Stair Galleries, Hudson, New York
Photos courtesy Stair Galleries
For 50 years, Joan Bogart has been the go-to dealer for Victorian furniture, lighting, and garden antiques. Now in her 80s, she decided it was time to simplify her life. “The people I started with are no longer around and neither are the shows where I met new clients,” said Bogart in a phone interview.
She consigned more than 150 lots of furniture, lighting, and decorations that she had to Stair Galleries, Hudson, New York, for a sale on August 19. Called “Ornaments of the Natural World: The Collection of Joan Bogart,” it was the first of four sales in two days that launched Stair’s August Americana Week, bringing in a total of $1,759,115.
“I’m thrilled with the results,” said Colin Stair, lead auctioneer, founder, and president of Stair. “This may be the way the game is played in the future,” remarking that its energy reminded him of the old days of Ron Borgeault’s August auctions at Northeast Auctions.
The auction’s energy was reminiscent of the old days. During her long career, Bogart placed items in collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Strong Museum, the White House, Winterthur, Bayou Bend, and the High Museum. She helped form the Gloria and Richard Manney collection of furniture by cabinetmaker John Henry Belter, which for years was shown in Odessa, Delaware, and is now in storage at Winterthur.
The auction’s energy was reminiscent of the old days.
“When the children were grown and out of the house, I was yearning to live by the seashore—in Long Island in the summer and Florida in the winter, where the climate is not kind to antiques, so I put my collection in inventory, posted it on my website [www.joanbogart.com], and began to specialize in iron garden furniture,” said Bogart. She will continue to offer garden furniture and decorations on her website and from her gallery in Long Beach, New York, by appointment.
Absentee bidding started at $26,000 for Proserpine, a 25" x 20" marble bust, circa 1845, incised “H. Powers,” and attributed to Hiram Powers (1805-1873). It sold for $58,950 (est. $15,000/20,000). “Worth every penny,” said auctioneer Colin Stair from the podium. Bogart collection.
John Henry Belter laminated rosewood double chair tête-à-tête with a central lift-top compartment, 47" x 60" x 32", seat height 18", sold on the phone for $20,305 (est. $4000/6000). According to the Stair catalog, when it sold at Doyle in January 1985, it was said to be part of a suite comprised of a settee, a pair of armchairs, a pair of side chairs, and a pair of récamiers. The tête-à-tête was a special commission from a Mr. Sackett, who had twin daughters and liked them to sit together. Bogart collection.
Large Rococo Revival six-arm figural brass gasolier with frosted and etched glass shades, 44" in length x 37" diameter, sold online for $17,030 (est. $5000/7000). Bogart collection.
J. & J.W. Meeks flame mahogany and “Egyptian” marble-top center table on brass casters, 28" high x 37" diameter, sold on the phone to bidder number 603 for $9170 (est. $1500/2500). An identical model of this center table is illustrated as number 32 in the Joseph Meeks and Sons broadside, a copy of which is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The table was available with a white or “Egyptian” marble top. Bogart collection.
There were several salesmen’s sample sofas in the sale, and they were not embraced. This one, 22½" x 50" x 19", attributed to J. & J.W. Meeks, New York City, sold to bidder number 34 in the room for $655 (est. $1500/2500). Bogart collection.
The Stair sale included a marble bust of Proserpine that sold for $58,950 (includes buyer’s premium), well above the $15,000/20,000 estimate. A rare Belter double settee tête-à-tête made $20,305 (est. $4000/6000), and a large Rococo Revival six-arm figural brass gasolier went for $17,030 (est. $5000/7000). Overall, furniture did not perform as well as decorations. An Anthony Quervelle stenciled marble-top center table brought $9170 (est. $4000/6000); an ebonized and stenciled mahogany dressing bureau sold for $655 (est. $800/1200); and an Alexander Roux carved rosewood games table, with a stenciled signature, sold for only $524 (est. $800/1200).
The Bogart collection sale brought a total of $475,268, well over presale estimates of $184,200/284,000, showing there is still a devoted group of private and museum buyers who were happy to participate in a dedicated sale that met their needs. Stair said 79% of the buyers were private collectors, and museums and historic houses also added to their collections.
Howard Zar, executive director of the Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, New York, said he bought furniture to be used in the house and in the conservatory, which is in the process of conservation and will be opened next spring. “Joan Bogart was a trailblazer, and her sale marked the end of an era,” Zar said. “The quality, the selection, and original condition were there. If this sale was twenty-five years ago, I would not have been as lucky.”
