Sneak Preview Marion Antique Auctions August 29, 2026
by Andrew Jacobson
[email protected]
A note on the format. Wherever possible the description used by the vendor is supplied, followed by auction hammer price estimates and the final price, which includes the buyer’s premium. Sometimes, commentary is added by the writer. At a reader’s suggestion, a hyperlink has been added for each item to provide more and better pictures.
Remember collecting is a quality-of-life purchase. Do not spend the lunch money. Images courtesy of the vendors.
To aid their bidders, several auction houses have established their own online bidding platforms that charge a lower commission than the more familiar bidding platforms.
by Andrew Jacobson
[email protected]
A note on the format. Wherever possible the description used by the vendor is supplied, followed by auction hammer price estimates and the final price, which includes the buyer’s premium. Sometimes, commentary is added by the writer. At a reader’s suggestion, a hyperlink has been added for each item to provide more and better pictures.
Remember collecting is a quality-of-life purchase. Do not spend the lunch money. Images courtesy of the vendors.
To aid their bidders, several auction houses have established their own online bidding platforms that charge a lower commission than the more familiar bidding platforms.
August 29, 2026, Marion Antique Auctions. The Alfred J. Walker Estate & More, Part II.
Lot 324. Jean Colquhoun Folk Art Style Painting
(American/New Hampshire, 1933-2023). In the manner of Ralph Cahoon. Oil on canvas. Depicts a whale hunt by a New Bedford whaleship flying an American flag.
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997116_jean-colquhoun-folk-art-style-painting
(American/New Hampshire, 1933-2023). In the manner of Ralph Cahoon. Oil on canvas. Depicts a whale hunt by a New Bedford whaleship flying an American flag.
- Sight size: 23" high x 34 3/4" wide.
- In a plain wooden frame measuring 26 1/2" high x 38 1/2" wide.
- Good condition.
- Estimate: $300- $500
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997116_jean-colquhoun-folk-art-style-painting
Lot 420-A. Exceptional Continental Watch Hutch.
19th C. A finely carved folk-art bone and wood neoclassical mansion carved on three sides. Cut out pin wheel design. Female figure in doorway. Polychrome painted trees and elaborately carved fence and post with hutch on roof. Possibly made by Swedish folk artist Jan Petter Jansson (1829-1914). 19th c. gold plated Elgin watch is included.
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997223_exceptional-continental-watch-hutch
19th C. A finely carved folk-art bone and wood neoclassical mansion carved on three sides. Cut out pin wheel design. Female figure in doorway. Polychrome painted trees and elaborately carved fence and post with hutch on roof. Possibly made by Swedish folk artist Jan Petter Jansson (1829-1914). 19th c. gold plated Elgin watch is included.
- 13" high x 12" wide x 7 1/4" deep.
- Overall good original condition.
- Several fence posts are warped possibly due to shrinkage.
- Top of roof shows age crack through center.
- Two roof finials are slightly loose.
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997223_exceptional-continental-watch-hutch
Lot 421. Monumental Tusk.
Ca. 1894. (Monodon monoceros). 90" long.
Princeton University professor of physical geography, William A. Libbey Jr. (1855-1927), collected this tusk while engaged as the leading Arctic scientist and expedition logistics manager on the 1894 Robert E. Peary Auxiliary Expedition to Greenland. Henry G. Bryant (1859-1932) led the expedition onboard the steam-assisted sailing ship FALCON, Henry B. Bartlett, master, and wrote The Peary Auxiliary Expedition 1894 (Philadelphia, 1895). In it he describes Libbey's involvement with Swedish zoologist Axel Ohlin (1867-193) who had also joined the expedition: "With Professor Libbey's assistance [we] secured a collection of marine fauna notable in its variety and extent, as may be seen by consulting his preliminary report herein appended".
Ohlin wrote in his report found in Bryant's text: "we procured narwhal tusks in every Eskimo settlement we visited from Cape York to Inglefield Gulf. "
Libbey, who in addition to being a professor, was Director of the Elizabeth Marsh Museum at Princeton, later gave one of the tusks to his colleague at Princeton, vertebrate paleontologist Marcus S. Farr (1870-1942). The gift may have been made around 1904 when Farr joined Libbey in the newly formed Department of Geology. At the time, in addition to being a member of the Department, Farr worked for Libbey at the museum as Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology. Around the same time, 1904, Farr was elected President of the Princeton Fish and Game Society, of which Libbey was then Vice-president, so there are many overlapping areas of direct influence, and evidently affection, between the two men. The tusk stayed in the Farr family for a generation however James F. Farr (1901-1983) and his wife Dorothea E. Smith Farr (1890-1976) had no children and they gave the tusk to a family friend who also lived in Princeton.
A special thanks to maritime historian Michael P. Dyer for his assistance cataloging this lot. Good condition.
Shipping restriction: Please note this lot cannot be shipped out of Massachusetts.
Estimate: $20,000-$40,000
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997238_sperm-whale-vertebra-and-fossil
Ca. 1894. (Monodon monoceros). 90" long.
Princeton University professor of physical geography, William A. Libbey Jr. (1855-1927), collected this tusk while engaged as the leading Arctic scientist and expedition logistics manager on the 1894 Robert E. Peary Auxiliary Expedition to Greenland. Henry G. Bryant (1859-1932) led the expedition onboard the steam-assisted sailing ship FALCON, Henry B. Bartlett, master, and wrote The Peary Auxiliary Expedition 1894 (Philadelphia, 1895). In it he describes Libbey's involvement with Swedish zoologist Axel Ohlin (1867-193) who had also joined the expedition: "With Professor Libbey's assistance [we] secured a collection of marine fauna notable in its variety and extent, as may be seen by consulting his preliminary report herein appended".
