Circa 1830 Folk Art Carved Ship's Figurehead

Sold at Skinner for $85,000 (before premium).

Auction house description: Carved and Painted Wood Ship's Figurehead, America, c. 1830, the figurehead reportedly depicting Commodore Matthew C. Perry of the U.S. Navy, original surface, ht. 22, wd. 15 1/2, dp. 14 1/2 in. Provenance: According to family lore, the figurehead, thought to be Commodore Perry, was purchased by Arthur Beane's father, Judge Beane, from a fisherman in the nineteen teens. The fisherman told the judge that the figurehead, from an earlier salvage, was found washed ashore at Monomoy Island. The island is southwest of Chatham, on Cape Cod, off the Massachusetts mainland.