The Contents of Shadowlawn
The Estate of Clara L. McLean, Pinehurst, North Carolina

Presented by Ruggiero and Associates

Selected Lots Have Been Extended to Close May 25th
Join us for a Public Exhibition of all property offered for sale:
May 13, 14, and 15, from 9am to 4pm each day
or by appointment (We’ll pick you up at the Asheville Airport!)
At Fines Creek Farm in Western North Carolina (click for location)

Please contact us with questions:
828-627-3706
info@ruggiero-associates.com

Miss Clara L. McLean was a remarkable woman. Though I never had the chance to meet her, I certainly wish I had. She lived to be over one hundred, and her life was as full as she could possibly make it. Born in 1910 in rural Maxton, NC, Miss McLean attended Woman’s College at the University of North Carolina and in the early 1930′s joined her two brothers, Jim and Malcom McLean in operating McLean Trucking Company in Winston Salem, NC. They subsequently developed the container system of shipping cargo, forming Sea-Land Service in 1955 in Mobile, AL. In 1959 Miss McLean moved to NJ with the company. She lived in Short Hills and Llewellyn Park and worked until her retirement in 1969 when the company was purchased by R.J. Reynolds. In 1975, she moved to Pinehurst, NC, where she made her home until her death last year.

When I first walked into Shadowlawn, Miss McLean’s Pinehurst home, I was struck by its simple country house elegance and warmth. Malcom McLean and his family achieved enormous success through their hard work and foresight over the years, but in typical Pinehurst fashion, all was understated and under the radar.

Miss McLean was well known to all the top New York old line dealers as evidenced by the provenance of many of the items in the upcoming sale. Fine English furniture from Florian Papp, Stair & Co., Arthur Ackermann and Son, and Malcolm Franklin heavily populate the sale. Miss McLean was an accomplished needlepoint artist and collector. She continued to work into her nineties, and her needlework and embroidery collection includes over fifty wonderful samplers, embroideries, and pictures, mostly framed pieces, but many dressing her fine English furniture. The sale also includes a rather exceptional collection of English and Continental cabinetmaker’s samples; I think over twenty examples at last count.

No country house is complete without the paintings and sculpture, and Miss McLean had some wonderful British country landscapes and sporting paintings, as well as a few American examples, including my favorite by Lillian Genth, “A Pleasant Afternoon,” depicting a young woman reading on a porch. Some wonderful sculptures by Harriet Frishmuth and Edith Parsons, as well as various other European and American sculpture, are also included.

We also are offering some nice silver including a pair of monumental Tiffany & Co. floor vases as well as over ninety lots of fine Estate jewelry in the sale. Carpets, leather bound books, lighting fixtures, and a large assortment of decorative arts make this sale something really special.

We hope you will enjoy exploring Miss McLean’s collections as much as we have!

Kind regards,
Bob Ruggiero

Sale Code: R7RA