Skinner American Furniture & Decorative Arts Auction
- by Bruce E. McKinney
Excellent transportation for book collectors, book dealers and scouts.
For train buffs there is lot 306. It is a Schoolboy Watercolor Portrait of a Locomotive. It was painted by Franklin Terrell, June 27th, 1892 at the St. Patrick's School in Cleveland, Ohio. It is 19" by 27" and estimated at $800 to $1,200.
For the book collector with an interest in camping there is lot 316, a 22" x 30" print by Nathaniel Currier of Camping Out, "Some of the Right Sort.," 1856. For the $2,000 to $2,500 estimate there is a four color presentation that includes seven people, three dogs, several fish and a deer. A lake and trees are also included.
Lot 410 is two paintings of instant relatives. Both are inscribed on the back G. W. Fisher, artist 1850. One of the portraits is of a man holding a letter or as we say on AE, a manuscript document. The other portrait, of a woman, is shown with a book of music. It is estimated that a child born today will cost the average family more than $200,000 over their first 18 years. By comparison the cost of these acquired relatives is estimated at only $3,000 to $5,000 for the pair and they won't stay out late or talk back.
No. 458 is a Portrait of a Young Boy with Hammer and Nails. Is this John Henry as a baby? The cataloguer apparently lost confidence in their estimation that the child in the dress is a boy because by the third line "he" is now described as "the rosy-cheeked child wearing a red dress." I think if the description went on a few more lines "he" would be "she." Estimated at $1,000 to $1,200. If you buy it you can write the definitive catalogue description.
