Original, vibrant oil paintings by Canadian artists Alfred Joseph Casson (1898-1992) and Alexander Young Jackson (1882-1974) were the top achievers in a Firearms, Sporting and Canadiana Auction held Oct. 9 by Miller & Miller Auctions Ltd. The two paintings combined for nearly $100,000 (all prices reported are in Canadian dollars). The oil-on-board landscape painting by Group of Seven artist Alfred Joseph Casson sailed past its $30,000-$40,000 estimate to finish at $59,000. The work, titled Outside Algonquin Park, depicted a bucolic scene near the village of Whitney and was done in 1940, at the height of the artists career. Casson focused much of his work on rural villages and towns in Canada. The oil-on-board country scape by Group of Seven founding member Alexander Young Jackson was similar in style to the Casson work, except there were no buildings in the Jackson painting, as there were in Cassons. The piece topped its $30,000 high estimate, selling for $38,350. It was signed lower left, titled and dated, Oat Field Harrington, Quebec, Sept. 1966, A.Y. Jackson. The auction had two main collections, the Don and Joyce Blyth firearms collection, and the decoy and fishing collections of Marty Osler. The fishing collection included a select offering of fine reels and rods, many by Hardy Brothers of England. The decoy collection was mostly Canadian and included many fine examples by Carl O. Rankin, Frank Dolsen, Billy Ellis and Ken Anger. The Blyth collection featured Ontario firearms, including many unique examples, as well as collectible firearms by Colt, Remington, Stevens and others. Also included was artwork by the abovenamed Canadian artists and others. The sale was complemented by a select offering of wonderful Canadian and American furniture and fine and decorative art. From firearms to fine art, this diverse sale drew out collectors of all stripes, and they didnt forget their wallets, said Ethan Miller of Miller & Miller. Firearms that Don Blyth paid 50 cents, two dollars and five dollars for in the 1950s were bringing five figure sums. The winners were grateful. Days before his death, Don shuddered at the thought of his objects being relegated to the darkness of a museums archives. Let the people enjoy them, he told us. The auction attracted 546 bidders who placed 9,540 bids in a sale that grossed $803,993. One hundred percent of the lots sold, and one-third of the lots exceeded the high estimate. All prices include an 18-percent buyers premium. A large watercolor and ink folk art fraktur-type painting by Anna Weber (1814-88), signed in fraktur writing and dated 1870, the design, executed in blues, red, yellow and brown, consisting of 11 pairs of birds, each pair a different type, changed hands for $27,140. Also, a taxidermied male passenger pigeon, cased in glass and secured to a wood branch perch, went for $10,620. Passenger pigeons went extinct ca. 1914. The example in the sale was from ca. 1900. There were two paintings by Joseph Swift (Canadian, 1832-89) in the auction, both of them equestrian-themed and both with estimates of $12,000-$15,000. One was of a horse named Manfred, which trotted away for $16,250. The other was of the horse Royal Exchange and realized $15,340. Smith spent much of his artistic time filling a growing need for recording prize-winning animals that were often shown at the Toronto Exhibition in Canada for proud owners in the late 1800s. Homer Ransford Watson (Canadian, 1855-1936) was also represented twice in the sale, once with a large, 34-by-44-inch unframed oil-on-board of a pioneer (or farmer) traveling along a trail by horse-drawn carriage, titled The Hayrack ($12,980), the other a 14-by-22-inch outdoor scene of a boy closing the gate on his flock of sheep, artist signed ($11,800). Watsons paintings captured the industrious endeavors of pioneers and farmers. A Duffner & Kimberly table lamp, made in America in the 1920s and featuring a Nasturtiums floral pattern mosaic 20-inch diameter glass shade on a solid bronze base in the thistle pattern, with cutout heat cap and bronze finial, fetched $23,600. Also, an exceptional musical bracket clock by William Vale London (Finsbury), made in England between 1804 and 1824, having a bracket movement rear plate with filigree, 12 bells and four musical selections, made $14,160. Firearms were a huge hit with bidders, led by a rare Colt model 1851 Navy pistol, made in America but issued to the Canadian Upper Canada (Ontario) Volunteer Militia in 1855, one of 800 model 1851 Navies purchased by Canada that year, which sold for $28,320, and a B. Mills (Hamilton, Upper Canada) side-by-side double-shot rifle, made prior to 1842 and one of only two known to Don Blyth, the collector, which sold for $16,520. To learn more, call 519-573-3710 or visit www.millerandmillerauctions.com.