Skinner to Host Auction of American Furniture and Decorative Arts The March 4th American Furniture & Decorative Arts Auction in Boston features folk art portraits, maritime art, the collection of Gregory Rubin Reynolds, and the estate of Susan Parrish.
News-Antique.com - Feb 16,2012 - BOSTON, Mass – February 16, 2012 – Skinner, Inc. will host an auction of American Furniture and Decorative Arts on Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 11:00 a.m. in its Boston gallery. The sale features the collection of Gregory Rubin Reynolds, as well as items from the estate of Susan Parrish.
The Collection of Gregory Rubin Reynolds
Lots 1 through 182, the first part of the sale, will present The Collection of Gregory Rubin Reynolds. Proceeds from the sale of the collection will benefit the Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital (nvrh.org). The collection includes folk art, furnishings, decorative arts, paintings, and clocks. Reynolds was a discerning collector and possessed a wonderful sense for color and juxtaposition. He used these gifts to great effect by decorating his contemporary home in Peacham, Vermont with high-quality examples of painted furniture and folk art. Every piece was skillfully showcased and demonstrated his ability to create strikingly beautiful contrasts between the antiques in his collection and their modern setting.
Highlights include an appealing early 19th century folk portrait of a boy holding a book and his sister holding a cat (lot 32, estimated between $25,000 and $35,000); a red, yellow, and black-painted, geometrically carved pine lift-top box, (lot 1, $3,000 to $5,000); a Queen Anne black-painted high chest once owned by John Page, governor of New Hampshire from 1839 - 1841 (lot 33, $30,000 – 50,000); and a pair of folk art portraits of Henry and Anna (Bellinger) Ehle of Chittenango Village, New York (lot 43, $15,000 - $25,000).
The sale continues with lot 200, and features an excellent assortment of textiles, American furniture and decorative arts, paintings, and folk art.
The Estate of Susan Parrish
Nearly fifty lots, including textiles, furniture, weather vanes, and painted trade signs come from the estate of Susan Parrish, former owner of a respected antiques store in the West Village of New York City. Of particular note are the textiles, highlights of which include a pictorial hooked rug depicting celestial elements (lot 532, $2,000 to $3,000), a suffragette fund-raising quilt with stars and stripes (lot 645, $3,000 to $5,000), and a pieced and appliquéd floral pattern quilt circa 1860 (lot 654, $600 to $800).
American Furniture and Decorative Arts
In addition, the sale will offer fine examples of formal American furniture from the 18th and 19th centuries. A group of furniture consigned by the Smith College Museum of Art features a Queen Anne scroll-top fan-carved walnut and maple high chest of drawers from the north shore of Massachusetts (lot 215, $10,000 to $15,000).
Decorative objects include a silver cann (lot 200, $8,000 to $12,000) that once belonged to Samuel Whitney. Whitney took a leadership role in Concord during the Revolutionary War as “Muster Master,” and fought at the Old North Bridge as a member of the Concord Minutemen. Later he was a member of the Provincial Congress 1774-75, and the Committee of Correspondence. The Concord home in which Whitney lived still stands as “the Wayside,” a museum that commemorates two important
