Pook & Pook of Downingtown, Pa., held a three-day blockbuster auction Jan. 14, 15, and 16. There were 990 lots, and 99 percent sold with a gross total, including the 27 percent buyers premium, of $3,560,800. The late Grant Griswold was an advanced collector in Virginia. He and his wife had gifted a number of items to museums, and the first 165 lots of day ones session belonged to Griswold. For the purpose of this brief recap, a concentration on the Griswold consignment is covered. Day two had great country antiques, early powder horns, fine art, firearms and more. Day three had early brass, woodenware, lighting, European decorative arts, fine silver, clocks, rugs, and of course, much more. Much of the Griswold holdings came through Connecticut dealer David Schorsch, who attended the sale and bought back a number of items. The early folk art portraits in the consignment performed well, showing depth in that market. Opening the sale and this fine grouping was a fine ca. 1800 New Hampshire stained maple tall chest, attributed to Samuel Dunlap (1752-1830) of Salisbury, with short cabriole legs resting on pad feet, remaining in its original red surface. A phone bidder bought it for $30,480. At the landmark Dr. and Mrs. Henry P. Deyerle sale held in Charlottesville, Va., in 1995, it sold for $112,500. Ode to those high flying 1990s, when the economy and market for antiques had no limits. The Griswold collection included rarity after rarity. The diminutive paint-decorated chest from the Mahantongo Valley brought $292,100 to a private collector in Massachusetts, who was a major buyer of items from this consignment. An odd size and surviving in excellent condition, the ca. 1840, lift-top chest measured 22 inches high and 39 inches long. Cataloged as from decent in the Lenker family of Leck Hill, Pa., the chest had been owned by folk art dealers David Wheatcroft and later David Schorsch. Its actually Leck Kill, where the piece descended, a community near Shamokin. This geographically and culturally isolated Pennsylvania German region is north of Harrisburg in an enclave of the Blue Mountains. A group of distinctive paint-decorated items, notably chests of drawers and blanket chests, were produced in this area in the first half of the 19th century. Early scholars of this material included Fred Weiser, Henry Reed, Mary Hammond-Sullivan, Don Yoder, and Tom Umholtz. In the 21st century, scholar Lisa Minardi has picked up the torch researching and publishing on the regions material culture. The buyer of the Mahantongo Valley chest was on the phone and is a New England collector who bought around 20 lots from the Griswold consignment totaling roughly $1,000,000. They would not be outbid on many of the early folk portraits. A very fine red ground Pennsylvania toleware coffeepot, attributed to the Oliver Filley shop of Philadelphia, retaining its original vibrant decoration, 10.5 inches high, sold for $40,640. It brought $55,000 on April 3, 2004, at the first Dorothy and Eugene Elgin sale held at Conestoga Auction Co. Another star was a pastel portrait in profile by Ruth Henshaw Bascom (American 1772-1848) of Cynthia Allen (b. 1823) of Fitzwilliam, N.H., signed verso and dated 1840, measures 19.25 by 15 (image size). Illustrated and exhibited at The Currier Gallery of Art at By Good Hands: New Hampshire Folk Art in 1989, the ex. David Schorsch portrait sold for $107,950. A folk art collector said the green dress enhanced this desirable folk portrait. An early Connecticut painted pine spoon rack, 18th century, with stylized pinwheel designs, retaining an early dark red surface, 27.25 inches high, published in Wallace Nutting Furniture Treasury, plate 4988, sold for $101,600 to the active collector in New England. A Lancaster County, Pa., fraktur with two pairs of owls and floral blossoms in each corner sold for $30,480 to Olde Hope Antiques bidding for a customer. We were delighted to get it, mentioned Ed Hild of Olde Hope. (Griswold consignment) was a fabulous collection and drew the attention it deserved. Also sold on day one, but from a different consignment (De Paulis), a Pennsylvania paint-decorated blanket chest with original decoration of three arched panels of potted tulips on a red ground sold for $1,651. It brought $9,350 at Conestoga Auction Companys Chris Machmer sale in 2003. It lacked lid and drawer locks, a repaired break to center drawer facing, and a couple repaired breaks to foot facings. A Joseph Moyer carved and painted Guinea Hen sold for $2,286. It went for $2,200 hammer price on June 20, 2020, at Pook & Pook. A Pennsylvania one-piece corner cupboard with heart and floral decoration on blue ground (cornice and moldings replaced) sold for $4,826. It also had once been over-painted and since cleaned down. The piece sold for $2,600 hammer price at the Ruth Bryson sale held by Pook & Pook in 2018. A Cowden & Wilcox stoneware lidded crock, small flakes to rim and lid, cobalt bird decoration, sold for $5,588, and an antique Louis Vuitton wardrobe trunk, $12,700. An important Philadelphia Chippendale mahogany pie crust table, the top replaced, the base, ca. 175 with carving attributed to the Garvan Carver. This unknown person is responsible for several masterpieces of Colonial Philadelphia furniture. It realized $139,700. A Peter Stretch (Philadelphia, 1670-1746) Queen Anne walnut tall case clock, with eight-day works, brass face signed by the maker, illustrated in Donald L. Fennimores Stretch: Americas First Family of Clockmakers, pages 230-231, no. 55, sarcophagus and feet replaced, one side waist molding replaced, sold for $60,960. For additional information, call Pook & Pook Inc. at 610-269-4040.