Minton’s Victorian Majolica

Brownfield Majolica Vase, England, c. 1871-76, Estimate $2,500-3,500, to be sold on July 14, 2012 at our European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction

Victorian majolica was produced in Britain by at least twenty-five to thirty manufacturers, including major potteries such as Wedgwood and George Jones, from the 1850s right through until the turn of the twentieth century. The French, Germans and Americans also manufactured their own majolica, with little similarities in style and enameling to their British counterparts.

None has captured our interest as much as those examples of majolica produced at Minton. With their vibrant combination of lively enamels and crisp modeling, they produced fanciful forms such as garden seats, heavily molded jugs, oyster plates, game pie dishes, covered cheese dishes, allegorical figures, umbrella/stick stands, pedestals, tiles, flower pots of all shapes and sizes, animals, tea sets, strawberry servers, ornamental vases and much, much more. Majolica decorates a variety of forms so beautifully that it is most impressive and a bit eye-popping to see a collection in a home or on display.

You’ll have a chance to see such a collection in the July 14, 2012 sale of European Furniture & Decorative Arts featuring Fine Ceramics at Skinner in Boston. We have a major collection of over one hundred fine examples of majolica. Works of Minton will be featured, and the collection will include examples from some of Minton’s contemporary British and French competitors. A fine selection of Portuguese Palissy-type wares will also be offered.

Online Wine Auction Highlights: From the Southern Rhone to Napa Valley

Hot on the heels of the successful live auction last week, the online portion of our Fine Wines auction continues through Sunday, May 13, 2012 at 8:00 p.m. EDT. This is the first time Skinner has run a timed online auction, and so far the response has been excellent.

I thought I’d spend a few minutes this Wine Wednesday picking out a few lots I’m particularly excited about in the online wine auction. There are almost 600 lots to choose from, and if you have a favorite that’s not listed here, let us know in the comments.

La Pousse d’Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d’Or 1985

Lot 574: La Pousse d’Or Volnay 1er Cru Clos de la Bousse d’Or 1985

Lot 574 – View Online Auction Listing

My favorite lot in the entire sale, live or online, is this one, 6 bottles of 1985 Clos de la Bousse d’Or. The consignor was kind enough to provide us with a bottle of this wine to demonstrate the quality of his storage. Simply put, the bottle was right in the sweet spot for Burgundy; smoke and earth, nuanced fruit, fully mature yet the acidity suggests some years ahead. And that was from a bottle with a four centimeter ullage, so imagine what is in store for the winner of this lot.

Estimate: $450-750

Clos Saint Jean Chateauneuf du Pape Deus Ex Machina 2005

Lot 706 – View Online Auction Listing

This 100-pointer is a combination of old and new styles in the Southern Rhone: a blend of 60% Grenache aged in the traditional 4500-liter foudre barrels and 40% Mouvedre aged in the more modern style barriques. This is one of two new cuvees produced since winemaker Philippe Gambie took the reins in 2003. Yields for this cuvee are a jaw-droppingly low 20 hectoliters/hectare. This is a wine with staying power to last the better part of a century, but so deftly crafted that it can be enjoyed immediately.

Estimate: $900-1,300

Chateau Pavie 2004

Lot 523 – View Online Auction Listing

My favorite right-bank Chateau in a difficult year for the region, the 2004 is everything you’d expect from modern-style Bordeaux: densely concentrated, approachable in its youth and full of potential for decades worth of development in bottle. You have the sense that by 2004 proprietor Gerard Perse had hit his stride with the estate that he took over in 1998. It seems that the mysteries of the varied soils on the vineyard’s south-facing slopes have been tamed at the hands of their master and no matter what challenges the vintage may provide, you can be confident that an outstanding wine will beproduced.

Estimate: $200-300

Lail Vineyards Cabernet Sauvignon J. Daniel Cuvee

Lots 922-930 – View Online Auction Listing

Representing every vintage from the debut 1995 through 2004, these lots offer a vertical of a standout Napa Valley wine that was sold almost exclusively to members of its mailing list. Raised by the eponymous winemaking legend John Daniel, who crafted the historic Inglenooks of the 1940s, Robin Lail was a partner with Christian Moueix at Dominus before starting her own operation with winemaker Philippe Melka. The J. Daniel Cuvee is the premier wine produced by the estate, a Bordeaux style blend of Cabernet and Merlot from properties in Yountville, Vine Hill Road and Howell Mountain until 2001, when it became a 100% Cabernet Sauvignon cuvee.

