AUTHOR
Ashley Suszczynski
Creative Director
610.558.1800
Bunch Auctions Presents Select Items from the Forbes Collection & The Estate of Daniel Dietrich, II
June 15, 2017
Chadds Ford, PA – William Bunch Auctions is hosting their Summer Quarterly Catalog at 11am on June 27th, 2017. Quarterly Catalog auctions feature the crème-de-la-crème of our high end fine & decorative arts. An eclectic offering of nearly 500 lots will be available for live in-house bidding as well as the online bidding platforms Live Auctioneers & Invaluable. Some noteworthy material includes a diverse batch of fine art, important Civil War artifacts & historical Americana, and estate-fresh vintage vehicles. Furthermore, the sale will contain a medley of fine antiques, silver, oriental rugs, glass, Asian decorative arts, 18th-20th C furniture, porcelain, bronze, etc. A continuing assortment from the Estate of Daniel W Dietrich, II is complimented by consignments from the Malcolm Forbes Collection, in addition to fine selections from Delaware Valley Estates.
Low-Digit Delaware Tags & Estate Fresh Vehicles
Delaware residents are sure to be excited at the opportunity to bid on two active sequential 3 digit license plates; numbers 557 & 558. Delaware has an uncanny fascination with low digit license plates, which are viewed as a status symbol as well as an investment. When Delaware first began issuing license plates, they were issued in numerical order. The lower your plate number- the higher your perceived status. Plate “1” is reserved for the governor, plate “2” for the lieutenant governor, and “3” for the secretary of that -- everything beyond that is open game in the public marketplace. In 2008, the 2-digit tag number “11” sold for an astonishing $675,000. Today, this pair of consecutive 3-digit tags is estimated to bring $25,000 to $35,000 each.
Delaware plate numbers “557” & “558” are currently attached to two estate vehicles that will be auctioned off separately. “557” is plated on a 2008 Cadillac STS 4, while “558” is plated on a 1992 Lincoln Mark VII. A parade of estate cars including a 1930 Ford Model A Tudor, a canary yellow 1977 Thunderbird, and a carnival red 1996 Jaguar XJ-S convertible will also be sold on the 27th.
Historical Highlights
An assortment of exceptional Civil War artifacts & rare Americana will be highlighted throughout the sale. An original copy of General WT Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 120 was found in a Delaware Valley estate. These were military orders issued during the American Civil War, on November 9, 1864, by Major General William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army. He issued these orders in preparation for his famous March to the Sea, also known as the Savannah Campaign. The document was written and signed on behalf of Sherman by S.M. Dayton, Adjutant. It was taken from previous lot 4862 containing the entire Civil War Archive, "Army Record and Other Papers belonging to I(saac) D Landis,” an adjutant who served in the 9th PA Reg’t in Georgia at that time. The lot has an auction estimate of $6,000 – 12,000.
From another area estate comes an important document signed by 7th US President, Andrew Jackson ($6,000 – 12,000). The record is creating the position of Commissioner of Indian Affairs as authorized by the US Congress on July 9, 1832, appointing Elbert Herring of New York as said Commissioner. It is secretarially written and signed in Jackson's hand, dated December 22, 1832, and countersigned by Lewis Cass, Jackson's 2nd Secretary of War, 1831-1836.
“"In 1824, the Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, established the Office of Indian Affairs without Congressional authorization. He did this by appointing Thomas L. McKenney to a vacant clerkship in the War Department and then directing that all matters relating to Indians be directed through this office. In 1832 Congress authorized the appointment of a Commissioner of Indian Affairs who was to be responsible for directing and managing Indian Affairs. The Commissioner was to report to the Secretary of War. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs was appointed by the President and the primary qualification for the office was support for the President and his political party. The first Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Elbert Herring, was appointed by President Andrew Jackson. He was an ardent supporter of President Jackson's Indian removal policies and did not feel that Indians had cultures which were worth preserving. In his first report to the Secretary of War, Herring claimed the despotic rule of the chiefs and lack of a sense of private property were keeping Indians in the savage life. He suggested that the education of the youth and 'the introduction of the doctrines of the Christian religion' could overcome this savage life" (Native American Netroots, 2011).
Rounding out the American History rarities, Bunch will offer a spectacular portrait of Abraham Lincoln, painted by Franklin C Courter (1854-1947). The painting depicts a seated Lincoln holding the Emancipation Proclamation and is estimated at $10,000 - $20,000. Courter is well known for his portraits of President Lincoln, and his work has been shown in the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
An Array of Art
Over 100 selected works of fine art & sculpture from the Daniel Dietrich, II Estate and the Forbes Collections will be highlighted in the catalog. The artist list is as followed:
Works of art by: Donald Keith Sultan, (2) Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait, Franklin C Courter, Henry Ossawa Tanner, Francois Vandeverdonck, (2) Eugène Verboeckhoven, (2) James Bama, Jules Georges Moteley, (2) Philip Aziz, Vincent Stiepevich, (3) John Cuthbert Hare, Milton Avery, Roger Francois, Andrew Scarot, Abe Ajay, Henry Botkin, (3) Leonardo Nierman, Sonda Turner Nampitjinpa, Walter Paris, (3) Bill Rakocy, C Doss, Edith Neff, Felix Varla, Lance Balderson, (2) Nissan Engel, Samuel Rothbort, Barney Daniels Tjungurrayi, George
A. Newman, Joe Naujokas, Robert Henri, (5) Sadaya Ishigaki, Walter Emerson Baum, (2) Anne Genge, (3) Eli Levin, Francois Pieter Ter Meulen, Frank Edward Zuccarelli, George A. Newman, Ira Goldberg, Lorene Kohut, (2) Mary Page Evans, Roy Blankenship, (3) Tom Gaines, Dorothy Preston, George A. Newman, Helen Van Wyk, and Katherine Farrell.
Bronze, marble, & other sculpture by: Varujan Boghosian, Daniel Kafri, Itzik Ben Shalom, D Schwartz, Bill Hunt, Joan Irving, Richard Brooks, Ali Baudoin, (2) Aline Bienfait, Joseph Le Guluche, G Renda, George Gach, Martin Silverman, Mervine Chianelli, Caroline Newhouse, and Lawrence Ludtke.
Works on paper by: W Herbert Dunton, (2) George Segal, Andrew Wyeth, 1929 EFFECTO Automotive poster, (2) Salvador Dali, Victor Vasarely, Benton Spruance, Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, Marguerite Kirmse, Jack Tworkov, John Ford, Eli Levin, Sadaya Ishigaki,and John James Audubon.
