Scrimshaw from African American whaling ship showcased at Bruneau Jan. 22

19th-century scrimshaw created aboard the only known vessel with an all-African American crew, which sold for $7,250 ($9,060 with buyer’s premium) at Bruneau & Co.

CRANSTON, R.I. – A 19th-century work of scrimshaw carved onboard a whaling ship with an all-African American crew will be presented at Bruneau & Co. Auctioneers on Monday, January 22. The finely worked sperm whale tooth, which depicts a detailed view of a bustling city and its harbor and the name John & Winthrop, is estimated at $2,000-$4,000. The catalog is now available for bidding at LiveAuctioneers.

The captain of the John & Winthrop, a whaling bark operating out of San Francisco in the 1880s and 1890s, was William T. Shorey (1859-1919). Known as Black Ahab to his crew, he was the only African American captain on the West Coast, and his ship the only whaler in the world to be manned entirely by an African American crew. A street in Oakland, where Shorey lived, is named after him. The scene engraved to this tooth likely depicts San Francisco and is accompanied by the words Bark John & Winthrop 1876 1880.

The 438-lot Winter Fine & Decorative Art online-only auction features items from a number of area estates and collections. A newly discovered Tonalist oil by Robert Bruce Crane (1857-1937) is expected to exceed its estimate of $2,000-$3,000. Kevin Bruneau, president and auctioneer, describes it as “a fresh find” and “the perfect study of a misty fall morning.” Crane specialized in these fall and winter scenes, which he developed at the Grez-sur-Loing art colony, but painted mainly from his studio in Bronxville, New York.

Another lot already attracting significant presale attention is a Chinese export oil-on-canvas painting depicting the 13 Hongs of Canton. It shows depicts numerous trade ships in the harbor at Canton (modern day Guangdong) and the Spanish, American, British, and Dutch flags flying from the warehouses where trade between the West and China was conducted from 1757 to 1842. The scene was popular in China Trade paintings from the mid-18th century, with this one dating from circa 1830 showing the buildings reconstructed after a catastrophic fire in November 1822. The pendant picture showing shipping on the Pearl River is offered separately with an estimate of $2,000-$3,000. Both pictures come from a Newport, Rhode Island estate.

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell

Roland Arkell is editor of Auction Central News and deputy editor at Antiques Trade Gazette. He has been writing about all aspects of the art and antiques market for more than 25 years.

Walking stick attributed to African American carver hammers for $120K at Guyette and Deeter

Detail of the wooden walking stick by Henry Gudgell, showcasing a carving of a tortoise. Image courtesy of Guyette & Deeter and LiveAuctioneers.

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PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – An extraordinary American 19th-century wooden walking stick, only the second to be attributed to the same African American carver, hammered for $120,000 against an estimate of $50,000-$80,000 during Guyette & Deeter’s August 8-9 Summer Decoy and Sporting Auction. Absentee and Internet live bidding was facilitated through LiveAuctioneers.

The first wooden walking stick attributed to Henry Gudgell, an enslaved man who was freed after the Civil War and settled in Missouri, is in the collection of the Yale University Art Gallery. In a fall 2008 issue of Folk Art magazine, Allan Weiss described his discovery of the walking stick, his hunch that it was the work of Gudgell, and the 20-year quest to prove his hunch.

The light hardwood walking stick presented at Guyette & Deeter shared motifs and details with the one in the Yale collection. It boasts spiral fluting that is interrupted by two plain bands; further down, it is encircled by a diamond pattern; and it features carvings of a lizard, a tortoise, and a snake that winds its body around the shaft of the stick. Gudgell was not a carver by trade, but his work as a wheelwright, a blacksmith, and a smith of silver and copper provided him with the knowledge needed to produce the walking stick.

Offered alongside the object was a raft of documentation that included a photograph of Gudgell’s great-granddaughter holding the walking stick and the deed to the 22 acres of land Gudgell purchased in 1870.

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A wooden walking stick carved in the 19th century by African American artisan Henry Gudgell achieved a hammer price of $120,000 in early August. Image courtesy of Guyette & Deeter and LiveAuctioneers.
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Detail of the wooden walking stick carved by Henry Gudgell, showing its spiral fluting, plain bands and diamond cuff decorations. Image courtesy of Guyette & Deeter and LiveAuctioneers.
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Detail of the wooden walking stick by Henry Gudgell, focusing on a carving of a lizard. Image courtesy of Guyette & Deeter and LiveAuctioneers.
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Detail of the wooden walking stick by Henry Gudgell, showcasing a carving of a tortoise. Image courtesy of Guyette & Deeter and LiveAuctioneers.
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Detail of the wooden walking stick by Henry Gudgell, highlighting a carving of a snake that twines itself around the stick’s shaft. Image courtesy of Guyette & Deeter and LiveAuctioneers.
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Traylor, Abercrombie, Scherman lead stellar art lineup at King’s May 20 auction