Estimates range from $150 to $350

Meet the Experts: Cara Elmslie, Director of Discovery Auctions

Mixing Casual Country with More Formal Styles to Create Your Own Aesthetic

Cara Elmslie, Director of Discovery Auctions

Experts work behind the scenes every day at Skinner to put together auctions full of unique, important, and beautiful fine art and antiques. Cara Elmslie joined Skinner in 2011 as head of the Discovery department, where she handles over a thousand lots of material every single month. This week the Discovery auction is featuring Country Americana and Jewelry, two of our most popular offerings.

What excites you most about the March Discovery Auction?

What I really love about this sale is the huge variety of beautiful things: from the painted pine furniture to the more formal Chippendale and Queen Anne-style pieces.

In setting up the preview, I had a good time selecting objects and arranging them in a way that really shows you don’t need to have just one single style in your home. You can choose your favorite pieces and mix them up to create your own aesthetic. Country and formal styles can and do go together.

What attracts people to Discovery auctions?

People love a treasure hunt, and that’s what you get when you come to a Skinner Discovery auction. Country Americana is highlighted in our monthly Discovery auction three times each year, and we had such a variety of great inventory waiting for this sale. Both Country Americana and Jewelry are very popular collecting areas in New England, and it’s exciting to have them both featured in a Discovery sale in the same month.

We have over 1,600 lots in this week’s sale. With such a huge stock of art and antiques to browse through, there’s definitely going to be something for everyone. I overheard one woman who was browsing the preview say, “Oh look—these are the dishes we grew up with!”

Discovery Auction | Estate of Susan Parrish | Federal Pine Dressing Table

Decorated Federal Pine Dressing Table from the Estate of Susan Parrish

Tell us a little more about the Country Americana offered in Discovery auctions.

The Country Americana style is very much a part of New England culture. This month, we’re offering more than 100 lots from the estate of Susan Parrish, a very well-respected collector and dealer in American antique furniture and textiles.

People travel here from all over the country to find good values. Obviously the New England style is more prevalent here but it is still popular elsewhere. One dealer we spoke with recently moved from Arizona, where he said the painted furniture, the “shabby-chic” look, is popular with the younger generation eager to reduce their carbon footprint by buying recycled furniture.

However, in the midwest and southwest, Country Americana is harder to come by. At Skinner, we find authentic, local antiques made in New Hampshire, Massachusetts or other parts of New England every day. If it isn’t a period piece, it’s a well-crafted, handmade reproduction in a similar style.

Discovery auction | Wool Indian Trade Blankets

Wool Indian trade blankets from the Estate of Susan Parrish

What are your favorite lots in the auction?

I have many! To start, I love the textiles from the Susan Parrish Estate, especially the wool Indian trade blankets, and the hand-stitched quilts amaze me. A beautiful example is lot 1208, an Amish piece with a subtle, hand-stitched motif. The elaborate stitching combined with simple fabric piecing and subdued color choices really epitomizes the aesthetic of the sale.

White-painted Glazed Iron Rolling Greenhouse

Several pieces of furniture demonstrate this aesthetic quite beautifully. Lot 1113, a Federal pine dressing table also from the Parrish Estate, is a feminine vanity that mixes a painted country style with graceful details. I love the simple, elegant style of Lot 1072, a pine tavern table. The table is almost modern in the way the legs taper, yet the piece clearly has age and history. On the more formal side, lot 522 is a Queen Anne cherry drop-leaf table, and I love the subtlety of the pad feet.

Then there are the unusual, wonderful things you’d have trouble finding again, like lot 886, a small rolling terrarium. You could park it in your yard or on your patio, and I’m sure it would function just like a larger greenhouse. I would love to own it.

If you can’t make it out to Marlborough, Massachusetts for the auction, you can browse the preview from home on our Facebook page, or visit the online auction catalogue to preview and bid.

Della Robbia Pottery: A Fanciful Wall Plaque by Ellen Mary Rope

Della Robbia Pottery | Wall Plaque by Ellen Mary Rope

Della Robbia Pottery Molded Wall Plaque, England, 1900, designed by Ellen Mary Rope, Lot 600 in the March 31, 2012 European Furniture & Decorative Arts Auction

Children join hands and dance around a tree in this fanciful wall plaque designed by Ellen Mary Rope for Della Robbia Pottery. The plaque will be sold in the March 31, 2012 European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction at Skinner.

