Carpets Fly and a Fireplace Sizzles in Freeman’s $1.4 million sale
March 24, 2004
PHILADELPHIA - It was a weekend, said Freeman’s English and Continental specialist Lee Young, that made it “a true pleasure to be an auctioneer.” All categories within the Philadelphia company’s March 20-21 sale of Fine English & Continental Furniture & Decorative Arts performed impressively on the auction block to amass a two-day total of $1.45 million.
Internet bidding in this sale was stronger than ever, with 228 of the sale’s 692 sold lots going to bidders using the services of LiveAuctioneers/eBayLiveAuctions. Those sales came to $400,000 or 33 percent of the gross.
The top online lot was a pair of Sevres porcelain and gilt-metal mounted urns, which sold to a Belgian buyer for $25,200. Also selling to an online bidder was the sale’s cover lot, a fine Minton pate-sur-pate olive green pilgrim bottle by Louis Marc Solon, which came to Freeman’s from a local collector. Estimated at $15-25,000, the late 19th century example of the work of the acknowledged master of the pate-sur-pate technique sold to an American bidder via the Internet for $22,800.
Other top online purchases included:
* An Aubusson carpet ($10-15,000 est.), 15 ft. 9 in. x 12 ft. 4 in. - $13,200
* A walnut and parcel gilt trumeau ($1,000-1,500) - $9,000
* A late 17th/early 18th century Italian walnut table ($1,000-1,200) - $9,000
* A fine set of twelve 19th century Sevres porcelain portrait plates retailed by Davis Collamore & Co. ($8-12,000) - $9,000
More than 900 lots were sold over the two-day period, including a marathon 8-hour session on Sunday. Decorative arts generated more than two-thirds of the sale total, while rugs and carpets also performed strongly, with a contribution of more than $200,000 from just over 100 lots.
Top honors were snagged by an impressive 19th century Louis XV-style rouge marble and gilt bronze fireplace. The fireplace had been left in situ in its South Philadelphia home for exhibition, with potential bidders journeying from as far away as London to view the ornate piece. When the lot went on the block on Saturday, bidders on the floor drove the early bidding but soon the 12 bidders on the phones took over, taking the conservatively estimated ($12-18,000) piece to an eventual $65,350.
American buyers, with an especially strong presence from Internet bidders, were the primary force in the sale, but the strength of the British pound sterling became a factor on several important lots. Most notable was a pair of Meissen articulated “Pagoda” figures, also known as “nodding Buddhas,” from the late 19th century. A buyer from the English trade outlasted strong competition from the Internet to take home the pair for $23,500, greatly exceeding the $8-12,000 estimate. The same buyer prevailed on a single “Pagoda” figure appearing later in the sale, which sold for $11,162 against a $7-9,000 estimate.
A fine sampler ascribed to Mary Susannah Lambeth of England, dated 1789, was one of Sunday’s several surprises. A private bidder in the room went head to head with another phone bidder on the needlework, and it quickly became clear that the $3-5,000 estimate would be left far behind. Decisive bidding quickly took the piece to its final price of $30,550, with the trade buyer on the phone the happy victor. One of the other surprises emerged from a stellar collection of first period Worcester porcelain from the collection of a Connecticut gentleman. The collection as a whole performed quite strongly, with the 48 lots estimated at $27,000-43,000 achieving a total hammer of more than $63,000. Within the collection was a single bowl, catalogued with some trepidation as “probably Caughley” and estimated at $400-600. Demonstrating that in a properly promoted sale estimates have little meaning as long as they are too low rather than too high, the bowl eventually sold to an English buyer on the phone, for $12,925.
Sunday’s session began with rugs and carpets, a section of the sale assembled by specialist David Weiss. The top lot of the section was a late 19th century Mohtashem Kashan carpet, 9 ft. 8 in. x 7 ft. 6 in., from a Reading , Pa. , estate. Estimated at $8-10,000, the central Persian carpet sold for $18,800. Other highlights included a 14 ft. x 9 ft. 11 in. Serapi ($16,450) and a large (19 ft. 6 in. x 14 ft. 9 in.) Kerman that sold for $11,162 against a $3-5,000 estimate.
Interest in decorative items across a variety of disciplines was uniformly high. In addition to the three nodding Buddhas, the sale included a large Meissen porcelain figure after the model by J. J. Kandler of Count Bruhl’s Tailor , which achieved a result of $18,800 ($3-5,000 estimate). Also impressive were a circa 1900 Italian pietra-dura plaque depicting a monk leading a donkey through a gate ($11,750) and, amongst a large selection of KPM plaques, a good circa 1880 depiction of Princess Louise, after G. Richter ($11,750).
Tied with the sampler for the second-highest price of the day was a Pierre Le Faguays brown and silver patinated bronze with ivory depiction of an archer, which sold to a local private buyer for $30,550 ($5-8,000 estimate). Other good results for bronzes included a female nude by F. DeLuca ($8,400), a male and female harlequin pair by Paul Dubois ($8,225), and a pair of soldiers on horseback by Emmanuel Fremiet ($7,050).
The top furniture lot of Saturday’s session was a good mid-18th century Louis XV kingwood and crossbanded bombe commode that sold within estimate at $11,456. Other highlights included:
* An impressive mid-18th century Louis XV provincial oak armoire deux corps - $8,812
* A 19th century Louis XV1-style mahogany and gilt bronze mounted games table by Henry Dasson - $8,812
* A Victorian mahogany tester bed, circa 1860 - $7,637
Silver, which was sold at the end of Saturday’s session, was led by a William & Mary silver tankard from London, 1693 ($8,518) and a pair of sterling silver five-light candelabra in Louis XV style ($7,200).
Lee Young’s next English & Continental sale is scheduled for September 18th and 19th. Consignments will be accepted through early August. Inquiries may be directed to Mr. Young at (215) 563-9275, ext. 3040 or by email at lyoung@freemansauction.com.
As always, LiveAuctioneers.com, in association with eBayLiveAuctions, will proudly provide the live Internet bidding component for the important Freeman’s sale.
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