Maine Antique Digest April 2015

Maine Antique Digest, April 2015 3-C

- AUCTION -

Leland Little Auctions, Hillsborough, North Carolina

“The House Is Out” and Other Hillsborough Stories

by Pete Prunkl

Photos courtesy Leland Little Auctions

or a sale that included five-figure

paintings, furniture, and sculpture and

exceeded $1.65 million, there has to be

a good reason to begin this report with pot-

tery. Pottery reached none of the top ten or

even top 20 spots in this eclectic three-day

sale (December 4-6, 2014). Of the auction’s

1444 lots, only 48 were pottery. We begin here

because these fused bits of 19th-century Car-

olina mud KO’d this

reporter’s objectivity.

My biases emerged

at the preview on

December 6. Alex

Brittain from Cher-

ryville, North Caro-

lina, age 25, tattooed,

and as thin as Ichabod

Crane, walked into

Leland Little’s gallery

and asked to see the two-and-a-half-gallon lid-

ded storage jar by artist potter Daniel Seagle

(1805-1867) of Lincoln County. Seagle made

utilitarian pottery with thin walls, elegant

glaze, and perfect balance. Brittain examined

the Seagle as if it were the

Pietà

—he stood

in front of it, bent over it, squatted down to

see it from eye level. He said that he and his

friends swap 19th-century pottery and that his

home was “slap full of pottery.” His goal and

that of his friends was to keep North Carolina

pots in the Old North State. Here was the per-

sonification of that idealized young person we

are anxious to see interested in antiques. I was

rooting for him.

Brittain was in his seat when the sale began,

and 313 lots later he must have been con-

sumed with excitement. There were others in

the house chasing the same pots, notably Bill

Ivey, Terry Zug, and Rob Pearce. The sale’s

best pottery came from a single owner, the

late Roddy Cline of Lincolnton, North Caro-

lina. Unbeknownst to all floor bidders, there

were two deep-pocketed and very determined

bidders lurking on the phones. This is Hills-

borough, not Hollywood, so you know how

this story will end.

Brittain, Ivey, Zug, and Pearce were at the

center of this reporter’s attention when the

Cline collection came up for sale. Brittain was

the first to raise his bidding card on at least

nine pots, including the Seagle jar. He lost

every time. The Seagle sold for $7080 (est.

$900/1200) in a battle between the two deter-

mined phone bidders. (All prices include the

18% buyer’s premium.)

On over 65% of the pottery lots, Leland

Little’s words emphasized a reality that Alex

Brittain did not want to acknowledge: “The

house is out.”

After the sale, pottery dealer Rob Pearce

of Knoxville, Tennessee, said, “Some prices

were three times higher than what I expected.”

Brittain left the gallery as soon as the last

pot sold. He went home empty-handed, but

was he discouraged? I was able to contact him

via Facebook and e-mail after Christmas. Yes,

he was discouraged

after losing the Sea-

gle jug, but the story

has an encouraging

finale. “But now I

have one in my col-

lection,” he wrote.

There were many

other bright spots to

the sale, especially

the story of Jeff Ste-

phenson’s purchase of a Samuel M. Middleton

mixed-media abstract collage. Stephenson,

who was unfamiliar with Middleton (b. 1927),

first read about the African American artist in

the sale catalog. The catalog entry related how

Middleton grew up in Harlem and joined the

United States merchant marine in 1944. In the

1950s, he lived for a time in Greenwich Village,

but he realized that African American artists

were better appreciated in Europe. He settled

in the 1960s in Amsterdam, where he resides

today. “I liked his story,” said Stephenson.

Stephenson purchased the largest of three

Middleton works in the sale: a 20" x 30½"

signed and dated (1963) but untitled collage

of ink, gouache, and paper scraps. He paid

$1888 and plans to install it in his New York

City apartment. Middleton’s 1961 mixed-me-

dia

Blue Sunday

sold for $1534, and his 1962

mixed-media

Hymn to Democracy

brought

$1416. All three works by Middleton carried

an $800/1200 estimate.

A southern sale without southern furniture

would be like breakfast without country ham

and red-eye gravy. Leland Little scheduled 23

lots of southern furniture for the last few hours

of the sale. Two of the lots—a Virginia side-

board and a North Carolina Roanoke River

basin china press—were among the sale’s top

sellers.

The late 18th-century walnut china press

went to a Virginian bidding from the floor.

Unlike other retirees, he is “upsizing.” At

$44,840 (est. $20,000/30,000), the 100" x

46" x 22" press was the top lot of the sale.

The three-part Chippendale press had a bro-

ken-arch pediment section, a central case with

two eight-light glazed doors, and a lower case

Here was the person-

ification of that ide-

alized young person

we are anxious to see

interested in antiques.

I was rooting for him.

“I like black jewelry,” said Pat Revels of Hills-

borough, North Carolina. She found what she

liked in this 42" long necklace that combined

round and fluted onyx beads with gold spacers

and a 14k gold clasp. The necklace sold for $944

(est. $400/800). Prunkl photo.

Ernest Trova (1927-2009) was

noted for his “Falling Man” series

of armless, pot-bellied male fig-

ures in paintings, prints, and

sculptures. This 80" high chrome-

plated bronze

Study / Falling Man

with an inscribed signature was

third in the sale’s top ten lots at

$34,220 (est. $20,000/40,000).

At $44,840, this 100" x 46" x 22" Roanoke

River basin Chippendale china press was

the sale’s top lot. It was purchased above

its $20,000/30,000 estimate by a floor bidder

from Virginia.

“Christmas is coming,” said

Paula Sullivan of South Bos-

ton, Virginia, as she checked

out a collection of costume

jewelry by Schiaparelli. She

said she was really inter-

ested in the more expensive

jewelry. The lot consisted of

a Schiaparelli bracelet, ear-

rings, brooch, and ear clips

plus a grape cluster brooch.

It sold for $383.50 (est.

$500/700). Prunkl photo.

The pear-cut aquamarine gem-

stone at the center of this Edward-

ian brooch weighs approximately

85.66 carats and has a diamond-en-

crusted cap. The 1¾" x 1" brooch

was the top jewelry lot of the sale

at $15,340 (est. $6500/9500).

His flashlight at the ready, Liang Yan Chan

of Baltimore, Maryland, checked many of the

Asian lots during preview. Here he is examining

a 3¼" Chinese pomegranate-form vase from the

Qing Dynasty in a green to oxblood glaze. Chan

won the vase for $1416 (est. $600/900). Prunkl

photo.

Leland Little devoted an entire

page in the color catalog to Jim

Dine’s signed and dated (1979)

untitled oil on canvas from his

“Robe” series. Dine (b. 1935),

who was associated with the

Pop Artists of the 1960s, often

selected personal objects to

depict or include in his art. The

41½" x 29½" painting sold for

$23,600 (est. $20,000/40,000).

☞