Results from an Auction Heavy Weekend

by Kate Nixon

 

Works from Gustav Stickley, George Ohr, Marblehead Pottery, Taxile Doat for University City, and Tiffany & Co lighting were high sellers this weekend during four different auctions, starting with back-to-back auction on September 11th at Rago Arts and Auction Center, where an impressive selection of the works of George Ohr and even a few picks from Marblehead and Adelaide Robineau made a big impression on collectors during the American & European Ceramics auction and the works of Gustav Stickley were represented well during the Early 20th Century Design auction. The weekend continued with Fontaine’s Fine & Decorative Arts Saturday auction, where a rare dinner gong from Gustav Stickley, a Tiffany Studios & Grueby lamp, and a gorgeous Tiffany Oriental Poppy lamp turned some heads while Toomey & Co’s Fine Art and Furniture & Decorative Arts Auction sold some impressive Gustave Baumann prints, Stickley furniture, and Roycrofters works.

For those of you looking for the next auctions, on September 26th, AC Stickley will have a Stickley Arts and Crafts Auction that will begin at 2 PM Eastern. The auction will feature furniture by Gustav Stickley, L&JG Stickley, Stickley Brothers, Charles Stickley, Limbert, Roycroft, Lifetime, Lakeside, JM Young, Mathews Furniture Shop, Bernard Maybeck and others as well as pottery, glasswork and metalwork. Interested bidders can view the catalog here on liveauctioneers.com or visit acstickley.com for more information on next weekend’s auction.

Now onto the results of last weekend’s auctions…

 

Highlights:

American & European Ceramics
Rago Arts
Friday, September 11th, 2020

The highlights:

Lot 103: An earthenware vase from the Mad Potter himself, inscribed “Mary had a little lamb and George has a pot ohr E Amen Dec 25 1906,” sold for more than twice the high estimate. The witty vase from the private collection of James Carpenter was sold at $21,250. Many of the George Ohr pots and vases went on to sell far past their high estimate

Lot 124: The rare – and “perfectly fired” – Marblehead pottery vase depicting crouching panthers with an impressed manufacturer’s mark also sold for more than twice its high estimate. The rarity of the vase was due to the blue color of the vase when other examples of the vase are shown in green. An example of the form and the decoration can be found in the permanent collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This example sold for $47,500 after a high estimate of $18,000!

Lot 132: The early glazed earthenware vase from Grueby Faience Company featured the marks of a rare work and this particular example has been in the December 1898 edition of House Beautiful and the book The Ceramics of William H. Grueby. The vase sold for $35,000 – the high estimate was $15,000.

Lot 231: An “exceptional and rare” signed and dated gourd vase from Taxile Doat for University City, noted for its matte and crystalline glazed porcelain, sold for $35,000 past the $18,000 high estimate. Several of the Taxile Doat/University City works sold past, if not within, the estimates, notably a covered vase, a vase with laurel leaves, a blue-glazed porcelain vase,

Lot 248: One of the high sellers of the evening, a snake vase from George Ohr, sold for $78,000 – nearly FOUR times the high estimate of $20,000! The signed work coming from the collection of James Carpenter featured the snake, lobed rim, an in-body twist, and a green glaze with blue speckling.

 

One choice we nailed and one we failed on…

Lot 124: Marblehead Pottery Rare vase with crouching panthers in low relief

The panther design is most often seen on a green background, this example in blue is particularly rare and perfectly fired.
Impressed manufacturer’s mark to underside ‘MP’ with ship symbol. An example of this form and decoration is held in the permanent collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Provenance: Important Private Collection

Measures 6¾ h × 5 dia in 17 × 13 cm

Estimate: $12,000–18,000

Sold for: $47,500

 

 

Lot 246: Adelaide Robineau Rare vase

Incised signature and number to underside ‘RP 319 15’.
Provenance: Important Private Collection

Measures: 4 h × 5 dia in 10 × 13 cm

Estimate: $5,000–7,000

Sold for: $5,000

 

 

 

Early 20th Century Design
Rago Arts
Friday, September 11th

The highlights:

Lot 325: A rare Greene & Greene work amidst a sea of quality Stickley, this rocking chair from the Dr. William T. Bolton-T. Belle Barlow Bush House in Pasadena, CA sold for $24,700, four times the high estimate of $6,000. The stained mahogany chair with velvet seat, featured in the book Greene & Greene: The Passion and the Legacy, featured a carved signature: “His True Mark Sumner Greene”.

Lot 326: An early Gustav Stickley trestle table, made of oak, leather and copper with the early red manufacturer’s decal, sold for $5,625, more than three times the high estimate of $1,800. 

Lot 334: One of the many gorgeous examples of the iconic Tiffany lamps, this Tulip table lamp sailed past the high estimate of $30,000 to sell for $56,250. Shown in the book Tiffany Lamps and Metalware, the picturesque example of leaded glass and patinated bronze was one of several Tiffany lamps featured this weekend.

Lot 340: A signed hand-blown Favrile glass vase from Tiffany Studios from the collection of Mr. Robert Hartshorne sold for $18,750 – more than twice the high estimate of $7,000. On the underside of the  orange and yellow vase, the signature read ‘L.C.T. E1801’. 

 

One choice we nailed and one we failed on…

Lot 307: Gustav Stickley knock-down settle, model 210

USA, c. 1902
Early red manufacturer’s decal to upright ‘Als Ik Kan Stickley’ with joiner’s compass.
literature: Collected Works of Gustav Stickley, Gray and Edwards (eds.), pg. 57

Estimate: $5,000–7,000

Sold for: $11,875

Lot 315: William Wallace Denslow for Roycroft Rare seahorse andirons, pair

Roycroft
USA, c. 1902
wrought and cast iron 22½ h × 9 w × 28 d in 57 × 23 × 71 cm

Estimate: $10,000–15,000

Sold for: $9,375

 

 

 

 

Fine & Decorative Arts Auctions
Fontaine’s Auctions
Saturday, September 12th

Highlights:

Lot 4: A very rare and early Gustav Stickley gong – see example below – sold for $22,000! With the original gong, striker and in the original finish, the gong attracted lots of attention.

Lot 8: A signed and multicolored Tiffany Studios Agate Vase sold for $8,000, beyond the $3,000 high estimate. Featuring swirls of purple, blue and amber and the signed underside read “L.C.T. H5594”

Lot 58:  A Tiffany Studios Geometric Table Lamp sold for $12,000 past the high estimate of $6,500.

Lot 69: In all its amber brilliance, the Tiffany Studios Chandelier sold for $36,000 past the high estimate of $15,000.

Lot 100: With its bright colors making it the most marketed item of the auction, the Tiffany Studios Oriental Poppy Chandelier sold for $550,000! Granted it fell in between the estimates of $400,000-600,000, but in all its bright and colorful excellent quality, the chandelier was still a winner and highlight.

Lot 236: A Tiffany Studios Damascene Lamp sold for $12,000, past the high estimate of $5,000.

 

Realized price: $8,125