Maine Antique Digest, April 2017

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10-D Maine Antique Digest, April 2017
- AUCTION -
10-D
A single plate from a set
decorated with the Society
of the Cincinnati emblem
brought $81,250.
The Potomack Company, Alexandria, Virginia
Society of the Cincinnati Plate Leads at Potomack
by Walter C. Newman
Photos courtesy The Potomack Company
The Potomack Company held its midwinter
catalog sale in three stages. The gallery
sale took place on January 28 at the firm’s
facilities in Alexandria, Virginia. On January 31,
an online-only sale was conducted. That sale
highlighted items from the estate of best-selling
author Tom Clancy (1947-2013). On February 1
a second, broad-scope online-only sale rounded
out the long weekend. In all, more than 1000 lots
crossed the block.
The gallery sale offered a wide variety of lots
from all categories and began with a run of Chinese
export porcelain. With but a few exceptions those
lots came from a single private collection, and each
carried with it an Elinor Gordon provenance. The
high lot of the weekend sales came from among
that group. A single plate from a set decorated
with the Society of the Cincinnati emblem brought
$81,250 (includes buyer’s premium), slightly over
its high estimate. That plate is detailed in the
accompanying photos.
Also among the porcelain with an Elinor
Gordon provenance was an oval serving platter
with a simple blue and gilt-trimmed rim and a
central Chadwick family coat of arms. The 11⅜ "
wide platter displays what appears to be a period
inscription in English on the reverse, “Canton /
in China / 24th Jany. 1791.” The platter sold for
$2500 (est. $1500/2500).
Once again, the furniture category began to creep
back into the picture. There were relatively few
pieces, but they held their own. A Pennsylvania
Chippendale carved walnut tall chest of drawers
made $4062.50, nearly double its high estimate.
An American cherry two-piece corner cupboard
with a 12-pane upper door brought $2000
against an estimate of $1000/1500; and a circa
1800 Federal bowfront sideboard, possibly from
Baltimore, with crossbanded top and side edges
and ebony inlay made a respectable $4687.50,
midway within estimate.
The Potomack sale offered a number of lots from
the estate of James Conway Rees IV (1952-2014).
Rees served as president and chief executive
officer of George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
During his tenure, Rees oversaw fundraising
totaling more than $250 million earmarked for
numerous projects to further the preservation
of Washington’s estate as well as to promote
education and research regarding the nation’s first
president.
This sale included a large number of lots
of Native American artifacts. The Potomack
Company enlisted the assistance and expertise of
Linda Dyer, a well-known appraiser and Antiques
Roadshow regular, to evaluate and catalog those
articles. The lots ranged from the expected array
of moccasins and baskets to more unusual items
such as a 19th-century bead-decorated hairbrush,
fashioned from a porcupine tail, and a painted
parfleche box. The brush sold for $687.50 (est.
$300/400), and the storage container brought
$812.50 (est. $300/400).
The Tom Clancy estate material sold well, but
very little of it evoked memories of the action-
packed post-Cold War and political intrigue of
the author’s novels. The high lots from among
the Clancy lots were two large dining tables, each
constructed from a single slab of petrified wood
resting on a heavy iron base. One brought $8750
and the other $10,625. Each had been estimated at
$800/1200.
For additional information, contact The
Potomack Company at (703) 684-4550 or visit
). For additional
information related to the Society of the Cincinnati
porcelain, see ).
The high lot of the Potomack sales was this Chinese export Society of
the Cincinnati plate from the late 18th century. The society was formed
in 1783 by officers of the Continental Army along with their French
counterparts and is the nation’s oldest patriotic organization. Among its
goals is the perpetuation of the ideals, courage, and character of those
who had risked so much in the struggle for independence. There are
several Society of the Cincinnati porcelain patterns, but examples of this
one, the so-called Washington service, are the most prized. According
to society publications, only one 302-piece service was created in this
pattern, which was purchased in 1786 by George Washington, the
society’s first general president. This 9⅝" diameter plate has the wide
deep blue underglaze band in the Fitzhugh pattern, and the center is
decorated with the winged and trumpet-wielding personification of
Fame. From her left hand, she suspends the bald eagle badge of the
society. With an Elinor Gordon provenance, this plate sold to a telephone
bidder for $81,250 (est. $60,000/80,000).
Shown here is one of two 9½" x 14¾" Chinese underglaze blue
and white tiles, sold as a single lot. The tiles are from the late
19th-century period of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). This tile is
decorated with pairs of cranes and mandarin ducks amid stands of
flowering lotus. Each framed tile has a velvet mat. The two tiles sold
to an Internet buyer for $3750 (est. $400/600).
This striking landscape is by Paul Weber
(German/American, 1823-1916). The 19"
x 27" oil on canvas laid on board probably
depicts the Hudson River. With a sailboat
and dramatic sky, this signed and dated
1856 landscape sold to a telephone bidder
for $9375 (est. $2000/3000).
This Native American beaded cloth hood
dates from the third quarter of the 19th
century and is from the James Bay Cree
Nation of northern Manitoba, Canada. The
headpiece was folded and sewn on two sides
to approximately 20" x 10". The inside of
the hood is striped silk fabric; the outside
is wool decorated with glass beads sewn in
various floral patterns. There is evidence of
beaded fringe. The tassel is heavy thread.
The hood sold to a telephone bidder for
$10,625 (est. $6000/9000).
This assembled group of tin sconces is
American. Included is a pair of diamond-
shape single-socket examples with a
punched heart-shape design on the back
panel; an oval three-arm sconce; and
a single-socket piece with an arched
back panel and a large drip base. The
sconces are 16", 16", and 14" in height
respectively. The group brought $687.50
(est. $150/250).