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 December, 2018 | 50 Items | February, 2019  |
| CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA WALNUT SPICE CHEST, ca. 1755, the molded top overhanging a door with line and berry inlay, enclosing an eleven-drawer interior, supported by turned bun feet, 19" h., 13.75" w. Pictured in Lee Ellen Griffith The Pennsylvania Spice Box, pgs. 112-113. Provenance: Joe Kindig, 1936; Titus Geesey. Condition: Overall very good condition. Age crack to rear edge of top. Hinges replaced. Lacking escutcheon. Sold at Pook and Pook January 11,2019. Estimate: $20,000-40,000 Price Realized: $67,100 | |
| | IMPORTANT READING, PENNSYLVANIA CHIPPENDALE CHERRY TALL CASE CLOCK, late 18th c., the broken arch bonnet with floral carved tympanum and columns, enclosing an eight-day works with a painted face, over a case with carved potted flowers on door and similar panel on base, 95.5" h. Provenance: Found in Catawissa, Pennsylvania; Lester Lory, Mt. Holly Springs, 1963; Titus Geesey. Condition: Feet replaced. Broken arch cut and reattached with no/minimal loss to height. Pook & Pook, Inc. does not guarantee clocks to be complete or in working condition. Sold at Pook and Pook January 11,2019. Estimate: $20,000-30,000 Price Realized: $24,400 |
| PENNSYLVANIA FOUR-GALLON STONEWARE CROCK, 19th c., impressed J.W. Cowden Harrisburg Pa, with large cobalt flower, 14.25" h. Provenance: The Estate of Kenneth & Elizabeth Johnson, York, Pennsylvania. Condition: Hairline from below one handle through decoration and over to other handle. Sold at Pook and Pook January 11,2019. Estimate: $400-700 Price Realized: $1,708 | |
| NEW ENGLAND PAINTED PINE WALL SHELF, ca. 1830, retaining its original sponge decoration, 7.25" h., 17.5" w. Provenance: The Estate of Kenneth & Elizabeth Johnson, York, Pennsylvania. Condition: Good with some wear and staining to flat surface. Sold at Pook and Pook January 11,2019. Estimate: $300-500 Price Realized: $1,098 | |
| NEW ENGLAND OR CANADIAN PAINTED PINE RAISED PANEL CUPBOARD, early 19th c., retaining an old scrubbed green surface, 66" h., 45" w. Provenance: The Estate of Kenneth & Elizabeth Johnson, York, Pennsylvania. Sold at Pook and Pook January 11,2019. Estimate: $1,000-1,500 Price Realized: $2,928 | |
| CONNECTICUT PILGRIM CENTURY JOINED OAK SUNFLOWER CHEST, ca. 1700, attributed to the shop of Peter Blin, Wethersfield, the lift lid above a case with floral carved panels, applied ebonized half columns and two drawers, 40" h., 45" w. A similar sunflower chest was sold at Pook & Pook, September 2018. Provenance: The Collection of Edie & Bruce Smart, Upperville, Virginia; Peter Eaton Antiques, 1985. Condition: Lid replaced. Some moldings likely replaced. Mildew to backboards. Sold at Pook and Pook January 11,2019. Estimate: $5,000-10,000 Price Realized: $24,400 | |
| EXCEPTIONAL NEW ENGLAND BANISTERBACK ARMCHAIR, ca. 1740, the pierced crest with carved florets, retaining an old black surface. Provenance: The Collection of Edie & Bruce Smart, Upperville, Virginia. Condition: Top half of crest broken and reattached. Old repaired break to bottom of one banister. Sold at Pook and Pook January 11,2019. Estimate: $2,000-3,000 Price Realized: $3,660 | |
| NEW ENGLAND PAINTED MAPLE TAVERN TABLE, ca. 1760, with a notched corner top above a boldly scalloped skirt, supported by delicate cabriole legs, terminating in pad feet, retaining an old red surface, 26.5" h., 29.25" w. Provenance: The Collection of Edie & Bruce Smart, Upperville, Virginia. Condition: Old age cracks to top. Pegs added to secure top. One leg broken off with entire capital/corner block replaced. Sold at Pook and Pook January 11,2019. Estimate: $3,000-4,000 Price Realized: $5,124 | |
| NEW ENGLAND PAINTED SPLAY LEG TAVERN TABLE, late 18th c., with an oval top, retaining an excellent old reddish brown surface, 26.5" h., 32.5" w. Provenance: The Collection of Edie & Bruce Smart, Upperville, Virginia. Condition: Top is a little warped. Overall good condition. Sold at Pook and Pook January 11,2019. Estimate: $2,000-4,000 Price Realized: $7,930 | |
| LANCASTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA PAINTED POPLAR SCHRANK, ca. 1780, with a molded cornice over raised panel doors, flanked by similar sides with carved florets in corners of panels, above a three drawer base, retaining a wonderful early 19th c. second paint with a swirled salmon decoration, with pale green moldings and surrounds, 79" h., 70.5" w. Provenance: Nancy & Gary Stass, New Canaan, Connecticut. Condition: Overall very good with expected wear. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $20,000-40,000 Price Realized: $20,740 | |
| RARE LARGE PENNSYLVANIA PAINTED PINE TRESTLE TABLE, ca. 1800, the base retaining its original red surface, 29" h., 108" w., 31.25" d. Provenance: Ronald Pook Antiques; A prominent Delaware collector. Condition: Good with expected wear. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $2,000-4,000 Price Realized: $6,710 | |
| PAINTED PINE CUPBOARD, 19th c., with an open top, retaining an old red surface, 74" h., 40" w. Condition: Four interior shelves, appear original to piece. Square nail construction. Mouse holes. Latch appears to have been moved. Overall good condition. Expected wear consistent with age and use. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $800-1,200 Price Realized: $4,636 | |
| LARGE PAINTED GRADUATED DEMILUNE TIERED DISPLAY CABINET, 19th c., retaining an old ivory and salmon surface, 78.75" h., 56.5" w. Condition: Approx. 31" d. at base. Flat back. 24 shelves. Sturdy. Paint appears stable. Good condition. No apparent damages or repairs. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $1,000-2,000 Price Realized: $4,636 | |
| IMPORTANT PHILADELPHIA CHIPPENDALE MAHOGANY EASY CHAIR, ca. 1755, with an arched crest, flaring wings, horizontal conical arm rests, compass seat, and acanthus carved front legs terminating in ball and claw feet and flaring rear legs with pronounced pad feet. This exuberant newly discovered example is similar in design to a chair at The Winterthur Museum that is pictured in Joseph Downs American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods, fg. 78. Provenance: Ruth Keator Fredericks, Colts Neck, New Jersey, ca. 1940 and thence by descent in the family of Bruce Fredericks. *Pook & Pook would also like to thank Walter Mullen for preparing the chair for photography and exhibition. Pook & Pook would also like to thank furniture historian Alan Miller for his full report on the chair: While in most respects, this is a typical Philadelphia compass seat easy chair with claw feet, acanthus knees, and double c-scroll arms, it also has elements that depart from standard Philadelphia practice, particularly its cabriole rear legs. Other Philadelphia easy chairs with cabriole and semi-cabriole rear legs are known but they are rare. The well-known Logan easy chair has cabriole rear slipper feet. Famous examples at Winterthur also pre-date this chair; one has trifid front and rear feet and the other has faceted pad, or octagonal feet. At least one other trifid foot easy chair is known. Two claw foot Philadelphia easy chairs have semi-cabriole rear legs, and an unpublished chair and these examples have modified pad feet. This chair is the only Philadelphia claw foot easy chair to have surfaced with fully cabriole rear legs. The chair maker used standard side and rear knee blocks and omitted the rear brackets under the side rails that typically serve to increase the tenon surface in the side rail to rear leg joints. These rear legs probably indicate that the chair maker—at least the one responsible for the rear legs—was a recent immigrant bringing his training and construction habits from England or Ireland. The front legs of this chair are not as unusual as the cabriole rear legs but are still a little out of the ordinary. They are cut from slightly heavier stock than is typical and thus are more pronouncedly curved and with larger than typical feet, a feature shared with the Willing/ Francis/ Fisher chair (Blue Book, 227) and a few other chairs. The carver of the knees, while not identifiable by name, is a relatively prolific Philadelphia carver of the 1750’s and early 1760’s. They were responsible for a good deal of case furniture carving including the high chest base (Blue Book, 153) and several related high chests and dressing tables, clock cases, and many chairs, including many of the famous shell-eared tassel-back chairs, including Downs 127—which seems to share this easy chair’s feet—and Sotheby’s Parker sale number 2149. The front knee blocks on the Pook and Pook chair are novel. The upholstery frame of this chair is completely typical of Philadelphia in this era both in construction and materials except for the horizontal arm cones—the upper components of the double c-scroll arms shaped like powder horns. These are larger and less tapered than is typical and their upper elements are now truncated. This chair is an interesting and novel addition to the known catalogue of Philadelphia easy chairs. While its unusual rear legs did not catch on or become standard practice they do help fill out the story of the diversity and fluid nature of Philadelphia’s cabinetmakers in the mid eighteenth century. Condition: Top edge of front seat rail patched due to tack holes. Rear end of conical arms truncated. One rear knee return replaced. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $100,000-150,000 Price Realized: $183,000 | |
| MINIATURE GREEN SPATTER TEA SERVICE, with peafowl, to include a teapot, 4" h., a covered sugar, a creamer, and six cups and saucers. Condition: Both lids with small flakes. Creamer - handle reattached. Cup - small flake to rim. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $500-1,000 Price Realized: $1,586 | |
| | LARGE SAILOR’S CARVED GOURD, ca. 1853, inscribed Mrs. Lucy L. Thompson, boldly carved with a large spread winged American eagle with twenty-nine stars, within floral and sheaf of wheat borders and twenty-nine stars, 5.25" h., 10" w., 9" d. Condition: Broken in half and repaired. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $1,000-2,000 Price Realized: $2,928 |
| ELABORATE PENNSYLVANIA WATERCOLOR AND CUTWORK FRAKTUR SCHERENSCHNITTE, early/mid 19th c., probably Schwenkfelder, the fanciful central script within a border with tulips, flowers, hearts, the face of a young man, and a sun face, 7.254" x 12,25". A related work is illustrated in Dennis Moyer Fraktur Writings and Folk Art Drawings of the Schwenkfelder Library Collection, fig.4-130. Provenance: The Estate of Charlene Sussel, Rockville, Maryland. Condition: Not laid down. Black hearts and black surround to face with rice paper backing. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $5,000-10,000 Price Realized: $10,980 | |
| PHILADELPHIA QUEEN ANNE TIGER MAPLE DRESSING TABLE, ca. 1755, the rectangular molded edge top overhanging a case with four drawers flanked by smooth quarter columns, above a scalloped apron supported by cabriole legs, with tongue-like intaglio carving terminating in trifid feet, 30.75" x 34.75". The carved knee, sometimes described as a lambrequin carving, has often been associated with the cabinet shop of William Savery. Provenance: The Estate of Charlene Sussel, Rockville, Maryland. Condition: Scattered small scratches to top. Staining to top. Brasses appear to be original. Poplar and cedar secondaries. A couple small splines added to age cracks in side. Overall very good condition. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $15,000-30,000 Price Realized: $34,160 | |
| EARL TOWNSHIP ARTIST (OLEY TOWNSHIP, BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA EARLY/MID 19TH C.), VIBRANT INK AND WATERCOLOR FRAKTUR BIRTH CERTIFICATE FOR HANNAH HOLTER, b. 1834, 9.5" x 7.625”. Provenance: The Estate of Charlene Sussel, Rockville, Maryland. Condition: Edges taped down. Very good condition. Bold color. Sold at Pook and Pook January 12,2019. Estimate: $8,000-12,000 Price Realized: $18,300 | |
