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NICHOLAS ALDEN BROOKS (American, 1840-1904) An Actual Necessity image 1
NICHOLAS ALDEN BROOKS (American, 1840-1904) An Actual Necessity image 2
Lot 75

NICHOLAS ALDEN BROOKS
(American, 1840-1904)
An Actual Necessity

19 August 2025, 12:00 EDT
Skinner Marlborough, Massachusetts

Sold for US$4,096 inc. premium

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NICHOLAS ALDEN BROOKS (American, 1840-1904)

An Actual Necessity

Retaining descriptive label with an Albert Smith quotation about money, "an inescapable, a tyrannical and an actual necessity", above the following paragraph:

"Mr. Brooks paints this necessity in simple shape-in the shape of a $5 [sic] note of current currency, to wit. He paints it, moreover, with an illusory power not at all common. There are a great many people who would try to pick up this bank-bill if they saw it on the floor, and be astonished to discover that it was the coinage of talent, instead of the mint. It is but an artful counterfeit, but, unlike most counterfeits, it may be said of this one that it is worth, in the open market, a great deal more than its original."

partial label of New York art supplies dealer F.W. Devoe on reverse
oil on academy board
9 1/4 x 12 1/4 in.
framed 10 3/4 x 13 3/4 in.

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