Doyle New York’s auction of American furniture and decorative arts, including paintings and prints, on November 17 showcased important American furniture and decorative arts from the colonial period through the Federal and classical styles.
Silver, ceramics, mirrors, Chinese Export porcelain, American Indian art and rugs were also offered, along with a selection of Audubon, Currier & Ives and topographical prints.
With competitive bidding from buyers in the salesroom, on the telephones and via the Internet, the sale totaled $657,138, solidly within its estimate and boasting a sell-through rate of 89 percent.
A highlight of the sale was a Revolutionary War musket remnant, circa 1740‶0, that achieved $25,000, many times over its $2/3,000 estimate. It was inscribed for Captain Edward Roggers, who joined the army as a captain in 1776 and served in Danbury, Conn., as well as in New York in Brooklyn Heights, White Plains and Harlem Heights and generally New York City, and in Boston at Dorchester Heights and Castle Point.
American furniture featured a Federal inlaid mahogany serpentine front sideboard, New York, circa 1810 from the estate of Helen S. Cooper and Herman E. Cooper that sold over estimate at $16,250. A Chippendale mahogany chest on chest from Rhode Island, late Eighteenth Century, consigned by a New York estate, achieved $8,750. A classical marble top mahogany sideboard from New York, second quarter of the Nineteenth Century, with marble columnar supports and mirror back also performed over estimate, selling at $5,938.
The selection of Chinese Export porcelain was well received, including an assembled Nineteenth Century Canton famille rose porcelain three-piece garniture estimated at $400/600 that realized $9,375 after much heated bidding.
Highlighting the sale was a painting by Hermann Ottomar Herzog (American, 1832‱932) depicting a sunset in the Florida Everglades that doubled its estimate of $25/35,000 to fetch $74,500. A Nineteenth Century American School pair of works in watercolor, pencil and gouache depicting the 1812 naval battle between the USS Constitution and the HMS Java , estimated at $1/2,000, soared to $16,250.
An American School work depicting the expansive landscape of Mount Washington, dated 1864 and bearing a signature, V.B. Crocker, more than doubled its high estimate to fetch $10,000. A watercolor and gouache view of “Sunset on Revere Beach” dated 1870 by William Trost Richards (American, 1833‱905) achieved $9,375, tripling its high estimate.
American prints were highlighted by a number of examples after John James Audubon. Featured was “Common Mouse” from The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America , that sold for $11,250, doubling its $4/6,000 estimate. Also from Audubon’s The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America was “Common American Wildcat,” estimated at $3/4,000, that fetched $10,625. From Audubon’s The Birds of America was “Blue Jay” ($4/6,000), which achieved $7,500.
All prices reported include the buyer’s premium.
Doyle New York’s next auction of American furniture and decorative arts is slated for April. For more information, 212-427-2730 or www.DoyleNewYork.com .