| A STAFFORDSHIRE SLIPWARE DATED LARGE BRAGGET POT, 1697, decorated in brown, cream and russet slip on the front and reverse with a rectangular panel of tulip and rose sprays with the initials either RF or BB beneath the inscription around the rim “THE.BEST.IS.NOT.TOO.GOOD.FOR.YOV// 1697///.” width across handles 12.625 in.; height 6.25 in., 32 cm; 15.8 cm. The word “Bragget” (pots/cups) derives from the Old English braket, bragot, from Old Welsh bragawd, bragaut, bragod, from brag meaning “malt”. Bragget is an ancient British liquor that comes from fermenting honey and beer together, it can also be made from ale flavoured with honey and spices, similar to mead and metheglin. Known at least since Chaucer's 'Miller's Tale' of 1386/1387, where he describes a youthful wife as having a mouth as “sweete as bragot". This ancient beverage carries historical importance since it was mentioned by Chaucer in the Canterbury Tales and has become a catchword for sweetness – as in ‘Braggot Sunday’ in Mid-Lent, when a brief suspension of abstinence was allowed. 'The Closet of Sir Kenelm Digby Knight, Opened', Digby 1669: “To make Bragot, He takes the first running of such Ale, and boils a less proportion of Honey in it, then when He makes His ordinary Meath; but dubble or triple as much spice and herbs. As for Example to twenty Gallons of the Strong-wort, he puts eight or ten pound, (according as your taste liketh more or less honey) of honey; But at least triple as much herbs, and triple as much spice as would serve such a quantity of small Mead as He made Me (For to a stronger Mead you put a greater proportion of Herbs and Spice, then to a small; by reason that you must keep it a longer time before you drink it; and the length of time mellows and tames the taste of the herbs and spice). And when it is tunned in the vessel (after working with the barm) you hang in it a bag with bruised spices (rather more then you boiled in it) which is to hang in the barrel all the while you draw it." A very similar bragget pot, also dated 1697, was sold at Sotheby's,London, October 7, 1968, lot 33, featuring the same bold design of tulips and roses with only slight differences in the inscription. It is also inscribed with the initials BB on one side and RF on reverse, and isnow at Colonial Williamsburg, illustrated by Leslie B. Grigsby, English Slip-Decorated Earthenware at Williamsburg, Williamsburg, 1993, pp. 50-52, no. 57, where the author notes these kinds of cups were probably given as a congratulation gift at a wedding or other festive event. The same initials RF appear together with those of William Simpson on a jug sold at Sotheby’s, London, June 4, 1968, lot 103, The Property of Mrs. George Morton, where it was suggested that the initials RF could possibly stand for the potting family of Fletcher, contemporaries of Simpson at Burslem. Four pots of this form are illustrated by Leslie B. Grigsby, The Longridge Collection of English Slipware and Delftware, Vol. 1, London, 2000, pp. 128-129, where the author notes the initials “RF” appear on at least nine vessels, “IB” on eight, “WS” on six, and “BB” on three. Excepting “BB” (not found with “WS”) every initial pair among these has been found in some combination with every other pair. Dated cups are recorded with inscribed years between 1692 and 1725. A pot dated 1703, inscribed with the same motto as the present lot, was part of the Harriet Carlton Goldweitz Collection, sold in these rooms, January 20, 2006, lot 37, formerly sold, Sotheby’s, London, May 27, 1975, lot 3. Provenance: Christie's, London, June 9, 1980, lot 84 Jonathan Horne, London, July, 1980 Vogel Collection no. 328 Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $40,000-60,000 Price Realized: $47,500 | |
| A STAFFORDSHIRE SLIPWARE PRESS-MOLDED DISH, EARLY 18TH CENTURY, decorated in the centerwith a stag picked out in brown slip above the initials IC within narrow borders of blue slip dots, over molded diamond triangles and lozenges, withina 'cockle-shell' rim. Diameter 11.375 in., 29.3 cm. At least four other stag dishes marked with the initials ‘I C’ are recorded; one decorated in dark brown and mid-brown slip from the Harriet Carlton Goldweitz Collection was sold, Sotheby’s, New York, January 20, 2006, lot 48, previously sold, Sotheby Park Bernet, Inc., New York, January 10, 1975, lot 9; a second dish also with dark and mid-brown slip from the Collection of Mrs. Stella Pitt-Rivers was sold, Sotheby’s, London, June 14, 1988, lot 311; two further examples are illustrated by Ross E. Taggart, The Frank P. and Harriet C. Burnap Collection of English Pottery, Kansas City, 1967, p. 25, nos. 12 and 13, the former decorated in dark brown slip like the present example. The initials also feature on a dish decorated with a crowned lion, which is in the Glaisher Collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, ob. no. C.187-1928, published by Bernard Rackham, Catalogue of the Glaisher Collection of Pottery and Porcelain in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, Cambridge, 1935, Vol. I, p. 33, no. 187, and illustrated as a line drawing by Ronald G. Cooper, English Slipware Dishes 1650-1850, London, 1968, p. 99, no. 70. At least two other lion dishes have sold at auction, one, the Property of Miss J. Lyall was sold at Sotheby’s, London, July 7, 1969, lot 1; and the other was sold at Sotheby’s, London, April 27, 1976, lot 45, and again at Christie’s, London, June 1, 1987, lot 21. A mold for a dish with a geometric pattern and the initials ‘I C I’ and the name ‘Thomas Wedgwood’ in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated by Cooper, ibid, p. 108, which the author links it on stylistic grounds to the Stag dishes. The initials also feature on a clock face dish, formerly in the Collection of Ernest Allman, now at Colonial Williamsburg, illustrated by Cooper, ibid, 1968, pl. 266; andLeslie B. Grigsby, English Slip-Decorated Earthenware at Williamsburg, Williamsburg, 1993, p. 44, pl. 53. The ‘I C’ potter seems to have looked for inspiration in the contemporary dishes produced by Samuel Malkin, six of which bear dates between 1712 and 1734. A clock face dish signed ‘Sam[uel] Malkin/ The maker/ in bur/[reversed s]la/m’, with a date generally interpreted as 1712 (though it may also be read as 1729) is illustrated by Leslie B. Grigsby, The Longridge Collection of English Slipware and Delftware, London, 2000, Vol. 1, pp. 66-67, S11. Provenance: Sotheby’s London, March 6, 1990, lot 224; Jonathan Horne, London, March 1990; Vogel Collection no. 522. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $25,000-35,000 Price Realized: $30,000 | |
| A RARE STAFFORDSHIRE SALT-GLAZED WHITE STONEWARE TANKARD, CIRCA 1745-50, slip-cast and crisply molded with a panel after Hogarth entitled MIDNIGHT CONVERSATION flanked by panels molded with the armorial bearings of Bertie, Hales, Leveson-Gower and Vane, and two panels with exotic birds, animals and fish, .Height 7.25 in., 18.1cm. A particularly close example, perhaps the present piece, was in the collection of the Minton artist Louis M. Solon, sold, his sale, Messrs. Charles Butters & Sons, November 26-28, 1912, lot 349. Three similar but smaller examples are inmuseum collections, onefrom the Lady Charlotte Schreiber Collectionis in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. 414:943-1885; the second from the Dr. Glaisher Collection is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, acc. no. C.589-1928; and the third is in the Museum of London. Chas. F. C. Luxmoore illustrates an example, perhaps the Glaisher example, in English Saltglaze Earthenware, London, 1924, pl. 43. A version of the scene also appears on a two handed loving cup, sold, Sotheby's London, July 15, 1974, lot 152. The scene also appears as sprigged decoration on brown stoneware, an example of which dated 1775, is in the British Museum, London, mus. no. 1887,0308.4. Provenance: Sotheby's London, May 27, 1986, lot 26 Jonathan Horne, London Syd Levethan, through private purchase, January, 1999 Vogel Collection no. 652 Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $10,000-15,000 Price Realized: $25,000 | |
| A LARGE LONDON DELFTWARE BLUE-DASH TULIP AND CARNATION CHARGER, CIRCA 1660-70, painted in yellow, ochre, blue and green with tulips and carnations issuing from a fenced mound, within a wide border of pomegranates and bi-coloured oak leaves, diameter 16.125 in, 40.1 cm, The painting style of the leaves and flowers bear striking similarities to a charger in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, which could perhaps have been painted by the same hand. The charger in the Glaisher collection bears the date 1668 and flanks a central vase issuing tulips and carnations, illustrated by Louis L. Lipski and Michael Archer, Dated English Delftware, Tin-glazed Earthenware 1600-1800, London, 1984, p. 29, no. 53; and Michael Archer, Delftware in the Fitzwilliam Museum, London, 201;3, p. 36, A.53, where the author notes thateight chargers are recorded with flowers issuing from vases. A second charger painted in this manner, also dated 1668, with a 'sun-face' to the central flower is in the Weldon Collection, illustrated by Peter Williams and Pat Halfpenny, A Passion for Pottery, Further selections from the Henry H. Weldon Collection, New York, 2000, pp. 36-37, no. 2. The trumpet shape device seen at the center of the present dish and the abovementioned examples appears on another that was sold from the contents of Lancotbury Manor at Sworders, Stansted, September 24, 2008, lot 1091. The same design, though slightly different, appears on a charger dated 1676, illustrated by Lipski and Archer, ibid, p. 31, no. 66. The motif of alternating pomegranates and bi-coloured oak-leaves seen on the present dish features on the earliest known dated English Delftware dish painted with tulips at the center. The dish, dated 1661, inscribed with W over W S is also in the Glaisher collection, illustrated by Lipski and Archer, ibid, p. 38, no. 37; and Archer, ibid, pp. 33-34, A.50. Such motifs derived from 16th century Italian Maiolica which was a prevalent style of workshops in the pottery making centers of Venice and Montelupo. Once exported to Northern Europe these wares then influenced Netherlandish potters in centers such as Haarlem. The same border appears on a London Delftware 'Royal Oak' charger formerly in the Simon Sainsbury Collection, sold, Christie's, London, June 18, 2008, lot 74. Between 1912 and 1934, the banker, Cecil Baring, 3rd Lord Revelstoke, assembled a large collection of British pottery which included Delftware, slipware, prattware and salt-glaze stoneware. Baring traded with, and took advice from a leading authority of the time, Louis Gautier. FollowingBaring's death in 1934, a large part of his collection was sold by his son Rupert, 4th Lord Revelstoke, at Puttick & Simpson, London, November 20-23, 1934 where Gautier bought 104 out of the 861 lots offered for sale. Provenance: British Antique Dealers Association, bearing label Collection of Cecil Baring, 3rd Lord Revelstoke (1864-1934) Property from the Revelstoke Collection, by the order of the Lambay estate, sold, Sotheby's London, December 3, 2013, lot 39 Vogel Collection no. 828 Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $20,000-30,000 Price Realized: $93,750 | |
| A VERY RARE PILGRIM CENTURY PINE DIAMOND-GLASS AND LEAD SASH WINDOW, MEDFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, 17TH CENTURY, Height 21.75 in. by Width 22.875 in.; 55.2 by 58 cm. A similar example, with significant losses and deterioration, is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (37.100.5) Provenance: Said to have been recovered in Medfield, Massachusetts; Bob Graboski, Foxboro, Massachusetts, December 1983; Vogel Collection no. 467. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $1,500-2,500 Price Realized: $13,750 | |
| A VERY FINE AND RARE PILGRIM CENTURY TURNED AND JOINED RED-PAINTED SPLAYED-LEG OAK JOINT STOOL, PLYMOUTH COLONY, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1680, Height 22.125 in. by Width 18.375 in. by Depth 12.25 in.; 56.2 by 46.7 by 31.1 cm. Very few joined oak stools survive and even fewer with the their full height feet intact. The stool’s legs with an inverted baluster turning above a cylindrical turning relate directly to a stool in the collection of the Scituate Historical Society that has been attributed to Scituate by Robert Blair St. George in The Wrought Covenant: Source Material for the Study of Craftsmen and Community in Southeastern New England, 1620-1700, (Brockton, MA: Brockton Art Center-Fuller Memorial, 1979), no. 28, p. 42. St. George illustrates another stool with heavier turnings that descended in the Fogg family of Scituate. Another closely related stool attributed to Duxbury, Massachusetts is in the collection of the Museum Fine Arts, Boston (acc. no. 1994.61) (St. George, p. 47, no. 40). It has sets of parallel gouge marks at the lowermost edge of each seat rail that correlates to the same treatment found on the moldings of Plymouth Colony chests. In brief, this turning can be broadly attributed to the Plymouth Colony and subtle variations were employed by various turners in different towns within the colony. For additional information on related stools and their manufacture see Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee, Make a Joint Stool from a Tree: An Introduction to 17th-Century Joinery, (Fort Mitchell, KY: Lost Art Press LLC, 2012). Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $5,000-7,000 Price Realized: $17,500 | |
