There was strong interest across the board during Litchfield County Auction’s July 20, 2011 American and English Continential auction and much activity was received in all categories of the sale. Paintings, American and Continental furniture, decorations, Americana, folk art, and silver stood at the top of the list. Selling close to 85 percent of the lots offered in the sale, many items grossed well above their high estimate and received a high number of bids.
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An antique discovery clock auction, Aug. 27, 2011 is loaded with more than 500 rare and vintage clocks from a single-owner collection. Included in the sale are American large wall clocks and case clocks, grandfather clocks and examples from England, France and Germany. This more than just a clock action. Tucked inside the sale are pendulums, weights, watchmakers’ benches and multi-drawer cabinets, watch and clock ephemera and advertising signs.
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Hundreds of quality lots of fine porcelain, original artwork and estate jewelry will cross the block in a multi-estate sale planned for Saturday, Aug. 27, 2011 by Elite Decorative Arts. One lot is expected to bring $80,000-$100,000 or more. It is a pair of large bronze and ivory Continental figures, one depicting a warrior wearing a crown with a sword to the hip and the other depicting a warrior wearing a bearskin headdress and scaled armor. The figures, each one 18 inches in height on a 3 ¼ inch round wooden base, were made circa 18th or 19th century. Read More +
A 22-inch leaded glass lamp from the studio of Joseph Porcelli was one of the top selling lots during the second day of James D. Julia’s June 24th, 2011 lamp and glass auction in Fairfield, Maine. The lamp has a … Read More +
Litchfield County Auctions Online Summer Sale holds more than 800 lots of fresh-to-the-market property collected from New York and Connecticut estates and private collections. The summer sale’s focus is on American, English and Continental art and antiques, including this Victorian Tufts automatic crystal table fountain, circa 1870-1880. In addition to a variety of weathervanes, pewter, baskets and canes, the Americana section features a selection of Shaker furniture and decorative arts as well. The sale is online now at iGavelAuctions.com and can be viewed on the Litchfield County Auctions website.
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Christie’s announced this week it is has scheduled a series of public exhibitions and special events leading up to the sale of the collection of Elizabeth Taylor, who passed away March 23. The tour will culminate in New York in early December with a special ten-day, museum-quality exhibition of Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry, fashion, accessories, decorative arts and memorabilia, followed by four consecutive days of auctions.
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Collect rare and unusual? How about a "heart-attack chair," used during initiations and private ceremonies of secret orders and societies? The chair is so-named because when a person sat in it and a mechanism was triggered, a .32 caliber blank fired. If the person in the chair got spooked and jumped, they were kicked out of the group. It could be yours July 16-17, 2011 at Red Baron’s annual summer extravaganza.
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Skinner, Inc.’s bi-annual 20th Century Furniture and Decorative Arts auction taking place takes place in the Boston gallery on June 25, 2011, has 810 lots of material grouped primarily by designer or maker. The auction features assembled collections of Dedham Pottery famous for its crackle glaze with blue decorative borders of bunnies, elephants, fish, fowl and flowers. The offerings are highlighted by a special plate, lot 110, made in the period from 1896-1929. This work depicts the moon over the Golden Gate in San Francisco and predates the Golden Gate Bridge, which was built in 1937. The plate is estimated at $1,500 to $1,800.
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A monumental circa-1890 R.J. Horner figural carved mahogany 12-piece dining room set soared to $100,300 at a cataloged auction held May 21, 2011 by Fontaine’s Auction Gallery. The set was the top lot in the sale, which attracted a large amount of Tiffany lamps and decorative objects. An unusual Tiffany Studios bronze crab inkwell with an exceptional brown and deep red patina with green highlights went for $23,600.
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More than 100 extraordinary objects formerly displayed in the Forbes Galleries in New York City drew frenzied bidding from around the globe. The Malcolm Forbes collection of historic and unusual objects resulted in many of the sale’s top lots. Forbes titled this main collection “Mortality through Immortality,” a variety of objects commemorating and celebrating long-gone – and long-forgotten – heroes from distant historic, military and civic endeavors and events. The top lot of the Forbes Collection was an aluminum relic of the 1937 Hindenburg disaster, made into a bar stool, which took $14,340 after a powerful bidding battle.
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