#Founding #Fathers #Feted #Freemans #Hindman #Antiques #Arts #Weekly
“That was a beautiful carving. It may have been used as advertising in front of a theater. We had tremendous bidding on it,” Lynda Cain observed about the sale’s top lot, this circa 1860 carving of actor Edwin Forrest in his role as Metamora from King of the Wampanoags. A private collector won it for $76,200 ($5/8,000).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
PHILADELPHIA — As it always does, Freeman’s | Hindman scheduled its annual spring American furniture, folk and decorative arts sale on April 30 to coincide with the Philadelphia Show (April 26-28), presenting a small but choice sale of 175 lots that yielded an 80 percent sell-through rate and a total of $784,000, more than $100,000 above the sale’s aggregate low estimate.
Lynda Cain, vice president and head of the American furniture, folk and decorative arts department, had this to say: “It was the Founding Fathers that attracted the most interest. Things connected with them continue to resonate with collectors, from Paul Revere silver to a Benjamin Franklin family snuff box to a figural group showing Franklin and King Louis XVI. Rarity, condition and provenance still drive bidding, which was spirited in almost every lot.”
The apex of the sale was set at $76,200 by a circa 1860 carved tobacconist figure of actor Edwin Forrest (1806-1872) in one of the best-known roles of his life: Metamora from Kings of the Wampanoags. While the 84-inch-tall work was not attributed to a particular carver, the catalog essay for the lot noted it was modeled after Nathanial Currier’s 1855 lithograph, “E. Forrest as Metamora.” Sold on behalf of the Brandywine Museum of Art to benefit future acquisitions and care of collections, it found a new home with an out-of-state private collector, underbid by a trade buyer.
This double-sided composition snuff box, attributed to Jean Martin Renaud circa 1785, has descended in the Franklin-Bache-Scott families following its gift to Benjamin Franklin from King Louis XVI. It was exhibited in 1936 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and illustrated in three publications since 1923. It sold to a collector in the Mid-Atlantic area for $57,150 ($5/10,000).
A regional collector — think Pennsylvania, New Jersey or Delaware — paid $57,150 and the sale’s second-highest price for a unique commemorative Neoclassical double-sided composition snuff box that had — according to Franklin-Bache-Scott family tradition and documentation — been given to Benjamin Franklin by King Louis XVI. Attributed to Jean Martin Renaud (French, 1746-1821) and dated circa 1785, the box had relief decoration on both sides: the first side with the figure of Fame bearing portrait medallions of Franklin and Washington is inscribed, “Franklin” and “Wassington (sic)”; the second side with a family watched over by the figure of Mercury, a trading ship beyond, is inscribed, “Americana Prosperitas.”
Franklin was also connected with the sale’s third-place finisher, a rare commemorative unglazed figural group of King Louis XVI and Franklin that was attributed to Charles-Gabriel Sauvauge and the Niderviller Factory in France, circa 1780. At one point in the collection of the Societe Industrielle de Mulhouse in France, and exhibited at the Galleries Nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, in 1989, the figural group caught the attention of several museums; one in the American South prevailed at $47,625.
While perhaps not a Founding Father per se, Paul Revere Jr and his role in the American Revolution make his silver wares sought-after, even 250 years after they were made. Two pieces by the Boston silversmith were in the sale: a circa 1760 silver caster once owned by Walpole Society founder Dwight Blaney topped off at $44,450 while a 7¼-inch-long spoon from the estate of Gwynne Garbisch McDevitt, the daughter of Colonel Edgar William and Bernice Chrysler Garbisch, dished bids to $9,525.
Lynda Cain commented, “Those are pretty rare and it was in excellent condition.” This 5½-inch-tall silver caster by Paul Revere Jr (1735-1818), circa 1760, had been loaned to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, by Walpole Society founder, Dwight Blaney. A private Southern collector took it to $44,450 ($15/25,000).
Prior to the sale, a Chippendale walnut tall case clock with works by David Rittenhouse (1732-1796) attracted a lot of attention because the face and works were not in their original case. However, the face and works were published in Donald L. Fennimore and Frank L. Hohmann III, David Rittenhouse: Philosopher-Mechanick of Colonial Philadelphia and His Famous Clocks (Winterthur, 2023) and some scholars believed it to be one of just eight authentic Rittenhouse clocks in private hands. Selling within what Cain said was a “strong” estimate of $25/50,000, it found a new home with a local private collector for $38,100.
Another local collector won, for $25,400, a Chippendale Philadelphia carved tilt-top tea table that had what Cain characterized as “a beautiful base.”
Rounding out early American furniture lots at $12,700 was a Federal yellow pine corner cupboard, attributed to William Seay (active 1790-1800) of Bertie County, N.C., that descended in the family of H. Armstrong Roberts (1883-1947), a Philadelphia photographer. Cain confirmed it would be returning to North Carolina.
Lynda Cain said, “We had a lot of interest in those. They’re big and beautifully painted and the bidders didn’t seem to mind that they’d been restored over the years.” This pair of 28½-inch-tall Chinese export porcelain famille rose covered vases, Eighteenth Century, will probably end up in China with a buyer who paid $17,780 for the pair ($3/5,000).
Ceramics saw some strong results. For $17,780, a pair of large and finely painted Eighteenth Century Chinese export porcelain famille rose covered vases, previously owned by a Mid-Atlantic institution that had been restored, sold to a buyer Cain thought would take them back to their country of origin. Also heading back to China — though not necessarily with the same buyer — was a pair of Chinese export porcelain green Fitzhugh gu-form vases, circa 1800, that made $11,430, nearly 10 times the lot’s high estimate.
Staffordshire transfer-printed wares — particularly if they are desirable examples — bring out collectors. This was the case with an Arms of Pennsylvania platter made circa 1830 by Thomas Mayer, Stoke, Cliff Bank Works, that Cain called, “a very nice example.” It more than tripled its high estimate and sold to a Pennsylvania collector for $15,240.
What many might consider an unusual addition to the sale brought $33,020 and was one of its highest-priced items: a trestle extension dining table and six chairs made in New Hope, Penn., in 1966 by George Nakashima (1905-1990). Commissioned originally from the craftsman, the set was accompanied by a digital copy of the original order card. It found a new home in New York City. Cain observed, “The seller did not want to wait for one of the Pennsylvania sales but they’re pleased with how well it did. The set really looked great, not at all out of place with the other furniture in the sale.”
Freeman’s | Hindman’s Philadelphia office will conduct its next American furniture, folk and decorative arts sale on November 19.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.freemansauction.com or 215-563-9275.