Della Robbia Pottery, founded in Birkenhead, England, near Liverpool, in December 1893, produced art pottery espousing the tenets of the British Arts and Crafts movement. Directors Harold Rathbone and Conrad Dressler set out to create domestic wares and architectural elements with local labor and raw materials. They wanted to emulate the manufacturing methods as much as the aesthetics of the Florentine Renaissance family of potters from which the company got its name: Della Robbia Pottery.

Rathbone and Dressler followed pre-industrial production practices, while championing the individuality of the craftsperson. Della Robbia Pottery also had Pre-Raphaelite support, with William Holman Hunt on the controlling council and designs from Edward Burne-Jones and Ford Maddox Brown, who was Rathbone’s teacher.

At two and a half feet wide, the plaque pictured here demonstrates designer Ellen Mary Rope’s style on a large scale. Rope, who worked on relief panels and friezes at the firm from 1896 until its closure in 1906, favored subjects with children, pixies, and angels. This panel is one of her more complex compositions, with a number of figures molded in both high and low relief. The motif of children joining hands around a tree is also found in at least one other example of her work.

The glazes used here demonstrate the firm’s typical color palette; Rathbone supposedly insisted that every piece include the color green.

My colleagues and I are excited about this opportunity to handle such a unique example of English art pottery, from a firm not often found on this side of the Atlantic. We hope to see you at the March 31, 2012 European Furniture & Decorative Arts auction in Boston.

Examples of Della Robbia Pottery’s domestic ware, auctioned at Skinner for $1,066.50 on October 6, 2007

The Stoneware Face Jug: A Treasure Hidden Away for a Hundred Years

Stoneware Face Jug, attributed to Bath, (Aiken County), South Carolina, area, second half 19th century, Auctioned for $56,287.50 on March 5, 2012

When I first set eyes on this face jug, it was tucked inside a glassed-in bookcase alongside dishes, books, and other everyday things. I took it out, and said, “This is terrific! It’s beautiful!”

Beautiful might not be the first word that comes to everyone’s mind when looking at a grotesque face like this one, but I knew the jug was something special. I loved the diminutive size—it fit in the palm of my hand—plus the fact that it survived from the 19th century with no damage. It wasn’t even dusty.

It wasn’t until we’d taken the jug back to Skinner Auction House when specialist Karen Langberg found a note tucked inside the jug that read, “Monkey Jug= made at Bath S.C. 1862 by negro slaves/Aiken S.C.”

I asked the consignor about her great-grandfather who had collected the jug and written the note. We learned that he had most likely acquired it in the late 19th or early 20th century, just a few decades after the piece was made. The fact that he saw fit to acquire this unique example of an African-American face jug shows a developed aesthetic sensibility. The fact that the jug survived all this while undamaged is miraculous.

Further research into the history of the jug led us to two articles from the 2006 issue of Ceramics in America, published by the Chipstone Foundation. In the article titled “Fluid Vessel: Journey of the Jug,” pp. 93-121, John A. Burrison discusses the history of early Southern face vessels made by enslaved African-American potters. He proposes that face jugs like the one we discovered were likely influenced by anthropomorphic clay vessels made in West Africa, the chief source of the Atlantic slave trade.

A related article in the same issue titled “Making Faces: Archaeological Evidence of African-American Face Jug Production,” by Mark M. Newell with Peter Lenzo, pp. 122-138, discusses the origins and use of pottery face vessels. The article states that the larger face jugs were used “as water vessels called ‘monkey’ jugs-after monkeyed, a southern term for the dehydrating effect of the summer heat.”

Small jugs such as the one sold at Skinner have aroused curiosity as to their use, as they were so small that they would not hold much liquid to quench a thirsty person. The Newell and Lenzo article also mentions the 1909 interview by early American historian Edwin AtLee Barber with a South Carolina plantation pottery owner, Colonel Davies, who commented that the small jugs were used by the slaves “for their own purposes,” inferring a connection between the jugs and possible religious or ritual practices.

Although the original purpose of the jug may remain a mystery, the fact remains that it’s a wonderful piece of sculpture with an amazing story. It was one of my personal favorites in the March 4, 2012 American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction at Skinner, and I’m thrilled with the $56,287.50 price realized.

The World’s Oldest Antiques: Ammonites, Trilobites, and Crinoids

Natural History Auction | Ammonite Fossil

Ammonite Fossil, Lyme Regis, Dorset, England, Jurassic, Macrosophites, featured in the June 2, 2012 Science, Technology & Clocks auction at Skinner. Estimate $3,000-5,000.

