Roycroft, Gustav Stickley, Frank Lloyd Wright Furniture, Art Pottery and More at Toomey & Co. March 2nd
Toomey and Company auctioneers will be holding a Fine Art, Furniture and Decorative Art auction on Wednesday, March 2, starting at 10:00am CST. The auction promises to offer a wide selection of Arts and Crafts furniture, metalware, artwork, and art pottery, including the following.
A Roycroft oak double door bookcase, model #082, signed with the firm’s carved orb and cross. This rare form with an original finish came from the collection of Kip Forbes, who had purchased it at Rago Auctions in 2012. It comes with an impressive pre-sale estimate of $20,000-$30,000.
Also from the Roycroft Furniture Shop comes a single door mahogany bookcase, model #086. In addition to being signed with the firm’s shopmark, it has the cared word “Ledwidge.” With its original finish, the bookcase is estimated to sell between $8000-$12,000.
One of the most desirable forms from L. & J.G. Stickley, a paneled Prairie School settle model #220, will also be offered. Measuring 84 inches in length, this monumental oak settle has a pre-sale estimate of $10,000-$20,000.
Among the examples of Craftsman furniture from the workshops of Gustav Stickley is an early eight-legged sideboard, model #961. Made of oak with wrought iron hardware, this version has a chambered board back and retains its original finish, knobs, and hardware. Historians will take note that it was sold in the Detroit retail store of A.A. Gray, as evidenced by a surviving label. Pre-sale estimate is $6500-$8500.
Furniture by the Cincinnati firm of Shop of the Crafters only surfaces occasionally. This sale features a signed bookcase, model #337, made of oak and containing fruitwood inlay. Had it not been refinished, this example would come with a higher pre-sale estimate than $2000-$3000.
Another rare form which also has restoration issues is an oak dresser with a mirror designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and George Mann Niedecken for the Avery Coonley House in Chicago. The dresser has been refinished and the top board may have been replaced in the past. Despite this, the dresser still enters the sale with a pre-sale estimate of $8000-$12,000 (lot 694).
The sale also includes a wide selection of affordable matte green art pottery by Weller, Rookwood, and Owens, many examples being sold in multiple lots. In addition, collectors will find a selection of Edward Curtis photographic prints of Native Americans, as well as woodblock prints by William Rice, Margaret Patterson, and Francis Gearhart. In addition to several examples of Kalo sterling silver, the sale also includes copperware by Robert Jarvie, Falick Novick, and the Kalo Shops, as well as bronze pieces from the Heintz Art Metal Shop, including two lamps with silver overlay.
For more information on the sale, please go to https://toomeyco.com/.