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Past Sale Results for June 23 & 24, 2006 Highlights of the 2006 Semi-Annual Cataloged Antiques and Americana Auction Scroll down for photos and descriptions of highlighted pieces from this auction. Available for download are the Catalog Listing, Corrigenda Sheet and Prices Realized. Green Valley Auctions of Mt. Crawford, Virginia conducted their semi-annual Antiques and Americana auction over three sessions on June 23 and 24, 2006. The firm's three galleries were packed with nearly 2,000 lots which grossed just under $700,000 including the 10% buyers' premium. The office staff was kept on their toes registering over 550 bidders representing 26 states, the United Kingdom and Germany. In addition to the in-house bidders, over 1500 absentee bids were executed along with nearly 200 phone bids. The auction featured furnishings from the historic Willson-Walker House restaurant of Lexington, VA which has closed after 20 distinguished years; Part one of a large Northern Virginia collection assembled in the 1950s & 60s; property from two old New England collections; the early ceramics collection of Dr. & Mrs. Philip E. Duncan; along with many other collections and estates. Friday's uncataloged Session #1 filled the back room with rows of as-found furniture, box & tray lots, along with fresh attic and basement contents. A selection of 19th century Virginia ledgers drew strong interest highlighted by an 1846 Shepherdstown (now WV) example which sold for $715 (all prices include the 10% buyer's premium) and an 1848 example from Albemarle Co. which fetched $495. Other ephemera included an estate collection of American stamps which sold as one lot for $990. A large selection of primitive furniture, most of which had been stored in a grain silo for the past 30 years, sold well and included a two-door cupboard and an Empire sideboard, which brought $577.50 each. Friday's cataloged Session #2 began at 5:30 p.m. with a recently discovered estate accumulation of VA obsolete currency which drew much interest despite apparent condition issues. Top lots included an 1862 Staunton Bank of the Valley in Virginia $4 note at $522.50 and a pair of 1818 Winchester Bank of the Valley in Virginia $50 and $100 notes at $440. A collection of ironware followed next including a rare Griswold skillet-form advertising clock which was a good buy at $2530 and a collection of figural doorstops, primarily floral, which ranged from $55 to $385. A virtually mint 2 1/8" Onionskin marble with a lobed core and mica flecks rolled off at $770. Country accessories included a New England sugar bucket with outstanding original blue paint which soared to $1,430 against a $300-$500 estimate. A collection of Victorian ladies' accouterments featured over 30 coin purses including a lot of two inlaid tortoise shell examples at $352.50 and three ivory examples which were carried away at $440. This session's final lots provided a couple of possible sleepers for those remaining die-hard bidders. Nobody was snoozing however when the two tray lots of costume jewelry, with modest $50-$75 and $30-$50 estimates, sold for $352.50 and $385 respectively. Saturday's Session #3 commenced at 9:30 a.m. with Green Valley's traditional outstanding selection of Shenandoah Valley and other folk pottery. Green Valley President and senior auctioneer Jeff Evans commented prior to the sale that pottery continues to be the hottest category in the field of Americana and he has seen no cooling of the market at all. Leader among the over 90 lots offered here was a lead and manganese-glazed earthenware figure of a seated monkey which was attributed to the famous Bell family of potters. The catalog cited two closely related examples, one in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the other illustrated in Wiltshire's Folk Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley. This 4 3/4" high figure which probably originally held a jug between its outstretched arms, demanded a respectable $11,000 final bid from a Virginia collector despite having been reattached to its oval base. Other earthenware highlights included a signed J. Eberly & Co., Strasburg, VA, decorated slip-washed urn which had been published in Comstock's The Pottery of the Shenandoah Valley Region - in excellent condition it brought $8,800; and a manganese and slip-decorated lead-glazed ovoid jar with two handles, attributed to Peter Bell working in Winchester, VA around 1830, which rose to $5,225 despite wear and losses to its glaze and decoration. Stoneware included an extremely rare signed A. Coffman, Rockingham, VA, decorated salt-glazed stoneware jar, being one of only five examples recorded with Andrew Coffman's impressed mark. Coffman is recognized as the father of Rockingham Co. pottery and is directly responsible for nearly all of the potters who worked in the county during the 19th century. This jar was published in Comstock and in Evans/Suter's A Great Deal of Stone & Earthenware in addition to having been included in two museum exhibits, all of which contributed to its final selling price of $7,425. A fine collection of treenware was next to the auction block lead by a carved and turned burl bowl, 8" high and 16 3/4" x 17 3/4" diameter, from the first half of the 19th century and in excellent original condition, it sold to a phone bidder for $3,740. As always Evans and his staff assembled a good selection of folk art for this sale including a fine watercolor and ink 1816 fraktur by Peter Bernhart of Rockingham Co., VA. This 8" x 13" example featured a motif of birds, urns and tulips, for which Bernhart is well known. It was recently discovered by one of Evans' staff in a small local estate consignment. Because it was fresh to the market and in outstanding bright condition, it quickly flew to $20,900, a record auction