FOR 4-15

POOK & POOK w/9 cuts

ak/lsb set 4-6 #622646

By J.M.W. Fletcher

DOWNINGTOWN, PENN. — Fine furniture, art, folk art and decorative accessories went to the block at the Pook & Pook Winter Antique Auction, March 11–12. This sale featured items from the Delaware Art Museum and various private collections from the Eastern Seaboard states.

The Friday evening sale offered more than 250 lots of china, handwoven carpets and samplers. A three-medallion carpet on a blue field, 8-foot by 4-foot, Lori Pambok, sold near its high estimate of $4,500. The only tall case clock to go to the block was a fine cherry case, circa 1786, with eight-day works. Although the works and case are marred and hinges replaced, it fetched a strong $12,650 ($4/7,000).

Note, all prices include a 15 percent buyer’s premium.

The most fascinating lot of the evening sale was lot No. 75 — the narwhal skull with two 6-foot-long tusks. It carried a high estimate of $35/45,000, but a floor gallery bidder took it to $57,500.

In a telephone conversation with Dan Finamore, curator of maritime art and history, Peabody Museum, Salem, Mass., he said, “It is possible for a species of narwhal to have two tusks. And its rarity may be the reason for the price. The museum does not have one [with or without two tusks] in its collection.”

Among the paintings sold, the H.P. Smith oil on canvas landscape, 12 by 18 inches. made $8,050, well above its estimate of $1,5/2,500. A George III mahogany armchair, circa 1765, was bid to $17,250, also well beyond its estimate of $2/3,000. Made of Huang Hua Li wood, hinges replaced, the six-panel folding screen, with 12 blue and white porcelain panels, had an estimate of $4/6,000 but brought a strong $13,200.

Between stints as auctioneer, Ron Pook took a moment to discuss the evenings sale as some of the lots brought spectacular record prices. “It is hard to predict what is going to do well these days and what’s not. The narwhal tusks went to $50,000, way over the world record. A Black Forest carving brought $40,000. It has to be double the world record price. It is very strange.”

The second session began at midmorning with a letter by Franklin Pierce, dated September 19, 1856, to a Philadelphia resident. It equaled its high $3,500 estimate. In silver, the H. Chawner, George III tankard, circa 1787, was bought for $2,185.

A good Angel Botello (Spanish, 1913–1996) sold slightly above the $9,000 high estimate, while the group of five Rockwell Kent etchings and engravings all stayed within their modest estimates. The pair of oil on canvas portraits of a husband and wife, both relined with minor repairs, made $2,760, within their estimate of $2/ 3000.

The phones did not outbid the gallery for the massive Nineteenth Century 22-inch-high by 18-inch-diameter ironstone blue and white transfer pitcher, which was chipped and had a hairline to rim of base and spout. Depicting Chinese garden scenes, it tripled its high $1,200 estimate.

With a view of the “US Hotel Philadelphia,” the historical blue shallow bowl doubled its high $1,200 estimate, and an oil on velvet theorem of a basket of fruit sold slightly above its high estimate of $2,000. A group of more than a dozen quilts — patchwork and pierced — had minor interest and sold within their estimates, but, the patchwork quilt signed, “H.L. Bicknell, Turbridge 1868,” which had several one-inch stains throughout, sold against the phones to the gallery at $1,496 ($300/400).

Selling to the phones at twice its high estimate of $1,500, the carved and polychrome four-bird tree was but 19 inches tall. Painted boxes are becoming very collectible. The pine candle box, mid Nineteenth Century, with original flower decoration, made $3,910 ($1/1,500). With approximately 128 animals, 69 birds and five human figures — as well as a replaced hull and lid replaced and some chips on the some animals — the carved Noah’s Ark, circa Nineteenth Century was a collection by itself. It sold at $5,520, just over its high estimate of $3/5,000.

Possibly by the Acoma potter, circa 1890, with red, black and orange on a cream ground the polychrome pot , which had a hairline and surface cracks to rim, made a tad below its $10,000 high estimate. Unique, to say the least, was a rolled paper urn and cover, with a giltwood flame finial and a footed base that made $5,750 ($1,5/2,500).

The 14 mechanical and still banks made up the last grouping of the sale. Among the sales was for the Clown on a Globe, $2,700, and the Horse Race mechanical, $8,050. The highlight, however, was the Mother Goose Circus, Professor Pug Frog mechanical, circa 1886, Stevens Co., designed by Charles Bailey, that reached $25,300 ($4/6,000).

To once again quote Ron Pook on the subject of auctions, “It is very strange.”

4/15

4th Sunday of the Month Collectible Show

set 4/7 ak #623274

 

WEST HAVEN, CONN. — The New Haven Philatelic Society, the new sponsor of the West Haven Stamp Show, begins its fourth Sunday of each month series of shows on April 24. The show, which includes stamps, coins, covers, postcards and other collectibles, is held at the Knights of Columbus Hall, 263Center Street, West Haven. There will be some dealers who participate all year and others on a monthly basis.

For information contact Ed Corfini at 203-384-8197 or ecorfini@optonhine.net.