An Americana Auction Filled With Color
Handcrafted tramp art, cast metal figures, and original artwork are highlights of this week’s curated Americana auction.
An early 19th-century school girl painting of a young couple in a bucolic setting. It was once a pastime for well-to-do young courting couples to venture into the countryside under the pretext of tending sheep, which this scene depicts.
Folk art courting scene New England, early 19th century, school girl watercolor, 17 ½ x 20 in. sight. Estimate: $1,400-$18,00. Jasper52 image
Figural cast-iron doorstops were popular during the Depression era in American and elsewhere. This collection features an American-made full-bodied pheasant doorstop. The beautifully painted game bird is more than a foot long.
Full-bodied pheasant doorstop in beautiful paint, 1920s-1930s, 9 1/8 in. x 12 ¾ in. Estimate: $1,600-$2,500. Jasper52 image
A decorative element from a vintage carousel will turn a lot of heads. The cast aluminum figure of a robed woman is signed “CW Parker, Leavenworth, Kan.,” who manufactured amusement park and fair carousels during the early 20th century.
Early 20th-century cast aluminum carousel figure, original paint, signed ‘CW Parker, Leavenworth, Kan.,’ 29 in. x 17 in. Estimate: $2,000-$3,000. Jasper52 image
An unusual hand-wrought copper weather in the sale vane depicts a Viking ship with the bow in the shape of a dragon’s head. Including the directional arrow, the weather vane is nearly 20 inches long.
Handmade weather vane depicting a serpent ship, circa 1920, sheet copper. 13 5/8 in. high x 19 7/8 in wide x 1 ½ in. deep, natural verdigris surface. Estimate: $1,200-$1,500. Jasper 52 image
The outstanding example of tramp art in the sale is the large mirror frame highlighted by many finely carved figural decorations. This extraordinary frame is dated 1912.
Tramp art mirror dated 1912 embellished with stars, shields, animals, wreaths, vines, weapons and human forms, 30 in. x 34 in wide. Estimate: $1,900-$3,000. Jasper52 image
Noting last month’s solar eclipse that crossed the continental US, the sale features a crescent-shaped cast-iron windmill weight embossed with the word “Eclipse.” Vintage farm-style windmills that pumped water came in two basic varieties. Vaned windmills used a tail, or vane, to guide the wheel into the wind. Vaneless mills depended on a counterbalance weight, perched at the end of a wood beam, to perform that function.
Nineteenth century cast-iron windmill weight. 6 in. high x 10in. long x 2 ¼ in. thick. Estimate: $400-$600.Jasper52 image
These artisan objects vary from outsider art, paintings, ceramics and more formal Americana. This collection of 19th-20th century rural life will create a unique sense of welcome in any home.
