February 22, 2021 Auction Starting at 5:30 pm

Museum Deaccessions and Estate Discoveries

A few categories not usually seen in their auction offerings will be in the February 22nd auction at Winter Associates of Connecticut. Items from local homes include a Lü Me carved wood African tribal figure and a collection of ancient coins. Two institutions consigned deaccessioned items from their collections (proceeds will go to their acquisition funds) including gowns from the Paris House of Worth, a handsome group of American quilts and a variety of antique weaponry that will all be part of the sale.

The African Lü Me maternity figure was gifted to the consignor in the 1970’s by well recognized authority Henri Kamer. It is a handsome example of such carvings with the woman carrying a child on her back. Lü Me figures have much meaning for the community in which they are made and signify a chieftain’s high regard for a wife, much ceremony revolves around the creation and any viewing of these figures. The Kamer provenance is supported by a brochure inscribed by Kamer to the consignor and an affidavit by the consignor providing the circumstances of his receiving the figure as a gift.

The collection of ancient coins was entrusted to Winter Associates by the family handling the estate of a late valued customer and friend. He was an eclectic collector with tastes that ranged from these ancient coins to contemporary art, many of his contemporary art pieces were featured in a recent past sale, and with more artwork to be offered in future sales. The coins will be offered in 62 lots and range from Ancient Greece, including Sicily, c. 413-405 BC through Ancient Crete and Rome, Carthage and Ptolemaic Egypt, the Seleukid Empire and Ancient Celtic. It was not until the 7th C. BC that coins, as we now know them, began to be made for use in trade. All such early coins were crafted one at a time and are amazing survivors considering their antiquity.

Although consigned by two different institutions, the early weapons from one and the costumes and quilts consigned by the second, these items coincidentally overlap in the times of their creation and use. The weapons feature swords, bayonets, and a few long guns, most from the 18th- 19th C. and even an African spear. A few socket bayonets are the earliest in the group followed by a c. 1810 Naval cutlass, and a few Civil War era swords including an Ames. Other than the African spear, a few of the foreign made items include an early 19th C. Japanese matchlock and a mid-eastern broad sword.

The outstanding textiles also date from the latter half of the 19th C. and feature five garments from the House of Worth with intact labels as well as other handsome garments from the Civil War era. The Worth designs, as one would expect, are virtuoso and translate well in photographs, but the beautiful fabrics, including one in stunning lemon yellow and one in fuchsia pink, the fine trims are truly best appreciated in person. An Englishman, it is amazing that Charles Frederick Worth arrived in France while still in his 20’s and managed to establish a famous couture house that would last for 100 years and his work is still so sought after today. Well executed and with graphic designs, quilts from this institution’s collection will be in the sale as well.

The variety in the sale continues with miniature portraits featuring a few gentlemen in uniform and a stunning young woman in an evening gown by renowned Danish artist Malthe Hasselriis, who spent time in New York and is recorded as having also painted miniatures of Pearl Buck, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, and President John F. Kennedy. There is a variety of original work by cartoonists and book illustrators and a good selection of handsome 19th and 20th C. oils on canvas; most notably, an oil landscape by Walter E. Schofield, an American artist who often travelled but ended his days in Cornwall England to be near his son who had purchased a Manor House and farm there and the painting is titled verso “Trewinnard Farm, Cornwall”.

Please note the auction starting time will be one hour earlier than in the past and the sale will start at 5:30 pm on February 22nd. Due to our concern for the safety of our clients and staff, this auction will be LIVE online, Winter Associates will accept absentee and phone bids and live online bidding will be available on Invaluable.com and LiveAuctioneers.com. The gallery is located in central Connecticut at 21 Cooke Street in Plainville, 20 minutes south of Hartford. Public previews are Friday Feb. 19th from 10 am – 4 pm, Sunday Feb. 21st from 2 – 4 pm and Monday 22nd from 11 am – 5 pm or by appointment, please email or call ahead and we will do our best to accommodate you. The catalog is viewable online at www.AuctionsAppraisers.com starting on February 12th and the gallery can be reached at 860-793-0288.