antique Auctions
Saturday, December 7, 2024 at 10am
13 Atlantis Drive, Marion, MA
www.marionantiqueauctions.com

MARION, MASS. — Marion Antique Auctions will once again be offering more than 550 lots drawn from various local estates, collectors and institutions. This diverse sale on December 7 has offerings in many categories.

The detailed online catalog begins with a selection of sterling silver. There is a Tiffany vase with floral and fern design, a Tiffany Anglo Japonisme bud vase and round Tiffany silver and enamel box with floral swag design, a 12-piece Tiffany lot of Olympian pattern flatware and 127-piece Tiffany flatware set in the Wave Edge pattern. The Gorham Company from Providence, R.I., is also well represented with a large sterling and enamel vase depicting water lilies in a pond. Also from Gorham are several lots of sterling and enamel flatware and serving pieces in the Narragansett pattern. There is a Sciarrotta sterling bowl that will garner local interest. Sciarrotta was a Newport R.I., silversmith. A lot containing Georg Jensen pieces in the Acorn pattern is expected to do quite well. Rounding out the silver offerings are lots of English, Irish and Scottish pieces.

Marion Auctions always seems to have a strong selection of nautical items, probably due to its proximity to the coast and New Bedford, which was the whaling capital of the world. Leading the way in this category are two Nineteenth Century sailor’s valentines. They come from a Maine collection. The most interesting piece of scrimshaw to be offered came out of a Marion estate, less than a mile from the auction gallery. It is a Nineteenth Century engraved sperm whale tooth, called a tabua, featuring a harbor scene with ships and castle. The tooth is said to have belonged to a Fijian chief and was possibly traded from a sailor. A scrimshaw whale’s tooth snuff box displays a ship under sale and seated Britannia. There is a scrimshaw rolling pin with whale tooth handles, a letter opener with a clenched fish and heart-shaped handle and a document box and a whalebone cannon. There is also a Napoleon-era mechanical spinning Jenny and five wooden half-hull models in this sale.

Other nautical highlights are paintings of ships by Clement Drew, Benjamin Russell, Charles Henry Gifford, Franklin Briscoe, Dwight Tryon, Marshall Johnson and Clement Swift. Found in a New Bedford attic is a temple toggle harpoon signed James Driggs, a Luther Cole signed blubber spade, a collection of Nye whale oil bottles, a Bellamy-style eagle and a ships passport dated 1856, signed by President Franklin Pierce.

The assemblage of paintings in the sale includes an oil painting on canvas by Robert Spear Dunning depicting Beavertail Point in Jamestown, R. I., and a Lilla Cabot Perry New England landscape painting bearing a Boston Athenaeum exhibition label comes from a Tiverton, R.I., collector. Other artists that are represented include William Preston Phelps, Wendell Macy, R. Swain Gifford, George Bellows, Benjamin West, Harry Neyland, Mathias Joseph Alten, Charles Gruppe, Joel Shapiro, Richard Serra, John Sloan, Edward Stetson, Piranesi and numerous others. Just in from a Westport, Mass., collector comes a large cold painted bronze cockerel by Franz Bergman.

The furniture offerings start with a Sixteenth Century lift-top chest with iron hardware from the George Morgan estate on Martha’s Vineyard. An inlaid American Federal secretary desk retains its original finish and is in an unusual diminutive size. In the original surface is a set of six New Hampshire Windsor dining chairs made by T. G. Furber. Most of the midcentury furniture on offer comes from the Doris Lockhart Saatchi collection. There are Le Corbusier lounge chairs and loveseat, a Ubanji Kidokoro lounge chair, Noguchi Cyclone tables, Harvey Probber steel cubes, a rare Charles and Ray Eames folding screen for Herman Miller, Stephen Swift stools, four Eero Saarinen Tulip chairs and table base, Marcel Breur coffee table, Mario Bellini chairs, Roland Simmons paper floor lamps and a Zigzag chair by Alwy Visschedyk.

Marion Auctions continues to offer a collection of Taino objects, circa 600 to 1500 CE, curated by noted expert Larry Roberts. Antique Oriental textiles in the sale include a Senna saddle cover, a late Nineteenth Century Oushak room size rug and several early Caucasian carpets.

There are lots of gold and diamond jewelry, gold and silver coins, as well as a collection of Nineteenth Century and early Twentieth Century miniature portraits. Standing out in garden items is a pair of cast iron recumbent lions from the early Twentieth Century and a rare figural cast iron hitching post with squirrel on top.

A large Nineteenth Century copper bull weathervane is from a Dighton, Mass., barn. Religious items are represented by several lots of Eastern Orthodox icons, a Seventeenth Century prie-dieu and several Seventeenth Century carved wooden Madonna statues.

From a Westport, Mass., estate is a rare banjo clock made by George Hatch in Attleboro, Mass. Hatch was a clockmaker and a state legislator. A Nineteenth Century watchmaker sign is expected to do well. A large collection of Nineteenth Century stoneware advertising jugs are on offer. There are eight lots that comprise French and Italian copper cookware, and from the Mary Jean McLaughlin estate there is a collection of chocolate and ice cream molds with nautical designs, including lobsters and fish.

For information, 508-498-7136 or www.marionantiqueauctions.com.

Viewing Hours: Saturday, Nov 30th & Sunday, Dec 1st from 10am to 2pm Thursday, Dec 5th & Frida); Dec 6th from 10am to 4pm
Limited viewing: Saturday, Dec 7th from 8am to 9:30am – Also viewing by appointment.
Lilia Cabot Perry
Carved wooden Pig, 34″ long
Dwight Tryon
Louis Vuitton trunks
2 Joel Shapiro gouaches
Pieta Dura table, 48″ diameter
Large 19th c Bull Weathervane
French Gold Enamel Box, minor damage
15th/16th century
Pair large cast iron lions
R.S. Dunning
Fantechi, 6 plates
Charles and Ray Eames for Herman Miller
Sailor Valentines
Gorham Narragansett
Taino Collection
Psychedelic Rock poster collection
Bergmann bronze rooster
WWI poster collection
Peter Schlesinger vase
Highlights: Fine Art, Scrimshaw, Sailors Valentines, Tiffany & Gorham sterling and enamel, large 19th c bull weathervane, large Bergmann bronze rooster, Louis Vuitton trunks, jewelry, gold & silver coins, ancient furniture to mid-century, Oriental rugs, Taino, stoneware collection, French copper cookware, garden items, WWI War poster collection, Psychedelic Rock poster collection, export porcelain, early maps, nautical charts, Western photography, Steamship lithographs
For full descriptions and photos, visit our website and online catalog: www.marionantiqueauctions.com In person bidding and bidding on Liveauctioneers and Invaluable. Accepting absentee bids & phone bids until 4pm on Friday, December 6. Call Frank at 508-498-7136, 508-748-3606, or email frank@marionantiques.com
Frank H. McNamee, Manager & Auctioneer, MA Lie #100080, C. David Glynn, Auctioneer, MA Lie #583, Nick Taradash, Junior Partner