Kalo Shop Silver and Jewelry from Important Collections Up For Bid on Sunday
Collectors of The Kalo Shop and other Arts and Crafts silver and metalworks may want to save the date this Sunday – an impressive amount of jewelry and silver from very important collections will be available for the public to bid on this weekend.
Toomey & Co. Auctioneers will offer up an impressive amount of The Kalo Shop silver as well as works from Robert Riddle Jarvie, Gorham Manufacturing, Peer Smed, Mary Catherine Knight and more in an auction of over 565 lots during its upcoming Jewelry, Silver & Objects of Vertu sale. The auction will occur November 17th and will be open to the public, held at Toomey & Co. Auctioneers, 818 North Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois. Preview will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST starting on November 11 through November 16, with extended hours on November 14 (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.).
The late Paul Somerson, collector of metalworks and silver. Over 200 lots from his collection will be featured in Toomey & Co’s November 17th auction.
Within this curated auction, the Arts and Crafts style is strongly represented through featured lots from two very important collections: The Collection of Governor Jim Thompson and The Paul & Terry Somerson Collection of 20th and 21st Century Metalwork and Jewelry. The sale on November 17th will include over 100 match safes / vestas from The Collection of Governor Jim Thompson, the longest-serving governor of Illinois; works from Gorham Mfg Co. and Battin & Co will be auctioned off from Thompson’s sizable Art & Design collection. The Collection of Paul Somerson, the tech journalist and author turned collector, and his wife Terry accumulated the largest private collection of American Arts and Crafts metalwork and jewelry to-date; over 200 lots from the Somerson Collection have been contributed to this auction and are up for bid.
Auction highlights include: five pendant necklaces by Chicago’s renowned Kalo Shop, including a particularly striking sterling silver and blister pearl example ($2,000-3,000). New England maker Susan Oakes Peabody’s ladies ring features a 14K yellow gold band with elaborate leaf decoration and four inset diamonds ($2,000-3,000). One of the rarest items in the auction is a beetle brooch with stylized wings in silver, copper, and enamel by John Adams Comstock Jr. ($800-1,200). Comstock was an Illinois-born surgeon who helped survey California’s Channel Islands with his entomological expertise – and among his other talents: jewelry-making.
Two Kalo Shop lots that will likely garner significant attention are a sterling silver repoussé tray with applied blister pearl and a tall sterling trumpet vase (each $2,000-3,000). Other items by Chicago makers include a Lebolt & Co. sterling paneled water pitcher with undertray ($800-1,200) and two Robert Riddle Jarvie sterling trophy bowls ($500-700 and $400-600). Works from East Coast designers will also be featured, with examples like Mary Catherine Knight’s lidded sterling dresser jar ($800-1,200) and Peer Smed’s sterling Calla Lily salad serving set ($600-800).
Our items of note: (all items from the The Paul & Terry Somerson Collection of 20th and 21st Century Metalwork and Jewelry) :
Lot 1
The Kalo Shop pendant necklace
Chicago, Illinois
sterling silver, blister pearl
stamped marks
pendant: 1 3/4″w x 2 1/8″h; chain: 17 3/8″l
Estimate $2,000-3,000
Lot 48
The Kalo Shop white gold and 5.71 carat aquamarine ring
Chicago, Illinois
14K white gold, 16 x 14 x 10 mm aquamarine, stamped marks
6.6 dwts
size: 8 3/4; face: 9/16″w x 5/8″h
Estimate $800-1,200
Lot 75
The Kalo Shop tall trumpet vase, #K313
Chicago, Illinois
sterling silver
stamped marks
5″dia x 18″h
Estimate $2,000-3,000
Lot 144
The Kalo Shop gold ring
Chicago, Illinois
14K tri-color gold
stamped marks
8.7 dwts
size: 6 3/4
Estimate $500-700
Lot 197
John Adams Comstock Jr. (1883-1970) beetle brooch with stylized wings
Evanston, Illinois / East Aurora, New York / Santa Rosa, California
silver, copper, jewel beetle, enamel, stamped mark
extremely rare example by Comstock, showing his entomological interest
2 3/16″w x 1 3/8″h
Literature:
Berberian, Rosalie, Creating Beauty: Jewelry and Enamels of the American Arts & Crafts Movement, Schiffer Publishing, 2019, p. 234
Estimate $800-1,200
Lot 264
Peer Smed (1878-1943)
Calla Lily salad serving set: fork and spoon
Brooklyn, New York
sterling silver
stamped marks
fork: 2 5/16″w x 9 3/8″l
Estimate $600-800
On December 8, Art & Design with Tradition & Innovation will conclude the 2019 schedule for Toomey & Co. Auctioneers. Altogether, nearly 600 lots will be up for bid, with prominent material drawn from the categories of painting, sculpture, decorative art, pottery, furniture, lighting, and more. Consignments are currently invited for upcoming auctions. Photos of items may be sent to [email protected]. For more information on past and upcoming auctions or to request an estimate, please visit toomeyco.com.
About Toomey & Co. Auctioneers
Toomey & Co. Auctioneers holds several carefully curated auctions each year. Departments include: Fine Art, Early 20th Century Design, Modern Design, Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts, Silver & Objects of Vertu, and Fine Jewelry & Timepieces.
Located on the western border of Chicago in Oak Park, Illinois, Toomey & Co. is surrounded by a vibrant arts community as well as Prairie School architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright, William Eugene Drummond, George Washington Maher, and Marion Mahony Griffin.