price for the artist. Other Virginia folk art included a watercolor and ink portrait of a young lady wearing what was described in the catalog as a "loaf-of-bread" hat, from the second quarter of the 19th century and in its original frame. It had descended in the Sheets family of Augusta Co. and sold for $7,150; selling for the same amount to a Virginia institution was a circa 1775 "Millennium" stove plate cast at Col. Isaac Zane's Marlboro Furnace in Frederick Co. in very good condition. A large selection of silver and Objects dé Vertu included an English Egyptian-Revival plated silver epergne featuring three camels and Sheffield hallmarks from the fourth quarter of the 19th century which was hotly contested to $3,575. Fine art was lead by a massive oil on canvas Wisconsin landscape attributed to Mark Robert Harrison and featuring Native American figures which made $4,125. A nice selection of miniature and/or children's furniture included a Virginia paint decorated hard poplar blanket chest which stood only 11" high and dated to the early 19th century; after an in-house battle between two Virginia collectors, the diminutive gem sold for $9,625. The furniture portion of the sale got off to a slow start when the expected star of the auction, a Johannes Spitler decorated yellow pine blanket chest, failed to meet its reserve of $100,000. The chest had undergone recent professional conservation including the addition of appropriate bracket feet and the removal of some early 20th century in painting to the decoration; a complete conservation report as well as before and after photos were available to interested parties. It was only the second recorded Spitler chest featuring fully decorated drawer fronts and the overall decoration consisted of many of Spitler's most iconic motifs including doves, inverted hearts, pinwheels, tulips, crescents, and candy-striped panels. Evans commented before the sale that if this chest's condition was comparable to the record setting Sptiler cupboard which the firm sold for $962,500 in 2004, it would probably sell in excess of $500,000 because of its exceptional decoration. Evans added that he and his staff had fielded many inquires concerning the chest and had sent out numerous sets of photographs and conservation reports. Reached after the auction Evans noted that there had been two inquires after the chest failed to sell, one of which came in before the auction was over. "Mr. & Mrs. LaCroix decided to take the chest off the market and return it to their collection" Evans reported. "I was most disappointed that two regional museums which had shown strong interest in the chest didn't take advantage of this unique opportunity to add a seminal piece of American and more importantly (to their mission) Shenandoah Valley folk art to their collection" he commented. "I think that many people were scared off because of the price that the cupboard brought" Evans speculated, "even though we made it very clear to everyone we spoke with that because of the chest's conservation, we believed that the estimate was very realistic." Furniture that did sell well included a late 18th century Frederick Co., MD transitional Chippendale walnut semi-high chest of drawers, refinished with several small patches to the drawer faces, which brought $4,675 and a rosewood with mahogany veneer 36-drawer apothecary cabinet which sold for $3,850. Most of the Classical and Empire furniture sold below estimate except for a Classical brass-inlaid rosewood and giltwood pier table with a marble top probably of a later date, which sold for $4,400 to a New York City dealer bidding by phone. A small group of George III furniture was well received and included a mahogany dining table in two tilting sections with one extra extension board which more than doubled its high estimate selling for $8,525 and a mahogany drum table with tooled leather top and six frieze drawers which marched off at $4,400. A small selection of art glass included a 15" Dorflinger Honesdale decorated cameo vase which after a prolonged battle between a floor bidder and a phone bidder was hammered down at $2,310, annihilating its $200-$300 estimate. Evans and his staff again secured two sizable collections of 18th and 19th century English ceramics which rounded out the auction. Highlights included a 9 3/4" diameter Mochaware bowl with slip-marbled decoration in as-found condition with hairline cracks, discoloration, and wear which fetched $2,530 after a battle between two dealers bidding by phone; and a dark blue Staffordshire "Quadrupeds" 12" x 15" platter in excellent condition which stampeded off at $1,595. After the auction Jeff Evans reported that he was pleased with the sale's overall results. "I do have mixed feelings because this is the first time in Green Valley's nearly 40-year history that a major lot failed to sell; 99.5% of our lots sell without reserve and we only accept reserves that I think are very reasonable and are in keeping with our fairly conservative auction estimates" he reported. "We are lucky that we have a constant supply of fresh merchandise from estates and collections and we don't have to accept reserved merchandise. Auctions are somewhat fickle by nature, one lot will bring three times estimate and the next will bring half of estimate but in the end the highs and lows usually even out; most of our auctions gross 25% to 75% more than the total high estimates" Evans added. Green Valley's next Antiques & Americana auction will take place on November 10 & 11, 2006. "Recent important Virginia folk art discoveries already on hand include a Rockingham Co. stoneware 1860 presentation cream pitcher by a previously undocumented potter and an outstanding paint decorated woven splint basket with wooden cover and base" Evans proudly reported.
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