Ledbetter Folk Art Auction Gallery, Gibsonville, North Carolina
Photos courtesy Ledbetter Folk Art Auction Gallery
Until March 2025 all sales at Ledbetter Folk Art Auction Gallery will be online. The issue is inventory or rather overabundant inventory. Space previously reserved for seating is now a warehouse for multiple large collections. Phone and absentee bidders are always welcome, but in-person sales with Ledbetter’s trademark free beer and pizza are on hold. “I expect to have at least ten online sales before the end of the year,” said Matt Ledbetter. “Online sales are definitely easier, but I get bored looking at a computer screen.”
Ledbetter’s October 5 sale featured the contents of a 1935 North Carolina mountain cabin and a large collection of southern pottery. There were only a few auction day surprises since most high-dollar lots were determined during pre-auction bidding on LiveAuctioneers.
The top lot in the 328-lot sale was this 16½" high circa 1850 signed storage jar from Catawba Valley, North Carolina. The potter was Isaac Lefevers, who stamped his initials on one lug handle and the number 8 (typically for gallons) on the other. With slight rim chips, the Lefevers jar sold to a phone bidder for $7500 (est. $8000/12,000).
The top lot was a 16½" tall 19th-century storage jar by Catawba Valley, North Carolina, potter Isaac Lefevers (1831-1864). One handle was stamped “8,” and the other, “IL.” Lefevers was trained by and lived with Daniel Seagle (circa 1805-1867), a master potter whose work was reliably well turned and thin walled. The Lefevers pot opened at $5500 and was chased by Internet bids and one phone bidder from Tennessee. The phone bidder got it for $7500 (with buyer’s premium).
This 13½" high storage jar with slip-decorated loops tapers to a 6" diameter base. Ledbetter attributed it to South Carolina potter Thomas Chandler of Edgefield. Fresh from an estate, the jar brought the third-highest price in the sale at $4062.50 (est. $2000/4000).
The sale’s second high-dollar pot, a 13½" high storage jar with Thomas Chandler’s characteristic pottery slip loops around the shoulder, sold for $4062.50 to a Durham, North Carolina, collector bidding on the Internet. Chandler (1810-1854) was perhaps the most skilled potter to work in the Edgefield District of upstate South Carolina. The pot was unsigned but attributed to Chandler.
This 17" high circa 1880 jar has an 11½" diameter mouth. With an alkaline glaze and handsome rutile runs, the Catawba Valley jar sold for $1750 (est. $200/400).
“Great runs,” said Matt Ledbetter about this 11½" high circa 1850 storage jar with an alkaline glaze. It’s from the Seagle school, Catawba Valley, North Carolina, and it sold for $1500 (est. $200/400) to a Durham, North Carolina, collector bidding on the Internet.
Two unsigned pots from Catawba Valley, North Carolina, were among the sale’s bestsellers. One was a 17" high straight-sided storage jar with an 11½" wide mouth and electric-blue rutile runs that collectors love. It sold to an Internet bidder for $1750. Ledbetter attributed an 11½" high ovoid jar with strap handles to the Daniel Seagle school. It sold to an active Internet bidder for $1500.
Randy Murawski’s choice of eyeballs to enhance this 10½" high two-handled jug was influenced by contemporary potter Marvin Bailey. The version by Murawski (b. 1957) sold for $500 (est. $200/400).
Contemporary pottery by known and unknown southern potters dominated the first hour of the sale. The top pot from this diverse collection was a 10½" high pottery jar glazed in blue and white, decorated with at least 20 eyeballs, and signed by Randy Murawski (b. 1957). Murawski began his pottery career in 2012 and resides in Vale, North Carolina, the town made popular by potter Burlon Craig. The eyeball pot sold for $500.
This circa 1940 Adirondack-style library table or desk, 29" x 35" x 22", brought the second-highest price in the sale. It has root knots and a dark brown stain, and Ledbetter called it “a piece of folk-art furniture.” The table/desk went far beyond its $500/1000 estimate to sell for $5937.50.
The top lot of the consignments from the 1935 mountain cabin was a circa 1940 brown-stained library table/desk with a two-board top and three shelves supported by root knots. The table/desk was bid up to $3250 during the week before the sale. It sold to a LiveAuctioneers bidder from Fort Myers, Florida, for $5937.50. Checking bidder numbers shows that the library table/desk was that successful bidder’s only purchase.
The Reverend Russell Gillespie (1922-2019) of North Carolina turned to preaching after making hundreds of popular rustic assemblages from roots, burls, pine knots, and other local materials. This 17" x 24" x 13" folk-art assemblage sold for $2125 (est. $800/1200). The same bidder purchased a slightly smaller Gillespie assemblage (not shown) for $1000.
Two rustic cabin assemblages by the Reverend Russell Gillespie (1922-2019) of North Carolina were in the sale. Both went to the same LiveAuctioneers bidder but for quite different dollar amounts. The higher-priced and larger assemblage had birds in the trees, a woman churning, a man with a broom or handled tool, a man in a creek, a tapered chimney, buckets, and an inverted horseshoe over the door. It sold for $2125. The smaller and less expensive Gillespie assemblage sold for $1000 and had two twisted root trees, a woman washing clothes in a tub, a man fishing from a plank bridge, a chicken, and a wooden chimney. The successful bidder was a Ledbetter regular. “He attended my first sale and sat in the front row,” said Ledbetter.
