The top lot overall was this 60-piece Kirk sterling silver flatware service in the Calvert pattern that attained $10,250 ($3/6,000).
Review by Andrea Valluzzo
HOPKINTON, N.H. — When the dust settled at the former home of David H. Souter (1939-2025) on April 14, with reams of paperwork done and more than 300 items processed and sent off to new homes, all that was left were four license plates designating Souter as a member of the court.
The former US Supreme Court justice, who died May 8, 2025, left behind a sizeable estate that spoke to his refined collecting tastes and keen interest in New Hampshire and legal history. His estate was offered as a joint venture between Daniel H. Hingston, Inc, and Centennial Auctions in two sessions. The on-site sale at Souter’s home was 99.9 percent sold, nearly a white-glove affair with the exception of the four license plates.
Mike Hingston explained that his father, Daniel, was formerly the auction manager for the late auctioneer Dick Withington and was good friends with Souter as far back as the 1960s when Souter was just an attorney in Concord, N.H.
The collaborative auction totaled $187,200 and ranged from household furnishings, like art, antiques and furniture, to items of judicial history, as well as items relating to New Hampshire history.
Signed “W Sayle” and dated “1980,” this William and Judy Sayle Nantucket basket purse was a good investment at $3,625 ($300/600).
“I thought everything went very well,” Hingston said of the auction. “He was really a collector of New Hampshire furniture and New Hampshire objects. If you look at the furniture that was here in the house, most of the things that he bought out in the antiques world actually have some sort of New Hampshire relationship.”
Hingston added that Souter had a good eye and was a pretty discriminating buyer. “He was not about filling the house with everything he saw. I think he started with a Currier and Ives collection. Almost all of the Currier and Ives [in his collection] are New Hampshire scenes, and I think that was the first area he was really collecting in.”
As Souter had no siblings, he also inherited items from his family’s collection, including his mother’s and aunt’s jewelry, as well as a large assortment of things from the Moulton-Bartlett families.
“I was extremely pleased with how things went, and some things were exceptionally surprising,” said Stephen H. Schofield of Centennial Auctions.
The first lot across the block was this Francis Shedd Frost (American 1825-1902) oil on canvas landscape painting, which made $4,875 ($3/6,000).
The sale kicked off with a Francis Shedd Frost painting of men fishing in a boat in a stream with mountains behind them that took $4,875, and the top-selling lot overall was a 60-piece Kirk sterling silver flatware service in the Calvert pattern that made $10,250. The service included 24 luncheon forks, 20 salad forks, 12 luncheon knives, 12 teaspoons, 18 small teaspoons, 6 grapefruit spoons, 12 iced tea spoons and more.
Oil on canvas landscape paintings were well represented in the auction, including a Harrison Bird Brown oil on canvas titled “The Meadows,” mounted in a fine gilt frame and retaining a Vose Gallery label on the reverse that sold for $5,500.
Souter’s furniture choices reflected his New England roots and typically embraced a Colonial era aesthetic. A standout was a New Hampshire Queen Anne tiger maple slant lid desk with fan and pinwheel carved step-back interior. The circa 1760-80 piece sold within estimate at $4,375.
Another standout that soared over its $200 high estimate was an E. Howard & Company, Boston, man’s 14K gold open-face pocket watch that attained $4,625. The watch featured an interior engraved presentation: “A.M.M. to H.B. Oct. 28, 1891.”
This men’s 14K gold presentation open-face pocket watch from E. Howard & Company sold for $4,625 ($100/200).
Not surprisingly, nautical antiques figured prominently in the sale, led by a scrimshaw whale’s tooth that brought $4,250. Having polychrome engraving, the Nineteenth Century tooth depicted Ship Hero with a whale Also crossing the block was a William and Judy Sayle Nantucket basket purse with a carved whale motif that outperformed its $300/600 estimate to earn $3,625.
New Hampshire history and ephemera were of keen interest to Souter, who was born in Melrose, Mass., in 1939 but moved to a farm in Weare, N.H., with his family at age 13. A framed folding pocket map of the state’s famed White Mountains region performed well at $1,937. The map, with minor revisions, was made in 1871 and featured nine vignette images of the area’s resort hotels. It was presented to Souter by the US Third Circuit Court and was inscribed on the back, “To David H. Souter our Circuit Justice / A View of your mountains presented with our respect and gratitude.”
Headlining the online-only second session on the same day was an Oriental rug with a dark green central medallion and floral design, which made $4,625.
A significant number of personal papers and material from Souter’s career crossed the block in this session, led by a group of awards and ephemera related to Souter and Harvard College, where he graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in 1961. The collection included a diploma, mittens, personalized mugs, books relating to the class of ‘61, ticket stubs, publications and more. Estimated just $50/100, the collection achieved $4,125.
This group of awards and ephemera related to Justice Souter as a student at Harvard College and Law School made $4,125 ($50/100).
Hingston said the legislative material attracted a number of collectors and law clerks, mostly from New England, but the sale had its share of international buyers too. “He was a very popular justice with some very loyal law clerks, so there was a lot of interest from law clerks and professionals, mostly for the memorabilia part of the sale,” he said, adding that a law clerk who also bought furnishings was just there packing up their purchases minutes before we spoke.
Rounding out the auction were a set of four prints in gold gilt frames after Amos Doolittle, relating to Revolutionary War battles in New England, at $3,625 ($100/200); an informal 2005 group photograph of the US Supreme Court justices, signed by each judge that went for $2,125; and a Bartlett family brass mantle clock with a Shreve, Crump & Low dial that realized $1,375 ($100/200). The clock was inscribed, “In affectionate remembrance of / Molton Bartlett / from his friends and comrades of Camp Merryweather / 1907.”
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house.
For information, www.centennialauctions.com or 603-356-5765. Daniel G. Hingston can be reached at [email protected].