“Antiques—Old and New” reads the sign on a less traveled rural road in Maine. “New” antiques, may seem like an oxymoron, but it all depends on your point of view. At the next Science, Technology and Clocks auction to be held on June 2, 2012, really, really, old antiques will be offered: a private collection of fossils 10,000 to 600 million years old! Compared to that, your typical 19th century clock is pretty new.

Rocks and the fossils contained within them are the oldest “antiques” on planet earth. Single-celled organisms in the form of blue-green algae found in shale and sandstone in South Africa are thought to be 3.2 billion years old. More complex fossils of organisms with bones and skeletal structure date from the Cambrian period, 500-600 million years ago, and examples abound in the important private collection we have coming up for auction.

The Natural History section of the June 2nd auction includes over 125 lots of ancient history, including complete dinosaur skeletons, eggs and other bone fragments, a wooly mammoth tusk, fossilized fish, shark’s teeth, a sea scorpion, ammonites, trilobites, crinoids and more. Many lots of classic Jurassic fossils from the Lyme Regis, Dorset England were the property of pioneer collector Mary Anning and others carry the original catalogue labels of famed mid-19th century London dealer Bryce McMurdo Wright.

We are proud to be temporary custodians of old or “new” antiques, and our collections serve as somewhat of a time capsule, preserving a once very alive past. These really, really old antique fossils were trapped in sediment and then hardened into rock over millions of years, offering us a glimpse into the beginning of life as we know it.

A Rare Dutch Colonial Portrait Survives from the Early 18th Century

Rare Dutch Colonail Portrait by The Gansevoort Limner

The Portrait of Elizabeth Van Dyck Vosburg will be sold on March 4, 2012 in the Skinner American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction in Boston as lot 216, estimated between $200,000 and $300,000

The Portrait of Elizabeth Van Dyck Vosburg is one of the ultimate rarities: a unique and early example of American naïve painting from the early 18th century. This oil-on-canvas work was painted by an artist widely known as The Gansevoort Limner, who some scholars believe was a Dutch-born immigrant named Pieter Vanderlyn. Whatever the case, this artist was prolific in the period from about 1730-45 in the area that would become New York State.

Enough is known about the provenance of this particular painting that it is identified as showing Elizabeth Van Dyck at the time of her marriage to Martin Vosburg in 1725. That date certainly makes it one of the earliest known works by the artist, and one of the earliest attributed American paintings of any kind still in private hands.

Known works by The Gansevoort Limner number less than two dozen and most of these are housed in public collections, notably the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Besides its incredible rarity, this folk portrait differs from similar works thanks to its singular state of its preservation. It has never been lined (a process done usually to stabilize the original canvas), and, remarkably, still retains its original black-painted frame in the Dutch style 287 years later! Minor, scattered spots of repaint exist to strengthen the original paint layer in places, and there are several minor patch repairs, though all were done with a very careful hand. The back of the canvas, the pine frame, and the stretcher all exhibit the characteristic blackening caused by nearly 300 years of oxidation — something we love to see — and a clear indication that the painting is still in its original presentation. We’re seeing it just as the artist intended it to be presented in the early 18th century.

Back of Dutch Colonial Portrait by The Gansevoort Limner

The oxidation of the back of the canvas shows the painting's great age

Elizabeth Van Dyck was christened in April 1697, in Albany, New York, the second of her parents’ eight children. We see her here, at the age of 28, half-length, standing and facing to her right. The thumb and forefinger on her right hand delicately pinch the stem of a flower blossom, and her left hand clutches a patchbox with the initials E and M – hers and that of her husband, Martin, presumably upon the occasion of their marriage.

The overall look of the work is one of folk art, and The Limner’s oeuvre is indeed “folky.” His paintings typically present flattened representations of his sitters and surroundings, and he worked in a semi-itinerant manner outside the realm of academically trained painters. Both traits are highly characteristic of folk artists in the 18th century.

When one places the artist and his sitters in historical context, The Gansevoort Limner’s works speak equally strongly from this perspective as well. The marriage between Elizabeth and Martin was a union between two Dutch families in the Hudson River Valley. The portrait of Elizabeth exhibits a pure Dutch influence which, later in the century, would attenuate and disappear as the settled Dutch of what would be New York State began to lose their identity. The portrait of Elizabeth stands as a testament to a moment in Colonial America’s history when settlers from Holland were among the most influential residents in the future United States – a fact often forgotten in modern-day discussion.

