Maine Antique Digest, April 2017

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Maine Antique Digest, April 2017 25-A
- AUCTION -
35-D
(1825-1907) got the one sold this year, and
it descended to his only child, Edith Hope
Goddard (1868-1970). Edith married Charles
Oliver Iselin (1854-1932), and they took the
table with them to Upper Brookville, New
York. At her death, she bequeathed the table to
her first cousin once removed Robert H. Ives
Goddard (1909-2003), who already owned the
other Nicholas Brown table. That $8,416,000
table descended to Thomas and Hope Brown
Ives; they left the house and contents to their
son Moses Brown Ives (1794-1857), a Harvard
graduate and merchant at Brown and Ives,
and his wife, Anne Allen Dorr (1810-1884).
Moses and Anne’s daughter, Hope Brown Ives
(1839-1909), inherited the Thomas Poynton
Ives house and the table at their death. Hope
married Henry Grinnell Russell, and they lived
in the house without issue until his death circa
1905 and her death in 1909. The house and
contents then descended to her cousin Robert
H. Ives Goddard, who took up residence in the
house about 1910-11. The two tables, which
had been together for three generations before
they were separated, were reunited in 1970
on the bequest of Edith Hope Goddard Iselin.
They were in the same family for 35 years
before the first table was sold in 2005, and the
second table was sold in 2017.
There was much discussion about exactly
when this second table was made. The
cognoscenti—curators, conservators, and
Gronning—believe it was made in the 18th
century as a mate to the Goddard table by a
first-rate craftsman, probably in Providence
where Nicholas Brown lived. The top is carved
out of the solid, no easy feat, and the maker was
aware of Goddard’s shop practices. Then the
next generation added a drawer in the Federal
period. The buyer had little competition, and
this sculptural icon in the history of American
furniture was made more affordable by the
addition of a drawer.
Other documented furniture brought a
premium. A diminutive mahogany chest of
drawers with an old surface, signed by Walter
Frothingham, Charlestown, Massachusetts, and
Joseph Hallowell, circa 1760, sold for $187,500
(est. $150,000/250,000). The underside of the
long drawer bears the chalk inscription “Walter
Frothingham / Charlestown,” and on the inner
side of the backboards a chalk inscription reads
“Joseph Hallowell.” It appears to retain its
original cast brass hardware. The Frothingham
signature appears quite similar to that of
Benjamin Frothingham Jr. that appears on
a high chest in the collection of Winterthur.
Given the location of Hallowell’s signature
on the interior of the backboards, the chest of
drawers could have been inscribed only when
it was being constructed. This remarkable chest
stands as the sole surviving object identifying
Walter Frothingham and Joseph Hallowell as
likely apprentices in the workshop of master
cabinetmaker Benjamin Frothingham Jr. They
buyer was dealer Roberto Freitas of Stonington,
Connecticut, bidding for a client.
Furniture in pristine condition was
embraced. A Queen Anne veneered walnut
high chest of drawers, Ipswich, Massachusetts,
circa 1755, that appears to retain its original
finials, oversize cast brass hardware, and good
color sold for $75,000 (est. $40,000/60,000) to
a St. Louis collector in the salesroom. Much
admired at the previews, it was also shown
during American paintings week, and some
thought it might bring more.
There was something for every taste in
this sale. A rare William and Mary gumwood
kast with mahogany veneer that belonged
to Marvin Schwartz sold for $15,000 (est.
$15,000/30,000). Schwartz was the first
antiques columnist for the New York Times,
and he also worked at the Brooklyn Museum
and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for years.
A fine Hayes family Boston games table
with an old surface sold for $43,740 (est.
$25,000/50,000). A serpentine mahogany chest
of drawers attributed to Benjamin Frothingham
sold for $50,000 (est. $40,000/60,000). A
Goddard-Townsend school tea table brought
$27,500 (est. $20,000/30,000). A pair of
Philadelphia walnut side chairs with four shells
and strapwork splats sold for $10,000 (est.
$2500/3500) to West Chester, Pennsylvania,
dealer Skip Chalfant. They were one of three
pairs of Philadelphia side chairs he bought
during the week. Apaint-decorated two-drawer
blanket chest with wild graining, circa 1810,
sold for $11,250 (est. $3000/5000), showing
that not all country furniture brings less in New
York City than in the country.
There were some high prices and some
bargains along with a new energy in the
Americana market. A lot was offered at one
time. Some said it was too much, but there
were plenty of buyers. Some prefer to come to
New York City just once a year. Some preview
and return home to bid, and some buyers never
preview in person. They pore over the online
catalogs, enlarge the images, read the condition
reports, and bid online. Others decide what they
will spend and leave a bid with the auctioneer
and often get what they want for less than their
bid.
There were some major disappointments.
The desk-and-bookcase possibly by George
Bright, Boston, Massachusetts, 1765-85, that
descended in the Lee family of Boston, with
hairy-paw feet and its original hardware,
lacking trailing garlands from its rosettes,
was estimated at $200,000/300,000 and was
passed. It had sold for $59,700 at the sale of
the Eddy Nicholson collection at Christie’s
in January 1995. A Salem desk-and-bookcase
with a $200,000/400,000 estimate also failed to
sell. A large and imposing pair of Loockerman
family mahogany drop-leaf dining tables
estimated at $200,000/300,000 found no buyer.
The pair had sold for $583,000 at
Sotheby’s in February 1985 and for
$310,500 at Christie’s in October
1996. The market at the top is thin.
For more information, call Sothe-
by’s Americana department at (212)
606-7130 or check the website
).
Philadelphia needlework flower picture, circa 1800, of multicolored silk, in its
original black-painted shadow box frame, 18" x 21½", sold for $212,500 (est.
$60,000/80,000) to dealer Leigh Keno on the phone, underbid in the salesroom
by Amy Finkel on the phone with a client. It is related to another silkwork
picture by Hannah Deaves that sold for $120,000 to Leigh Keno at Sotheby’s in
January 2005. They have similar rabbits and flowers.
Henry Church (1836-1908), Bountiful Table, inscribed “H. Church
Blacksmith,” circa 1870, oil on paper set down on aluminum, 23" x 35½",
replaced frame, some inpainting and repaired tears, sold for $20,000 (est.
$25,000/50,000). Condition kept the price down.
Portraits by Rufus Hathaway (1770-1822) of Captain and Mrs. Pollycarpus
Edson, oils on canvas mounted on panels, 28" x 23¼", 1791, sold on the phone
for $200,000 (est. $100,000/150,000), underbid by collectors in the salesroom.
The captain’s portrait is signed and dated; his wife’s is inscribed “Aetatis
31.” According to the catalog, Hathaway painted little after 1795, the year
he married the daughter of a prominent local merchant. Soon thereafter he
became a physician. Captain Pollycarpus Edson was named for the bishop
of Smyrna. In the portraits Edson rests his arm on his ledger book, and his
wife, Lucy Eaton, wears pearls and holds a hand-painted fan. They lived in
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, and had five children. Both paintings had been
trimmed; the captain’s portrait is smaller than the woman’s, half her fan is cut
away, but they are early well-painted likenesses. They had been for sale at Vose
Galleries in Boston for the last few years and were advertised on InCollect.
Sheldon Peck (1797-1868) painted
this 27" x 24" oil on wood panel,
Young Woman in Paneled Room,
around 1828-36 when he lived
in Jordan, New York. It sold for
$187,500 (est. $30,000/50,000)
to a New York collector in the
salesroom. At Northeast Auctions
in August 1996, it sold for $79,500.
Good paintings by Peck are rare;
it could be years before another
will come on the market.