Skinner to Auction American Furniture and Decorative Arts Featuring the Barbara and Robert Levine Collection of Vermont Furniture & Decorative Arts; Folk Portraiture; Maritime Art; American Clocks; Antique Weathervane; and Needlework
lot 601, Portrait of the Bark Silver Cloud. Capt. Thos. W. Lewis, Master, with an estimated value of $6,000 to $8,000. A portrait of the captain himself attributed to William Matthew Prior will also be offered as lot 600. According to information collected at the Mystic Marine Museum and Bath Maritime Museum by a descendant of the consignor, the bark Silver Cloud was built in 1853 by General Joseph Barry at George Town, in Bath, Maine. A painting by Ralph Eugene Cahoon, Jr. of Cotuit, Massachusetts, lot 634, entitled Nantucket Fish Co. will also be sold at an estimated auction value of $20,000 to $30,000.
Needlework and pottery
Textiles and needlework include several lots of samplers stitched by New England girls in the 19th century. Lot 215 by “Hannah W. Perkins Age 11,” from Jaffrey, New Hampshire is an example of the needlepoint featured in “Pictorial Samplers of Southern New Hampshire” in Girlhood Embroidery: American Samplers, Pictorial Needlework 1650-1850, by Betty Ring, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Ring writes, “Between 1817-1821, girls of Fitzwilliam and Rindge placed paper-faced ladies in elegant pastures surrounded by luxuriant floral borders...Their samplers have an interesting variety of materials and their paper-faced people and consistently worked flowers unquestionably relate them to a later example naming Jaffrey.” Hannah Perkin’s sampler is expected to bring between $8,000 and $12,000 at auction.
The sale will also feature an important collection of American Rockingham-glazed stoneware, including an early example by William Capron. The stoneware jar decorated with a cobalt flower and bird design is dated to Albany, New York, c. 1800-05. William Capron is thought to have been the first producer of stoneware in Albany, New York. He opened a pottery shop there on Washington Street in 1800. The jar, lot 188, has an estimated value of $2,000 to $3,000.
Miniature objects, toys and household items from the collection of Joanne Forney will also be auctioned. Mostly 19th century, this collection is highlighted by a Nantucket oval box, painted blue and decorated with a whale carved from ebony. Lot 353 has an estimated value of $1,000 to $1,500.
Timepieces
A selection of American clocks to be featured include patent timepieces attributed to Aaron Willard Jr., John Sawin, and other makers, one of which has a full-striking movement. Lot 431, a mahogany striking patent timepiece from Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1830, with mustard yellow and red eglomise tablets, is expected to sell for $1,500 to $2,500. Tall clocks are highlighted by a Federal inlaid mahogany tall case clock, lot 516, by Joshua Wilder, Hingham, Massachusetts, c. 1807-10, has a rocking ship dial. Auction estimates range from $6,000 to $8,000. Another Federal mahogany inlaid tall case clock by James Cary, Jr. of Brunswick, Maine, c. 1810-15, comes from the collection of Israel Sack of New York. This clock, lot 517, is illustrated and described in American Antiques from Israel Sack Collection by Highland House Publishers and has an estimated value of $6,000 to $8,000.
Previews and Special Events
Previews Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