| THE IMPORTANT FAIRBANKS FAMILY PILGRIM CENTURY TURNED AND RED-PAINTED MAPLE SPINDLE-BACK GREAT CHAIR, ATTRIBUTED TO EPHRAIM TINKHAM, PLYMOUTH OR MIDDLEBORO, PLYMOUTH COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1680, retains early historic surface, height 41.75 in.; 106 cm. This exceptional armchair belongs to an important group of turned chairs associated with the turner Ephraim Tinkham, Jr. (1649-1713), Plymouth and Middleboro, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. The group was first attributed to Tinkham by Robert Blair St. George (see Robert Blair St. George, "A Plymouth Area Chairmaking Tradition of the Late Seventeenth Century," Middleborough Antiquarian vol. 19, no. 2, December 1978, pp. 3-12 and Robert Blair St. George, The Wrought Covenant: Source Material for the Study of Craftsmen and Community in Southeastern New England, 1620-1700, (Brockton, MA: Brockton Art Center-Fuller Memorial, 1979), pp. 50-1). It was subsequently reassessed by Robert F. Trent and Karin Goldstein (see Robert F. Trent and Karin Goldstein, “Notes about New ‘Tinkham’ Chairs,” Americana Furniture 1998, ed. Luke Beckerdite, (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 1998), pp. 215-37). The group in totality represents the work of four or five generations of turners stemming from an unidentified master who probably worked in Plymouth between 1640 and 1680. The chair's strong affinity to Dutch turning design suggests that the master was probably trained in England under strong Dutch influence. Ephraim Tinkham trained with the master in Plymouth likely between about 1663 and 1670. Presumably, other turners may have apprenticed with the master in Plymouth and subsequent generations of apprentices may have spread the tradition across southeastern Massachusetts. Chairs from the shop tradition display considerable variation in detail and in major compositional choices like slat-backs versus spindle-backs. The Fairbanks chair is a major monument of the middle or mature phase of the tradition's development. The finials, with an upper ball, long-necked reel, and simplified lower ball, are not typical of the earliest chairs from the tradition but reflect Baroque influence. Quite typical of most chairs in the tradition are the indented turning of the front posts above the seat rail; ball turnings flanked by cove moldings on the posts; the vasiform spindles with relatively straight bodies; and the strong trapezoidal splay of the chair's plan. A number of armchairs from this tradition have mis-drilled joints in their frames. Three such mis-drilled joints are visible on this chair’s rear post. A possible explanation maybe that turners made armchairs infrequently and were more likely to make errors. Further, as Robert Trent has noted, the master and his apprentices in this tradition did not employ a uniform pattern stick. Therefore, it appears that the chairmakers may have improvised a pattern virtually every time they made an armchair. The line of descent in the Fairbanks family is fairly clear. The nineteenth and twentieth century family members who owned the chair in Maine all descended from Joseph Fairbanks (1717-1794), who moved from Dedham to Wrentham, Massachusetts, on the Rhode Island border, and then to Winthrop, Maine, near Augusta, just before the Revolution. Beginning with the patriarch Jonathan Fairbanks (died 1668) of Dedham, Massachusetts, a turner and the builder of the extant 1637 Fairbanks house, the paternal line leading to Joseph runs through Jonathan's son John Fairbanks (died 1684) of Dedham (also a turner and wheelwright), to his son Joseph Fairbanks (1656-1734) of Dedham, to Joseph Fairbanks, Jr. (1717-1794). On stylistic grounds, the probable first owner of the chair was Joseph of the third generation, although why he chose to acquire a chair from a turner outside of Dedham rather than from one of his immediate relatives is unclear. Because Joseph lived on part of the original Fairbanks property, this chair may have been used in the family house which still stands in Dedham, Massachusetts. Provenance:Joseph Fairbanks (1656-1734) m. Abigail Dean, Deham, Massachusetts; Joseph Fairbanks, Jr. (1717-1794) m. Frances Estey, Winthrop, Maine; Captain Benjamin Fairbanks (1747-1828) m. Keturah Luce (1749-1807), Winthrop, Maine; Joseph Fairbanks (1774-1831) m. Martha Eaton (1770-1842), Farmington, Maine; Robert Eaton Fairbanks (1800-1871) m. Mary Bangs (1800-1869), Phillips, Maine; Charles Bangs Fairbanks (1834-1910) m. Amelia Adelaide Hewey (1851-1930), Phillips, Maine; Nellie Fairbanks Bean (1890-1973) m. Lamon Desmond Bean (1896-1959), Phillips, Maine; Bronson Winthrop Griscom (1907-1977) m. Sophie Margaretta Gay Griscom (1907-1985), Phillips, Maine; F.O. Bailey Antiquarians, Portland, Maine, Fine Estate Auction, November 2, 1985; Lillian Blankley Cogan Antiquary, Farmington, Connecticut, February 1989; Vogel Collection no. 510. Literature: F.O. Bailey Antiquarians, advertisement, Maine Antique Digest, vol. 13, no. 11, November 1985, p. 44-F; “Great Chair, Great Price!” Maine Antique Digest, vol 13, no. 12, December 1985, pp. 1-a, 8-C-9-C; Lillian Blankley Cogan, advertisement, Magazine Antiques, col. 129, no. 1, January 1986, p. 96; Robert F. Trent and Karin Goldstein, “Notes about New ‘Tinkham’ Chairs,” Americana Furniture 1998, ed. Luke Beckerdite, (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 1998), pp. 215-37, fig. 19. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $50,000-80,000 Price Realized: $125,500 | |
| AN EXCEPTIONAL AND RARE SILK EMBROIDERED 'SCAMMAN FAMILY' COAT OF ARMS, SARAH CUTTS, SACO, MAINE, 1792 inscribed THE NAME SCAMMAN; worked in satin and couching stitch on black silk ground with gold and silver thread, retains the original frame and glass, height 21 in. by Width 21 in.; 53.3 by 53.3 cm. This exceptional coat of arms is in outstanding condition and stands as an excellent representative of the required needleworking skills for such an ambitious work. Armorials worked in silk thread on a black silk ground were taught to young girls in Boston around 1750. Earlier canvas work examples are known, but those with black silk grounds date to 1750 and later. This one represents the work of Sarah Cutts (1774-1845), who made it while a student at the school of Eleanor Druitt. An announcement for the opening of this school near the Quaker Meetinghouse in Boston was published in The Massachusetts Gazette and The Boston Weekly on October 17, 1771. In 1789, Eleanor Druitt moved her school to Court Street and continued to operate there through 1798. Sarah’s sister, Elizabeth (1776-1810), worked a similar armorial while at Druitt’s school and it survives today in the collection of the York Institute in Saco, Maine (acc. no. 0000.23)(see Carolyn S. Parsons, Agreeable Situations: Society, Commerce, and Art in Southern Maine, 1780-1830, ed. Laura Fecych Sprague, (Kennebunk, ME: Brick Store Museum; Boston: Distributed by Northeastern University Press, 1987), pp. 2401, no. 142). Both possess identical frames except the cast gilt spandrels present on Elizabeth's coat of arms which are lacking on this example. For her coat of arms, Elizabeth unknowingly worked the Milward arms rather than the arms of her father, Thomas Cutts (1736-1821), a prominent citizen of Saco. Sarah chose the Scamman arms, which were those of her mother, Elizabeth Scamman (1754-1803). Both arms have the details favored by the Druitt school of a highly raised design in brilliant gold and silver with a helmet and motto ribbons featuring silver thread and black cross-stitched letters. As the compositions are very similar and a letter by Elizabeth to her father attests to her armorial being designed by “Mr. Gore”, it is likely that Sarah’s coat of arms was also designed by Samuel Gore (1750/51-1831), a heraldic artist working on Queen Street in Boston. A very similar coat of arms for the Ridgeway family is also in the Vogel Collection and offered as lot ___ in this sale. It was also likely designed by Samuel Gore and worked in the school of Eleanor Druitt. Provenance: Dean Family; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Bernard & S. Dean Levy, Inc., New York, July 1974; Vogel Collection no. 198. Literature: T. H. Halsey and Charles O. Cornelius, A Handbook of the American Wing, 6th Edition (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1938), p. 169, fig. 84. as displayed in the room form Almodington, Somerset County, Maryland; Joseph Downes, “Early American Interiors with Contemporary Window Hangings,” Magazine Antiques, vol. 50, no. 4, October 1946, p. 242; Betty Ring, Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers & Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, Vol. 1, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), p. 72 , fig. 71 (referenced). Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $30,000-50,000 Price Realized: $100,500 | |
| A FINE AND RARE PILGRIM CENTURY JOINED AND CARVED OAK AND MAPLE 'SUNFLOWER' CHEST WITH TWO DRAWERS, ATTRIBUTED TO THE SHOP OF PETER BLIN, WETHERSFIELD, CONNECTICUT, CIRCA 1680, retains its original top and full height to feet; several applied moldings replaced, height 40.25 in. by width 48.25 in. by depth 21.25 in.; 102.2 by 122.6 by 54 cm. This joined chest, with its well-carved marigold and tulip panels and delicately turned applied half columns and bosses, is part of a very well document group of early joined furniture made in the vicinity of Wethersfield, Connecticut between approximately 1675 to 1705. The group routinely called the "Sunflower" chest is most notable for its carved panels with stylized tulips in the side panels and marigolds in the central panel. For decades these pieces have been attributed exclusively to the hand of Peter Blin (d. 1725). However, the sheer number of surviving pieces indicates that this decorative tradition survived for decades in and around the Wethersfield, Connecticut region and cannot be the work of one individual. More likely is that Peter Blin initiated this style and it was replicated by his apprentices or fellow local joiners. For additional information on seventeenth-century Wethersfield joinery, see Susan Schoelwer, "Connecticut Sunflower Furniture: A Familiar Form Reconsidered," Yale University Art Gallery Bulletin, Spring 1989, pp. 21-38. Provenance: Ginsburg & Levy, New York, February 1970; Vogel Collection no. 72. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $15,000-25,000 Price Realized: $75,000 | |
| A VERY RARE WILLIAM AND MARY CHERRYWOOD CAPSTOCK, NEW YORK STATE, CIRCA 1720, appears to retain its original surface; with five turned walnut pegs on a molded backboard with original hanging devices on the back; one peg is a period replacement, height 4.875 in. by width 38.75 in. by Depth 6 in.; 12.4 by 98.4 by 15.2 cm. Capstocks are a form of clothes rack that were used by the New York Dutch in the seventeenth and early eighteenth century. Very few survive today. Two late seventeenth century New York inventories attest to their use. Cornells Van Dyke whose 1686 estate amounted to 1,428 beavers and had a typical mixture of furniture in his house. One room contained a walnut bedstead with dark say hangings and silk fringe, " a walnut chest of drawers with a press for napkins atop of it," an oak table and carpet, eight Spanish stools, and walnut capstock to hang clothes upon. Cornelis Steenwyck and mayor of New York whose home was “south of Bridge Street and east of the Fort” had an estate valued in 1686 at a remarkable £15,931-15-1. In his Great Chamber is listed one capstock (see Esther Singleton, The Furniture of Our Forefathers, (New York: Doubleday, Page and Company, 1901), pp. 246, 253). Provenance: Roderick Blackburn, Kinderhook, New York, November 2001; Vogel Collection no. 696. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $6,000-8,000 Price Realized: $5,625 | |
