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 August, 2011 | 26 Items | October, 2011  |
| Presentation Silver Coffee Pot, Bailey and Kitchen, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1835. Bulbous form with domed final resting on a square base with paw feet. Elaborate decoration includes flowers, scrolls, and on either side, Neptune's head and trident. Presented to Timothy Rogers, commander of the Commerce of Philadelphia, from the "Insurance Companies of the City of Phila." 11 1/2"h., approximately 58 ozt. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $1,500-2,500 Price Realized: $4,113 | |
| Queen Anne Slant-Front Desk, Possibly New England, 18th century, pine and hardwood. Dovetailed case, bracket feet, three dovetailed drawers and slat front lid. Fitted interior has well with sliding cover that conceals five drawers; there are five pigeon holes and five dovetailed drawers with hidden drawers behind. Writing surface has remnants of old cloth covering. Old batwing brasses. 35 3/8"w. 21"d. Appears to be an old replacement at hinge rail that is approx. 3/4"w x 3/8"d x length of lid, minor wear and damaged dovetailed area on right side above top drawer. 40 1/2 h. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $400-800 Price Realized: $4,230 | |
| Decorated Dome-Top Box, American, mid 19th century, softwood, possibly basswood. Small box with wire staple hinges and iron hasp lock. Original tulips and heart painted design. Partial inscription on back appears to end with "Conn." Wear. 5 1/2"h. 8 1/2"w. Fair amount of paint loss to flower petals, mostly on lid. Lock not original. Small holes in edge of box and lid that match up but don't correspond to anything. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $300-500 Price Realized: $969 | |
| Signed Copper Tea Kettle, American, 2nd quarter-19th century. Dovetailed construction with a swing handle stamped "Ward, Hartford", 8"h. plus handle. Ex Samaha (Ohio/Massachusetts). James Ward was working in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1828. Dent at the back at top dovetail seam. Rivet at the handle end near east spout has damage. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $400-800 Price Realized: $1,763 | |
| Three Painted Baskets, American, late 19th-early 20th century, splint. all have fixed handles. Two rectangular baskets, both with bittersweet paint, 3"h. 7 1/4"h. And round basket in grey blue paint. 8"h. Old paint but we can't guarantee that it is original. Blue has some damage on bottom and a small portion missing around the rim. Small red has expected wear. Large red has small piece of upper rim/band chipped off but expected wear. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $100-200 Price Realized: $1,085 | |
| Sheraton Butler's Desk, American,19th century, curly maple. Turned legs and shaped apron, three dovetailed drawers with walnut edge beading and pull out desk drawer with fall front. Fitted interior also in curly maple and consisting of pigeon holes, six dovetailed drawers and center door with two interior drawers. Top desk drawer has inlaid corner fans. Imperfections. Old brasses have some damage. 46"h. 41 1/4"w. 21"d. Walnut edge beading and bottom horizontal drawer guide facing are replacements. The beading around the left side of the top is missing a piece that is approx. 3/4" x 4". There are multiple small pieced repairs throughout and the top drawer has approx. 5" of beading missing from the right side. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $600-1,200 Price Realized: $2,585 | |
| Decorated Corner Cupboard, Pennsylvania or Midwestern, mid 19th century, poplar. Bracket feet and raised panel doors in base, top has applied half turnings, door with twelve panes of old glass with arched top lights, molded cornice. Original red and black paint. 86 1/2"h. 30" corner. Ex Hary Hartman (Pennsylvania). Approx. 3"l. x 3/4"h. pieced repair at right side or cornice. One pane cracked and there is a split in the door molding at that point. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $1,500-2,500 Price Realized: $2,585 | |
| Two Baskets, American, late 19th-early 20th century, woven splint. Buttocks basket with dark patina, 8 1/2"h. plus handle, and a gathering basket with worn red paint, 8 1/2"h. plus handle. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $100-300 Price Realized: $1,410 | |
| Burl Bowl, American, 19th century, ash. Oblong with good figure and patina, 4"h. 14"w. There is a small hole and a couple of splits at the top edge. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $600-900 Price Realized: $1,998 | |
| Stoneware Pitcher, American, mid 19th century. Straight sided with brushed cobalt tulips and impressed "1" in a circle. Possibly Remmey (Philadelphia). Applied handle. Spout chip.11"h. Shallow 1"l. chip on top of spout, minor flake on 1 ring at shoulder. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $200-300 Price Realized: $1,880 | |
| Betty Lamp, American. Stamped "PD 1835" for Peter Derr (Berks County, Pennsylvania). Copper and wrought iron with hanger and wick pick. 6 1/2"h. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $1,000-1,500 Price Realized: $2,703 | |
