American Furniture & Decorative Arts

832. 
     

     Cast Iron Squirrel Doorstop, America, late 19th/early 20th century,
     cast as a squirrel seated on a log, with remains of old rubber bumpers
     on back of base, ht. 11 1/2, wd. 9 3/4 in.
     $400-600

     
     


833. 
     

     Painted Cast Iron Penguin Doorstop, Taylor Cooke, America, c.
     1930, signed on the back “No. 1 1930 Taylor Cook,” (minor paint
     losses), ht. 9 3/8, wd. 5 3/8 in.

     
     

Note: Given to its owner as thanks for saving a life in the 1938 flood of
the Connecticut River.
$800-1,200

834. Polychrome-painted Cast Iron Lady with Basket of Flowers
     Doorstop, Bradley & Hubbard Manufacturing Co., Meriden,
     Connecticut, late 19th/early 20th century, she holds a basket of flowers
     and a parasol and stands on a rectangular base with green and blue
     diamond pattern, painted in soft pastel tones, raised “B & H/7796”
     marks on the reverse, with rubber bumpers on back of lower base, ht.
     11 1/4, wd. 7 in.

Literature: For a similar example see Doorstops, by Jeanne Bertoia,
Schroeder Publishing, 1985, p. 30.
$600-800

835. Black-painted Cast Iron Eagle Hitching Post, America, 19th century,
     ht. 34 1/4 in.
     $400-600

836.

Cast Iron Figural Andirons, America, late 19th/early 20th century, cast

in the form of a black man wearing a waistcoat with tails, squatting with

hands on knees, the billet bar with raised maker’s mark “HARPER,”

vestiges of paint remaining, (wear, paint loss), ht. 16 3/4, wd. 10, dp.

17 1/2 in.

$400-600

837.

American School, 19th Century

Portrait of the Steam Locomotive Toppan Robie of the Portland

and Rochester Railroad. Unsigned. Oil on panel, 10 1/2 x 17 3/4 in.,

in a period molded giltwood frame. Condition: Small scratch on coal

car c.l., surface grime, panel slightly bowed.

Literature: The Rise and Fall of the York & Cumberland Rail Road, an

article by William C. Pierce, a photocopy of the article accompanies the

painting.

Note: The Portland and Rochester Railroad was a portion of a

railroad line that linked the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, to the

city of Portland, Maine, via the New Hampshire cities of Nashua and

Rochester by merging several small railroads together. The York

and Cumberland line was reorganized as the Portland and Rochester

Railroad in 1867, with a connection to the Grand Trunk Railway in

Portland, and was completed to Rochester in 1871.

The engine was named after Toppan Robie, a leading citizen and

benefactor of the town of Gorham, Maine, and the surrounding

countryside. He was born in 1782 in Candia, New Hampshire. At an

early age he became a store clerk, and later opened his own business

in Gorham, Maine, T. & T. S. Robie, with his brother Thomas S., which

continued for sixty years, during which time Robie held nearly every

office in town. He also was a Representative to the Massachusetts

Legislature for six terms before Maine became a state, and was in the

first two Legislatures of Maine.

$6,000-8,000

162 additional information and photos at http://www.skinnerinc.com