Americana Weekend.

1-16-11 SHORT HILLS: It has remained very cold, barely reaching the freezing point, for several days now. Who could ever have expected weather like this in January? We have had snow cover on the ground almost continuously since Xmas—unusual for NJ.

Judy and I went into the city yesterday for the previews of the January Americana auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. Most years we spend an afternoon at it. It’s free, it’s warm inside, you can park on the street, the collections have some beautiful pieces, the estimates as to what the articles will bring at auction are often stunning.

Judy fell in love—with a flat top highboy carved from tiger maple at Sotheby’s. Leslie Keno walked us through it, original brasses, highest quality carving, probably from the coast of Maine or New Hampshire, early 18th century.

Christie’s always seems to get a lot of weathervanes to which I am drawn. I don’t even bother looking at the estimates, too over-the-top. After visiting Christie’s, we watched the skaters careening and stumbling around the rink at Rockefeller Center. One more big plus, no traffic in or out of the city.


There were Audubons at both houses, but this pair of leather bound books from the collection of Duke Somebody were the most dramatic. The colors were brilliant, and the pages were 'double elephant quarto' size, more than three feet tall. The estimate was $7-10,000.000.


Grasshopper and Rooster weathervanes.


Highboy at Sotheby's.