Andrew Jones Auctions: The Collection of Jack & Ellen Phillips
January 15 & 16 at 10 am
2221 S. Main St. Los Angeles, CA. 90007
www.andrewjonesauctions.com
info@andrewjonesauctions.com
213-212-6835

LOS ANGELES — On Sunday and Monday, January 15-16, Andrew Jones Auctions will offer a time capsule collection of more than 550 lots of California plein air paintings, Americana, clocks, silver, antiques, Native American works and decorations amassed over 50 years by Jack and Ellen Phillips of San Diego County, Calif.

Jack, a naval engineer, and Ellen, a schoolteacher, were high school sweethearts in Colton, Calif. They married in 1961 and a year later began their collecting journey together. Their first purchase was a Victorian hanging lantern that cost $85. Over the decades their eyes sharpened and their tastes were honed as they sought out antiques, fine art, decorations and accessories.

The auction offers works by California plein air artists such as Dana Bartlett, Maurice Braun, Benjamin Brown, William Ross Cameron, Colin Campbell Cooper, Paul Grimm, Edgar Payne, Charles Rollo Peters, Hanson Puthuff, Marjorie Reed, Granville Redmond, Guy Rose, Jack Wilkinson Smith, Hernando Villa, Elmer and Marion Kavanaugh Wachtel and William Wendt.

Featured are two works by Granville Redmond, including “Rolling Hills with California Poppies” ($100/150,000); “View from Arroyo Terrace, Pasadena” by Guy Rose ($100/150,000); three works by Edgar Payne, led by “Fisherman’s Harbor Concarneau, France” ($30/50,000); a sweeping landscape by Benjamin Brown titled “Pasadena Poppy Fields, “1900 (Looking up Allen Ave. to Colorado St.) ($20/30,000) and Marion Kavanaugh Wachtel’s “View of the Sea Through the Trees” ($12/18,000).

The Phillips’s passion for Americana led the couple to collect a broad array of Queen Anne, Chippendale and Federal furniture, including a Queen Anne mahogany dressing table, Pennsylvania/Delaware Valley, Eighteenth Century ($2/3,000); a Federal bird’s-eye maple side table with original paper label for William Knight, New Bedford, Mass., early Nineteenth Century ($1/1,500); a Chippendale tall case clock by Thomas Gaines, Portsmouth, late Eighteenth Century ($1,5/2,500); and a Chippendale gilt-bronze mounted mahogany bracket clock by Charles Geddes, N.Y., circa 1795 ($2/3,000).

The selection of folk art features a portrait of the Highland Steamship by Roberta Marigold and the silver offering includes a Federal three-piece silver tea service by Christian Wiltberger, Philadelphia ($1,2/1,800); a porringer by Saunders Pittman, Providence, R.I. ($800-$1,200); as well as English and European pieces.

Also of note are maritime paintings by Solon Badger, Handel and Tiffany Studios lamps, including an early oil lamp, a three-light lily lamp, a floor lamp, as well as Favrile glass, Steuben, Boston Sandwich colored glass, fraktur, jacquards, quilts, samplers and Native American works.

More than 80 lots of antique jewelry and watches include gold, diamond, platinum and gemstone rings, pearl necklaces, Belle Époque brooches, including a Nineteenth Century micromosaic of Roman ruins ($300/500), pendants, whimsical charm bracelets and Native American silver, turquoise and hardstone pieces. The pocket and wristwatch offerings include Bulova, Hamilton, Le Coultre, Longines, an 18K gold Patek Philippe ($1,5/2,000) and Tiffany & Co.

After spending time in Texas and Washington DC, the Phillipses returned to California and found their dream home on Mount Helix, in La Mesa, in the 1970s. There, they enjoyed spending time with friends and neighbors, their dogs, books and building their collection of fine art and antiques. Their academic nature and inquisitiveness allowed the couple to explore and research to make shrewd acquisitions by understanding each item’s history.

The gallery is at 2221 South Main Street. For information, www.andrewjonesauctions.com or 213-748-8008.