Herzog Landscape leads Turkey Creek Auction

by Fred Taylor, Antique Week, Eastern Edition 12/27/04

CITRA, Fla.-- In preparation for the annual overindulgence this time of the year, Turkey Creek Auction owner Charles David Glynn spread a mighty feast of more than 550 lots for his 16th annual pre-Thanksgiving auction on Nov. 20. The Florida weather cooperated and the big white tent outside the Turkey Creek Auction red barn was packed with around 275 bidders. Unlike many recent auctions at the auction site, the inventory for this event did not come from New England but was found mostly in Florida.

The big fish in the sale was a landscape by Herman Herzog. It was signed on the back Rattlesnake Run, Pike Co Penn 1884 H Herzog and depicted a small sunlit clearing littered with fallen trees in a heavily wooded area. Herzog was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1832 and attended the Dusseldorf Academy where he established quite a name for himself. His patrons included Queen Victoria and the Grand Duke Alexander of Russia, as well as a growing band of admirers in the United States.

After winning Honorable Mention at the Paris Salon in 1863 and 1864 he relocated to Philadelphia. He adapted readily to his new country, winning a bronze medal at the Centennial Exhibition in 1876, but his real passion was to see the entire country, border to border and coast to coast and to paint as much of it as possible. He left a pictorial legacy of the unspoiled American landscape of the 19th century. Late in the century, when Herzog's son lived in Gainesville, Herzog made frequent trips to the area, completing a body of work consisting of more than 250 Florida scenes before his death in 1932. This painting, though not one of the Florida works, was found in the community of Beverly Hills near Inverness, Fla.

When Rattlesnake Run crossed the block there was an onslaught of phone activity with 10 lines in action. The winner was a private collector in Texas who called in with the winning number of $47,000 plus the 10 percent buyer's premium.

But no art sale in Florida is complete without some Highwaymen paintings and this sale had two by Harold Newton. The Highwaymen is the name given the group of 26 African American artists working around Fort Pierce, Fla., in the mid 1950's. Influenced by A. E. "Beanie" Backus (1906-1990), the artists sold their landscape and seascape renditions out of their cars Along Florida roads. Highwaymen art has enjoyed a renewed popularity in the last decade after years of oblivion. There are now a number of galleries and dealers, mostly in Florida, who specialize in the subject. One of Newton's oil on board, a portrait oriented scene of a palm tree and shoreline sold for $2,800 plus premium. The other, a sedate river scene, reached $1,500.

The best art buy of the sale was probably a portrait of a woman signed D.V. Bond Detroit 1853. Charles V. Bond, American, 1825-1864, was a portrait and landscape painter from Livingston County, Mich., whose work today generally sells in the $650-$1,000 range. This pre-Civil War portrait went for $400.

Furniture was soft in spots but good pieces did well. A very impressive Eastlake tall sideboard had a marble deck above five drawers and a raised panel door and a mid-rise shelf supported by turned columns below a dome-top mirror. In walnut with walnut burl accents on major flat panels, this 120-year-old dining room piece sold for $1,600. A late 19th century oak baker's cabinet with a dry sink in the main surface featured three chip carved blind panel doors and three small drawers in the top section and two drawers, two blind panel doors and a pullout flour bin below. It looked sufficiently mellow but still crisp in a refinish, rising to $1,500. An elegant three-piece oak bedroom set from the turn of the century was encrusted with applied molding and carving. The 7ft tall headboard was topped by a crown panel of what appeared to be a nautical theme. The dry sink and the dresser each had the same top panel above their mirrors. This set was a very good buy at $1,300.

Oak seemed to be the wood of the day in general. A nice quarter sawn oak china server with curved glass panels below and a beveled mirror above, with a top shelf supported by lion's paw columns, sold for $900. An oak 60in S-roll top desk, with raised panels, a spacious fitted interior and seven drawers plus a file drawer, in an old refinish, hung in there for the same price, and an oak china cabinet with curved side glass, a beveled and leaded glass door and lion's head columns crossed at $800.

Several English pieces of furniture did surprisingly well. A George III mahogany chest three over three with string inlay on the drawer fronts with ring pull hardware, standing on French feet, sold for $700 as did another mahogany George III chest, two over three, on a bracket base. A rosewood tea poy, circa 1840, brought $350.

Pairpoint lamps are generally well received, especially those with puffy shades. The example at Turkey creek had a base with a gold wash and 14 in shade with a rose and butterfly theme. The lamp had a late Art Nouveau feeling to it, dating from around 1910. It felt like a $6,000 lamp to a local bidder in the tent.

Jewelry was also on several bidders' shopping lists. A Victorian gold slide bracelet with carved stones and gems made $1,300 and a lady's cocktail ring with 3.08 carats of emerald and diamonds sold for $900.