Date: Fri 21-Aug-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: SHIRLE

Quick Words:

Eldred-marine-oriental-artsale

Full Text:

Eldred Marine Sale Tops $400,000

(W/Cuts)

By Bob Jackman

EAST DENNIS, MASS. -- On July 30, The Robert C. Eldred Co., Inc. conducted a

successful Marine and Oriental Export Art sale at their gallery. An audience

of about 300 dealers and collectors vied for 600 lots beneath the shade of a

tent. Strong areas of the sale included marine paintings, scrimshawed ivory,

ceramics, and major marine fittings. Gross sales exceeded $414,000, with 87

percent of lots finding buyers.

Bob Eldred reported being "very pleased" with the event, which he described as

"far stronger than it has been for many years. It was a combination of the

good economic situation, the scarcity of good merchandise, and the elimination

of low end instruments, lighting, and prints."

"For over 35 years the marine market has been a strong part of our business,"

he continued. "In addition to the Marine Sale, always held the last week in

July, we also have marine sections in the spring and fall Americana sales. The

biggest change this year was the inclusion of China Trade items in the marine

sale."

Top lot was a China Trade painting of Shanghai, which sold for $28,600.

Entitled "Shanghai Bund," the work depicted a span of about 25 buildings which

bordered the city's harborside road, or bund. In the foreground, a combination

of Western and Chinese vessels plied the broad Shanghai River.

When the lot was offered, there was some early bidding under the tent, but

ultimately a phone participant outdistanced an absentee bidder. Both Chinese

oil paintings and watercolors sold well, while only half of the China Export

reverse paintings on glass sold.

Ship portraits enjoyed widespread interest. Eldred's believes that an auction

record was achieved for a painting by William Stubbs (American, 1842-1909),

when his portrait of the clipper Hotspur raced to $13,200. A Stubbs portrait

of a catboat brought a surprising $8,525.

A Jacobsen portrait of the steamboat Bunker Hill brought $4,730. Peterson's

portrait of the Mavina leaving Toburg brought $5,060, while a Pellegrin

portrait of the Tarifa off Marseilles brought $3,300. A silk embroidery

bearing the monogram of Thomas Willia (1850-1912) depicting the yacht America

sold for $3,850. Two portraits by contemporary artist Reginald Nickerson (b.

1915) sold for $4,125 and $3,850.

Wilmington, Del. dealer Ed Hinton bought one of the Nickerson ship portraits.

"Last month I bought two Nickerson ship portraits at a Pook and Pook Auction,"

he related. "We've sold both of them already. I expect this one will go just

at fast. We come up here every summer. We live two hours from the coast, but

we have many marine customers."

The top ceramic lot was an oversized, 12-inch-tall Liverpool pitcher, which

sold to a phone bidder for $15,400. One side was decorated with a polychrome

image of the 24-gun ship Merrimack. Part of a full page description in the

catalog state that the Merrimack was "the fourth ship built under the

supervision of our new navy, and the first of the smaller ships. Captain Moses

Brown of Newburyport...kept command until she was sold in Boston in 1801."

Since the pitcher was dedicated to Moses Brown, Commander, it was probably

made circa 1799.

Ninety-four lots of China Trade porcelain spanned the full range of forms and

decoration. These included a pair of 24 inch rose mandarin vases, which sold

for $3,960; an amoral decorated platter, which brought $880; and a tea caddy

with the Rhode Island arms, which realized $2,200. Restored and chipped lots

sold but for about one-third to one-fourth as much money as mint offerings.

A deep selection of 85 scrimshawed ivory lots was hotly contested. Leading the

field was a large whale tooth, which fetched $9,900, with precise, detail

engraving by S. Eaton and dated 1832. A pair of teeth engraved with two whale

ships encircled by a vine with flowers having inlaid mother-of-pearl centers

also sold for $9,900 to a phone bidder. A knitting basket with pierced whale

bone splats sold for $4,070.

A Cape Cod collector won a cane with a whale ivory handle atop a whale bone

shaft for $1,650. The handle was carved in the form of a clenched hand

grasping a baleen baton. A rare jointed whale bone doll (4.75 inches) brought

$2,750.

Chinese Export items were aggressively contested by maritime, Americana, and

Asian art specialists. New York Asian art expert Alan Hartman was among the

buyers in this field.

An interesting bidder in the crowd was Bob Leach of Bristol, R.I., an

architect who collects and deals in nautical antiques as a hobby. Some of his

architectural commissions require a maritime accent either as a subtle element

throughout a home, or a stronger statement in a single room. While enjoying

his hobby, he purchased antique marine elements which give character to an

installation.

Some of the curators in the audience had very specific interests. For example,

Curtis Nyquist of the Bodkin Museum in Norwell, Mass., sought ivory bodkins in

the auction and privately among audience. Judy Lund has left her position as

curator of the New Bedford Museum to become a consultant to collectors,

dealers, and museums. She found the folk ship portraits in the sale

particularly interesting.

The sale opened with about 100 paper and book lots. A lot of two whaling

broadsides sold for $825 to Ryan Cooper. "One was list of officer duties and

the other listed duties of seamen," said the Barnstable, Mass. dealer. "I've

never before seen these printed for a whaling fleet. Nobody I know has seen

these before, and there are none in museums."

"They were printed circa 1900 in California," he continued. "While that's not

early for whaling paper, it's early for California. My competition was a

representative of the Kendall Whaling Museum."

The most active buyer of nautical books was Bob Glick of Nautical Books and

Artifacts in Hyannis, Mass., who reported having an inventory of about 20,000

nautical books at the shop as well as all the other maritime items. "Every

eight weeks we issue a catalog of 600 books," he said. "We buy at all the

Eldred Americana sales as well as their maritime sales."