Heft meeting thrift at the auctions

A hefty sum, especially in this economic climate, and yet it was millions under the presale estimates. Sotheby's estimate was in excess of $10 million and Christie's $9.3 million-$15.1 million.

Although the auctions were fully attended, the buy-in rate was higher than usual. Of the 338 lots offered at Sotheby's Americana Auction, 145 did not sell, and at Christie's American Furniture and Folk Art Auction, 73 of the 207 lots offered failed to find buyers.

Buyers were very selective.

Competition at Sotheby's for a 1780 Chippendale bombe chest-on-chest, originally owned by Captain Edward Allen of Salem, drove the taking price to $1,762,500, more than doubling the low of its $800,000-$1.2 million estimate. The top seller at the Americana Week auctions, the chest was purchased by C.L. Prickett Antiques of Yardley, Pa.

Sotheby's expected top seller, the circa 1850 "Old Jake" weather vane, which had a $3 million-$5 million estimate, failed to find a buyer, nor did the circa 1730 Boston gate leg table with a $700,000-$1.2 million estimate. However, a circa 1770 Boston Chippendale bombe chest-of-drawers with a $300,000-$600,000 estimate brought $302,500.

Three of the six pairs of beakers from the silver collection of the First Parish Church in Cohasset found buyers. Two pairs of 1728 Deacon John Jacobs beakers each brought $80,500 against their $70,000-$100,000 estimates, while the 1824 Susanna Lewis pair of beakers went for $8,750 against an $8,000-$12,000 estimate.

The William and Mary armchair consigned by the church fetched $56,250 against a $50,000-$100,000 estimate.

The expected star of Christie's Important American Furniture and Folk Art Auction was the Quincy Family bombe chest-of-drawers with a $2 million-$4 million estimate, but it failed to find a buyer.

The star was Charles Peale Polk's painting of George Washington at Princeton, which sold for $662,500 against a $300,000-$500,000 estimate, setting a world auction record for Polk (1767-1822). It was acquired by the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association, the organization that owns and operates Mount Vernon, Washington's Virginia home.

The top selling piece of furniture was a New York 1760-80 Chippendale mahogany card table that brought $254,500 against a $100,000-$150,000 estimate.

Two of the four lots of Paul Revere silver offered by Christie's sold. A soup ladle owned by the silversmith and his wife brought $74,500 against an $80,000-$120,000 estimate, and a set of eight silver tablespoons $58,250 against a $50,000-$80,000 estimate.

Antiques and historical items from South Shore homes will be auctioned by Willis Henry Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at Holiday Inn Boston-Dedham Hotel & Conference Center.

From a Quincy home come three 19th-century fire buckets and a ledger of property taxes from 1792 to 1821, including those of John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

From a Scituate barn come two folk art portraits, while items from the 1939 New York World's Fair are being offered from a Duxbury home along with a 17th-century map of Virginia.

Finds from Marshfield homes are as varied as a Pilgrim Century bun foot blanket chest, wooden decoys carved by Joseph Lincoln of Accord, an Albert Einstein signed letter with a mathematical equation, a first edition of Charles Dickens's "American Notes," and 19th- century firkins signed by Cotton Hersey of Hingham.

Consigned from a Hanover home is the commission signed by President Lincoln appointing former Massachusetts governor Nathaniel Prentice Banks a major general in the Civil War. Also being auctioned is the engraved sword presented to Banks in 1864.

James D. Julia will launch its 2009 season with an Antiques & Fine Art Auction Friday and Saturday mornings at 10 a.m. at its Fairfield, Maine, gallery.

Friday's session will feature more than 600 works of art, highlighted by a bronze statue of two nude lovers by the French sculptor Auguste Rodin ($200,000-$400,000).

Topping the paintings are a Western landscape by George Caleb Bingham (1811-79) and "Concert," an 1873 oil by the French artist Leon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (1833-1922). Each has a $100,000-$200,000 estimate.

"Water Lillies," one of only three known lily pond works by Emile A. Gruppe (1896-1978), the Cape Ann artist known for his harbor scenes, is expected to bring $30,000-$40,000. However, the majority of the paintings have three- and four-figure estimates.

Among the highlights of Saturday's session featuring antiques are an 1816 soup tureen by the English silversmith Paul Storr ($35,000-$50,000); a Philadelphia Chippendale armchair ($18,000-$22,000); and a leaping stag weather vane ($15,000-$25,000).

Virginia Bohlin can be reached at globeantiques@globe .com.