CINCINNATI – Two tall case clocks, a collection of molded glass, and an Andrew Clemens sand bottle highlighted Hindman’s March 10-11 American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts auction. The event celebrated four centuries of American artists and craftsmen, offering 679 lots of folk art, glass, stoneware, furniture, antique advertising, silver, textiles, music players, and coin-operated carnival and casino machines from private and institutional collections.
Another Six-Figure Andrew Clemens Sand Bottle
Hindman continues to prove itself as the premier auction house for Andrew Clemens sand bottles by selling a spectacular example by the 19th-century Iowa artist for $800,000. At 10.5in tall, this bottle featured a label reading “Pictured Rock Sand, Put Up By Andrew Clemens, Deaf-Mute, McGregor, Iowa” inside the bottle under the faceted stopper. Dated just five years before his death, both the size of the bottle and the placement of the label were highly unusual for Clemens, but the details are consistent with his constant evolution as an artist as his mastery of the medium allowed him to make more and more intricate examples. This sale marks the sixth time Hindman has sold a Clemens sand bottle for six figures, including the record auction price of $956,000 for the artist achieved in September 2021.
Tall Case Clocks Pace Furniture Category
A pair of tall case clocks set the pace in the furniture category, each selling for $50,000 or more in back-to-back lots during the first session. First, a circa-1860 Gothic Revival carved mahogany tall case No. 24 astronomical regulator from E. Howard and Co., Boston, Massachusetts achieved $68,750. Second, a colossal 126-in Renaissance Revival carved walnut tall case regulator clock, made for Chicago watchmaker J.S. Townsend, realized $50,000.
Other furniture highlights from the sale included a Chippendale pierce-carved and figured mahogany bonnet top chest-on-chest made for the Holcum family of Philadelphia in 1758 that sold for $10,000; a classical gilt-stencil decorated loo table, attributed to Philadelphia cabinetmaker Anthony Quervelle, sold for $13,750; and a Queen Anne japanned maple and pine flat top high chest sold for $7,500.
Glassware Collected by George S. McKearin Sr.
Closing out the first day of the auction was the molded glass category, which saw some of the most intense bidding of the entire sale. Bidders sent lots originally collected by George S. McKearin Sr. of New York soaring past presale estimates. McKearin was one of the most respected glass collectors and dealers of the first half of the 20th century, and literally wrote the book on the category in 1950. Two Hundred Years of American Blown Glass is still considered one of the premier reference books for glass collecting today, more than 70 years after its publishing.
The top piece from the collection was a circa 1824-1840 American molded-glass flask in yellow-green, which sold for $40,625. Other highlights included a circa 1824-1840 New York molded-glass flask in light sapphire blue by Lancaster Glass Works, which sold for $23,750, and a circa 1790-1820 blown-glass eating bowl in olive green, which realized $16,250.
Antique Coin-Operated Carnival & Casino Machines Pay Out
The second day of the sale began with enthusiastic bidding on 50 lots of an eclectic assortment of coin-operated carnival and casino machines from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lee South of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The top lot from the collection was a Mike Munves one-cent High Striker skill game in an oak case, which sold for $8,438, more than double its presale estimate.
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