| | | | | | | | |
| ||||||||
| | | | | | | |
|
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 2001 Highlights 2002 Highlights 2003 Highlights 2004 Highlights 2005 Highlights 2006 Highlights 2007 Highlights 2008 Highlights Advertising & Country Store Americana Antiques & Decorative Arts Bottles Ceramics & Glass Civil War Classic Autos Collectibles Cookie Jars Furniture Glass & China Oil Lamps Paintings Pattern & Early American Glass Pottery Silver & Jewelry Textiles Toys & Dolls |
 |
Past Sale Results for November 9 & 10, 2007 Highlights of our Semi-Annual Auction of Antiques, Americana, Decorative Arts, plus Glass and Lighting Scroll down for photos and descriptions of highlighted pieces from this auction. Available for download are the Catalog Listing, Addendum and Prices Realized. On November 9th, 10th and 11th, Green Valley Auctions, Inc. of Mt. Crawford, Virginia held its four-session, three-day semiannual cataloged auction of Antiques, Americana and Decorative Arts. A bit of a departure from the firm's past November offerings, this year's auction featured a special focus on decorative arts from Virginia and the South, and also included an impressive selection of early American glass and lighting. Company President, Jeffrey S. Evans, explained that this sale's special emphasis on Virginia and Southern material was a direct result of the firm's immensely successful and well-received March auction of the collection of the late Dolly and Mac McKenney of Mint Spring, VA. "The catalog that we printed for the McKenney sale was not only an essential guide to their collection but also a valuable documentation of Shenandoah Valley and other Virginia material," Evans commented. "We received an outpouring of positive comments on the quality of the catalog and the information that it contained, which inspired us to begin producing a full-color catalog for our Fall Americana auction; the Virginia and the South focus was a natural extension of the McKenney sale." Green Valley produced two separate full-color catalogs for the November 10th and 11th auctions, and also posted the catalogs online, on the firm's website. The first catalog contains 184 pages covering 900 lots that were included in Saturday's Session #3; the second 96-page catalog covered Sunday's 1,100+ Powell collection of American glass cup plates. Cataloged sessions #2, #3 and #4 were also available to registered eBay Internet bidders on eBay Live. More than 700 uncataloged lots were auctioned off during the first session, which kicked off at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, November 9th. There was a wonderful selection of as-found furniture, ironware, books, glassware, ceramics, artwork, rugs, textiles, swords and firearms, advertising, toys and decorative arts. Great auction finds included a tin toy of a horse and man ($357.50), a sewer tile ($440), tavern table ($495), small red cupboard ($660), bag of buttons ($742.50), sugar chest ($907.50), large burl bowl ($907.50), Empire writing desk ($935) and a musket that was lacking the lock plate ($1,650). Offered during Friday's 6:00 p.m. Session #2, were more than 200 cataloged lots of toys, Lladro, Lalique, fine and costume jewelry, buttons, firearms, knives and swords, Native American jewelry items and a small selection of Civil-War related material. Interest in the firearms was very strong with top sellers being a 19th century German ivory-grip dagger pistol ($3,300), an 1807 Virginia musket, thought to be a Confederate conversion to percussion ($3,080), a 1904 Colt single-action Army revolver ($1,870), and a signed "W. A. Morris" percussion long rifle with inlays ($1,870). Other top lots in the firearms category were a German Model 98 rifle ($1,540), a Colt Model 1911 U.S. Army .45 automatic pistol ($1,320), a Colt Ace .22 automatic pistol ($1,210), a U.S. Springfield Model 1903 30-06 rifle ($1,210), and a U.S. Springfield 1922 M1 .22 rifle, modified to M2 ($1,210). Other highlights from this session included a Stickley Arts & Crafts oak round top stand table ($2,970), a Rookwood vase with mottled brown, green and red matte glaze ($2,200), a Lladro porcelain figure featuring two herons ($1,540), a light blue Rookwood bowl with handpainted butterflies ($715), a blue and white salt-glazed girl and dog pitcher ($660), and an early 20th century Madame Alexander Donald Duck marionette ($385). The Native American material featured several nice squash blossom necklaces which sold for an average of $275 each. Also sold during Session #2, was one consignor's optometry collection, which included a remarkable array of antique spectacles and eyeglass cases, as well as a nice mahogany optician's cabinet, advertising trade signs, related ephemera and reference books. The various lots of spectacles, opera