Christie's has offered superb examples of American Folk Art since its first sales of Americana in 1979. In recent years, Christie's sales have grown exponentially and have attracted an international collecting audience. Weathervanes, needlework samplers, portraits from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and objects once considered utilitarian or naïve, are the focus of aggressive collecting and serious scholarship.
American Folk Art sales take place in January and September in conjunction with sales of American Furniture and Decorative Arts.
See also: Antique Decoys
This department is currently seeking consignments for its upcoming auction. For a free valuation or more information on consignment opportunities, please contact one of our specialists below.
Deputy Chairman, Christie’s Americas
Head of Department
aholter@christies.com
Associate Specialist
mlbrown@christies.com
Junior Specialist
astarliper@christies.com
General Inquiries
hmazanec@christies.com
Tel:+1 212 636 2230
Fax:+1 212 636 4921
The Interview with John Hays and Andrew Holter, American Furniture Specialists
RELEASE: CHRISTIE’S AMERICANA WEEK 2012, PRESENTS RARE AND HISTORICALLY SIGNIFICANT MASTERPIECES
RELEASE: CHRISTIE’S NEW YORK PRESENTS IMPORTANT AMERICAN FURNITURE, FOLK ART AND PRINTS IN SEPTEMBER
Top Ten - Americana Week 2010: American Furniture, Folk Art, Silver & Chinese Export Porcelain
The Peaceable Kingdom
oil on canvas
William Henis, Philadelphia, mid-19th century
Portrait of a Young Girl and her Cat, circa 1830-1835
oil on canvas
General George Washington: Reviewing the Western Army at Fort Cumberland, circa 1800
oil on paper
A silk on linen pictorial sampler, 1797
Penn's Treaty, circa 1835-1845
oil on canvas laid down on board
A double portrait of Frances Almira Millener and Fanny Root Millener
oil on panel
SOUTH SHAFTSBURY, VERMONT, 1820-1825
Exeter, New Hampshire, circa 1800
Portrait of George Washington, 1789
watercolor on ivory
An exceptional and rare Red-Breasted Merganser Hen, mid to late 19th century
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John Hays, who joined Christie’s in 1983, is considered the premier auctioneer of Americana sales and has presided over such landmark events as the auction of The Collection Mr. & Mrs. Eddy Nicholson (1995) and the unprecedented sale of the Nicholas Brown Chippendale desk-and-bookcase, a $12.1 million result which remains the world auction record for American Furniture (1989). In January 2006, Mr. Hays directed the highest selling single-owner collection of Americana - The Property from the Collection of Mrs. J. Insley Blair featuring the seminal portrait by Charles Willson Peale, George Washington at Princeton, which sold for $21.2 million, setting a work auction record for an American portrait. Another highlight included a Taunton, Massachusetts William and Mary diminutive paint decorated pine chest-of-drawers by Robert Crossman, which realized $2.9 million. Mr. Hays brings tremendous expertise and insight to the field of Americana. He is a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and holds a BA in Art History from Kenyon College.

Andrew joined Christie’s in January 2009 and serves as Vice President, Head of Department, American Furniture and Decorative Arts. Prior to Christie’s, Andrew had served as Director of Business Development and an Auctioneer for one of New Jersey’s premiere regional auction houses as well as an Assistant Vice President of the American Furniture and Decorative Arts department of another major New York auction house where he was actively involved in several landmark sales such as The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Jeffords, The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Lammot DuPont Copeland, and Selections from Israel Sack, Inc. He is also a contributing member to Winterthur Museum, Colonial Williamsburg, The Decorative Arts Trust, The National Trust for Historic Preservation and Preservation New Jersey. Mr. Holter is a graduate of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey and regularly appears on television as an appraiser for the hit PBS program Antiques Roadshow