BENTON – An auction featuring American artifacts dating back to the 1700s will be held Saturday and Sunday under a tent at 92 River Road in Benton. A preview will take place from noon to 6 p.m. Friday.

David and Becky Beane will auction a 1740 Boston Chippendale kneehole desk, an original oil on canvas by President Eisenhower and a partial diary of Revolutionary War Gen. Israel Putnam. These items will be offered along with more than 500 lots new to the market.

Saturday’s auction starts at 11 a.m. The lots will include a rare Clarissa R. Dela School (Portland, Maine) genealogy sampler of the Merrill family; an oil painting of Stone Mill by Dwight David Eisenhower for Mamie; a superb tiger maple bow-front cookie-cornered secretary desk, among other tiger maple items; more than 50 early German steins and much more.

Sunday’s auction, beginning at 12:30 p.m., will feature a rare Frankart statue, “3 Graces”; 60 old duck decoys; vintage sporting items and prints by Goodwin, Bishop and Hintermeister; a Tiffany bowl; rare early American coins; handguns and rifles by Colt, Marlin, Remington and more; a rare Buffalo Bill cap gun; a huge Weller Louwelsa jardiniere and pedestal; mechanical and still banks; silver overlay; Regina music box with discs; tiger maple furniture and more.

For a listing go to www.beanesantiques.com (click on auctions). For more information, call 453-6790 or e-mail dbeane@gwi.net.