MT. KISCO, N.Y. – Grand Eastern Seaboard Estates will conduct the auction proceedings for The Benefit Shop Foundation’s one-year anniversary auction on Wednesday, October 14, 2015, with absentee and Internet live bidding through LiveAuctioneers.
Premium-quality antiques and art will be presented from estates that include a Maine Victorian residence, a designer’s home on the Rowayton, Connecticut waterfront, a Waccabuc, New York gentleman’s farm, a mid-century modern Rye, New York, home, and a Pre-Revolutionary War ancestral farmhouse on New York’s Shelter Island. The latter was the weekend home of The Park Avenue and Boston DeForest and Curtiss Families, who are descendants of Dutch Huguenots.
The contents of these estates, and others, represent collections and collectibles from American to Continental, and decades spanning the 1700s to 1970s. Items represent nearly all categories of antiques, art, furniture, decorative objects, jewelry, silver, crystal, ceramics and couture clothing.
The Shelter Island Farm has been in the same family since the early 1700s. The sale will include original kitchen implements, salt glazed crocks, an apple orchard ladder, and period farm house furniture; as well as hand-made quilts, chenille bedding and area rugs hand made from period clothing that has been intertwined and stitched together. As this mercantile and manufacturing family married, grew, and prospered, the house was expanded, electrified and plumbed, and items were brought over from Europe and the families’ Park Avenue estate.
The Benjamin DeForest Park Avenue Estate items include a classic gilded pier mirror (shown below) ornately carved with original glass, a Qing Dynasty carved jade lamp with dragons in relief, a circa-1850 still life by Austrian artist Alida Elizabeth Stolk, ancestor portraits and more.
Grand Eastern Seaboard Estates gallery manager Beth Romski and auction manager Patti Hogan had a great weekend strolling the sun-filled grounds on Shelter Island and hearing the stories from the current owner. The highlight of the discovered treasures and stories was the wedding gift watch – an antique Breitling Laederich pocket watch – which was found in a dresser drawer with its original box and an envelope with cursive script. The paper in the envelope, noted the story… “this watch was purchased in 1867 in Paris, France by Naomi Blake as a wedding gift for her beloved C.S. Curtiss. The bride and groom were married on May 12, 1869.”
Exploration of the Victorian house in Maine led to some unusual finds, as well. These include antique sterling and porcelain, Victorian side chairs and end tables, hand painted vases and collectibles, and a collection of amethyst glass in excellent condition.
Also on the New England waterfront was a stately home on the Rowayton Coast. The owners lived in France and in England, as he is a senior executive with a global company and she is a well-known interior designer. They shared an enviable collection of new designer items mixed elegantly with French and English antiques – dressers, dining chairs, dining tables, artwork – with the Benefit Shop Foundation. The homeowners also brought over their couture collection of vintage and newer French couture clothing to be sold, as well. Labels include Yves St. Laurent, Valentino, Guy LaRoche, Chloe, Louis Feraud and more. The selection includes sportswear, gowns, and out-to-dinner in Paris clothing.
A featured lot of the upcoming auction, from a Waccabuc, New York estate, is a group of eight gouaches purchased by the current consignor from Sotheby’s renowned Versace estate sale, held April 5-7, 2001. They are Marco Celotti Continental School 18th Century works depicting allegorical figures in ebonized and parcel gilt frames crafted by Nicholas Pavik Conservation Framers.
From a house built and furnished in the 1950s-1960s comes a wide selection of mid-century modern furniture including signed pieces by Grete Jalk, FF France & Son, Gelsted Lysgaard Mobley, Lane, and brutalist artwork wall sculptures by DeGroog. Other unsigned but formidable pieces are attributed to Milo Baughman and Hans Wegner. The house was accented with period lighting, ceramics, and artwork.
There is something for everyone and every taste in the 500-lot auction offering. Online participants bidding through LiveAuctioneers will be treated to a broad selection of quality goods that ranges from $20 collectibles to $20,000 artworks.
For additional information on any item in the auction, contact The Benefit Shop Foundation, a 501(c)3 organization located at 27 Radio Circle, Mt. Kisco New York, 10549. Call 914-864-0707.