Damn good thing i don't live closer....I might come home with all sorts of stuff I don't need.
21% buyers premium? Wowser!! Wonder what they are charging the owners to sell it?
I want to see what's in the junk drawer in the kitchen, under the eaves in the attic and all the little forgotten "stuff"...I'll bet there are some wonderful linens and pots and pans....

Oh Tricia that house is a dream. I wish I had the money and energy to restore it. I love Stonington and stop there whenever I go to the Cape.

That auction would be enticing enough to get me up and out very early to be at the head of the line. Hmmm, maybe a trip to Stonington is in order...

Oh Pam, I hate to disappoint but the house is in downtown Mystic not Stonington Borough.

It's just so confusing for people out of the area. The Census Designated Place known as Historic Mystic is just a mind set with it's own zipcode. BUT, Historic Mystic has a split personality. Half of it is in Stonington (east side of Mystic River, that's where our house is located) and the other half is in Groton (west side of the Mystic River). This house is in the Stonington side of Historic Mystic.

It's a wonderful home - ship captain's house. All the contents are original to the house. The same family's lived there since 1828. Many of the Seaport's artifacts come from this Mallory family.

I'm hoping there are many lots of transferware. The age of the property is perfect for flow blue, flow mulberry, etc. (1840-1850s). Maybe, even tureens that still have their ladles & underplates.

DH wants a HARPOON badly! :) He also collects 18th century wine antiques. So, this auction may not have stuff old enough for him as far as glass but you never know??? He's sure wanting to look around.

I won't be around the forum Thursday, Friday, and Saturday but y'all will know where we'll be! (big smile)

/t

Very cool, we loved Mystic. I don't recall east from west although we dined on the river at S&P Oyster House, it was excellent!
Do you think that the house was originally 3700sq ft or was it added to? 6 bedrooms seems large for the time.

The Imari colored platter is gorgeous, is that the one that you are referring to?

What fun to see these things. I covet the Imari plate to the right of the platter you like. It's amazing to me that the same family has lived in that house through so many generations.

Have fun when you're there and please share pictures.

Lee

I've been to Mystic, too, and it is every bit as lovely as Stonington, as long as you stay away from the very touristy areas. I have a photo of the Pennywise Thrift Shop. That's the name of our thrift shop, too, which is where my mom has been a volunteer for many years.

Made our first trip to the preview this morning. I'm sure glad we walked because you couldn't have found a place to park any closer than our home. They were limiting the number of people that got inside at one time with the fire chief standing guard...didn't want the floors collapsing! :)

Anyway, what fun. Here's some pictures.

But first, here's what I didn't get posted. Got tired of fussing with Photobucket.

A bunch of sterling silver with about 1/4 marked Tiffany & Co. There's a flatware service for 25. Some Gorham including 3 stuffing spoons that I love. Two of them had English markings but I couldn't get a rubbing of the marks. A bunch of Chinese export in all shapes/sizes. There was also a 249 piece Gorham sterling flatware set in Buttercup. About 30 pieces of Dedham rabbit edge pottery (luncheon set). A pair of gorgeous c.1750-1775 Connecticut maple Queen Anne chairs. Also, a set of 6 c. 1825-1830 American Empire birdseye maple dining chairs with cane seats.

Imari charger (25"). Mint condition. Also in this picture is the c. 1800 New England cherry Chippendale slant front desk. It's in really good condition - I'm pretty sure it'll be nabbed by a museum.

This c. 1775-1800 (probably around 1790) American Hepplewhite mahogany demi lune card table is very similar to one we have. Ours has more inlay work but we'll probably bid on this.

Also like this camphorwood campaign chest & the deed box on top. There's 6-10 different campaign chests in the sale. All are wonderful.

Some of the silver.

Kitchen. Lots of LC and tin-lined copper.

We love this blanket chest. I'm unsure of the age but it's definitely late 18th century.

