From Thomaston Place AG

THOMASTON – Thomaston Place Auction Galleries has assembled a large and incredibly diverse catalog of important art and rarities for its last major sale of 2020 on Nov. 12, 13, 14 & 15 at 11 a.m. each day.

Timed just ahead of the Holiday season, the four-day auction will be the perfect venue for a gathering of one-of-kind gifts, unusual decorative treasures, or new acquisitions for collections.    

Out of an abundance of caution in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sale will be conducted as a live virtual sale, with telephone, absentee and internet bidding.  

Each day will have particular emphasis. Thursday, November 12 will be a collector’s auction, offering decoys, model trains, portrait miniatures, rifles, fishing items iron banks, and Asian antiques.

On Friday, Nov. 13 the emphasis will be on tribal arts, including a diverse array of African and Eskimo artifacts.

The auction Saturday, Nov. 14 will feature early paintings and fine antiques.

And on Sunday, Nov. 15, the focus will be on 19th & 20th Century decorative arts and estate jewelry.

 Thomaston Place owner and auctioneer Kaja Veilleux said: “We’re hoping this sale will be enjoyable for all and offer buyers some fun at the end of an otherwise challenging year.”

The painting selection will feature: a 1943 work by Fernando Cueto Amorsolo (Philippines, 1892-1972) titled “Woman with Banga”; a New England woods scene by Albert Bierstadt (NY/CA/MA/KS, Germany, 1830-1902); Alfred Thompson Bricher’s (NY/NH, 1837-1908) “Noon at Point Judith (Rhode Island)”; “Beach at Cliffside, Nantucket” by Frank Swift Chase (MA, 1886-1958); and “Kanha Sunset”, depicting a tiger and four deer, by Dahlov Ipcar (ME/VT, 1917-2017).

There will also be works by: Joseph Goodhue Chandler (MA/NY, 1813-1884), Francois Gilot (NY/CA/France, 1921-), Gustave Courbet (France/Switzerland, 1819-1877), Karel Christiaan Appel (NY/France/Italy/Switzerland, 1921-2006), and Brian Coole (UK, 1939- ).  A rare etching by James Abbott McNeill Whistler (MA/UK/France, 1834-1903) titled “The Little Lagoon” will also be included in the sale.

The sculpture category will be led by a cast and patinated bronze maquette, “Armless Seated Figure”, by Henry Spencer Moore (UK, 1898-1986), an important German Renaissance carved walnut figure of Christ the Redeemer attributed to Tilman Riemenschneider (c. 1460-1531), and a bronze by Dmitri Chiparus (Romania/France, 1886-1947) depicting three little girls with an umbrella.  

Many important 19th Century pieces in the African collection come with historic provenance, most recently from the Walker Foundation.  These include: a carved standing male ancestral shrine from the Ibo/Igbo Peoples, Nigeria; a Songye people carved and ornamented “Bishimba” fertility figure from the Democratic Republic of Congo (formerly Zaire); and two Baule bronze ancestral bronze figures depicting a king and queen from the Ivory Coast.

A 100-lot single owner collection of Eskimo artifacts will be led by a Northern Quebec Inuit sculpture of walrus tusks with intricate figural scrimshaw decoration mounted in a green soapstone base centered by a carved walrus, and an ancient Yup’ik shaman’s pottery bowl. Also among the Native American items will be a rare circa 1900 polychrome painted and carved Northwest mask, probably Tlingit, that descended in a mid-coast Maine family.  

Other auction highlights will include: a 1947 Ford Woody Model 79A Super Deluxe station wagon; a circa 1920 Old Town Canoe 48” long store display, a perfect replica of full-size canoe; a Faberge silver and guilloche enamel frame by workmaster Johan Victor Aarne; a rare 18th Century Quebec country painted diamond point cupboard; a Roman 2nd – 3rd Century AD stone sculpture depicting the head of a patrician lady wearing the Crown of Athena; an early 20th Century carved carousel horse by D.C. Muller Brothers, Philadelphia; a circa 1870 Minton majolica four-tier revolving oyster server; and several lots of lighting and glass by Tiffany Studios.

The sale will also offer interesting selections of estate jewelry and watches, early Scandinavian furniture, Russian icons, fine oriental carpets, custom and modern design furniture, art pottery, and folk art & marine items.

A complete, full color catalog, with detailed descriptions and photographs, is available, and all lots can be viewed at Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ website, www.thomastonauction.com.  Telephone, absentee, and online bidding on three internet platforms will allow multiple bidding options. Please visit Thomas Place website or call 1-207-354-8141 for more information.

Thomaston Place Auction Galleries is Maine’s premier international auction company located on U.S. Route 1 in Thomaston.  Thomaston Place is a leader in discovering Maine’s antique and fine art treasures by offering Free Appraisals each Tuesday at the gallery, creating fundraiser events for civic and charitable organizations, and providing house call appraisal services.  Their expertise in researching and marketing antiques and fine art has earned Thomaston Place the respect of buyers, collectors and experts worldwide.