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AMERICAN LATE 17TH C. GREEN PAINTED PINE CHILD'S ROCKER, WITH EARLY WOODEN JOINTED DOLL, the rocker is 31" x 16" x 19", the doll is 14" tall. Well known dealer, Florene Maine, is quoted in the NY Times as saying this early rocking chair is "practically the most important piece in the house." Wonderful age and use patina. 

Provenance: Purchased directly from the Brooklyn Children's Museum in 1964.

Literature: Published NY Times, Oct. 29, 1966

Sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $1,000-1,500

Price Realized: $2,760


EXTREMELY RARE 18TH C. RED PAINTED PINE QUEEN ANNE CHILD SIZE HIGH CHEST, Delaware Valley Region, circa 1750-1770, two part, the top section with flat molded cornice, two over three molded edge drawers with tiny brass knobs, the lower part having two drawers and a wonderfully scalloped skirt. Raised on delicately carved cabriole legs resting on squared feet. In the original red paint oxidized to brown, untouched, as found. 38" high, 19.5" x 13.5", (21" x 13.25" at knees). Five edge chips to drawers and chip to lower rear back of case, missing one glue block at back. 

Provenance: Ex. Edward Osbourne Wise collection, through mother of Jack Lamb, Kutztown, Pa.

Sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $30,000-40,000

Price Realized: $39,600


PORTRAIT OF PHINEAS FIELD, PAINTED BY ERASTUS SALISBURY FIELD, HIS BROTHER. Done 1831", oil on canvas, inscribed verso, but covered by relining. He is depicted writing in a book. Labels verso from Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, Mass. for 1940 exhibition, catalog no 8. Lent by Mrs. Douglas M. Bowen. In gold and black frame, OS: 32" x 26.5", SS: 28.5" x 23", cleaned and relined. 

Literature: Pictured Erastus Salisbury Field, 1805-1900, by Mary Black, 1984, pg. 63. Mary Black, Curator Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Art Center, Williamsburg 1961-1964; Director Museum of American Folk Art 1964-1969; Curator NYHS 1969-1982. Black wrote extensively about this painting; "A portrait of the artist's younger brother, Phineas, is representative of Field's work in this period…1830, the year that Phineas came of age, and in one of his best portrayals, the artist marked the event with a fine, sure painting (pl. 3). The odd proportions are present, and so is the red chair. Phineas has a broken nose; his full lipped mouth is set in a pout; his coarse black hair is painted almost as a design in black folds. Fields use of both bright and somber colors and his sense of design result in a work that is surprisingly modern." (pg. 15). 

Exhibited: Museum of Fine Arts, Springfield, MA 

National Museum of American Art and National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC 

Museum of American Folk Art, NY

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY 

Marion Koogler McNay Art Institute, San Antonio, TX

Sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $10,000-15,000

Price Realized: $13,200


HISTORIC MASSACHUSETTS SUBJECT - PORTRAIT OF NANCY MANN (1800-1876), OF WALPOLE AND MEDWAY, MASSACHUSETTS OIL ON CANVAS, unsigned, circa 1830. The wealthy sitter, with curled russet hair, is dressed in black with gold jewelry, in an ornate lace bonnet and collar having interlaced blue silk ribbon. She is seated in a balloon back chair, a church steeple visible through the window in background. Housed in a period black molded cove frame with gilt liner, OS: 33.5" x 27.75", SS: 27.5" x 21.75", cleaned and relined. Old note verso identifying her as Nancy Mann, daughter of Timothy Mann, she was a Grand-daughter of Col. Timothy Mann, one of the original Minutemen and Revolutionary War hero. Born in 1800 to Timothy Mann (II) and Rachel Ware. Genealogical materials included.

Sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $6,000-8,000

Price Realized: $12,000


TOBACCONIST FIGURE OF AN AMERICAN INDIAN BY WILLIAM RUSH (1756-1833), possibly the earliest surviving example of a Native American as a tobacco advertisement, displayed at an early 19th c. shop on Third Street above Walnut Street in Philadelphia. Base painted with the number "458" - possibly the address of the tobacco shop. This figure was probably carved between 1790 -1810. By 1810 Rush became very involved in civic affairs, he was elected as first president of the Pennsylvania Society of Arts, and was becoming more involved in architectural carving. 42" x 20" x 15". Great untouched patina. Historical repairs.

