Maine Antique Digest March 2015

30-CS Maine Antique Digest, March 2015

- AUCTION -

Samuel Yellin (1885-1940), wrought-iron and

brass spit fork, 1920s, impressed “Samuel Yel-

lin,” from the estate of the late John S. and Mar-

tha S. Price and formerly in the collection of J.

Stogdell Stokes, $11,250 (est. $800/1200) to a

phone bidder.

Unmarked and unattributed War of 1812 presen-

tation sword awarded to Lieutenant John Tay-

loe IV by the Virginia legislature, $50,000 (est.

$15,000/25,000) to a European bidder on line,

underbid on the phone. The eagle-head pommel,

retaining the original gilt sword knot, above an

ivory grip and a shell guard with 17 stars around

an eagle and anchor are typical of the Philadelphia

style. The blade has an inscription noting Tayloe’s

role as a midshipman on the U.S. frigate

Constitu-

tion

in the capture of the British frigate

Guerrière

on “19 August [18]12,” and the leather scabbard

has cast gilt nautical and Classical mounts.

Hugh Bridport (1794-1869), two watercolor on

ivory miniature portraits in gilt-metal frames with-

out backs, a little boy in blue (inscribed on the back

card in pencil “Painted by H Bridport, Phila.")

and a young man, 2¾" x 2¼" and 2 3/8" x 1 7/8",

from the Brown family of Philadelphia, $1375 (est.

$1200/1800). Hugh Bridport’s brother George was

known for his 1808 painted decoration on the ceil-

ing of the U.S. Capitol.

Staffordshire covered tureen and

underplate, Joseph Stubbs,

Burslem, England, first

third of the 19th century,

with a blue transfer print

of “Fair Mount near Phil-

adelphia,” 13½" high x 17"

wide x 11½" deep, $1750 (est.

$1000/1500) to a young col-

lector in the salesroom. It had

some repairs but was a good

buy.

Not shown, a lot of 17 plates with the

same transfer print sold to a collector on the phone for $3125 (est.

$2500/3500); a lot of ten soup plates with the same transfer print

sold to the same collector for $2000 (est. $1000/2000); and the same

collector paid $1875 (est. $1000/2000) for a lot of ten plates with a

blue transfer print of “Upper Ferry Bridge over the Schuylkill.”

All had come from the estate of John and Martha Stokes Price.

Wharton Esherick (1887-

1970),

Essie

Genesis

XXIV. 16

Rebecca

, 1933,

a 5'9" tall sculpture in

cocobolo wood of his

daughter Mary in her

role in George Bernard

Shaw’s

The Devil’s Dis-

ciple

at the Hedgerow

Theater in Rose Valley,

Pennsylvania, $123,750

(est. $60,000/80,000). It

has an incised signature

and date, “Wharton Esh-

erick 1933,” and “Gene-

sis XXIV. 16” (the title he

gave it). Exhibited at the

Pennsylvania Academy of

the Fine Arts and at Hedge-

row Theater, it descended in

the family that acquired it

from the artist, who also

called it

Rebecca

This group of early 19th-century Chinese export

porcelain with “Quaker Farmer” decoration, com-

prising two shrimp dishes, a reticulated basket, a

helmet-form creamer, a covered sugar dish with

undulating rim and gilt berry knop, eight tea-

cups, and four saucers, all with gilt rims and each

painted

en grisaille

with a farmer, his cow, and his

dog in a pastoral setting, ex-Joan Carson Havens,

sold for $26,250 (est. $3000/5000) to a dealer bid-

ding on the phone. The pattern is often associated

with Mary Hollingsworth Morris and her hus-

band, Isaac Morris. Mary’s brother Henry was

involved in the China trade and is said to have had

two porcelain services decorated with his sister’s

design in the early 1800s.

Staffordshire Gaudy Dutch Butterfly pat-

tern tableware, England, early 19th century,

one lidded teapot and nine plates, $2500 (est.

$3000/5000) to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, dealer

David Horst in the salesroom.

Not shown: Horst also paid $1500 (est.

$2000/3000) for a 21-piece lot of Gaudy Dutch

in the Oyster, Urn, and Dove patterns; $1500

(est. $1000/1500) for a seven-piece lot of Gaudy

Dutch in the Sunflower and Carnation patterns;

and $1188 for an 18-piece lot of Gaudy Dutch in

the Single Rose and Double Rose patterns. He

let a collector in the room buy an eight-piece lot

of Gaudy Dutch in the Grape pattern for $1375

(est. $1000/1500). All had come from the estate

of John and Martha Stokes Price.