Zar said the cast-iron center table he bought is very likely the only one surviving. “It looks like wood, but it is made of cast-iron, perfect for the conservatory. The birdhouse we bought will go on the center table, and we also bought the sewer tile twig table. For the house, we got the children’s furniture and the doll-size furniture and the taller of the two centripetal iron chairs in the sale and the Gothic oil lamp, probably made by J.F. Iden in New York.”
Bogart said she was amazed to see so many bids arrive before the sale and thrilled that a private collector, who called before the sale and said she was ready to buy Belter furniture, arrived from the South to preview and stayed to bid in person. “Of course, I lost money when I count transportation, restorations, and expensive upholstery, but some things brought more than I asked,” Bogart confessed.
American Paintings
Attributed to Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), portrait of Caroline, daughter of Lord Dunmore, the last royal governor of Virginia serving 1771-76, oil on canvas, unsigned, with an Alexander Gallery label, sold on the phone for $22,270 (est. $3000/5000).
American school, Hudson Highlands, oil on canvas, unsigned, with an Alexander Gallery label, 18¾" x 24" (sight size), sold for $5895 (est. $800/1200).
Stair offered 100 lots of paintings and sculpture and a Tiffany window in the afternoon of August 19, all of which exceeded presale estimates and added $491,866 to their $1.7 million Americana week. The total was swelled by the $196,500 paid by a private collector bidding on the phone for the Nicoll Family Memorial “Calvary” leaded and plated glass window from St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New Windsor, New York. A portrait of Caroline, daughter of Lord Dunmore (1730-1809), oil on canvas, unsigned, with an Alexander Gallery, New York, label, sold on the phone for $22,270 (est. $3000/5000). Paintings with Alexander Gallery provenance brought a premium. The first lot in the sale, an unsigned oil on canvas, 18¾" x 24", titled Hudson Highlands and with an Alexander Gallery label, sold for $5895 (est. $800/1200) after 20 bids.
David Johnson (1827-1908), Greenwood Lake, New Jersey, oil on canvas, 1876, signed, titled, and dated on the reverse, lined, 12" x 20" (sight size), sold for $20,960 (est. $8000/12,000).
Landscapes were not ignored. Greenwood Lake, New Jersey, oil on canvas, 1876, by David Johnson, signed, titled, and dated on the reverse, 12" x 20", sold for $20,960 (est. $8000/12,000). At Shannon’s on October 24, 2024, it sold for $15,240.
Wieck and Vilain
On Thursday, August 20, Stair sold the collection of Roger S. Wieck and Jean-François Vilain to benefit the Morgan Library & Museum in New York City. The sale celebrated the male form and reflected lives devoted to the art of collecting. Wieck was a curator and department head of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts at the Morgan Library. Previously he worked at Houghton Library, Harvard University, and the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, Maryland. He spent time between residences in New York and Philadelphia with his partner of more than 50 years, Jean-François Vilain, who studied English at the University of Bordeaux and after teaching, immigrated to the United States, where he worked in publishing and became a senior editor at F.A. Davis Company in Philadelphia. Their collection of works of art and objects reflected their appreciation for craftsmanship and design.
They also collected books and gave several thousand produced by fine and private American presses from the 19th century to Penn Libraries at the University of Pennsylvania.
The sale of their collection began day two of Stair’s Americana weekend and featured Arts and Crafts metalwork by Roycroft and Arts and Crafts pottery, much of it from the Rookwood Pottery, which did not perform as well as their vast collection of bronzes, drawings, and paintings of the male form by 20th-century artists Walker Hancock, Mark Beard, and Joe Brown.
Americana
Stair closed out Americana week with a long sale on Thursday afternoon, August 20, celebrating the United States of America’s 250th anniversary with a selection of furniture, fine art, and objects that “represented the ingenuity of American craftsmanship.”
There were weathervanes, windmill weights, and whirligigs from a New York estate; Gothic Revival furniture and Native American pottery from the collection of the late Lee B. Anderson’s home at 35 Stuyvesant Street in Manhattan; and deaccessions from the Thomas Cole Historic Site in Catskill, New York, and the Munson Museum of Art in Utica, New York.
All but four of 190 lots offered sold, adding $279,581 to the week’s total.
For more information, contact Stair Galleries at (518) 751-1000 or check the website (www.stairgalleries.com).
Tiffany Studios Nicoll Family Memorial “Calvary” leaded and plated glass window for St. Thomas Episcopal Church, New Windsor, New York, signed “Tiffany Studios,” and inscribed “There is a green hill far away. Without a city wall. / Where the dear Lord was crucified, Who died to save us all. / In memoriam Leonard Francis Nicoll M.D. / Born Nov. 3rd 1876, Died Nov. 25th 1906.” It sold with a later metal stand. The window, 63" x 29½", sold to support the Episcopal Diocese of New York’s ministry in Orange County and went to a collector on the phone for $196,500 (est. $40,000/60,000).
