Combining elements of the Arts & Crafts and Art Nouveau styles, this two-handled cup also gives a nod to the kylix made in Greece and Rome. A trade buyer prevailed, topping the 2 ¾ inch tall 18K gold two-handled cup by Marcus & Co to $25,200. It was the top lot of the two-day event ($8/12,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Marion Antique Auctions
MARION, MASS. — Marion Antique Auctions conducted its second sale of 2023 over two days, August 19-20, when it presented a total of exactly 801 lots of fine and decorative art, coins and ephemera. More than 95 percent of the lots traded hands successfully and the auction house was pleased with the sale’s result, a total of $504,503.
The top price of $25,200 was realized for a two-handled Greco-Roman kylix style two-handled 18K gold cup made by Marcus & Co of New York City in the early Twentieth Century. Bearing the incised letters “FS,” the cup was cataloged as featuring elements of both the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau styles and to be akin to works by English architect Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942). After the sale, the house said it sold to a trade buyer from Massachusetts.
With their proximity to Cape Cod and location in Southeastern coastal Massachusetts, marine and nautical antiques are perennial favorites among Marion’s bidders. Sailing into a second-place finish within expectations at $12,600 was “Completing the Cargo,” a signed and dated 1880 oil on canvas composition by Achushnet, Mass., artist Clement Nye Swift (1846-1918). The catalog noted that Swift had also painted in New Bedford as well as in France, in Brittany and Paris, where he exhibited at the Paris Salon from 1872 to 1881. The painting had come to Marion from the Wilson Chapel in New Bedford but will be returning there as it was purchased by the New Bedford Whaling Museum.
Clement Nye Swift’s “Completing the Cargo,” 1880, oil on canvas, 49 ½ by 78 inches (58 by 86 inches in a carved and gilded frame), sold to the New Bedford Whaling Museum for the second highest price of $12,600 ($10/20,000).
An early Nineteenth Century tall case clock by Elnathan Taber (1768-1854), who apprenticed with Roxbury, Mass., master clockmaker Simon Willard sold for $7,800. The clock had come from a Duxbury, Mass., family and featured quarter fan and banding inlay, a painted iron dial with moon-phase calendar movement and brass finials, the central eagle one was identified as a later example. After the sale, the auction house said it had been purchased by a trade buyer from Massachusetts.
The sale only offered one chance to buy a weathervane, but it was a good one, though it had a thoroughly weathered surface with no trace of paint or gilding left. Attributed to A.J. Jewell of Waltham, Mass., the swell-bodied form with cast iron directionals was in the form of a high-stepping horse and its top-hat wearing rider. It also sold to a Massachusetts trade buyer for $8,700,
The furniture category was led at $7,820 by an exceptionally large — more than 115 inches tall — Herter Brothers Aesthetic Movement walnut pier mirror that featured five inset hand-painted pottery tiles stamped “W.B. Simpson & Sons, London.” Sourced from a local seller, it found a new owner, bidding from Texas.
“It’s a behemoth,” exclaimed Nick Taradash, speaking about this 115-inch Aesthetic Movement mirror, 1870-1880, made and stamped by Herter Brothers and which also featured British-made pottery tiles. It sold to a buyer in Texas for $7,820 ($3/5,000).
The second day of the auction began with several lots of gold coins, largely from an estate in Fairhaven, Mass. An online buyer paid $6,912 for an 1839 US $2.50 gold coin that was cataloged as possibly having a grade of MS62.
A collection of sports memorabilia and ephemera closed out the second day of the auctions, beginning with a New England Patriots team-signed football and ending with some fishing and hunting collectibles.
The 2002 Super Bowl XXXVI Championship commemorative football was signed by Tom Brady, Adam Vinateri, Richard Seymour, Teddy Bruschi, Ted Johnson, Kevin Faulk, Mike Vrabel, Damien Woody and others. It had belonged to the team’s doctor, who was selling it to benefit the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra. It sold to a Massachusetts buyer for $4,920. It was led at $5,888 by Bill Russell’s rookie card from 1957, which had been issued by Topps and was in fine, though ungraded condition with good color and no creases.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.marionantiqueauctions.com or 508-498-7136.
