120 / 217
16-C Maine Antique Digest, March 2015
- AUCTION -
Thomaston Place Auction Galleries, Thomaston, Maine
Three Days and 1500 Lots Later
by Mark Sisco
I
t wasn’t the Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ biggest auc-
tion ever, but it certainly was one of the longest. The November
7-9, 2014, presentation in Thomaston, Maine, was expanded to
three days to accommodate the large volume of merchandise to be
moved. Altogether, about 1500 lots came up, and over 1000 found
new homes. It wasn’t until the second day and later, however, that
a few items broke the $10,000 mark.
An early 19th-century prisoner-of-war ship model of whale-
bone was the first to fly high. It was decked out in extraordinary
detail, down to the turnings on the stern rails, cannons, dead-
eyes, brass-riveted plank hull, and complete rigging. It topped
the $8000/12,000 estimate, closing for $17,250 (includes buyer’s
premium).
Shortly thereafter came an unsigned oil on canvas, solidly
attributed to primitive portraitist John Brewster Jr. (1766-1854),
of the Reverend Dr. Paul Coffin (1737/38-1821) of Buxton,
Maine. The painting had been cleaned, relined, and restored, with
a long professionally repaired tear.
The Reverend Coffin served as pastor in Buxton for 57 years
and married Mary Gorham, the daughter of a shipmaster. Brew-
ster, a deaf-mute from birth, also lived in Buxton, where he pur-
chased an 80-acre tract in 1833.
The artist and the pastor are both
buried in the South Buxton Ceme-
tery. The painting sold just within
the $20,000/30,000 estimate for
$20,700.
The most unusual piece of 18th-century furniture in the sale
was a stacking cabinet in pine, looking much like an enormous set
of children’s building blocks with four graduated sections in red
casein grain paint and forged iron hardware. Two of the top sec-
tions were marked in paint with the old style “s” lettering, reading
“Rev. J.B. Condit, Long Meadow, Mass. Care of Col. S. Warriner,
Springfield, Mass.” According to the catalog listing, J.B. Condit
was an African-American pastor of the Presbyterian Church in
Springfield, Massachusetts, during the Civil War. I located the
same Reverend J. B. Condit as an anniversary speaker in 1846
at the Mount Holyoke Female Seminary (later renamed Mount
Holyoke College), just outside of Springfield. I also found a Col-
onel Solomon Warriner (1788-1860) who lived most of his adult
life in Springfield as a farmer, apprentice bookbinder, military
officer, postmaster, church chorister, merchant, and composer.
Apparently he was quite a busy guy. The cabinet set sold for
$3737.50.
Maria Louisa Wagner (1815-1888) was a landscape and por-
trait painter and a miniaturist. She often worked in the Chenango
Valley of New York state in conjunction with her older brother
Daniel, who had been crippled by a leg infection and two hip dis-
locations in his youth. They painted together and at some point
came under the patronage of William H. Seward, later governor
of New York. Two miniature portraits were signed on the back by
Maria, and an inscription identified the subjects as Reuben Hyde
Walworth (1788-1867) and his new wife, Sarah Ellen Smith,
widow of Illinois Congressman John J. Hardin, who was killed
at the Battle of Buena Vista in 1847. Reuben Walworth was the
last chancellor of the state of New York and a candidate for gov-
ernor in 1848. Untouched under glass in their original frames, the
two strikingly realistic and well-detailed oval miniatures sold for
a below estimate $4025. Daniel Wagner died in January 1888, and
a grief-stricken Maria died later in the same year.
For more information, visit the Web site
(www.thomastonauction.com) or call (207) 354-8141.
Altogether,
about 1500
lots came up.
This unsigned oil on canvas was securely attributed
to John Brewster. The subject was the Reverend Dr.
Paul Coffin of Buxton, Maine. The painting sold for
$20,700.
The top lot of the entire three-day
event was this 17-jewel stain-
less steel Rolex Oyster chrono-
graph, model 6238, serial number
866399. It closed out at $29,900.
Thomaston Place photo.
Two miniature portraits by Maria Louisa Wagner,
sitters identified as Reuben Hyde Walworth and his
wife, Sarah Ellen Smith, brought $4025 for the pair.
This Song Dynasty (960-1279) carving of a duck with a
hawk perched on its back, 3½" long, in jade that ranged
from white to rusty red, sold well over the estimate for
$6900. Thomaston Place photo.
A Chinese Tang or Song Dynasty terra-cotta tomb
effigy in the form of a 7½" tall hollow-bodied stand-
ing bull with traces of red coloration remaining sold
within the estimate for $3162.50. Thomaston Place
photo.
This large Chinese seal in dark green jade with lengthy
inscriptions on all four sides of the base and a Qian-
long six-character seal on the base, topped with a dou-
ble-headed dragon forming the handle, sold for $9200
(est. $10,000/15,000).
A nicely preserved, framed early miniature Boston
needlepoint sampler on linen, reading “Mary Har-
ker Wrought This Sam/ pler in the 13th Year of Her
Life/ 1749,” with some alphanumerics, spiritual
doggerel, and some fine border images and graphics
sold for $2415, reasonable for such an early sampler.
Thomaston Place photo.