Date: Fri 04-Sep-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Amesbury-Auctions-McGinnis-Auc

Full Text:

Lever Surfaces At McInnis

(W/7 cuts)

By Rita Easton

AMESBURY, MASS. -- Fine furnishings, rugs, silver, and decorations were the

subject of a July 26 auction at the Amesbury Auction House by John McInnis

Auctioneers. Six hundred lots crossed the block, with a large number of items

consigned by a Florida resident who is a descendant of Robert E. Lee.

An audience of more than 300 registered bidders and 200 additional absentee

and phone participants produced spirited competition.

An oil on canvas by Hayley Lever (American, 1876-1958), measuring 30 by 36

inches, which had been exhibited at the Whitney Museum in New York City in

1933, was the starring lot at $35,750. The canvas depicted a squash-filled

wheelbarrow against a landscape background.

An important Grueby pottery two-color vase in green with yellow flowers, 8«-

inches high, commanded an impressive $23,100 from a collector. The same buyer

also went home with a gray Marblehead Pottery vase, decorated with incised

flying geese around the rim, for $12,100.

An Eighteenth Century oval Queen Anne button-foot tavern table in untouched

"as found" condition, with grain painted decorating, fetched $20,900, and a

bellflower inlaid Pembroke dropleaf table with oval top, in original untouched

finish, mahogany, reached $19,800.

A Nineteenth Century American painted gameboard made $4,950; a cast bronze

outdoor garden sculpture of a young girl sitting next to a fish pond,

approximately 24 inches high, by Edward Berge (American, 1876-1924), reached

$5,500; "Landscape with Flowers," an oil on canvas painted by Thomas Allen,

went out at $7,370; an oil on canvas signed "Wheeler," depicting a New

Hampshire landscape, garnered $8,250; and a Nineteenth Century Gilbert Stuart

oil on panel, a portrait with Vose Galleries, Boston, Mass., provenance,

reached $11,000.

A Tiffany & Company sterling silver humidor rang up $12,825; a pair of

porcelain KPM urns, with handpainted floral and gilt decoration, sold at

$14,300; a rare Lionel electric car racing set, with original track, was

purchased at $3,575; and an Eighteenth Century mahogany tall-case clock, with

bonnet top, string inlay and fluted corner columns, reached $4,400.

An L. & J.G. Stickley even arm settle brought $5,775, and a Mission style

monumental globe, standing over four feet high, three feet in diameter, was

purchased at $12,650. An Eighteenth Century mahogany Hepplewhite sideboard

with string inlay reached $8,800.

More than 25 estate Oriental rugs were sold, with a room-size Turkish example,

14' by 11'3", selling at $12,650; a Nineteenth Century Sultanabad, with

all-over design on a rust field, 11'2" by 14'9", crossing the block at

$15,400; a Twentieth Century Chinese rug, 10 by 8', making $5,280; and a

palatial Kirman, 24' by 13'6", realizing $7,700.

Prices quoted reflect a ten percent buyer's premium.