| THE IMPORTANT OGDEN FAMILY VERY FINE AND RARE WILLIAM AND MARY 'LINE AND BERRY' INLAID WALNUT CHEST OF DRAWERS, CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CIRCA 1720, the top inlaid SO along the front edge; feet replaced, height 43 in. by width 41.75 in. by depth 22.125 in.; 109.2 by 106 by 56.2 cm. Elaborately ornamented with fanciful line and berry inlays, this chest of drawers is a rare example of the rural craftsmanship of Chester County, Pennsylvania. In form, it derives from the design of English precedents and closely follows chests of drawers produced in the Philadelphia region, including one in a private collection made of walnut signed by William Beale Jr. (active circa 1694-1711) of Philadelphia (See Jack Lindsey, Worldly Goods: The Arts of Early Pennsylvania, 1680-1758 (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1999), p. 97, 142, fig. 147, no. 26). The distinctive inlay patterns of tulips, arches, and circles are characteristic of furniture made in Chester County by the English, Welsh and Dutch Quakers who had settled there. Chester County cabinetmakers favored walnut as a primary wood since it lent itself to the compass-scored inlays. As seen on this chest, these makers often practiced their whimsical designs by scoring them into shop lumber and therefore leaving traces on the interior faces of drawers, case sides or backboards. The initials “SO” inlaid along the front edge of the top likely refers to Sarah Ogden (b. 1691), a member of the prominent Ogden family of Chester County. She was the daughter of David Ogden (1655-1705), a Quaker who emigrated from England with William Penn and settled in Chester County on land purchased from William Penn in 1682 (See Thomas Holmes Map of the Province of Pennsylvania, with names of original purchasers from William Penn, 1681; Charles Ogden, The Quaker Ogdens in America: David Ogden of Ye Goode Ship “Welcome” and His Descendants (Philadelphia: J.P. Lippincott Co., 1898)). David and his wife, Martha Houlston, married on January 12, 1686, and had 9 children. Sarah was their third child and she later married Evan Howell (died 1734) in Whiteland, Chester County. This chest may have been part of her dowry and perhaps corresponds to the “Walnut Case of Drawers a Walnut Chest” valued at 4-5-5 pounds in Evan Howell’s estate inventory taken at his death in 1734. A closely related five-drawer walnut chest of drawers with the initials, “MO”, has a history of descent in the Ogden family of Chester County and may have been originally owned by Sarah’s sister, Martha (born 1689). With initials and inlays likely by the same maker, that chest is currently in the collection of the Gloucester County Historical Society in Woodbury, New Jersey (acc. no. 1916.41). It was given to the Historical Society by Sibyl Tatum Jones, who purchased it at auction from the estate of Laura Pauline Pancoast (born 1859). The chest appears illustrated in The Quaker Ogdens in America David Ogden of Ye Goode Ship “Welcome” And His Descendants, 1682-1897 by Charles Burr, as owned by Mary S. Pancoast (born 1821) of Philadelphia, who was an Ogden descendant and Laura’s aunt (see Ogden, pp. 27-28). The caption for the illustrated chest further states that Mary Pancoast inherited the chest through direct family lines from David Ogden through his son, Stephen (1705-1760). Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $50,000-80,000 Price Realized: $87,500 | |
| A VERY RARE WILLIAM AND MARY 'LINE-AND-BERRY' INLAID WALNUT DOCUMENT BOX, PROBABLY CHESTER COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, CIRCA 1740, retain early historic surface; feet replaced, height 8.25 in. by width 21.125 in. by depth 16.875 in.: 21 by 53.6 by 42.9 cm. Additional information on line-and-berry inlaid furniture is available in Lee Ellen Griffith, “The line-and-berry inlaid furniture of eighteenth-century Chester county, Pennsylvania,” Magazine Antique, vol. 135, no. 5, May 1989, pp. 1202-11. Provenance: Dr. and Mrs. Milton Hopkins, Manhasset, New York; Christie’s, New York, Fine American Furniture, Silver and Decorative Arts, January 23, 1982, sale 5114, lot 396; Alan Miller, Quakertown, Pennsylvania, May 1992; Vogel Collection no. 565. Literature: William C. Ketchum Jr., The Knopf Collector's Guide to American Antiques: Furniture: Volume 2 - Chests, Cupboards, Desks & Other Pieces, (New York, Knopf, 1982), no. 40. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $15,000-30,000 Price Realized: $32,500 | |
| AN IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE PILGRIM CENTURY JOINED WALNUT TWO-PART CHEST OF DRAWERS, ATTRIBUTED TO RALPH MASON (1599-1679), HENRY MESSINGER (w. 1640-1681) AND THOMAS EDSALL (1588-1676) SHOP TRADITION, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, CIRCA 1680, appears to retain its original finish and cast brass hardware and feet; chest divides along its waist and is composed of two parts, height 37 in. by Width 39.5 in. by depth 23.75 in.; 94 by 100.3 by 60.3 cm. This chest of drawers is one of an important group of seventeenth-century case pieces attributed to the workshops of Ralph Mason (1599-1678/79), Henry Messenger (in Boston beginning 1640, d. 1681), and Thomas Edsall (1588-1676). The three London-trained woodworkers moved to Boston, where they produced highstyle and top-of-the-line furniture and trained two succeeding generations to work in the same London-based tradition. Chests of drawers did not exist in England or America before the 1640s. Instead, blanket chests and cupboards were used for storage. Evidence of the earliest use of chests of drawers appears in English probate inventory records in the 1640s in well-to-do urban merchants' households. As it was largely the merchant class who settled in Massachusetts, it should be no surprise that the type of furniture merchants used in London was popular in the new colony as well. Two reasons for the success of these types of chests were their size and convenience. They fit into small urban households and the drawers provided much easier access to its contents. Three closely related chests of drawers survive; one that descended in the Pierce family of Dorchester, Massachusetts, and is listed in John Pierce's probate inventory of 1744 as "a chest of drawers in the West Chamber" and valued at £2; the other in the Layton Art Collection at the Milwaukee Art Museum. They are discussed in Nancy Carlisle, Cherished Possessions: A New England Legacy, (Boston: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 2003), pp. 98-100, no. 27, and in Gerald W.R. Ward, ed., American Furniture with Related Decorative Arts, 1660-1830: The Milwaukee Art Museum and the Layton Art Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1991), 32-35; and also in Francis Puig and Michael Conforti, eds., The American Craftsman and the European Tradition, 1620-1820 (Minneapolis, MN: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 1989), 39-40. Provenance: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Joe Kindig Jr. & Son, York, Pennsylvania, September 1970; Vogel Collection no. 73. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $25,000-50,000 Price Realized: $106,250 | |
| | THE IMPORTANT "HARKNESS" QUEEN ANNE CARVED, TURNED AND JOINED MAPLE ARMCHAIR, ATTRIBUTED TO JOHN GAINES III, PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, CIRCA1735, together with a fitted flame-point cushion. (2 pieces), height 43.25 in. by width 25.25 in. by depth 22 in.; 109.9 by 64.1 by 55.9 cm. With its stylized pierced and carved crest, oversized solid Spanish feet with a central groove on the middle toe, this maple armchair displays distinctive traits consistent with late baroque chairs associated with John Gaines III (1704-43) of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. It bears close stylistic similarities to four side maple chairs that serve as the cornerstones in identification of his work (see Robert F. Trent, Erik Gronning and Alan Anderson, “The Gaines Attributions and Baroque Seating Furniture in Northeastern New England,” American Furniture 2010, ed. Luke Beckerdite, (Milwaukee, WI, Chipstone Foundation, 2010), p. 140, fig. 1 and Brock Jobe, Portsmouth Furniture, (Boston, MA: Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, 1993), fig. 30). The side chairs descended from John Gaines to his daughter, Mary, who married the Portsmouth joiner David Brewster (1739-1818), and they remained in the Brewster family until 1998, when they were sold at auction. The chairs are the focus of the article “The Gaines Attributions and Baroque Seating in Northeastern New England,” written by Robert Trent, Erik Gronning and Alan Anderson in American Furniture 2010, pp. 140-193. John Gaines trained in his father, John Jr.’s (1677-1748), shop in Ipswich making turned chairs with baluster-turned front legs and stretchers with ball-ring-ball turnings. He continued making chairs of this pattern after moving to Portsmouth in 1724, adding to his work contours of the Queen Anne style influenced by chairs made in London and Boston. He worked in Portsmouth at a shop on Congress Street and employed others, including the turner Joseph Mulenex and the joiners William Locke and John Martin. At his death in 1743, Gaines’s business was thriving and his estate indicates he was among the more affluent craftsmen in Portsmouth. The early 20th century owners of the chair were Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Harkness of New London, Connecticut. Edward S. Harkness (1874-1940) was an American philanthropist. Given privately and through his family's Commonwealth Fund, Harkness' gifts to private hospitals, art museums, and educational institutions in the Northeastern United States were among the largest of the early twentieth century. He was a major benefactor to Columbia University, Yale University, Harvard University, Phillips Exeter Academy, St. Paul's School, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the University of St Andrews in Scotland. The Harkness armchair reflects the mastery of design rooted in eastern Massachusetts tradition associated with John Gaines III’s work. Like the Brewster chairs, the Harkness chair has a mortise-and-tenoned seat rails, in which is placed a separate rushed slip seat frame, that would be supported by small brackets nailed to the inside face of the rear seat rails. Only four other armchairs with joined seat rails and inward set arm supports are known. The most renowned example of this small group was once owned by Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Taradash. The other three all have had questions regarding their condition or authenticity. They include an example in the collection of Winterthur Museum (acc. no. 54.513), and two in private collections (see Jobe, fig. 3 p. 142 and Christie’s, New York, Important American Furniture, Folk Art and Prints, January 25, 2013, sale 2670, lot 152; Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods, (Winterthur, DE: Winterthur Museum, 1997), pp. 474-5, no. 217 (with significant restoration); Jairus B. Barnes and Moselle Taylor Meals, American Furniture in the Western Reserve: 1680-1830, (Cleveland, OH: Western Reserve Historical Society, 1972), no. 4 (with restorations); I.M. Weise, advertisement, Magazine Antiques, vol. 120, no. 12, December 1981, p. 1464 (possibly not period). Two other related chairs with joined seat rails but with arm supports integral to the legs are known. They include one in the collection of Winterthur Museum (acc. no. 60.102) and the other in the collection of the Chipstone Foundation (acc. no. 1964.1) with a replaced crest rail (Richards and Evans, pp. 33-5, no. 18; Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Furniture at Chipstone, (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984), pp. 168-9, no. 75 and Luke Beckerdite and Alan Miller, “Furniture Fakes from the Chipstone Collection,” American Furniture 2002, ed. Luke Beckerdite, (Milwaukee, WI: Chipstone Foundation, 2002), pp. 65-6, fig. 23, 24). The last group includes three armchairs which have simple rush seats rather than joined seat rails. They include an example in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (acc. no. 52.77.55), a variant with double square side stretchers in a private collection and the last with double turned side stretchers also in a private collection (see Frances Gruber Safford, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Early Colonial Period: the Seventeenth-Century and William and Mary Styles, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p.99-102, no.37; The Candle Shop Antiques, advertisement, Magazine Antiques, vol. 65, no. 6, June 1954, p. 455; Trent, et. al. fig. 22). All of these armchairs feature similarly outward flaring molded arms, bold scrolled grips, a pierced crest, a notched baluster splat, rush seat design, turned front legs, ball-reel-and-ball stretchers, rectilinear side stretchers, and brush front feet. The idiosyncratic pierced crest was inspired by C-scroll-and-foliate carved crests of early 18th century Boston banister-back chairs. The large brush feet on many of the chairs bear a distinctive pronounced groove running down the center ridge and are constructed from the same solid stock of wood as the front legs and severely undercut from the block above. These armchairs are most unique for their outward flaring molded arms with ram’s-horn terminals. Robert Trent, Erik Gronning and Alan Andersen note that these arms were executed in the Gaines shop with a saw and spokeshave with only the grips and finishing rendered with carving tools (see Trent, et. al., pp. 145-146). The Harkness chair was postulate by Helen Comstock in her seminal article on the account book of the Gaines family that this chair may have been the “white” chair mentioned in the book. While this chair was devoid of finish when discovered in the 20th century it is much more likely that the chair’s “whiteness” was the result of it being refinished. The Taradash armchair also experienced the same refinishing treatment as well. The sale of the Harkness armchair marks quite possibly the last time in a generation when a fully developed Gaines armchair will beon the marketplace. Provenance: Mr. and Mrs. Edward S. Harkness, New London, Connecticut; Mary Stillman Harkness, New York; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Joe Kindig, Jr. & Son, York, Pennsylvania, August 1970; Vogel Collection no. NVN12. Literature: Helen Comstock, "An Ipswich account book 1707-1762," Magazine Antiques, vol. 66, no. 3, September 1954, p. 190-2; Robert Ellwood Pomeroy Hendrick, John Gaines II and Thomas Gaines I, “Turners” of Ipswich, Massachusetts, M.A., University of Delaware, 1964, p. 130; Marshall B. Davidson, The American Heritage Museum of Colonial Antiques, (American Heritage Publishing Co., Inc., 1967), p. 131; Helen Comstock, “Spanish-foot furniture,” Magazine Antiques, vol. 71, no. 1, January 1957, p. 59; Robert Charles Bishop and Patricia Coblentz, American Decorative Arts: 360 Years of Creative Design, (New York: Abrams, 1982), p. 73, no. 82; Oswaldo Rodriguez Roque, American Furniture at Chipstone, (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1984), p. 168 (discussed); Nancy E. Richards and Nancy Goyne Evans, New England Furniture at Winterthur: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods, (Winterthur, DE: Winterthur Museum, 1997), pp. 474-5 (discussed); Frances Gruber Safford, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Early Colonial Period: the Seventeenth-Century and William and Mary Styles ,(New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p.99-100 (discussed). Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 1, 2019. Estimate: $100,000-200,000 Price Realized: $118,750 |
