Press Release

Bloomfield, NJ, USA, August 31, 2025 -- Nye & Company Auctioneers’ upcoming two-day sales event slated for Wednesday and Thursday, September 10th and 11th, will feature an extraordinary selection of property descended in and collected by the DeWolf, Herreshoff and Brown families of Rhode Island alongside Nye & Company’s signature Chic and Antique Estate Treasures auction.

This sale offers collectors, historians and connoisseurs an unprecedented opportunity to acquire objects with direct ties to some of New England’s most storied families—including John Brown, Nicholas Brown, Karl Friedrich Herreshoff, and their descendants through the DeWolf and Lewis families. All were key players in Rhode Island’s mercantile and maritime economies.

“Don’t miss this rare opportunity to acquire rare objects with direct ties to Rhode Island’s First Families,” said Andrew Holter of Nye & Company Auctioneers. “From Brown’s 18th-century carved furniture to Herreshoff maritime ephemera, these pieces are not just antiques—they are American history in tangible form.”

John Brown (1736–1803) was a pivotal figure in early American commerce and politics. He was a prominent Providence merchant, statesman, and a key founder of Brown University, which was named after his brothers. The Brown legacy was key to Rhode Island’s civic development and was intertwined with the Herreshoff family, known internationally for their maritime innovation.

The Herreshoff Manufacturing Company, founded in the 19th century, revolutionized yacht design and engineering, producing America’s Cup winners and pioneering naval vessels. When Sarah Brown, the daughter of John Brown, married Karl Friedrich Herreshoff, it united two dynasties rooted in excellence—one in mercantile might and the other in nautical ingenuity.

Also tied into the lineage are the DeWolf and Lewis families, prominent in Bristol, Rhode Island. The DeWolfs, like the Browns, were key players in the state’s mercantile / maritime economies, with the Lewis family extending the legacy into later generations of collecting and preservation. It’s hard to overstate these families’ contributions to Rhode Island’s growth and development.

Star pieces in the September 10th sale include furnishings directly associated with John Brown. These include the John Brown Chippendale carved mahogany pole screen attributed to John Goddard (1724-1785), a noted cabinetmaker in colonial America; and the John Brown pair of circa 1880 white-painted bow-back brace-back upholstered Windsor side chairs labeled by James and William Ash (N.Y.).

Also offered from the John Brown collection will be a Chippendale mahogany and marble cross-stretcher slab table, made around 1770 in either Providence or Newport, Rhode Island; a circa 1770 diminutive Chippendale carved mahogany drop-leaf table, also attributed to Goddard; and Chinese Export pieces commissioned for the Brown family, decorated with the John Brown monogram.

To learn more, visit www.nyeandcompany.com. Updates are posted often.

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