Auctions: Still time to buy a 'stocking stuffer'

With all the big-ticket preholiday events out of the way (the Francis-Fisher-Coxe card table at Freeman's Nov. 23 Pennsylvania sale went for $190,000), now is the time for more affordable auctions. Opportunities to buy stocking stuffers, as it were.

If, that is, you can find a stocking big enough to stuff with a 13-by-10-foot 19th-century northwestern Persia Heriz carpet expected to sell for $10,000 to $15,000, a highlight of Freeman's sale of 185 lots of Oriental rugs and carpets starting at 10 a.m. Sunday. A Laver Kerman from southeast Persia also is expected to sell for $10,000 to $15,000.

But the sale will begin with more affordable pieces, including a half-dozen lots of 20th-century American Indian rugs and weavings. For example, a wool Chimayo blanket from New Mexico has a presale estimate of $200 to $300.

At 10 a.m. Monday, Freeman's will offer more than 450 lots of objets de vertu (French for hodgepodge): silver, ceramics, glass, bronzes, ivory and other decorative items suitable for giving. Most should sell in the three-figure range, although a Tiffany & Co. Olympian-pattern sterling fish-serving set dating to about 1900 is expected to go for $2,000 to $3,000, according to the catalog at www.freemansauction.com.

Among the other offerings will be: a bronze figure of a rabbit catcher by the early 20th-century German Jean Edward Dannhauser ($300 to $500); a Victorian silver baby rattle with a carved treen (wooden) handle, made about 1840 in Birmingham, England ($250 to $350); a continental carved-ivory figure of a fox depicted in 17th-century attire ($250 to $350); a grouping of eight 19th-century Staffordshire pot lids decorated with fishing motifs, such as "Hawling in the Trawl" ($500 to $700); and a 20th-century Lalique "Ondines" pattern glass bowl with molded relief decoration of nude woman and swirling designs ($500 to $700).

Preview for both auctions is from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today and noon to 5 p.m. tomorrow at the gallery at 1808 Chestnut St. For further information, call 215-563-9275.

In the suburbs. At a sale beginning at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow at the Rhoads & Rhoads Auction Center in Spring City, Ron Rhoads will offer dolls, toys (including Howdy Doody puppets), Christmas china figurines, sports memorabilia (including a premiere edition of Sports Illustrated), a 1969 Jaguar XKE convertible, and a Cub Cadet tractor with snowblower.

The auction also will feature an unusual collection of vintage transits (the instruments used in surveying), a Harper brass ship's telegraph, and tools, including highly collectible Stanley planes. Preview starts two hours before sale time; information: 610-385-4818.

Beginning at 8 a.m. Monday in Malaga, Bob Brooks Auction sales will offer a wider-than-usual variety of antique, traditional and contemporary furniture and collectibles, including coins, dolls, Hummels and samplers; one from the Moorestown area signed "Sarah R. Gill" dates to 1829.

Also featured will be items from two South Jersey businesses: nautical decorations from Henry's Restaurant in Stone Harbor, including mounted fish and three ship's wheels with original finish and brass bindings; and the remaining inventory of a local game-room retailer, including demonstrator pool tables, NFL-MLB dart boards, poker tables and chips, bumper-pool tables, and an air-hockey table.

Preview is from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. tomorrow and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday at the auction house, Route 47 (Delsea Drive) one mile north of Route 40. Information: 856-694-2960 or 1-866-262-2766.

Beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday in Hatfield, Alderfer Auction Co. will offer dolls, brewery-advertising items, antiques and collectibles at its gallery, 501 Fairgrounds Rd.

The dolls, to be sold first, include such brand names as Madame Alexander and such figures as Santa and Mrs. Claus, Barbie and Shirley Temple. The brewery items include neon signs, trays, bar games, shot glasses, and bottle openers. Among the antiques and collectibles are a walnut cylinder-front secretary desk, Department 56 Christmas items, and art and American Indian pottery.

Preview is from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday and 7 a.m. to sale time Thursday. Information: 215-393-3023.