Press Release

Bloomfield, NJ, USA, April 17, 2025 -- This spring, Nye & Company Auctioneers is honored to present a truly exceptional series of auctions beginning Wednesday, April 30th, with Hunt, Heritage and Home: The Private Collection of Susan Ely, a magnificent, deeply personal offering from the Gladstone, N.J. area sporting art dealer whose passions and irrepressible spirit are reflected in every item.

Following the Ely Collection, Nye & Company will present a vibrant, two-day Chic and Antique Sale on Thursday and Friday, May 1st and 2nd, featuring a dynamic mix of traditional Americana, vintage charm and iconic modern design. The sale is officially titled Chic and Antique: A Celebration of Style Across the Centuries. Start times all three auction days are 10am Eastern.

“The Susan Ely auction is more than a sale—it’s a window into a life richly lived,” said Andrew Holter of Nye & Company Auctioneers. “With the air and elegance of a traditional English Country house, Ely’s collection is a tribute to the sporting life, fine craftsmanship, and the power of objects to hold memory and meaning.”

According to her son Tim, many of the things his mother valued in life were beautiful old antiques, baubles from friends and family, bronze statues, ribbons earned by her many terriers, and even a collection of ubiquitous red tail hawk feathers tucked neatly for display, camouflaged among her other treasures. The only things she held dearer than these inanimate objects, other than her dogs, were all of her friends and acquaintances.

Looking through the auction catalog for the Private Collection of Susan Ely is like stepping inside a storybook of English refinement and country elegance, beginning with the wonderful selection of sporting art and animal portraiture – beautifully rendered dog and horse paintings, evocative of quiet country mornings and windswept fields.

Bronze sculptures will include powerful, evocative pieces by Antoine-Louis Bayre (French, 1795-1875); Pierre-Jules Mêne (French, 1810-1879); and Charles Paillet (French, 1871-1937). Elegant smalls will feature exquisite and rare silver-mounted cowrie shells, Scottish ram's horn snuff boxes and hardstone boxes.

The silver category will be led by a breathtaking Tiffany & Co. “broom corn” cased silver flatware service, the very definition of heirloom quality. Fine English furniture will be anchored by a George II harlequin action triple-top games table, two Welsh dressers and more. Black Forest whimsy will include a pair of boldly carved, oversized Saint Bernard and Anchor lamps.

The sale also has a terrific selection of smalls, including silver-mounted cowrie shells, Scottish rams’ horn snuff boxes and hardstone boxes.

The May 1-2 Chic and Antique: A Celebration of Style Across the Centuries auction will be highlighted by the Wunsch Americana Foundation Collection – rare and museum-worthy pieces previously on loan to the Brooklyn Museum, including the following:

- A footed silver bowl by Myer Myers (N.Y., 1723-1795), the renowned colonial Jewish silversmith.

- A circa 1720 Boston silver tankard by Benjamin Hiller (1687-1745).

- Rare Roman glass, a German 17th/18th century glass pistol and Daumenglas with cover, and Potsdam glasses as well.

Folk art finds from a private New Jersey collection will feature painted boxes, fruit-form earthenware banks and a charming watchmaker’s trade sign. Historic drawings (in honor of Marquis de Lafayette’s 1825 U.S. tour) will include two pen-and-ink drawings and a bill of sale signed by Rembrandt Peale – a patriotic and artistic time capsule.

For more information about the April 30 and May 1-2 auctions, or to request a complete catalog, please visit www.nyeandcompany.com or contact Nye & Company at (973) 984-6900.

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