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Maine Antique Digest, December 2016 15-B
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AUCTION -
15-B
Fontaine’s Auction Gallery, Pittsfield, Massachusetts
Tiffany Beatitudes Sell for $356,950
by Susan Emerson Nutter
Photos courtesy Fontaine’s Auction Gallery
C
leaning out the basement takes on a
whole new meaning when you are
John Fontaine, auctioneer and CEO
of Fontaine’s Auction Gallery.
“I was on a call at a home outside of
Brooklyn and found myself in the basement
trying to figure out just what I was looking
at. They were that dirty,” Fontaine related
about this discovery.
What was covered in dirt would become
the top lot of the Fontaine’s Auction
Gallery September 10 auction. The winning
price of $356,950 (includes buyer’s
premium) secured the basement find of
eight Tiffany Studios windows of the eight
Beatitudes of Jesus. They were estimated at
$400,00/600,000.
“We had a strong feeling they were
Tiffany, and when we got them to the gallery
and began cleaning the windows, that feeling
grew,” Fontaine said, “but it was the last
window we cleaned that sealed it. That was
the window that was signed.”
The layered glass windows, executed by
the Tiffany Studios of New York in 1913,
include drapery, enamel decoration,
and cameo-cut glass. Every window
includes an angel with a blue banner on
which scripture appears. Each depicts
one of the eight Beatitudes of Jesus
(Matthew 5:3-10). Presented in their
original bronze frames with both hinges
and latches, the windows with frames
measure 48" x 23¾" x 1" each.
Many of the lots sold this day had a story
to tell. Fontaine related, “I received a call
from a professor who lived in Williamstown
and was retiring and moving to Pennsylvania.
He wanted to know if any of his things were
worth selling at auction, and while I did not
see much, as I was leaving his home, there on
the wall in the front hallway was this display
of Indian Head cents. The consignor had
purchased the collection in 1962 for $3650,
and I told him I thought the collection would
do well at auction.”
It did. Estimated at $10,000/
15,000, the set soared to $57,475.
The uncirculated Flying Eagle
and Indian Head cent collection
consisted of 61 coins from 1857
through 1909-S (without the overdate)
and included copper-nickel and bronze
coins with each of their variations.
“The consignor was away during the
auction and didn’t call until a month after
the sale to see how things went. To say
he was very pleased would be an
understatement,” Fontaine noted
with a smile.
Another lot that made Fon-
taine smile was a pair of carved
marble sphinxes. “There is an old
lighting store in Great Barrington,
Massachusetts, and this pair of
sphinxes were out in front of the
store for years,” Fontaine said.
“They seemed out of place to me,
and I always thought they would do
well at auction. Then a few months
ago I get a phone call from a man who
began explaining to me he had two marble
sphinxes his father had bought from an
estate years ago that he now wanted to sell.
It suddenly hit me, and I asked him,
‘Are these sphinxes currently in front
of a lighting store in Great Bar-
rington?’ Yep, the very same!”
What was covered in dirt
would become the top lot.
With its 4½" double plate glass
dial (the front plate having reverse-
painted black Roman hour numerals
and the rear plate sporting a fixed
gilt arrow pointer), this Robert
Houdin mystery clock was
even more desirable because
of the “Robert Houdin Paris”
signature on its French brass
movement. This clock sold for
$20,570 (est. $10,000/15,000).
Having an 18" reverse-
painted shade featuring
red and orange poppies
with a singular butterfly,
this Handel table lamp
sold for $21,780 (est.
$30,000/50,000). Birds’
heads scroll down the
original tripod base of this
lamp, which is 24"
high overall.
Made of carved
mahogany and
featuring two carved
storks, this three-
section-top pedestal
was bid to $7865 (est.
$3500/5000). It measures
38½" x 37" x 16".
Selling for $9680 (est. $8000/12,000) was this French
industrial foundry man mantel clock, which features
a bronze case on a black marble base. To the left is a
furnace and to the right a steam hammer and a figural
foundry worker shaping a metal rod. The clock’s round
French brass eight-day spring-driven movement is signed
“Vincenti & Cie.”
This French industrial swinger hot air balloon mystery
clock sold for $14,520 (est. $15,000/25,000). Fontaine’s
catalog explains how this clock works: “balloon is a
mystery swinger with 7" diameter ball top having
applied porcelain numbers on the dial, brass eight-day
spring-driven time only movement contained within the
ball; the lower simulated wicker basket has a figure of a
man retrieving the anchor and acting as a pendulum bob,
has a long steel rod running up to the basket and resting
on an ‘X’ suspension, the balloon is wrapped with rope
twist wire tying the ball and the basket together. The clock
swings on a post pointing forward from a long three-tone brass
column on an onyx base.”
This basement find of eight Tiffany
Studios windows depicting the eight
Beatitudes of Jesus sold for $356,950.
The Beatitudes as presented here are
“Bld [Blessed] Are the Poor in Spirit
for Theirs Is the Kingdom of Heaven”;
“Blessed Are They That Mourn for They
Shall Be Comforted”; “Ble’d [Blessed]
Are the Meek for They Shall Inherit the
Earth”; “Bl’d [Blessed] Are They Who
Hunger and Thirst After Righteousness”;
“Blessed Are the Merciful for They
Shall See God”; “Bl’d [Blessed] Are the
Pure in Heart for They Shall See God”;
“Ble’d [Blessed] Are the Peacemakers for
They Sh’ll [Shall] Be Call’d [Called] the
Children of God”; and “Bl’d [Blessed]
Are The [They] Which Are Persecuted
for Righteousness Sake for Theirs Is the
Kingdom of Heaven.” One window was
signed in cameo “Tiffany Studios, New
York” and one window frame was signed
“Tiffany Furnaces.”