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Achieving the sale’s highest price was this Native American feast bowl, Eighteenth Century, carved maple with early mustard over original Spanish brown paint, 30½ inches wide by 12 inches deep. It sold to a New Hampshire collector for $4,608 ($2/4,000).
Review by Carly Timpson
STURBRIDGE, MASS. — More than 670 lots of Americana, folk art and other estate items crossed the block in D.L. Straight Auctioneers’ July 13 auction. Major collecting categories included Pilgrim furnishings, oil and watercolor paintings, Native American artifacts, Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture, decoys, trade signs and early cookware. With a 98 percent sell-through rate, owner David Straight boasted, “The sale was successful, and everyone is very pleased.” He added, “I was really surprised with the turnout. We are always a bit nervous in the summertime with people traveling and all that, but I think this was our best turnout as far as the number of registered bidders.” There were 4,863 registered bidders in total across three online platforms, absentee and phone bids. Straight also shared that the buyers in this auction were primarily from the United States, though the international market was represented by some from Istanbul, Ukraine, Canada and China.
Surpassing its $4,000 high estimate to finish as the highest-priced lot of the day was a large Native American feast bowl. Selling to a New Hampshire collector for $4,608, the Eighteenth Century bowl was made of carved maple and had an early dry mustard finish over its original Spanish brown paint. Showcasing craftsmanship of the maker, pronounced tool markings were noticeable throughout the bowl, which was cataloged as “huge” — 30½ inches in diameter and a foot deep. To Straight, the success of this bowl was “the biggest surprise.” However, it was the largest he had ever handled or seen, and he said “It had a lot going for it — it was really heavy, had evidence of hand carving both inside and out and it was really attractive color with the old paint.”
Sarah Ray Bryant’s (1854-1888) watercolor of a Black girl and doll, 6½ by 4½ inches, surpassed its estimates to achieve $2,560 ($1/2,000).
Artworks were not as prominent in this sale, especially among the highest-priced lots. However, a Nineteenth Century watercolor of a girl and her doll done by Sarah Ray Bryant impressed bidders and was chased past its estimate to $2,560. According to the auction catalog, “Bryant was the daughter of Nelson Ray, a slave born in Louisiana.” The notes go on to report that Ray was freed when his enslaver died in 1846, but his wife and their children were not as lucky at that time. Eventually, the others gained their freedom and moved to California with Nelson. Though this painting was unsigned, Sarah had the artistic gift and often painted portraits of her family, such as this one, which descended in the family’s collection.
An unattributed fabric portrait of a southern woman with a young Black servant and two dogs “came from a Connecticut estate and was quite nice,” according to Straight. “The frame had seen better days but the fabric portrait was very nice and very detailed with little beads and sewing on it.” The fabric illustration was beaded with small shells and housed in its original oval gilt frame. Straight noted some wear and loss to the frame’s gilding, but it was generally in fine condition and sold to a Pennsylvania buyer for $1,088. Cataloged as “very rare,” the work was possibly from Charleston, S.C., and made in the first quarter of the Nineteenth Century.
Likely made in Connecticut circa 1700-20, a painted ball-footed chest crossed the block for $2,560. With its original brasses, the reddish-brown chest featured two pull-out drawers beneath a lift-top compartment with a faux drawer front. Consigned by one New Hampshire collector, it will be returning to New Hampshire with another collector.
This cherry wood highboy, Wethersfield, Conn., circa 1750-60, 36 inches wide by 16½ inches deep by 67 inches high, made $2,176 ($2/4,000).
Another piece of Connecticut-made furniture was a cherry highboy from Wethersfield. On cabriole legs, the highboy featured two drawers over four single drawers over a bottom row of three. The center bottom drawer was fan-carved and beneath it was a scrolled apron. Made circa 1750-60, the piece was finished with its original surface and brasses.
