Garth's Celebrates American for Annual Labor Day Weekend Auction Antiques, camaraderie, tradition, and plain, old fun - that is focus of Garth’s Auctions’ Annual Labor Day Weekend Americana Auction scheduled to take place on September 4 and 5, 2009. Before you bre
in the original oak frame and carries and estimate of $12/18,000.
The labor of many young girls will also be appreciated when a fresh-to-the-market collection of over 30 samplers crosses the block. A fine 1836 New York sampler by Harriet Augusta Higgins of Brooklyn, Kings County is a silk on linen masterpiece with a moral verse over a colorful and impressive basket overflowing with grapes and roses( Estimate $2,5/5,000). Harriet, the youngest child of Michael Dunning Higgins (c.1780-1857) and Betty Gregory (1784-1862) was born in Brooklyn in 1825 so this work was completed at age 11. A sampler with very similar basket and verse dated 1836 and signed New York sold at Skinner, November 1, 2002, lot 475. Carrying the same estimate and a very broad appeal is the earliest sampler in the sale from New Hampshire dated 1796. The work of Mercy Cro[s]s of Canterbury, Merrimack County, this silk on linen has pyramids of fruit piled in colorful baskets, trailing vines of pink and gold flowers and brightly colored birds perching, flying and sipping nectar. Mercy's sampler shares characteristics with late 18th century Canterbury, New Hampshire samplers including the dark outlines, tiered trees, rolling foreground and the distinctive center basket( See Ring, Girlhood Embroidery, p.230-235).
With historically strong sales in not only Americana, but more specifically in Ohio folk art, it is not a surprise to find Garth’s offering several pieces by Columbus, Ohio artist Elijah Pierce. The star of the group is a painted and relief carved wooden panel, signed and dated "August 1989" of a man chasing chickens which is estimated at $4/7,000. An angel carving and a cowboy carving by Pierce each demonstrate the wonderful whimsy of the artist and carry estimates of $1,5/1,800 and $1/2,000, respectively. A folk art carved sandstone statue of an American Indian by another Ohio artist, Ernest “Popeye” Reed, depicts a seated Indian adorned with a feathered headdress and bear claw necklace. A cross-over item for many collectors, it is expected to bring $1/2,000. Artists from Ohio are much sought after as well with John Henry Twachtman being chief among
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to German immigrant parents, Twachtman was known for his talent to express the spirit of the places he painted. A lovely, vertical landscape by Twachtman will be offered from an estate of an owner who had it in their possession since the 1930s.
As always a wonderful representation of the best Americana will attract the greatest audience with 2 painted wall cupboards, a painted shallow corner cupboard, decorated blanket chests, fraktur, weathervanes, decoys, and more. A 19th century country pillar and scroll clock from Allentown, Pennsylvania with broken-arch pediment, full columns, and turned feet should easily reach its estimate of $2,5/3,500. Garth’s consignor representative Andrew Richmond noted what struck him about the clock. “This clock is understated with a great original surface and a wonderful painted tin tablet with oculus. There is a small group of these clocks, all in similar cases, that have their origins in
