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The Most Widely Read Collector's Newspaper In The East Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 45, NO. 44 FRIDAY OCTOBER 31, 2014
Major Sale Conducted By Pook & Pook Included Items From Shelley, Geesey, And Esmerian Collections, Among Others By Karl Pass
n the evening of Friday, Oct. 3, beginning at 6 p.m., Pook & Pook Inc. of Chester County, Pa., held a 218lot Asian art and Oriental carpet auction at their Downingtown facility. A rare Japanese Meiji-period patinated iron articulated s n a k e believed to be Myochin school, measuring 62 inches long sold for $90,000 (est. $20,000-$30,000). A 19th-century Chinese export porcelain famille rose vase sold for $5,658, a Chinese export porcelain tea and luncheon service for Thomas and Sarah Mifflin dating to the late 18th century sold for $4,080, and a large Chinese carved mammoth tusk sold for $3,600, just to name a few things. The Americana crowd was well-represented on Oct. 4 for the sale of lots 219-948, which started at 9 a.m. Fine art, notably paintings, were sold first. A Giovanni Martino (1908-97) oilon-canvas painting titled “Tremont Street” sold for $2,160 (est. $2,000-$4,000). A Walter Farndon (1876-1964) oil-on-canvas painting titled “Mahone Bay Nova Scotia” sold for $13,530 (est. $12,000-$15,000) and a Herman Herzog (1832-1932) oilon-canvas painting of a mountainous landscape sold for $5,520 (est. $3,000$5,000).
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In total, the sale was 91 percent sold and generated $1,934,520 (including buyer’s premiums). Inhouse bidders were charged a 20 percent buyer’s premium and online bidders through Bidsquare were charged 23 percent.
This grouping of 12 glass kugel Christmas ornaments sold for $3,840 (est. $800-$1,200).
There were 509 registered bidders in-house and 343 registered on Bidsquare. There were 101 lots from the Dr. Donald and Esther Shelley collection. Pook & Pook sold the Shelley fraktur collection in 2004 and following Donald’s passing at age 94 in 2006, sold the bulk of their Americana collection. The later was a major, near 1,000-lot sale and was held April 20 and 21, 2007. Esther continued to live in their Oley, Pa., farmhouse until her passing at age 100 on June 21, 2014. The 101 lots sold Oct. 4 were an assortment of early furniture and accessories that had remained in the
hearth equipment, an Oxford Furnace fireback, and furniture in-the-rough). An early 18th-century Pennsylvania walnut and oak wainscot armchair with fishtail crest in an old surface sold for $9,600 (est. $4,000-$8,000). A group of woodenware consisting of a mortar and pestle, a canister, scoops, a burl bowl, a n d plates estimated at $400 to $800 sold for $8,400; an emerald blown glass hurricane shade estimated at $300 to $500 sold for $1,560; and a Pennsylvania Queen Anne walnut tavern table with two drawers with an old surface sold for $2,880 (est. $2,000-$4,000). A rare Henry Lapp, Lancaster County, Pa. six-drawer hanging seed chest or seed box in slightly worn but original untouched red and ochre grain decorated surface with porcelain knobs sold for $1,440 (est. $400-$800). It was also from the Shelley collection. The Lapp
This wooden carved and paint-decorated spreadwing eagle attributed to Wilhelm Schimmel sold h o u s e for $72,000 (est. $30,000-$50,000). since the The buyer was a local collector.
A large Woodland Indian oblong large sale form burl bowl in 2007. with pierced han(Green Hills dles, measuring 22 A u c t i o n inches wide with an old Center in patina, sold to New Jersey Mohnton, Pa., has collectors/dealers seated in the front row for $9,600 (est. $4,000- also sold material from the estate $7,000). It was ex. Titus Geesey. since Esther’s death, including iron
This Mahantongo Valley central Pennsylvania paint-decorated popular slant-front desk, circa 1830, was one of the higher profile lots to have passed at Sotheby’s sale titled “Visual Grace” on Jan. 25, 2014, with a estimate of $300,000-$500,000. The estimate was a tenth of that at the Pook & Pook sale on Oct. 4. It sold to a dealer bidding on the phone for $66,000 (est. $30,000-$50,000) and was underbid by a private collector in the salesroom.
seed boxs or seed chests with eightdrawer configuration are slightly more common in the marketplace. Ten years ago on June 5, 2004, at Conestoga Auction Co., one sold for $18,150. Another eight-drawer version sold for $12,650 on Nov. 13, 2004, at Conestoga. In the middle of the second session, 25 lots from the The Joseph Lehn (17981892) Lancaster County, Pa., miniature paint-decorated lifttop chest sold for $5,760 (est. $800$1,200) toward the end of the sale. In 2001 it sold for $3,850 at a Harlan Miller sale at Conestoga Auction Co.
A small Pennsylvania redware figure of a monkey holding a jug on the back of a reclining dog, roughly 5 inches high, sold to a private collector in the salesroom for $21,600 (est. $8,000-$12,000). It was underbid by another collector in the salesroom. “I bought it in London and made sure to carry it with me on the plane,” said Ron Ralph Esmerian collection were Pook of Pook & Pook Inc., who offered. All but one had been sold it to Esmerian around 1981.
offered at the “Visual Grace” sale held at Sotheby’s in New York City on Jan. 25, 2014. According to Sotheby’s there were 40 lots unsold from that sale. They had failed to sell at Sotheby’s for not meeting their reserves. A reserve, according to New York state law can not exceed the low estimate of the lot (This is not the law in the state of Pennsylvania). The unsold lots sent to Pook & Pook w e r e offered w i t h lower estimates, sometimes one-tenth of the estimate given at the Sotheby’s sale. For example, the Mahantongo Valley paint-decorated slant-front desk with original stamped brass hardware, but widely known to
have undergone paint restoration, failed to sell at the sale in January. It had a $300,000$500,000 estimate. Offered at Pook & Pook with a $30,000$50,000 estimate, it sold to a dealer bidding by phone for $66,000. Seven lots of figural redware were sold from the Esmerian collection. A rare Pennsylvania redware figure of a monkey holding a jug riding a reclining dog sold to a folk art collector from the Philadelphia area seated in the (Continued on page 2)
This Pennsylvania redware figure of a standing lion sold for $13,200 (est. $5,000-$10,000).
Noah Weiss (1842-1907) carved and painted this giant “Hall Tree,” with a central mirror in the middle of the tree trunk flanked by oil-on-canvas landscape panels and two freestanding tree trunk carvings with birds and owls. It sold for $8,400 (est. $10,000-$15,000) and was 113 inches high and 150 inches wide. “I dearly love it and think it is spectacular,” said the buyer, dealer Greg Kramer.
A Lancaster, Pa., Chippendale walnut slant-front desk, circa 1780 with carved quarter columns and interior prospect doors along with document drawers, sold for $36,000 (est. $8,000-$12,000) to a phone bidder. It came from the Titus Geesey collection. Geesey had bought it from Edgar and Charlotte Sittig in 1955.