WOODBURY, CONN. – Maritime works from the Darien, Conn., estate collection of George E. Ratcliffe were early favorites at Schwenke Auctioneer’s July 10 sale and Antonio Jacobsen’s painting of the tugboat Fred B. Dalzell steamed into first place, with seven American and international phone bidders giving chase. It realized $30,500 from a trade buyer who had come and examined it in person. Ratcliffe had acquired the painting from the Post Road Gallery in Larchmont, N.Y., in 1978, along with a portrait of the tugboat C.P. Raymond, both of which were part of a fleet of a towing company jointly owned by Fred B. Dalzell and C.P. Raymond. Companion pieces, both paintings were painted in 1892, believed to have been commissioned after Raymond’s death.

A more extensive report will follow.