| | THE HIGHLY IMPORTANT 'COLONEL HENRY BOUQUET' POLYCHROME-DECORATED FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR MAP POWDER HORN, NEW YORK, DATED 1760, The rectangular reserve inscribed THIS HORN BELONGS TO COL HENRY BOUGUET [SIC] 1ST BN: ROYAL AMERICANS, surmounted by the crest of the British monarch. Included depictions of Fort William Henry, Fort Ticonderoga, Fort Edward, Crown Point, and Saratoga. This exquisite horn originally belonged to Colonel Henry Bouquet (1719-1765) who was a British Army officer and served during the French and Indian and Pontiac’s War, perhaps best known for his victory at the Battle of Bushy Run, which lifted the siege of Fort Pitt during Pontiac’s War. Born in Rolle, Switzerland in 1719 into a prominent family, Bouquet began his military career at age 17 as a cadet in the Swiss regiment in the army of the Dutch Republic. He was promoted to lieutenant during the War of Austrian Succession and later appointed lieutenant colonel of the Swiss Guards at The Hague by William IV, Prince of Orange and head of the Dutch Republic. While serving in that capacity in the United Provinces, the Seven Years War (or French and Indian War in North America) broke out and Bouquet was asked to serve as an officer of the 60th Regiment of Foot (The Royal American Regiment) by Sir Joseph York, the British Ambassador to the Hague. He accepted the commission of lieutenant colonel in the British Army and set sail for North America in 1756. After more than a year of recruiting for the Royal American Regiment, he was appointed second-in-command to Brigadier General John Forbes during his campaign at Fort Duquesne in 1758. Due to Forbes’ poor health, the responsibility of carrying out the campaign fell to Bouquet, including the construction of the road that would bear his commander’s name. The campaign ended with the French destruction and evacuation of Fort Duquesne, as well as British possession of the fort in November 1758. Bouquet remained in western Pennsylvania for the remainder of the war to ensure British military control of the region. In 1763, Bouquet was in command of Fort Pitt, although in Philadelphia at the time. He organized and led the expedition to relieve the post, which culminated in his victory over Native American forces at the Battle of Bushy Run. This battle and his successful campaign into the Ohio Country the following year ended the Indian uprising and enabled westward expansion of British settlements. He was promoted to the rank of brigadier general after the Ohio expedition and placed in command of the Southern District of North America. He was headquartered at Pensacola, Florida, where he caught yellow fever and died on September 2, 1765. Provenance: Anthony Sassi, Fort Plain, New York; Roderick H. Blackburn, May 2002; Vogel Collection no. 712. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $30,000-50,000 Price Realized: $32,500 |
| | WOOD, WILLIAM NEW ENGLANDS PROSPECT. A TRUE, LIVELY AND EXPERIMENTALL DESCRIPTION OF THAT PART OF AMERICA, COMMONLY CALLED NEW ENGLAND ... LAYING DOWN THAT WHICH MAY BOTH ENRICH THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MIND-TRAVELLING READER, OR BENEFIT THE FUTURE VOYAGER. LONDON: PRINTED BY THOMAS COTES FOR JOHN BELLAMIE, 1635, 4to (185 x 132 mm). Folding woodcut map of "The South part of New- England, as it is Planted this yeare, 1635." Woodcut and typographic headpieces, woodcut initials; title page with very minor restoration to corners, a few small spots of loss to map repaired, margin of map shaved a bit close just touching the topmost edge of a few letters in the title. Gilt-paneled redmorocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Card slipcase. The first detailed description of the lands of the Massachusetts Bay Company. Reprinted from the first edition of 1634 (a third edition was called for in 1639). The map, the first detailedmap of Massachusetts by a resident, is from the same woodblock as in the first edition, but has a reset typographic heading. Little is known of the author, who was resident in New England from 1629 to 1633; Wood apparently returned to British America after sailing to England to publish this account. The General Court of Massachusetts Bay voted thanks to Wood on the appearance of New Englands Prospect. Part II of the work is devoted to a detailed narrative of the Indian peoples of New England and includes a five-page glossary. Provenance: Frank Deering (red morocco book label); Kenneth Nebenzahl, Chicago, 1985; Vogel Collection no. 423. Literature: Burden 239 (map); Church 433; European Americana 635/134; Pilling, Algonquian 535; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, p. 100 (map, 1634 issue); STC 25958; Vail 89 Sold at Sotheby’s Auction, The Collection of Anne H. Frederick Vogel III, January 19, 2019. Estimate: $20,000-30,000 Price Realized: $40,000 |
| JOHN JAMES AUDUBON (AFTER), CAROLINA PARROT (PLATE XXVI), Hand-colored aquatint, engraving and etching, 1828, by R. Havell, on wove paper with the J Whatman 1836 watermark, framed sheet: 1002 by 662 mm - 39.5 by 26 in. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 17, 2019. Estimate: $80,000-120,000 Price Realized: $150,000 | |
| THE 'LUCINDA WHEELER' VERY RARE PILGRIM CENTURY JOINED AND CARVED OAK, MAPLE AND PINE CHEST WITH TWO DRAWERS, ATTRIBUTED TO PETER BLIN (CIRCA 1675-1725), WETHERSFIELD, CONNECTICUT, CIRCA 1685, the central panel initialed LW; retains majority of its original applied ornament and remnants of its original painted surface; bottom 5-inches of feet replaced, height 40 1/4 in. by width 47 in. by depth 20 7/8 in. Very few Wethersfield chests survive with initials carved into their central panel. Fewer yet retain much of their original paint decoration. When this chest was initially published it was stated to be the chest for a Lucinda Wheeler. Current research has not yet been able to identify the presence of this person in Hartford County, Connecticut in the late seventeenth or early eighteenth century. Six other chests survive with initials in the central panel. They include one in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art initialed "DC"; one in the collection of Historic Deerfield initialed "HW"; one in the American Museum in Britain, Bath, England initialed "W/SR" for Samuel and Rebecca Wright who were married in Glastonbury, Connecticut in 1686; one in a private collection initialed "MG"; and two other unpublished examples in private collections respectively initialed "DH" and "SB” (see Dean Fales, The Furniture of Historic Deerfield (New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1976), no. 354; Victor Chinnery, Oak Furniture: The British Tradition: A History of Early Furniture in the British Isles and New England, (Woodbridge, England: Antique Collectors' Club, 1979), fig. 4.211; H and R Sandor, advertisement, Magazine Antiques, vol. 124, July 1983, p. 7). Provenance: Ricco-Johnson Gallery, New York. Literature: Ricco-Johnson Gallery, advertisement, Magazine Antiques, 128:1, January 1983, p. 147; Frances Gruber Safford, American Furniture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Early Colonial Period: The Seventeenth-Century and William and Mary Styles, (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p.224, no. 1 (referred). Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $15,000-25,000 Price Realized: $27,500 | |
| VERY FINE AND RARE PILGRIM CENTURY CARVED AND PAINT-DECORATED WHITE PINE SIX-BOARD CHEST WITH DRAWER, CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY, CIRCA 1700, height 32 in. by width 48 in. by depth 18 in. This chest is in remarkable untouched condition and retains a majority of its original paint decoration. Only one other six-board American chest in the collection of Winterthur Museum (acc. no. 2014.0007) is known with such an elaborately carved front. Typically six-board chest from the Connecticut River Valley have crease molded fronts or are sometimes carved with the initials of the original owner. For an in-depth review of the form see William N. Hosley, Jr. and Philip Zea, “Decorated Board chests of the Connecticut River Valley,” Magazine Antiques, May 1981, pp. 1146-51 and Robert Trent, American Furniture with Related Decorative Arts, 1660-1830 / The Milwaukee Art Museum and The Layton Art Collection, ed. Gerald W.R. Ward, (New York: Hudson Hills Press,1991), p. 39-40, entry for no. 6. Provenance: Christie's, New York, Fine American Furniture, Silver and Decorative Arts, January 23, 1982, sale 5114, lot 318A. Literature: Judith and Martin Miller, The Antiques Directory: Furniture, (New York: Portland house, 1985), p. 80, no. 6. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $8,000-1,200 Price Realized: $13,750 | |
| AN IMPORTANT WILLIAM AND MARY TURNED CHERRYWOOD TAVERN TABLE, VIRGINIA, CIRCA 1730, appears to retain its original surface; remnants of a paper label on bottom of drawer inscribed “...sident Thomas Jefferson…purchased from the heirs by Beard of Richmond, VA. the society preserving the home, Monticello, asked for a photograph" another remnant label shows the signature of Mrs. Haskell; there is a pencil inscription on the proper right drawer "this table was formerly the property of Thos. Jefferson President of USA.” Height 27 in. by Width 26.75 in. by Depth 18.5 in. When Mrs. J. Amory Haskell purchased this tavern table, it was accompanied by two letters which were written and signed by a previous owner, Robert Grattan, and dated July 17, 1925. The letters recount the table’s history from Thomas Jefferson through the Gilmer and Grattan families of Virginia. Mr. Grattan states that Thomas Jefferson gave this table to George Gilmer (1743-1795), of Pen Park, Virginia, who was his friend, neighbor, and physician. Born in Williamsburg in 1743, George was the son of the Scottish physician George Gilmer and his wife, Mary Peachy Walker. He studied at the College of William and Mary before studying medicine with his uncle Dr. Thomas Walker at the University of Edinburgh. In May 1766, George Gilmer provided Thomas Jefferson with a letter of introduction to Dr. John Morgan of Philadelphia, in order for Jefferson to obtain a smallpox inoculation. The following December, Gilmer announced his plan to pursue "the practice of medicine and the art of midwifery" in Williamsburg. He married his first cousin Lucy Walker and moved to Charlottesville before the Revolution. By 1782, they were living at Pen Park, a few miles north of town. After his arrival in Albemarle County, Dr. Gilmer served as the attending physician to Jefferson and his family and his services to the Jefferson family from 1771-1775 are itemized in his personal "day book."In the summer of 1776, he attended the Fifth Virginia Convention in Williamsburg, acting in Jefferson's stead.During the Revolution, he became a Lieutenant in the Albemarle County First Independent Company of Gentleman Volunteers as well as a military surgeon. On August 9, 1780, Jefferson wrote to his friend stating his intention, while Governor, to contribute riceand money to Dr. Gilmer’s hospital. After Jefferson gave this table to George Gilmer, it descended for four generations through the Grattan branch of his family to Robert Grattan, who sold it in 1925. Mr. Grattan’s letters regarding the tavern table’s history will accompany this lot.Additional information regarding Dr. George Gilmer is in theThomas Jefferson Encyclopedia and availableonMonticello's website www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/george-gilmer. Provenance: According to family history, this table descended in the Gilmer and Grattan families and was originally owned by Thomas Jefferson at Monticello, Virginia; Given to George Gilmer (1743-1795), of Penn Park, in Albemarle County, Virginia; To his son, Peachy Ridgeway Gilmer (1779-1836); To his daughter, Elizabeth Thornton Gilmer, who married Major Robert Grattan (1769-1841) of “Contentment,” in Rockingham County, Virginia; To their daughter, Eliza Francis Grattan (died 1866), who married George Rockingham Gilmer (1790-1859); Thence by descent to Robert Grattan of Ashland, Virginia, the last family owner, 1925; J. K. Beard, Richmond, Virginia; Mrs. J. Amory Haskell, Oak Hill Farm, Red Bank, New Jersey; Collection of Monmouth County Historical Association. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $12,000-18,000 Price Realized: $118,750 | |
