Date: Tue 28-Jul-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: SHIRLE

Quick Words:

Blackwood

Full Text:

Blackwood March Quickie

w/3 cuts

By Rita Easton

ESSEX, MA. -- Three hundred twenty lots of estate antiques and fine art were

auctioned in two hours and 50 minutes by Blackwood March at Woodman's Function

Hall on June 23.

Michael March estimated attendance at 225, an even mix of dealer and retail

buyers. The speedy auction grossed $60,000.

A remnant of a New England flat-top mahogany highboy reached the high bid of

the day, $3,400. "I call it a `remnant' because the legs were cut off at the

knees," said March, "but it was a very attractive piece. People thought it was

restorable." The finish was described by March as "semi-old," and brasses were

replaced. The lot went to a New Hampshire dealer.

Cape Ann painter Harrison Cady was represented by a watercolor depicting a

lighthouse on a rocky coast. The artist was active in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s,

and was noted for painting humorous subjects. A second water by Cady featured

characters in a circus. Each lot garnered $1,500. Cady was also well known for

his renderings of Peter Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, and many other children's book

characters.

An Enneking scene of a European village brought $1,000; A T.V.C. Valenkamph

depicting a square rigged ship at sea, painted in 1822, achieved $900; and an

oil on canvas by Sidney Yates Johnson, of a serene shoreline with rock

outcroppings under a big sky, all bathed in a luminous light, fetched $1,100.

The traditional subject of fruit in a bowl was done on velvet for an

attractive framed theorem painting at $1,250, purchased by a private buyer,

and a Robert Gruppe harbor oil went out at $1,100 for the Gloucester scene.

The artist is the son of painter Emile Gruppe.

A Gorham sterling silver tea set consisting of six pieces, in an ornate

pattern, sold at $1,550; a pair of German sterling silver mounted horn wall

sconces made $400; a Chinese embroidered lightweight summer robe, late

Nineteenth Century, in blue with gold threads, brought $550; a collection of

books on magic from the 1930s and 40s achieved $550; and a Victorian

mechanical bank in the form of a trick dog reached $660. A coin put in the

mouth of the dog is then tossed through a hoop, held by a jester, into a

barrel.

The sleeper of the auction was a copy of Don Quixote de la Mancha by

Cervantes, in Latin, with illustrations, a second printing, done in 1705. It

was purchased at $150. The original printing was done in 1610. A French

mechanical bird in a cage, in poor condition and needing work but nonetheless

singing a faint song, sold at $375; a Victorian mahogany settee fetched $400;

a bunch of decorative glass grapes attributed to Lalique reached $250, and 30

feet of Turkish Revival fringe went at $400.

The fringe had provenance of John Hammond, who was a noted Cape Ann resident

who built Hammond's castle, a 1920s reproduction of a European castle. In the

1920s and 30s, Hammond designed guidance systems in power boats, which

eliminated the need for a captain or even passengers, to the astonishment of

onlookers.

The next Blackwood March sale is slated for August 18 and will feature

Eighteenth Century French furniture and more than 100 Cape Ann paintings.

Prices quoted do not reflect a required 10 percent buyer's premium.