Pre-bids took this bronze figural inkwell with candleholder, 13" high x 9" diameter, to $2000, and it sold for $2882 (est. $200/400) online. Bogart collection.
John Henry Belter laminated, carved, and pierced rosewood sofa on casters, 44" x 66" x 30", seat height 18", sold for $9170 (est. $2000/4000) to bidder number 34 in the room. Bogart collection.
Cast-iron, spring metal and sheet metal Centripetal Armchair, a groundbreaking design all about movement. The circular springs at the base were patented by inventor Thomas E. Warren (1808-1875) in 1849. These springs, made of steel, allowed the sitter to recline and tilt. Manufactured by the American Chair Company, Troy, New York, which was in business from 1829 to 1858, this predecessor of the Herman Miller Aeron office chair sold online for $4257 (est. $1200/1800). Bogart collection.
Brass, spelter, and glass Gothic Revival oil lamp, attributed to J.F. Iden & Co., New York, unmarked, with etched and frosted glass shade, 21" tall x 8" diameter, sold online to Howard Zar for Lyndhurst Mansion for $524 (est. $400/600). Lamps were bargains at this sale. An identical model was exhibited before the attribution to J.F. Iden in The Gothic Revival Style in America, 1830-1870, April 1-June 6, 1976, at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Bogart collection.
Classical stenciled, gilt, and vert antique decorated rosewood sofa, possibly Deming and Bulkley, sold on the phone for $8515 (est. $2000/4000). Bogart collection.
John Henry Belter carved and laminated rosewood four-piece parlor set in the Rosalie pattern sold online for $5567 (est. $1500/2500). A single Belter armchair (not shown) in the Rosalie pattern sold for $1441(est. $800/1200). Bogart collection.
Renaissance Revival gilt and incised cherry and marquetry pedestal, attributed to Herter Brothers, New York City, 42" x 14" x 14", sold for $12,445 (est. $3000/5000) on the phone to active bidder number 610. Bogart collection.
This cast-iron Fern pattern umbrella stand from Coalbrookdale, England, where iron ore was first successfully smelted using coke instead of charcoal, sold on the phone to bidder number 600 for $1441 (est. $300/500). “It was my umbrella stand in my shop. I hated to part with it,” said Bogart. Bogart collection.
Auction in Town, attributed to Albert Webster Davies (1889-1967), oil on canvasboard, signed “Davies” lower center, 18" x 24" (sight size), sold for $4258 (est. $1000/1500).
Rustic sewer tile twig garden table, 27½" high x 19" diameter, sold online for $3275 (est. $800/1200) to Howard Zar, executive director of Lyndhurst Mansion, for use in the Lyndhurst Conservatory, which will open next spring. Bogart collection.
Parian Veiled Bride, probably by Copeland, after a marble sculpture created by Raffaele Monti (1818-1881), an Italian sculptor who worked in London and carved Veiled Vestal in 1847. Apparently unmarked by the caster, it is inscribed “R. Monti 1861.” Measuring 14½" x 8½" x 5", it sold for $7860 (est. $300/500). Bogart collection.
Large painted terra-cotta model of a seated bulldog with glass eyes, attributed to the company Goldschneider, made in Austria in the late 19th century, unmarked, 21" x 12½" x 16", sold online for $7860 (est. $700/900). Not shown, two smaller bulldogs, one marked with initials and date, both with glass eyes, sold for $1179 (est. $600/800). Bogart collection.
Chinese export black lacquer and parcel-gilt chest on stand, 43" x 40" x 23", sold for $12,445 (est. $2000/4000).
Polychrome painted cast-iron Gothic Revival birdhouse by Miller Iron Company, Providence, Rhode Island, with cast mark, 11" x 15" x 10½", sold online for $6222 (est. $1200/1800). It is a copy of a house in Roslyn, New York. Joan Bogart says she knows of three others, and one is owned by the doctor who lives in the house. Bogart collection.
Carved mahogany assembly chamber armchair, designed by Leopold Eidlitz (1823-1908), stamped “Assembly” to the top of the proper right front leg, 44½" x 28½" x 30½", seat rail height 15¼", sold for $1310 (est. $2000/3000). This rare surviving example of an assembly chamber armchair from the New York State Capitol in Albany, New York, was commissioned in 1875, when architects Eidlitz and Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886) redesigned the building. In 1911 the Great Capitol Fire destroyed the assembly chamber, leaving few remaining examples of the furniture designed by Eidlitz. One such example is a desk designed by him that is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Attributed to William McDougal Hart (1823-1894), Afternoon on the Hudson, oil on canvas, 1849, signed and dated lower right, lined, 38" x 52" (sight size), sold for $17,030 (est. $20,000/40,000). The catalog notes, “Born in Scotland, Hart lived in Albany and then New York City. He quickly established a reputation for painting lush, pastoral landscapes that were so popular they were often reproduced as engravings. Hart taught painting at the National Academy of Design, was on the board of the Brooklyn Academy of Design, and helped found the American Watercolor Society.”
