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34-D Maine Antique Digest, April 2015
- AUCTION -
This 38¾" high
Boston
carved
mahogany
side
chair has a crew-
elwork seat cover, said
to be the work of Elizabeth
White (1747-1839) of Brookline, Massachusetts. On the under-
side of the seat there is a typed label inscribed “Hancock Man-
sion.” Identical crewelwork appears on an armchair and three
side chairs of a different design and two fire screens. The arm-
chair was in the collection of Benjamin and Cora Ginsburg
and sold at Christie’s in 1983, and one of the side chairs is at
the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. This chair sold for $15,000
(est. $10,000/15,000) to dealer Peter Sawyer in the salesroom.
This Chippendale figured mahogany
serpentine-front chest of drawers,
Massachusetts, 1765-85, appears to
retain its original cast brass hard-
ware. It is 32½" high x 41¼" wide x
23½" deep and sold for $209,000 (est.
$30,000/50,000) to furniture consul-
tant/broker Clark Pearce, underbid
by dealer Peter Sawyer. It was the
most expensive chest of drawers sold
during the week.
There were plenty of bidders for this 1760-
80 Massachusetts mahogany blocked ser-
pentine-front chest of drawers with old,
probably original, brasses. The back of the
top drawer is marked “HP.” The chest is
32" high x 37" wide x 20½" deep. It sold on
the phone for $35,000 (est. $10,000/15,000).
A 1750-70 Queen Anne mahogany drop-leaf
dining table, attributed to John Goddard
(1723-1785) of Newport, Rhode Island, 27¾"
high x 18" wide (closed) x 56" deep, sold
for $68,750 (est. $40,000/60,000). This was
the fifth time it had sold at auction in New
York City. It had sold at Christie’s on June
12, 1982, for $37,400 to Israel Sack. Then it
sold at Sotheby’s in January 1995 for $79,500,
bought by Sack again. Then it sold at Chris-
tie’s in January 2002 for $82,250, and it was
offered again at Christie’s on September 28,
2011, when it sold for $110,500.
An Aesthetic Movement circa
1885, 38¾" high marquetry-in-
laid and carved mahogany side
chair, attributed to Herter Broth-
ers (working 1864-1906), New York,
sold for $3250 (est. $3000/5000). A
similar chair had been offered at
Christie’s in January 2007 with a
$10,000/15,000 estimate and failed
to sell.
Made for the Honorable William Bartlet,
this Chippendale mahogany blockfront chest of
drawers was probably made in the Newbury-
port area of Massachusetts, 1770-1800. It appears
to retain its original brasses and is 31½" x 36"
x 21½". It sold for $81,250 (est. $40,000/60,000)
to Peter Sawyer in the salesroom. It was offered
in September 2014 as a pair with a similar
chest with different brasses, also made for Wil-
liam Bartlet, but the pair had failed to sell (est.
$150,000/ $250,000). The other chest (not shown)
with the same history and bail brasses sold here at
Christie’s for $60,000 (est. $30,000/50,000), also to
Sawyer. That is $141,250 for the two. When they
had sold at Northeast Auctions in March 1999
for $354,500, they were called the only pair of
American blockfront chests from the 18th cen-
tury and were featured on the catalog cover.
A
1760-90
Boston
mahogany blockfront
d e s k - and - b o ok c a s e
with original hard-
ware, 96" x 42" x 22½",
sold for $75,000 (est.
$50,000/80,000) to the
U.S. trade on the phone.
This New York 1760-80 Chippendale
carved mahogany serpentine-front
card table is 27½" x 34¼" x 16½". It
sold for $50,000 (est. $40,000/80,000)
and was from the collection of Ted and
Ingie Kilroy of Shaker Heights, Ohio;
they had bought it from Bernard & S.
Dean Levy in New York City.
Clark Pearce of Essex, Massachu-
setts, and Peter Sawyer of Exeter,
New Hampshire, battled for this small
Queen Anne mahogany turret-top card
table made in Boston, 1740-60. It is
29" high x 28¾" wide x 13" deep and
has appealing size and design and a
rich, old surface. It sold to Sawyer for
$149,000 (est. $30,000/50,000).