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In this ninth-plate ambrotype, Ephraim Crocker is shown wearing his “Wide Awake” uniform; he joined the 44th Infantry’s Company G in 1861 and saw action at Sharpsburg and Chancellorsville before mustering out in 1864. A buyer new to Meander, bidding online, won it for $3,690 ($100/200).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring
WHIPPLE, OHIO — Meander Auctions by Andrew Richmond and Hollie Davis continued selling items from the Carrollton, Ohio, estate collection of Pete Slates and the Wooster, Ohio, collection of Dr Virginia Gunn in its 524-lot Winter Antiques & Art auction on January 18. More than 95 percent of the sale gaveled down successfully, and Richmond told Antiques and The Arts Weekly that despite the winter weather and some “very unfortunate” tech issues early on, “by every metric it was a great sale.” He noted that the last three sales they had conducted — this sale, one November 23 and a third on September 28 — have been the highest in the firm’s young history, making it an encouraging upward trend.
As it has been in recent sales, Slates’ collection of works by Ohio artist Clyde Singer (1908-1999) was a fan favorite, with four of the five offered finishing in the top 20 lots. These included the highest-selling and second-highest selling lots, for $13,090 and $9,440, respectively. In first place was “McSorley’s — Two By The Stove,” a 1973 oil on Masonite composition depicting a young couple in the iconic tavern interior. It will be staying in-state, purchased by a private collector via Meander’s online bidding platform. The second was a self-portrait that had been included in a 2008 retrospective exhibition at the Canton Museum of Art titled “Clyde Singer’s America” and illustrated in the accompanying catalog. The buyer was bidding on the phone.
A sizeable portion of the sale was from the Gunn collection, which Richmond and Davis began selling in September 2024. Earning $3,868 and selling to an Ohio collector bidding on Meander’s online platform was a circa 1846 black and white two-piece coverlet that depicted — in 12 laurel-wreathed medallions — images of the US Capitol Building. Along the bottom of the coverlet were the words “CAPITOL IN WASHINGTON / 1846.” According to the catalog note, photographer John Plumbe, Jr, created the first images of the US Capitol Building in 1846, which he displayed along view of other public buildings in Washington, DC.
An Ohio collector, bidding online, won for $3,686 this 87-by-78½-inch black and white two-piece coverlet made around 1846. It was the third-highest lot in the sale and the highest-selling item from the Gunn collection ($100/200).
Textiles were not the only strong category in the Gunn collection; it also included a good selection of early American photographs. One of them, which depicted Ephraim Crocker in his “Wide Awake” uniform, achieved the highest price: $3,690, against an estimate of $100/200. Crocker was born in Rensselaerville, N.Y., in 1843 and was part of the “Wide Awake” movement of the mid Nineteenth Century, which — according to the National Park Service link provided in Meander’s catalog — was a Republican political organization instrumental in getting young people interested in the 1860 presidential election to elect Abraham Lincoln.
Another ample assembly in the sale was the lifetime collection belonging to an unidentified Northeast Ohio dealer. Some of the highlights from their collection included a miniature American chest-on-chest that dated to the Nineteenth Century and measured 26¼ inches tall. For $2,880, it found a new home with a local collector bidding on HiBid. From the same collection was a Navajo blanket that measured 59½ by 80 inches and featured a prominent zig-zag pattern in red, orange and brown; estimated at $100/200, it realized $2,460 from a Southwestern collector bidding online.
Meander Auctions’ next sale is scheduled for March 15.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, 740-760-0012 or www.meanderauctions.com.