glasses, chatelaines, lorgnettes and monocles, some sold in groups, brought good prices with many lots selling in the $200 to $500 range. Top lots were a pair of 18th century steel frame c-bridge spectacles in a carved wooden case ($472), an English silver chatelaine hallmarked for 1890 ($501.50), a 19th c. pair of French scissors glasses with gilded metal frames ($531), a pair of bone Eskimo shades ($826), a 26 1/2" long wooden pair of eyeglasses with painted eyes on metal ($826), a pair of Martin's Margins Visual glasses with silver mounted case ($880). The 76-lot collection grossed over $20,000, with half of the lots selling to Internet bidders. Leading off Saturday's 9:30 a.m. Session #3 was an outstanding polychrome slip-decorated lead-glazed earthenware 10 3/4" diameter bowl. The circa 1800 bowl, attributed to Henry Adam of Hagerstown, MD had been recently discovered by the consignor and was in remarkably near proof condition. The bowl ultimately sold to Baltimore dealer Milly McGehee for a reasonable $14,300. Crossing the auction block just a few lots later was a fine, circa 1870, lead and manganese-glazed earthenware wash basin, attributed to Anthony Bacher. Decorated with two birds, a coleslaw stack above the rear-mounted soap dish, and a rosette-stamped front rim, the two-handled basin was most likely produced at Winchester, VA during Bacher's "black period." This bowl was part of a group of twelve lots that Green Valley resold after a non-paying Virginia collector "won" the lots at Green Valley's fall 2006 Americana auction. Although the wash basin's final bid price was $46,200 in 2006, it reached only $20,900 at this auction. President and senior auctioneer Jeff Evans made it clear at the beginning of Saturday's session that these lots, along with a corner cupboard that was also an unpaid lot from an earlier Americana auction, were the property of Green Valley and were being sold without reserve. Evans commented after the auction that the firm lost around $60,000 on these items. He added that they would be filing deficiency claims against both non-paying parties. "I will pursue these two deadbeats until the end of time; we may never get our money, but we will make it pretty miserable for both of them." Another highlight in this Folk Pottery category was a signed "A. Keister & Co., Strasburg, VA" decorated salt-glazed stoneware two-gallon pitcher from the mid 19th century; the pitcher's outstanding condition helped it realize $4,400. Two exceptional pieces that each brought $4,675, were an unusual Folk Art carved cherry hanging watch hutch/pipe rack from the second half of the 19th century that had its original dark varnished surface; and a late 18th century pine wall map case, probably from New England, that retained its original dry green-painted surface. The map case had a finely molded frame that featured rose-head nails and lap joints at the corners, its two cotter-pin-hinged plank doors concealed a John Wallis 1783 map of the United States of America. The 21 1/2" x 25" case was in outstanding original condition, although the condition of the map itself was poor, due to losses and staining. A Southwestern genre painting by Maynard Dixon (American, 1875-1946) drew tremendous interest, primarily from the Southwest. The 13" x 9", oil on artist's board painting inscribed "El Lechero - (Milkman)" on verso over a previously painted landscape, was signed and dated Feb. 15, 1915 in the upper left corner. A member of the Green Valley staff discovered this previously unrecorded Dixon painting in a box of miscellaneous pictures and frames that had been consigned to the firm's biweekly general estate division. After a fierce battle between eleven telephone bidders and one floor bidder, the Dixon painting finally sold to the phone for $49,500. American hand-colored maps, many featuring Virginia, were extremely popular with both the in-house and Internet bidders. The 30+ examples were all fresh to the market, having resided in two Virginia collections for more than 30 years. Despite being secured down and trimmed, a 1714 map of Virginia and the Mid-Atlantic states, and a 1719 map of the English Empire in America, brought $7,150 and $4,125, respectively. Other top selling maps included a 17th or 18th century Great Lakes Region map ($2,478), and three regional North America maps that featured Virginia - an undated, 18th century example ($1,650), a 1705 version ($1,980), and a dated 1805 example ($2,750). Several other maps sold in the $120 to $825 range. An undeniable favorite among the auction-goers was a circa 1885 Shenandoah Valley Folk Art carved and painted yellow pine carousel horse. According to the catalog, the horse was attributed to carpenter/cabinetmaker James W. Sheetz of Shenandoah County, VA and