Date: Fri 26-Jun-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: LAURAB

Quick Words:

Christie's-Newport-Chest

Full Text:

Labeled Newport Chest Brings $4.7 Million At Christies

NEW YORK CITY -- What's in a name? A great deal, or so it seemed when a signed

and labeled Newport chest of drawers achieved the stunning price of $4,732,500

at Christie's on June 18. The buyer, who has asked to remain anonymous, was on

the phone. New York dealer Leigh Keno was the underbidder.

The 1792 casepiece surpassed its conservative $1.5/2 million estimate to

become the second most costly example of American furniture ever auctioned.

Newport dominates the highest reaches of the furniture market, holding three

of the top five records. In 1987, Christie's sold the Nicholas Brown desk and

bookcase, also made in Newport, for $12.1 million. A Newport Queen Anne

block-and-shell carved kneehole desk attributed to Edmund Townsend achieved

$3.6 million at Sotheby's in 1996.

The sumptuous statement of Colonial wealth and power is one of only 30 or so

labeled or inscribed pieces by the Quaker master craftsman, who over his long

career worked in the Queen Anne, Chippendale, and Federal styles. It is one of

only nine block-and-shell ornamented casepieces by Townsend, and one of the

last in private hands.

"We had over 20 interested parties at all levels," said Christie's American

furniture and decorative arts chief John Hays. His first bid, for $500,000,

came from Wayne Pratt of Woodbury, Conn. There were multiple bids in the room

and on the phone up to $1.5 million. Yardley, Penn., dealer Todd Prickett

joined the fray at $2.3 million, and from there to $4 million competition was

mainly among a collector seated in the room and two phone bidders, represented

by Christie's specialists Susan Kleckner and Jeanne Sloane. When bidding

subsided, Keno entered but bowed out to the phone at $4.3 million. When the

hammer fell, the $432,500 premium on the piece surpassed the sale's next

highest lot, a New London County high chest of drawers, sold to Stonington,

Conn., dealer Marguerite Riordan for $387,500 (est $100/150,000).

"This speaks to the true passion that American collectors have for Newport

furniture," Hays later commented. "Of the top ten pieces of American

furniture, three are Newport, two are Boston, and five are from Philadelphia."

He continued, "There is more depth in the marketplace for a great Newport

masterpiece. The smaller group of Philadelphia collectors in the top of the

market is very persistent, but Newport design is understood by all collectors.

Newport has characteristics that are uniquely American -- the shell carvings,

the simple lines. John Townsend represents the zenith of Newport cabinetry."

Made for a Sarah Slocum, the record chest of drawers bears John Townsend's

printed label as well as the hand inscriptions "Sarah Slocum's" and "November

20th 1792". Sarah was the daughter of John Slocum, a prominent Quaker merchant

in Newport, and Martha Tillinghast. Sarah married Thomas Hammond in 1792, and

the chest is thought to have been a wedding gift from her fiance.

The history of the chest's ownership has been determined through the

inscriptions of subsequent owners, genealogical records, and a note that

accompanied the chest's exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in

1929. Most recently, the chest belonged to Dr William Serri of Philadelphia

and it is from his estate that the consignment was drawn.

Highlights of Christie's general sale included an Aesthetic Movement library

table of figured maple, which sold for $25,300 (est $25/35,000). The

Japanesque piece was made by Herter Brothers of New York City around 1875.

Furniture and decorative arts from the Thomas Mellon Evans collection, also

sold on June 18, included an early Rococo style Chippendale carved walnut high

chest of drawers made in Philadelphia between 1740-50. It achieved $206,000

(est $120/180,000).

A phone bidder claimed a Philadelphia Queen Anne walnut desk-on-frame,

1740-1760, for $76,200 (est $15/25,000); a Federal inlaid mahogany card table,

catalogued as Valley of Virginia but now thought to be from the Reading,

Penn., area, fetched $68,500; and, underbid by Todd Prickett, an absentee

buyer secured a Boston Queen Anne mahogany easy chair for $55,200 (est

$10/15,000). In the afternoon session of the Evans sale, a pair of Chinese

export stag's head wall ornaments realized $85,000 (est $3,5/5,000).

Two large, vigorous Hudson River views by Thomas Chambers commanded

exceptional prices, selling for $55,775 and $55,200. Each had been estimated

at $10/15,000.

In all, Christie's spring Americana sales garnered $8.2 million on 409 lots.

Only 37 lots were passed. Property from the collection of Thomas Mellon Evans

contributed $1.9 million to the total. Christie's 1998 sales of American

furniture, silver, folk art and decorative arts equal $21.7 million to date.