HEADS AND CUTS AT BOTTOM OF RELEASE

 

Bisnoff auction by Northeast review – with cuts

Review and Gallery Photos By R. Scudder Smith

MANCHESTER, N.H. — “I have not had such an exciting time in a very long time,” Alvan Bisnoff said on Saturday morning, October 27, as he wandered through the exhibition of his collection that was about to be sold by Northeast Auctions at the Radisson Hotel. With his wife, Claude, by his side, it was like a final farewell to a grouping of theorems, important paintings and watercolors, several weathervanes, Windsor chairs and other furniture, folk art carvings and a large cigar store Indian holding court in the middle of the display. All had been a part of their lives for the past 20 to 30 years of collecting.

At 11 am, auctioneer Ronald Bourgeault announced the terms of the sale, spoke briefly about the collection, and asked for a bid for the first lot, a stoneware crock with applied handles from Bennington, Vt., stamped “J. Norton & Co., Bennington, Vt.” It was knocked down for $406, including the buyer’s premium. Close to two and one-half hours later, three baskets, including one melon form, circa 1860–1890, sold for $580, ending the sale of the Bisnoff collection. In between those two lots, 152 objects crossed the block for a total of $2.75 million, including the buyer’s premium.

All prices noted in this review, as well as those with pictures, include the buyer’s premium. Northeast charges 16 percent for the first $100,000, and 10 percent for any amount over that. A small number of the lots carried estimates, but the majority of the sale was conducted with no reserves.

Several lots of delft were early in the sale, with an English polychrome flower-brick, probably Liverpool, circa 1740–1750, selling for $4,060, and a pair of English polychrome plates, possibly Liverpool, circa 1750–1770, 8½ inches in diameter, bringing $1,392.

Game boards proved to still be popular with collectors and four were offered, including a Parcheesi board with central cross, 25 by 25¼ inches, with yellow circles in the corners and a red path for the players to follow. A star in the center “‘home” area was on a blue ground; the board went for $18,560. A bid of $19,200 took another Parcheesi board, two-sided, 18¾ by 19 inches, with red decoration in the corners, “HOME” in the center, and a strong yellow ground.

Several lots of stoneware and redware were followed by a redware figure of a reclining dog, circa 1870, possibly John Bell, Pennsylvania, 5½ inches long. With a Phil Bradley provenance, the piece sold for $7,888.

The first picture in the sale was one of the works by Jacob Maentel, a full-length profile, portrait of a lady, Pennsylvania, circa 1815. It measured 11 by 8 inches and sold for $7,830 to David Wheatcroft, one of the many purchases he would make at the sale. A rare Queen Anne mirror with shaped crest in the original black paint with gilt decoration, 19½ by 11 inches, was estimated at $2/3,000 and sold for $10,440. It was one of the many pieces in the sale carrying the provenance of Mary Allis, an early collector and dealer in folk art who worked with the Bisnoffs in building their collection.

More than a dozen theorems were in the sale and several were passed until along came lot 640. This one, from the collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, stirred lots of interest both on the phones and in the room, ending at $64,960. It is pictured in this review. Half a dozen samplers were in the sale, the top lot by Elizabeth Cutts of Berwick, Maine. This silk on linsey-woolsey piece, measuring 26¼ by 20½ inches, was from the Theodore H. Kapnek collection and sold for $51,040. It carried a presale estimate of $25/40,000. A Portsmouth, N.H., sampler by Deborah Laighton, dated October 15, 1818–1819, worked at Mary Ann Smith’s School, 17½ by 23 inches, also from the Kapnek collection, sold for $11,600 and will return to a New Hampshire foundation.

Several portraits by Ammi Phillips were in the sale. The first one offered was of John Kenyon, circa 1819, oil on canvas, 30½ by 25 inches. It sold for $27,840, as did the next lot, portrait of Lucy Hamilton, half-length, portraying her as a young lady holding a red bound book, oil on canvas, 32½ by 27½ inches. It was purchased by the Bisnoffs at the Philadelphia Antiques Show in 1985.

A bid of $32,480 took the second weathervane offered in the sale, a full-bodied leaping stag over a log with deep foliage, probably by Harris & Co., Boston, 28½ inches high and 31 inches long. The Goddess of Liberty weathervane was passed at $50,000, but the eagle with raised wings, attributed to A.L. Jewell & Co., 28½ inches long, sold for $15,080.

