News & Notes
We’ve added a new auction house to the database - Harlowe-Powell Auction Gallery in Charlottesville, Virginia. Harlowe-Powell is a well-known regional auction house, and they sell a little bit of everything. We’re especially pleased with the addition of material from their fabulous sporting and leisure sale held in May of this year, so be sure to take a look!
Harlowe-Powell
Auction Gallery
2109 India Road, Charlottesville, VA 22901; (434) 293-2904;
www.harlowepowell.com
When the late Henry A. Frederick Hohler wanted to thin out his collection, the former English ambassador could have gone pretty much anywhere. On the block were the furnishings from his ancestral manor—just the sort of thing to interest one of the big New
Green Valley Auctions recently sold an 1845 Baltimore quilt for $30,800.
York houses. Instead, he chose Harlowe-Powell to sell his Regency candle stands and Queen Anne chairs. In addition to estate sales, Harlowe-Powell is active in the modern design market. Check the schedule if you are looking for tubular steel chairs or teak coffee tables.
Harlowe-Powell Auction Yields Great Values
Dec 21st, 2007
By
Tom O’Hara / Antiques and the Arts Online
Charlottesville, Va. :At Harlowe-Powell Auction Gallery’s November 17 sale, nearly 700 lots found new owners. Situated in the hometown of the University of Virginia and Thomas Jefferson, the gallery draws an educated audience with a keen interest in the area’s history. This also created a good group in the gallery for the antiques offered on the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Harlowe-Powell has been in business since its founding by Bill Harlowe in 1968. Vernon “Pat” Powell joined the business in 1997, and Norman Dill bought out Harlowe upon his retirement in 2005. Both Powell and Dill are licensed auctioneers.
The company’s sales are made up principally from estates and consignments in the area but Dill has roots in Dutchess County, N.Y., where often he is able to receive additional consignment lots.
Near the end of the auction there was a wake-up call to the audience that accounted for the top lot in the sale. An 18K gold Gucci belt, hallmarked, having heavy gold chain links and gold buckle and tongue, 34 inches long with a total weight of 605 grams, achieved $10,300.
This sale featured many fine pieces of early American furniture, both hardwoods and pine pieces. It began quietly with the live online bidding for several pieces of Americana. A copper full-bodied running horse weathervane, resting on a bar, which in turn was mounted on a wooden base, sold as the first lot for $224.
Leading furniture was a circa 1750 Queen Anne chair, probably Rhode Island, bringing $7,280.
Leading furniture was a circa 1750 Queen Anne chair, probably Rhode Island, bringing $7,280.
The next object was from Page County, Va., a rural area in the Shenandoah Valley, where a folk art table was believed to have been made about 1800. In walnut with deep overhanging top and drawer, it was painted red with primitive painting of trees, and reached $448. Following was a Delaware Valley ladder back chair in excellent condition selling for $560. A maple youth chair with original tall height also in fine condition fetched $336. This piece was believed to also be Delaware Valley with shaped back splats, a tapered body and turned supports and stretchers.
Although Harlowe-Powell had conducted an auction of Oriental rugs the night before, and there were still some fine antique Persians held for this sale, it was an antique silk Chinese rug that was the star offering. The rug, having a floral trellis on a red background and with borders of floral and Greek key designs, measuring 10 feet 2 inches by 5 feet 10 inches, achieved $6,160.
The auction had great variety in the offerings with Asian antiques and textiles, Continental and English furniture, English silver and early American primitive articles. A Japanese kimono, either early Twentieth Century or late Nineteenth Century, in very good condition, embroidered in pink silk and silver metallic threads in a design of flowers and birds on a pale blue background and lined in scarlet, brought $168. A gold gilt pier mirror and matching console table, Renaissance Revival style, believed to be either Italian or French, was $952. From Massachusetts, a William and Mary period gate leg drop leaf table in good original condition with an older refinishing to the top hit $504.
There was an interesting pair of chairs at the sale. One was a Gothic Revival style from the Eighteenth Century and the other was a newly made exact copy; they sold together for $672. A pair of bronze urns signed L&F Moreau, each 19 inches high, realized $308.
The sale had a great deal of attractive American furniture representing many early styles. A Nineteenth Century tall server or sideboard was made with parquetry inlays, with a shaped crest over two rolled front drawers, Sandwich Glass pulls, and sold for $1,560, while a circa 1750 side chair, Queen Anne, probably Rhode Island, went up to $7,280.
