American Furniture and Decorative Arts

June 7th, 2010

Doyle New York, New York City

by Lita Solis-Cohen

Photos courtesy Doyle New York

This American Revolutionary War silver-hilted sword with an eagle pommel is signed “J. Bailey/ Verplank’s Point.” John Bailey made it in 1777 after he moved out of New York City during the British occupation. Bailey also made a sword for George Washington. According to the catalog, fewer than ten swords by Bailey exist, and this may be the earliest eagle-hilted American sword, a style introduced during the American Revolution and popular during the Federal period. It sold on the phone for $74,500 (est. $35,000/45,000).

Doyle New York sells Americana twice a year and is usually able to fill its sale with estate material. That is why few dealers or serious collectors fail to check it out. Apparently most leave bids with the auctioneer or on line or arrange to bid by phone, because only a few dozen bidders came to the salesroom on April 13. Many of them came for one lot and left after they bid on it. Internet bidding was active, but a small percentage of those who bid live on Artfact Live were successful.

The main attraction was a Revolutionary War sword by John Bailey, a New York City silversmith who made this sword with its eagle head hilt in 1777 after he left the city during the British occupation. He set up shop up the Hudson River at Verplanck, New York (across from Stony Point), and later at Fishkill, New York. The sword is signed "J. Bailey" in script and "Verplank's Point" [sic] in block letters. Phone bidders competed, and it sold to a private buyer on the phone for $74,500 (includes buyer's premium), well over its $35,000/45,000 estimate. The catalog gave no provenance.

Albert Webster Davies (1889-1967), Once, Twice, Thrice, Gone!, 1955, oil on canvas board, 17¾" x 23 7/8". This folky depiction of a house sale in the country sold for $7500 (est. $2000/ 4000), an auction record for the artist.

Batter Up, an unsigned and unattributed 17¾" x 22" oil on canvas laid on masonite, sold to a dealer in the salesroom for $5625 (est. $800/ 1200). The subject, African-Americans playing baseball early in this century, is appealing.

John Carlin (1813-1891), Young Child with Spaniel, 1849, watercolor on ivory, 3¾" x 3", $8750 (est. $800/1200).

There were a few other respectable prices. A miniature on ivory of a young child with a spaniel, signed "J. Carlin" and dated "1849," sold for $8750. It is not a record for the artist. At the Stanley Sax sale at Sotheby's in January 1998, a Carlin portrait of a mother, child, and dog, thought to be Mrs. Lewis Howard Livingston and James Boggs Livingston, sold for $9200.

Albert Webster Davies's primitive painting of a country auction, Once, Twice, Thrice, Gone!, painted in 1955, brought $7500, a record for the artist. Times Square, a signed painting by Johann Berthelsen, sold for $15,000 and was the most expensive painting in the sale. The other four in the group of five Berthelsen paintings sold for less than half that price in this picky market. A bronze sculpture of a mother and child by Eleanor Mary Mellon (1894-1979), estimated to bring $5000 at most, sold for $9375, a record for the artist.

Furniture had a tough day. All the major case pieces failed to sell. There was no bidding on a chest-on-chest (est. $8000/12,000) or on a wide walnut corner cupboard (est. $2000/4000). There was little interest in the furniture from the estate of Sara K. Greene, a Raleigh, North Carolina, dealer. A mahogany kneehole desk (cataloged as New York), an English desk and bookcase, an Aaron Willard tall-case clock, a Pennsylvania mahogany high chest, and a Salem bonnet-top high chest, all estimated in the mid-five figures, got no bids at all. Neither did a cherry and walnut drop-leaf tea table (est. $7000/10,000) nor a Federal mahogany drop-leaf table (est. $800/ 1200). A Massachusetts mahogany oxbow slant-lid desk with ball-and-claw feet (est. $8000/10,000) was also ignored.

One of the few chests of drawers that sold was a Massachusetts oxbow chest that sold on the phone for $4375 (est. $5000/7000). A well-proportioned Federal maple foldover games table also sold for $4375 (est. $600/800) and provoked the most competition of all the furniture.

Some Chinese export porcelain performed better than furniture. A Tobacco Leaf soup plate, lotted with a Famille Rose plate depicting figures beneath branches, brought $1625 (est. $150/250) from an Asian dealer in the salesroom. A group of four Chinese blue and white porcelain mugs sold on the phone for $2000.

A dozen buyers of Chinese export porcelain were in the salesroom for the featured consignment of stock from the estate of Elinor Gordon (1918-2009). The 240 lots of blue and white, armorial, Famille Rose, and Fitzhugh porcelain brought a total of $199,938 (includes buyers' premiums). The presale estimate was $152,000/227,800 without buyer's premium. A few lots sold way over estimates, and some brought half the low estimate. Condition kept the prices far below Elinor Gordon's prices at the New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Delaware shows. But nearly every lot sold, and the estate can be settled.

Three Asian dealers in the salesroom competed with phone bidders and others in the salesroom for the blue and white porcelain in the Chinese taste. One bidder, successful on a number of lots, said he lives half the year in New York and the other half in Shanghai. Louis Webre, Doyle's public relations man, said that during Asia Week, when many buyers from mainland China were in New York, Doyle introduced them to China trade porcelain. They seemed interested. When the armorial and Famille Rose porcelain made for the European market came on the block, however, the Asians got up, paid their bills, and left.

Fitzhugh was not their taste either. A pair of Famille Rose soup tureens with covers brought the highest price at $8125. An 18" Famille Rose tray, circa 1770, sold for $6250. An orange Fitzhugh platter, 16¼" long, brought $5938. A green Fitzhugh platter, 14½" long, sold for $3125. A blue Fitzhugh Gu-form vase went at $2500, and the same price was paid for a blue and white garden seat.

The pictures and captions show more of what sold. For more information, contact Doyle New York at (212) 427-2730 or (www.doylenewyork.com).

There was more competition for this maple foldover games table with shaped top on square tapering legs than for any other lot of furniture in the sale. Measuring 28¼" high x 32" wide x 17½" deep, it sold in the room for $4375 (est. $600/800).


Originally published in the June 2010 issue of Maine Antique Digest. (c) 2010 Maine Antique Digest
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