Date: Fri 16-Jul-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDIR

Quick Words:

Independence

Full Text:

Declaration Of Independence Document Sells With Option

By Rita Easton

THOMASTON, ME. -- Advertised as "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the June 26

unreserved auction held by Thomaston Place Auction Galleries attracted a

capacity crowd of approximately 300. The contents of the estate of Mr and Mrs

Reinhard Rasche of Canton, Conn. and various additions from local Maine

families were offered in 310 lots, with a resulting gross of $250,000.

Slated for the dumpster, then rescued, a lot crossing the block at $90,000

became the focus of an unresolved problem: an original copy of the Declaration

of Independence, a broadside printed by E. Russell of Salem, Mass. for Rev M.

Gilman in North Yarmouth, to be posted in his church, was found in a box of

material to be thrown away as useless for auction.

The single Eighteenth Century page, which was the 14th to be printed in the

run, was given a lot number for the June 26 Thomaston auction, but one hour

before the end of the first of two previews a certified letter from the state

of Maine arrived, saying that the state should be the rightful owner of the

document and that the state archive had laid a claim on it.

The broadside was purchased by an anonymous buyer at the subsequent auction,

with the understanding that it was being "sold with an option to own," noted

John Holmes, auction manager of the gallery. Thomaston Place will not release

the document until the issue is resolved by a judgment, a legal process which

is proceeding at present.

"The Gift," an oil on canvas by Hubert Salentin measuring 30 by 36 inches, an

interior scene depicting children bringing a gift to an elderly woman, sold to

a private buyer on the phone at $14,000; a chromolithographic broadside by

Calhoun, Hartford, Conn., with dimensions of 82 by 42 inches, "Miss Baldwin,

Modern Witch of Endeavour," garnered $8,000 from a collector on the phone;

while a second chromolithograph broadside by Calhoun, in nine panels,

measuring 82 by 122 inches, "Baldwin the Mahatma," reached $4,000.

An Eighteenth Century shell carved mahogany open arm chair made $5,000; an

Eighteenth Century walnut one drawer table with stretcher base with slightly

cupped top realized $7,750; a small bronze naval cannon, 32 inches long, went

to a phone bidder at $3,600; an oil on canvas by Feberigo Andreotti, depicting

a man with a red hat holding a treasure box, 10‹ by 9¬ inches, fetched $6,250;

and a mahogany planked hull boat model in original condition, 32 inches long,

reached $6,000, selling privately on the phone.

A six-arm Waterford chandelier, 36 inches in diameter, went out at $2,750; a

two piece Hepplewhite desk with tiger maple inlay reached $3,500; a covered

dish in Majolica, 12 inches in diameter, achieved $375, and a Majolica pitcher

was purchased at $325.

Prices quoted do not reflect a required ten percent buyers premium.