In the Abstract, Moore Auction Looks Good

June 18th, 2016

Hap Moore, York, Maine

Except for a collected lot of 14k gold brooches with assorted stones that topped out at $7475 (including buyer’s premium), Hap Moore’s June 18 auction in York, Maine, was anchored around a pair of dissimilar 20th-century abstract paintings that hailed from opposite sides of the globe.

Moore had sold at least one painting by Indian artist Shanti Dave (b. 1931) before the one brought forth at this sale. That was a much larger, roughly 30" x 48", abstract that went for $12,765 in August 2012. Dave was born in Ahmedabad in the Indian state of Gujarat and now lives in New Delhi. He has exhibited his abstract works and murals in numerous venues in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. This latest was a 16" x 32" abstract primarily in earthtone browns and yellows that sold for $2530.

Shanti Dave abstract, $2530.

The work of Edward Betts (1920-2008) often blends realism with abstraction, and both styles were evident in a 21" x 29" watercolor titled Restless Sea #2. Splashes of deep sea blues and greens evoked a glass-like feel of roiling water. Betts began painting on Monhegan Island, Maine, in the late 1940s. He wrote several books on watercolor and landscape painting and has been featured in numerous museum exhibits, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the San Francisco Fine Arts Museums. Yet his works don’t bring megabucks, and this one fell in the upper range of his secondary market sales at $2070.

This watercolor by Edward Betts, titled Restless Sea #2, finished at a strong $2070.

Apparently twin brothers Cyrus (1834-1903) and Darius (1834-1919) Cobb teamed up on a portrait of an unidentified male subject. The brothers frequently collaborated from the mid-1850s to produce portraits and large historical and religious paintings. The portrait offered here was unsigned on the front, but a paintbrush inscription on the back reads “From Gambardelia / By C. & D. Cobb / Dec. 1869,” suggesting that the painting was a copy after Spiridione Gambardella (fl. 1842-68), who may have been working in New York around that time. Unsigned as it was, with an undetermined subject and some condition problems, all it could raise was $115.

If someone were of a deceitful turn of mind, he or she could almost have passed off a shoe-foot chair table as an original. The rust-red finish, wood-pegged construction, hand-wrought nails, and breadboard ends on the wide pine top, even the robust “butt prints” on the seat, could probably have passed muster. But it was made in the early 20th century, probably by the stepfather of the elderly consignor. It was strong enough to ring in at a robust $1035.

This red-painted shoe-foot chair table looks like an early 19th-century original but was made in the early 20th century. It sold for $1035.

The lot that took everyone by surprise, including the auctioneer, was a small box lot of brooches (no picture available). Buried within it was a small brooch with the magic word “Tiffany.” It was a plique-à-jour piece, similar to cloisonné but with no backing, so light shines through the translucent gems. At least two sharp-eyed bidders spotted it and chased the lot all the way to $7475.

For more information, visit the website (www.hapmoore.com) or call (207) 363-6373.

Cynthia Roberts Benton was an attractive young woman, and she was a pretty cute kid, too. This 21" x 19½" oil on panel of the adult Benton, born in New Hampshire in 1798, according to accompanying information, looked to have been done around 1820, and the smaller 17½" x 13½" portrait of her as a child was probably done about 15 years earlier. No artist attribution was given, and the pair sold in tandem for $920.

Note the delicate slipper feet on this mahogany lowboy with dimpled corners on the molded top, hints of tiger graining on the surface, and a robust dark patina. All that helped it to $1265.

This late 18th-/early 19th-century English cast-iron fireback, embossed “T. ELSLEY” for Thomas Elsley on the reverse, with a crown, shield, rampant lion motif, and initials “G R,” indicating King George III, sold for $891.25.

The consignor recorded that this late 18th-century camelback sofa had been in her home for at least 66 years, and now it’s found a new home for $1265.

This 37" wide six-drawer graduated tall chest in maple with a cornice top and bracket base sold for $690, inexpensive even for today’s prices.

Originally published in the September 2016 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2016 Maine Antique Digest