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14-B Maine Antique Digest, March 2015
- AUCTION -
A 19th-century sheet-iron
horse weathervane, 38½" high x
41½" long, brought $22,500 (est.
$800/1200), and a 20th-cen-
tury sheet-iron rooster vane,
22" high x 22" wide, went for
$10,625 (est. $150/200). The
same price was paid for a gilded
copper quill pen weathervane
(est. $8000/12,000). A horse and
sulky weathervane, circa 1890,
4'4" long, may have been a bar-
gain at $7500 (est. $2000/3000).
A blue-green-painted pine
New England stepback cup-
board, circa 1850, 6'5½" x
39" x 19½", brought $5938
(est. $1500/2500), and a New
England apothecary, painted
light blue, with several drawers
replaced, sold for $15,000 (est.
$1000/2000). A New York state
one-door blue-repainted pine
cupboard brought $13,750 (est.
$200/400), and another the same
color with feet and two doors
sold for the same price (est.
$300/500). A 20th-century bird-
house that sold for $4375 was
painted white. A blue-painted
bench, 5'10" long, sold for
$6875 (est. $100/200) because it
was so big.
A nest of eight Nantucket
baskets fetched $21,250 (est.
$8000/12,000), and another
group of three Nantucket bas-
kets, one stamped “R Folger,”
sold for $9375 (est. $300/500).
An American Indian pota-
to-stamped basket in green
and pink, illustrated in a full
page in the catalog, sold for its
high retail price—$5313 (est.
$400/600). An American cast-
iron boot scraper sold for $2000
(est. $200/300).
Not every lot sold. A Myer
Myers silver salver, New
York, circa 1775, with a
$20,000/30,000 estimate, did not
sell. It was not the best, and sil-
ver dealers and collectors were
saving their dollars for the sil-
ver sales in January with first-
rate examples. American silver
horse racing trophies sold way
over estimates. Two coffeepots
made by Ensko, New York, with
inscriptions for Aqueduct 1965
and Belmont 1975, both won by
Mellon’s Rokeby Stables horses,
Eagle Top and One on the Aisle
respectively, sold together for
$3125 (est. $1200/1800).
If collectors of Americana
were disappointed by the offer-
ings, collectors of European
ceramics were thrilled and com-
peted fiercely for what may
have been the finest collection
of vegetable-form porcelain
and pottery in private hands.
Apparently when she came to
New York, Mellon shopped at
Tiffany & Co., James Robinson
Inc., and Millie Manheim’s, a
legendary porcelain dealer, and
when she was in London she
shopped for porcelain and sil-
ver as well. A pair of Chelsea
asparagus tureens and covers,
each 7" long, sold for $118,750
(est. $20,000/30,000). A similar
pair sold at Sotheby’s in 2010 for
$65,500. Bunny Mellon bought
hers at Sotheby’s in 1953! A pair
of Chelsea tureens and covers in
the form of artichokes sold for
$43,750 (est. $10,000/15,000).
A Continental faience cab-
bage tureen, 13" high, brought
$56,250 (est. $3000/5000), and
a circa 1755 Sceaux faience cab-
bage tureen and cover, about the
same size, sold for $50,000 (est.
$5000/7000). A circa 1755 Chel-
sea cauliflower tureen and cover,
just 5¼" long, fetched $43,750
(est. $7000/9000). A rare circa
1760 Dutch Delft pumpkin
tureen and stand sold for $47,500
(est. $10,000/15,000). A pair of
Longton Hall covered boxes in
the form of a bunch of grapes,
circa 1755, went for $40,000
(est. $10,000/15,000), and four
lemon-shaped boxes, probably
Longton Hall, sold for $25,000
(est. $1500/2500).
“People were buying because
the objects were very good, not
because it was Bunny Mellon’s,”
said Christina Prescott-Walker,
director of European ceramics.
“There was a cross section of
buyers: collectors, decorators,
and the trade. We were delighted
to see strength in the market;
these were not unprecedented
prices.”
The ceramics crowd bought
an assembled partial Swansea
pearlware and creamware dinner
and dessert service, 127 pieces,
all painted with flowers. The set
included tureens and stands and
23 dessert plates and brought
$106,250 (est. $30,000/50,000).
A set of 215 pieces of silver flat-
ware with Bow, Saint-Cloud,
and other French porcelain han-
dles, 1740-55, sold for $37,500
(est. $8000/12,000).
