Pook & Pook Americana Sale Delivers Blockbuster Results Across Three Days
Five premier collections drove Pook & Pook’s October Americana sale to stellar results, with standout pieces of furniture, needlework, folk art, fine art, and Americana attracting strong national bidding.
The October 1-3 Americana sale at Pook & Pook was received with great interest. Five exceptional collections anchored a sale that filled up three days of auctioneering. Strong bidding across multiple categories resulted in outstanding results. Particularly robust categories included furniture, needlework, folk art, fine art, militaria, weathervanes, and English Delftware. Ron Pook summarized, “What was significant about this sale was the influx of new buyers, collectors from across the country, and the impact of these retail buyers on prices.”
The first day of the auction was led by the elegant Brian and Elizabeth Topping Collection. Collectors of early Philadelphia furniture, early American needlework, silver, and Chinese export, their connoisseurship was well-received by bidders. Among the highlights were a Philadelphia Chippendale walnut dressing table, circa 1770, descended in the family of Captain Samuel Morris, which sold for $42,500, and a Philadelphia silk-on-linen embroidery, circa 1765, purportedly wrought by Mary Ann Whitebread, which brought $32,500 (prices including buyer’s premium). Lots from other collections that day included a full-bodied copper grasshopper weathervane at $15,000 and the coveted set of four watercolor family portraits attributed to the Guilford Limner. A prolonged battle between an internet bidder and a phone bidder ended with the portraits going to the phone bidder for $150,000.
The second day opened with the erudite Randy Anderson Collection of Dover, Delaware, which featured early furniture, including a lovely Philadelphia Queen Anne walnut compass seat dining chair, ca. 1755, which brought $48,640. A Pennsylvania Chippendale walnut bonnet-tip high chest, ca. 1765, attributed to the shop of Samuel Harding, with Jim Kilvington provenance, sold for $20,000. A rare Duncan Beard, Appoquinimink, Delaware, Chippendale walnut tall case clock brought $20,000. The marquee item, a rare Peter Stretch William and Mary walnut tall case clock, ca. 1725, with Jim Kilvington provenance, was hammered down for $87,500 versus its $20-40,000 estimate. The Anderson Collection also featured an exceptional group of works by artists of the Brandywine School of Illustration, including an important Frank Earle Schoonover oil on canvas, Randerson Kills Prickett, which fetched $37,500. Lots from other collections that day included a Grandma Moses oil on board, Sugaring Off, which sold for $68,750; a cast and tinned iron Firemen’s speaking trumpet and helmet weathervane, which brought $32,500; a Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig autographed 1925 baseball, which was a home run at $17,500; and a colorful Mahantango Valley Pennsylvania painted poplar slant-front desk, ca. 1830, which sold for $112,500.
The final day of the sale began with the James and Josephine Adams Collection of York, Pennsylvania, noted collectors of flintlock firearms, regional furniture, and decorative arts. A Jacob Kunz, Philadelphia-attributed flintlock pistol realized $21,250, versus an estimate of $4-8,000. A Vermont painted pine blanket chest with provenance from the Pilgrim-Roy Collection sold for $17,920. The highlight of the collection proved to be a rare Benjamin Banneker Almanac or Ephemeris from 1795. Desirable for its engraved cover portrait of Banneker, the small but significant volume sold after a lively battle between phone bidders for $47,500. Lots from the Estate of Dr. William Hewson Baltzell IV, of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, included an enormous J.W. Fiske zinc fountain of Neptune. The 1898 fountain was an important one of the very few surviving examples, and brought $30,000. The Pennsylvania collection also featured a wonderful selection of English Delftware chargers, which sold dearly; the top lot was a blue dash King George II portrait charger, early 18th century, which realized $40,000.
Pook & Pook is busy preparing for our January 15th & 16th Americana sale. It promises to be another blockbuster auction. Please join us, either in-person or online at PookLive!
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