Provenance: Lyman Pendergast, 1940, from a Pennsylvania estate.

Literature: Henri Marceau, "William Rush, 1756-1833, The First Native American Sculptor", Pennsylvania Museum of Art, 1937. This figure is catalog entry #1. "Indian, c. 1790 Perhaps a tobacconist's sign.

Frederick Fried, "Artists in Wood, American Carvers of Cigar-Store Indians, Show Figures and Circus Wagons" by, Bramhall House, New York, 1970. Illustrated and described on p. 18. The book quotes an excerpt of an article found in papers of great-grandson William Rush Dunton (1868-1966) that states "A figure in front of the cigar store on Third Street above Walnut is by Rush. If you look it up bear in mind it is not the standing figure at street level, but the somewhat grotesque little Indian in an iron frame over the door." ("An Appreciation - by a Ship Carver", Philadelphia Evening Telegraph, undated).

A.W. Pendergast & W. Porter Ware, "Cigar Store Figures in American Folk Art", Lightner Publishing, Chicago, 1953, P. XIV

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, "William Rush: American Sculptor", Philadelphia, 1982, catalog p. 99, no. 7, fig. 95.

Sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $75,000-100,000

Price Realized: $66,000


AMERICAN MINSTREL FIGURE OF "JIM CROW" OR "DADDY RICE" THE "DANCING NEGRO" THEATRICAL CHARACTER, sometimes appearing outside theatres or cigar shops (which were often in the same building), carved and polychromed wood, circa 1870, on custom plinth, retaining the original chain at back for attachment to building. He is depicted in typical stance, left hand on waistcoat pocket, right hand across his hat brim in preparation to bow. Thomas Dartmouth Rice (May 20, 1808 - September 19, 1860), known professionally as Daddy Rice, was a white American performer and playwright who performed blackface and used African-American vernacular speech, song, and dance to become one of the most popular minstrel show entertainers of his time. He is considered the "father of American minstrelsy". His act drew on aspects of African American culture and popularized them with a national, and later international, audience, Rice's "Jim Crow" persona was an ethnic depiction in accordance with contemporary ideas of African-Americans and their culture. The character was based on a folk trickster named Jim Crow that was long popular among black slaves. Rice also adapted and popularized a traditional slave song called "Jump Jim Crow". The character dressed in rags, battered hat and torn shoes. Rice blackened his face and hands and impersonated a very nimble and irreverently witty African American field hand who sang, "Turn about and wheel about, and do just so. And every time I turn about I Jump Jim Crow." Rice's greatest prominence came in the 1830s, before the rise of full-blown blackface minstrel shows. In the latter half of the 19th century a wooden statue of Rice in his 'Jim Crow' character stood in various New York locations, including outside the Chatham Garden Theatre. Prior to at least 1871 it had stood on Broadway outside 'a well-known resort of actors and showmen'. According to an article in the New York Times it had apparently been carved by Rice himself in 1833, although a different account in the same paper says it had been carved by a celebrated figurehead carver called Weeden, and yet another article attributes it to Rice's former employer 'Charley' Dodge. 52" x 12" x 12" (70" overall). Very good condition.

Provenance: Elie & Viola Nadelman Collection, Museum of Folk and Peasant Arts, Riverdale, NY

New York Historical Society, New York City

Steve Miller, NY, 1990

George & Hope Wick Collection, San Diego, CA

Literature: Robert Bishop, "American Folk Sculpture", NY, 1984. fig. 634

Jean Lipman, "Folk Art in Wood, Metal & Stone", NY, 1948, fig. 70

Christine I. Oaklander, "Elie and Viola Nadelman, Pioneers in Folk Art Collecting", Folk Art Magazine, Fall 1992, pp. 55. note 31.