Unusually large 1787-dated fraktur taufschein for

Jacob McNulty, Upper Hanover Township, Mont-

gomery County, watercolor and ink on paper, 11¼"

x 18½" (sight size), $12,500 (est. $3000/5000) to Lan-

caster, Pennsylvania, dealer David Horst, underbid

by Downingtown, Pennsylvania, dealer Philip Brad-

ley. A Jacob McNulty is listed in the 1830 census in

Upper Hanover Township, Montgomery County. This

was the most expensive of the ten fraktur in the sale;

others ranged in price from $438 for a taufschein for

Luther Mensch (est. $300/500) to $1375 for an 1803-

dated taufschein for Christina Knisley, probably

York County, Pennsylvania (est. $700/1000).

Federal giltwood and églomisé

pier mirror, possibly by Ber-

nard Cermenati (circa 1783-

1818), circa 1800, églomisé

panel with an eagle surrounded

by a silver leaf and acorn gar-

land, 41½" x 24½" x 4½", $3375

(est. $1500/2500). At Christie’s

in June 1988, it sold for $2200.

Rare pair of pewter basins with the touchmark of Wil-

liam Will (1742-1798), Philadelphia, 6¾" diameter,

ex-Price estate, $1250 (est. $1500/2500)

on one bid to a phone bidder. The same

buyer, Melvyn Wolf of Flint, Michigan,

bought the other two lots of pewter in

the sale, paying $625 (est. $1000/1500)

for a Robert Palethorp Jr. cann made

Philadelphia, circa 1820, and $688

(est. $1000/1500) for

an unmarked lidded

sugar bowl, probably

Pennsylvania.

A 10"diameter sgraffito-

and slip-decorated red-

ware pie plate, attributed

to John Neis (1775-1867),

Upper Salford Township,

Montgomery

County,

Pennsylvania, circa 1820,

decorated with a spray

of tulips and an undulat-

ing line border, sold for

$33,750 (est. $3000/5000)

to a collector in the room

who raised her pad-

dle and did not lower it

until she vanquished the

phone bidder.

Near-pair of early 19th-century

tinware candle sconces with sil-

vered tin reflectors under glass,

probably Pennsylvania, 9½" diam-

eter, ex-Price estate, $6875 (est.

$1500/2500).

James Fuller Queen (Philadelphia, 1820/21-

1886),

Scene on the Delaware River at Philadel-

phia

Severe Winter 1856

, watercolor on paper,

14" x 24" (sight size), ex-Lukens family, $25,000

(est. $8000/12,000); the underbidder was on line.

Mr. W.W. Lukens, Jr. was a member of the Phil-

adelphia Skating Club (founded in 1849), which

allowed its members to skate across frozen riv-

ers and ponds around Philadelphia; in 1861

it became the Philadelphia Skating Club and

Humane Society. This painting, which shows all

the commerce and sociability among the skat-

ers on the river with their dogs and children,

is the original artwork for a chromolithograph

printed by P.S. Duval & Co. In the background

is the old Navy Yard at Southwark.

Six phone bidders competed for Rai-

mondo Trentanove’s white marble

bust of George Washington, 1820,

25" x 19" x 11", with a carved script

signature “R Trentanove Fece 1820”

on the associated marble plinth; over-

all, it stands 64½" tall with the plinth.

It had been in the Boston Athenaeum

from 1824 to 1924, acquired by a

subsection of 104 subscribers in 1824

and sold in 1924. This time around

it sold at Freeman’s for $40,625 (est.

$8000/12,000) to a New England uni-

versity bidding on the phone. Another

similar bust is in the collection of

the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk,

Virginia.

Leaf-form burl maple

candle screen, Penn-

sylvania circa 1800,

16" high, $594 (est.

$400/600) to a phone

bidder.

Zia polychrome pottery jar, late

19th/early 20th century, deco-

rated in black and red against

a white ground with four

birds and flowering foliate

sprays, 12" high, $3328 (est.

$2500/3500).

Rare Tlingit Chilkat dancing

blanket, 19th century, 49" x 65",

$23,750 (est. $10,000/15,000) to a

phone bidder.

Pair of punch-deco-

rated tinned sheet-iron

candle sconces, circa

1800, the urn-form

backplates with leaf

swags and the sin-

gle candle arms with

crimped cups, $1188

(est. $800/1200) to a

collector on the phone.