Other furniture highlights included an Empire sideboard with mahogany veneers on pine and some maple detailing that went for $672; a pine chest, lift top, green painted and sides in black paint from Virginia was $212; a diminutive Georgian writing table in oak but unknown origin took $336; and a pair of American Federal mahogany side chairs in excellent condition, needing new slip seats, sold for $1,904.
Adding to the variety of the sale were also some snuffboxes, both from England and America. A sterling silver piece from Birmingham, England, dated by the English hallmarks as made in 1835, sold for $168, while a presentation snuffbox, marked Albert Coles and made in New York, was dated in the presentation as 1880, brought $140. A group of English George III spoons dated 1802 sold for $67.
All prices reported include the 12 percent buyer’s premium.
Harlowe-Powell has frequent sales with another double sale weekend January 25–26. The Friday night sale will be its fourth decorative arts of the Twentieth Century event and Saturday will feature antiques from several prominent Virginia estates.
For additional information, www.harlowepowell.com or 434-293-2904.
Antiques and the Arts Editorial Content
Copyright © 2008 Bee Publishing Company
Miniature Chest Makes It Big At Harlowe-Powell
Apr 17th, 2007
Antiques and the Arts Online
Charlottesville, Va. :On March 31, Harlowe-Powell Auction Gallery conducted a multiple estate auction sale, and the featured piece was an early Nineteenth Century Virginia two-drawer chest. Standing just 17 inches high, the chest was from the Eudora Bolling estate in Albemarle County, Va., and had been used as a plant stand in the house. Bolling had grown up in what is considered to be the oldest house in Albemarle County, and most of the items from her estate had passed down through the generations.
The miniature chest was walnut with yellow pine secondary and had herringbone inlay to the edge of the top and drawer fronts, two drawers with cockbead molding, very early brasses and kite laid key escutcheons, urn, vine and flower inlay to the corner columns, and string inlay to the apron and tall bracket feet. It was untouched except for cleaning. There was tremendous interest in the piece, and it finally sold on the floor for $134,400 to Bob Crawford from Richmond, Va., who was representing a private client.
Other highlights of the auction included a ship’s passport signed by both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, which sold for $24,640. An Eighteenth Century tall case clock, probably from Virginia or Maryland, brought $11,200.
Also from the Eudora Bolling estate and in untouched condition, but in this case needing restoration, was an Eighteenth Century Southern slant front desk. After some spirited bidding, it reached $9,520.
Other interesting items were an early flintlock rifle for $5,040; a Charlottesville, Va., and coin silver ladle made by Richard Mathews, with a lovely form, that brought $3,920. An Eighteenth Century land grant signed by Governor Thomas Jefferson realized $5,320 and a Georgian mahogany chest on bureau in good condition brought $5,040, while a Waterford chandelier sold for $4,760.
Another interesting item from the Bolling estate was an early Nineteenth Century Virginia bookcase on cabinet that attracted some serious bidding, finally selling for $6,720.
All prices quoted include the buyer’s premium.
Harlowe-Powell Auction Ltd is at Route 29 North, Seminole Square. For information, 434-293-2904 or www.harlowepowell.com .
Antiques and the Arts Editorial Content
Copyright © 2008 Bee Publishing Company
by Walter Newman in the Maine Antique Digest
Mid-19th-century images produced as ambrotypes, tintypes, and daguerreotypes ushered in the age of personal portrait photography that we enjoy today. Harlowe-Powell Auction Gallery of Charlottesville, Virginia, sold a rare Civil War ambrotype at its August 11 on-site auction of the contents of Westover Farm in nearby Greene County. The plate is hand tinted and appears to be in its original hinged case. It brought $4704 (including buyer’s premium) from a Petersburg, Virginia, collector.
While Civil War-era images routinely pass through auctions, they usually fetch substantially lower prices than this image did. One Civil War collectibles dealer put this particular purchase into perspective as follows: “There is a collector’s checklist that progresses through a matrix of variables to continually refine and value the image in question.” He went on to list several of those variables: Is the image a known or an unknown individual? Is it Union or Confederate? Is it by a known or an unknown photographer? Is the individual an officer or enlisted man? Is he armed or unarmed? And so on. Finally, he added, “Then you add in the ‘x factor.’” Since these types of images are each unique, whichever one is being considered is likely to be the only one in existence. The dealer explained, “The ‘x factor’ is what sets a particular image apart from all others. It is what drives the price.” The image offered by Harlowe-Powell had the “x factor.”
The portrait is by an unknown photographer but is known to be the image of Captain Bezaliel Garland Brown, an ancestor of the…read more