Date: Fri 24-Jul-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: DAVIDS

Quick Words:

RGlass

Full Text:

Robert Glass Auctions Norman Estate

LEDYARD, CONN. -- They are few and far between. In fact, many consider them --

a real country on-site estate auction with fresh quality merchandise and no

additions -- to be all but extinct in this region of the world.

However, auctioneer Robert Glass woke up the naysayers over the weekend of

June 26 as he presented the virtually untouched estate of Carol Norman, an

old-time New England farmer who had not only a house full of quality stuff,

but barns and outbuildings stuffed as well.

Norman was well known in the Ledyard/Norwich area as her local family tree was

widespread and extended back into the mid-Seventeenth Century. Family history

included not only life on the farm but also on the Connecticut River, where a

general store had once been run. The Norman family tree, consisting of the

Hurlbutts, Perkins and Stoddards, also revealed adventures on the high seas

with a fishing operation. There were family members who fought and died in the

Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and the Civil War.

The sale lasted for three days with the first session liquidating a collection

of redware and stoneware, nearly 50 historical flasks, military items, and a

wide assortment of iron and tole. Day two saw the furniture from the house

cross the block. Items included a tavern table, candle stands and a wide

variety of chairs such as several Windsors and a Seventeenth Century

mushroom-arm chair. And the third day appeared to be bargain day with small

odds and ends, and some treasures retrieved from the deepest crevices of the

barn and outbuildings.

When auctioneer Bob Glass asked the family for some history about the

collection, he was told by the family, "We didn't purchase any of this stuff,

it was just always here on the farm." Glass related that the family had that

old-time New England farm attitude of "Why get rid of it" when it was just as

easy to store in the barn or the attic.

The Friday session got underway with a large selection of baskets. The first

lot offered, a swing-handle basket, set the pace for the day by selling at

$1,650. A few lots later a swing-handle basket with pie-crust carved handle

realized $1,760; a ten inch basket with swivel handle brought $1,540; and a

seven-inch basket with pegged swivel handle went out at $1,870.

A small Indian basket measuring just over two by three inches, with potato

decoration in mustard and red, was the highlight of the baskets. Believed to

be Mohegan, the basket was actively bid by numerous dealers in the crowd as

well as representatives from the local Mohegan tribe, now owners of the

Mohegan Sun Casino just miles up river from the Norman homestead. Bidding was

fast and furious with a local dealer beating out the tribe as he claimed the

lot at $3,410.

Items from the pantry were offered next with a small wooden bowl carved with

the name "Mary Stoddard Her Bowl" bringing a hefty price of $3,520. Other

items included a small wooden cup with baleen handle selling at $1,760; a

fingered pantry box in blue, $1,100; and a small pantry box in green, $770.

Also sold was a rare double-handled wooden strainer. It was hammered down at

$1,320.

Bob Glass said a cache of pottery had been found in the upper story of the

barn. Redware and stoneware were included in the assortment and prices ranged

from $55 for a dye pot to $3,740 for a rare Commeraws jar with vertical loop

handles.

The family's military history became evident as an assortment of weaponry was

sold. Included were Revolutionary period muskets and powder horns along with

the usual array of squirrel guns. A military jacket with eagle buttons and red

and blue epaulets had been worn by family member Captain William Palmers

during the War of 1812. Bidding on the uniform was active and it sold for

$1,705. The auctioneers said that while removing a goose feather mattress from

one of the beds in the home, a Civil War hat with the Connecticut seal was

discovered underneath. Although the family couldn't remember exactly who the

hat had been used by, it still fetched $605.

Other items of interest sold on Friday included an adjustable ratcheting

wooden candle holder at $3,190 and a neat folk art wooden cow with movable

head and tail at $330.

Many of the barns were cleaned out on Friday evening in preparation for the

remainder of the weekend, and some of the newly discovered items were added to

Saturday's session. Furniture was the main attraction on Saturday, with the

top lot of the day being a Pilgrim Century armchair that sold to local dealer

Arthur Liverant. Liverant said he bought a few things at the auction and was

pleased with what he termed the prize of the sale -- the rare Seventeenth

Century chair with mushroom arms. The chair, according to Liverant, is one of

"12 to 15 known examples made in the Lebanon/Norwich area with most of the

recorded examples residing in museums, such as the two in Winterthur." Zeke

Liverant, Arthur's father, had known of the chair for many years having once

seen it decades ago at the Norman home. After learning of the chair's history

from Norman, Zeke was said to have been curtly informed that it was not for

sale.

The history of the chair is believed by the Liverants to be of single-family

ownership, with it having been originally owned by Mary Stoddard around the

turn of the Eighteenth Century. From there it descended into the Rufus

Hurlbutt family (Hurlbutt was killed during a Revolutionary War battle at the

burning of New London) and eventually was passed down into the Norman family.

Rockers had been added to the chair sometime early in the Eighteenth Century,

as estimated by Arthur Liverant, which protected the button feet. "The rockers

sort of saved the chair," Liverant said. "Although the rockers have been worn

absolutely flat, the result of some three hundred years of rocking, the button

feet were protected from excessive wear and are basically intact."

Bidding on the chair opened at $11,000. There was a left bid from a Texas

collector at $10,000 and a left bid from Maine at $12,000. Then, $12,500 was

immediately bid by a group in the rear of the tent and countered by Liverant,

who eventually claimed the lot. Liverant said the important chair, for which

he paid $18,700, was purchased for Nathan Liverant and Son's inventory.

Other top items included a set of six arrowback side chairs and one armchair

in dark paint with yellow stenciling. It sold for $3,630. A plain country

secretary with four graduated drawers and bracket base took $2,420.

The family highboy had been separated decades ago with the top and bottom

given to different family members. The Normans could not recall who was in

possession of the missing part, so the bottom was sold alone for $2,420. A

later bracket base had been added to a highboy top (No one knew where the

bottom for that one was either), with it selling for $1,165. Other furniture

of interest included a six-board blanket chest at $2,640 and a small Queen

Anne country tavern table at $2,200.

While scouring the barn for Sunday's sale, some treasures were revealed,

including an early sailor whirligig found inside a basket found inside of a

chest. The whirligig sold for $550 to a local dealer. A blanket chest in red

paint with faint white scrollwork painted on the front and sides was found,

although it was missing its top. The top was later found in another section of

the barn and reunited with the chest. The complete box brought 1,650.

The most lucrative find in the barn was a pile of parts and pieces of an early

corner cupboard in white paint. Consensus was that there was curly maple under

the paint, and despite the cupboard seeming to be incomplete, the pile of

parts were bid to $5,500.

Also found nailed to the back wall of the barn was a long curved piece of

wood, which was discovered to be the name plate from the stern of a large

boat. Painted with "Mary Elizabeth, New London," the piece had, according to

family history, been removed from one of their fishing vessels. Measuring some

12 feet, the stern board brought $1,100.

Even Bob Glass admitted after the sale that he "didn't think [estates like

this] existed anymore. It was an absolutely glorious three days for us and our

customers." The auction house tallied more than 1,900 people in attendance

over the course of the sale, and the auctioneer said many people went home

with some great bargains. But, perhaps the biggest bargain of the sale was the

potato roll recipe that Bob Glass had copied and was circulating amongst the

crowd. "It was the Normans' recipe which had been handed down from their

grandmother's Nineteenth Century cookbook," stated Glass. "We've had a lot of

people call us up and tell us they tried it. They all said they taste

wonderful."

For further information regarding the auction, or for a copy of the potato

roll recipe, contact Bob Glass at 860/564-7318.