Accompanying the work is the 1702 Amsterdam-printed Van Dyck family Bible which includes family papers dating to the 18th and mid-19th centuries. The Van Dyck papers provide a wonderful a snapshot into their lives. One document is the early pen and ink family register, listing marriages and births, and written in Dutch. An additional document, from 1868, is a lithographed (mass-produced) marriage certificate of a Van Dyck family wedding. By then the early 18th century Dutch colonists had become a well-assimilated, late 19th century American family.

Much of what had made the Dutch unique when Elizabeth was painted – especially the connection to the material culture of their homeland that Elizabeth embodies – had disappeared into the melting pot that was the post-civil war United States. Taken together, the Bible and papers help to tell the specific story of the painting’s history, the history of the Van Dyck family, as well as the larger story of Dutch assimilation in America.

This is the earliest American portrait Skinner has ever offered and we are delighted to be able to present the painting at auction this weekend. The opportunity to own an American painting made in 1725, having survived in a nearly untouched state of preservation, comes along rarely. Stop by the Boston gallery if you can – we’d be happy to show it to you!

Preview times:
February 29, 12 to 5 pm
March 1, 12 to 5 pm
March 2, 12 to 8 pm
March 3, 12 to 5 pm
March 4, 8 to 10 am

Buried Treasure: The Story of the $50,000 Kashmir Moon Shawl

(Detail) Kashmir Moon Shawl, North India, early 19th century, sold for $59,250 in Skinner's February 2012 Oriental Rugs & Carpets Auction

Next time you sort through boxes in your basement, setting aside items for a yard sale, think twice about what these items may be worth. You could be the unknowing owner of a buried treasure.

In the Skinner Oriental Rugs & Carpets auction on Saturday, February 11, 2012, An important Kashmir Moon Shawl hammered at $50,000 after intense, competitive bidding. The phone lines were all busy with bidders calling in from around the world.

The shawl was made in North India in the early 19th century. The condition of the textile along with its rare beauty, great color, and delicate embroidery attracted serious attention in the market.

Just a few months before the auction, the shawl was hiding away in the consignor’s basement, a forgotten yard sale purchase from 30 years ago. The consignor had bought the shawl because she was attracted to the lovely fabric pattern, and thought it might be a nice craft project to make a pillow from it someday.

Thankfully, the pillow never got made, and when she came across the fabric many years later, she realized that it was all hand-stitched. The quality of the craftsmanship gave her pause, and she decided not to simply put it into another yard sale. Instead, she called Skinner auction house for a professional appraiser’s opinion.

Gary Richards, director of the Oriental Rugs & Carpets department and an experienced appraiser of rugs and textiles, took a look at the piece, and instantly knew it was something special. Further research confirmed that the piece was an authentic Kashmir shawl and could be worth thousands of dollars.

Much to the delight of both the consignor and Skinner, the shawl brought $59,250 with buyer’s premium, a world record for the sale of a Kashmir Moon Shawl at auction.

The consignor said, “I was so pleased. Skinner worked together with advertising, photography, and expert opinions in order to attract bidders from all around the world. The shawl could have been destroyed or lost forever; I’m so glad that it’s now being preserved as an important historic textile.”

Skinner expert appraisers are always available to give free verbal estimates of the value of art and antiques. Call 508-970-3299 to set up an appointment. It never hurts to ask; who knows where the next buried treasure will come from?

Kashmir Moon Shawl, North India, early 19th century, sold for $59,250 in Skinner's February 2012 Oriental Rugs & Carpets Auction

Auction Highlights, Part II: The $5.5 Million Dollar World Record

This post continues a series of stories behind some of the top highlights in Skinner auctions from the past decade. Through telling these stories, we hope to shed light on where the market has been and where it’s going now.

Fitz Henry Lane, Manchester Harbor

Skinner set a new world record for a painting by Fitz Henry Lane in November 2004: a record that still stands today. The $5.5 million price bested the previous world record price for the artist by over $1.5 million. Even more exciting, this was the third record price that Skinner set for a work by Fitz Henry Lane, who is widely regarded as one of the foremost American painters of the 19th century. At the time, this painting was also the most valuable artwork ever sold at auction in New England.

