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Landscape paintings by brothers Thomas and Edward Hill performed well. This view of Vernal Fall in Yosemite was signed by Thomas Hill and dated 1888. It was in a period frame and was the highest-priced item in the sale, finishing at $21,875.
Review & Onsite Photos By Rick Russack
EPPING, N.H. — Devin Moisan needed three days — April 19-21 — for the largest auction he has had to date. It was worth it as the sale’s result was the highest he’s ever had: more than $1.1 million. On offer were more than 1,200 lots that included gold and silver coins and fractional currency; American furniture from Eighteenth Century highboys to Twenty-First Century pieces by contemporary cabinetmaker Donald Dunlap; European furniture from Italy and Spain; dozens of paintings that included works by John Brewster and Gilbert Stuart to Twenty-First Century abstracts; Twentieth Century pottery from the United States and Europe; Louis Vuitton luggage; clocks; silver; decoys; Native American artifacts; bronzes; and a book selection that included a collection of works by Teddy Roosevelt. The online-only sale provided numerous photographs and comprehensive, detailed cataloging much of which was done by cataloger Rebecca Davis.
Much of the material came from the collection of Cortlandt and Nancy Knowles Parker, descendants of William Gray (1750-1825), who was a Salem merchant and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts. For six generations, the collection had been housed in the family home, Greenvale Farm Estate and Vineyard, Portsmouth, R.I., which was built in 1864 by a family member in the China trade. One family member had been a United States senator, another had been president of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from 1914 to 1924. Needless to say, it was an impressive collection assembled by generations of discerning collectors. Before the sale, Moisan said, “I’ve worked on bringing this collection to auction for about four years.”
Devin Moisan, looking relaxed a few days before the sale.
Most of the material from the collection was sold on the third day of the sale and included a variety of merchandise. Bringing the highest price of the sale — $21,875 — was a large painting of Vernal Fall in Yosemite National Park, signed by Thomas Hill (1829-1908) and dated “1888.” Hill was best known for his Western landscapes and early landscapes in the White Mountains. Later in life, he maintained a studio at Wawona Hotel in Yosemite Valley, Calif. The sale also featured another of his paintings, an 1890 work titled “The Intruder,” which depicted an alert herd of deer by a stream; it sold for $12,500. Eight works by his brother, Edward Hill, (1843-1923), were also sold, most of which were of White Mountain scenery; his “Profile Lake in Franconia Notch at Night” made the most: $10,938. It was signed and dated “1880” and had been included in the New Hampshire Historical Society’s 1989-90 exhibition, “Nature”s Nobleman: Edward Hill and His Art.” The collection of the Hill brothers’ paintings came from an estate in Hubbardston, Mass., from a family related to the brothers.
The Parker family collection also included a painting by Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), which realized $19,375. Painted circa 1805, the sitter was Susannah Powell Mason, the wife of Jonathan Mason, a prominent Massachusetts political leader who served in both the US House of Representatives, and the US Senate. This painting was identified by a label on the back that read, “Mrs. Jonathan Mason/ 1760-1836/ Susannah Powell, daughter/ of William & Mary (Bromfield) Powell. This painting is a/ Replica by Gilbert Stuart/ Painted in Washington in 1805.” It is included in Lawrence Park’s definitive text, Gilbert Stuart: An Illustrated Descriptive List of His Work and was included in a 2004 exhibit of Stuart’s works at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is one of few portraits of Mrs Mason that Stuart painted on different occasions; he also painted portraits of other members of the Mason family.
Gilbert Stuart’s portrait of Mrs Jonathan Mason featured three handwritten labels that identified the site and the year it was painted; it sold for $19,375.
A rawhide and beaded pipe bag, possibly Cheyenne or Sioux, was from the same family and was one of the surprises of the sale. It is believed that this pipe bag was collected by Major General Parker, a senior cavalry officer in the late Nineteenth Century. Estimated at $500/800, the pipe bag sold for $20,625. It was worked in a geometric pattern and in very fine condition. Moisan believed that the provenance and condition contributed to its unexpectedly high price.
