Quality antique items from three prominent area estates, to include Federal, Empire and Victorian furniture, original works of art, Persian rugs, antique clocks, china, rare lighting and hundreds of collectibles, will all come up for bid on Saturday, Aug. 2. The event will be hosted Stevens Auction Company in the firm's gallery located at 609 N. Meridian St. in Aberdeen, Miss.
Also sold will be what remains from the Walter Place auction, which was held on site July 11 and 12 in Holly Springs, Miss., also by Stevens Auction Company. "These aren't leftovers, we just ran out of time," said Dwight Stevens of Stevens Auction Company. "We ran for ten hours straight both days and by the end we were physically spent. There is some great merchandise still to be sold."
Headlining the Aug. 2 auction will be items from the estate of the late Mary Grace Thompson of Birmingham, Ala. "The Thompson estate features the best Victorian pieces I've seen this year, along with rare Old Paris porcelains and artworks," said Stevens. "In addition, we will have items from partial estates that I personally hand-selected for this auction. Mark your calendars."
The auction will begin promptly at 10 a.m. Central time. For those unable to attend in person, Internet bidding will be facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com. In all, around 500 lots will come up for bid, 300 or so from the area estates and 200 lots from the Walter Place sale. Those items were packed up and trucked from Holly Springs to Aberdeen after the July auction.
Period furniture will include a rosewood rococo ladies' secretary, signed Alexander Roux and made around 1850, 8 feet tall by 34 inches wide; a rococo fiddle back mahogany bookcase with original finish, also crafted circa 1850 and standing 8 feet tall; and a period Empire mahogany secretary with extensive original stenciling and finish in great original condition from circa 1840.
Two oval oil-on-canvas figural renderings by the French Canadian-born portrait painter Louis Theodore Dube (b. 1861) are certain to attract bidder interest. Each one shows a Victorian lady and is housed in an antique gold frame. Both have been cleaned and stretched. In 2012, a work by Dube titled “The Education of Cupid by Painting and Drawing” sold at Christie's for $5,368.
Lamps and lighting will include a Victorian Gone With the Wind lamp with blown out lion's heads on the top and bottom (27 inches tall) and a Victorian oil banquet lamp (not yet converted to electric) with cupid base and cupid shade (34 inches tall). Also sold will be a bronze figural cupid perched on a solid marble dark green early pedestal from circa 1900 (30 inches in height).
Returning to furniture, a pair of chairs by George Henkle, made circa 1870, will come up for bid. One is a pierce carved back rocker, laminated, made of walnut with gold upholstery. The other is a walnut laminated pierce carved back rococo arm chair. Also sold will be a walnut Victorian three-piece bedroom suite, featuring a sizable bed (9 feet 2 inches tall), a dresser and wash stand.
The Walter Place auction in July was a huge success, both on site and online. Sold were most of the contents of the spectacular antebellum mansion home that was completed in 1859 and used as a Union Army camp and officers' quarters during the Civil War. During the Union occupation the grounds became a sea of tents. At one time Gen. Ulysses S. Grant and his family lived there.
The top lot of that auction was an oil painting by British-born American artist Hamilton Hamilton (1847-1928). The 49-by-45-inch painting was done around 1900 and depicted the artist's two daughters in a garden. It sold to a New York art collector for $47,150. Also, an oil-on-canvas of a lady in a Tudor dress by Ramsay Reinagle (1785-1862) sold for $5,750.
From the furniture category, a mahogany period Southern hunt board with tapered legs and four drawers, still with the original pulls and made prior to the Civil War around 1840, sold for $12,650. Also, a Victorian walnut rococo corner cabinet étagère, made circa 1850 and with a marble top and a beautiful carving on the door, impressive at 84 inches tall, topped out at $4,600.
A palatial gold Victorian pier mirror with marble base and ornate grape leaf and cherub frame, made around 1850 and brought from St. Louis to Walter Place in 1903, monumental in size at 16 feet 3 inches tall by 53 inches wide, realized $10,350, and an over-the-mantle mirror with an Egyptian Victorian pharaoh's face crown, 6 feet 11 inches by 6 feet 3 inches, coasted to $4,830. Some of the antiques sold out of Walter Place were original to the residence and hadn't been sold or moved since 1859.
To learn more about the August 2 sale, call 662-369-2200 or visit www.stevensauction.com.