Skinner still holds the world record for a work by artist Fitz Henry Lane, set when Manchester Harbor sold for $5.5 Million in a Skinner American & European Paintings & Prints Auction in Boston in November 2004

Lane was born in 1804 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, and spent much of his youth sketching the Cape Ann shore, north of Boston. He also seems to have undergone two name changes, only one of which was of his own doing. He was born Nathaniel Rogers Lane. As a young man he changed his name, possibly to differentiate himself from the well-known miniature painter Nathaniel Rodgers. He apprenticed with William S. Pendleton, the Boston lithography firm, in the early 1830s, specializing in topographic views. At this time, he began signing his works “F.H. Lane.” Lane fell out of favor with collectors in the late 19th century, and remained that way well into the 20th century. As of the 1930s, if scholars considered Lane at all, they considered his name to be Fitz Hugh Lane. In fact, when Manchester Harbor sold in 2004 this was still thought to be the case. It was not until 2005 that researchers in Gloucester, Massachusetts rediscovered the 1831 letter Lane had written to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requesting
a name change to Fitz Henry Lane.

Whether you call him Nathaniel, Hugh, or Henry, the artist probably saw the works of Robert Salmon and Washington Allston in Boston in the early 1840s. It was at this time that he decided to concentrate on painting. The paintings of the late 1840s and early 1850s reflected Lane’s earlier graphics training, in conjunction with the influence of the marine artists of the earlier generation. As is apparent in Manchester Harbor, the foreground details with its figures, piers, and spits of land, the scale for the work while accentuating the vastness of the view and its light. The low placement of the horizon line allows for an expansive sky. Tinted with the warm hues of sunrise and reflected in the calm waters, the light becomes the focus of the work, as is typical of Luminism.

The horizontal arrangement of the composition creates stillness in spite of the great, varied activity of the foreground. In conjunction with the concentration of light around a sun viewed through clouds just above the horizon, Manchester Harbor foreshadows the increasing calm and poetry of Lane’s mature Luminist style as it would emerge in the late 1850s.

From my experience as an appraiser of fine paintings and prints for Skinner and on Antiques Roadshow, I know how rare it is to find a masterpiece like this one. Every time I sell a fabulous painting at auction, I wonder how many more there can be left to find? But I know there are many more amazing finds out there.

If you have an exceptional painting or print by a well known artist, and would like me to take a look, please call and set up an appointment at 508-970-3299.

Auction Highlights, Part I: Rare & Desirable American Antique Furniture

You never forget the thrill when great antiques or fine art sell at auction. This post is the first in a series telling the stories behind some of the top highlights in Skinner auctions from the past decade. Through telling these stories, we hope to shed light on where the market has been and where it’s going now.

The Chippendale Mahogany Bombe Chest-on-Chest

American Antique Furniture | Chippendale Mahogany Bombe Chest-on-Chest

This Chippendale Mahogany Carved Scroll-top Bombe Chest-on-Chest sold for $1,766,000 in a 2003 American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction

Extraordinary American antique furniture never goes out of style. The elegant proportions and masterful craftsmanship of a fine piece of furniture in original condition will always attract interest and command high prices at auction.

Just under a decade ago, Skinner made history when we sold an 18th century Chippendale Mahogany Carved Scroll-top Bombe Chest-on-Chest for $1,766,000. This lovely example of the rare American furniture form was made in Boston or the North Shore of Massachusetts, and remained in very fine condition, retaining its old surface and original brasses. Stylistically, the piece most closely resembles one in the collection of Colonial Williamsburg.

The Chippendale Chest was one of the finest examples of American furniture I have found in my years of working in this business, and Skinner was truly privileged to have the opportunity to offer it at auction. It seems only fitting to me that after more than 200 years, it was auctioned in Boston — the city in which it was likely made.

The provenance of the chest is also notable. Family papers verify that the piece once belonged to Robert “King” Hooper, prominent Marblehead merchant and one of the wealthiest men in 18th century America. Hooper, through a series of provident events and strategic decisions, became a powerful force in the colonial fishing industry in Massachusetts, playing a vital role in providing cargo essential to the British “Triangle Trade.” A Loyalist during the American Revolution, Hooper subsequently lost the fortune he had amassed, but in the middle decades of the 18th century, his lifestyle and the home and furnishings he enjoyed had reflected that of British high society across the ocean.

It’s extremely rare to discover a piece of furniture this beautiful and pristine, but I know there are more out there. As an expert American antique furniture appraiser and regular on the Antiques Roadshow, I’m always on the lookout for the next great find. If you have a piece of antique furniture in original condition and would like me to take a look, please call and set up an appointment at 508-970-3299.

Auction Punk!

Beats the odds and get the deal!

Category Archives: Auction Highlights