PHILADELPHIA, PA.- Freeman's November 16 American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts auction is highlighted by impressive private collections, including furnishings from historic Lemon Hill mansion of Fairmount Park, a New England collection of scrimshaw and sailor-made objects, and items from Big Bend, the home of George A. “Frolic” Weymouth.

Philadelphia’s Lemon Hill Mansion has elegantly stood on a spectacular bluff above the Schuylkill River for more than 200 years. In 1957, The Colonial Dames of America, Chapter II graciously took charge of the daily operations and maintenance of mansion, carefully restoring it with carefully selected Federal and Classical period furnishings. The Lemon Hill collection makes up the first 91 lots of Freeman's Americana auction, highlights of which include a pair of portraits by Thomas Sully of Jane Duval Leiper and John Kintzing Kane of Philadelphia (estimate $20,000-30,000), an extensive Chinese Export porcelain orange and sepia "Auspicious Figures & Hundred Antiquities" partial table service, circa 1810 ($15,00025,000), and a land grant to Henry Gouldney signed by William Penn ($1,000-2,000). Proceeds will benefit the Colonial Dames of America, Chapter II scholarship fund.

A folk art created by seamen on whaling and trading ships, scrimshaw is the product of a very significant era in American economic and trade history. Gathered over a period of forty years, selections of Marine Arts from a private Connecticut collection featured in the November 16 Americana auction include examples of 19th century carved whale teeth, pie crimpers, canes, and other decorative objects.

An artist, conservationist, collector, carriage connoisseur and whip, and renowned host, George A. “Frolic” Weymouth was a polymath or modern day “Renaissance Man.” He helped found the Brandywine River Museum and later the Brandywine Conservancy & Museum of Art, to protect large tracts of land along the Pennsylvania-Delaware border. Selections from his mid-eighteenth century home, Big Bend, situated on 250 acres of rolling hills and woodlands in Chadds Ford, to be featured in Freeman's upcoming auction include examples of 19th and 20th century redware and other 18th and 19th century furniture and decorative arts.

Freeman's November 16 American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts auction also includes many fine examples of Classical and Federal furniture, property from the collection of Pennsylvania’s late former Governor and First Lady, William W. and Mary L. Scranton, outstanding works of Pennsylvania folk art, works of Native American art, and significant works of "Outsider Art" by artist James Castle. Department Head Lynda Cain says of the sale "with a range of offerings from the 18th to the 20th centuries, from the homes of Philadelphia society to the carvings of the native people of Alasaka, this auction is a reflection of American history, culture and craftsmanship."

Notable Lots in Freeman's November 16 American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts Auction

 Thomas Sully (1783-1872) Pair of portraits: Jane Duval Leiper (1796-1866) and John Kintzing Kane (1795-1858), Philadelphia, PA, 1832 and 1836. Estimate $20,000-30,000

• Extensive Chinese Export porcelain orange and sepia "Auspicious Figures & Hundred Antiquities" partial table service, circa 1810. Estimate $15,000-25,000

• James Castle (1899-1977) "The Long Room." Soot and spit on found paper, framed. Estimate $10,000-15,000

• Assembled group of sterling silver repoussé tablewares from the Winder and Tucker Families of North Carolina. Mostly Kirk & Son, Baltimore, MD, second half 19th century to early 20th century. Estimate $10,000-15,000.

• Appliquéd Quaker album quilt. Baltimore, MD, dated 1845. Estimate $10,000-15,000

The viewing and auction for American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts will take place at 1808 Chestnut Street.