| | THE IMPORTANT SCOTT FAMILY CHIPPENDALE CARVED AND FIGURED MAHOGANY DRESSING TABLE, CABINETWORK POSSIBLY BY THOMAS AFFLECK (1740-1795); CARVING ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES REYNOLDS (C. 1736-1794), PHILADELPHIA, CIRCA 1770, appears to retain its original surface and its original cast brass hardware. Lacking front molding beneath top. Height 30.75 in. by Width 37.25 in. by Depth 21.75 in. Representing a distinctly American 18th-century case form, this dressing table stands as a magnificent example of the fully developed Rococo aesthetic associated withPhiladelphia's colonial craftsmen. With its accomplished casework attributed to Thomas Affleck (1740-1795) and exceptional carving attributed to James Reynolds (c. 1736-1794), it ranks among the best examples of its form made in Philadelphia before the American Revolution. It has survived in remarkable condition and retains its original surface and cast brass hardware. The combination of masterful naturalistic and delicate relief and intaglio carving relates this dressing table to a small group of case pieces with carving attributed to James Reynolds, the highly talented carver who arrived in Philadelphia on August 21, 1766. He advertised his architectural ship and furniture carving from “his house in Dock Street opposite Lodge Alley.” For the carving on this dressing table, Reynolds took extraordinary care in executing the shell drawer by using an extremely fine veining tool to delineate the flutes with a V-shaped dart. He joined the flutes in the center with a ruffled border and a trilobed device above a bellflower with broad petals. The knees display carving comprised of bilaterally symmetrical leaves separated by a V-shaped dart beneath a flower head. The same gradually attenuated flower heads as those found on the shell drawer of this dressing table are displayed on a chimney back molded from a carving by James Reynolds and made by Aetna Furnace in Burlington County, New Jersey.1 James Reynolds was regularly contracted for his work by Thomas Affleck, the Philadelphia cabinetmaker who likely made this dressing table. A dressing table and two high chests are known with similar construction and carving, All exhibit the unusual and distinctive detail of fluted quarter columns that start at the same height as the lower drawer bottoms, rather than close to the knees. The related dressing table in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art once belonged to James Read of Delaware.2 It displays a nearly identical shell carved drawer and a similarly shaped top. A high chest donated by Henry Francis du Pont to the American Museum in Bath, England also exhibits the same shell-carved drawer, but offers a more elaborate skirt profile and lacks the V-shaped dart with a flower head.3 Another related high chest with a very similar shell carved drawer and skirt profile has a history of descent in the Eckard family from the Signer George Read (1733-1798). It sold at Sotheby Parke Bernet and is currently in the collection of the Sewall C. Biggs Museum of American Art.4 This dressing table was owned in the 19th century by Colonel Thomas Alexander Scott (1823-1881), Assistant Secretary of War to President Abraham Lincoln, president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and founder of the Texas and Pacific Railroad. He was born on December 28, 1823, in Fort Loudon, Pennsylvania, the 7th child of Thomas Scott and his wife, Rebecca (Douglas). His father ran a stagecoach line and Thom’s Scott’s Tavern on the Franklin County turnpike between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Though his formal education was limited, Scott was well read and educated himself through books. In 1840, he began working as a clerk in the State of Pennsylvania's office in Columbia, Pennsylvania. In 1850, he began his long career at the Pennsylvania Railroad as a station agent in Duncansville. After receiving numerous promotions, Scott became general superintendent of the railroad in the 1850s. In 1859, he became first vice president in charge of all operations and was a close advisor to J. Edgar Thomson, the company’s president. As he ascended the corporate ladder, Scott discovered and personally mentored a young Andrew Carnegie, who also rose quickly through the ranks of the railroad. During the Civil War, Scott served as Assistant Secretary of War in charge of supervising all government railways and transportation lines. Scott returned to the Pennsylvania Railroad as president of the western division. In 1874, he became president after the death of J. Edgar Thomson and was at the helm of the world’s largest railroad under one management. He went on to found the Texas and Pacific Railroad before retiring in 1880. He died on May 21, 1881, at Woodburne, his home near Darby, Pennsylvania. In 1992, he was inducted into the Railroad Hall of Fame. 1Luke Beckerdite, “Pattern Carving in Eighteenth-Century Philadelphia,” American Furniture, edited by Luke Beckerdite (Hanover: Chipstone Foundation, 2014): fig. 42, p. 107. 2Morrison Heckscher, American Furniture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York: Random House, 1985): pp. 252-3, no. 64. 3Joseph Downs, American Furniture: Queen Anne and Chippendale Periods in the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum (New York: MacMillan Company, 1952): no. 196; Michael Podmaniczky, “Downs, no. 196: A Philadelphia Rococo High Chest,” American Museum in Britain, col. 41, pp. 15-19. 4Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, Auction of American, November 8, 1975, sale 3804, lot 1258; Philip D. Zimmerman, The Sewell C. Biggs Collection of American Art, Volume I Decorative Arts (Dover, DE: Biggs Museum of American Art, 2002), pp. 100-1, no. 78. Provenance: Col. Thomas Alexander Scott (1823-1881), Franklin County, Pennsylvania, marriedAnna Dike Riddle (1839–1901); Edgar Thomson Scott (1871–1918), Philadelphia; Susan Scott Wheeler (1908-1975), Philadelphia; Sons of Susan Scott Wheeler, the current owners, Philadelphia. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $500,000-800,000 Price Realized: $375,000 |
| | THE EXCEPTIONAL SAMUEL WHITEHORNE CARVED MAHOGANY BONNET-TOP HIGH CHEST OF DRAWERS, GODDARD-TOWNSEND SCHOOL, NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND, CIRCA 1760, appears to retain its original surface and cast brass hardware. Height 86.75 in. by Width 40.5 in. by Depth 23 in. Retaining its original surface, this exceptional high chest was originally owned by Samuel Whitehorne (1744-1796), the prosperous merchant and distiller of Newport, Rhode Island. It descended to his son, Samuel Whitehorne Jr. (1780-1844), also a successful merchant, and stood in his house on Thames Street in Newport. His daughter, Eliza (Whitehorne) Ennis (1803-1894), inherited the high chest next and it descended through five generations of the Ennis family until this sale. A block-and-shell kneehole desk also originally owned by Samuel Whitehorne of Newport and surviving with its original finish was sold in these rooms, Important Americana: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Henry Meyer, January 20, 1996, sale 6801, lot 48. A masterpiece of American furniture, this high chest displays numerous details of construction and ornament that firmly tie it to the Goddard and Townsend craft tradition. Its proportions are exceptionally planned, from the manner in which the curve of the tympanum board is echoed in the pediment board and again in the shape of the paired applied plaques on the bonnet façade, to the delicate spring of the cabriole legs to the shaped front skirt with its deep reverse curved centering the recessed shell. The fact that the back is dovetailed to the sides in both the upper and lower case, and that the detachable legs, housed within the lower case are supported by glue blocks and extended to roughly half the height of the lower case, further confirm its history of Newport, Rhode Island manufacture. Even the distinctly fashioned central plinth, fluted on its three visible sides and mounted by a corkscrew and cupcake finial, speaks to the attentiveness to the detail practiced by its craftsmen. Its overall understatement in design and ornament attests to the unique aesthetic sensibility of the conservative Quaker community on Easton’s Point in Newport, where the Goddard and Townsend school thrived from roughly 1750 to 1780. A similar high chest of drawers made in Newport also featuring a concave shell with an open center and slipper feet sold in these rooms, Important Americana: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Henry Meyer, January 20, 1996, sale 6801, lot 170. It was owned by the Gould family of Rhode Island. Another with an identical escutcheon plate centered in the top drawer of the lower case was given to the Metropolitan Museum of Art by Mrs. E. P. Moore in memory of Rear Admiral E. P. Moore1 The latter displays carving on all four knees and claw and ball feet with open talons. A high chest at the State Department is of the same form and similarly displays the distinctive scrolled knee returns.2 Another related example with a closed bonnet and pad feet sold in these rooms, Important Americana, January 17, 1997, sale 6957, lot 776. Samuel Whitehorne (1744-1796) was the son of John Whitehorne (1699-1766), a distiller, and his wife Abigail (Langworthy) (born 1707), who married at Trinity Church in Newport on April 16, 1732. Samuel married Ruth Gibbs (1748-1824), the daughter of the Newport merchant, George Gibbs and his wife Ruth (Hart), at Trinity Church on December 19, 1771. Samuel was active in Trinity Church as vestryman, warden, and senior warden and all of his 10 children were baptized in the church. He was a Loyalist during the American Revolution and in July of 1780 “Samuel Whitehorne, merchant,” was named with others in an act of the General Assembly at Providence barring British sympathizers from the state. In September 1780, the Assembly voted at Newport that the families of Lieutenant Goldsmith, Bernard Penrose, Samuel Whitehorne, Joseph Durfee, Isaac Lawton, and William Wanton be permitted to remove from Newport to New York with “their household furniture and wearing apparel” under the direction of the Honorable Major-General Heath. At some point, Samuel lived in Bristol but was obliged to move to New York with his family on an allowance of a dollar a day after the British evacuated Rhode Island. Later, he and his family returned to Newport. On March 27, 1786, after the Treaty of Peace was signed, the American claims Commission rejected Samuel Whitehorne’s claim for his distillery, which had been destroyed by the Revolutionary Army. On July 12, 1794, Samuel Whitehorne purchased property at 428 Thames Street in Newport from Henry Hunter, distiller, for 1050 pounds, according to the city deeds. This high chest was likely among the furnishings in this house. Captain Samuel Whitehorne Jr. (1779-1844) owned this chest next and it probably stood in the house he built in 1811 at the southwest corner of Thames and Dennison Streets, on land bought in March 1810 from Jabez Dennison. He was a merchant and shipping magnate in Newport in partnership with his brother, John. They were involved in several commercial enterprises including a distillery, an iron foundry, and a bank. Captain Whitehorne married Elizabeth Rathbone (1778-1856) in Newport on August 24, 1802, and they had eight children, four of whom died in infancy. This chest descended to their daughter, Eliza (1803-1894), who married William Ennis (1801-1849) on April 9, 1832. He was the son of Lieutenant William Ennis (1758-1831), who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and was an original member of the Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati. This chest descended from Eliza and William Ennis to their son, William (1841-1938), and next to his son, William Pierce (1878-1969), both West Point graduates and Brigadier Generals of the Army. William Pierce Ennis Jr. (1904-1989) owned this high chest next. Like his father and grandfather, he was a West Point graduate (1926) and had a distinguished military career in the Army, rising to the rank of Lieutenant General. For his service in World War II, he was awarded the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal. He received a distinguished service medal and Silver Star for his service during the Korean War. This high chest is the property of his grandchildren. It has remained in the Whitehorne-Ennis family for nearly 260 years and has never been published or offered for sale until the present time. It is an extremely rare and historic survival of its form for retaining its original finish. 