An unusual daguerreotype of a woman in a military-style uniform, exacting a salute, ended up being the star lot at Kennedys Auction Service September 13 when it sold for $46,000, including the buyer’s premium. Possibly setting an auction record price, the Rufus Anton photograph was the auction’s top lot but several other lots performed well.
SELMER, TENN. — For years, an unusual daguerreotype of a woman in a military-style uniform, exacting a salute, was innocuously displayed in the Memphis home of longtime antiques collector and dealer John Bryant.
Auctioneers Mark and Matthew Kennedy, who head Kennedys Auction Service, were regular visitors to Bryant’s home for antiques pickups. Bryant often mentioned great finds he had acquired over the years but never mentioned the photograph.
The unassuming daguerreotype ended up being the top lot, and possibly set an auction record, at Kennedys’ September 13 living estate auction of Bryant’s collection along with several other notable estates.
The photograph was by Rufus Anson, who operated a studio on Broadway in New York City from about 1851 to 1867, which was a 20-minute walk from where the Academy of Music was located and the city’s then major opera house.
The hand-colored photograph, dated 1856, portrayed the French soprano Marie-Charlotte Lemercier (1827-1907) in her role as Nathalie in L’Etoile du Nord (The North Star), which made its US premiere on September 24, 1856, at the Academy of Music, staged by The Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company.
Eliciting much interest, the diminutive photograph measuring about 2 ½ by 3 ½ inches, had a handful of bidders chasing it up to the $20,000 mark. In the end, it came down to an Internet bidder and a persistent phone bidder. The latter, said to be a collector and authority on daguerreotypes, triumphed at $46,000. Online searches for Anson daguerreotype auction results show a range of previous prices up to about $2,800.
“I think he knew he had something good but he never talked about it. We lucked out though and figured out who she [Lemercier] was,” auctioneer Mark Kennedy. “It was a good sale overall. We had a good in-house crowd and interest online could not have been stronger.” Over 3,000 registered bidders from over 30 countries participated in the auction, including Kennedys’ first bidder from Tasmania.
Another period image that performed well was a Joseph Henry Sharp (1859-1953 oil on canvas painting, “Indian Smoke Lodge,” which attained $23,000, depicting an early 1900s Native American encampment with a smoke lodge scene.
Also attracting interest was an 1840 Tennessee alphabet sampler by Cynthia M Motheral of Franklin, Tenn., which earned $8,337. A featured work on the Tennessee Sampler Survey website, this example depicts four series of alphabet letters and a poem reading “My heart exults whilst to the attentive eye, The curious needle spreads the enamell’d dye, while varying shades the pleasing task beguile, My friends approve me, and my parents smile.”
Rounding out the auction were several items with notable back stories such as a circa 1760 Japanese chest that Humphrey Bogart reportedly once stored his cigarettes in during a publicity tour in Japan. Verita Bouvaire Thompson, who was his companion on that trip, wrote a note about Bogart using the chest in this manner when the chest was originally sold from her collection in 1993.
A sterling silver and mixed metals mug wrought by Tiffany & Co. in New York, circa 1878, fetched $3,335. Extensively decorated with repousse motifs of ferns and copper dragonflies, the mug also had an unusual wood grain texture in the body. It is inscribed with two birth names and dates on the bottom for members of the Crawford family of Memphis.
Next up for Kennedys will be an auction of the remaining inventory from Antique Archaeology’s (American Pickers) closed Nashville location as well as some select items from Mike Wolfe’s personal collection on Saturday, November 8, at 9 am, at the AG Event Center at 851 High School Road, Selmer, Tenn. Hundreds of items will be sold and preview will take place Friday, Nov. 7, from 10 to 5.
All prices reported include a 15 percent buyer’s premium.
Kennedy’s Auction Service is at 4872 Highway 64 East. For more information, http://www.kennedysauction.com or 731-645-5001.
