Robbins Painting Brings $51,750 At Cobbs Sale
Antiques and The Arts Weekly - August 15, 2003

Paintings

The Robbins painting was a striking and significant work.  The successful bidders were a New Hampshire couple who collect and sell paintings.  After winning the painting, the husband commented "We think it is a great painting.  It has a great subject, great light and even a Concord coach in the foreground.  Robbins paintings only occasionally come on the market.  They are unusual.  It is probably the best painting that Robbins ever did".

The viewpoint of the painting provides one of the most breathtaking perspectives of the White Mountains.  With meadows and streams in the foreground, it captures the dramatic upsweep of the massive peaks..

In this work Robbins masterfully rendered all elements of the landscape - clouds, mountains and meadow - in the realistic manner of the White Mountain School.  The 54" by 30" work invited comparison to the major works of the more romantic, fanciful Hudson River School.

After the auction Charlie Cobb thought that $51,750 might be a new record for a Robbins painting at auction and it well may be.

Another highly successful White Mountain School painting was De Witt Clinton Boutelles depiction of the North Conway Valley with Mount Washington in the distance.  A phone bidder won the work for $31,050.

It was only fitting that a Peterborough NH auction should feature an image of the local landmark, Mount Monadnock.  The rendering was by the well regarded American Impressionist Chauncy Ryder (1868-1949).  The painting sold for $34,500.

The finest of several pastels in the auction was a large image of white irises crated by Laura Coombs Hills (!850 - 1952). After a heated bidding the work sold for $28,750.  The provenance of the pasted was impeccable.  A cousin of John Singer Sargent, Mary Sargent Potter, gave it as a wedding present to her daughter Natalie Davenport.  Natalie later gave it to her stepdaughter Cornelia, and it was consigned by Cornelias estate.

The addendum included a fine painting by Joseph White Allen Scott (1815-1907) that sold for $10,350.  Scotts works are relatively scarce on the market, and attract good interest when they surface. While this landscape had a backdrop of Whiteface Mountain, the prime subject was the process of haying in new Hampshire.  While American folk artists sometimes depicted haying, it was an uncommon subject for academic artists such as Scott.

Offerings also included several works by Samuel Lancaster Gerry (1813-1891) depicting the Saco River with the White Mountains as a backdrop.  The most successful of those was the largest image that sold for $10,350.

 Furniture

The top furniture lot was a Hepplewhite sideboard from Massachusetts won by an absentee bidder for $19,550.  This lot featured strong form and a reserved ornamentation.  The center section had a strong serpentine profile while the end sections had curved fronts.  The most dramatic surface decoration were four burl panels in the upper sections of the four front legs.  Otherwise surface ornamentation consisted of simple line inlay, cock beading around the edges of drawers and doors, and inlaid cuff bands at the ankles.  It was fashioned from mahogany with mahogany veneer.

Another fine furniture lot was a South Carolina linen press.  Carolina presses closely follow the form of their English precedents.  With secondary woods of cedar and poplar, however, this example was definitely American. Bidding was very aggressive between dealers in the gallery and phone bidders.  Eventually the press went to a phone bidder for $17,250. Generally the condition of the press was very good, but the feet had been shortened by about an inch.

The top country furniture lot at $10,350 was a pine step back pewter cupboard that featured prominently scalloped sided to the the upper section.  The Base section retained a cupboard door on the right side, but on the left side door had been replaced with a set of drawers.  The cupboard came from a Peterborough home, and was thought to have been made in the local area.

A phone bidder won a country Queen Anne tea table with an oval top for $9775.  The top had been fashioned from pine while the base was tiger maple.  The table had tapered turned legs with a couple rings below the square block and tiny Queen Anne button feet.  It went to a phone bidder for $9775.

A third very successful country furniture lot was a Windsor birdcage settee in old paint that brought $8,280.  The poplar seat and ash spindles indicated a Mid

 Atlantic origin. With a length of 35.5" the settee was a size that could easily be integrated into most homes.

The most unusual furniture lot was a classical piano stool.  Bidding started very slowly and crawled to $2000.  Then the serious bidders joined the fray to engage in feverish competition that stopped at $8050.  The stool base was extremely boldly carved with four legs terminating in hairy pawed feet.  On either side of the upper chair deeply carved back posts transitioned into seat rails with powerfully carved dolphin heads.  The chair may well have been manufactured in New York.

One local family sent about a dozen Pennsylvania items to auction.  Apparently one branch of the family had roots in Philadelphia.  Among it's consignments was a fine Chippendale mirror with old and possibly original glass.  More importantly the mirror bore the Philadelphia shop label of John Elliot.  A phone bidder won the mirror for $5,483.

"We do not exhibit at any antique shows anymore; now we are strictly an auction business" said Charlie Cobb.  "Four years ago we made the big decision to buy this building.  Before buying it, we asked the children if they wanted to be part of business on a long-term basis.  Both my daughter and son have a 25 percent interest".

The Cobbs building is the historic Noone Falls Mill (Pronounced noon), a large woolen mill along the banks of the Contoocook River.  The Cobbs have converted the formerly lightly used mill into a thriving mixed use facility with stores, resteraunts, offices and housing.

For information visit www.thecobbs.com or call 603-924-6361