| Early Printed Cloth Map Of Washington DC, Probably American, ca.1800, printed cotton. Andrew Ellicott's revision of L'Enfant plan for the nation's capital including his notes. Similar to Ellicott's 1792 engraving of same. In a gilt frame, 26 1/4"h. 28 3/4"w. Some toning and a several small areas of loss where brown ink has harmed the cloth, mainly on the borders and in the lower right corner. Has been glued down at least on edges to cardboard backing. Not completely removed from frame. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $225-450 Price Realized: $9,400 | |
| Copper Trade Sign In The Form Of A Torch, American,19th century. Hollow with very good detail and old verdigris patina. Imperfections. 41"h. Splits and some bent over edges, including flame finial. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $250-500 Price Realized: $3,615 | |
| Oculist Trade Sign, American,19th century, zinc. Original polychrome paint with some wear, but great color. In the shape of spectacles with eye balls and: "Oculists prescriptions Compounded, J. H. Bayley, OPT.D." 14 1/4"h. 36"w. Appears to have an old varnish and we can't see any inpainting. Expected wear with a little more wear on one side. The upper banner is loose/separated on both ends. Sold at Garth's Auction September 3, 2011 Estimate: $500-800 Price Realized: $9,988 | |
| Thomas Chambers (British/ American 1815-After 1866) USS CONSTITUTION IN NEW YORK HARBOR OFF CASTLE WILLIAMS WITH STATEN ISLAND IN THE DISTANCE, 1835, Inscribed verso "U.S. Frigate Constitution in New York Harbor, T. Chambers", Oil on panel, 15 x 23 1/2 in. Literature: Foster, Kathleen A., Thomas Chambers: American Marine and Landscape Painter, 1808 - 1869, Yale University Press (2008). Other Notes: The New York City Directories from 1834 to 1841 list Thomas Chambers as a landscape and marine painter. The frigate's figurehead, a life-sized representation of President Andrew Jackson (installed at Boston Navy Yard in spring of 1834 amid a storm of controversy), dates his picture to 1835 when USS Constitution called briefly at New York, in March of that year, en route to Le Havre to bring home our Minister to France. It is probable that Chambers painted Constitution after she returned from France that June, and before she departed at the end of August on a circumnavigation that took three years to complete. The cruise terminated at Norfolk, Virginia. Constitution next called at New York in 1850 the same year that Chambers, now residing in Boston, designated himself a portrait painter in the city directories. Thomas Chambers was "discovered" by New York dealers Norman Hirschl and Albert Duveen who spent six years gathering material for an exhibition in 1942 at Macbeth Gallery entitled 'T. CHAMBERS, America's First Modern'. The critical comments in the catalogue are current today. Thomas Craven (author, art critic, lecturer) enthused "here is a painter who had control of what may well be called an American idiom, a combination of an inborn and developed sense of design with a true love of native landscape" he is an artist, and an authentic American Artist." Margaret Bruening (art critic, lecturer) commented that Chambers' "landscapes are distinguished by a directness, a boldness, and a power of simplified statement which may well have been termed modern," and that "the brilliant color patterns of pure lucent hues "and the elimination of non-essentials all contribute to the vitality and vigor of these paintings." Macbeth Gallery, President, R. G. McIntyre encapsulates the artist's timeless appeal "Consciously or otherwise, he certainly was a master of design." U.S.S. Constitution in New York Harbor off Castle Williams with Staten Island in the Distance, contains the desirable qualities in Chambers painting that thrilled the pioneers of American Art nearly 70 years ago. In addition, the painting documents a specific event that the artist witnessed and recorded contemporaneously - a rare occurrence, as Chambers was generally more liberal with his sources. Nina Fletcher Little (The Magazine Antiques, April 1948, p.285) points out that the earliest signed and dated (1835) painting, The Cutting Out of the H.M.S. Hermione, by Thomas Chambers is on panel as is the present example which was executed in the same year. The work is on panel. There is a split in the panel, halfway up the right side that has been expertly repaired within the past ten years. The length of the restoration is 6 inches long and is unobtrusive. The repair extends to the first mast, but not into the main boat. There are 6 small dots of in-painting in the sky in the upper right. There is one small area of in-painting at the left center. There is a small amount of crazing in the upper left, which is visible in the clouds and below the American flag on the boat extending into the central mast. There is also a small amount of crazing in the lower left in the water. Sold at Keno Auctions September 24, 2011 Estimate: $20,000-40,000 Price Realized: $35,000 | |