was one of eight horses from a traveling carousel that operated at various fairs, Confederate Veterans Reunions and gatherings throughout Shenandoah County into the early part of the 20th century. The leaping figure, which the consignor's great uncle had purchased in 1920 at the Sheetz family auction in Edinburg, VA, had an unbelievable presence that could only be fully appreciated in person. Accompanying the horse was a copy of an early 20th century photo that showed the disassembled carousel being moved by two horse-drawn wagons from the Fisher's Hill, VA picnic grounds to a UCV reunion at Hamburg, VA. This same carousel horse was on display in 1986 at the Valentine Museum, Richmond, VA in "Virginia Folk Art", a companion exhibit to the Museum of American Folk Art's "Southern Folk Art" exhibition; and in 1993 the horse again distinguished itself when it graced the cover of Folk and Decorative Art of the Shenandoah Valley, a Shenandoah Valley Folklore Society publication. The phenomenal Folk Art horse, which had the distinct honor of being the singular lot shown on the cover of Green Valley's November 10th auction catalog, sold for $55,000 to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley in Winchester, VA. A representative for the museum said that they are "absolutely thrilled" to add this important piece to the museum's growing collection. Evans noted after the auction that a couple had recently brought photos of a nearly identical horse from the same carousel; this other horse, which had been in their family since around 1920, was undoubtedly acquired at the same auction as the horse sold by Green Valley. Achieving a final bid price of $8,250 was an important Lincoln's of Virginia family archives comprised of over 500 manuscript documents and receipts, primarily spanning the 1820s to 1870s and pertaining to Colonel Abraham Lincoln (1799-1851) of Linville Creek, Rockingham Co., VA and his family. Colonel Lincoln was a cousin of President Abraham Lincoln and a prominent figure in the Virginia Militia. This archive, which the consignor's father purchased in 1938 at an estate auction, sold to the Lincoln Society of Virginia, a non-profit organization. Among the nice selection of Virginia coin silver offered, was a 2 1/4" high cylindrical caster with pierced domed lid that was signed with a script "W.R" hallmark for Captain William Richardson (1757-1809) of Richmond. In very good condition with some light dents around the body, the caster sold to Maryland dealer Milly McGehee for $8,250. Other Virginia accessories that sold strongly included an early 19th century Shenandoah Valley walnut, copper and iron coffee mill, attributed to New Market or Winchester, which had descended in the Major Christian Shirley family of New Market and was in outstanding original condition ($5,500 to a Virginia collector); a circa 1860 tinted half-plate daguerreotype of Richmond Tobacconist James Thomas, Jr. by the J. H. Whitehurst Studios, depicting Thomas (Richmond's first millionaire) standing and holding three forms of tobacco ($9,350 to a Richmond dealer/collector); a 7 3/4" diameter brass sundial owned by Thomas J. Massie (1787-c. 1865) of Frederick and Nelson Counties, made by F. W. & R. King of Baltimore, MD and dated 1856, in excellent as-found condition ($6,600); and a mid 19th century cast iron hollow bore cannon barrel ($4,675). Purportedly cast at the Catherine Furnace at Grove Hill in Page Co., the barrel had been excavated on the farm of Raymond Foltz, a descendant of one of the former operators of the furnace (with a 1 1/2" x 2 1/2" hole at the firing vent, it apparently did not pass proof testing and was discarded). Additional Southern material included a bracket clock made in Britain for the Charleston, SC market that was consigned from an old New England collection ($17,600). The clock featured a mahogany case with elaborate brass inlays, a musical movement striking on ten bells, and a brushed-steel face inscribed "Warranted by Jabez Johnson, Charleston." Johnson is recorded by MESDA as a clockmaker or watchmaker working in Charleston from 1795-1821. A 40+ piece archive of watercolors and etchings by Charleston, SC Renaissance artist Antoinette Guerard Rhett (1884-1964) drew strong interest. The artwork, which had been recently discovered in Baltimore, MD, Rhett's birthplace, represented the largest grouping of the artist's work to have surfaced in many years. Four signed watercolors of Charleston street scenes, ranging in size from 8" x 6 1/2" to 13" x 9 1/2", sold from $5,225 to $6,050 against estimates ranging from $300-$500 to $800-$1,200. Two hand-colored Charleston etchings sold for $1,650 and $2,420 against $200-$300 estimates, and lots containing between three and five signed and unsigned small etchings