COPAKE, N.Y. — A stunning collection of antique New England weathervanes were star performers at the 44th Annual New Year’s Day Auction at Copake on January 1. Complete results are available at LiveAuctioneers.
A total of 25 weathervanes came to market and buyers took notice. None sold below estimate, with many outperforming even optimistic numbers, including a leaping stag example that hammered for $5,750 ($7,187 with buyer’s premium). Despite needing repair, the vane literally leapt from an opening bid of $150 to $2,100 and kept rising between floor bidders until finally landing at the hammer price.
Goodwin & Co. was a New York-based manufacturer of Old Judge and Dog’s Head cigarettes, leading brands in the post-Civil War era. They were also an early player in the baseball trading cards craze that emerged as the sport gained national attention. This oil-on-tin painted advertisement promoting its baseball trading cards tied for highest lot of the day, selling for $6,250 ($7,812 with buyer’s premium).
Copake bidders also took notice of an Oriental rug measuring 14 by 10ft, with LiveAuctioneers bidders trading high bids more than two dozen times until the carpet flew away with a hammer of $6,250 ($7,812 with buyer’s premium).
Salmson was a French automaker founded in 1890. It manufactured its two-door convertible 10HP and 20HP roadsters from 1921 through 1930, and the cars were a marketplace hit on the roads of Europe in the Roaring Twenties. A Salmson 20HP vintage poster mounted to linen was fresh from the actor Edward Hermann’s estate in Salisbury, Connecticut. Though widely available as a reproduction today, keen-eyed bidders drove the original straight to a $4,750 hammer price ($5,937 with buyer’s premium).
Joseph Cinqué, leader of the 1839 revolt aboard the Spanish slave ship Amistad bound for Cuba, has been immortalized in a common stance, wearing a traditional African wrap and holding a staff. This oil on panel of Cinqué carried a modest estimate of $200-$300, but more than two dozen bids between the floor and LiveAuctioneers bidders sent the work to $5,000 ($6,250 with buyer’s premium).
