Leading the sale was this antique Persian Serapi rug from a Rowley, Mass., estate that measured 8’3” by 12’8” that unrolled to $6,000 from a local buyer bidding on the phone ($4/6,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring, Catalog Photos Courtesy Kaminski Auctions
BEVERLY, MASS. — More than 850 lots crossed the block during Kaminski Auctions’ July 25-26 estates auction. The first day of sale featured, among other things, about 115 lots from Yale Farm, the Norfolk, Conn., country home of Robert and Henrietta Mead. On the second day of sales, the headlining collection was that of the Boston estate of Edward Perry Warren, which offered up early English furniture, metal objects, clocks and Asian items. The Warren family had owned paper mills in northern New England in the 1800s and among other distinctions had been benefactors of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Commenting by email after the sale, Frank Kaminski said “For a summer auction, we were very pleased with the results. The Asian lots in the sale did particularly well, and there was a lot of interest in the items from the Warren Estate.”
An antique Persian Serapi rug from a Rowley, Mass., estate with strong colors, a central medallion and measuring approximately 8 by 13 feet brought the top price achieved across both days of sale, realizing the high estimate of $6,000 from a local buyer bidding on the phone. It was one of more than 50 rugs and carpets offered throughout both days of sale; a representative for the auction house confirmed that trade buyers were the successful bidders for most of the category.
Asian lots, represented in a variety of mediums, sold well throughout both days and accounted for a majority of the top ten lots in the sale. Cloisonné seemed particularly popular with bidders, as denoted by two examples that exceeded expectations. The best of these was a pair of bronze cloisonné vases from the Boston estate of Edward Perry Warren that stood nearly 16 inches tall and dated to the early Chien-Lung period. The pre-sale estimate of $800-$1,000 prompted spirited bidding and the pair finally sold to an Asian buyer bidding in the room for $4,800. The Warren estate was also the source of a bronze cloisonné round covered box with Kangxi marks and floral decoration that brought $3,480 from an international buyer bidding online. More than 50 lots of carved Chinese stands with provenance to the New York City dealer C.T. Loo were offered on the second day and sold for prices ranging from $60 to $2,160, with all but five finding buyers.
This Seventeenth or Eighteenth Century Chinese bronze seated Buddha from a Beverly, Mass., estate was one of the top lots on the first day of sales. It realized $3,900 from a Chinese buyer in Hong Kong bidding on LiveAuctioneers ($450/650).
A Beverly, Mass., estate offered up several treasures that claimed top spots in the sales. Among these was a Seventeenth or Eighteenth Century Chinese bronze seated Buddha that achieved the enlightened price of $3,900 against an estimate of $450/650. Other notable lots from that estate were a Brooklyn landscape by Twentieth Century American painter Anna C. Tomlinson that closed at $1,440; an Eighteenth Century Chippendale serpentine slant-lid desk that made $1,320; and $1,920 paid for a lady’s filigree 14K white gold and diamond bracelet.
Of the sizeable selections from Yale Farm, top lots included an antique painted cast iron turkey doorstop that flew to $1,320, a Chippendale-style sofa with green and white plaid upholstery that was snapped up for $1,080 and $660 for an Eighteenth Century blue-painted candlestand with square top.
Other notable results included a 10-inch-tall Nineteenth Century Meissen porcelain rhino with sultan figure that made $2,760 from an online buyer despite condition issues. Two watercolors of winter houses, signed D.C. Currier, finished at $1,920, while a group of assorted 14K gold necklaces from the estate of Mary Burke and weighing 23 grams made $2,160.
Prices realized include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. Kaminski Auctions is at 117 Elliott Street. For additional information, www.kaminskiauctions.com or 978-927-2223.
