CLEVELAND – During the last few months, Rachel Davis Fine Arts has been the place to go for works by Rockwell Kent (1882-1971). The top lot in its March 2 Discovery Online Auction was Drawings by Rockwell Kent: A Portfolio of Prints, a complete limited edition portfolio of 28 black-and-white prints by the American artist, produced by Egmont Arens at Flying Stag Press in New York in 1924. Only 30 sets were produced, of which this was number 8, and each plate was signed in pencil by Kent. This very same portfolio appeared at Christie’s New York in May 1995. It was offered at Rachel Davis Fine Art with a sheet of 100 Easter Seals stamps, 96 having a Kent illustration. Estimated in the modest range of $200-$400, it hammered for $11,000 and sold for $14,080 with buyer’s premium.
Sheila Gibson Stoodley is the associate editor for Auction Central News. She has written and edited for Robb Report, Art & Antiques magazine, and Andrew Harper online. She also authored The Hot Bid, a blog devoted to intriguing and delightful lots coming up at auction.
NEW YORK – On Wednesday, March 20, commencing at 8 pm Eastern time, Jasper52 will conduct its next Decorative Tribal Art Sale, featuring more than 150 lots. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.
Two of the three highlights of the March 20 auction are late 20th-century bronzes, but all three originate in Africa. The bronze statue from Chad is a relatively standard form depicting multiple figures, probably warriors, riding the same horse. Described as ‘large’ because it measures almost 15in tall, it is estimated at $1,500-$2,000.
The other late 20th-century bronze is a pair credited to the Bamun people, who reside in what is now Cameroon. They are identified as statues of court jesters, and appear to be a male and a female who have headdresses, wide necklaces, skirts, and ankle bracelets. They are together estimated at $3,000-$3,500.
The standout among standouts, however, is an undated Landai mask, made by the Toma people in the Macenta region of Africa, which spans what is now Guinea and Liberia. The tribal community is also called the Loma, and the mask can also be called a Dandai or Angbai mask.
The lot notes state, ‘This mask must have been an awesome sight for the young initiates when it emerged from the forest brandishing a weapon. The mask symbolically devours the young boys at the beginning of their training in the Poro initiation school, and leaves the marks of his teeth on their bodies (in the form of scarification…)’. Part of a Dutch collection since the 1980s, when it was acquired from a gallery in Paris, the mask is estimated at $700-$800.
HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. — Whistler prints from the famed collection of Howard R. Guild, Sr. (1867-1944) will be offered at Leland Little on Friday, March 22. The nine works on paper, including some very rare impressions, come by family descent. The complete catalog is available for viewing and bidding now at LiveAuctioneers.
James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) produced close to 500 etchings, lithographs, and drypoints — many of them carrying his famous butterfly signature. The medium offered him the opportunity to sketch ideas quickly, then slowly refine and develop them through multiple states, creating variations with expressive inking.
During the first half of the 20th century, Whistler collecting was at its zenith. Howard Guild, a Harvard graduate who made his fortune as a paper and twine merchant, was among the keenest adherents, amassing the largest private collection of Whistler prints in the United States. Many were donated by his family to the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College in the 1990s.
Among the prints in the North Carolina sale is a copy of the last of Whistler’s etched self-portraits — sometimes called Whistler with the White Lock. Dated circa 1876-1879, it shows the artist with his characteristic white lock of hair: a genetic trait, the result of Waardenburg Syndrome, which both Whistler and his sister shared. Like every lot in the March 22 Fine Art Auction, it is assigned the broad estimate range of $50-$25,000. However, previous copies have sold for $1,500-$3,000 at auction.
The etching and drypoint Tatting, dating from 1873, is a particularly scarce print: only a handful have been offered at auction since 2000. Part of a group of informal female portraits of 1873 (all of them private studies, possibly for projected paintings) the sitter is Maude Franklin, Whistler’s new model and mistress.
Nursemaid and Child is a much earlier work and one of approximately 35 impressions of this second state etching and drypoint published in 1859. This copy has collectors’ stamps to the verso for Thomas Jefferson Coolidge, a native of Boston who was friends with the great print enthusiast Francis Bullard.
NEW YORK — Collecting silver is a passion for those who seek eye-catching centerpieces fit for a palace or even just tumblers for everyday use. There are many styles as well as an infinite number of silversmiths to choose from. Women silversmiths were not uncommon in the 1700s, and one of the names that comes up often at auction is Hester Bateman, whose pieces have been coveted across the centuries.
Bateman (circa 1708-1794) was the wife of John Bateman, a chain maker (a form of a silversmith). They raised at least five children together, and she also assisted him in his silversmithing shop. As was typical in this era, she inherited his tools and his business when he died in 1760 and came up with her own hallmarks, including her initials ‘HB’ in a fancy script. Known as the queen of British silversmiths, she ran the family business for about 30 years before several of her sons took it over.
“Hester’s workshop produced thousands of works in the Neoclassical style. She created household silverwares such as teapots, coffee caddies, samovars, cutlery, and racing cups for a middle-class London clientele,” according to the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, which noted that much of her work was inspired by classical Greek and Roman motifs.
A large George III English silver pitcher by Hester Bateman, having a pear form, made $3,500 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2022. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.
Collecting silver is, as with anything else, highly personal, but with Bateman pieces, collectors are advised to seek out large and heavy pieces to capitalize on their investment value. Standouts also boast fine engraving or piercing that accentuate the play of light on the silver.