The portrait of two sisters seated in an interior with matching dresses and white aprons, oil on canvas, 23½ by 27½ inches, went for $44,080. This painting was sold from the collection of Mrs Lester Beall at Skinner, November 1986. A pair of leather fire buckets, Charles Hutchens, 1813, with eagle decoration, brought $8,120, and a pair of portraits by Erastus Salisbury Field of Dr Lyman Case and Emily Whiting Case, oil on canvas, 31 by 26 inches, sold to a phone bidder for $31,900. The provenance lists Mary Allis.

Among the furniture in the sale was a Philadelphia bow back Windsor bench, circa 1780–1800, 695/8  inches long, attributed by Windsor expert Charles Santore to either Joseph Henzey or John B. Ackley, both of Philadelphia. It sold for $48,720. Other Windsors included a Connecticut bow back armchair, circa 1795–1800, for $47,560 to David Schorsch. The provenance lists Marguerite Riordan and this, along with all of the Windsors in the sale, was illustrated in The Windsor Style in America by Charles Santore. A Philadelphia low back Windsor armchair, circa 1765–1780, marked “A.C.J. Painter 1888” under the seat, sold for $51,040 with a James and Nancy Glazer provenance.

The pair of Bellamy carved and painted facing eagle plaques, 42½ inches long, did not sell, but the view of West Point from Constitution Island by Thomas Chambers, oil on canvas, 21½ by 29¾ inches, brought $69,600. A bid of $37,120 from David Schorsch took the New England white painted and decorated dressing table, Rhode Island, 1810–1820, with a silhouette of a lady on the back splashboard. A Nineteenth Century carved and painted stylized figure of a dove from the collection of Howard and Jean Lipman, 6 inches high, sold for $8,120, followed by a painted and carved rooster, 6½ inches high, Mary Allis collection, also for $8,120.

One of the works by Ruth Henshaw Bascom, bust-length profile portrait of a young girl with landscape background, pastel and pencil on paper, 16 by 12 inches, brought $37,120. A number of carved decoys were in the sale; the top lot among them a shorebird attributed to the Verity family of Seaford, Long Island, circa 1890. With carved raised wings, carved eyes and fine stipple painting on the body, 9¾ inches high and 11¾ inches long, it sold for $37,120. David Wheatcroft bought lot 718, a race horse “Houdini” weathervane, 34 inches long, for $62,640, and three phone bidders competed for a pair of carved and painted drake and hen red-breasted shell-drake, Sag Harbor merganser decoys. The provenance lists James Abbe and the pieces measured 8 inches high and 18 inches long. The winner paid $10,440.

An important trade sign that once hung in the collection of Stewart Gregory was a 12-foot, 9-inch-long American double-barreled log rifle, gilt painted carved wood, that sold for $32,480. In talking about this piece after the sale, Alvan Bisnoff said, “I am sure glad it sold and that I do not have to hang it up again.” An Antonio Jacobsen signed portrait of “Young America,” dated 1895, oil on board measuring 18 by 30 inches, went for $24,360 to David Wheatcroft.

A few pieces of furniture were offered toward the end of the sale, one a New England Federal paint decorated three-drawer blanket chest from the collection of Howard and Jean Lipman, circa 1820, that sold over the phone for $41,760 to David Schorsch. A pair of portraits from the personal collection of Mary Allis, oil on board, 13½ by 9½ inches, by William W. Kennedy, brought $24,360, while a New England watch hutch with the original surface, circa 1780, 17 inches high and 9¼ inches wide, sold for $8,700.

During a break after the Bisnoff collection was sold, Ron Bourgeault said, “It went very well, Alvan and Claude were fun to work with, and I really loved this sale.” So did a lot of other people, both in the room and on the phones.

 

 

Heads for the Bisnoff Sale

Auction Action In Manchester, N.H.

 

The Bisnoff Collection

Set24 pt

Northeast Auctions Sells 154 Lots For $2.75 Million

Set 18 point

‘It was one of the most exciting days of my life.’ —Alvan Bisnoff

Collection Built Over The Past 20–30 Years Brings Bidders And Phone Calls To Manchester, N.H.

CUTLINES FOR THE Bisnoff sale

This game board, the first of four lots, two-sided with stars in red, yellow and blue, 21¾ by 22 inches, with checkerboard on the reverse, sold to a phone bidder for $18,560.

 

Among the redware pieces, a Pennsylvania molded flask in the form of a head with open mouth, circa 1840, 7 inches high, sold for $17,980. The provenance lists James and Nancy Glazer.

