Works by John F. Herring, Jr., top $80,000 at Little sale Original works of art by the noted British painter John F. Herring, Jr., sold for more than $80,000 at a multi-estate sale held June 9 by Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd., in Hillsborough, N
News-Antique.com - Jul 11,2007 - ORIGINAL PAINTINGS BY BRITISH ARTIST JOHN F. HERRING, JR. (1820-1907)
REALIZE OVER $80,000 AT LELAND LITTLE MULTI-ESTATE SALE HELD JUNE 9
(Hillsborough, N.C.) - Original works of art by the noted British painter John F. Herring, Jr. (1820-1907) sold for more than $80,000 at a multi-estate sale held June 9 by Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd. An oil-on-canvas work titled “Farmyard” realized $18,700, while a hunt series of four paintings sold as a single lot for $61,600. All prices quoted include a 10% buyer's premium.
Around 650 lots changed hands at the quarterly cataloged auction, which grossed $550,000. “I was very pleased with the results,” said Leland Little, adding, “Our quarterly sales tend to do well, as we are always packed with quality merchandise. The market remains strong for the middle- to high-end items, especially fine art and period furniture pieces. A lot got shipped overseas. It was a busy day.”
The sale was held at Leland Little's spacious gallery in Hillsborough, N.C., a town located near the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area and accessible to major markets like Atlanta, Charleston and Washington, D.C. Hillsborough is convenient to Interstates 40 and 85. The sale attracted about 200 people. Over 1,000 phone and absentee bids were fielded; online sell-through (via eBay Live) hit 18%.
In other highlights:
Fine art accounted for some of the day's top lots. A European School portrait of Louis XV, showing the young king in full battle armor with military honors, rose to $20,000 despite being done by an unknown artist. The 3/4-length portrait was probably done in the late 18th or early 19th century. Also, a naturalistic rendering of two swans, done around 1890 by Albert Bailey (British), garnered $12,100.
Two paintings fetched identical sums of $7,700. One was an oil-on-canvas harbor scene by Louise Herreshoff Eaton (Rhode Island/New York, 1876-1967). The work, signed lower left, was a bright, Impressionistic scene, likely painted in Gloucester, Mass. The other was a half-length portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, signed and dated (1953) lower left by the 20th-century British artist Mary Eastman.
Leading the way in the period furniture category was a stunning 18th-century Louis XVI commode that gaveled for $9,350. The piece was mahogany, with inlaid cross banded veneer and line inlay, and a top with moulded edge over three lipped and moulded drawers. Also, a gorgeous inlaid Sheraton sideboard (English, 19th century) sailed past its high estimate of $2,000 to hammer for $4,620.
A terrestrial 18” globe on a stand, made in 1911 by G. W. Bacon & Co., Ltd., and retailed by J. R. Hammett Company of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, crossed the block at $3,850. And a handsome Limbert mission oak server, made around 1910 and with a good mellow brown finish that appeared original, realized $2,640. The piece featured a shaped backsplash, with plate restraining bar.
From the militaria grouping, a one-page Confederate blockade runner stock certificate, printed on July 5, 1864, in Charleston, S.C., for the S.S. Druid, in very fine condition,