of Charleston street scenes, structures, landscapes, and botanical subjects sold for prices from $467.50 to $1,100, all against modest estimates. Ten platinum print portrait photographs by Doris Ulmann (1882-1934) were also sold, all but one signed and printed by the artist, probably between 1927 and 1934. Each had been purchased in 1994 from the estate of noted folklorist and balladeer John Jacob Niles, and included in a 2001 exhibition at the Hopewell Museum in Paris, KY. These painterly portraits were well received by floor and Internet bidders, and sold for prices of $880 to $1,980 each. Top lot among the furniture was a recently discovered Middle Tennessee Sheraton cherry sugar chest sideboard, circa 1825, and probably from Sumner Co., which sold for $31,900 to a Southern collector in attendance. The chest was one of only a handful of recorded examples of this extremely rare form that feature a lift-top full-depth compartment on each end and a single bottle-type drawer in the center, all raised on tall turned legs. The top was lacking its original central gallery, but all other aspects of the piece were original. One rear leg had an old repair and the surface retained an old dry crackled finish. The auction catalog noted that a sideboard sugar chest of the same form is illustrated in MESDA's Journal of Early Southern Decorative Arts, Winter 1997, Vol. XXIII, Number 2, p. 48, and is attributed to Robertson Co. which adjoins Sumner Co. to the west. The article's author Anne McPherson notes that a "Side Board Sugar Chest" was included in the 1825 inventory and account sales of the estate of Nashville cabinetmaker James B. Houston. Leading off the Virginia furniture was one of only two recorded tall case clocks signed for Presley Cordell of Leesburg, VA. The painted iron face and 8-day brass works were housed in a Federal mahogany flat-top case. Green Valley's research indicated that Presley Cordell (1779-1849) was born in Leesburg, VA to George and Catherine Cordell. His father had immigrated from Wiltshire, England in 1741/42. The elder Cordell is recorded by MESDA as a cabinetmaker and clockmaker, while Presley is recorded as a clockmaker and silversmith. After much interest and many inquiries, the clock sold for $17,600 to an overjoyed Cordell family descendent. Two pieces of furniture attributed to Augusta Co., VA sold to the same Augusta Co. collector for well over estimate - a painted poplar and yellow pine country Chippendale two-drawer blanket chest, all original except for an 1870s grained overpaint, which descended in the Sheets family of Middlebrook ($7,700), and a fine Hepplewhite walnut slant-front desk with simple line inlays in outstanding original condition and retaining an old, possibly original surface ($11,000). Another fine Shenandoah Valley lot was a carved and molded yellow pine and poplar mantelpiece with several coats of later paint over its original paint. The mantel was in very good, as-found condition and drew strong interest before it eventually sold to an Internet bidder for $5,900. While many pieces sold well above estimate, an historically important Richmond Windsor writing chair, firmly attributed to the shop of Robert and Andrew McKim, turned out to be quite a bargain. The original owner of the chair was author and Virginia statesman William Wirt (1772-1834), who was admitted to the Virginia Bar in Richmond in 1792. Thomas Jefferson personally asked Wirt to serve as prosecutor at Aaron Burr's 1807 treason trial; and in 1817, President James Monroe named Wirt Attorney General of the United States, a position he occupied until 1829. Although Wirt held numerous other important positions throughout his career, his 1832 bid for President was unsuccessful. Jeff Evans and his staff had meticulously recorded the impressive provenance, and an extensive group of research material that was presented along with the chair, included a 1944 issue of The Magazine Antiques in which the chair had been featured. Despite its established history and outstanding condition (with the exception of a later green-painted surface), the chair sold for only $6,600 to a floor bidder. Evans acknowledged that the chair had been offered for sale privately in the recent past and speculated that this may have diminished bidder interest. Also offered, was a selection of Georgian and Continental furniture and accessories from the estate of Pearle Powell Prillaman of Basset, VA. Mrs. Prillaman had purchased much of the material from noted decorator Otto Zenke who had studios in Greensboro, NC, New York City, Palm Beach and London in the 1950s and 1960s. Unfortunately, many of the items had been neglected over the past decade, and the final hammer prices reflected the fact that much restoration would be required. Two