Santa’s Looking For A Home—

Estate Sale Offered Quality And Bargains For Smart Shoppers

By Shannon Hicks

Santa stood outside the front entrance of Fairfield Auction on April 12, his right arm held up in friendly greeting as dozens of potential bidders paraded into the auction gallery for an estates auction. The 18-foot-tall figurine of Santa Claus has been a fixture along Plumtrees Road in Bethel for two decades, but its owners decided recently to put it on the auction block. They are retiring and would like Santa to go to a new home.

Sadly for Santa, that did not happen last weekend. Lot #78 –– the Santa Claus figure from a Vermont amusement park –– came and went, and no one in the gallery took auctioneer Rosie DeStories up on her offer to bid on the figure.

According to Jack DeStories, the gallery’s co-owner, there was some postsale interest in the figure, so Santa may find himself in a new home before the next holiday season arrives.

The April 12 auction offered a nice variety of items from furniture to decorative accessories including paintings, clocks, cookware, linens and other textiles, and books. The books numbered more than 1,000 and were divided among 50 lots. They were from the estate of Jim Hoe of Weston, and many of the volumes had descended from Robert Hoe III, a founder of The Grolier Club and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Two of the standout pieces of the evening were a powder horn marked Packard and a Winslow Homer engraving that had been brought in to the gallery during one of its weekly consignment days.

“We had high hopes [for these pieces] by the time the auction started,” Mr DeStories said after the event.

The powder horn detailed the siege of Fort Miegs, Ohio, during the War of 1812. Its engravings included depictions of the fort, with Maumee Rapids and “British Batteries,” and a stylized eagle, sunburst, deer, and fish.

“We didn’t realize what it was initially,” Mr DeStories said. “But as we looked into it more and more, that’s when we realized what its engraving depicted. This was a pretty important historic event in the War of 1812, which was what made the powder horn so valuable.

“We have a little bit of provenance already, and I suppose the buyer will want to try to connect some of the names within that provenance to the horn,” he continued.

The powder horn had been damaged and repaired at some point, which clearly affected its selling price. After opening at $2,500, and moving thanks to bids both from the floor and on the phones, the bids moved quickly to $6,000. The floor bidders –– which included Bill Guthman, the Antiques Roadshow appraiser and a leading authority in the fields of Colonial and Federal Americana –– lost interest when the price hit $6,750. Phone bidding continued, however, finally stopping at $8,250.

(Prices do not include the 15 percent buyer’s premium charged by the gallery. These are all hammer prices only.)

The powder horn was sold, according to Mr DeStories, to a private collector from Ohio. “This is someone who lives only ten or 15 miles from the fort site. He was pretty interested in this piece.”

The Winslow Homer (1836–1910) work was an engraving titled “The Life-Line” and was based on an oil painting that had been done by the American painter in 1884. Depicting a rescue attempt at sea, the engraving was a much smaller scale than the original painting, measuring just 18 by 29 inches. It was published by Klackner in 1889.

There was “a lot of interest in this,” Rosie DeStories said as she opened bidding on the lot.

A $500 opening was bid up quickly between the floor and at least four phone bidders before finally resting at $6,250 and selling to the floor.

Also doing very well Saturday evening was an oil on canvas by Gabriel Schachinger (German, 1850–1912) depicting a mother and daughter. From the late 19th Century, the portrait measured 19 by 13 inches.

It was a beautiful painting in an absolutely gorgeous frame. What is funny is that the consignor had initially approached the gallery about selling only the painting. Mr DeStories had to convince the seller to put the painting back in its frame.

“The painting had come through her family. It had been in a closet, unframed for ten or 15 years, while they were using the frame for something else,” Mr DeStories recalled. “I had to convince her to put the frame back on.”

The seller must have been happy with Mr DeStories’ advice. The painting, which opened at $1,500 under an estimate of $2,000 to $3,000, sold for $7,250. This lot also sold to a bidder on the floor.

Also going to a buyer on the floor, after a good battle with a phone bidder, was a Ferry Slebe (1907–1994 or 1996) Naïve School clown portrait from the mid 20th Century. The gouache, which measured 18 by 24 inches, opened in the low hundreds and worked its way up to a $950 hammer.

A second lot of Ferry Slebe work –– a pair of pastels showing village scenes, 20 by 25 inches and each dated 1946 –– sold for $250. Other artwork that did very well was the Frank Faulkner “Mirage,” a 45- by 68-inch oil on canvas, for $2,250; and a restored and relined portrait of Eliza W. Pew attributed to Henry Walton, an oil on canvas measuring 30 by 24 inches, went for $2,500.

The sale offered a number of beautiful rugs. A 3’2” by 7’5” Peshawar Kazak with nice colors on a beige background sold for $150 (“a great buy,” said Mrs DeStories); a Hamadan scatter, 3 by 5 feet, sold for $255; a handmade Persian Musel runner, 3’7” by 9’10”, with strong, clear colors and in excellent condition, sold for only $200; and another Musel carpet, this one measuring 4’10” by 9’8”, sold for $225.

Even a nice little lot of four rugs –– a pair of Chinese sculpted scatter rugs together with two small round carpets –– all circa 1920, sold for $105.

As Mrs DeStories indicated, there were indeed some good buys during this sale. The quality of all the lots was very good, so buyers should have left feeling that it was money well spent.

A Regency style mahogany desk with inset leather top from the mid 20th Century sold for $150. Mrs DeStories sounded almost disbelieving when bidding did not go any further on the piece –– it was gorgeous.

A mahogany coffee table with brass feet and a glass top, circa 1940, sold for just $35. It was offered near the end of the sale, when buyers were getting the best deals of the night. The next lot offered, a large Victorian oak banquet table with carved base, circa 1880, was a show-stopper at just $200. Mrs DeStories commented that it should have sold for at least five times that price.

Even the next lot, a Pennsylvania style cherry hutch branded “Morganton,” circa 1930, sold for $150 –– another bargain.

A Federal style parcel gilt mirror, 56 inches high and from the late 19th Century, with gilt eagle, sold for $375, “another great buy,” the auctioneer said. A cute little Victorian side chair with ribbon upholstery, circa 1890, sold for $105; a partial Meakins dinner serving that included ten plates from the 19th Century was still a “great buy” at $175; and a shelf lot of Chinese decorative accessories including cloisonné and cinnabar sold for $200.