Word: withington
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...Withington calls, "Fair warning," holds his hands two feet apart, waits, checks his stalled losing bidder again, claps hands and calls out "You're a winner!" Sold, no surprise, to Kenneth Hammitt. The oxbow chest vanishes, and a pair of Hepplewhite tables takes its place. They are Early American, like most of what Withington sells...
...best of Americana catches the attention of Mable Lomas, the 82- year-old proprietor of Anderson's Antiques, in Hopkinton, N.H. She is said to be the most respected dealer in the state, and her rules are stern: "No oak. No kitchen stuff. No collectibles." Mrs. Lomas has attended Withington's auctions almost since his first, in 1949, and like other dealers, she credits him with putting on the best show around and with being fair. He will not offer pieces with reserve, or minimum, prices, for instance, and does not accept phone-in bids. Does Withington guarantee what...
Half an hour into the auction, Withington has taken off his snappy blue blazer. Four hours after that, with the major pieces long gone (and the fiddled bureau, its adulterated state duly announced, sold for a scrawny $2,600), he is still juggling bids and telling jokes. He describes a couple of grotesque female figu- rine candlesticks accurately as the "weirdest and most atrocious things in the sale" and knocks them down for a piffling $170. A colonial dog dish -- so Withington says -- goes for $525, cheap...
...saddled up. Minor dealers hover for scraps. "The closer you get to the sale, the worse the piece you want looks," says one. "You have to ignore your doubts." He looks doubtful, but he spends $250 on a Tlingit basket that he can almost certainly resell for $400. Withington knocks himself out to move a large wooden cheese box for an outrageous $300, and with a final handclap -- one clever scamp applauding himself -- his performance and his 1,884th auction is over...
Besides, Harvard is not all a matter of social problems and cosmic issues. Some Harvard graduates with very long memories still recall the day when Lothrop Withington Jr., '42, swallowed a goldfish to win a $10 bet and set off a national fad that is better forgotten. Others will always remember the day in 1968 when mighty Yale was leading by 29-13 with only 42 seconds remaining in the Game, and then all kinds of incredible things began happening. The Crimson headline next day: HARVARD WINS, 29-29. Others remember less epic events: sculling on the Charles, drinking...