East Dennis, Mass. – The top lot in Eldred’s three-day Americana and Paintings Auction was a Northwest Coastal carved wooden beaver-form bowl, which brought $42,000, vastly surpassing its very conservative pre-sale estimate. In addition to American Native material, the sale included nearly 1,200 lots of paintings, maritime art, furniture, sporting art, silver, folk art and more. The sale took place November 17, 18 and 19 at the firm’s headquarters in East Dennis, Massachusetts.

Speaking of the Northwest Coastal bowl, Bill Bourne, vice president of the firm and head of the Americana department, remarked, “I loved it when it came in. It’s a rare piece with great patina and unusual form, and it brought an incredibly good price.”

Two other top lots were “Unloading the Nets”, a 30” x 36” oil on canvas by Emile Albert Gruppe (Massachusetts, 1896-1978), which sold for $15,600 on an $8,000/12,000 pre-sale estimate, and “Church Gloucester” by Max Kuehne (New York/Germany, 1880-1968), which sold near estimate for $9,600.

“We continue to see a strong demand for Cape Ann art, as evidenced by Gruppe,” said Joshua Eldred, company president and head of the fine arts department. “But I was particularly pleased to see a lot of active bidding and sale prices on many of the furniture lots.”

Furniture highlights include a circa 1830 pier table, possibly New York, which sold for $5,700 on a $1,500/2,000 estimate, a 1760 Queen Anne Highboy, which sold within estimate for $2,500, and an assembled set of D.R. Dimes Windsor-style chairs, which sold for $2,200, more than triple the pre-sale estimate.

The sale also included 50 lots from the Jack Lichtenstein Collection of paintings and prints, which were auctioned to benefit the Lichtenstein Family Endowment for Hepatology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. Highlights from the expansive collection included five prints by Thomas Hart Benton that sold for a combined $10,600, “Funeral” by Frank Stella from the “Moby Dick Domes” series, which brought $11,400, “The Entertainer” by Robert Longo, which sold for $2,000, and two paintings by Provincetown artist Henry Hensche, which brought $2,600 and $3,250.

Other top paintings include a charming genre painting by Charles Drew Cahoon (Cape Cod, 1861-1951) depicting a young boy watching an older gentleman repair his windmill toy, which brought $13,200 on a $6,000/9,000 estimate, a Dutch landscape by George Hitchcock (American/Continental, 1850-1913), which doubled its estimate, selling for $6,600, and “Mother and Child – A Study from Nature” by Benjamin West (American/English, 1738-1820), which soared past its estimate to finish at $5,400. A collection of five carved and painted wooden dogs by folk artist Moise Potvin (Canadian/American, 1876-1948), from a private Rhode Island collection, sold within estimate for $5,400.

Another highlight from the sale was a 19th Century Chinese view of the Hongs at Canton with Spanish, American, English and Dutch flags, which sold for $21,600 to a phone bidder. The painting retained a label marked “Brought from China by Anson Burlingame Minister to China” and its provenance included the noted Herreshoff boat building family. The painting was one of the centerpieces of the maritime art section of the auction, which also included 74 lots items from the Howland Scrimshaw Collection. A whalebone busk with three vignettes of women sold for $8,400, one of the highest grossing lots from the collection, which was comprised primarily of utilitarian items like swifts, rolling pins and sewing implements. Pre-sale estimates on the collection ranged from $100/200 for a set of dominoes to $4,000/6,000 for the busk.

“These were far more moderate pieces in comparison with the Mittler Scrimshaw Collection we sold during our Maritime Art Auction in October,” Bourne said, “but the interest in the pieces was strong and the prices were solid. It’s great to see the enthusiasm of the scrimshaw collectors, and we’re excited about the scrimshaw we have in upcoming auctions.” More lots from the Mittler Scrimshaw Collection, as well as other important pieces of maritime art will offered during the firm’s Spring 2017 Americana Auction.

Eldred’s will conclude its fall auction season December 1 with an Asian Art Auction. All lots from the sale can be viewed online at www.eldreds.com, and a public preview will be held November 30. Both the preview and the auction will take place at the company’s headquarters, located at 1483 Route 6A, in East Dennis, Mass. To register to bid via phone, absentee bid or online, visit the company’s website or call 508-385-3116. Those wishing to bid live in the audience may register at the offices the day of the auction. Online bidding hosted by Invaluable.com will also be available.

About Eldred’s

The Robert C. Eldred Co. is New England's oldest established antiques and fine arts auction house, now in its third generation of ownership under the Eldred and Schofield families at the same location on Cape Cod’s historic Old King’s Highway in East Dennis, Massachusetts. The firm also has an office at 5 Roosevelt Avenue in Mystic, Ct. Eldred’s conducts approximately 25 auctions per year encompassing Americana, paintings, Asian art, European decorative art, maritime antiques, sporting art and collectibles. It was recently named one of the top worldwide auction houses by Art + Auction.

For more information please call (508) 385-3116 or email info@eldreds.com.