Maine Antique Digest May 2015

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4-C Maine Antique Digest, May 2015
- AUCTION -
and forgotten about. One of them
was an archive on a Georgia
infantryman in the Civil War.”
Case located an ambrotype of
soldier Russell M. Cassady to go
with the papers, and the lot real-
ized $5456, while other papers
from the cache were sold as sep-
arate lots. She concluded, “The
documents were worth far more
that the chest itself. And we are
still going through the docu-
ments we found.”
One of the largest blocks
of material from a single con-
signor was more than 50 lots of
hollowware and flatware from
the southern silver collection
formed by John Montague of
Memphis. Far less silver was
made in the South, and there
were rare examples from Lou-
isiana, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Alabama, and Georgia in his col-
lection. The group offered acqui-
sition possibilities for collectors
in many cities at a range of price
levels. Sarah Drury said, “It was
a great collection. Mr. Montague
collected for fifty years, and he
had a lot of fun putting together
this collection. He’s at that point
in his life now where he felt it
was time to let it go.”
There are many competing
auction houses across the South-
east, and Drury emphasized
Case’s efforts for consignors:
“That’s an example—we try
harder than anyone else out there
to market what we get. We’re so
grateful for any consignment we
get, and we really do stay up at
night trying to think about how
we can help bring these pieces
to the appropriate buyers. It’s
almost like a matchmaking ser-
vice! In this sale, we had Ten-
nessee silver, but we also had
Mississippi silver—that stuff is
so scarce that we’ve maybe sold
two pieces of it in the past, and
then we had about a dozen lots
in this one sale. Case cospon-
sored the Natchez Antiques
Forum to help spread the word
down in Mississippi that we
had this collection, and I think
it really paid off. The water
pitcher was quite plain, but still
brought $2950. That little Nat-
chez cream jug brought nearly as
much—$2714—although it was
smaller, and that Natchez fish
slice marked ‘G. Macpherson’
brought $1770.”
One Case marketing tool
that is especially well executed
is the use of copious images
for each lot in the online cata-
log. Furniture is photographed
from every possible angle, with
detailed closeups—not just five
or six images but dozens. On
document archive lots, you can
peruse pages and examine arti-
facts. These images make con-
dition discussions with potential
bidders much easier.
The next Case gallery sale will
be held on July 18. The newly
revamped website looks better
than ever; view highlights or
the complete January catalog at
) or call
(865) 558-3033.
Like many French artisans, Pierre Lamothe ended
up working in New Orleans after sojourns in Santo
Domingo and Cuba. He married into a family of sil-
versmiths, and his sons followed suit. He made pieces
in a simple French colonial style. This marked coin sil-
ver soup or punch ladle, circa 1815, sold for $2478. The
John Montague collection.
Virginia-born silversmith Samuel Cock-
rell moved in 1838 to Natchez where he
made this graceful pear-shaped water
pitcher that sold for $2950. The John Mon-
tague collection.
The Montague collection of southern silver
included diverse pieces made in New Orleans
by silversmith Adolph Himmel (1825-1877).
The fantastic little sugar basket and ladle are
marked “A.H./ N.O.”; cast leaves, grapes, and
a tiny bug are attached to the handles and rim.
The set was a great buy at $1534. The John
Montague collection.
Vintage Louis Vuitton steamer trunks often do well because they come
with such romantic back stories—where they traveled and who they
belonged to. This early 20th-century trunk belonged to the wife of Fran-
cis Skiddy von Stade Sr. of Long Island (1884-1967), a champion polo
player and president of the Saratoga Race Course. It sold for $5456.
Always desirable, a limestone bird by Tennessee self-
taught sculptor William Edmondson (1874-1951) brought
$14,160. The catalog entry noted that in 1937 Edmondson
was the first African American artist to be honored with a
solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
This Federal walnut chest of drawers from an East Tennes-
see collection is distinguished by delicate inlays—bellflower
vines around the escutcheons and striped fans on the drawer
corners and bottom skirts. The sophisticated case piece more
than doubled its high estimate to bring $19,470.
Case sales always include diverse offerings in the decora-
tive arts—porcelain, art glass, lighting, and clocks. This
late 19th-/early 20th-century Tiffany three-piece mantel
garniture, with French clockworks by Japy Frères and
colorful enameling, brought $8680.
The top painting lot of the sale was this Beau-
ford Delaney (1901-1979) portrait of his
mother, Delia, that sold for $48,380 to a New
York City gallery. Born in Knoxville, the Afri-
can American Abstract Expressionist worked
in New York and Paris. Another Delaney lot
(not shown), an abstract face painting on a
pillowcase (substituting for expensive canvas),
brought $24,180.
One of the earliest historical lots was a Revolutionary War-related
account book and notebook belonging to early Tennessee settlers Gen-
eral James Winchester (1752-1826) and his brother Major George
Winchester (1757-1794). Purchased for $2832, the archive is now
headed for Cragfont, the historic home of General Winchester in
Sumner County, east of Gallatin, Tennessee.
Appalachian folk carver Helen Bullard
Kreckniak (1902-1996) created both sculptural
works and wooden dolls. A 1969 collage of 15
human faces titled Does Anyone Know What
Comes Next? sold for $3068 (est. $800/1200).