Antiques & Collectibles
The world record for a firearms auction set in March at James D. Julia’s in Fairfield, Maine, when its spring sale grossed just under $18 million could be eclipsed by this week’s auction, which has a low estimate of $19 million.
The 10 a.m. auction tomorrow and Tuesday includes two extraordinarily rare firearms, a Freund “Boss Gun’’ Sharps Model 1874 sporting rifle ($200,000-$300,000) and a Winchester Model 1873 lever action rifle engraved “One of One Thousand’’ ($225,000- $275,000).
Purported to be one of the finest of its type, the sporting rifle’s lockplate is engraved in script “Freund & Bros Cheyenne W.T. U.S. of A.’’ Freund was a famous gun outlet in Wyoming during the most historic period of the country’s westward expansion. (Wyoming was not a state until 1890.)
A historic Winchester is the SN #291, the rarest first variation of the Winchester 1873 rifles. Its left sideplate is engraved “Presented to Maj. Frank North U.S.A. From Buffalo Bill’’ ($150,000-$200,000). Major North and William F. “Buffalo Bill’’ Cody had been friends and Indian scouts since 1869.
A firearm that belonged to Cody is the Savage M1907 semiautomatic pistol ($50,000-$100,000) that was presented to the legendary showman by Savage Arms Co. of Utica, N.Y., and was factory-engraved “Col. W.F. Cody.’’ The Buffalo Bill nickname came when Cody was 21 and killed 69 buffalo in a contest; it became world-famous after the Buffalo Bill Wild West shows toured not only in this country but also in England.
Also included in the auction are two guns that belonged to Annie Oakley, the famed sharpshooter, who was one of the star performers in the Buffalo Bill shows. One is a special-order Parker Bros. shotgun with Oakley portrayed on it ($30,000-$50,000) and the other a Remington Model 11 tournament-grade shotgun ($22,500-$32,500).
One of the most spectacular firearms in the sale is the Mauser 87 bolt-action carbine made for Sultan Abdül-hamid II of the Ottoman Empire and presented to him after Mauser, in 1887, was awarded a contract for 500,000 rifles and 50,000 carbines. It is expected to bring $100,000-$200,000.
Also featured in the auction are 25 Civil War swords, including a gold-plated sword embellished with diamonds, sapphires, rubies, and emeralds ($35,000-$45,000) that President Grant presented to Colonel Horace Wilson.
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A Long Island, N.Y., family received a windfall this month when a 300-year-old Chinese vase which they had used as a doorstop sold for $1.3 million at Sotheby’s Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art Auction.
The vase, which had been in the family for decades, was a rare blue-and-white moonflask from the Ming Dynasty. The family only became aware of its worth when they saw a similar piece pictured in a Sotheby’s advertisement.
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Offerings ranging from 19th-century daguerreotypes to 20th-century photographs of celebrities will be auctioned by Kaminski Auctioneers Wednesday and Thursday at 6 p.m. at its Beverly gallery.
Among the more than 200 daguerreotypes are images of Abraham Lincoln, including a copy in reverse of the daguerreotype taken of the clean-shaven future president at the state
Capitol in Springfield, Ill., two weeks after he received the Republican presidential nomination. It has a $7,000-$9,000 estimate, while an 1861 daguerreotype of the president pictured outdoors in Philadelphia has a $4,500-$7,500 estimate.
The daguerreotype expected to bring the highest price is a whole plate image of a bride taken in the Boston studio of Albert Southworth and Josiah Hawes. It has a $10,000-$15,000 estimate, which also is the estimate for a portfolio of 11 photographs by Walker Evans (1909-75), considered one of the most influential photographers of the 20th century.
Among the celebrity images is a print of Marilyn Monroe singing “Happy Birthday’’ ($200-$300) to President Kennedy at the 1962 Madison Square Garden celebration of his 45th birthday. A photograph of Kennedy sent
from the White House on the day he was assassinated has a $600-$800 estimate. Mailed to an Ohio man, the envelope is postmarked Nov. 22, 1963, and bears a John Glenn “Project Mercury’’ postage stamp
Other images being auctioned include outdoor scenes, baseball teams and players, Native American and Wild West pictures, and cityscapes.
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Skinner’s auction of European furniture and decorative arts Saturday morning at 10 a.m. at its Boston gallery will include 450 lots of English, Continental, Russian, Chinese export, Mexican, and American silver, topped by a Gorham punch bowl set given in 1911 as a Christmas present.
The sterling punch bowl, 12 cup holders and a tray inscribed “Honorable J.T. Cremer / with the compliments of Samuel P. Colt December 25, 1911’’ has a $30,000-$50,000 estimate. At that time Colt, a resident of Bristol, R.I., was president of the United States Rubber Co., then the world’s largest producer of rubber goods, and Cremer, a Dutch entrepreneur, was president of the Netherlands Trading Society. Both men had interests in Southeast Asia.
Other top silver offerings include four early-20th-century Tiffany candlesticks in the chrysanthemum pattern ($18,000-$22,000) and a Georg Jensen 90-piece flatware set in the Acorn pattern ($10,000-$15,000). However, there is a wide selection of silver in the under- $500 range.
Furniture is highlighted by an 18th-century Dutch armoire ($15,000- $25,000), a circa 1840 English writing table ($8,000-$12,000), an Italian micromosaic tabletop depicting St. Peter’s Square and other Roman views ($6,000-$8,000), and a circa 1775 George III parcel-gilt and caned armchair ($4,000-$6,000).
Decorative offerings are as varied as a gilt-bronze statue of a fisherman by the French sculptor Ernest Ferrand (1846-1932) with a $3,000- $5,000 estimate, two 19th-century Meissen porcelain polychrome enameled figures ($1,500-$2,500), and a 19th-century French Aubusson wall hanging ($2,500-$3,000).
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