The sale’s highest price of $49,200 was earned by this Carmel & Borrelli jeweled and armored horse with old park paint. It was one of the four carousel animals in the sale, all of which came from one collection.
Review & Onsite Photos by Rick Russack
FAIRFIELD, MAINE — Nick Poulin, president of Poulin Antiques & Auctions, and Jim Julia, longtime Maine auctioneer and now consultant and advisor with the Poulin’s business, assembled more than 1,600 lots for the firm’s August 27 sale. The gross, $776,970, was well in excess of the low catalog estimate of $544,000.
Poulin’s is a family-run business, now in its third generation. The sale had an audience in the room and internet bidding was available on multiple platforms. It made for a long day of selling, but the offerings included a collection of four carousel animals and a selection of formal and country furniture with Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century examples as well as some European pieces. There were Native American artifacts, a collection of illustration art, folk art, advertising, movie posters, gold coins, toys and dolls, tall case clocks, weathervanes and Asian items. George Ohr pottery, a half-plate ambrotype of a clipper ship and even a large meteor were also on offer.
The four carousel figures were from a lifelong California collection; the provenance of two of them included Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif., the oldest theme park in the United States. One of the four carousel animals, a Carmel & Borrelli jeweled and armored horse, brought the highest price of the day, finishing at $49,200. Still retaining its old park paint, the 58-inch-long example had carved fish-scale blankets with tassels and jeweled armor, trappings and a brown saddle with leather reins. The horse had a raised foreleg, alert ears and brown glass eyes. Another of the carousel figures, a restored Dentzel giraffe, stood almost 6½ feet tall and earned $11,400.
“Kachina Manna,” an acrylic on canvas signed by Fritz Scholder, had been given to the consignor by the artist, and earned $45,000.
The sale’s second-highest price of $45,000 was realized for “Kachina Manna,” an acrylic on canvas signed by Fritz Scholder (American, Luiseno, 1937-2005). The painting had been given to the consignor from the artist and was among 200 works of American and European art that started the sale. Spanning three centuries, the selections included marine paintings, American West subjects, sporting art and more. Many of the paintings offered were from the collection of Mark Lane, a collector of firearms and Western memorabilia, as well as a long-time customer of both Julia and Poulin. “All Saint’s Day” by Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886-1957), a circa 1951 gouache and watercolor on paper, realized $18,600.
The Lane collection included a watercolor on paper by John Alexander Harrington Bird (British, 1846-1936). It was a sunrise scene with four horses and a foal, which finished at $9,600. Marine paintings were topped at $6,600 by an unsigned oil on canvas by James Buttersworth (English, 1817-1894). It was titled “Frigate Entering Portsmouth” and depicted a three-masted frigate under full sail, with other ships and a lighthouse also in the scene; blacklight images were included with the catalog description. Two marine works by Antonio N.G. Jacobsen (Danish American, 1850-1921) were also included in the sale. His 1918 oil on board portrait of the five-masted ship Seaborn sold for $4,200.
This large sign advertising Abercrombie & Fitch firearms brought an unexpected result of $36,000. It was about 6 feet tall and was one of several advertising signs in the sale.
The sale’s third-highest price was a pleasant surprise. It was a large wooden advertising sign for Abercrombie & Fitch that measured more than 6 feet tall. Depicting a shotgun, it promoted the firearms the company was selling. The sign, one of several in the sale, had a high estimate of $3,500, but sold for more than ten times that: $36,000. A 50-inch-wide sign for the American Eagle Tobacco Works displayed a spread-winged eagle on the crest, fruit clusters and other details; it realized $10,800. Another large sign pictured a male lion and advertised Ker, Downey & Selby Safaris’ “Big Game and Photographic Safaris;” it brought $6,600. Other advertising lots included a lithographed folding gameboard for Blackwell’s Durham Smoking Tobacco that finished at $240.
There was only one ambrotype in the sale, but it was a good one. The half-plate example in a gold leaf frame depicted a fully rigged wooden clipper ship. The ship, Oracle, was built in Thomaston, Maine, in 1853 and was the fastest clipper of its time. It was known as a temperance ship as all passengers signed a contract forbidding them to bring any liquor on board. This photograph was taken of a now-lost painting of the ship and is believed to be the only known surviving image of the vessel; it realized $1,560.
“Brown” furniture offerings were led by a late Nineteenth Century, marble-topped hall rack made by Mitchell & Rammelsberg, which was in business from 1846 to 1881 in Cincinnati, Ohio. This Renaissance Revival piece was deeply carved with a large elk’s head, oak branches, acorns and more; it sold for $9,900. Earlier furniture was led by a circa 1810 Flemington, N.J., tall case clock with an eight-day brass movement made by Joakim Hill, who was active from 1804 to 1820. Achieving $6,000, it had a painted iron moon-phase dial, a second hand and a calendar movement.
This was the most expensive Windsor chair in the sale. Dating to the late Eighteenth Century, and probably from the mid-Atlantic states, it sold for $4,200.
Windsor chairs were also in abundance. Topping the selection was a late Eighteenth Century knuckle-arm, fan-back armchair with seven spindles and an arched crest. Probably from the mid-Atlantic states, it realized $4,200. Leading the selection of European furniture was a Louis XV style slant-lid lady’s desk. Bidders liked its heavy ormolu mounts and inlays of a variety of woods, including kingwood, rosewood and satinwood, taking it to $4,080.
The selection of Native American material from the Northwest coast, comprising of about 20 pieces, came from a collection that was, according to Julia, assembled as far back as the 1890s. A Nineteenth Century carved and painted Haida totem pole, 15 inches long, brought $5,100. There were other painted wooden objects, including a carved cedar Tlingit frog bowl that brought $1,560. A spoon made of goat horn with a carved handle depicting a deeply carved frog with abalone eyes, an otter, fish and a twisted narwhal tusk, scooped up a $1,920 finish.
Most of the selection of Northwest coast Native American items came from a Nineteenth Century collection. This 15-inch-tall Haida totem topped off at $5,100.
After the sale, Poulin’s comments were simple: “We had great stuff and bidding was strong. We’re gearing up for future sales.” Julia was pleased with the results from the Lane collection, explaining, “I’ve known Mark for years. He’s got a great eye and really loves Western themed art. We had a nice selection from his collection and he was very pleased with the results. I was also glad to see the carousel animals do as well as they did. That armored horse, bringing over $40,000, was, to my knowledge, one of the highest prices in recent years for a carousel figure. It was good to see how the market responded to some of the unusual items we had in this sale.”
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For additional information, 207-453-2114 or www.poulinauctions.com.
