Date: Fri 16-Apr-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: LIZAM

Quick Words:

Hubley

Full Text:

Bidjar At Hubley Auction

with cut

By Rita Easton

CAMBRIDGE, MASS. -- F.B. Hubley & Company held its annual President's Day

auction on February 15, following two days of a pre-sale exhibit. Two hundred

five lots were offered to a standing-room audience for a gross of

approximately $200,000. Prices quoted do not reflect the ten percent buyer's

premium charged.

Several consignors were represented, including estate items from a local

Cambridge physician and his wife.

A buyer with the rug trade won the highest selling lot, a 22 by 12 foot

Bidjar, at $23,000. The lot was made in the Nineteenth Century, judging from

its wool foundation, according to a spokesman with the gallery, and had an

allover pattern predominantly in dark blue and gold.

"I found it in Brookline at a very small estate. It was the most dramatic

thing in the apartment. The family couldn't use it because it was so big.

Usually the allover pattern isn't as desirable as a center medallion, but this

one was superb," said the spokesman.

An imperial Satsuma temple jar, 19 inches high, realized $3,500; and a very

unusual and early Dedham pottery vase, inscribed "H.C.R.," which are the

initials of Miss Roberson, the founder of Dedham, sold to the owner of the

Dedham Museum at $2,200. Standing six inches high and featuring a volcanic

glaze, the piece was found accidentally at a Winchester estate, according to

the gallery spokesman.

A double tombstone top bannister back chair with woven seat, having replaced

finials, fetched $600; a set of six plain Hitchcock chairs, signed "L.

Stewart," with original grain painting, brought $7,200 from the trade; a four

drawer chest with bird's-eye drawer veneer, having French bracket feet,

garnered $5,000; and an unassuming, all-original inlaid drop-leaf breakfast

table, reeded Sheraton, with fine inlay of sandalwood, possibly Portsmouth,

North Shore, bearing indications that it was a New Hampshire maker, made

$8,000.

A marble bust of a Baltimore woman by Randolph Rogers, late Victorian period,

sold for $4,200 to a Baltimore buyer; an Export punch bowl, 16 inches across,

realized $1,800; memorial plates and bowls ranged from $400 to $600; a 5«-inch

oval shaker box with original green paint was purchased at $1,400; an 18«-inch

burled walnut bowl, described as "pure primitive," reached $1,500; a pair of

ten-inch Flow Blue plates, "Palestine" pattern, achieved $300; a four-post

canopy bed made $900; and a large gold frame mirror, having the New York label

of John Williams, brought $2,200.