MOUNT CRAWFORD, VA. – It was an exciting weekend at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates as the firm presented its 39th semiannual Premier Americana auction on November 12-14. The three-day event featured historic property from estates and collections in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Vermont, Connecticut, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, New York, New Jersey, West Virginia, Indiana and Ohio, plus museum deaccessions. Among nearly 1,500 lots of material, the top lot was a John James Trumbull Arnold folk art double portrait of the Parsons children from Piedmont, Va. (now West Virginia). It realized $81,900, including buyer’s premium.

Dated 1856, the oil on canvas bust-length depictions within matching oval reserves portrayed the girl with white gown embellished with coral beads, the boy with yellow dress holding a riding crop. It was signed verso “Portraits / of / H. Mortimer & / K. H. Parsons / Drawn by John Arnold / on the Fourth / of November 1856 / At Piedmont / Virginia.” The portraits, 25 by 34 inches, came housed in likely original, possibly artist-made, molded poplar frame with paint-decorated surface.

The Parsons family were among the first settlers of Hampshire Co., Virginia (now West Virginia) arriving around 1700. Members of the family played prominent roles in the American Revolution and were friends of George Washington. Watch for a full review of this sale.