Date: Fri 07-Aug-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Buxton-Auction

Full Text:

Wiggins Painting Brings $71,500 At Buxton Auction

(W/26 Cuts)

By Bob Jackman

CAPE ELIZABETH, ME. -- On July 11, the Cape Elizabeth estate of Mrs Walter

Roberts (a former home of Bette Davis), served as a backdrop for Bruce

Buxton's annual auction. The successful sale featured formal antiques with

particular strengths in paintings, Currier and Ives prints, furniture, and

silver. An audience of 500 alternately expanded across the lawn to enjoy the

sun and squeezed under the tent to escape the showers. Ninety-seven percent of

lots sold.

The estate's grounds had been aggressively landscaped to create a striking

property. The preview was conducted inside the 16-room home in room settings.

While the Roberts' estate consigned a significant number of the lots within

the auction, the majority of lots came from other consigners.

Buxton has been conducting a single, annual auction in Maine since 1970.

Originally those auctions were in Camden. In 1986, Buxton returned to his

native Portland, at 67 Beacon Street, and since then auctions have been in the

greater Portland area.

Buxton primarily operates an appraisal firm with clients across the nation.

"Everything you see in my auctions has come from an estate for which I did the

appraisal," he says. "These are items I have selected from among those estates

which wish to sell. The people who attend my auctions know everything is fresh

to the market. I prefer going with a general line rather than areas of

specialization."

In addition to estate appraisals, Buxton also conducts appraisal days for a

number of historical societies and charity groups.

The firm's sales are usually one-day, on-site auctions held at the home of a

consigning estate. They take place under a tent with a largely temporary

staff; three full time Buxton employees swell to a number of 40 by auction

day. Usually such sales are held in early August, but this year's date was

pushed forward after an agreement was reached on the purchase of the estate's

home.

Bruce Buxton's enthusiasm and language as an auctioneer reveal his deep love

for antiques. He commented upon the historical significance, visual appeal,

and craftsmanship of each lot, whether it was expected to sell for $100 or

$10,000. Collectors found this practice educational, and buyers who won

inexpensive items beamed with the same, and often more, pleasure as those who

purchased expensive objects.

The most expensive lot in this latest sale was Guy Wiggins' oil on canvas

"Washington Square," for which Rob Elowitch paid $71,500.

"I bought it for inventory," said Elowitch after his purchase. "It will go

directly into my gallery [Barridoff Gallery] in Portland." The lot was

underbid by Peter Clarke of the Richardson-Clarke Gallery of Boston. Both

commented that Wiggins' New York scenes tend to sell for higher prices than

his more rural works.

A New York collector won a Max Bohm painting, entitled "By the Seaside," for

$22,000. Although an American citizen, Bohm painted extensively in Europe, and

both the boats and the attire of the figures in the painting indicated a

European inspiration. The work was energetically rendered in deep, rich color.

This lot was also underbid by Clarke.

Many of the paintings in the sale had been prominently displayed in elegant

homes, and were framed accordingly. For example, a huge, 41-by-39-inch W.H.

Singer painting was mounted in an appropriate period frame, which was eight

inches wide. The entire lot was almost 60 inches square. "Barbizon Landscape,"

by George H. Bogut, 35 by 59 inches, also had a wide, gilded period frame.

A half-dozen exceptional Currier and Ives lithographs sparked aggressive

competition within the audience and on the phones. The top lot was a large

folio image, "Across The Continent," for which a collector from outside New

England bid $25,300.

"It's the quintessential example of a Currier and Ives print," said the

delighted buyer. "It is exceptional both for its historical content and for

its artwork. The image is uncommon, and it's large, almost a full sheet. It's

in exemplary condition. It's impeccable; I would call it `as issued

condition.' I think it was printed in 1868, a year before the railroads

actually crossed the continent, but in preparation for that link. The image is

crisp, and there were not second printings of [it]."

A deep selection of silver attracted a thick book of absentee bids and several

persistent phone bidders. Some fine lots also sold to specialty dealers within

the audience, including Sheralee Friedrich of Deja Vu Antiques in Portsmouth,

N. H., and Muriel Knutson of Thomaston, Me.

Most dealers attending the auction had enjoyed previous Buxton sales, and they

expressed a confidence in the depth of fine, formal antiques. "I knew the

drive up here [would be] worth it," said dealer Virginia Shaw of Van Slyke and

Bagby Antiques of Sandwich, Mass. "I've bought well here before, and we knew

that there would be a good selection."

An assortment of two dozen Oriental rugs was aggressively contested between

dealers under the tent and phone bidders. New York specialist Abner Rafail was

the most successful bidder in this group.

The top lot in the field was a circa 1900 Serapi carpet at $35,750. When the

preview opened, there was a small lead weight attached to one corner, which

indicated that it had passed through American customs before 1918. It was in

essentially unused condition, and had apparently been left rolled up for much

of the Twentieth Century.