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Nadeau's Auction Gallery, Windsor, Connecticut

Views of Grafton, New York, Sell for $126,000

by Jackie Sideli

With the Fall Hartford Antiques Show happening just a few miles away, it wasn't all that surprising that the parking lot and auction hall were nearly full at Nadeau's Auction Gallery in Windsor, Connecticut, on October 21, 2006. A pair of mid-19th-century oil paintings depicting Grafton, New York, and attributed to Carl W. Knudsen (1818-1894), discovered during a house call, turned out to be the top lot of the sale. The paintings opened at $10,000 and, with the help of the phones, quickly escalated to $126,000 (includes buyer's premium) to a phone bidder, underbid by Westborough, Massachusetts, antiques dealer David Wheatcroft on the floor.

Wheatcroft was the successful bidder on a copper fish weathervane at $37,375. It measured 64" long x 27" high and had great color.

New York City antiques dealer Sidney Gecker won a folky carved carousel cat with an upturned tail and holding a bird in its mouth for $103,500. The cat, attributed to Gustav Dentzel, dated from 1910.

A watercolor of two women in a garden, one holding a young child, by American icon Louis Comfort Tiffany and thought to have been executed around 1888, sold to a phone bidder for $74,750. A rare 14" high 19th-century Federal mahogany candlestand with a square top, wonderfully shaped cabriole legs, and pad feet had a modest $800/1200 estimate, but serious interest from the floor drove the price to $6325. A fine art dealer at the sale won an Ernest Albert (1857-1946) nocturnal landscape in a carved frame for $4312.50.

A surprise in the painting department was the success of a pair of early 19th-century oil on canvas landscapes with hounds attacking a boar and bear. The European school paintings retained their original gilt Empire frames. Estimated at $1000/2000, they quickly rose to $6037.50. Another European oil on canvas dating from the 18th century, depicting the crowning of the Virgin Mary, thought to be from the Cuzco school of painters, brought $8625.

There were a number of formal pieces of American period furniture offered. A circa 1770 Chippendale mahogany four-drawer chest with ball-and-claw feet sold for $2300. A circa 1820 Regency mahogany linen press with a well-formed cove-molded cornice and flared French feet brought $4025.

A George III silver water urn with beaded moldings, a square plinth, and ball feet, hallmarked London, Peter Desvignes, sold for $2875. A sterling silver two-handled tea and coffee service tray by Gorham, weighing 160 troy ounces, sold for $4312.50. A six-piece Gorham tea set in sterling silver, weighing 128 troy ounces, sold for $2587.50.

For more information, call Nadeau's at (860) 246-2444 or check the Web site (www.nadeausauction.com).