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Carousel Giraffe Towers over Prices at Estates Auction

by Ed Pfeiffer

Nadeau's Auction Gallery brought some 380 lots to the auction block on April 3 in Windsor, Connecticut, drawing primarily on consignments from estates such as that of Mary Goodrich Jensen of Wethersfield, Connecticut, which comprised 30 lots. The gallery was crowded with about 200 people, some of them standing at the back of the room or along the two side walls. Bidding was quite active throughout the sale, both in the room and from telephone and absentee offers, and the auction grossed $763,472 (including buyers' premiums).

The emphasis was on Americana with some notable offerings of early New England furniture and decorative arts, supplemented with about 75 lots of fine art, but it was a carved carousel figure that took the highest price of the day. The graceful giraffe, standing a bit under 6é tall and measuring 36 inches long, sold for $118,000 (est. $15,000/20,000) to Allan Daniel of Park Ridge, New Jersey, a well-known folk art collector who overcame intense competition from bidders on the phones.

Daniel, who has three other carousel figures in his collection, said he was "very excited" about adding this one. The catalog attributed the figure to Gustav A. Dentzel (1846-1902), a carver from Philadelphia, but Daniel said he felt it might have been the work of the legendary Charles Looff, who created some 40 carousels during his lifetime, including the first one on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York.

Overshadowed by the carousel figure, but taking second place on the price list, was one of five tall-case clocks in the auction. Topping out at $39,100 (est. $10,000/15,000), the 87 inches high circa 1810 Federal inlaid mahogany tall clock was inscribed on the dial "Daniel Monroe," an apprentice to Simon Willard, working in Concord, Massachusetts.

Three other tall-case clocks sold for $18,400 (circa 1765 Rhode Island Chippendale in mahogany, 83 inches high, inscribed "Caleb Wheaton, Providence"), $4830 (circa 1790 Connecticut Federal in cherry with painted face, patera-decorated lunette, and dial with floral rosettes, above estimate), and $1897.50 (cherry case with broken arch top, tombstone painted dial, and brass works, below estimate), but the tall-case clock with the highest estimate ($20,000/ 25,000), a circa 1740 George III in carved mahogany with feet restored, the works inscribed "Will Claggett Newport," was passed.

Leading the furniture lots was a circa 1785 Connecticut Chippendale games table in cherry, 29 inches high x 34 inches wide, that surpassed its $4000/6000 estimate to bring $17,250. Other top prices for furniture included a circa 1810 Federal cherry and inlaid mahogany veneer chest of drawers with French bracket feet, attributed to Michael Allison, New York City, for $16,100 (est. $4000/6000); a circa 1855 New York Rococo Revival carved rosewood and satinwood secretary desk in two parts, 79 inches high x 34 inches wide, for $7475; and a circa 1760 Massachusetts Queen Anne mahogany drop-leaf table, cataloged as having loss to one foot and a crack, for $6900.

Leading the nearly 80 works of art, which included oil and watercolor paintings, etchings, lithographs, and photos, was a group of five framed 17 inches x 25 1/4<146> gouache on paper views of the Bay of Naples, including Naples and Mount Vesuvius. Each had figures in the foreground, and one was signed and dated "Cravere, 1859." Taking the sale's fifth-highest price, the gouaches sold together for $21,850 (est. $5000/7000).

A signed and framed oil on canvas Dutch coastal landscape by Charles Henri Joseph Leickert (Belgian, 1818-1907), 14 1/2<146> x 21 inches, brought $7475 (est. $10,000/15,000); a signed and framed oil on canvas under glass of a spring landscape by Edward Gay (1837-1928), 20 inches x 27 1/4<146>, made $6900; and a signed oil on canvas by Nelson Augustus Moore (1824-1902) of the Original Kensington Reservoir, 11 inches x 18 inches, sold for $3680 (est. $2000/3000).

There were surprising spurts of bidding throughout the sale as certain lots, many of them in specialized categories, soared over their estimates to reach unexpected prices. Probably the most impressive was the $24,150 paid for a 47 inches wide x 36 inches high 18-drawer primitive painted and decorated hanging herb cabinet with painted labels and several original pulls (est. $2500/4500). Jumping far over its $1500/2500 estimate to reach $8625 was a 44 inches wide Victorian embossed 12-light hanging gaslight fixture with etched and frosted shades, later electrified. Among the small items, a circa 1830 redware ovoid handled jug in a yellow glaze, cataloged as possibly Connecticut, climbed to $5865 (est. $300/450).

Carved marble figures of a girl with a basket and a boy with a parrot perched on his hand, offered as separate lots, escalated several times over their high estimates. The 31 inches high sculpture of the girl, marked Biggi Fausto Carrara, left the block at $5060 (est. $1000/2000), while the 41 inches high figure of the boy made $4485 (est. $600/1000).

The sale contained 38 floor rugs, plus a rare table rug that made the top price in the category. The 24 inches x 50 inches pictorial yarn sewn table rug, cataloged as "probably Connecticut, circa 1790-1810," left the block at $7475.

The best moneymakers among the floor rugs were two lots that brought $6612.50 each, an 8'6 inches x 11'9 inches Agra pattern and a 9'6 inches x 19'11 inches Heriz. Two other very large rugs achieved very differing results; a 10'5 inches x 18'3 inches Kashan rose to $6037.50 (est. $3000/5000), while a water-stained 10' x 21' Sarouk went at $575 (est. $1000/2000).

Nadeau's Auction Gallery stages auctions every second Tuesday evening, in addition to major sales focused on Americana. For more information, call (860) 246-2444 or go to the Web site (www.nadeausauction.com).