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Folk Art Drives a Record-Breaking Weekend at Skinner
Bolton, MA - Skinner’s two-day auction of American furniture and decorative
arts on February 24 and 25 featured extraordinary folk art from three collections,
and impressive offerings from other sources. Overall, the auction grossed $4,029,780,
a record for the auction house.
The folk art collection of Brenda and Ken Fritz opened the sale with a small
but select group of objects. Leading the highlights was a molded copper polo
player weather vane that brought a resounding $189,500, the fourth highest ever
paid for a vane at auction. Also selling high was a rooster vane attributed
to Rochester Iron Works that brought $31,050. The collection was heavily sculptural
and offered objects interesting for both their tactile and three-dimensional
appeal. A carved and painted wooden figural whirligig of a dandy sold for $18,400,
and a lumbering cement bear garden ornament brought $17,250. Other examples
included an exterior over-door pediment centered by a carved owl flanked by
oak leaves and acorns that realized $18,400, a carved and polychrome painted
figure of a lady that drew a bid of $17,250, and a painted yellow pine carving
of George Washington that reached $13,800. A polychrome carved wooden figure
of an Indian tobacco princess sold for $11,500, and a carved and polychrome
wooden full form figure of a haberdashery mannequin for $10,350. An early 19th
century New England vinegar painted pine paneled wall cupboard garnered $12,650.
Weavings in the collection included a late 19th century hooked rug
from Duchess County, New York that sold above expectations for $18,400. An embroidered
wool coverlet by Rebecca C. Hayward of Winchendon, Massachusetts, c. 1849, designed
in a tile pattern of floral devices worked in silk and chenille threads and
wool yarns, was a masterpiece in excellent condition and sold for $17,250. Other
weavings included an American flag blanket that sold for $12,650, and a New
England pictorial hooked rug that reached $10,350.
Following the Fritz Collection, the auction offered the folk art collection
of Milton Simpson, which featured an unusually large selection of cast-iron
windmill weights, led by a "no-eye" rooster that sold for $5,750, a "Mogul"
rooster windmill weight that went for $5,175 and a rare "squirrel" windmill
weight that brought $3,737.50. Other objects included a 19th century
carved pine full-form artist’ mannequin that sold for $9,200, a late 19th/early
20th century Odd Fellows polychrome carved wood ceremonial staff
that sold above estimate for $2,300, and a carved white alabaster rabbit that
sold high for $2,185. Seven carved wood and tin scratch-built boat models of
warships, Belfast, New York, c. 1938, sold for $2,530, and an interesting lot
of forty-nine 19th/20th century hand forms composed of
various media including cast-iron, ceramic, carved wood, and composition, drew
interest selling for $1,725.
The afternoon closed with an offering of American furniture and decorative
arts from various owners. Dominating selections was a Chippendale mahogany carved
high chest of drawers, associated with John Goddard and Job Townsend, Newport,
Rhode Island, 1760-80, that sold on the telephone for a resounding $365,500.
Also surpassing expectations was another Rhode Island piece, a Queen Anne mahogany
block and shell carved tall case clock, with dial engraved "Caleb Wheaton Providence,"
1785-1810, that brought $266,500
The auction also featured a group of furniture descended in the family of Kirk
Boott (1790-1830), a Boston merchant: a Neoclassical Boston mahogany veneer
corner sideboard sold for $55,200, a Federal mahogany inlaid chamber chest,
attributed to the Seymour Workshop, Boston, sold for $42,550, and a Federal
Boston area mahogany veneer bow-front chest of drawers sold for $24,150. Other
furniture included a Boston Federal mahogany and bird’s-eye maple veneer basin
stand that realized $36,800, a Boston Federal carved mahogany and mahogany veneer
sideboard that went for $25,300, a painted cherry glazed paneled step-back cupboard
that realized $18,400, and a Boston Federal mahogany and mahogany veneer tambour
desk attributed to the Seymour Workshop that reached $18,400. A late 18th
century Chippendale birch tall case clock, with dial signed "L. Bailey N Yarmouth,"
brought $17,250, and an 18th century painted banister-back side chair
from Massachusetts or the Hudson River Valley sold for $14,950.
Additional highlights included a painting by Joseph Whiting Stock, "Portrait
of William James Coffin in a Blue Dress with a Small White Dog," descended in
the family of the great grand-nephew of the sitter, and sold for $42,550. A
molded copper pig weather vane sold for $32,200, a mid-19th century
carved and painted full-bodied wood fish trade sign sold high at $26,450, and
a 19th century Chinese Export School ship portrait, "The American
Barque ‘Abby Bacon’ in Chinese Waters" surpassed expectations at $17,250. A
rosewood grained and painted wall shelf, and a miniature of a girl in blue signed
"Ellsworth Painter," sold for $11,500 each.
The February 25 auction was dedicated solely to the folk art collection of
Peter Brams. Adventuresome, with a sense of humor, whimsy, and poignancy, this
collection was highly personal and notable for its diversity, its depth and
the sheer number of objects, that included sculptural forms, gameboards, hooked
rugs, decoys, canes, weather vanes, and other forms.
Bidders bid aggressively for many of the lots, including a Massachusetts painted
folding Parcheesi gameboard, c. 1870, with American flag and spade, heart, diamond,
and club motifs, that tied the auction record for a gameboard at $46,000. Gameboards
also included a mid-19th century painted double-sided gameboard,
the obverse with checkerboard and the reverse with a snake-motif game reached
$36,800; and a 19th century New Hampshire double-sided painted gameboard
(Parcheesi on one side, checkers on the other) brought $21,850.
When he began collecting folk art, Brams had concentrated on sculptural forms,
and many of his choices in this area fared extremely well. A polychrome "C.
Marr 1827" two-sided tavern sign garnered $19,500, an early 19th
century carved polychrome sun face $16,100, a stoneware grotesque face jug $14,950,
and a late 18th century cast-iron sun face gate weight $10,925. A
carved walnut Lady Liberty figure attributed to Edgar Alexander McKillop sold
for $29,900, a polychrome carved portrait bust of a young man went for $17,250,
a 19th century carved and articulated African/American doll reached
$16,100, and a pair of carved pine figures of a man and woman realized $12,650.
An engraved and carved whale’s tooth pie crimper in the form of a woman in an
Empire gown sold for $8,625. More whimsical examples included a carved branch
sculpture of a leaping lady’s legs by John Wacher that sold for $24,150, and
a birch tree branch leg that brought $23,000. Whirligigs featured a pine and
tin policeman and a pine and copper band figure that sold for $11,500 and $10,925
respectively.
Furniture from the collection was particularly strong. A pair of New England
painted Windsor sack-back chairsreached $72,900, a late 18th century
New England blue-painted pine paneled cupboard went for $24,150, and a mid-19th
century olive-yellow painted pine drop-leaf harvest table sold for $19,550.
Other highlights included a carved and turned wood figural stand and a paint-decorated
pine and poplar chest that sold for $17,250 each, and a Federal painted candlestand,
the exaggerated cabriole legs terminating in human feet, that sold for $10,925.
Additional highlights included a New England yarn sewn wool rug with undulating
leafy vines and sprays of flowers that sold for a record-breaking $63,000. An
early 19th century polychrome carved pine doll’s head with original
paint realized $34,500, and a 19th century miniature watercolor on
ivory portrait of a small girl with a basket reached $20,700.
Skinner’s next auction of American furniture and decorative arts will be held
in Bolton on Sunday, June 10. For more information, call the Americana department
at 978.779.6241.
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