This 16" x 32" sign, marked on the reverse “Gum Hill Holiness Church in Jesus Name,” was the fourth-highest lot of the sale at $2125 (est. $800/1200). The sign maker, age of the sign, and location of Gum Hill are unknown. Another sign (not shown) marked for the same church brought $875 (est. $800/1200).
A 16" x 32" wooden sign with painted lettering and marked on the reverse “Gum Hill Holiness Church in Jesus Name” had an urgent message for readers: “Repent Sinner / For The Kingdom Of / Heaven Is At Hand! / Jesus Saves.” A bidder on LiveAuctioneers bought it for $2125. The same bidder bought another Gum Hill sign for $875, this one announcing a tent revival. Both signs were consigned by a picker who found them in Alabama. An online search to locate Gum Hill found a small hill in Maryland, a larger mountain in Utah, a cemetery in Virginia, and a populated area of Hancock County, Georgia. In his September 23, 2023, sale, Ledbetter sold an 18" x 24" Gum Hill sign for $1625.
“Henry Wright, active in Jamestown, North Carolina, during the early 19th century, was a notable gunmaker specializing in flintlock rifles. His firearms were renowned for their craftsmanship and reliability,” said Matt Ledbetter in the description for this 58" long rifle. The rifle sold far below estimate at $1375 (est. $4000/8000).
One of the featured lots in the sale, a mid-19th-century North Carolina long rifle, sold below estimate for $1375. Gunmaker Henry Wright (b. 1807) was active in Jamestown, North Carolina, from 1850 to 1860. The noted Jamestown school of gun-making began in 1810 and continued to 1902. Heart and double-heart silver inlay on the stock was a characteristic of Wright’s work.
This basket by Mary Causby (1873-1955) is 4½" x 5½" x 5" with a 4½" opening. It would fit in the palm of one’s hand. “It was the smallest Causby basket I’ve ever seen,” said Ledbetter. It sold for $1062.50 to a Tennessee collector, far below its $2000/4000 estimate.
Another publicized lot that did not make its low estimate was a small kidney-form egg basket by Mary Causby of North Carolina (1873-1955). One of Causby’s baskets won a blue ribbon at the state fair when she was only eight years old. Her trademark was a bridle knot formed with a small peg that was twisted where the handle joined the basket. The Causby basket sold for $1062.50.
By the end of 2024 Matt Ledbetter hopes to have 100 copies of his self-published full-color hardbound book on the work of folk artist Benny Carter (1943-2014). Ledbetter photographed several large collections of Carter’s work for the book, which is expected to retail for $100.
For more information, call or text (336) 524-1077 or visit the website (www.ledbetterauctions.com).
This 16" x 11" circa 1940 paint-decorated umbrella stand came out of a 1935 mountain cabin. The same evening scene is on all four sides. A LiveAuctioneers bidder won the lot for $237.50 (est. $200/400).
Two glass fish are side by side on this late Victorian 7" x 14" wooden wall plaque. Two Internet bidders chased the plaque from its $500 opener to a selling price of $2000 (est. $200/400).
This rustic circa 1940 Adirondack-style stand, 27" x 14" x 14", exceeded its humble $200/400 estimate to sell for $2000.
Without its spout or strap handle, this handsome 10" high circa 1860 salt-glazed jug from Randolph County, North Carolina, would resemble a ceramic bowling ball. It sold to a bidder on LiveAuctioneers for $406.25 (est. $200/400).
Few would doubt Ledbetter’s calling this 15" tall circa 1830 salt-glazed honey jar from Tennessee “extremely rare.” He attributed the jar to Thomas Craven of North Carolina (1775-1857). Craven moved to Henderson County, Tennessee, in the first half of the 1800s. The Craven honey jar sold under its estimate for $1375 (est. $2000/4000) to a collector from Tennessee.
Parents who wanted to use this twig highchair would need to secure the baby. There are no trays or belts to keep a hungry youngster in place. The slat-seat chair, 36" x 14" x 16", from the 1940s sold for $468.75 (est. $200/400) to a New York bidder on the Internet.
With his family, Vernon Owens (b. 1941) of North Carolina owns and runs Jugtown Pottery near Seagrove, North Carolina. He signed and dated (1987) this 10½" tall vase in the famous Jugtown Chinese red glaze. It sold for $162.50 (est. $200/400).
Of the five memory jugs in the sale, this 12" tall unpainted, cluttered jug brought top dollar. Attached to the surface are assorted knickknacks, including a whisk broom charm, a pig, a screw, a key, buttons, and scissors, and there are handsome seashells around the base. It sold for $237.50 (est. $200/400).
Dirt dishes are glazed redware plates with flared edges. They were popular in North Carolina from the late 18th to early 19th centuries. This dish, circa 1840, 10¼" diameter, from Salem, North Carolina, one of five lots of single dirt dishes in the sale, brought top dollar at $375 (est. $800/1200). The buyer was from Georgia.
The auction ended with the sale of at least 20 quilts. One of the more unusual examples was this 75" x 45" quilt embroidered with various nursery rhyme characters. Included are the cow jumping over the moon, Little Miss Muffet, Simple Simon, Jack and Jill, and Humpty Dumpty. On the back is a label with the year 19-3 (the third numeral is unclear) and the words “Scarborough Fair.” The quilt sold for $312.50 (est. $200/400).
Originally published in the December 2024 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2024 Maine Antique Digest
