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Maine Antique Digest, December 2016 33-A
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AUCTION -
33-A
The piece of furniture featured on the catalog cover was
an unusual 1731 New York William and Mary walnut
tea table with a bold baroque trumpet-turned base and
with floral inlay on its top and sides. It failed to get
a bid, even though it had sold for a big price at Northeast
Auctions in August 2003. (It “sold to a Virginia collector for
$93,250” as reported by David Hewett for
M.A.D.
) Some
questioned the age of its top. The English brass candlestick
pictured atop it in the Pook & Pook cover picture with a
$20,000/25,000 estimate also failed to sell. It’s called “the
curse of the cover photo” in the trade.
The candlestick was one of three rare early candlesticks
from the published Lear collection in Britain. Only one of
the candlesticks sold, bringing $7200 (est. $8000/10,000). Some
said collectors prefer early brass sticks, unpolished, with an old
patina. A pair of brass andirons similar to a pair attributed to
Daniel King that had sold at Pook & Pook in April 2009 for
$25,740 sold for $6000 (est. $6000/8000) to Diana Bittel for
her client.
Stoneware has settled down at a new lower price level. A
Charlestown, Massachusetts, stoneware crock, impressed
“Edmands & Co.” and decorated with a cobalt stag, sold
for $4560 (est. $1500/2500), about half the $8400 paid
for it at Sotheby’s in January 2003 (est. $5000/7000).
Stoneware jugs with reasonable estimates in the $500/1000
and $1500/2500 range brought mid-estimate prices.
Two rare octagonal redware plates, each about 6" diameter,
sold for $9000 and $10,800 (each est. $8000/12,000). Two slip-
decorated 8" round plates that Pook & Pook had sold at the Paul
and Rita Flack sale in October 2012 for $17,775 and $11,258 sold
this time for $14,400 and $6000. Cup plate-size redware, 4" and
4
⅜
" diameter, sold over estimates for $1680 (est. $500/1000) for
one with slip stripes and $1440 (est. $500/1000) for one with dots,
both to the same phone bidder.
A small Pennsylvania octagonal toleware tray with vibrant
orange and foliate decoration on a black background, 8¾" long,
sold for $2706 (est. $1200/1600). At the Richard and Joane Smith
collection sale at Pook & Pook in October 2010, it had sold for
$3081. Tole in less pristine condition brought a lot less. For
example, three tole trays sold as one lot for $210 (est. $300/500).
A bone shaker bicycle made by “Wood Bros. / 596 / Broadway
N.Y.” was labeled twice by its maker and documented in a
Harper’s
Weekly
advertisement. It sold to Pennsylvania collector Charles
Wilson on the phone for $10,200 (est. $10,000/14,000). “It was
made in 1869 and is the first bicycle designed with the pedals
attached to the front wheel. By 1870 these wooden bone shakers
were history,” said Wilson when he came to pick up his purchase.
“After the invention of the wire wheel, the size of the wheel could
be larger, and the highwheelers replaced these wooden bicycles.
This one is so original I had to have it. There is nothing to restore
except the string that was attached to the brake. The fact that it has
had only two owners in eighty years who didn’t touch it really got
to me.”
For more information, contact Pook & Pook at (610) 269-4040
or see the website
(www.pookandpook.com).
From the collection of Dianne Goldman, this circa 1930
pieced Sawtooth Diamond in Square quilt, signed by
maker Fannie B. Widders, 81" x 80", sold for $1080 (est.
$800/1200). A Sunshine and Shadow Amish quilt (not
shown) from the same collection and initialed by maker
Samilla King sold for $1200 (est. $1000/1500) in a quilt
market that was described as “saturated.” A lot of quilts
have been offered at auctions recently.
A circa 1780 Pennsylvania low-back Windsor
chair, retaining an old Spanish brown surface
over several earlier layers, sold for $2640 (est.
$1000/2000) to dealer Greg Kramer in the
salesroom. A circa 1790 New England sack-
back Windsor chair (not shown), retaining an
old green surface with gilt highlights, estimated
at $6000/9000, failed to sell. A circa 1790
Pennsylvania sack-back Windsor with an old
red surface with gold pinstriping and knuckle
arm terminals sold online for $5280 (est.
$3000/5000).
This late 18th-century Pennsylvania two-part
corner cupboard with its original rattail hinges,
89½" x 45", sold for $5904 (est. $2000/4000).
A 19th-century
Charlestown,
Massachusetts,
9
⅜
" high
stoneware crock,
impressed
“Edmands &
Co.” and with
cobalt stag
decoration, sold
for $4560 (est.
$1500/2500).
At Sotheby’s on
January 19, 2003,
it had sold for
$8400.
This early 19th-century southeastern
Pennsylvania ink and watercolor fraktur
drawing, 4
⅜
" x 2
⅝
", sold to the trade on
the phone for $14,400 (est. $2000/4000). A
similar one, perhaps by another hand and
inspired by the same printed source, from
the collection of Ralph Esmerian sold
at Sotheby’s Esmerian sale in January
2014 for $46,875 (est. $20,000/30,000).
Esmerian had bought it for $46,875 at
the Flack sale that Christie’s ran on site
in Holicong, Pennsylvania, on September
6, 1997. The owl that sold at Pook’s needs
cleaning. The owl, a symbol of wisdom
and appropriately perched on a pile of
books, could have been a reward of merit
given by a schoolmaster.
This 28" x 72¼" x 27" Shaker pine and
cherry worktable, circa 1840, with a large
overhanging top and a single drawer
sold for $4800. Northeast Auctions sold
this table on October 7, 2000, from
the collection of Jim and Nola
Stokes of Canterbury, New
Hampshire, with a label from
the Berkshire Museum, for
$8050.
There was a lot of competition for this
New Jersey or New York carved
cherry spoon rack, late 18th
century, with a chip-
carved pinwheel and
sawtooth decoration. The
24" x 8¾" rack sold in the
salesroom to dealer Sam
Forsythe of Columbus,
Ohio, for $16,800 (est.
$4000/8000).
This octagonal redware plate from the 19th century with yellow
slip dot-in-square decoration and green splashes is only 6
⅛
"
across. Its provenance is Thomas
and Nancy Tafur of
Roxbury, Connecticut;
David Schorsch
of Woodbury,
Connecticut; and
Bob Anderson
of Upper
Black Eddy,
Pennsylvania.
It sold on the
phone for
$9000 (est.
$8000/12,000).