Antiques Week got underway with Northeast Auctions’ $8.8 million sale on August 3‵ and everyone †even pro-American French president Nicolas Sarkozy, vacationing on nearby Lake Winnipesaukee †seemed to be in New Hampshire.
More than 2,000 lots crossed the block at Northeast, starting on August 3 with pewter from the Charles V. Swain collection. The third and final Swain session saw $248,000, a record price at auction, for a lavishly engraved and dated 1795 pewter flagon attributed to William Will of Philadelphia. A chalice, presented to the same church and also attributable to Will, is at Winterthur.
On Saturday, the Dinah and Stephen Lefkowitz collection of American painted furniture and folk art generated $1.98 million. Featured among more than two dozen Windsor chairs was a continuous arm example in arresting blue paint, $63,800, and a pair of black armchairs with yellow seats, $104,400. Both sold to Woodbury, Conn., dealer David Schorsch by phone. Schorsch said he first admired the yellow Windsors in Elliott and Grace Snyder’s booth at the Philadelphia Antiques Show.
Advisors to the Lefkowitzes, the Snyders bought back several pieces, among them a vibrant New England table rug, $66,500, and an early yarn-sewn rug, $30,160.
Property from the estate of the late dealers Betsy and Timothy Trace produced a rare Hudson Valley oval hutch table. It went to York, Penn., consultant Phil Zimmerman for $104,400.
Among 20 lots consigned by descendants of Edward Augustus Holyoke of Massachusetts, a 1758 painting of Jonathan Simpson by Joseph Blackburn fetched $165,500. Property from various owners included a nest of 12 colorful Shaker oval boxes, some labeled or inscribed, that sold to Olde Hope Antiques for $209,500.
Two key furniture lots †a Boston Chippendale block front chest of drawers, $204,000, and a Philadelphia china table, $116,000 †sold well under estimate.
Prices include buyer’s premium. Look for a complete report in a future issue.
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