Two-session multi-estate sale dedicated to Fine Wine on Friday, Sept. 17, and Fine & Decorative Arts on Saturday, Sept. 18, will be held by Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd., in the firm’s new gallery, located at 620 Cornerstone Court. The Fine Wine session will begin at 6 p.m. The Fine & Decorative Arts session will begin at 9 a.m.
This is an itinerary reversal from what has been the norm at previous cataloged auctions. Typically, the Fine Wine session would finalize the sale. This time, it’s kicking things off. “We have over 100 lots of very high grade wines, and we want to show them off right away,” said Leland Little of Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd.
The majority of wine in the sale was taken from the cellar of an avid collector and retired restaurateur who assembled numerous notable wine lists, earning in the process a Wine Spectator Grand Award and many other wine awards over a 20-year period. Most of his rare and vintage bottles were purchased on first release and all have been kept in temperature-controlled storage.
The Saturday session will be no less impressive. Offered will be 550 quality, fresh-to-the-market lots from local estates and collections. Included will be original art, period furniture, works on paper, silver, antique clocks, decorative accessories, pottery and more. “Estate jewelry, watches and Asian arts in particular will be outstanding,” Mr. Little said.
A lecture will precede the Friday session, as Clifford Chieffo will give a talk on portrait miniatures at 3 p.m. That will be followed by a reception preview, at 4 p.m. Wine and light hors d’oeuvres will be served. Previews will be held on Saturday, Sept. 11, from 10-3, and Thursday and Friday, Sept. 16-17, from 10-6. Online bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com.
Asian arts will feature items such as a rare Chinese Export porcelain hunt bowl with the exterior decorated with mounted huntsmen and their hounds (circa 1785), but there will also be spectacular antiquities, too, that date back thousands of years. These will include Chinese Trade jewelry, Longquan dishes, a Ch’ing-pai lidded ewer, and numerous vessels, ceramics and boxes.
Estate jewelry promises to dazzle the assembled throngs. Two lots expected to do particularly well are a gorgeous diamond solitaire ring simply set with one beautiful round brilliant cut diamond weighing 5.56 carats, prong set and mounted in platinum; and an Art Deco diamond and sapphire bracelet made in the 1930s, with one round diamond and 16 baguette cut sapphires.
American artwork will feature a watercolor on ivory portrait miniature of Dr. Alexander Landson Baron (1810-1842) by Charles Fraser (SC, 1782-1860); an oil painting by Louis Jambor (1884-1955), titled Boating Beauties and depicting two women on a lake; and paintings by New York artists Frank O’Cain (20th c.), Henry Boese (1824-1863) and Alice Hirsch (1888-1935).
Continental art will also cross the block. Star lots include two oil on canvas portraits by Scottish painter Henry Raeburn (1756-1823), depicting James Lockhart and Sir James Sinclair-Lockhart; and a pair of Dutch Romanticism works by Willem Bodemann (Dutch, 1806-1880), one of ice skaters on a frozen pond with figures, the other of skaters and a woman in a red cape.
Bronzes will feature a nude statue by Raoul Larche (Fr., 1860-1912), titled Vingt Ans (Twenty Years Old), signed and numbered (’7850′); a late 19th century Barbedienne Foundry Borghese gladiator, modeled after the Hellenistic original in the Louvre in Paris; and a bronze sculpture with deep brown patina by Emmanuel Villanis (Fr., 1858-1914), titled L’Eclipse.
Continental silver is sure to wow the crowd, with lots like a Georg Jensen sterling pitcher with ebony handle, engraved Christmas 1928; two Georg Jensen sterling compotes with applied grape design, engraved Christmas 1928; and a George III sterling basket by Vere & Lutwyche (London, 1763). American silver will feature a Gorham “Chantilly-Duchess” six-piece service.
American furniture will include a late 18th century New Englnd Puritan chest on chest, walnut with pine secondary; a two-part form cherry corner cupboard (circa 1830-40), probably Pennsylvania; an 1820s New York Classical sideboard, mahogany with white pine secondary; and a Classical stencil decorated center table (circa 1820s), mahogany and mahogany veneers.
Continental furniture and decorative accessories will feature an early 19th century Georgian triple pedestal mahogany dining table; a pair of 19th century French carved eagle console tables, carved gilt wood and gesso; a boxed set of plaster mold Intaglios after Pietro Bracci (19th century); and a 19th century bisque figure of the work Barberini Faun by Volpato.
Americana will include a rare, small size 19th century Virginia leather key basket, oblong form; an oil on panel painting of Alexander Hamilton by William J. Weaver (1759-1817), unsigned; a Sargent (Boston) family register historic sampler of silk and linen; an autographed letter by Patrick Henry (1773); and ship’s papers signed by then-Pres. James Madison (1809).
American pottery pieces, always a hit with collectors, will feature a 19th century mid-Atlantic salt glazed stoneware harvest jug with elaborate cobalt decorations to both spout and handle; an E.A. Fulcher presentation stoneware jar, probably Baltimore, Md. (circa 1850); an alkaline glazed stoneware jug from the Collins Rhodes Factory (Edgefield, SC, circa 1840s); and a Charles B. Masten glazed Auman pottery salt-glazed stoneware vase made around 1928-1930.
Art glass will include a signed Daum Nancy French art glass low vase with forest scene; and three marvelous Tiffany pieces: a Favrile glass three-handled vase (circa early 20th century), the organic baluster form; a decorated Favrile glass vase baluster form with light ribbing and etched signature; and a Favrile glass lava vase, numbered ’322D’ and signed Tiffany on the base.
Vintage timepieces will strike a chord with bidders. Examples include a small English lantern clock made for the Turkish market in the early 18th century by William Kipling of London; a Federal Eli Terry pillar and scroll mantel clock (Plymouth, Conn., circa early 19th century); and a circa 1890 Waltham 8-day ship’s chronometer with mahogany and brass case.
From the modern furniture and sculpture category, two lots are worth noting. One is a set of four beautiful Gaetano Descalzo Chiavari side chairs (Italy, circa 1850s), cherry wood with woven cane seats. The other is a bulbous form bottle vase with tapered neck by Peter Voulkos (Am., 1924-2002). The vase boasts a rust colored glaze adorning a gray and green speckled field.
The militaria portion of the sale will have many rare and important Confederate items from the Civil War. These will include Confederate soldiers’ letters, currency and bonds, a military pass and philatelic items, to include Confederate 5-cent stamps, turned covers, paid stampless covers, official government postal items, POW covers and adversity covers.
The Sept. 17 session dedicated entirely to fine and vintage wines will feature many desirable lots. Just a few include seven bottles of 1996 Chateau Mouton Rothschild (Fr., Pauillac); six bottles of 1997 Opus One (Napa Valley, Calif.); three bottles of 1982 Chateau La Mission Haut Brion (Fr., Graves); and three bottles of 1985 Chateau Margaux (Fr., Margaux).
Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd. is always accepting quality consignments for future sales. To consign a single item, an estate or a collection, you may call them at (919) 644-1243, or you can e-mail them at info@LLAuctions.com. To learn more about Leland Little Auction & Estate Sales, Ltd., and the Sept.. 17-18 auction, log on to www.LLAuctions.com