 

“Mr Wilson, New Hampshire,” portrait of a man with a key and seated at a table, watercolor on paper, original painted pine frame, 29 by 20 inches, sold for $52,200.

 

The most popular theorem in the sale was lot 640, a New England work with woven basket and melon, red berries and black-wing yellow bird, signed M. Heffron. On velvet ground, 12½ by 9¾ inches, with an estimate of $12/18,000, it sold for $64,960. It was once part of the collection of Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch.

 

The only work by Rufus Porter in the collection was this rare New England painted fireboard with pitcher of flowers and fruit with faux tile border depicting trees. It measures 30 by 43½ inches, had a high estimate of $50,000, and sold for $81,200. It was illustrated in American Decorative Wall Painting by Nina Fletcher Little.

 

The top lot in the sale was this Mashomoquet Indian weathervane in gilded copper with strands of hair cut from sheet copper. It measures 28 inches high, 29½ inches wide, and it once stood at the foot of the stairs leading to the second floor in the home of Stewart Gregory. It sold on the phone for $290,000.

 

A bid of $87,000 took this half-length portrait of Jeanette Paine, circa 1838, by Ammi Phillips. It is oil on canvas, measures 33½ by 28 inches, and is from Mary Allis and the Stewart Gregory collection.

 

A rare William and Mary triangular base tavern table, 26½ inches high by 20½ inches in diameter, sold for $58,000 to David Schorsch of Woodbury, Conn. “This table was once in my parents’ collection and it is nice to have it back,” he said.

 

This pair of three-quarter length portraits of Frederic and Harriet Parker, Pepperell, Mass., circa 1815, pastel on paper, 29 by 24 inches, each in the original gold leaf frame, opened at $37,000 and sold for $69,600. The provenance lists the private collection of Mary Allis to Mitchell Taradash.

 

Carved by John Cromwell, this cigar store Indian chief in old surface standing on the original base, 82 inches high, carried a high estimate of $70,000 and sold to David Wheatcroft for $150,800. Kenneth Snow of Newburyport, Mass., is in the provenance.

 

Fritz G. Vogt proved to be very popular, especially when lot 673 came up for sale. The residence of Mr and Mrs Alfred Degraff, Fultonville, N.Y., a large yellow house with barn and shed in the background, was depicted in crayon and pencil on paper, 287/8 by 405/8 inches, signed and dated March 27, 1895, lower left. The lot opened at $15,000 and sold to David Wheatcroft for 145,000. The provenance lists Gerald Kornblau, New York, and Hirschl & Adler Galleries. “This is the largest Vogt I know of,” Ron Bourgeault said. Two other works by Vogt followed this lot, the first bringing $56,840 and the second $53,360. Both were smaller in size, New York State homes, and sold to David Wheatcroft.

 

“Must be a record for a Windsor at auction,” Ron Bourgeault said as he knocked down a Massachusetts bow back armchair by William Seaver, circa 1780–1800, for $162,400. The chair opened at $20,000 and climbed rapidly with bidding coming from a series of phones and one determined man in the room who came out the winner. The chair is branded “Seaver” under the seat and the overall height is 37 inches. Francis Bealey of Essex, Conn., is in the provenance.

 

A bid of $48,720 took this portrait of a woman in a white cap and gold beads by John Brewster Jr, oil on canvas measuring 32½ by 27½ inches, from the private collection of Mary Allis.

 

Part of the exhibition area showing the catalog cover lot.

 

The preview was well attended and among the dealers on hand were Milly McGehee, left, Michael Whittemore and Deanne Levinson.

 

This large trade sign, 12 feet 9 inches long, sold for $32,480.

 

Game boards flank the Rufus Porter fireboard and the Indian weathervane.

 

Steve Smith, left, and Ron Bourgeault going over the Bisnoff catalog before the sale.

 

Lucy and Michael Danziger, hoping to increase their collection of American folk art, flank Ron Bourgeault during the preview.

 

John Newcomer, consultant to the Americana Department at Northeast Auctions, registered phone bids during the sale.

 

Alvan and Claude Bisnoff, with the cigar store Indian, prior to the sale.

 

Harvey and Isobel Kahn, well-known folk art collectors, were seeking new objects for their collection.

 

The bank of phones was kept very busy during the sale, with a number of cellphones ready to use when not enough landlines were available to take care of the bidders.