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Spicer Serves Up Fresh Goods

by Jackie Sideli

Rhode Island has long been known as a source for great antiques. On a cold and incredibly rainy March 21, I made my way over to the seaside town of Exeter, Rhode Island, for my first Bill Spicer auction. As I entered the crowded auction hall, I realized I had stumbled onto an insider's inside source. There were hardly any empty seats in the large hall, and I saw many familiar and well-known antiques dealers.

I was talking with the woman next to me, Helen Kenney, an antiques dealer from Newport, Rhode Island, when I looked up, and Spicer was selling an incredible tall-case clock. In original surface, this mahogany clock had no maker's name, but it did have a spectacular moon face dial and original works. If the feet hadn't been ended out some time ago, I am certain the price would have been much higher than the $9680 (including buyer's premium) it brought.

Spicer is a down-to-earth guy who loves the antiques auction business. He runs a very simple, no-frills sale; all the focus is on the material offered. There is no catalog, and he sells at a rapid pace, so the customer had better be alert. I was amazed and delighted at the quality and quantity of fresh material, much of it from a home in the wealthy town of Barrington, Rhode Island.

Besides the tall-case clock, a mahogany serpentine sideboard with bell and fan inlay from this same house sold for $2200. A tall-case clock made by S. Hoadley, Plymouth, Connecticut, sold for just $715, and an early mahogany banjo clock with mirror, which turned up in this same estate, went to a Rhode Island collector at $2420.

Dealers Peter and Linda Smith from the Sandwich (Massachusetts) Antiques Center were in attendance, as were Gene LaParle and Sue Hawes of John Goddard Shop, Portsmouth, Rhode Island. The owners of Manha's Antiques, Shelter Island, New York, who spend part of the year in nearby Newport, regularly attend Spicer's sales. They have had a shop in Shelter Island for 16 years.

A stunning Victorian walnut two-door bookcase sold for $1100 after some very competitive bidding in the salesroom. Some very good early fireplace equipment surfaced from a local estate, including a pair of period andirons with original tools that sold for $742.50. Other fireplace equipment included old andirons and tools for $330 and a fireplace fender for $66.

I liked the 1880-1900 mahogany dining room breakfront and six matching chairs with a great old finish that sold for a solid $2640. A Queen Anne highboy base sold for a fair $495. A good but damaged barometer labeled "Realin New Castle" brought $495.

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