JULY 31, 2011 AUCTION NEWS
WHITE’S JULY 31ST AUCTION
A FRESH ESTATE COUNTRY AUCTION
Middleboro, MA. It’s not every day that antique auctioneers can walk into an estate to find a home furnished almost entirely with antique pieces, spanning two hundred years of American history. This was the case of a Southeastern (Seekonk), Massachusetts home. The family also had strong ties to Rhode Island and Western Mass. The pieces in the home were not amassed through collections or auction purchases but instead evolved naturally over time, handed down through the family, and were the simple utilitarian pieces that a family lived with and used for generations.
This estate comprised of a wealth of fine period Americana pieces to include furniture, mirrors, paintings, silver, pewter and rugs. This veritable “time capsule” provides a fitting back drop to an auction with a varied selection of antiques, with additions in all categories, from which show dealers, decorators and collectors may choose.
A few of the furniture pieces to be sold include a Queen Anne drop leaf table with a slipper foot, 18th C. Chippendale tiger maple slant front desk, Sheraton mahogany canopy bed, inlayed Hepplewhite bow front chest, period Pembroke tables and candle stands, Chippendale tall chest, 18th C. Rhode Island slant top desk, 19th C. comb back Windsor and other sets of period stenciled and Bird Cage Windsor chairs, American Federal gilt mirrors and a miniature six board blanket chest, English 54” round dining room table with a carved pedestal and tripod base and an Empire secretary. Five 5 section Bannister back bookcases will be sold, one with a fall front desk and drawers and another with leaded glass top section. Victorian pieces include Gents and Ladies chairs, settees, marble top chests, server and tables. More modern pieces include a Heyward Wakefield living room set, an Arts & Crafts Thebes stool and a “one of a kind” coffee table made as a small replica of the conference table used for a visit of President Lyndon B. Johnson to Guam in 1966. The table was made of wood indigenous to Guam by local ship builders.
Clocks to be offered include an unusual Continental Scottish mahogany tall clock with a round face, signed Howland, Musselburgh, an 1830’s mahogany banjo clock and a massive French works marble and ormolu mantle clock, retailed by Blair & Crawford, Philadelphia and other French design clocks by Gilbert..
SOLD $460
Interesting ephemera pieces include a large collection of personal diaries of nearly every year from 1857 to 1927 written by Lizzie M. Winsor, member of the family. The earliest Civil War era diaries are written when she was just a young precocious teenage school girl and recall emotionally the first “rumblings” of the Secessionist movement leading to the Civil, as well as, very detailed accounts of various battles of the War. Some of the early diaries also delineate the geneology the families including marriages, children, deaths, etc. Later 1800’s and early 1900’s diaries are signed E.M. Flagg (married name). Some also relate historical references to World War I. Of interesting note also is a small notebook with inventory of several furniture pieces and their origins and journey through the family. Another very interesting piece from the Somerset estate is an original detailed hand drawn and lettered (in pencil) manuscript by Augustus S. Miller “Miller’s Pictorial”, Worcester, Mass, Vol. V. No. 81 July 1st 1862. Augustus Miller was later to become Mayor of Providence, R.I. from 1903-1905.
SOLD $373.75
Additional pieces of historical interest include a collection of early 1800 Farmer’s Almanacs beginning with the one of the earliest printed in 1791, a Civil War buckle with a photograph of the owner Capt. L. Richmond of Brockton and an early signed tobacco jumidor owned by whaling ship Capt. Benjamin Clark. Included is letter written by Clark to his parents dated Feb 27, 1843, while at sea, a CDV photo of his New Bedford home (currently the Orchard Street Manor B&B, built built 1845-1846. Also, as part of the Clark estate items, is an original 1745 issue of the Boston Gazette/Weekly Journal.
SOLD $7,475.00
Oriental rugs are well represented in this sale with approximately 20 antique and semi-antique carpets including an early Kazak scatter and early Caucasian runner, three room siz Heriz carpets and a room size Chinese rug.
Smalls include 8 tune Swiss music box, early blue and white Staffordshire, Nanking, Canton, cut glass and early decanters and flint glass, Chinese carved gilt Temple panels, pair gilt bronze candlesticks with prisms, Folk Art cane with carved ebony boy's head handle, Prohibition era cane with internal flask, gold top cane, gilt a Georgian rosewood/satinwood tea caddy, antique cast iron horse drawn stage coach and an unframed needlepoint sampler connected to the Flagg family done by Sally Caroline (Kilburn) Flagg when she was 11 years old, dated 1827.
Of interest, as well, is an 18th c. sailor's carved coconut shell with pewter mount (goblet) carved by Capt. Edmund Villiarus, first husband of Elizabeth (Angell) Manton-mother of Elizabeth Ann (Wanton) Winsor (author of the diaries mentioned above). He and his ship were lot at sea.
Sterling silver lots include Reed & Barton service for twelve, Gorham flatware 160 pieces, punch bowl ladle, three piece English tea set, a Georgian sterling ladle with a twisted baleen handle, Tiffany Sterling bread tray, Gorham bowl, three piece Art Nouveau repoussee tea service, ARthur Stone sterling bowl, and an American cut glass and sterling rim pitcher, early Rhode Island makers coin silver and various other silver lots.
SOLD $1.380.00
SOLD SOLD $575.00
Currency lots include early Rhode Island fractional and dollar paper money and a few rare coins to include a reproduction of the 1787 copper George Clinton pattern produced in 1869 by John Bolen, a Sommer Islands copper “Hogge Money” shilling produced in 1850’s by Montroville Wilson Dickeson of Philadelphia, an original 1794 silver half dollar with a counter stamp. Also in the sale are "hard time" tokens: 1837 USA, 1834 My Victory/Jackson, 1833 R&W Robinson military button, 1841 Daniels Webster obv. 1837, 1863 Civil Ware Army & Navy N.Y. and 1863 Civil War drum & cannons.
Rounding out the sale is a nice selection of antique tools including Stanley planes #2-#7, Wing Tabor plow plane, 606 Bedrock plane, David White survey transit, an early Fairhaven wooden tool box with contents, an early American cavalry sword, early jointed hump back teddy bear and tall handmade tall ship models.
Six early guns to be sold are Rolling Block Remington 1874 military rifle, Japanese Matchlock rifle, a long rifle with bayonet and three antique double barrel percussion shotguns. Country pieces to include a Hingham firkin, stoneware cobalt decorated crocks, large sponge ware bowl, green and red granite ware, butter churns and molds, early apple peelers, chocolate molds, Shaker yellow painted yarn swift, 19th c scrimshaw whale’s teeth and scrimshaw coconut goblet and a good selection of early Rhode Island signed pewter chargers, porringers and coffee pots. Walking sticks include a gold top cane, unusual Russian sword cane, folk art cane with carved ebony boy's head handle and Prohibition era cane with an internal glass flask. Fireplace fenders, andirons and painted turtle back bellows and a signed hide covered document box, with ties to Middleboro, Ma will also be sold.
Items are still arriving. Please view auctionzip.com for updates and additional photos. Call John White (508)947-9281 or Kathryn Black (508) 269-9275 for more information or questions.
AUCTION LOCATION: The auction to be held on Sunday July 31, 2011 at the Middleboro Lodge of Elks, 24 High Street, Middleboro, MA at 3:30 pm. Additional early preview on Saturday, July 30th, from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm. Regular preview on Sunday from 1:00 pm to auction start. Please call John White (508-947-9281) or Kathryn Black (508-269-9275) with any questions. Please arrange your absentee and phone bid requests in advance with Kathryn (508) 269-9275. Phone bids will be accepted based on availability.