Full Text:

ART LEADS STRONG KAMINSKI SALE

(with cuts)

By Bob Jackman

ANDOVER, MASS. -- On November 27, Kaminski Auctions held its annual

post-Thanksgiving Day sale at the Rolling Green Inn. An audience of 400

contested for deep selections of paintings, lawn ornaments, furniture and

fretwork. Ninety-seven percent of the 600 lots sold successfully.

The top lot of the sale was a painting by Hendrik Willem Mesdag (Dutch,

1831-1915), which fetched $42,900 (est $800/1,000). The work sold to Welmoed

Laanstra of Laanstra and Partners of Takoma Park, Md., who purchased the

painting on behalf of a client. "Mesdag was a Dutch artist who specialized in

seaside art," said Laanstra, "so this is an example in his strongest area."

Mesdag applied emerging Nineteenth Century approaches to painting to

traditional marine subjects. He also amassed major collections of paintings by

both the Barbizon and Hague Schools. The work came from the estate of Mrs

Eleanor Crocker of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass.

Thirty-eight other paintings were consigned to settle an art dealer's $85,000

storage bill at Metropolitan Storage in Cambridge. The dealer had been selling

art on the side while working primarily in another profession, and over the

last eight to ten years, his fine art occupation had become largely neglected.

"His rent at Metropolitan is about $1,000 a month for each room. Metropolitan

has been patient with him," commented another fine art dealer.

"Negotiations for this consignment have stretched over a couple years," said

Frank Kaminski after the sale. "Finally the owner -- the storage company --

and I developed a solution: I was allowed to select 38 paintings from the 500

in storage. Their sale has paid about half the bill. Next I will select

another group of paintings, and those will be sold in our early spring

auction. That will hopefully settle [the matter]."

According to Kaminski, he was assisted in selecting the paintings by

Arlington, Mass., art dealer and consultant Susanna Fichera. "I handled all

the negotiations with the companies. However, Susanna helped evaluate and

select the paintings. We spent two days at Metropolitan pulling paintings out

of bins. We were concerned with provenance as well as the artists and

paintings which were saleable in this market. I recognized a few paintings

which I had auctioned. However, Susanna was able to recall the market history

of many more paintings. She had sold some when she headed Skinner's art

department."

That consignment included a half-dozen works by William Lester Stevens. Two of

those separately sold for $7,150. Another fine work was a Wayne Morrell

painting of the harbor at Manchester-by-the-Sea, which brought $2,640.

In another area a dozen fine examples of lawn sculpture were offered, and

Kaminski recalled the story behind them. "One day an older gent walked into my

Beverly office with a good bronze," he said. "He explained that his career had

been spent as groundskeeper of a Beverly Farms estate. After he retired, the

lady asked if he wanted the lawn sculptures. They have been in his backyard

for a couple decades."

The design and workmanship of the sculptures attracted the attention of

everyone at the preview. Dealers with expertise in other fields, such as

Richard Kenney and Jon Dahlfred, took time to study and admire the works.

Ultimately many of these lots were purchased by York, Me., dealer Nancy

Withington who specializes in decorative accessories, particularly lawn

sculpture.

There was aggressive bidding on bronze, marble, and cement ornaments. Topping

the bronze field was a Janet Scudder work depicting Cupid riding atop a

turtle's back at $6,600. Nancy Withington won the top marble lot, a lifesize

classical nude.

Over the past five years, Kaminski has established a niche as the nation's

most active house offering antique fretwork. At this sale it featured seven

lots, led by a circa 1900 fretwork clock with a domed bell tower, won by a New

York collector for $1,100.

"I share my purchases with a collector who is a doctor," said the winner. "He

buys about half of the fretwork I find." Competition for the piece came from

about half a dozen bidders in the audience and a couple of phone participants.

Both American and European furniture offerings spanned three centuries. In the

Early American field, a Rhode Island Chippendale desk with slant lid sold for

$5,775, and a Chippendale tall chest brought $4,950. A Victorian carved settee

fetched $2,640.

An English Queen Anne tea table reached $4,675 and a Louis XV/XVI transitional

marquetry secretaire-a-abattant rang up $2,530, leading the European field.

For $4,070, Essex, Mass., dealer Alexander Westerhoff won a splendid circa

1800 marble fireplace and mantel in the Adam style from Newport, R.I.

Folk art dealers found enough merchandise to stay for most of the auction. One

outstanding work was a Nineteenth Century lifesize carving of an eagle, which

was very possibly the work of Bellamy. It sold for $1,650.

An early Twentieth Century folk art lot was a two-foot-high Ferris wheel

driven by a crank handle. People who passed the piece often cranked it for a

few spins and the mechanism worked just fine. It brought $1,210. An example of

mid-Twentieth Century folk art was a store display of King Cole and three

fiddlers, with an electrical mechanism, which sold for $550.

The final two hours of the sale were devoted to the sale of silver and

jewelry. The audience thinned to about 100, and half the function room was

closed. The top jewelry lot was a diamond ring with a platinum setting, which

sold for $3,080. The silver field was led by a William Bateman tureen at

$3,190. The two leading buyers during this portion of the event were Dana

Guarnera of Ro-Dan Antiques in Essex, Mass., and Dan Meader of Georgetown.

Oriental rugs have been a consistent component of Kaminski's Thanksgiving

auction. Highlights among 28 offerings were a Persian Keshan rug which sold

for $9,350; a Turkish Oushak rug which brought $8,910; a Turkish Sivas rug

which garnered $7,350; and a Persian Isfahan carpet which fetched $6,600.

Those lots went to three phone bidders. The most active buyer in the hall was

Watertown dealer Hamid Rafatpah.