Carved polychrome wood and sheet metal whirligig of Uncle Sam, with metal eyes and button, 29" x 10" x 7", exhibited at Red, White and Blue: An Exhibit, March 20-May 15, 1994, at the Wilton Connecticut Historical Society, sold for $4258 (est. $500/700).
Cast-iron Buffalo windmill weight, 12" x 18" x 5½", sold for $3013 (est. $700/900).
Federal mahogany and satinwood bowfront chest of drawers, raised on casters, with a museum inventory number, 39¼" x 43¼" x 22½", sold for $2096 (est. $700/900).
Federal mahogany drop-leaf dining table, attributed to Duncan Phyfe, New York, raised on casters, 28¼" x 4'6" x 25½", sold for $4913 (est. $2000/3000).
Gothic patinated and gilt bronze mantel clock, the dial signed “L. Ravrio,” with one winding key, 21" x 10½" x 5", sold online for $2751 (est. $400/600). Bogart collection.
Victorian cast-iron conservatory table on casters, 30" x 37" x 26", sold online for $2489 (est. $400/600) to Howard Zar, who is furnishing the Lyndhurst Mansion conservatory. Bogart collection.
Chippendale mahogany reverse- serpentine front chest of drawers, 33½" x 40½" x 21½", sold for $4855 (est. $1200/1800).
Attributed to William Sidney Mount (1807-1868), Mrs. Louisa McKeige, oil on canvas, 30¼" x 25¼" (sight size), signed “W.S. Mount,” and dated “1866” on the reverse, with an Alexander Gallery label, sold for $6222 (est. $1500/2500).
Cast-iron garden bench with snakes and dog heads, attributed to Coalbrookdale, 31" x 72" x 27", seat height 16", sold online for $4257 (est. $1000/2000). Bogart collection.
Unusual pine captain’s desk, possibly English, 44½" x 21" x 21", sold for $7860 (est. $1200/1800).
Jervis McEntee (1828-1891), Near Kennebunkport, oil on canvas, 1877, unsigned, dated lower right, titled on the reverse, with labels from Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Debra Force Fine Art, Inc., Martha Parish & James Reinish, Inc., Menconi & Schoelkopf Fine Art, LLC, Questroyal Fine Art, LLC, and Southwest Bell Corporation, 11¾" x 16" (sight size), sold for $10,480 (est. $10,000/15,000). It last sold at Bonhams in New York, July 29-August 8, 2024, for $12,800.
George Hunzinger Renaissance Revival carved walnut parlor chair with a stamped mark and 1869 patent date, 41½" x 25" x 28", sold for $2227 (est. $800/1200) to a bidder who left a bid with the auctioneer. Bogart collection.
Whiting Manufacturing Company, North Attleboro, Massachusetts, campana-form cast-iron urn, with a cast mark, 25½" high x 21" diameter, sold for $2096 (est. $300/500). Bogart collection.
Attributed to Elbridge Ayer Burbank (1858-1949), Man Smoking a Pipe, 5¼" x 4¼" (sight size), oil on board, 1893, signed and dated upper right, inscribed “E.A. Burbank 1893” on the reverse, with an Alexander Gallery label on the back, sold for $8515 (est. $500/700), more than ten times its high estimate.
Hiram Powers Parian figure of the “Greek Slave,” unmarked, 21" x 6½", sold for $7860 (est. $400/600) to bidder number 610 on the phone. Most of the Parian sold well above estimates. Bogart collection.
A New York Classical parcel-gilt stenciled and vert antique mahogany marble-top pier table, attributed to Deming and Bulkley, with marble columns and colonettes, 38" x 41" x 19", sold on the phone for $9825 (est. $2000/4000). Bogart collection.
Pair of Sheffield plate and jasperware single arm Argand lamps, 16½" x 9" x 5", sold for $17,030 (est. $600/800).
Molded sheet-copper cow weathervane, attributed to Cushing & White, Waltham, Massachusetts, 14" x 24½" x 6½", sold for $3144 (est. $1000/1500).
Originally published in the November 2026 issue of Maine Antique Digest. © 2026 Maine Antique Digest