On offer was a large collection of books and manuscripts written by — or about — Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. Realizing $9,375 was Roosevelt’s typescript for his December 27, 1912 speech, “History as Literature,” which he delivered to the American Historical Association. It was heavily revised, with pencil and ink additions, deletions and corrections in Roosevelt’s hand, and was housed in a custom-made cloth-covered clamshell and green leather slip case. Two manuscripts for Advertising and Concealing Coloration in Birds and Mammals, similarly cased together, earned $7,500. One was a clean copy but the other was heavily annotated with additions, deletions and corrections in both pencil and ink. An 1899 signed, limited first edition of Big Game Hunting in the Rockies and on the Great Plains, Comprising Hunting Trips of a Ranchman and The Wilderness Hunter brought $3,650. It was number 507 from an edition of 1,000 copies. A signed limited first edition, numbered 114 of 260 copies, Outdoor Pastimes of an American Hunter (New York, 1905), closed at $4,063. In addition to books, there was a bronze bust of Roosevelt by James Earl Fraser that made $4,375 and an unsigned American School oil painting of Roosevelt, which realized $6,250. A representative for the house confirmed that all but one lot of the Roosevelt material was from the Dingman Collection.
Attributed to the workshop of John and Thomas Seymour, circa 1800-15, this sewing table came from the Parker family and achieved $7,187. A key with a label written by Elizabeth Gray Parker was attached and read, “Key belonging to work table of my mother’s. Now in Art Museum. It came down from Mrs Jonathan Mason. E.G.P. 1931.”
Demonstrating the strong interest in high-quality reproduction furniture was a figured cherry Chippendale-style secretary desk with an inscription on the back that read, “Donald A. Dunlap/ Cabinetmaker/ Antrim NH/ 1995”; it sold for $4,375. There were eight other pieces of Dunlap-made furniture including a Chippendale-style mahogany dressing table that was published in Philip Zea and Donald Dunlap’s The Dunlap Cabinetmakers: A Tradition in Craftsmanship (Mechanicsburg, Penn., 1994), which brought $1,625. The sale’s catalog note for the table included an extended discussion of the Dunlap family of cabinet makers.
Only two pieces of period American furniture brought higher prices than the secretary. One was a circa 1800-15 Boston Sheraton mahogany and bird’s-eye maple sewing or worktable; attributed to the workshop of John & Thomas Seymour, it traded hands for $7,187. The other was a Boston Queen Anne mahogany bonnet-top highboy that realized $5,000. The highest priced pieced of furniture in the sale at $10,313 was a marked “#417” oak writing table/desk made by Gustav Stickley in his Craftsman Workshops in Eastwood, N.Y., circa 1901-03.
European furniture did well, with the most sought-after item being a Seventeenth Century William and Mary silvered-metal and kingwood basket-top bracket clock, which earned $13,125. The backplate was signed “Jacobus Hassenius/ London,” and the catalog dated it 1682-98. Heavily decorated with scrolled floral designs and putti, its dial was engraved with Roman and Arabic characters.
It is difficult to visualize the size and quality of this Arita mari charger just from the photo and description. An exceptional piece of Japanese porcelain, it measured 30¼ inches in diameter and was from the late Meiji or Taisho period. Bidders took it well past its estimate to finish at $3,125.
A wide selection of ceramics included an exceptional Japanese Arita Imari charger from the late Meiji or Taisho period; measuring more than 30 inches in diameter, it topped off at $3,125. Painted and gilded with dragons, people in a boat, cranes, cherry trees and exotic birds; it had cobalt blue borders also with cranes. A large famille rose export porcelain bowl, circa 1770-80, went for the same price. It was decorated with fox hunting scenes, butterflies and flowers. English and other European ceramics included a selection of mocha ware, with an earthworm-decorated bowl or basin, nearly 12 inches in diameter, that made $1,875. Three Wedgwood majolica oyster plates in the St Louis pattern, circa 1883, reached $2,250. A near complete Herend dinner service for 12, in the Rothschild Bird pattern, finished at $4,688.
After the sale, Devin Moisan was upbeat. “Not only was it our largest sale in terms of number of lots, it also made the highest gross of any sale we’ve ever conducted, bringing in a little over $1.1 million. We had a broad range of material — which is what I like — plus great stuff from two major families and plenty of other fresh merchandise from other estates. That’s the formula for a successful auction. There was a good turnout for the preview, there were a lot of left bids, phone lines were active throughout and, of course, the internet bidding was extensive.”
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For additional information, 603-953-0022 or www.moisanauctions.com.
