The RSL Auction Company is very pleased to announce its adoption of a new auction format that shall henceforward be known as the “Crème de la Crème Auction”. This phrase originated in France perhaps three centuries ago. Its earliest use stems from culinary references related to cheese produced with the finest creams. In modern parlance, the phrase has simply come to mean the ‘very best’, whether in reference to people or things. As the phrase implies, these auctions will be extremely small with only the very best quality offerings on the market.
Our first crème de la crème sale will take place this summer on Saturday, August 21st at our auction facility in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey. The sale will showcase 300 stellar pieces that will include architectural still banks, dynamic themed spelter still banks, figural still banks, tin and cast iron mechanical banks, bell toys, cast iron animal drawn toys, European tinplate planes, trains, automobiles and novelty toys, rare examples of American tin and mechanical toys and several prized pieces of folk art. In the future, we will plan to create one crème de la crème sale every summer.
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LOT 234:
Boy with his Baby Rattle Portrait
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Sold for: $8,500
Start price:
$
3,750
Estimated price :
$7,500 - $9,500
Buyer's Premium: 27.5%
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Boy with his Baby Rattle Portrait
Attributed to William Matthew Prior. East Boston - Active 1825 to 1860. Bought from Barbara Pollack (1997) From the Dr. Gail Furman Collection. Prior, along with his brother-in-law Sturtevant Hamblin, are two of the most highly recognized and cherished itinerant portrait artists of their generation. Prior had a great penchant for depicting infants and children. In time, he would prove over and over again that he was extremely good at it. This rotund blue-eyed blond boy, here shown in a fancy blue frock with puff sleeves, is a sublime illustration of his very best work. Prior establishes a very frontal pose for the baby. So close, in fact, that he seems to break past the boundaries of the frame and come directly into our space. This has the haunting effect of great intimacy and grants the portrait an immeasurable amount of timelessness. Today, folk art collectors particularly value Prior's babies and toddlers when they are shown holding a rattle or some other toy or accoutrement.