pieces that were in very good condition and sold well above average were a diminutive (only 48" wide) Georgian inlaid-mahogany bow-front sideboard from the first quarter of the 19th century that realized $5,500, and a Continental gilt-metal, two-tiered candle chandelier, ornamented with crystal prisms and swags, which sold to an Internet bidder for $2,950, despite being electrified. A large selection of primarily English ceramics crossed the block, including collections of Staffordshire two-color transferware and figurines; and a collection of American and English majolica was offered as well. Several lots received strong interest, including an excellent, undamaged circa 1900 Martin Brothers four-sided stoneware jug, decorated with a low-relief costumed musician on each side ($2,124), a 19th century, stripe and fern decorated English Mochaware footed bowl ($2,090), a signed "J. Düron," French-Ormolu-mounted bolted portrait urn with champlevé decoration to stem, neck and lid ($1,652), an early 19th century English Mochaware 7 3/8" high jug with flowing Cable decoration ($1,320), and a 6" high Staffordshire two-color transferware covered dish made by Enoch Wood and Sons ($1,320). Although traditionally reserved for its annual September glass auction, Jeff Evans decided to include a fine selection of early American glass in this fall Americana auction. Evans reported that he was very pleased with the added exposure that the glass received, citing the fierce floor bidder battle for a circa 1830 signed New England Glass Co. deep trumpet-form vase on a pressed lion's head and basket of flowers monument base. The opaque white, free-blown vase, which was previously undocumented and possibly unique, sold for $20,900 despite having a reattached corner to the base. While this base is commonly seen on whale oil lamps, it is the first instance of an example supporting any other form. Those who examined the vase in the weeks leading up to the auction and during the preview all agreed that it was one of the more unexpected and historically important discoveries in the glass world in many years. Other top sellers in the glass category were an important pattern-molded broken-swirl deep bowl in bright yellow green that featured 24 vertical ribs broken by an undetermined number of ribs swirled from an old New Jersey collection assembled in the 1940s ($7,700), a pressed Lacy period Gothic Arch and Palm nappie on foot in outstanding condition and one of only two recorded examples ($5,225), an exceptional Boston and Sandwich Glass Co. Eaton (Onion) lamp in translucent soft green ($4,950), and an extremely rare Sandwich Star and Punty cologne bottle in unrecorded deep brilliant amethyst that was produced from the lamp font mold ($4,125). Sunday's November 11th, Session #4 began at 10:00 a.m. with the cup plate collection of Anne and the late Leon Powell. The session consisted of nearly 1,200 different plates sold as cataloged lots and by choice block lot, including over 250 colored examples. Assembled over the past 40 years, the Powells' collection was one of the top in the country, featuring numerous unrecorded and/or unique examples, including the "famous" Lee/Rose No. 64-X "Parker White." As expected, this opaque white jewel was Sunday's shining star, fetching a top price of $19,800! The 3 3/16" diameter plate, which is not recorded in Lee/Rose's American Glass Cup Plates, carried a $3,000 to $5,000 pre-auction estimate and was described in the catalog as "arguably the most important of all cup plates with an irreproachable provenance and in top condition." In 1953, this plate was cataloged as "unique" when the Parker collection was sold at auction; now more than half a century later, that classification still holds true for the "Parker White". Other notable glass cup plates in the sale, each with its own impeccable provenance and in top condition, included an extremely rare, deep cobalt blue Lee/Rose No. 13-C that had been exhibited at the Corning Museum of Glass in 1954 ($4,125), a No. 661 in brilliant medium blue with opalescent overcast, unrecorded in AGCP ($3,575), an extremely rare colorless No. 685 embossed "New Patent Steam Coach" ($3,300), a No. 242-A plate in a peculiar cloudy amber color, with black impurities ($3,080), a unique No. 38 in brilliant amethyst ($2,640), another extremely rare example, a deep amethyst No. 127 ($2,640), a deep cobalt blue No. 20, also unrecorded in AGCP ($2,310), and an opaque powder blue No. 83 with a slightly darker rim, also extremely rare ($2,200). The November 10, 2007 Americana/Glass and November 11, 2007 Cup Plate catalogs are still available for $30 each postpaid through Green Valley Auctions' online store at store.greenvalleyauctions.com.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
