(HILLSBOROUGH, N.C.) – – Nearly 750 lots – most of them quality, fresh to the market items from prominent local estates – will be sold at a Fine & Decorative Arts Cataloged Auction scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 5, at 9 a.m., by Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd. The auction will be conducted in the firm’s new state-of-the-art showroom facility, located at 620 Cornerstone Court in Hillsborough.
A wide array of categories will be represented, to include Classical American period and period American furniture; Continental furniture; American portraits and traditional American art; European art; bronzes and statuary; Southern pottery; estate jewelry and watches; vintage lamps and art glass; Americana; vintage musical instruments; first-edition books; over 70 lots of Asian art; and gold and silver coins.
On Friday, Dec. 4, at 3 p.m., a special lecture will be presented by June Lucas, the director of research at Old Salem Museums and Gardens in Winston-Salem, N.C. Ms. Lucas’ talk will be titled Wood as Canvas: the Paint-Decorated Furniture of Piedmont, N.C. It will center on the late 18th- and 19th-century furniture makers in the piedmont region of North Carolina and their use of paint decoration.
The auction will be preceded by previews, on Saturday, Nov. 28 (from 10-3); Thursday, Dec. 3 (from 10-6); and Friday, Dec. 4 (from 10-6). An evening reception will be held Thursday, Dec. 3, at 6 p.m. Bidding may be done in-house, over the phone, through absentee bidding or via the Internet, at LiveAuctioneers.com. An online catalog has been posted. To view, click on www.LLAuctions.com.
Furniture will abound at the sale. Examples of period American furniture include a Southern Chippendale walnut stepback cupboard (circa 1800-1820), made in western North Carolina; a walnut early 19th century Southern chest on frame (Rowan County, N.C.); an early 19th century mahogany New York Federal tilt-top candlestand; and a circa 1800 fine Southern mahogany Hepplewhite inlaid cellaret.
Classical American furniture will feature a nice diminutive pier table (circa 1830), mahogany and mahogany veneers, with a marble top, Corinthian columns and mirrored base on carved paw feet; a carved sofa (Philadelphia or New York), dated on the back in chalk (1827), mahogany over white pine; and a recamier in the Baltimore manner (circa early 19th century), mahogany and mahogany veneers.
Not to be outdone by their American counterparts, the Continental furniture pieces will include a Renaissance Revival dressing table (circa 1860), fruitwood and wood veneers with light and dark inlay; a Belle Epoque French escritoire, Louis XV style, mahogany with ormolu mounts; and a lovely Irish late 19th century Chippendale-style triple-back settee, mahogany, with a shaped crest in a carved eagle motif.
Traditional American art will include a still life oil on canvas of fruit by Paul Lacroix (NJ/NY, 1827-1869), signed lower left and housed in the original gilt wood frame; and an oil on canvas rendering titled Moonlit Snow, by Aldro T. Hibbard (MA/VT, 1886-1972), framed and signed. A nice selection of European art will feature an oil on canvas work by Patrick Hennessey (Irish, 1915-1980), titled Summer.
Antique American portraits will also cross the block. Some stars of the category include a framed oil on canvas of William Bicker Walter (1796-1822) by Sarah Peale (MI/PA, 1800-1885); a miniature, possibly ivory, of Robert Brooke (1770-1821) attributed to Thomas Cummings (NY/CT, 1804-1885); and a pair of watercolor on paper portraits by the renowned New England artist James S. Ellsworth (1802-1873).
Southern pottery pieces will include an extremely rare Edgefield District “Dave the Slave” 5-gallon ovoid form jug, with applied ear handles and an even medium brown alkaline glaze, with wide mouth and rolled rim, inscribed and dated (1857); and a Jugtown (North Carolina) Chinese blue “Tang” vase, Oriental translation form, with applied extruded handles and strong deep wine all over the glaze.
Paddles will be wagging when vintage lamps and art glass come up for bid. Star lots will include a Tiffany Studios bronze and Favrile glass lamp in a 4-arm electrified candelabra form on a bronze base, with five shades; a similar lamp, but featuring a lobed base with harp support and pivoting socket; and a Daum Nancy art glass tall vase in an organic shape, with red and yellow mottled glass and matte finish.
Examples of Americana are sure to wow the crowd. A few include a large carved American eagle (New England, late 19th century), white pine with a dark red-brown tone; a 19th century Virginia leather key basket, oblong form, hand-stitched brown tinted leather; a rare Joseph Farr Bass surveyor’s compass (N.Y.); and a Northampton County, Pa., needlework sampler (Oct. 7, 1832) by Susanna Lerch.
Bronzes and statuary will include pugilists in pose by Eberhard Encke (German, 1881-1936); four putti in drunken revelry by Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belleuse (Fr.); a bronze titled Bear by Anna Hyatt Huntington (1876-1973); a 19th-century marble statue of a girl and dog by J. Roulleau; a pair of gilt bronze dancers by Agathon Leonard (Fr., 1841-1923); and a bronze greyhound dog by Eli Harvey (American, 1860-1957).
Sterling silver will feature an important Southern coin footed silver cup by Leinbach with an applied handle, a beaded border to the foot and mouth and a body with an elaborately hand-engraved landscape scene; a 125-piece “King” pattern Dominick & Haff sterling flatware and “Kings III” Reed & Barton, retailed by J.E. Caldwell & Co.; and an important American coin silver beaker owned by William Walker, rector of Trinity Church and Christ Church in Boston prior to and after the Revolutionary War.
Estate jewelry and watches will abound. Just a few examples include a 14kt white gold diamond brooch (circa 1955), in floral spray design with a 1.65ct. prong-set Old European cut diamond with 4 smaller brilliant cut diamonds; a stunning 14kt opal and diamond cocktail ring centering on an oval cabochon white opal with strong color; and a 14kt gold gentleman’s diamond ring with 3 diamonds.
Rounding out the top lots will be vintage musical instruments (to include a 1915 Gibson F-4 mandolin, serial #24534), with red sunburst spruce top and oval sound hole; vintage books (to include a true first-edition copy of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, published by J.B. Lippincott Co. in 1960); and around 45 lots of antique gold and silver coins, most of them late 19th and early 20th century.
Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd.’s next big sale after this one will be another Fine & Decorative Arts Cataloged Auction slated for Saturday, March 20, also at 620 Cornerstone Court in Hillsborough. The firm is accepting quality consignments for that and all future sales. To inquire about consigning an item or estate, you may call them at (919) 644-1243; or, e-mail to [email protected].
To learn more about Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd., and the Dec. 5 auction, please log on to www.LLAuctions.com