Other successful chests included a mahogany Chippendale highboy with a full bonnet and two distinct fan-carved drawers. Made in Boston, Mass., this piece had some restoration, and its brasses were replaced but it still earned $1,152. Making the same price was an Eighteenth Century Queen Anne highboy. Made with maple, the circa 1800-40 Massachusetts chest also had old restoration and some replaced brasses but the top and bottom were original.
Other Massachusetts offerings included a late Seventeenth Century to Eighteenth Century Pilgrim candlestand. The rare two-socket adjustable height stand was built on an American maple cross base. Featuring its dry original surface, the catalog described the piece as being in “excellent condition” and Straight said it was leaving a Georgia collection to join a local one for $1,792.
This circa 1750 heart and crown crested banister back armchair from Connecticut was bid well-past its high estimate to finish at $1,536 ($200/400).
Straight commented that there were a lot of chairs offered in this sale, but the most noteworthy was a heart and crown crested banister back armchair. He said, “It was very nice. It came from a New England home and was in really nice condition with good, honest wear but it was not overworn. It was not repaired and it was just a really nice looking chair.” It was made in Connecticut circa 1750 and sold to its new owner for $1,536 — more than three times its $400 high estimate.
While furniture was dominant, another category that saw great success was tea caddies. Of these offerings, Straight said, “The quality was very good. We have been successful with them in the past so now we get a lot of them coming in.” In this sale, the top-earning tea caddy went for $1,280. It was a two-compartment tortoiseshell box that measured 7½ inches long by 4½ inches wide by 5 inches high. A Nineteenth Century wooden inlaid tea caddy featuring floral and shell designs and a rope-pattern border was the second highest in the category. This one was slightly bigger, with two compartments and a central sugar bowl, and was bid to $1,088. Another tortoiseshell tea caddy, roughly the same size as the first one but with a domed lid, found a buyer within its estimate range of $800-$1,600. This Nineteenth Century caddy brought $1,024.
With similar consignment motivation, the auction offered several sailor’s shell valentines. Donna Fee’s article in Nantucket Online, “The Lure of the Sea: The Story of the Sailor’s Valentine” notes, “Popular around 1830 until about 1900, these shell mosaics surely enticed many waiting women to welcome home their sailors newly returned from the sea… These valentines from the sea were mosaics of intricate symmetrical designs encased in wood and were usually inscribed with sentimental messages such as ‘For My Pet,’ ‘Ever Thine,’ ‘Think of Me,’ ‘Home Sweet Home’ and ‘Forget Me Not.’” At $2,048, the highest-priced sailor’s valentine was of the traditional form — housed in a jointed octagonal double-box frame. The left side had a pink-colored flower design at the center and, around that, with small dark shells against a background of small white shells, it had text that read “Thinking Of You.” Other flower-shaped designs were incorporated into the overall mosaic. The right side was characterized by a central heart and floral accents inside a clear eight-point star.
This sailor’s valentine in a traditional octagonal double box frame, 12 by 12 inches, went out at $2,048 ($1/3,000).
Another valentine — rectangular and in a shadow box frame — brought $1,152. The central heart design of this one was similar to that of the octagonal valentine, though its primary borders were in the shape of a rectangle with inverse corners. Outside each of the corners was a white flower design.
Referring to an early polychrome carved circus wagon tailgate, Straight told us, “It was one of my favorite things in the auction. It had polychrome paint — very vibrant and all original. It is going to California.” The central carved image is of a golden lion standing on its rear legs holding a sword in one front paw and a bundle of arrows in the other. The lion is depicted within a pierced green and yellow foliate quatrefoil design. Other carved details include flowers, birds and a crown above the lion emblem. The California buyer claimed the tailgate for $1,152, almost doubling its high estimate.
Straight remarked on the notable result of a wide-brimmed men’s beaver hat that “was designed to turn into a tricorn hat for formal functions. From the Eighteenth Century, it was in fabulous condition and was a surprising result. It is now going to Wisconsin.” It crossed the block for $1,024.
Prices given include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.dlstraightauctioneers.com or 508-769-5404.