| James Buttersworth (American, 1817-1894), a pair of paintings: THE ACTIVE OFF CASTLE GARDEN, signed lower right "Buttersworth" partially under the rabbet of the frame. Oil on panel. THE ACTIVE OFF SANDY HOOK. Unsigned. Oil on panel, each in its original frame and original paper backing intact, 8 x 12 in each. Literature: William P. Stephens, Traditions and Memories of American Yachting (1981), pp. 85, 290, 291, 324, 348; John Parkinson, Jr., The History of the New York Yacht Club (1975), vol. I, pp. 93, 95, 98; Other Notes: Reference: Granby, Alan and Hyland, Janice, Flying the Colors: the Unseen Treasures of Nineteenth- Century Marine Art, Mystic (2009), p.p 173-174, p. 204, illus. plate III.27, p. 205, plate III.28 (for a similar pair intended to be hung as a sequential pairing). Yachtsmen of the "Gilded Age" were an unusual lot. Many were characters that were larger than life. The amount of ink spilled on the pages of the popular press at the time is akin to our contemporary cult of celebrity. A number of them were Brobdingnagian figures. Many were, as representatives of their generation, were fierce competitors, unrepentant, and not without a sense of humor. A member of this legion was Frank W. J. Hurst. Hurst was elected treasurer of The New York Yacht club in 1886, a post he held until his death 1902. W. P Stephens bequeathed us a portrait of Hurst, and his yacht Active in the pages of Traditions and Memories of American Yachting. "At a gathering of yachtsmen, I think on one the cruises, Admiral Harmony U. S. N. was telling the story of a chase of a blockade runner during the Rebellion, and he ended: 'And sir, the damned rascal got away.' A voice in the background piped up 'Admiral, I was that damned rascal.' This came from Frank W. J. Hurst, a young Englishman who in his early twenties was purser aboard an English blockade runner; after the war ended he came to New York, married the daughter of a New York merchant, and became a thorough American in his yachting. Joining the New York Yacht Club in 1874, he had built by Billy Force of Keyport, N. .J., a centerboard sloop of 50 feet l.w.l. Though distinctly of the home type, Active was sometimes called a cutter. I think that she had a plumb stem, unusual at the time, and she did have the broad counter of a cutter. In nearly 30 years' membership he served the club well as Treasurer and on committees: but his sympathies were on the side of the defender in all matches for the cup." In 1875 Hurst commissioned W. L. Force of Keyport, N. J., to build Active. She was a centerboard sloop with inside ballast, 55' 6'' over all, 50,' waterline 16' 6," breadth 5' 6," depth 4' 6," draft, and drew 11' 6'' with board down. Active was listed with The New York Yacht Club as a cutter. The pages of Traditions and Memories of American Yachting contain an interesting anecdote concerning her construction. "In describing Active The Aquatic Monthly stated that 'the stern will have an English over hang.' with 'an American rig' It adds: 'Mr. Smith made drawings from a model furnished by Mr. Force," including calculations and sail plan; 'the object of this is to have the spars, rigging, sails, and everything ready to put on the boat when it is launched. The Mr. Smith mentioned above is none other than Archibald Cary Smith, designer of 1881 America's Cup defender Magic, measurer of the N.Y.Y.C., and a marine artist whose talents were, in many ways, commensurate to those of James Buttersworth. Judging from the paucity of information in The History of the New York Yacht Club by John Parkinson. Jr. regarding Active one may conclude that she was used more for cruising than racing. However, she did win her class in the June 14, 1877 Annual Regatta. This race was marked by the famous squall out of the northwest towards the finish in which Wanderer lost her foretopmast, and Rambler her flying jib boom. Fred Cozzens, another popular contemporary of Buttersworth, painted a dramatic watercolor of this exciting episode that was later published as a chromolithograph titled In the Narrows, A Black Squall. All fine artists have one thing in common: they posses a style and technique which becomes exclusive property and something unique unto them which distinguishes and separates them from all others. J. E. Buttersworth achieved such distinction. Butttersworth was a painter of skies for drama and mood. The glow and flow of his skies is truly stirring, and the major factor in almost all of his paintings. More importantly, the artist's skies served as a magnificent theatrical backdrop for his subjects. Such is the case with Active where the Buttersworth employs cloud formations to convey the sense of weather conditions and time of day, and as the motive factor behind the planes of light and dark water, and glistening wave crests - effects that marry to produce both a sense of depth and movement in the painting. And, finally as a back drop to the rest of the action as a whole, and as well as the glue that binds the picture plane together. James Buttersworth painted with meticulous detail which was always in key, and which never detracted from the overall effect and harmony of the painting as a whole. He was both a draughtsman and painter. The former is aptly demonstrated by the fine line and detail in the delineation of his vessels. Buttersworth painted thinly as this impeccable detail required a thin and flowing medium to