Christie’s week of Americana sales totaled $9,202,500 and established five auction records. A rare contemporary 1776 broadside edition of the Declaration of Independence from the .
Collection highlights
By Joanne and Fred’s own account, the Sherman portraits, above, are a centrepiece of the collection. They were painted by the itinerant New England portraitists Samuel and Ruth Shute, whose work is held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Folk Art Museum.
The couple acquired the remarkable frame first. ‘It was done so well that we hung it empty on the wall,’ said Joanne, who found the portraits in East Lyme, Connecticut, three years later.
‘I have a good eye for size and said, “That pair will fit in my frame”. They didn’t need a hair shaved off to fit. Everyone who has seen them since believes that we restored them to their original frame.’
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