These are leaded glass doors that lead into the butler's pantry. Inside, shelves stacked full of white ironstone in every imagineable size/shape. Unfortunately, it's going as a lot so will be way out of our budget. They weren't allowing anybody to open those doors!

This is just for an idea of the home's interior detailing.

We're going to go back either later this after or tomorrow & hope for fewer people. It was hard to really turn the case pieces over to get a good look. Going to be a fun auction.

/tricia

Wow, those are beautiful pieces, I love the Imari even more knowing it's size. It looks as though there are a lot of wonderful silver pieces too.

It would be great if you got one of the pieces you love.

If it's not too mobbed for comfort, I'm sure the actual action will be wonderful. Thanks for sharing all of this.

Lee

Sigh....drool.....
Is the glass in the doors in the last picture actually bulls eye glass?
And the silver!!! And the table it's on!!!....and that peachblow!! Oh my!
My mother had a beautiful Imari barber's bowl....about 20 inches. My brother took that....I wonder what he did with it?
Looking forward to more pictures and hearing about what you score!!

Linda, no, not bullseye. They are hand-cut leaded glass with star bursts. You can see the hand-cuts. They are in all the dining room doors & butler's pantry which is in the DR. Bullseye was originally used by the less wealthy - that's a relative term. They were wealthy enough to afford glass but the bullseye part was cheaper. I've attached a link that references a famous current Connecticut bullseye glass maker that gives a good description of the process. The Mallory family was already very wealthy when this house was built in 1828 so they've got clear and flat glass although there a lots of bubbles. Here's picture we shot of the front transom.

Here's the transferware platter I like (it's 20")

The artwork is fabulous. Lots and lots of marine influenced paintings, obviously, since the men in the family were sea captains.

Went back today but couldn't even get inside & got tired of waiting. The auction's tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. with another preview starting at 9:00 a.m. We'll try to get there by 7:30 a.m., or so. The house is being auctioned at 1:00 p.m. (if anybody plunks down their $25,000 check to qualify).

/tricia

Here is a link that might be useful: Bullseye Glass

Wishing you Good Luck tomorrow!

Lee

It was pouring until well after 1:00 p.m. but it was torrential during the preview this morning. :( Good crowd - I'd say between 200-300.

Where to start? Maybe with the rabbit edged Dedham because it upset me. Take a look at the condition...even with cracks and flea bites it went for $1,900!!! Ouch!

We have a few antique clocks & sorta liked this Massachusetts Federal mahogany banjo. It had a carved gilt eagle finial. They were attributing it to Willard. Maybe? Maybe not? Anywho, the clock went for $7,250.

Our DS & DDIL have Gorham SS 'Buttercup' as their flatware. There was 249 pieces. Got it for $6,500. DDIL's birthday presents are taken care of for the rest of my life! Basically, got it for $26.10/piece plus buyer's premium & tax. Not great buy but reasonable. Everybody was after the Tiffany stuff. A set of asparagus tongs went for $1,050.

I bid $250 on this yelloware mold, mint condition. Didn't get it - went for $375.

They had most of the painting separated & you had to be with the kid in this photo to go look closely at them. Problem was they only allowed one person at a time to look. Long wait. The ship in the center went for $43,000; the pumpkin landscape was a steal at $1,400 (guess people were looking for nautical stuff?); the portrait in the lower right hand corner went for $4,500. The one we wanted went for $28,000 but not to us.

We really liked the hull models & frankly expected to bring one home but they went for between $5,200-$8,000 EACH. Twice what we were expecting but, apparently, less than the auctioneer was hoping for 'cause he made some comments. After the sale, here's the one we really wanted.

Oh, the Imari charger - turned out to be repaired. It went for $600.

Here's a great shot of DH's legs looking at the card table! :) Unfortunately, when we could see the back & open it up - it was missing its snipe wire hinges & had brass modern replacements. Worthless, to us. It was worth $950 to somebody else though. With original hinges it would have brought $3,000-$4,000, probably.