Bill Traylor (African American, 1853-1949), ‘Rabbit Hunt,’ tempera on board, 17in x 14in (framed), artist-signed lower right. Provenance: Beverly Hills private collection. Estimate $200,000-$250,000. Opening bid: $100,000. Image courtesy of King’s Auctions
Two oil-on-canvas paintings by David Park (American, 1911-1960): (Left) ‘Female Nude,’ 29in x 17in. Estimate $350,000-$400,000. Opening bid: $175,000. (Right) ‘Two Faces,’ 24in x 20in. Both paintings are artist-signed and dated 1960. Estimate $300,000-$350,000. Opening bid: $150,000. Provenance: Each is from a Beverly Hills private collection. Image courtesy of King’s Auctions
Two oil-on-canvas paintings by David Park (American, 1911-1960): (Left) ‘Female Nude,’ 29in x 17in. Estimate $350,000-$400,000. Opening bid: $175,000. (Right) ‘Two Faces,’ 24in x 20in. Both paintings are artist-signed and dated 1960. Estimate $300,000-$350,000. Opening bid: $150,000. Provenance: Each is from a Beverly Hills private collection. Images courtesy of King’s Auctions

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – A spectacular selection of original art from the collection of Musee d’Art Moderne in Beverly Hills will be auctioned at the gallery’s Los Angeles-area grand opening on May 20, with absentee and Internet live bidding available worldwide through LiveAuctioneers. The expertly curated offering, which will be presented by nationally renowned King’s Auctions Inc., includes premier paintings by some of today’s most sought-after artists, including Tony Scherman, Gertrude Abercrombie, Bill Traylor, and David Park. Additionally, the grouping includes extremely hard-to-find works by noted street artists King Robbo, Invader, and “the Russian Banksy,” Pavel Pukhov.

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African American magazine archives shared by Smithsonian and Getty

Singer James Brown is captured off stage around Memphis, Tenn. (Ted Williams/Johnson Publishing Company Archive). Courtesy Ford Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Smithsonian Institution
Singer James Brown is captured off stage around Memphis, Tenn. (Ted Williams/Johnson Publishing Company Archive). Courtesy Ford Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Smithsonian Institution
Singer James Brown is captured off stage around Memphis, Tennessee. The image comes from the Johnson Publishing Company archive, which will be shared between the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Getty Research Institute. Photo credit: Ted Williams/Johnson Publishing Company Archive. Courtesy Ford Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Smithsonian Institution

WASHINGTON and LOS ANGELES – A consortium comprising the Ford Foundation, the J. Paul Getty Trust, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Mellon Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution, announced July 28 the official transfer of ownership of the acclaimed Johnson Publishing Company (JPC) archive to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) and to the Getty Research Institute, a program of the Getty Trust.

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60-year African Americana collection offered at Guernsey’s, Feb. 28

Joe Louis boxing memorabilia, part of the 20,000-piece Meaders collection, est. $2 million-$10 million
Movie poster touting Lena Horne’s film debut as ‘The Bronze Venus,’ part of the 20,000-piece Meaders collection, est. $2 million-$10 million
Movie poster touting Lena Horne’s film debut as ‘The Bronze Venus,’ part of the 20,000-piece Meaders collection, est. $2 million-$10 million

NEW YORK – Guernsey’s will auction more than 20,000 historic African American objects owned by 90-year old Staten Island resident Elizabeth Meaders on February 28. This important collection will be offered as a single lot on the last day of Black History Month. The lot is estimated at $2 million-$10 million. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

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African Americana takes center stage at Hindman, Feb. 23

Frederick Douglass, photographed by Samuel Montague, February 1864, est. $2,500-$3,500
Frederick Douglass, photographed by Samuel Montague, February 1864, est. $2,500-$3,500
Frederick Douglass, photographed by Samuel Montague, February 1864, est. $2,500-$3,500

CINCINNATI – Hindman will offer more than 300 lots detailing the African American experience in the United States from the Antebellum period through the Civil Rights movement to the modern day in its February 23 African Americana auction. The sale brings together property from several important collections and estates, most notably the estate of Ambassador Edward J. Perkins of Washington, DC, who served as US Ambassador to Liberia, South Africa, the United Nations and Australia, as well as the collection of Tom Charles Huston, which features 19th and 20th-century political imprints and ephemera. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

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