Post-Auction Press Release - January 27, 2018 Americana & International Auction at Pook & Pook, Inc., Downingtown, PA

Pook & Pook, Inc. is off to a strong start in 2018, with their second auction this month, this time featuring a selection of Americana and International items. On Saturday the 27^th, the Downingtown auction house entertained a large crowd with three hundred and fifty participating in-house and over the phone and five hundred and fifty bidders registered online. To whet bidder’s appetites, the morning began with a breakfast reception of mimosas and pastries. This well-attended auction kept up a steady stream of generous prices with realized total sale prices reaching a lofty $657,127, and over 95% of items sold. The collection of nearly four hundred and fifty lots featured a number of Jennings Co. slot machines, American paintings, and a mix of Chinese Canton porcelain alongside stoneware pitchers, redware plates, and Chippendale furniture.

Lot 22, Jennings 25-cent golf ball vendor slot machine; Sold for 

The bidding commenced with group of over forty slot machines, with final sale prices on the array of machines reaching a combined total of $43,000. A rare Jennings 5-cent Peacock slot machine, a survivor of the Depression Era, fetched $3,172. A selection of landscape paintings followed in sale with a McClellan industrial scene reaching $4,148, an 1858 rendition of Penn’s Treaty with the Indians realizing $6,710, and an unexpected performance by an Arthur Weindorf winter scene selling for $4,636. Additionally, a watercolor by local Chester County artist Peter Sculthorpe sold for $3,172 while a scene by sporting artist Henry Koehler fetched $2,440.

Lot 193, Stained glass window and sliding door, ca. 1900; Sold for $46,360

Two panels of early 20^th century stained glass stole the show mid Saturday morning. The featured lot of two stained glass panels were recently removed from a home in Johnstown, Pennsylvania where they were originally installed in 1912. Selling at a remarkable price of $46,360, with the original auction estimate of only $4,000-$6,000, these panels invigorated the mid-morning bidding with a lively volley between phone, online, and in-house bidders.

Lot 197, Lancaster, Pennsylvania Chippendale dressing table; Sold for $4,500

Saturday morning’s auction saw high prices for Pennsylvania-made furniture, with featured lots including the museum-worthy Philadelphia Chippendale high-chest, ca. 1770, selling for $21,960. Two other 18^th century items, including a Chippendale walnut tea table brought $2,928 and a Chippendale walnut chest of drawers realized $4,636. Other Pennsylvania made furniture included a painted pine dower chest selling at an impressive $19,520 and a Lancaster county Chippendale dressing table reaching $4,392.

A particularly rare item featured in the sale included a Johann Antes cello, billed as possibly the earliest American-made cello in existence. The final block price on this early example of American craftsmanship brought $20,740, more than doubling its high estimate. A mid-19^th century English musical skeleton clock also doubled its $4,000 high estimate bringing in $9,150. Another extraordinary musical item, the Patek Phillipe singing bird music box, featuring a tortoiseshell and gold enamel cover, realized $19,520 on the block.

Silver buyers were out and bidding on items including a Samuel Kirk marked Baltimore silver tureen, ca. 1828, selling at $8,540 and a lot of ninety pieces of Georg Jensen sterling silver flatware reaching $3,660. Other early American items include an 1805 pewter tankard bearing the mark of Philadelphia maker Parks Boyd, realizing $6,710 on the auction block.

Lot 255, Tiffany Studios patinated bronze desk lamp; Sold for $5,750

There were other highlights of the sale in various categories.  Many bidders vied for a collection of sixteen cutout and drawn silhouettes from the mid-19^th century, with a final sale price more than doubling the high estimate at $2,318. A Tiffany and Co. Studios bronze desk lamp with a handsome patina sold for $5,612. A fine selection of clocks includes a dwarf Lancaster County mahogany and cherry clock, signed George Eby Mainheim, reaching an exciting $24,400 while a George II pearwood bracket clock brought in $3,660. Weathervanes appear to still be in high demand, as evidenced in Pook & Pook’s sale earlier this month featuring items from the collection of Roland and Marilyn Kemble.  A copper cockerel example sold on Saturday for $7,930. A Schimmel carved and painted rooster figurine went for a total of $10,980 while a performance from an early American trade sign proves that Americana items still have a strong market, with an egg-shaped hand-painted trade sign bringing $7,320 on the block. The final items in the sale, a collection of over sixty oriental rugs, reached a combined total of more than $42,000.