MOUNT CRAWFORD, VA. — A paint-decorated Shenandoah Valley blanket chest by Virginia craftsman Johannes Spitler (1774–1837) topped bidding at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates’ marquee sale of the arts of Virginia and the South on June 20, selling to a southeastern Virginia collector in the room for $356,500, including buyer’s premium. The price for the blanket chest narrowly eclipsed the $350,500 realized by Freeman’s when it auctioned a Spitler chest in April 2012.
According to Evans, there are 31 documented examples of Spitler decorated furniture, of which 28 are blanket chests. Boasting fine, original condition and fresh to the market provenance, the present chest descended in the Long family until its sale on Saturday. An authority on Valley of Virginia decorative arts, Evans holds the record auction price in any form for Spitler. In 2004, the firm knocked down a hanging cupboard, now in the Jane Katcher collection, for $962,500.
Watch for a complete report in an upcoming issue of Antiques and The Arts Weekly.