Ohlin wrote in his report found in Bryant's text: "we procured narwhal tusks in every Eskimo settlement we visited from Cape York to Inglefield Gulf. "
Libbey, who in addition to being a professor, was Director of the Elizabeth Marsh Museum at Princeton, later gave one of the tusks to his colleague at Princeton, vertebrate paleontologist Marcus S. Farr (1870-1942). The gift may have been made around 1904 when Farr joined Libbey in the newly formed Department of Geology. At the time, in addition to being a member of the Department, Farr worked for Libbey at the museum as Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology. Around the same time, 1904, Farr was elected President of the Princeton Fish and Game Society, of which Libbey was then Vice-president, so there are many overlapping areas of direct influence, and evidently affection, between the two men. The tusk stayed in the Farr family for a generation however James F. Farr (1901-1983) and his wife Dorothea E. Smith Farr (1890-1976) had no children and they gave the tusk to a family friend who also lived in Princeton.
A special thanks to maritime historian Michael P. Dyer for his assistance cataloging this lot. Good condition.
Shipping restriction: Please note this lot cannot be shipped out of Massachusetts.
Estimate: $20,000-$40,000
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997238_sperm-whale-vertebra-and-fossil
Lot 428 Eight Scrimshaw Clothes Pins
- 19th C.
- Ranging in length from 2 3/4" - 5 1/8"
- Good condition
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997233_8-scrimshaw-clothes-pins
Lot 432 Sperm Whale Vertebra and Fossil
To include:
(A) Vertebra on a modern stand. 8 1/2" long x 10 1/2" wide. On the stand overall height: 14 1/2" high.
(B) Possibly a partial whale ear bone. 3" high x 2" wide x 1 1/4" deep.
(A) Still shows some oil. Slight chipping around edges.
(B) Good condition.
Estimate: $200-$400
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997238_sperm-whale-vertebra-and-fossil
To include:
(A) Vertebra on a modern stand. 8 1/2" long x 10 1/2" wide. On the stand overall height: 14 1/2" high.
(B) Possibly a partial whale ear bone. 3" high x 2" wide x 1 1/4" deep.
(A) Still shows some oil. Slight chipping around edges.
(B) Good condition.
Estimate: $200-$400
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997238_sperm-whale-vertebra-and-fossil
Lot 439-C Important Carpenter’s Slick by Lewis Temple. (American, 1800-1854).
An important mid-19th C. piece of New Bedford's maritime past and a potentially significant addition to the known work of Lewis Temple, one of the most important figures in the history of the American whale fishery.
The tool is a laminated iron and steel, wide-socket carpenter's slick, or large paring chisel, with a 3-inch-wide blade having a slight rearward taper. Slicks were used to pare, shave, and flatten the faces of mortises and tenons, scarf joints, and other large-scale joinery. Unlike chisels intended to be struck with a mallet, the slick was pushed and guided by hand and was commonly maintained with a razor-sharp cutting edge.
It retains what appears to be its original handle, fashioned from a ring-porous hardwood, probably red oak, and fitted with its original steel handle ring. The handle has become thoroughly blackened, a characteristic frequently encountered on tools habitually used in the whaling industry, where repeated contact with sperm oil and whale oil darkened the wood over time.
As a tool type, the carpenter's slick is neither particularly rare nor inherently important. Such tools were a requisite part of the working chest of a house carpenter, timber framer, or shipwright well into the 20th century. This example, however, is distinguished by the stamped initials "LT," its securely mid-19th-century construction, its blackened handle, and its provenance from a New Bedford, Massachusetts, collection. Taken together, these characteristics strongly suggest that it was made by the celebrated Black New Bedford blacksmith Lewis Temple.
Estimate: $2,000-$4,000
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997251_important-carpenter-s-slick-by-lewis-temple
An important mid-19th C. piece of New Bedford's maritime past and a potentially significant addition to the known work of Lewis Temple, one of the most important figures in the history of the American whale fishery.
The tool is a laminated iron and steel, wide-socket carpenter's slick, or large paring chisel, with a 3-inch-wide blade having a slight rearward taper. Slicks were used to pare, shave, and flatten the faces of mortises and tenons, scarf joints, and other large-scale joinery. Unlike chisels intended to be struck with a mallet, the slick was pushed and guided by hand and was commonly maintained with a razor-sharp cutting edge.
It retains what appears to be its original handle, fashioned from a ring-porous hardwood, probably red oak, and fitted with its original steel handle ring. The handle has become thoroughly blackened, a characteristic frequently encountered on tools habitually used in the whaling industry, where repeated contact with sperm oil and whale oil darkened the wood over time.
As a tool type, the carpenter's slick is neither particularly rare nor inherently important. Such tools were a requisite part of the working chest of a house carpenter, timber framer, or shipwright well into the 20th century. This example, however, is distinguished by the stamped initials "LT," its securely mid-19th-century construction, its blackened handle, and its provenance from a New Bedford, Massachusetts, collection. Taken together, these characteristics strongly suggest that it was made by the celebrated Black New Bedford blacksmith Lewis Temple.
Estimate: $2,000-$4,000
For more pictures click here:
https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/237997251_important-carpenter-s-slick-by-lewis-temple