Eldred’s Comes Full Circle With Collection Of Bob & Nancy Skinner – Antiques And The Arts Weekly

Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Eldred’s

EAST DENNIS, MASS. — Back in the day, three of the leading auction houses in Massachusetts were run by Bob Skinner (Skinner’s), Robert C. Eldred Sr and Jr (Eldred’s) and Richard “Dick” Bourne (Richard A. Bourne’s). And so, it seemed to Josh Eldred, son of Robert C. Eldred Jr, that a circle closed when Bourne’s son, Bill, took the podium to sell approximately 150 lots from the collection of Bob and Nancy Skinner.

“It was great. The response was huge, it was really well received. I think the combination of things being fresh to market material and the Skinner provenance were a draw, and we could keep the estimate really, really low and sold things without reserves. A number of people were buying solely because of the provenance, or they knew the Skinners. The total was $379,000, which was more than three times the low estimate,” said Eldred. More than 96 percent of the lots gaveled down successfully, largely to private collectors, and he noted the family was pleased.

The sleeper of the sale was a stoneware double-handled molasses jug incised “Molasses,” “Govr J. Thompson” and “Athens” and further embellished with cobalt decoration in the form of unique mythical animals, one a half dog-half dragon and the other a half fish-half dragon, both creatures with forked tongues and devil’s tails. The piece had been illustrated on the cover of June 1926 issue of The Magazine Antiques and had old condition issues that were noted. The jug sold to stoneware collector Adam Weitsman for $69,300.

The Skinners apparently liked landscapes with houses and a few examples brought the highest prices of the day, notably one that depicted the estate of Mathias Collins by “itinerant painter Miss Polly,” for $37,800, well ahead of its $1/2,000 estimate. A Nineteenth Century American School landscape that depicted a red farmhouse with country road brought $7,560, while $6,300 was achieved for a late Nineteenth Century American School view of a two-story white farmhouse.

A Nineteenth Century American school still life showing autumnal fruits was the subject of two private collectors who pushed it, ultimately, to $22,680.

The auction included six miniature bird carvings by A.J. King; according to Eldred, carvings of multiple birds are rare so he was not too surprised at the $26,460 result for a group of five Canada Geese and $18,900 for a family of ring-necked pheasants that included chicks. He noted that both sold to a private collector.

One of Eldred’s favorite pieces in the sale was also one of the sleepers, a miniature folk art paint-decorated articulating turtle that dated to the mid to late Nineteenth Century and retained its original red, cream and black paint. Though four phone bidders gave chase, it found its new home with an online bidder who had the winning $13,860 bid.

The sizeable furniture component in the sale reached its apex in a dark brown-painted late Eighteenth Century Windsor fan-back armchair which went out the door for $5,355.

Decorative smalls saw highlights in a set of three Nineteenth Century bentwood covered measures — two of which were Shaker — that ranged in height from 1¾ to 2¼ inches and in length from 2¼ to 5½ inches. The group earned $5,670, slightly ahead of the $5,040 realized for a Hingham miniature firkin in green paint that was stamped “CH” on the lid and may have been made by Cotton Hersey in the mid Nineteenth Century.

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.eldreds.com 508-385-3116.