Date: Fri 27-Nov-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: SHIRLE

Quick Words:

Henry-Shaker-Kramer

Full Text:

Willis Henry's Shaker/Americana Sale

(with 19 cuts)

By Fran Kramer

PEMBROKE, MASS. -- On Columbus Day Weekend, October 11 and 12, Willis Henry

held a sale of 200 Shaker lots and 296 Americana lots at his home.

A vacant field next to Henry's house served as a location for parking; a large

barn behind his property held most of the items for sale. Additionally, a

large tent covered his side lawn and other items were protected -- more or

less -- under it. Folding chairs for buyers were also under the tent, and many

were covered with water that had blown in from the overnight rains.

Unfortunately, it was not a "tent" weekend. Rain, wind and cold spoiled almost

the entire event and those who came without rain gear or heavy sweaters were

very uncomfortable.

Some of the old-time Shaker buyers remembered days gone by, when Oprah herself

came to one Willis Henry sale and Bill Cosby used to send his buyer.

But no, the Shaker crowd did not include any celebrities -- and could even be

described as a little sparse -- because there were few rarities in the sale. A

Shaker settee; a couple of Enfield, N.H. side chairs; and a couple of painted

boxes were the exceptions, but no major case pieces were offered, and that's

what collectors and dealers like.

Additionally, although Shaker dealers such as Pat Hatch, Harvard, Mass.; The

Rathbun Gallery, Rhode Island; Wisdom Valley, Albany, N.Y.; and Richard

Vandall, Enfield, N.H., were present, and all of them made purchases, other

major Shaker dealers were at the Antique Dealers Association of America Show

in Deerfield, Mass., that same weekend, specifically, Courcier/Wilkins,

Austerlitz, N.Y.; Rich and Betty Ann Rasso, Chatham, N.Y.; and John Keith

Russell, S. Salem, N.Y.

Only Courcier/Wilkins participated successfully in the sale, via telephone,

and won the two top Shaker lots: a rare Mt. Lebanon, N.Y. settee, pictured in

several Shaker texts, which sold for $11,550, and a signed double chest of

drawers from New Lebanon, N.Y.

For those who were there and did not give in to the weather, there were some

good buys among the Shaker lots, like a number seven Mt. Lebanon rocking

chair, with decal, which sold for $770; a Hancock yarn swift, which brought

$137.50; five pieces of poplar ware, which rang up $357.50; a Mt. Lebanon

slant footstool with decal, which hammered down at $275; and a silk bookmark,

framed, advertising Shaker cloaks, which fetched $137.50.

The weakest responses came for items that were once thought to be Shaker --

like darners, hand mirrors, glove stretchers, and other wooden smalls -- which

current research has shown to be otherwise. Many of these lots were passed.

The highest price of the entire sale was $15,950 paid for an oil on canvas,

"Isle of Palms," Charleston, S.C., signed Edward Gay. Another Gay painting

sold for $7,150; all had come from a Duxbury, Mass. house in which a relative

had worked under the artist and had been given these paintings as a result.

Other impressive prices included $14,300 paid for an oil on canvas of a New

Jersey fire chief, dated 1881; a sum of $13,750 for an oil on canvas signed

"Mariquita Gill," "A Bit of My Garden, Giverny"; and the $11,000 paid for an

American tall case clock marked "Sam Hoffard, Berlin, S.C."

Some formal furniture ranged from a mahogany Empire linen chest, which rang up

$2,310, to another tall clock, a John Bailey signed example, which went for

$6,875.

Among the more interesting lots were an American certification, dated 1833,

for City of Boston Fire Department, which sold for $324.50; a green butter

churn on a sawbuck base, which realized $660; an Edward Gay sketchbook, circa

1890, of the Nile River, which fetched $2,970; and a Herez rug, 7'6" by 10'7,"

which reached $1,760.

Willis Henry has an auction site on the Internet, and for this sale he listed

and pictured several lots there. According to Karel Henry, the site was "hit"

by as many as 700 viewers on a single day, and at least one major buyer came

to the sale as a result. A would-be buyer who could not muster the funds,

however, was the Plainfield, N.J. Fire Department which tried to bring home

the 300 painting of its 1881 fire chief.