1 Metropolitan Museum of Art, acc. no. 1980.139. 2 Clement Conger and Alexandra Rollins, Treasures of State (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1991): fig. 25, p. 106. Provenance: Samuel Whitehorne (baptized November 4, 1744-died April 1, 1796) of Newport, Rhode Island, who married Ruth (Gibbs) (1748-1824) on December 19, 1771; To their son, Captain Samuel Whitehorne Jr. (1779-1844) of Newport, who married Elizabeth (Rathbone) (1778-1856) on August 24, 1802; To their daughter, Eliza (1803-1894), who married William Ennis (1801-1849), of Newport; To their son, William Ennis (1841-1938) of Newport, who married Andrine (Peirce) (1850-1945); To their son, William Pierce Ennis Sr. (1878-1969), who married Eda (Totten) (1878-1972); To their son, William Pierce Ennis Jr. (1904-1989) of Newport, who married Frances (Dwyer) (1903-1991) on April 27, 1927; Thence by descent in their family to the current owners. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $150,000-300,000 Price Realized: $543,000 |
| THE CUTTING FAMILY EXCEPTIONAL FEDERAL POLYCHROME GRAIN PAINT-DECORATED PINE TWO-DRAWER BLANKET CHEST, SOUTH SHAFTSBURY, VERMONT, CIRCA 1820, appears to retain its original hand-blown glass knobs; inside of lid inscribed in graphite This was the property of Nioma Cutting and given to Florence Cutting who gave it to her brother Charles and wife, probably has been in existence since before 1800, Whittingham, Vermont. Height 40.5 in. by Width 41.25 in. by Depth 18.25 in. With its lavish painted decoration inspired by fashionable furniture of the Federal period, this blanket chest represents the best of high style furniture made by rural craftsman in Vermont during the early 19th century. This imaginative maker enlivened the facade of a plain chest in imitation of the vibrantly grained mahogany, satinwood, flame birch, tiger maple and bird’s-eye maple veneers found on expensive furniture made in urban areas. The graphite inscription on the lid recounts its history in the Cutting family of Whittingham, Vermont, from Nioma Cutting to Florence Cutting and next to her brother, Charles Cutting. Many members of this family are buried in the Cutting Cemetery in Whittingham. The name written here may refer to Charles Cutting (1830-1888) of Whittingham, son of James Cutting (1800-1857) and his wife Cynthia Winchester (1807-1843), who married on July 11, 1824. Charles later married Lovina Fairbanks (1838-1914). The blanket chest is one of a group of chests made in the Shaftsbury area that share identical construction characteristics and ornamental painting in mustard, green, red, and brown. One was formerly in the collection of Leigh Keno and sold at Christie’s, Important American Furniture, Folk Art, Silver & Chinese Export, January 20, 2012, sale 2433, lot 188. Another is in the collection of the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont. Three others are illustrated by Dean Fales Jr. in American Painted Furniture 1660-1880 (New York: E.P. Dutton & Company, 1972): nos. 371-3, p. 221. Two of the aforementioned examples are signed and dated 1824 by Thomas Matteson of South Shaftsbury. This group of chests is the focus of Caroline Hebb’s article “A Distinctive Group of Early Vermont Painted Furniture,” in The Magazine Antiques (September 1973): 458-461. Recent research indicates that these inscriptions likely refer to ownership rather than a maker.1 1Cynthia van Allen Schaffner, “Matteson Group Chests,” Encyclopedia of American Folk Art (New York: 2004): pp. 307-308. Krashes, David. (1998) "The South Shaftsbury, Vermont, Painted Wooden Chests",Rural New England Furniture: People, Place, and Production. The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife Annual Proceedings, 26-28 June 1998, editor Peter Benes, Boston University, pp. 226-235. Provenance: The Cutting Family, Whittingham, Vermont; Mr. Robert Ellison, New York; Gerald Kornblau American Folk Art, New York. Literature: Dean A. Fales, Jr., American Painted Furniture 1660-1880, (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1973), p. 233, no. 397. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $120,000-180,000 Price Realized: $225,000 | |
| | JOSHUA JOHNSON (1765 - 1865), DR. ANDREW AITKIN (1757-1809), MRS. ANDREW AITKIN (ELIZABETH AIKEN, 1761-1811) AND HER DAUGHTER, ELIZA AITKIN (1798-1885), together with an embroidered needlework sampler by the hand of the daughter Eliza, inscribed Eliza Aitken is my name and with my needle I work the same And By This Work you may plainly see The Care my parents took of me / Baltimore November the 19 1804 Aged 6 years. Oil on Canvas, Each portrait: 32 by 26.75 in., circa 1805, Baltimore, Maryland Dr. Andrew Aitkin was born in Paisley, Scotland, coming to America sometime prior to 1780, when he married Elizabeth Aitkin of Philadelphia. His obituary in the Baltimore Federal Gazette (April 10, 1809) mentions his service during the Revolutionary War as a surgeon under the command of General Richard Montgomery. Around 1783, Andrew and Elizabeth moved to Baltimore, soon after he opened a drug store in Fells Point. Listed among the debts of his estate was $9.99 by a Joshua Johnson, though it is unclear if this is the artist of the presently offered works or the some other similarly named person.1 Elizabeth (bornAiken) was born in Philadelphia in 1761. Her brother, George Aiken (1765-1832), was a well-known silversmith who moved from Philadelphia to Baltimore around the time that Elizabeth and her new husband relocated there. Elizabeth and Andrewhad ten children, including Eliza who is shown with her mother. Eliza was born in Baltimore in 1798 and died there in 1885.2 1Weekly and Colwill, Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter (1987), p. 29. 2See ibid, p. 31. Provenance: Descended in the family of Eliza Aitkin (1798-1885), who married Alfred Crawford; To their son, William Crawford (b. 1825), who married Mary E. Trumble (b. 1834); To his daughter, Mary Blair Crawford (b. 1855), who married John E. Briscoe; To their son, William Crawford Briscoe (b. 1892), who married Sophie Gaither Smith (b. 1896); To the present owner. Exhibited: Travelling Exhibition, Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter, Baltimore, Maryland, Maryland Historical Society; Colonial Williamsburg, The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center; New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art; Stamford, Connecticut, The Whitney Museum of American Art, September 1987-November 1988, cat. no. 29 and 30. Literature: Carolyn Weekley and Stiles Tuttle Colwill, Joshua Johnson: Freeman and Early American Portrait Painter, (Baltimore, Maryland and Colonial Williamsburg: Maryland Historical Society and Addy Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Center, 1987), p. 124-125, cat no. 29 and 30. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $60,000-80,000 Price Realized: $675,000 |
| | RARE AMERICAN 'CITY OF PHILADELPHIA'ENGRAVED POWDER HORN, ENGRAVING BY JACOBUS DE HART, LIKELY PHILADELPHIA, CIRCA 1778, inscribed JACOBUS deHART II PA REGT 1778, together with an associated stand. Length 13.625 in. Provenance: W. Graham Arader III Galleries, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $6,000-8,000 Price Realized: $37,500 |
| FEDERAL CARVED AND RED-PAINTED MAPLE CUPBOARD, CONNECTICUT RIVER VALLEY, CIRCA 1780, height 70.5 in. by width 24.75 in. by depth 18.5 in. Provenance: Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Blum, Willow Corners Antiques, Lisbon, Connecticut. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $5,000-7,000 Price Realized: $30,000 | |
| FINE FEDERAL PAINTED PINE DOWER CHEST, MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA, DATED 1788, inscribed 17 ELIZABETH BINDERN 88, height 28.625 in.by width 50 in. by depth 23.25 in. Provenance: William K. DuPont; Ginsburg & Levy, Inc., New York; G.K.S. Bush, Inc., Washington, D.C. Literature: Monroe Fabian, The Pennsylvania-German Decorated Chest, (New York: Universe Publishing, 1978), pl. 126. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 20, 2019. Estimate: $8,000-12,000 Price Realized: $75,000 | |
| (THE MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE), MOURNING RING FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON, Pink gold and black-and-white enamel ring with engraved profile portrait by Saint-Mémin under glass. A sacred relic, worn by Lafayette in memory of his "adopted father," George Washington. The bond between Washington and Lafayette and the nations they helped to make was perhaps best expressed by President John Quincy Adams in a farewell address for Lafayette delivered at Washington, 7 September 1825: "We shall look upon you as always belonging to us, during the whole of your life, and as belonging to our children after us. You are ours by that more than patriotic self-devotion with which you flew to the aid of our fathers at the crisis of our Fate; ours in that unshaken gratitude for your services which is a precious portion of our inheritance; ours by that tie of love, stronger than death, which has linked your name for the endless ages of time with the name of Washington.” This unusually small engraved oval portrait (ca. 16 x 13 mm) was accomplished by Saint-Mémin in 1800, and while loose copies are known, it must have been intended to be set in mourning rings. Ellen G. Miles records seven other mourning rings in Saint-Mémin and the Neoclassical Profile Portrait in America (1994). At the time of publication their location their locations wereYale University Art Gallery; a private collection (sold by Sloan & Co., 20 November 1977, lot 1444); Frank S. Schwarz and Son, Philadelphia; The Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Smithsonian Institution, Museum of American History; Dr. Joseph E. Fields; and unlocated. Literature: Miles, Saint-Mémin 920; see fig. 5:21 for an illustration of the ring in the Smithsonian. Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 24, 2019. Estimate: $25,000-35,000 Price Realized: $50,0000 | |
| PORTRAIT OF MARIE-JOSEPH PAUL YVES ROCH GILBERT DU MOTIER, MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE AT THE AGE OF FIFTEEN, Inscribed on the reverse "gilbert Du Mottier Mis. De Lafayette a l’age De 15 ans portrait fait en 1773"; also inscribed indistinctly on the top stretcher bar "a Jenny”, Oil on canvas (12.625x 9.5 in.; 322x 24 mm). Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 24, 2019. Estimate: $25,000-35,000 Price Realized: $81,250 | |