Bunny Mellon’s table lin-
ens were fought over. Most
were white and embroidered in
blue with trees and plants. An
assorted group of linens with
four tablecloths, 24 dinner nap-
kins, ten placemats, and 43 cock-
tail napkins, all cream or white
linen embroidered with trees,
sold for $31,250 (est. $600/800).
Other similar groups of table
linens sold for $22,500 and
$20,000, well above the $600
high estimates.
Porcelain dinner services also
brought far more than estimates.
Only 51 pieces from a Meis-
sen dinner service, 1742-48,
each piece painted with fruits
and nuts, with tureens, platters,
and plates, commissioned by
Count Heinrich von Brühl, the
director of the Meissen man-
ufactory, and from one of the
most magnificent of Meissen
services, sold for $197,000 (est.
$70,000/100,000).
Another Meissen dinner ser-
vice, with 38 pieces, from the
second half of the 18th century,
each piece painted with a dif-
ferent bird or animal, sold for
$106,250 (est. $50,000/70,000).
A Chinese export porcelain
armorial partial dinner service,
circa 1800, with the painted
arms of Adolpho Frederico Lin-
denberg, consul general for the
Hanseatic League in Lisbon,
135 pieces, including 46 dinner
plates, sold for $173,000 (est.
$10,000/15,000). A partial Chi-
nese export porcelain “Pseudo
Tobacco Leaf” service, 1775-85,
with 35 dinner plates, 98 pieces
in all, sold for $293,000 (est.
$100,000/150,000). A Chinese
porcelain hunting scene punch
bowl, decorated
en grisaille
and
gilt, circa 1780, 15¾" diameter,
sold for a strong $75,000 (est.
$6000/8000).
Among the useful objects that
brought surprising prices was a
William IV cast and engraved
brass bushel and half-bushel
Stenciled still life of a watermelon theorem paint-
ing, Connecticut, dated 1839, inscribed “Walter [sic]
Melon E.L. Ryan, 1839,” with an Edith Gregor Hal-
pert and American Folk Art Gallery, New York City,
provenance, sold for $11,250 (est. $1000/1500).
This William IV cast and engraved brass bushel and
half-bushel measure, dated 1824, sold for $31,250 (est.
$2000/3000). It is engraved “IMPERIAL STANDARD
HALF BUSHEL/ COUNTY OF GLOUCESTER/ 1824/
SUFFOLK/ IPSWICH DIVISION/ BATE/ LONDON/
MAKER OF THE EXCHEQUER STANDARDS” and is
25" wide over the handles.
Pictorial hooked rug, 3'11" x 4'9", with “Farm”
spelled out on the border, circa 1930, sold for $11,875
(est. $1000/1500).
Group of three American earthenware blue spongeware
jugs, 19th century, the tallest 9", sold for $8750 (est.
$200/300).
This Chinese export porcelain
en grisaille
and gilt
punch bowl, circa 1780, painted on the exterior with
a continuous scene of huntsmen and hounds, the inte-
rior with a statue of Venus flanked by two urns and
an arbor, 15¾" in diameter, sold for an astounding
$75,000 (est. $6000/8000).
Pair
of
Chelsea
artichoke
tureens
and covers, circa
1755,
sold
for
$43,750
(est.
$10,000/15,000).
Each is topped by
a pecking finch
and has a red
anchor mark. They
are 5½" and 5¾" tall.
The Meissen
Brühlsche Allerlei
(Brühl’s farrago or “all sorts
of”) partial dinner service, 1742-48, each piece painted with
fruit, vegetables, nuts, berries, seeds, and flowers, the bor-
ders molded in various basketweave patterns, 51 pieces in all
including tureens, platters, 20 dinner plates, deep dishes, and
a ladle, with a crossed swords mark in underglaze blue and a
“C” Konditorei mark in puce on two dinner plates and all four
deep circular dishes. Commissioned by Count Heinrich von
Brühl, director of the Meissen manufactory from 1733 until
his death in 1763, it is one of the most magnificent of Meissen
services. The lot sold for $197,000 (est. $70,000/100,000). The
shapes of the serving pieces follow silver forms of the period.
Continental faience large cabbage
tureen and cover, 18th century,
13" high, sold for $56,250 (est.
$3000/5000).
An extensive assembled
set of Bow, Saint-Cloud,
and other French por-
celain knife, fork, and
spoon handles, 1740-55,
variously mounted on
silver, silver plate, and
stainless steel, 215 pieces
in all, fitted in eight
trays, sold for $37,500
(est. $8000/12,000).