Date: Fri 11-Dec-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Copake-Fallon-Halloween

Full Text:

Copake Post Sale

(with 3 cuts)

COPAKE, N.Y. -- It was all treats and no tricks last Halloween at Michael and

Seth Fallon's Copake Auction where, on October 31, they held their latest

catalogued Americana sale.

"We had a very well-attended sale in spite of the holiday," observed

auctioneer Mike Fallon. "These folks were not merely masquerading as

antiquers."

In attendance were 115 registered bidders and their guests (including a black

cat and a friendly witch), as well as 59 phone and absentee bidders. Fallon

sold more than 600 hundred lots in six hours.

One of the more interesting pieces in the sale was an Eighteenth Century oil

on canvas Italian school painting of a canal scene with gondolas.

"This painting generated a lot of interest form the moment we first advertised

it," noted general manger Seth Fallon. "Our phone was ringing off the hook

about it and we sent out numerous photos, including several to dealers in

Great Britian."

After tying up all four lines with anxious bidders, the painting floated off

to a Rhode Islander for $4,125.

Eliciting responses from the Midwest and West Coast were a Nineteenth Century

Victorian walnut and burl walnut marble top billiard cue rack and cabinet,

having a single drawer over two doors and a Jenny Lind crest, which went to a

phone bidder in Iowa for $4,950, and a Nineteenth Century Belter laminated

rosewood parlor chair, in the "Rosealee" pattern with grapes, which sold to a

collector in California for $2,200.

Closer to home, an Eighteenth Century French provincial tapered-leg farm

table, having a scalloped skirt and a 6'3" bread board top, was acquired by a

local homeowner for $3,190. Also, a set of six, saber-leg mahogany Regency

dining chairs, circa 1820, reaped $3,300 from an audience member.

Other highlights included a Victorian oak crystal cabinet, with five glass

panels, arched top with North Wind god carvings, bun feet, a triple mirror

interior and its original finish, which gusted up $4,400 from the audience; an

Eighteenth Century country Chippendale maple four-drawer slant lid desk with

bracket base, which sold to a phone bidder for $2,750; and an early Nineteenth

Century mahogany country Sheraton reeded tall post bed, with unusual turned

spindle footboard, which procured $1,540 from an absentee bid.

In the category of English and Continental antiques, an Eighteenth Century

English mahogany, single-drawer, molded-top Pembroke table, having tapered

legs with bucket casters, brought $1,210; a pair of high style French brass

firedogs with urn and acorn motif produced a successful bid of $1,430 from the

audience against phone and absentee bids; a Nineteenth Century English Regency

mahogany bookcase, having two paneled doors and plinth base, commanded $2,200;

and a Seventeenth Century English court cupboard, with two-over-two doors with

relief carved friezes and panels, went to a New York City buyer for $1,980.

Copake's next big auction on New Year's Day, January 1, 1999, at noon. For

information, 518/329-1142.