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10-C Maine Antique Digest, May 2015
- AUCTION -
F
or the presale exhibition for its
January 22 auction, Christie’s dis-
played its earliest American silver
offered for sale in the small gallery that
is generally reserved for small paintings
and a few pieces of furniture. It was
installed like a museum exhibition of
church silver, but none of it was behind
glass. A William Davis wine cup and
a large plate with an engraved border,
both by Jeremiah Dummer, were at the
end of the room as if on an altar. Some
domestic plate led up to it. Much of it
came from the estate of Martin Wunsch,
who was as passionate about collecting
silver as he was about furniture. (Chris-
tie’s has been selling his furniture for
the past several years.) Viewers could
pick up his Peter van Dyck teapot, a
favorite form. The teapot, estimated at
$100,000/150,000, sold for just $87,500
(including buyer’s premium) in a week
when there was just too much American
silver offered: 119 lots at Christie’s and
470 lots at two sales at Sotheby’s, the
Ruth Nutt collection and a small selec-
tion from various owners.
A much-touted teapot made by Paul
Revere Jr. in 1783 for his friend and
fellow Freemason Moses Michael
Hays (1739-1805) and his wife, Rachel
Myers Hays (1739-1810), did not dis-
appoint. It sold for $233,000 (est.
$200,000/300,000) to the trade for a
collector. It is one of only six drum-
shaped teapots made by Revere. The
last one offered at auction came from
a New England collection and sold
at Christie’s on January 24, 2013, for
$230,500. The creamer made for Moses
and Rachel Hays at the same time sold
for $68,750 to a different bidder on the
phone.
A large and impressive silver wine
cup by Jeremiah Dummer, America’s
first native-born silversmith, made in
1676 for William Davis, a founder of
Old South Church in Boston, sold for
$149,000 (est. $150,000/250,000) to
Tim Martin of S.J. Shrubsole, New
York City. Early church silver did not
fare well. Of the five pieces of silver
consigned by the Old South Church,
only three sold.
A silver caudle cup from the Congre-
gational church in Farmington, Con-
necticut, with the mark of John Hull
and Robert Sanderson, overstruck with
the mark of Jeremiah Dummer, Bos-
ton, circa 1670, sold on the phone for
$81,250 (est. $70,000/100,000). It was
from the estate of Martin Wunsch and
last sold at Sotheby’s in January 2005
for $204,000 (est. $200,000/300,000).
The buyer then was dealer Jonathan
Trace of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
A silver caudle cup engraved with the
arms of Quincy and marked by Thomas
Savage Sr., Boston, 1695, was given in
1699 to the First Congregational Soci-
ety of Quincy, Massachusetts, origi-
nally the Braintree church, known now
as the “Church of the Presidents.” Also
from the estate of Martin Wunsch, it
sold for $52,500 (est. $40,000/60,000)
to dealer Deanne Levison of Atlanta
in the salesroom. Wunsch bought it at
Sotheby’s New York in January 2001
for $137,750 (est. $80,000/120,000). At
that same sale in 2001 a circa 1660 sil-
ver wine cup marked by John Hull and
Robert Sanderson Sr., with the initials
of Richard and Alice Brackett, sold for
$775,750, then a record for American
silver.
Christie’s, New York City
Teapot by Paul Revere Jr. Brings $233,000
by Lita Solis-Cohen
Photos courtesy Christie’s
Each of these Martelé silver
figural ewers, marked for
Gorham Mfg. Co., Prov-
idence, 1912, in baluster
form, is decorated with
fluid leaves and waves.
One is chased with Poseidon
holding his trident and has a
cast merman-form handle; the
other is chased with a mermaid
holding a clamshell with pearls
and has a cast mermaid-form
handle. They are marked under
the bases and also marked “YIU”
and “YKY” respectively. At 19½"
high and 147 oz. 10 dwt., they sold
on the phone for $125,000 (est.
$100,000/150,000). According to
the catalog notes, they were chased
by David Wilmot, Gorham’s master
chaser, at a net cost of $300.
This silver porringer with the mark of John Han-
cock, Boston, circa 1770, with a pierced keyhole
handle engraved “JSH,” marked on the handle and
inside the bowl, 8¼" long, 8 oz.,
sold for $3750 to
Tim Martin of S.J. Shrubsole, New York City. Mar-
tin bought nearly every porringer offered at the
Americana Week auctions.
A much-touted
teapot made by
Paul Revere Jr.
did not disappoint.
A silver caudle cup, engraved with the arms of Quincy, marked by
Thomas Savage Sr., Boston, 1695, had been given in 1699 to the Brain-
tree, Massachusetts, church (now in Quincy), the First Congregational
Society, known now as the “Church of the Presidents.” From the estate
of Martin Wunsch, it sold for $52,500 (est. $40,000/60,000) to dealer
Deanne Levison of Atlanta in the salesroom. The baluster-form cup
with knuckled scrolled handles is engraved on one side with a coat of
arms within foliate mantling; the other side was later engraved “Gift of/
Edmund Quincy Esq./ to the First Church of Braintree,/ now Quincy -
by will dated/ December 11, 1697”; the base is engraved “BC1699”; and
it is marked on one side below the rim with “TS.” It is 6¼" wide over
the handles and weighs 6 oz. 10 dwt. Wunsch bought it at Sotheby’s New
York in January 2001 for $137,750 (est. $80,000/120,000) at the sale of
the silver from First Congregational Society church. At that sale a circa
1660 silver wine cup marked by John Hull and Robert Sanderson Sr.,
with the initials of Richard and Alice Brackett, sold for $775,750, then a
record for American silver.
This silver and copper egg coddler, attributed to Joseph
Heinrich, New York, 1910, has a tripod stand with three
cast figures of rabbits and scroll brackets supporting the
egg-shaped dish with a domed cover with a wood and sil-
ver-mounted finial. The interior is fitted with a removable
stand for four eggs. It all sits on a circular oak base with
a fixed burner, and the stand is impressed “Copper and
Silver.”
It is 13" high and sold on the phone for $3500 (est.
$3000/5000). Others sold at Christie’s on May 23, 2007, for
$6000 and May 17, 2012, for $4000.
This silver two-handled cup from the Congregational church in Farm-
ington, with the mark of William Cowell Sr., Boston, circa 1715, sold
for $52,500 (est. $40,000/60,000) to Atlanta dealer Deanne Levison. It is
of cylindrical form with a slightly everted rim and on a circular base;
the lower body has chased spiral fluting, and it has a gadrooned mid
band and S-scroll handles with diminishing beads. The base is engraved
“F.C.”; and it is marked on the body on one side and on the other side
near the handle with the maker’s mark (Kane mark B). It is
7" wide
over the handles and 8 oz. 10 dwt. It last sold at Sotheby’s sale for the
First Church of Christ, Congregational, Farmington, Connecticut, on
January 21, 2005, for $156,000 to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, dealer
Jonathan Trace.