Standing 3ft (91cm) high to the fretwork crest and brass finial, the painted dial of this Federal period clock of c.1800 is signed by David Wood of Newburyport, a once extremely prosperous – and as dramatically increased costs of bed and breakfast in my usual first port of call on visits to New England have shown – again increasingly fashionable Massachusetts town on the banks of the Merrimack.
This Philadelphia sale also included a collection of marine artefacts formed by Dr C.A. Deportivo of Cape May, New Jersey, among them the 3ft (91cm) wide hardwood sea chest with whalebone and baleen inlaid decoration pictured right, bottom. There were some losses to the inlay, but this mid-19th century chest sold at $7250 (£5180).
Newburyport and a clock off the shelf at $23,000
US: TWO early American longcase clocks with much higher expectations failed to sell in a Freemans Americana sale of April 20, but the inlaid mahogany shelf clock pictured left doubled its estimate to sell for $23,000 (£16,430).