Fun day & unique auction. No real "treasures" but DDIL will eventually laugh when she figures out I'm rationing the SS flatware to her. Might take a few birthdays.

All prices are hammer so have to add in the buyer's premium. Long day, we're done with auctions for awhile.

/tricia
PS I forgot! The green blanket chest - had a HUGE stain on the top that we couldn't see in the house 'cause they had a lamp on it. We didn't even bid. I forget exactly & am too tired to look it up but it went for somewhere around $1,000.

The PLATTER...

Forgot. I bid $450. It went for $850. Not even close. It was Enoch Wood & Son, c. 1840, 'Suspension Bridge' pattern.

/t

What a great report! Thank you for sharing it :=)

You know you STOLE the Buttercup!!! $26.10 for a teaspoon.....and $26.10 for a gravy ladle??

I told my grand daughter she better be happy with the basic service for 24 in the Gorham Wreath....because I can't afford any more!!
Won't you have fun parcelling that out!!
Back when silver was sort of affordable....like maybe 6 years ago...I would seek out pieces of DD and DIL's silver over the year and give it to them at Christmas. One year I decorated a small tree with silver, tied on with gold wired bows and stuck it on the end of the piano waiting for someone to notice......they never did, I had to call their attention!!
And another year I got lazy, so when I set the table, I used my 2 patterns, the one for grand daughter and the gift pieces for DD and DIL...
We were a mob!....someone notices that the silver didn't match and (I said sometbhing like I was running low on forks for salad and dessert....so I added some other patterns. Pretty soon my son said...'Hey! This is our pattern!....and they started looking. Didn't know just what all they had until the table was cleared and the silver washed!! LOL!
You will have fun with the Buttercup!

Linda,

You've given me an IDEA! I'm thinking about setting our holiday table with some of the Buttercup. My set is Gorham 'Strasbourg' so the two blend nicely together. I wonder if she'd notice? DS & DDIL both have birthday shortly after Christmas (Jan. 2 & Jan. 5) so I could give it to her while we're cleaning up dinner dishes? DH has already taken it to a safer location for storage. In a couple months I'll have him go get it because it needs polishing. Do you have any 'magic bullets' for cleaning a LOT of SS?

Yeah, it was a good buy. They sold it as a lot - I think that gave people an "attitude" about it as being inferior. Oh well. My gain, their loss. Granted, it doesn't say, "Tiffany & Co." (shrug).

The larger serving pieces, that Tiffany stuff, that went individually were mostly monogramed & I don't buy monograms although I think they're interesting. There were half a dozen tea/coffee sets with undertrays I thought were beautiful but would be dust collectors in our house because we just don't live or entertain like that anymore. IMO, auction is the only way to buy SS. It's so much cheaper than department stores or even antique retailers. Six months, or so, ago even the 'Buttercup' would have been so much more. Silver's down again to around $27/oz instead of close to $50/oz so that helped also.

/tricia

Darn it, I keep forgetting stuff! The house itself did NOT sell. There was only one registered bidder & he would not budge a penny over $480,000 - the auctioneer fussed with him for a good ten minutes. It's going to take $750,000-$1,000,000 to renovate so I think his bid was strong & I would have ran up to that podium and pushed the auctioneer's arm/hammer down myself & yelled, "SOLD". :)

Also, somebody above asked if the s.f. was all original. No, only the front square is original. The rear portion with the double porches is a Victorian addition.

/tricia

Do you have any 'magic bullets' for cleaning a LOT of SS?

yep....back to back DVD's Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia.....and lots of soft old diapers and a couple of jars of Warners.
249 pieces??? What all is in it? Thinking maybe 12 piece place settings.....times 12 is only 144....serving pieces? The pattern isn't old enough to have all the many different forks and knives and ladles etc like say Old Colonial or Louis XV...
What all did you get??