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24-B Maine Antique Digest, December 2016
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AUCTION -
24-B
H
ap Moore is willing to travel great
distances to fill his York, Maine,
auctions. But often his best
selections come from close to home. His
September 10 offering contained a good
mix of items from both far and near.
Clocks by Ephraim Willard (b. 1755)
are far rarer than those by his older
brother Simon, from whom he probably
learned his trade. Ephraim was one of
12 children of Benjamin Willard and
Sarah Brooks, four of whom went into
the clock-making business. It is known
that Ephraim marched with his brothers
in response to the Lexington encounter
of April 19, 1775, at the outbreak of the
American Revolution, and his service
lasted all of 12 days. By 1801 he had
moved to Boston, but it wasn’t until 1804
that he was listed as a clockmaker there,
and even that stint was short lived. By
1805 he was located in New York City,
where he worked until at least 1832. The
clock offered by Moore is one of his
few still surviving. Signed on the face
“WARRANTED BY / E. WILLARD,”
it featured an oval painted cameo in the
arch, reeded full columns, three brass
finials over a simple reticulated crest, an
inlaid urn cameo on the mahogany waist
door, and urn panels below reeded quarter
columns. The final price was $7475
(including buyer’s premium).
Artist Robert Robinson (1886-1952)
is credited with originating the slice-
of-life style of illustration that featured
prominently on the covers of the
Saturday
Evening Post
and other publications. His
work focused largely on the automotive
trade while he worked for the Hearst
Corporation’s monthly magazine
Motor
from 1926 until his death in 1952. His
work often combines deft realism and
humor, as with a 28" x 25" oil on canvas
of an elderly passenger in a motorcycle
sidecar fearing for his life while in
the hands of an indifferent driver. The
seriocomic work sold for $1380.
Top draw among a handful of military
items was a Civil War sword and sash
belt with an old tag reading “Sword, Sash
& Epaulettes / worn by / Capt. William
V. Munroe / Co. K. 11th Reg’t. Mass.
Vols. / 1861-1864.” Only the sword and
scabbard were present, along with a sash
If you ever dreamed of
owning an original work
by Andy Warhol, Roy
Lichtenstein, or Norman
Rockwell...you missed
your chance.
Hap Moore Antiques Auctions, York, Maine
Rare Willard Clock Tops Hap Moore Auction
by Mark Sisco
Tall clock by Ephraim Willard, the
wandering black sheep of the Willard
clock-making family, $7475.
This elaborate
bronze Asian vase
is said to have
a provenance
through Nelson
and Margaretta
“Happy” Rockefeller
and was given to
the consignor upon
Nelson’s death. With
a non-matching top,
it brought $1840.
If you ever dreamed of owning an original
work by Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, or
Norman Rockwell for a few hundred bucks
or less, then unless you were at the auction,
you missed your chance. Moore offered a
series of 18 sketches, most smaller than a
notebook page, by well-known mid- to late
20th-century artists. Prices ranged from
$40.25 to $603.25. Here are a few samples:
a Norman Rockwell ink sketch of a lazily
smoking chimney went for $120.75; the
Grinch and his companion Max by Theodor
“Dr. Seuss” Geisel, $201.25; a mini-Pop Art
icon by Roy Lichtenstein, who always dotted
his eyes, $603.75; a little Piglet by Ernest
Howard Shepard, the original illustrator for
A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh books, $40.25;
a TV man by cartoonist and graffiti artist
Keith Haring, $287.50.