A $38,513 Painted Pencil Box

At Skinner’s Americana Sale

 

Skinner teaser

For 6-13

BOSTON, MASS. — A small pencil box with exquisite painted decoration stole the show at Skinner’s Americana sale this past Sunday, June 8.

The 6-by-10-inch box, slightly more than 2 inches deep, featured a slide top that was painted with a wonderful folky waterfront homestead scene complete with a stately colonial home known as “Twinhearts,” meandering paths, trees, potted plants, waterfowl and two boats with oarsmen and passengers.

Elaborate cornucopias, shells and a basket of fruit adorned the sides of the box and the far end was signed in a calligraphy style, “R.S. Washburn.”

Made in Vermont, full documentation accompanied the lot regarding the life of the artist, Roxanne Stratton Washburn, and it is thought that the depiction of “Twinhearts” on the box lid was a “dream picture,” as she died during childbirth before the home was completed.

Estimated at $6/8,000, spirited bidding pushed the lot to a selling price of $38,513.

—DSS