W. Pendergast and W. Porter Ware, "Cigar Store Figures", Chicago, 1953, P. 45

Index of American Design, "Figure of a Black Man", Mina Lowry Watercolor, ca. 1936. National Gallery of Art, Washington

Exhibited: Washington, DC, The Corcoran Gallery,  "The Black Image in American Art 1750-1930", January 13 - March 26, 1990

Brooklyn, NY, The Brooklyn Museum, April 2 - June 25, 1990

Sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $125,000-175,000

Price Realized: $162,000


EASTERN MASSACHUSETTS, PROBABLY BOTSON AREA, 1690-1710, CHEST IN OAK, with black lacquered trimmings, molded top, four molded panel drawers, the second largest with dagged molding, applied split turnings on stiles, original brasses and locks (top and bottom drawers), on molded base, raised by bun feet, simple panel sides. 41" H x 37.5" x 22". Minor wear to lower left corner.

Provenance: A resident of Amesbury, MA. Purchased at an auction conducted by Walter Nichols, Amesbury, MA, 7 June, 1957. This chest of drawers was Joseph K. Ott's first significant purchase of early American furniture. In his description of the chest in the 1967 list of his collection, he noted that Albert Sack had underbid the chest and that his father, Israel, said that he should have bid higher than the $1500 purchase price.

Sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $30,000-40,000

Price Realized: $18,000


EARLY 19TH C. AMERICAN CARVED ELM CAKE BOARDS, including: State Seal of New York, inscribed "Joseph Taylor", back branded by maker 'I. Beard', probably made for a baker by that name whose shop was at 43 Leonard St., NYC, found in the Registry of 1839-40, 10.25" x 10.5"; PLUS Full-Length Portrait of Jenny Lind, in floral frame, branded 'J. Conger' on the edge. Lind a world famous opera singer (1820-1877), known as the 'Swedish Nightingale'. 10.5" x 11", both in good condition.

Sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $1,500-2,500

Price Realized: $4,000


MAHOGANY ROSEWOOD AND BRASS INLAID LIQUOR CHEST, with brass lifts, circa 1800. Reputedly owned by Commodore William Bainbridge (1774-1833), famous for his victory over the HMS 'Java' during the War of 1812, while in command of the USS 'Constitution'. The fitted interior retains (8) large and (2) small handblown and gilt decorated square bottles, the large with star form stoppers, plus a shallow lozenge form glass tray (damaged). The inside of the lid has an etched mirror depicting an American eagle with "E Pluribus Unum" riband, edge brackets held missing stemware. 9.75" high, 12" x 9.5". Very good condition.

Provenance: Christie's, New York, January 28, 1995. The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eddy Nicholson, lot 1144. Given the estimated date of manufacture, this may well have been aboard the 'Constitution' with the Commodore during the battle.

Sold at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $10,000-15,000

Price Realized: $15,000


SHEET METAL BASE WITH DOUBLE TUBULAR STICK, ca. 1750-1800, having a thumb push-up unsigned and center of shaft bound with brass ring, 4.75"d, 12.375"h.

Condition Report: Surface patina from use.

Sold at Horst Auctions February 10, 2017.

Estimate: $50-$200

Price Realized: $1,350


MARTIN BRECHALL (LEHIGH CO., PA) ATTRIBUTED FRAKTUR, ca. 1804; featuring the birth and baptism record of Anna Groff - daughter of George and Elizabeth Groff of Whitehall Twp., Northampton Co., PA with two large compass medallions in upper corners and central heart with tulips, 12"x 17.25" framed.

Condition Report: Original paper possibly conserved by mounting to later backer paper with scroll accent; evidence of crease & possible tear prior to mounting located through right tulip.

Sold at Horst Auctions February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $500-$1,000

Price Realized: $2,250


SOFTWOOD DOME TOP RECTANGULAR CHEST IN POLYCHROME BLUE PAINT, ca. 1800-1820, with bold flower on sides and front and two birds with tulips and banner on lid having wire hinges and a partial lock, 25"x 13"x 11.75"

Condition Report: Missing original hardware handles; Partial decoration of lid is missing; Lid has some splits; Base has substantial bug damage toward hinge side.

Sold at Horst Auctions February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $300-$600

Price Realized: $2,100




WOOL AND COTTON WARP AND WOOL AND COTTON WEFT COVERLET By M. Schwartz (Manheim, PA), ca. 1844, 100"x 92"; 

Condition Report: Excellent

Sold at Horst Auctions February 11, 2017.

Estimate: $700-$900

Price Realized: $975


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