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The portrait Elizabeth Crockett, Davy Crockett's widow, sold at auction for $10,500. A-OK Auction Co. image.

Rare painting of Davy Crockett’s wife to sell at A-OK Auction, March 7

Tom Hoepf
Tom Hoepf

DAMASCUS, Va. – A 19th century portrait of Elizabeth Patton-Crockett, Davy Crockett’s second wife, is creating a stir among historians in the days before it will be sold at a rural Virginia auction house.

The oil on canvas portrait of the widow Crockett, wearing all-black mourning clothes, will be sold Saturday, March 7, in an auction held by A-OK Auction Co. in Damascus.

LiveAuctioneers.com will provide absentee and Internet live bidding for the auction, which will begin at 10 a.m. Eastern time.

Auctioneer Alan Shope said the portrait came from the Patton family home on Tunnel Road in Asheville, N.C., which was razed a few years ago.

The consignor, who wishes to remain anonymous, provided provenance stating the portrait hung in the library of the Patton home for many years before it was relegated to the attic. The painting, done by an unknown artist, was passed down through the Patton family until being sold to the consignor three years ago.

“The Pattons were a prominent family in the area. They built Asheville,” said Shope.

“There is only one other image of Elizabeth known, and that’s a daguerreotype,” said Shope, noting the subjects’ features are similar.

Davy Crockett, a legendary frontiersman and native of eastern Tennessee, married Elizabeth in 1815, after the death of her husband James Patton. Crockett’s first wife, Polly, had died earlier that year.

Crockett, who served one term in Congress, fought for Texas independence and died at the Alamo on March 6, 1836.

Elizabeth died in Acton, Texas, on Jan. 31, 1860 at the ago of 71.

Shope said that several institutions – including the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas –have contacted him about the portrait.

“It’s a significant painting but it’s difficult to estimate what it will bring. I just don’t know,” said Shope.

The painting, which measures 29 inches high by 24 inches wide, is described as being in “as found, unrestored condition” in what appears to be its original, frame.

For details contact A-OK Auction Co. at 877-963-0176 or email aokauctioncompany@gmail.com.

View the fully illustrated catalog and register to bid absentee or live via the Internet as the sale is taking place by logging on to www.LiveAuctioneers.com .