James D. Julia, Inc. Sells a Remarkable Set of 19th Century Fire Buckets Literally Rescued From A Dumpster

James D. Julia, Inc., one of the nation's top ten antique auction houses, sold these historically important firefighting artifacts during the company's recent 2013 Annual Winter Antique, Asian & Fine Art event.  The handsomely decorated and well-preserved pair brought $36,800 at auction. These buckets, discovered through Julia's Woburn, Massachusetts office, generated enormous buyer's interest and serve to affirm the company's growing presence and leadership across the greater New England region. 

The red painted and elaborately detailed fire buckets, lot #2082, were originally estimated at $35,000 to 45,000 and date from approximately 1839.  Both buckets are identically decorated on their fronts with with a dramatic shielded eagle and two banners.  The eagle's shield sports a pair of trade symbolic shears.  The top banner, held in the bird's clasped beak, is inscribed “Mechanic Fire Society, “ while the lower banner, grasped in the bird's talons, reads “William P. Gookin.”  The backsides of the buckets are inscribed "1811, No. 1" and "1811, No. 2" respectively. 

These fire buckets have an amazing provenance - and an almost tragic ending.  The buckets originally belonged to William P. Gookin (1813-1857) of Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  Gookin, a draper (an old fashioned word for tailor and seller of fine quality materials for clothing), went into business partnership with his father, Samuel, in 1834. William was admitted as a member into the Mechanic Fire Society in September, 1839.  He was quickly promoted to a Warden in 1844, its Clerk from 1845 to 1847, and then President from 1854 through 1855.  The "big scissors" on his fire buckets clearly represent the key tool of his chosen professional livelihood.

Like scraps of extra fabric on a draper's floor, these buckets almost shared the same fate - the garbage bin. Almost.  Last year, a contractor purchased and took full possession of a home and its remaining contents in the Boston area.  As he was emptying trash into the site's dumpster, he noticed these two red fire buckets in the ever-growing collection of refuse.  He pulled them out of the trash pile and started doing some research on them once he had them safely at home.  He googled " Mechanic Fire Society" and up popped a blog post on vintage fire buckets authored by James D. Julia's own Martin Willis.  The contractor brought the buckets to James D. Julia's full service Woburn facility, where they were identified, researched, valued, and prepared for sale.  All and all, a remarkable windfall for the contractor, and a tremendous success for Julia's. 

According to Martin Willis, Director of Decorative Arts for the Greater Boston Area, "The ability of the internet to connect people, information, and items on such a granular level today is simply astonishing.  It is fortunate that the owner was close to our Woburn office - although these items were so personally interesting to me that I would have gone to pick them up regardless of their location.  Many thanks to the seller for not only rescuing these treasures with their most unique "tailor" shields from the rubbish heap, but for bringing them to Julia's where we could properly share their legacy and story with the world."