Paint and Rarity Rule the Day at Garth's

Federal tall-case clock, Massachusetts, circa 1805, 97" high x 17" wide, mahogany and pine with inlay, refinished, with some restoration, repairs, and minor damage, $23,500. The dial is marked for John Bailey II, and the dial decoration is attributed to Nolen and Curtis of Boston.

Garth's Auctions, Delaware, Ohio

Photos courtesy Garth's Auctions

If you couldn't tell that prices were mixed at Garth's auction on March 28 in Delaware, Ohio, then you weren't looking at the results. For the most part, the great things did great. At times, however, there was a piñata kind of wackiness, as if potential buyers had been blindfolded and spun around before being handed a bidder's paddle and encouraged to start swinging it in the air.

Don't blame Garth's. It's still the economy. "In general, there's a little discounting going on across every object," explained Jeff Jeffers, president and principal auctioneer at Garth's. "Anybody who says there's not doesn't know what's going on or isn't telling you the truth. Beyond some discounting that is in play, we had a pretty well-rounded auction, and I think that things brought what they were worth. If you perceive there was softness or some good buys, there sure may have been. We had a gamut of material here."

Gamut or not, a couple of factors helped determine what made headlines and what went flat-line. "Paint and rarity of form were probably the two things that drove prices in this sale," said Jeffers. "That's nothing new in this business, and the good news is the foundation and the reasons why we all like these things are the same. We're just in a transitional period where we're getting a price correction from previous years from lots of growth."

If paint and rarity are the dynamic duo, then a decorated blanket chest that sold for $38,188 (including buyer's premium) can understandably be seen as the superhero of the sale. The day's top lot, the diminutive chest is from the Stirewalt group of painted boxes and miniature chests, as identified in a September 2007 article in The Magazine Antiques. The name comes from brothers John and Jacob Stirewalt, who likely made at least some of the boxes and chests in the group.

Dating to the second quarter of the 19th century and probably made in New Market, Shenandoah County, Virginia, the chest was in yellow pine with its original paint decoration of yellow, orange, and black leaves on a blue ground, with a bird on the lid. The consignor acquired the chest in 2005 from an elderly woman who got it from an uncle in Virginia. His family had ties to Shenandoah County in the 19th century.

Opportunities to buy anything from the Stirewalt group are few and far between. The most notable example was a blanket chest sold by Ken Farmer Auctions in October 2007 for $158,125. That chest featured a more elaborate design that included two pairs of Virginia parrots on a red ground.

"The [comparables] were a bit stronger, but the comps didn't have the wear this box had," said Jeffers in reference to the blanket chest at Garth's. "And the comps had birds, which this box didn't have. And the comps weren't sold in this economy."

That was true. The blanket chest at Garth's did have more wear and wasn't as visually stunning. It was still a tough find, though. "It's unequivocally that group, and it's rare," said Jeffers. "There are not many of those examples. This was pretty punchy, excepting the little bit of wear."

The blanket chest turned up at one of Garth's monthly appraisal days. "They thought it might be something, but they weren't sure," Jeffers said of the consignors.

Other top lots confirmed Jeffers's summary that paint and rarity ruled the day. Among them was a 30-drawer apothecary chest in blue paint that sold for $16,450. Made of pine, the chest dated to the first half of the 19th century. It was 36" high x 45½" wide. Despite the popular form and utilitarian nature of the apothecary, it was color that sold the piece. "Blue, blue, blue drives this thing to that level," said Jeffers.

For a Federal tall-case clock, inlay rather than paint helped propel the bidding. The circa 1805 mahogany clock with a dial marked for John Bailey II of Massachusetts sold for $23,500. While almost certainly from southeastern Massachusetts, the clock incorporated inlaid details that set it apart: double teardrops on the plinths of the hood that relate to inlay appearing on a group of sideboards from Plymouth County; light and dark wood banding on the hood and case, similar to banding on a clock by Bailey family apprentice Joshua Wilder; and the inclusion of floral quarter-fans on the door and base.

"There was no precedent for the inlay on a clock from this region that we were aware of. It certainly stirred a lot of interest in the clock world," Jeffers said. Provenance that included dealer Bill Samaha didn't hurt either, he added, noting that the piece had the potential to do even better.

"The clock has an inlay composition that's relatively unknown. The pedigree is solid, condition good, and [it has] Bill's provenance. In a different market, maybe it brings a couple more bids."

Bidding seemed pretty well tapped out on a Chippendale-style serpentine-front chest of drawers in cherry that sold for $19,975, well above its estimate of $800/1200. Cataloged as being in the New England style and dating to the late 19th or early 20th century, the four-drawer chest had fluted quarter columns with brass capitals, a central shell drop, and ogee bracket feet. Garth's pegged the chest to the Victorian period. Bidders gauged it as being earlier.

"We felt initially there was enough evidence to catalog it like we did, which was turn of the century. There were some very educated bidders who felt it was slightly out of period by a handful of years, not by the dates that we thought," Jeffers said.

Despite marquee lots both large and small, such as an inlaid barometer at $11,163, there were plenty of other pieces that had appeal without the big price, such as a folky oil portrait of a gray cat sitting in a window. Unsigned and from the late 19th or early 20th century, the feline on canvas sold for $2115, well over its $300/500 estimate. For other items, such as a selection of Rockingham and a collection of decorated snuffboxes and cigar cases, interest was subdued.

In the end, it was the variety that kept things interesting. "This was a sale that was very well rounded," said Jeffers. "We should be proud of what is being put out there because sellers are being hesitant. It is an OK time to sell. This is not all the doom and gloom that some people want it to be. We're just in a correction period."

For more information, contact Garth's at (740) 362-4771 or visit (www.garths.com).

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