Single Collections Are Sensational at Brunk Auctions
ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA – Two highly-anticipated single-owner collections of American formal and painted furniture, folk art, American pottery, metalwork and jewelry were offered with resounding success at Brunk Auctions on June 23 and 24. Sales totaled $2,608,125.00, exceeding a combined high estimate of $1,693,100.00 and achieving a 98% sell-through rate. Both collections were exhaustively documented, with many lots featuring extensive provenance, publication and exhibition history. The auctions confirmed the continued strength of the Americana market for lots of exceptional quality, rarity and provenance while the single-owner auction model proved compelling for both private and trade bidders.
The Collection of Elbert H. Parsons, Jr., Huntsville, Alabama
The 183-lot collection of Elbert H. Parsons, Jr., featured exceptional pieces of painted furniture and folk art and was sold on June 23, totaling $695,625.00. Leading the auction with a $47,500.00 result was a rare documented North Carolina Prussian blue painted blanket chest, dated 1823, that bore the name “Martha Mauldin” on the front. It had been well-documented and was pursued by two phone bidders as well as a few online bidders.
The cover lot for the Parsons auction was a rare miniature paint decorated blanket chest made around 1850 by Jacob Stirewalt of New Market, Shenandoah County, Virginia. The diminutive piece had passed through the hands of several well known collectors and dealers and was included in an exhibition at the New York Historical Society in 1980. With interest from two phone bidders and several online bidders, it soared to a $42,500.00 finish and significantly outpaced its high estimate.
Making $30,000.00 was a red painted Windsor bench that featured a wonderful landscape scene in its crest. Several online bidders underbid it but in the end, a phone bidder prevailed.
One of the surprisingly high results of the Parsons’ auction was achieved by a rare Pennsylvania Federal carved walnut valuables chest that dated to 1810 and retained its original surface. It sold for $30,000.00, more than four times its high estimate.
An important New England fireboard, painted with a view of Niagara Falls, had provenance to Daphne Farago, an important early Americana collector, as well as other leading Americana dealers. It gaveled down for $22,500.00.
Other Southern furniture and decorative arts saw strong interest and results throughout the auction. Bidders on the phone and online drove a rare miniature North Carolina walnut sugar chest with Frank Horton provenance to $23,750.00 and an exceptional and rare documented early Virginia paint documented apothecary cabinet in original surface brought $20,000.00.
An exceptional and large Virginia tooled leather key basket rose to $18,750.00 and stoneware was topped off at $15,000.00 for a jug with incised cobalt devil head decoration that was attributed to New York State. A circa 1813 tin pipe box from Yarmouth, Massachusetts, that had been in the collection of storied collector Mrs. J. Insley Blair saw heated competition and found a new home for $13,750.00.
Highlights continued in other categories, including metalwork, Staffordshire and Southern pottery, miniature decoys and textiles.
Collection of Dr. George and Connie Manger
Nearly 150 lots of high style furniture, including many well-known masterpieces, that had been accumulated over a lifetime by Dr. George Manger and his wife, Connie, were presented to great excitement on June 24. All but 3 lots were sold and the total for the day was $1,912,500.00.
Far and away the top lot of the day was the important Federal painted mahogany and maple work table attributed to John and Thomas Seymour, with decoration by John Ritto Penniman, that soared to $400,000.00 after fierce competition from four phone bidders and countless online viewers. The auction’s cover lot had been frequently published and, importantly, realized a higher price in this sale than it had when it was sold at Christie’s in 2005.
Coming in at second place with a $287,500.00 result was a pair of Federal eglomise mirrors made by John Doggett and painted by John Ritto Penniman. Three phone lines were engaged by bidders on the mirrors, which established an important collaboration between Doggett and Penniman.
Earning $112,500.00 and a third-highest result for the auction was the important Bowers Family Chippendale mahogany drop leaf table made by John Townsend, Newport, Rhode Island, 1760-70. It sold on the phone to a trade buyer bidding for a client.
Two lots of Chippendale chairs, both of which had provenance to the prestigious American furniture dealer Israel Sack, exceeded their estimates. Realizing $106,250.00 was a pair of Pennsylvania walnut side chairs, while a single armchair from Boston or New York that had exceptional eagle carving on the arms, flew to $81,250.00.
Three lots of Nantucket baskets created significant buzz among bidders and a trade buyer bidding on the phone outlasted several competitors to win all of them, paying $57,500 for a nest of seven circular baskets by Captain James Wyer, $40,000.00 for a nest of six oval Davis Hall baskets, and $16,250.00 for a rare lidded picnic basket with a partial maker’s label on its bottom.
The Mangers were avid collectors of Maryland and Pennsylvania pottery and several of the finest potters were represented in the auction. Leading the category was an extremely rare and important earthenware dog with basket attributed to John Bell of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania; four phone bidders chased it to a final price of $40,000.00. Maryland pottery reached its apex with an extremely rare and Important decorated earthenware charger attributed to Henry Adam of Hagerstown, Maryland; it finished at $30,000.00.
Realizing $13,750.00 was an extraordinarily rare nest of three graduated folk art paint decorated dome top boxes that sold on the phone.
Among the many other wonderful things from Dr. George and Connie Manger’s sale were a rare Newton & Sons Captain Cook terrestrial pocket globe in shagreen case ($11,250.00), the only known portrait of potter John Bell ($8,750.00), two Hagerstown, Maryland, Federal tall case clocks, one by George Woltz ($12,500.00), the other by Arthur and William Johnston ($10,625.00), and a dozen lots of jewelry by Elizabeth Locke, which was led by a 19kt. Montecatini link necklace ($35,000.00).
Additional highlights from both auctions can be found at https://live.brunkauctions.com/auctions/past/.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium. For more information, call 828-254-6846 or email info@brunkauctions.com.
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