| PAUL REVERE, THE BLOODY MASSACRE PERPETRATED IN KING-STREET BOSTON ON MARCH 5TH 1770 BY A PARTY OF THE 29TH REG.BOSTON, 1770, handcolored engraving on paper (sheet: 10.75 x 9.5 in.; 273 by 240 mm), the hands on the clock at upper left reading 10:20 (Brigham cites a variant with the time at 8:00), on laid paper with the fleur-de-lis watermark. The print is in good condition overall except the sheet is backed with Japan, stabilizing several unobtrusive breaks and tears, and one repaired hole in the sky at upper right;faint discoloration and surface soiling; an occasional spot of rubbing to the ink, mostly in the red.Matted, framed, and glazed with Plexiglas. Paul Revere’s famous Boston Massacre print, first edition, second state, original hand coloring. Issued soon after the fateful brawl opposite the Old State House, Revere’s print has become an icon of the American Revolution, and indeed one of the most successful examples of political propaganda of all time. The depiction of the event, and a poem printed below, vilify the British Army and list the first casualties of the American Revolution: “Unhappy Boston! see thy Sons deplore, Thy hallow’d Walks besmear’d with guiltless Gore … The unhappy Sufferers were Mess[ieur]s Saml Gray, Saml Maverick, Jams Caldwell, Crispus Attucks & Pat[ric]K Carr Killed. Six wounded; two of them (Christr Monk & John Clark) Mortally.” Revere executed his engraving of the Massacre within a few weeks after the event, advertising it for sale on March 26, 1770. The Boston firm of Edes & Gill printed the engraving for Revere; on March 28, their ledgers show a charge for 200 copies. The clock on the church steeple originally read 8 o’clock; only two first impression copies are known. The event actually occurred around 10 pm, and all of the other copies, including this one, shows the event at 10:20. The exact details of the Boston Massacre are murky. Contemporary witnesses, chroniclers and the soldiers and subjects at the heart of the matter told very different stories. In any case, by the spring of 1770, New England’s metropolis had been smoldering with discontent. Five years earlier, Parliament had imposed the Stamp Act, taxing the colonies without representation. Though repealed, it was soon replaced by Townshend’s “Intolerable Acts,” which included new taxes. Then, Crown commissioners of customs, fearing (with reason) for their safety, had requested military support, and it was granted. In 1768, the Crown had ordered several regiments of infantry, accompanied by a small artillery train, to keep order in the city. Nearly 2,000 soldiers lived amongst Boston’s population of just 15,000. The quartering of the troops in private homes was seen as an additional affront to America’s already injured liberty. The soldiers soon became a despised caste in the city. On March 2, 1770, a scuffle broke out between workers at a rope walk and a number of soldiers who supplemented their wages with occasional work. The incident was repeated the following day. All was in readiness for the 5th of March. That night, the riot known as the Boston Massacre began when a group of young apprentices, teenagers for the most part, took it on themselves to heckle and harass a lone sentry standing guard at the customs house. A the crowd continued to gather, a small relief arrived at the scene, determined to extricate the soldier from a menacing situation. Epithets, and snowballs and ice were hurled at the soldier. A club was thrown, a soldier struck. When he rose to his feet, he fired his musket. Enraged, the crowd advanced en masse. A volley of bullets met them. Three men were killed outright, two more died of their wounds, and several more were severely injured. Boston was transfixed and horrified by the shootings. Church bells rang throughout the city, speeches were made, town meetings were ordered. Three weeks later, on March 26, an advertisement in the Boston Evening Post announced that “A Print, containing a Representation of the late horrid Massacre in King-Street,” was available for purchase. This was Paul Revere’s “Boston Massacre” print, one of three such images produced directly after the event. The future nationalist icon was primarily a silversmith, but he had also established a fine reputation as an engraver. Revere somehow acquired a copy of an engraving of the massacre by Henry Pelham, local painter and engraver. Revere rushed out his own version, trumping his competitor by one crucial week, ensuring that Revere’s production would dominate the market. Provenance: William Reese Co., New Haven — Gilder Lehrman Collection (acquired 1992, from Reese) — the present owner (acquired as duplicate released by Gilder Lehrman) Literature: Brigham plate 14 Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 24, 2019. Estimate: $150,000-200,000 Price Realized: $362,500 | |
| | THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, THE FIRST BOOK-FORM PRINTING OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE "In Congress, July 4, 1776. A Declaration by the Representativesof the United States of America, in General Congress assembled," pp. 41–46 in The Genuine Principles of the Ancient Saxon, or English Constitution. Carefully collected from the best Authorities; with some Observations, on their peculiar fitness, for the United Colonies in general, and Pennsylvania in particular. By Demophilus.Philadelphia: Printed, and Sold, by Robert Bell, (July 8,) 1776 8vo in half-sheets (7.75 x 4.625 in.; 197 x 116 mm). With the scarce and important terminal ad leaf. Bound fourth in a contemporary Sammelband ofsix American Revolutionary pamphlets. Together 6 works in one volume. Contemporary American calf, spine in six compartments, plain endpapers, red-sprinkled edges, spine black-lettered with press-markpJ in second and third compartments, further press-mark written in rear pastedown “—B— | Etage … —E—”; some minor scuffing at edges, tiny chip to foot of spine,withal in superb, as-issued condition. Probably the finest copy extant of the first book-form printing of the Declaration of Independence, preserved with other significant pamphlets of the American Revolution, including the third edition of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, the anonymous pamphlet that in large measure inspired the Declaration. With distinguished provenance, being from the library of a French officer serving in the American Revolution. The Declaration was first printed by John Dunlap, the official printer to the Continental Congress, as a broadside on the evening of July 4 into the morning of July 5, 1776. The text next appeared in the July 6 issue of the Philadelphia newspaper The Pennsylvania Evening Post, and two days later it was printed in Dunlap’s own newspaper, The Pennsylvania Packet, or General Advertiser. An undated German-language broadside of the Declaration printed by Melchoir Steiner and Charles Cist was likely issued about this time as well. July 8 is evidently theday that the patriot printer Robert Bell published his edition of the Declaration, appended to the pseudonymous Genuine Principles of the Ancient Saxon, or English Constitution, as evidenced by the terminal advertising leaf in the publication, which is datelined “Philadelphia, July 8, 1776.” On this final leaf, Bell announces his publication, “In a few days,” of John Cartwright’s anonymous American Independence the Interest and Glory of Great Britain, which had first appeared early in the year in a London edition. (A copy of Bell's edition of Cartwright’s work is bound in the present volume, and the title-page is a slight variant setting of the type for Bell's advertisement.) Advertisements for Genuine Principles in the 9 Julyissue of the Pennsylvania Evening Post and the 10 July issue of thePennsylvania Gazette state that the work was “just printed, published and now selling by Robert Bell.” So Bell's printing is not simply the first book printing of the Declaration, it is one of the earliest printings overall—and one of the rarest. Demophilus was probably the pen name of George Bryan, a radical Whig who helped to draft the 1776 Pennsylvania Constitution, although Howes tentatively attributes the work to Samuel Bryant. The Genuine Principles was intended to influence the delegates to Pennsylvania's constitutional convention; Demophilus noted, "A Convention being soon to sit in Philadelphia; I have thought it my duty to collect some sentiments from a certain very scarce book, entitled An Historical Essay on the English Constitution, and publish them … for the perusal of the gentlemen concerned in the arduous task of framing a constitution.” Bell must have had Genuine Principles on the press when Dunlap's broadside appeared. He added a gathering at the end to accommodate the Declaration and provided a brief but stirring introduction at the conclusion of Demophilus's text: "The events which have given birth to this mighty revolution; and will vindicate the provisions that shall be wisely made against our ever again relapsing into a state of bondage and misery, cannot be better set forth than in the following Declaration of American Independence." The Declaration did inspire Pennsylvania's constitutional convention, which convened on July 15 with Benjamin Franklin presiding. It is appropriate that Robert Bell first printed the Declaration in book form; he was the first printer of Common Sense and an ardent patriot. Bell's "Additions" to Paine's works included "The Propriety of Independancy," which was signed by Demophilus. This volume of American Revolutionary pamphlets is from the library of Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, grandson of the philosopher and an aide-de-camp to the Comte de Rochambeau and the Marquis de Chastellux during the American Revolution. The younger Montesquieu served atYorktown, was among the delegation sent to France to inform the King of the Franco-American victory, and was subsequently a member of the Society of the Cincinnati. Very rare:the only two other copies have appeared at auction since the Streeter sale, the last of those beingsold by us nearly thirty-five years ago, May 23, 1984, lot 36. Copies have been located in sixteen institutional collections: The Boston Athenaeum; The British Library; The John Carter Brown Library; University of Chicago, John Crerar Library; Harvard University; Historical Society of Pennsylvania;Huntington Library; Indiana University; Library Company of Philadelphia; Library of Congress; Massachusetts Historical Society; University of Michigan, William L. Clements Library; Missouri Historical Society; New York Public Library; New York State Library; and Yale University. The other works in the volumes are [Thomas Paine and others.] Common Sense; with the Whole Appendix: The Address to the Quakers: Also, the Large Additions, and a Dialogue between the Ghost of General Montgomery, just arrived from the Elysian fields; and an American Delegate in a Wood, near Philadelphia: On the Grand Subject of American Independancy. (second title, a3:) Common Sense; Addressed to the Inhabitants of America … Third edition. (third title, m1:) Large Additions to Common Sense. … II. The Propriety of Independancy, by Demophilus. … An Appendix to Common Sense. (fourth title, U1:) A Dialogue between the Ghost of General Montgomery, Just arrived from the Elysian Fields; and an American Delegate in a Wood near Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Printed, and Sold, by R. Bell, 1776. 8vo in half-sheets, general half-title, U3 with ads and Bell’s statement “Self-defence against unjust attacks”; natural paper flaw in lower blank margin of final leaf.Robert Bell’s “complete” edition of Common Sense, made up from pamphlets formerly sold independently. (Gimbel CS-9; Evans 14966; Adams,American Independence222e) [Rokeby, Matthew Robinson-Morris, 2ndbaron.] Considerations on the Measures Carrying on with respect to the British Colonies in North America. Philadelphia: Reprinted and Sold by Benjamin Towne, 1774. 8vo in half-sheets, with blank H3, issue with catchword “principles” on G1 (no priority); title a little spotted, some light browning, tiny wormtrail at inner margin B1-E2 just touching one letter. (Evans 13587; Adams, American Independence 134i; Sabin 72151 note) [John Cartwright.] American Independence the Interest and Glory of Great Britain; containing Arguments which prove, that not only in Taxation, but in Trade, Manufactures, and Government, the Colonies are entitled to an entire Independency on the British Legislature …Philadelphia: Printed and Sold by Robert Bell, 1776.8vo in half-sheets, half-title, with terminal leaf Q4, “Character of the Work from the English Monthly Reviewer.” (Evans 14673; Adams, American Independence105c; Sabin 11153) Richard Price. Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America. To which is added, An Appendix, containing, A State of the National Debt … London: Printed: New-York, Re-printed by S. Loudon, 1776.12mo, many deckle edges preserved at lower margin; some light browning. (Evans 15033; Adams, American Independence 224v; Sabin 65452) Joseph Tucker. The True Interest of Britain, set forth in Regardto the Colonies; and the only Means of Living in Peace and Harmony with them. … To which is Added by the Printer, A few more Words, on the Freedom of the Press in America. Philadelphia: Printer, and Sold, by Robert Bell, 1776. 8vo in half-sheets, terminal ad leaf, issue with biographical detail following Tucker’s name. (Evans 15119; Adams,American Independence144b; Sabin 97366) Provenance: Charles Louis de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, 1755–1824 (press-mark of the library of the château de La Brède, the seat of Secondat de Montesquieu's family) — by descent in the family (Sotheby's, 19 June 2015, lot 99) Literature: Evans 14734; Matyas, Checklist of Books, Pamphlets, and Periodicals, Printing the U.S. Declaration of Independence 76-01; Howes B900; Sabin 26964; Streeter 778. Not in Adams, American Independence Sold at Sotheby’s Auction January 24, 2019. Estimate: $300,000-500,000 Price Realized: $471,000 |
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