Pook & Pook, Inc. breaks company record with auction of the Pioneer Americana collection
May. 1, 2007
(DOWNINGTOWN, Pa.) -- Pook & Pook, Inc. Auctioneers and Appraisers hosted a record-breaking sale with the auction of the Pioneer Americana collection of Dr. and Mrs. Donald A. Shelley on April 20 and 21. The 852-lot, two-day sale grossed $9.8 million and became Pook & Pook’s top grossing sale ever. LiveAuctioneers.com hosted live online bidding for the sale, allowing bidders worldwide to participate in this important auction.
According to executives from the auction house, the company is excited to have broken its own auction record. Doing so is a fascinating gauge of the antiques market and its trends, but the overall reaction to the sale spoke volumes to the vision of a man who acted as an early trailblazer forging a great collection with little guidance, relying only on sheer determination, a keen eye and a thirst for knowledge. For the Shelley family, this sale showcased Dr. Shelley’s life work as a scholar, museum curator, and above all, collector.
This sale was actually the sequel to the first Shelley sale held in October of 2004 which featured only the fraktur and works on paper from the collection. While both Dr. and Mrs. Shelley attended the 2004 sale and signed catalogs for enthusiastic collectors and dealers, Mrs. Shelley declined to attend this sale as Dr. Shelley passed away in the Spring of 2006. Ron Pook, senior auctioneer and appraiser, announced at the sale that he liked to believe that Mrs. Shelley was likely “passing the days in her garden”, while pieces that had been off the market and only seen by a few close friends over the last four to five decades made auction history.
The Friday evening session began with an assortment of delft and furniture. Just 50 lots into the sale, the first auction record was broken when a Pre-Revolutionary War English creamware teapot with one side declaring “No Stamp Act” and the other “American, Liberty Restored,” sold for $152,100. Only three other examples of this teapot are known and all are held in American museums. The same bidder felled another auction record by purchasing a Lancaster County, Pa., polychrome decorated compass box. The previous record had been slightly more than $100,000, but the Shelley example, one of only three or four known with a drawer, reached a final price of $374,400.
Other top lots of the Friday session included the Pennsylvania painted pine schrank, ca. 1770, selling for $222,300; a stoneware jug with cobalt decoration of a woman with parasol and exaggerated hoop skirt selling for $55,820; another stoneware jug with vibrant goony bird decoration selling for $48,800 to an online bidder hoping to donate the piece to the New York State Museum; and a Southeastern Pennsylvania slipware plate dated 1816 reaching $105,300.
The Saturday session began with equal enthusiasm and strong bidding with the very first lot of the day, a Pennsylvania painted settee -- attributed to William F. Snyder, Mifflintown Chair Works, Juniata County -- reaching $128,700. The carvings of Wilhelm Schimmel were highly contested throughout the day as well with a small, 6.75-inches high, polychrome-decorated eaglet setting, which set another new auction record at $58,500. The larger spread-winged eagle by Schimmel, which sold later in the day, earned $234,000. A Berks County, Pa., miniature painted poplar marriage chest dated 1765 also likely set a record for a miniature chest at $304,200.
The three highest lots of the sale were all sold on Saturday as well. A Berks County, Pa., dower chest with vibrant parrot, star, tulip and vine decoration all on a blue ground sold for a record $561,600. An outstanding Pennsylvania tiger maple ladderback attributed to the Fussell-Savery School adorned with six slats and boldly carved handholds, reached an auction record at $491,400. Lastly, the top lot of the weekend was a Philadelphia William and Mary mahogany dressing table that is nearly identical to the one at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The boldly turned legs and originality of the piece, including the delicate, serpentine cross stretcher, all contributed to a final sale price of $585,000.
The sale featured a number of other surprise lots during the weekend, including a Lancaster County, Pennsylvania walnut straight edge with sulphur inlaid date "1800," the initials "IS," and inlays of bird, star, and potted tulip. The 22.5-inch-long piece sold for $28,080. A Reading, Pa., redware wall pocket by D.P. Shenfelder made $44,460. An Eastern Shore, Va., yellow pine clothes press with arched and raised panel doors and sides realized $51,480. One of a dozen or so Pennsylvania wainscot chairs in the sale, an armchair with star and line inlays referred to by Dr. Shelley as the "Bishop Eby black banister back” sold for $111,150. A small painted pine storage box by Jacob Weber was painted green and decorated with a yellow, black, and orange house and trees on the front of the case and tulip-decorated ends and top. Inscribed "Maria Weber 1850" the small piece set a record at $140,400. A Center County, Pa., decorated oval band box, dating to the early 19th century, with delicate vine, tulip, and drape decoration on a red surface, reached $70,200. A rare pewter flagon with ball-shaped thumb piece and a lid with heart-shaped spout, attributed to Philadelphia-maker Johann Phillip Alberti sold for $49,140 and a Lancaster, Pa., pewter chalice attributed to Johann Christoph Heyne sold for $30,420.
Pook & Pook’s next auction is May 11-12. The entire catalog will be available online for live and absentee bidding at www.LiveAuctioneers.com.
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