achieve. His paintings are characterized by fluid brush strokes and tight brushwork. The artist's architectural details of rigging, hull, and sails in is yachting pictures are peerless. A Buttersworth painting tells a story. They are narrative. Most frequently a relationship or tension is established with other vessels, or an interesting shore scene. Many depict a struggle with the elements, or portray a contest between vessels as evidenced in his yacht racing subject matter. There is always movement or conflict - a storyline - in all of his paintings. Many of his paintings are documentary in nature and depict actual events, beautifully narrated in their execution. Active off Castle Garden and Active off Sandy Hook manifest all of the best of Buttersworth catalogued in the foregoing paragraphs. They were conceived and executed as a pair (it was common practice to sign only one of a pair at the time), and were probably painted in 1875, the year Active was built. The narrative is a simple one-a perfect day on the water, going and coming. Active off Castle Garden and Active off Sandy Hook function as bookends for the chronicle. Active off Castle Garden depicts the sloop on starboard tack close hauled with main and jib set. The sun is in the east, the wind is fresh, the sky is fair, and all signs point to a brisk sail to Sandy Hook and beyond. Active off Sandy Hook depicts her on port tack with topsail, and topmast staysail set (indicating a gentle breeze). The sun is setting behind Navesink Highlands. If the wind holds, and if the tide is fair she will make anchor inside the hook before nightfall. James Buttersworth captured Active off Castle Garden, and Active off Sandy Hook well enough to satisfy the most demanding diarist. However this pair of paintings is more than a document or commemorative piece. Active off Castle Garden and Active off Sandy Hook truly evoke the spirit of the era - "The Golden Age of Yachting." The Active Rounding Castle Garden with the Battery in the Distance: surface grime; one tiny scratch, right center, tiny chip upper left corner; frame abrasion at the lower edge; a hairline crack in the lower right. The Active Rounding Sandy Hook, surface grime; a tiny scratch at lower right. Sold at Keno Auctions September 24, 2011 Estimate: $60,000-90,000 Price Realized: $128,750 | |
| Double Handled Ash Burl Bowl, Iroquois, circa 1780/1800, h. 8 in., l. 15 5/8in. Provenance: Descended in the family of a person who interacted with Native Americans in the early 20th century. Sold at Keno Auctions September 24, 2011 Estimate: $5,000-10,000 Price Realized: $6,695 | |
| Vibrant American folk art hooked rug, 19th c., depicting two large stags standing beneath floral branches within a red border, 65" x 35 1/2". Provenance: Bill Samaha. Sold at Pook and Pook September 30, 2011 Estimate: $5,000-10,000 Price Realized: $13,035 | |
| Pennsylvania redware bank, 19th c., with yellow and green slip decoration, 2 5/8" h. Provenance: Christies, Collection of Paul Flack, September 6, 1997. Sold at Pook and Pook September 30, 2011 Estimate: $800-1,200 Price Realized: $1,778 | |
| Miniature redware plate, 19th c., with yellow slip line decoration, 4" dia. Provenance: Christies, Collection of Paul Flack, September 6, 1997. Sold at Pook and Pook September 30, 2011 Estimate: $400-800 Price Realized: $3,159 | |
| Miniature redware plate, 19th c., with yellow and green sprig decoration, 4 3/8" dia. Provenance: Christies, Collection of Paul Flack, September 6, 1997. Sold at Pook and Pook September 30, 2011 Estimate: $1,000-1,500 Price Realized: $4,029 | |
| Pennsylvania scherenschnitte picture, 19th c., depicting a family with a young boy holding the American flag, 16 1/2" x 19 3/4". For a similar example, see Lipman Flowering of American Folk Art, pg. 98 from the collection of Fred Wichmann, sold at Sotheby', June 9, 1983, Lot 18. Provenance: Don Walters Sold at Pook and Pook September 30, 2011 Estimate: $2,000-3,000 Price Realized: $2,607 | |
| Large Pennsylvania redware dog, 19th c., seated atop a rectangular base with incised floral decoration, 8" h. Provenance: Pauline Heilman. Sold at Pook and Pook September 30, 2011 Estimate: $4,000-6,000 Price Realized: $6,518 | |
| Miniature redware plate, 19th c., with yellow slip dotted decoration, 4 3/8" dia. Provenance: Christies, Collection of Paul Flack, September 6, 1997. Sold at Pook and Pook September 30, 2011 Estimate: $800-1,200 Price Realized: $2,673 | |
| New England painted pine blanket chest, ca. 1810, with a lift lid and two drawers flanked by reeded and chevron carved stiles supported by a bold scalloped skirt and straight bracket feet, retaining a fine original vinegar grained and red sponged surface, 42" h., 42" w., 20" d. Provenance: Mary Thornton Collection. Sold at Pook and Pook September 30, 2011 Estimate: $4,000-6,000 Price Realized: $6,518 | |
| Pair of painted chalkware fruit baskets, 19th c., 11" h. Sold at Pook and Pook September 30, 2011 Estimate: $400-600 Price Realized: $1,007 |
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All material on this website © copyright 2009-23 by Colonial Sense, except where otherwise indicated.
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