Fine art lifts early August Rafael Osona auction to $2M

NANTUCKET, Mass. – After a robust four-day live exhibition of 850 lots, Rafael Osona’s combined August 6 and August 7 Americana, Fine Art, Marine Auction grossed nearly two million dollars.

Fine art by Nantucket artists lead the early August auction, bringing solid bids that sailed above the house’s estimates. Anne Ramsdell Congdon’s 1941 oil-on-canvas View from Monomoy was the top lot of the two-day sale, bringing $123,000 including buyer’s premium.

Robert Stark Jr.’s iconic red sail paintings were consistent in attracting competitive interest; his Sunset Sail sold for $70,725.

Two scarce portraits painted by Wendell Macy, one in 1878 and the other in 1895, achieved $15,990 and $20,910 respectively, while Emily Hoffmeier’s circa-1920s depiction of Killen Wharf made $18,450 and Sybil Goldsmith’s 1976 View of Town from the Creeks brought $8,190.

Nantucket collectors further demonstrated allegiance to the island’s history with determined bidding for Hayley Lever’s 1939 oil Old South Wharf, Nantucket, which brought $70,400 against a $22,000-$30,000 estimate.

An early view of the Old Nantucket Golf Course, painted in 1901 by William Wallace Scott, realized $23,370 and is destined for the Nantucket Historical Association as a gift from Friends of the NHA.

Nantucket silversmith Benjamin Bunker’s 1797 coin-silver porringer sold to a local collector for $24,320, and a one-of-a-kind 19th-century bronze Nantucket Railroad bell discovered during a home renovation in Siasconset, Massachusetts earned $6,930.

From an island estate came a circa-1962 set of six George Nakashima New chairs, with its $23,370 winning bid placed from Europe. Also, a Ford Motor Company 1935 Model 48-790 Woody station wagon went to a Western Massachusetts collector for $44,800.

In the folk art category, Ralph Eugene Cahoon Jr.’s painting Mermaids and the Duck Hunters landed $61,500, and four other Cahoon works totaled $172,290.

The meticulously-curated Gail and Rich Mellin Canton collection attracted new bidders to 156 lots that individually and collectively represented Canton’s finest artistry. A group of nine graduating cider jugs led the category with a $13,530 winning bid; a clobbered example of a cider jug with all-over Masons motifs brought $5,760, surpassing its $2,000-$3,000 estimate; while keen interest in a 19th-century Canton umbrella stand culminated in a winning bid of $5,376.

Top lots by bid count reflected strong interest across Osona’s decorative and fine art offerings, including an image of a cranberry harvest painted by American illustrator Lowell Herrero that tallied 25 bids before closing at $18,900. A total of 24 bids brought a Gustavian pale blue serpentine credenza to $10,880, exceeding its $2,500-$3,500 estimate, as did Eastman Johnson’s diminutive pencil sketch, which drew 22 bids before settling at $12,710. Its estimate had been $1,500-$2,500.

A commanding circa-1790 Connecticut Chippendale oxbow cherrywood secretary brought $13,530 and is destined to grace a Nantucket Main Street mansion. A pair of George III inlaid mahogany knife boxes brought a more than serviceable top bid of $11,520 and local goldsmith Diana Kim England’s 18K gold Nantucket charm bracelet sold for $17,220.

Day Two’s Marine Auction’s folk art department attracted a top bid count for ingenuity if not grace with a wholly unique antique naval sailor-made port starboard fid propeller table, its two-tiers constructed with king fid standard, and also having a solid brass boat propeller base, port with starboard paint-decorated graduated stands, and ropework throughout. The lot brought $1,260 in 24 bids, at $25 increments.

 

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