Auctions | Penna. furniture at a premium

Major two-day catalog auctions next weekend will offer a study in the contrasting styles of American furniture and appointments. Both sales will feature items expected to bring five-figure prices.

Beginning at 6 p.m. next Friday, Pook & Pook Inc. will offer more than 300 lots of 18th- and 19th-century furniture, art and accessories at the first session of a 900-lot sale that includes Pennsylvania cabinetry, quilts, and other local crafts, as well as furniture from other regions.

One of the first important pieces in the session is a Pennsylvania painted Conestoga wagon box dated 1819. Trimmed with wrought-iron hardware decorated with tulips and pierced hearts, the box is expected to sell for $8,000 to $12,000.

The top item in the session is a Delaware Valley Queen Anne transitional walnut dressing table with the label of the famed cabinetmaker William Savery; it is expected to sell for $40,000 to $60,000. Provenance can be traced from the original owner, Benjamin Hibberd (1707-1785), down to its present owner.

A Pennsylvania walnut blanket chest, probably from Berks County, dated 1801 and inlaid with the name "Cadarina Moser" is expected to sell for $12,000 to $18,000.

The second session, beginning at 10 a.m. Sept. 29, will feature two items with presale estimates of $60,000 to $90,000: a stoneware figure of a recumbent stag, probably made about 1875 in Western Pennsylvania, with blue-dot highlights, and a Chester County Chippendale walnut spice box dating to about 1765.

The top lot in the Saturday session - indeed the whole sale - is a set of six Delaware Valley William and Mary ladderback side chairs dating to 1740 and pictured in American Antiques From the Israel Sack Collection. They are expected to sell for $150,000 to $200,000.

Looking for something more affordable? Expected to sell for $150 to $500 are a 19th-century tin birdcage, a yellow-painted gathering basket, a New York toleware dome-top document box dating to 1820, a pair of late-18th-century Philadelphia Love pewter plates, and a Philadelphia pewter coffeepot dating to about 1850.

Previews will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. next Friday, and 8 a.m. to sale time Sept. 29 at the gallery, 463 E. Lancaster Ave., Downingtown. For more information, call 610-269-4040 or go to www.pookandpook.com.

Craftsman weekend at Rago. Early 20th-century Arts and Crafts furniture, notably Stickley, and decorative objects including pottery and glassware, will be featured at the Craftsman Auction Weekend Sept. 29 and 30 at Rago Arts & Auction Center in Lambertville.

The first session, beginning at noon Sept. 29, will start off with pottery and art glass, including a Grueby gourd-shaped vase ($20,000 to $30,000) and a Roycroft leaded-glass ceiling fixture ($30,000 to $40,000), then move on to furniture, including an extremely rare Gustav Stickley drop-front desk ($18,000 to $25,000) and an L. & J.G. Stickley mantel clock ($6,000 to $8,000).

The top item in the session is also by Gustav Stickley: a rare, early, two-door bookcase made about 1901 and expected to sell for $45,000 to $75,000.

The auction's second session, immediately following the first, features 65 lots of art glass, including Tiffany, Durand and Galle. A Tiffany Studios favrile glass mosaic trivet decorated with a dragonfly is expected to bring $10,000 to $15,000. The third session offers Lalique, notably a Rene Lalique "Archers" vase ($12,500 to $16,500) and a "Suzanne" statue made about 1925 of opalescent glass on a bronze illuminating base ($20,000 to $30,000).

As usual, the fourth session, beginning at noon Sept. 30, will offer somewhat more affordable items. A few examples: a Stickley Bros. loveseat ($1,400 to $1,800, about what Stickley pieces still being made sell for); a Grueby vase with tooled leaves ($1,250 to $1,750); and a set of four Roycroft hammered-brass wall sconces ($600 to $900).

Previews will be from noon to 5 p.m. tomorrow through next Friday and 9 a.m. to sale time Sept. 29 and Sept. 30 at the gallery, 333 N. Main St., Lambertville. Information: 609-397-9374 or www.ragoarts.com.