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8-C Maine Antique Digest, May 2015
- AUCTION -
The renovated American Theater on King Street,
Charleston, South Carolina, was an ideal setting for
the Copley winter sale. Prunkl photo.
Michael Paderewski of The Sportsman’s Gallery,
Charleston, South Carolina, bought this watercolor,
signed and dated “A. Lassell Ripley 1950,”
Two
Grouse in Snow
, for $16,800 (est. $14,000/18,000).
A phone bidder bought Aiden Lassell Ripley’s 1947 oil on canvas
The
Pond Cover
for $90,000 (est. $60,000/90,000). The 27 3/16" x 40 1/8"
painting was described in the catalog as “a pinnacle work by Ripley.”
A 38¼" x 25 7/8" hand-colored engrav-
ing,
Snowy Owl
, after John James
Audubon (1785-1851), sold to a phone
bidder for $72,000 (est. $60,000/90,000).
“We like all kinds of
things,” said Beekman
and Cathy Webb of
Beaufort, South Caro-
lina. Here they are shown
examining
Large Owls
,
a gouache, watercolor,
pencil, and ink on paper
board by Roger Tory
Peterson
(1908-1996).
Peterson is famous for
his
A Field Guide to the
Birds of Eastern and
Central North America.
The 17" x 11½" image
of four owls sold to the
phones for $4200 (est.
$2000/4000).
Prunkl
photo.
This circa 1930 4" tall duck
call by Ezra B. Cochran
(1899-1958) sold to an Inter-
net bidder for $3997.50
(est. $2000/3000). It was the
top-dollar duck call among
the 15 lots of them in the sale.
The high contrast between the blues and whites in John Whorf’s
Setting
Out Decoys
made this watercolor pop. The signed 14¼" x 21" painting sold
to a phone bidder for $7800 (est. $3000/5000).
Bob Fraser of Robert B. Fraser Sporting Art, Mount Pleasant,
South Carolina, was the winning bidder for this
Black Ducks Rising
by Lynn Bogue Hunt (1878-1960). The signed and inscribed 14¾" x
17½" oil on canvas brought $4500 (est. $3000/5000).
During a midafternoon break, John Dinan of
Richmond, Maine, checked out a circa 1900
Canada goose decoy from Patchogue, New
York. Dinan, who was stationed in Charles-
ton while in the Navy, traveled from Maine
for the sale. The goose sold to the phones for
$540 (est. $600/900). Prunkl photo.
Edmund Henry Osthaus (1858-1928)
was a “shooting man” who painted
for shooting men. He hit the bull’s-eye
with
Self Portrait with Three Setters
, a
1911 oil on canvas. The catalog entry
mentioned the possibility that the
21¾" x 29½" painting was reproduced
by the DuPont Company for a calendar
.
The painting sold to a phone bidder for
$87,000 (est. $20,000/40,000).
Copley had 27 works of art by Frank
W. Benson (1862-1951) in the sale—25
etchings and two watercolors. Scenes
of Benson’s wife and a mother and
child were passed. The gentleman sit-
ting next to me leaned over and said,
“Domestic doesn’t sell here.” Benson’s
1926 watercolor
Swans in Flight
cer-
tainly did. The 14 5/8" x 20" marsh
scene sold to the phones for $30,000
(est. $25,000/35.000).