A Look Back - Highlights a Classic Navajo Blanket

by Francesca LaSala Cobb

As we begin the process of incorporating over 15 years of auction archives from the website many of you have become so familiar with, we who are working behind the scenes organizing this dated data are constantly being reminded of some wonderful objects, consignors and auctions. It will take a few months to have those archives here again, so on the nearly 10 year anniversary of a particularly rewarding experience we had with a local consignor we felt one auction story would be perfect to share.

Our consignor was and is a lovely woman who had contacted Charlie Cobb about several objects she was considering putting up for auction. She requested he come out to her home to see if they were appropriate for any of our sales. One of the items was in a box in her attic which was being covered by a Navajo blanket worth easily 100 times the object it was protecting. She was of course shocked and thrilled to learn this. Needless to say this is always fun for everyone

The Navajo Blanket was slated for our annual early January sale and as the day of the sale approached she began getting nervous as the weather forecast was indicating a significant North Easter/Blizzard coming our way.

And in fact the morning of the sale Southern NH had been literally buried in 3 feet of snow. This did not faze us in the least but our consignor was rattled and could not imagine we could hold a successful sale under ‘such frightful conditions’.

I received a very early morning call from her I vividly remember to this day, wherein I reassured her that her Navajo Blanket would sell well even if not one person physically arrived in the auction hall. I gave her my word on this because I knew we had numerous phone lines booked and numerous collectors had flown in prior to assess it and were eager to buy it.

The object spoke for itself and it was going to sell no matter what was happening in Peterborough NH. She was skeptical but after the rug sold, with a full house in attendance despite the snow, she had a brilliant smile and that is something we never get tired of seeing.

Here's the rest of this wonderful story written by the Maine Antiques Digest.

The Cobbs Hold a Successful Sale under Frightful Conditions

by David Hewett

"You absolutely have to have phone and absentee bidding to succeed in the auction business today," said Peterborough, New Hampshire, auctioneer Charles Cobb on January 7.

The Cobbs Auctioneers had scheduled a major sale for the weekend of January 4 and 5. They'd saved an impressive list of offerings for their sale, including a recently discovered major piece of Native American art, other art offerings, some decent furniture, and several choice firearms.

This, however, is New England and winter. It began snowing on January 2 and continued all day and night on the 3rd. By Saturday morning, January 4, there was close to 36 inches of fresh snow on the ground in Peterborough.

Cobb delayed the sale for two hours to let bidders on the road make it to the southwestern New Hampshire auction facility. Surprisingly, the hall was packed when the sale began, and over 324 bidders had registered.

"Luckily, most of the potential bidders on the big-money lots had come in to examine the material in the days before the sale," Cobb said. "The lead item was this wonderful Classic Navajo blanket that was circa 1870. All the interested parties flew in and checked it out, then bid by phone."

The blanket brought $126,500 (including buyer's premium) from a dealer who had flown in, returned home, and bid by phone.

"Honest to God, I really found it [the blanket] in an area attic," Cobb said. "It was covering some boxes, and I said, `Hm-m-m, that looks pretty good; that better go in the sale.'"

"Most of the starred lots went to left bids and phone bidders," Cobb said. "You may not need those facilities for every sale, but when you really need them, they are a godsend."

Some of the other major lots included a bronze sculpture by Jo Davidson that brought $17,250; a Parker Brothers skeet gun that brought $19,550; and a miniature painting by Luigi Lucioni that sold for $8050.

"It's just amazing," Charlie Cobb said, "but even now, there still are some wonderful things to be found in New England attics."

© 2003 by Maine Antique Digest