Date: Fri 24-Sep-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: GWARD

Quick Words:

Pioneer-Easton

Full Text:

Pioneer Labor Day Auction A Tradition

(with 5 cuts)

By Rita Easton

NORTH AMHERST, MASS. -- Pioneer Auction of Amherst held a 35th annual Labor

Day auction on September 6 following two preview sessions. A standing room

holiday crowd attended, competing for 605 lots sold, which yielded a gross of

$220,000 in just over six hours. Consignments came from several local Pioneer

Valley estates, "...typical of our major sales where we offer stuff we've

saved for a while," according to Bruce Smebakken of the gallery.

An early Twentieth Century oversized Oriental rug, unidentified, "but possibly

Indo-Persian," Smebakken said, reached the high bid of the day at $9,500. The

10 by 15« foot lot featured greens on an ivory ground, and was purchased by

the rug trade. A Lilehan rug measuring 8 feet 10 inches by 11 feet 10 inches

realized $3,100; and an Oriental tribal runner garnered $1,800.

A micro-mosaic round table top, approximately 26 inches in diameter, with a

central motif of several doves, reached $7,500. The piece came from a home in

Amherst where the consignor remembered her grandmother having the original

base, which was now replaced with a Twentieth Century Beidermeier base not

original to the top. A Queen Anne spoon back walnut side chair with balloon

seat covered in grospoint realized $7,500; and "The Brook that Bubbles On," an

oil on canvas, 26 by 30 inches, done in 1911 by Phillip Little garnered

$3,900, "...pretty much on the high side for that artist," commented

Smebakken.

A George III open arm chair in rough sub-upholstery, originally from the

estate of Augusta S. Tack of Deerfield, Mass., sold at $1,700; a Greuze oval

approximately 20 by 28 inch head and shoulders portrait of a woman, an oil on

canvas, was purchased at $2,700; a pair of single burner Argand lamps brought

$2,400; and a larger pair of double burner Argand Eagle lamps made $3,300.

A mahogany linen press, with double panelled doors over three long drawers,

reached $3,200; a Hannah David band box with label, 8 inches high, covered in

colorful period wallpaper, achieved $2,100; a walnut Parian statue of Daniel

Webster, 18 inches high, went out at $2,200; a burled Victorian walnut

sideboard brought $1,200; and a tea caddy of ivory by Shreve, Crump, and Lowe,

standing on a tortoise shell base, needing repairs, sold at $1,650.

A Stickley Brothers round oak Mission table together with six matching chairs

went for $3,700; a wire Victorian planter in two parts which fit together into

a circular piece sold at $1,100; an inlaid mahogany dining table reached

$1,900; a mortar and pestle in blue and green old paint fetched $700;

graduated chests ranged from $600 to $1,100; a slant lid mahogany desk with

bracket base brought $2,000; a bronze dog with glass eyes went out at $775;

and a Victorian walnut tufted settee with matching gentleman's chair reached

$800.

One of the day's better buys was a Victorian swell front four-drawer mahogany

chest with cookie corner top which sold at $750; a slant lid cherry desk

missing the base reached $1,000; and a large antique Steiff elephant, 40

inches high, was purchased at $900.

Prices quoted above do not reflect a required 10 percent buyer's premium.