“Her holloware forms are where the interest is, and those tend to be those wonderful Neoclassical-style George III works with beautiful lines and classical urn forms,” said Karen Rigdon, vice president of fine silver and objects of vertu, furniture, and decorative arts at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, Texas. While the auction market for Bateman’s work was perhaps more favorable about a decade ago, Rigdon said her statement pieces continue to do well, and are acquired mainly by American buyers.
A 1781 Hester Bateman punch bowl, shown alongside a detail of its silver marks. It tripled its $3,000-$5,000 estimate when it achieved $15,000 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2021. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.
A case in point is a sizable silver punch bowl she made in London in 1781 that attained a robust price of $15,000 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2021 at Heritage Auctions. This commanding piece, weighing 63 troy ounces and standing 8 3/4 by 12 3/8 inches tall, was simple and elegant in its form, with delicate engraving on the front and around the rim. “That piece is pretty massive, 63 ounces, which is incredible,” Rigdon said, adding, “When her bright-cut engraving is good, it’s very good.” The bowl is clearly recognizable as Bateman’s to those who know her work, but it is also clearly identifiable on the bottom, too, marked with her initials as well as the lion passant and crowned leopard’s head marks she is known to have used.
Detail from a large George III English silver pitcher by Hester Bateman, showing her engraving of a heraldic design with an arm holding a flag above the initials RAB. The pear-form pitcher made $3,500 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2022. Image courtesy of Brunk Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.
Showcasing the quality of Bateman’s engraving is a George III English silver pitcher from 1786, which made $3,500 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2022 at Brunk Auctions. The pear-form pitcher, having an elongated spout and an S-scroll handle, boasted fine engraving of a heraldic design with an arm holding a flag above the initials RAB.
Barrel forms with movement around the side and bright-cut engraving are some of the distinguishing attributes of Bateman’s best silver, Rigdon noted. “That’s what you think of with her — simple, classical forms, motion that tends to be vertical lines, and then the engraved surfaces.”
In 1781, Hester Bateman created this parcel gilt Torah silver pointer that earned $7,250 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2016. Image courtesy of J. Greenstein & Co., Inc. and LiveAuctioneers.
Judaica silver is prized by collectors and has a loyal following. Bateman was known to have made pieces for a then-new synagogue for the Jewish community of Portsmouth, which is reported to be the oldest Anglo-Jewish community outside of London. A Hester Bateman parcel gilt Torah silver pointer earned $7,250 plus the buyer’s premium in May 2016 at J. Greenstein & Co., Inc.
A pair of Hester Bateman sterling silver cups and covers made in 1784, brought $6,000 plus the buyer’s premium in November 2023. Image courtesy of Neal Auction Company and LiveAuctioneers.
Silver collectors who use it to set a stylish table seek pieces such a pair of Bateman’s two-handled vase-form cups and covers that stood 16 1/2 inches tall. Dating to 1784 and boasting urn-form finials on the lids, the pair realized $6,000 plus the buyer’s premium in November 2023 at Neal Auction Company.
Pickings are a bit slim at auction these days for Bateman silver. What mostly becomes available are the aforementioned statement pieces that possess a certain heft and well-done engraving that auctioneers know will sell well, and indeed, they do tend to fly high above their estimates.
This Hester Bateman five-piece silver set with salver from the mid-1780s went out at $6,500 plus the buyer’s premium in February 2023. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.
Complete sets offer added value, as seen with a Hester Bateman five-piece silver salver set from the mid-1780s that bested its $2,000-$4,000 estimate to sell for $6,500 plus the buyer’s premium in February 2023 at Heritage Auctions. The set featured a 12 1/4-inch coffee pot with a wooden handle and a delicate urn-finial on the cover, as well as smaller pieces comprising a teapot, basket, a pitcher, and a salver 16 inches in diameter. Fine beading graces the spout of the coffee pot and the basket’s handle, and also circles the bases of several of the pieces.
A George III silver wax jack by Hester Bateman realized £2,600 ($3,325) plus the buyer’s premium in April 2023. Image courtesy of John Nicholson Auctioneers and LiveAuctioneers.
Unusual and rare Bateman works also command attention, such a George III silver wax jack that made £2,600 ($3,325) plus the buyer’s premium in April 2023 at John Nicholson Auctioneers. A wax jack was used to hold sealing wax tapers in order to seal documents. Standing on ball and claw feet, this 1776 example stood 6 1/2 inches tall and also had fine beading edges.
Bateman’s decoration tended to be restrained and minimal, but a stunning exception is a George III silver tea caddy with dare-we-say exuberant engraving that realized $2,500 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2023 at Alex Cooper.
A Hester Bateman George III silver tea caddy secured $2,500 plus the buyer’s premium in March 2023. Image courtesy of Alex Cooper and LiveAuctioneers.
With care and effort, collectors who admire Hester Bateman silver can build a respectable collection that will hold its value. Large, heavy-gauge silver holloware pieces with bright-cut engraving and piercing will not only stand up to market fluctuations but will also be a joy to behold for years. [/av_textblock]
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Andrea Valluzzo
Andrea Valluzzo is an award-winning journalist who has worked for media publications for more than 20 years. Today, she enjoys writing about antiques, collectibles, art and the art of collecting. Based in Connecticut, she's also an avid scrapbooker who loves Broadway shows.
