Full Text:

MARTIN PARKER COLLECTION AT WOLFS

(with 3 cuts)

CLEVELAND, OHIO -- A 40 year collection of art, Americana, Civil War items and

antique guns was sold over two days at Wolf's, December 4 and 5. Amassed by

collector/dealer Martin Parker of Spencertown, N.Y., the collection was sold

as part of Parker's decision to retire and to "go fishing."

Civil War flags, ships wheels, reclining nudes, homely portraits, Colonial

relics, bowie knives, cameo brooches, dug-out canoes, portrait miniatures and

academically-accomplished American paintings spoke to Parker's eclectic taste.

The sale totaled 1,285 lots, and well over a million dollars, with the

majority of lots comprised of paintings. The week-long preview brought

Americana and painting lovers from across the country who took substantial

amounts of time to absorb this behemoth one-man collection.

Friday's sale consisted of the somewhat more subdued collections of

Continental paintings and drawings, Oriental art, silver, ethnographic art and

jewelry. Highlights of the day included a beautifully crisp fall scene with

wood gatherers in a forest by Norwegian artist Ludwig Munthe. The painting

sold for $7,500.

A classic pastel of a "Ballerina at the Bar" by Pierre Carrier-Belleuse sold

for $13,800 to a Cleveland collector. Another painting, by Swiss artist

Ferdinand Sommer, in a Hudson River Valley frame, sold for $9,800, more than

three times the low estimate. A full house continued to compete for the rest

of the day for the many other Continental paintings, drawings and decorative

arts.

Saturday promised to be an exciting day due to the diversity of the

collection, which included American primitive paintings and portraits and

American furniture. An Eighteenth Century Connecticut linen press sold for

$13,800, and a Rhode Island slipper-foot slant-front desk made $12,500. An

Eighteenth Century powder horn, highly carved and etched with flowers,

inscribed "Johan, 1759," sold for $4,300, and antique guns including a British

Revolutionary War Brown Bess Musket and Bayonet sold for $5,200 and a Sharp's

Civil War Three-Band Percussion Rifle for $4,400.

The sale began with early American paintings including the sale of the cover

lot, a work by Thomas Chambers depicting the New York battery. The striking

depiction won many admirers during the preview, and after intense bidding from

serious collectors, sold to a New York private buyer for $30,000. Another

American painting lot included two works by James Buttersworth, depicting a

ship in distress and the subsequent capsize, sold for $37,000.

Perhaps the most interesting of the early American pieces was the beautifully

crafted Seventeenth Century bible box with hand-inked religious scenes. The

box was found by Parker in the Schenectady region and it appears to be one of

the earliest known artifacts from that part of Colonial America. According to

Colonial scholar Stephen Kafka, this rare piece was built more than 100 years

before the American Revolution. A lab test of the wood determined it to be

Atlantic white cedar and scholarly research suggested that it quite possibly

belonged to an itinerant Jesuit missionary. When the bidding stopped at

$16,500, Leigh Keno was the adventuresome dealer using the courage of his

conviction to acquire this most interesting early American relic.

Three excellent Civil War lots brought over $30,000. Perhaps most interesting

was a lot including the three star shoulder boards of none other than Ulysses

S. Grant, together with carte de visite photos of the illustrious General

signed in his own hand, and carte de visites of his family. The lot also

included an invitation to the marriage of Grant's daughter, Nellie at the

Executive Mansion. This lot sold for $13,800 to a Civil War aficionado.

With over 70 percent of the sale comprised of American paintings, it was an

excellent opportunity to acquire American art from almost every period. The

challenge in researching and estimating prior to the catalogue publication was

formidable, but proved to be an excellent learning opportunity even for

seasoned dealers and collectors.