KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An 1836 house sampler set a record price for a Tennessee sampler at auction, selling for $28,125 at the Dec. 6 Case Antiques Auction. The sampler was signed “Mary Elizabeth Collins’ work/Franklin Tennessee April 1836,” and sold to a collector in the room, underbid by two other live bidders and three phone bidders, including a major East Coast sampler dealer. The price is among the highest ever paid at auction for a Southern sampler. Prices include the 12.5 percent buyer’s premium.
Gallery owner John Case said the sampler relates to a group of four samplers from Middle Tennessee, which have been documented by the Tennessee Sampler Survey, an ongoing research project spearheaded by needlework authorities Janet Hasson and Jennifer Core to collect data and images on Tennessee samplers (www.tennesseesamplers.com). The Collins sampler featured nine different stitching techniques, as well as a floral border, vase and basket of flowers, alphabets, and a verse: “Tis education forms the common mind/ just as the twig is bent the tree’s inclined.”
Interestingly, the Collins sampler already held the auction record for a Tennessee sampler, having sold for $10,350 in June, 2005, at a Devin Moisan auction in Dover, N.H. The sampler was then resold and ultimately ended up in private hands.
“Although we were intentionally conservative in our estimate – $10,000-$12,000 – we felt optimistic about how it would do, because this sampler is at the top of its category,” said Case. “This economy has made the market pickier about quality and condition, but we continue to have buyers who are hungry for top-notch Southern regional objects, and are willing to pay record prices for them.”
A number of other fine Southern pieces also excelled in the sale. A folky inlaid walnut chest of drawers with pierced skirt and turned pilasters achieved $5,850 and an inlaid walnut blanket chest with two drawers, quarter-ring turned corner molding and ogee bracket feet earned $4,500.
The circa 1800 blanket chest had been documented by the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts and attributed to Tennessee.
“A lot of so-called ‘brown’ furniture is soft right now, but we think this shows there’s still some life in the market for outstanding pieces,” said Case.
This was Case’s largest offering to date of fine art. The top-selling painting was a landscape with house and figures in a field of flowers, entitled Daffodil Time, attributed to nationally regarded Tennessee impressionist Catherine Wiley (1879-1958). It sold for $12,375 to a collector in the room, underbid by an out of state dealer on the phone. A folk art portrait of a woman with her dog, attributed to New England, brought $4,500.
“This is a good time to be buying antiques, because some outstanding pieces that have been in collections for years are finally coming on the market. And on lower end items, there are definitely some bargains – especially for people who want to furnish or decorate a home with antiques,” noted Case. “But it’s also a good time to be selling great objects. In fact, collectors who’ve invested in the best possible examples in most categories are finding that some of those pieces are yielding better returns than the stock market at this point.” December 31, 2008 |
