From Rutland, Vt., makers Lord & Goddard, this 92-inch tall case clock with moon phases and seconds sub-dial, model number 66, brought the sale’s highest price: $16,640 ($8/12,000).
Review by Carly Timpson
WILLISTON, VT. — On January 9, Merrill’s Auctioneers & Appraisers conducted an Americana and fine art auction. The 503-lot sale featured an abundance of fresh-to-market pieces of period Americana, including country furniture, folk art, accessories, paintings, Oriental carpets, silver, jewelry and porcelains, from collections and institutions in Vermont, Massachusetts and New York.
A Federal period inlaid tall case clock by Rutland, Vt., makers Lord & Goddard crossed the block for $16,640, becoming the highest-priced lot in the sale. The clock came from a Charlotte, Vt., home, had brass works, showed the moon phase and was signed on the dial. The clock, model number 66, was purchased from Doyle, New York City, in 2001 and stood 92 inches tall. Auctioneer Adam Demasi noted, “There was a lot of interest in that one, mostly on internet, but we had about four phone bidders on it — a couple prominent dealers and a few very interested collectors. I answered a lot of questions about that clock.”
Other local New England pieces included Chauncey Foster Ryder’s “A View of Mount Mansfield from Stowe Hollow.” This impressionistic landscape showed the Vermont mountain through early autumn foliage. The oil on board was signed to the lower right and identified on a label to the reverse. After topping off at $7,040, it is “going back home to New Hampshire,” where the artist lived, according to Demasi.
“A View of Mount Mansfield from Stowe Hollow” by Chauncey Foster Ryder (American, 1868-1948), oil on board, 18½ by 22½ inches framed, hit its apex at $7,040 ($4/8,000).
“Sabra Field is one of Vermont’s most beloved printmakers — and artists in general. Since her retirement a few years ago, interest in her work has just jumped. She has a very, very active collecting crowd, and we tend to be the market for her,” Demasi noted. Two of Field’s woodblock prints achieved high prices in the sale: “Going Home,” a mountain landscape earned $3,520, and “Star Sparkle,” showing a blue night sky, brought $3,072.
The auction’s second-highest price was earned by a lot outside of New England, though not too far away. Making $14,160 from a phone bidder was a four-gallon deer-decorated jug from the New York Stoneware Company, likely decorated by John Hilfinger. The catalog noted that this piece was in excellent condition, and Demasi shared that it had been found in the attic of a “very sophisticated, old Londonderry, Vt., collection.” He added, “I think the deer decoration is just classic. Everyone does a bird or flower, but when you get the more in-depth designs and different animals, that’s when the bidding gets exciting. John Hilfinger did a lot of that type of work and then people copied him obviously. He bounced around between Bennington (Vt.), Fort Edward (N.Y.) and others. He worked at about three or four potteries.”
Other more widely-known makers were represented in the auction, with a Buccellati silver eagle flying to the third-highest price: $14,080. Made of coin silver, the spread-wing eagle was signed “Buccellati / Italy / 800,” though which member of the family was not specified — Demasi thought it was likely Mario, noting its “very, very detailed work.” The bird had cat’s eye stones for its eyes, and it stood on an 11-inch-tall petrified log base.
Though not signed for a specific member of the Buccellati family, the firm believed this 800 coin silver eagle, 28 inches tall by 23 inches wide (including 11-inch-tall base), may have been made by Mario Buccellati; it was bid to $14,080 ($12/18,000).
An 18K yellow gold bangle by Tiffany & Company exceeded its $6,000 high estimate to achieve $9,600. The 11-millimeter-wide bracelet had gold rope details woven around it in such a way that it resembled a life preserver. Another 18K yellow gold piece that was very attractive to bidders was a J. E. Caldwell & Company closed face pocket watch. The case was engraved with a monogram crest and the inside was appropriately hallmarked. Demais said, “We had a great deal of interest in this lot — I think it was just a great watch with good movement, and it had a numismatic value, too, with the 18K gold. You see a lot of gold-plated or rose gold items, so to have a solid gold object that’s lasted this long is really great.” It rose beyond its $2,000 high estimate, finishing at $4,800.
Precious metals remain hot at the start of 2026, so it is expected to see several silver sets among top lots. The leading silver lot in this auction was a Reed and Barton sterling flatware service in the Francis I pattern. Comprising 102 pieces, the set was in excellent condition and all the place setting pieces each had a cursive script “H” monogram on the handles’ reverse. The service topped off at $8,960. Perhaps completing the tablescape, a 84-piece Herend porcelain service in the bird- and butterfly-decorated Rothschild pattern made $5,000.
An exciting result was earned for a circa 1820 portrait of Nathan Cooley Keep, “one of the fathers of anesthesiology,” and, according to Demasi, it was “purchased by an institution that celebrates that work.” Keep, a dentist and physician, was the “first to use anesthesia for childbirth and also pioneered a bunch of things in dentistry.” The work had an estimate of just $200 to $400 but ended up realizing $3,245. Demasi said, “I tend to be fairly conservative when I estimate things, and portraiture can be difficult in today’s market, but this was a good result.”
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.merrillsauction.com or 802-878-2625.
