Auctions: Arts and crafts in 2 big sales, one less pricey

Early- to mid-20th-century arts and crafts will be the focus of two big auctions on June 13. Both sales will start at noon, both will offer about the same number of lots, more than 400 each, and both already have posted the auction catalog online.

But the presale estimates that can be viewed in the online catalogs suggest they will be catering to different buyers.

The more-affordable event will be Kamelot Auctions' sale of furniture, architectural, garden and decorative objects, and some artwork at its gallery in the 4700 Wissahickon Ave. complex (the old Atwater Kent factory). Presale estimates range from $25 to $50 for a cast-stone gothic garden fragment to $2,500 to $4,500 for such items as a set of eight ebonized Jansen dining chairs made in the Directoire style around 1940 and a monumental crystal-and-gilt-metal chandelier with 16 arms, each housing four lights.

A dozen other items may bring four-figure prices, including a large pair of French wrought-iron architectural panels made around 1900 ($2,000 to $4,000); a handsome arts and crafts mahogany partner's desk with Louis Sullivan-style carved legs made around 1910 ($1,000 to $1,500); and, among the nearly 100 lots of artwork, The Triumph of Sodomy 2 ($1,000 to $2,000) by the American Mark Beard (born 1956) and a free-form art-glass basket-shaped vase by Dale Chihuly ($2,000 to $3,000).

But almost all the remaining lots will be in the three-figure range. They include such happy items as a whimsical art nouveau water pitcher made around 1890 and signed George Coudra, with the face of Neptune emerging from the waves ($500 to $700); a free-edge coffee table with walnut top attributed to Philip Powell, made around 1960 ($400 to $800); a vintage leather-clad card table with whip-stitch decoration ($200 to $400); matching sets of framed prints of birds and plants; and almost two dozen French art deco iron objects.

Preview is from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 10, 11 and 12. For more information, call 215-438-6990, or to see the auction catalog online (and to bid online), go to www.kamelotauctions.com.

Early 20th century at Rago. Four-figure prices will be the norm at the second sale, also June 13, the Rago Arts & Auction Center's early-20th-century event in Lambertville. In fact, five-figure prices will be common, beginning with the first lot, a Rookwood tall, standard-glaze Indian vase by Matt Daly, with a presale estimate of $20,000 to $30,000, one of the auction's more than 40 Rookwoods.

Among the two dozen Tiffany studio pieces that wind up the 436-lot event is a rare chandelier of turtleback tiles with original bronze hook, chain, and ceiling attachment that has a presale estimate of $60,000 to $80,000, the highest in the auction. Other Tiffany pieces of note include a rare bronze fernery, also with turtleback tiles ($14,000 to $18,000), and a jeweled Venetian gilt-bronze table lamp ($29,000 to $34,000).

Another top presale estimate is $50,000 to $60,000 for a tall, early Newcomb College vase, decorated by Marie Odell Delavigne, with a band of prancing geese in a landscape, one of more than a half dozen Newcomb College pieces in the sale.

Predictably, the auction also features a large quantity, at least 40 lots, of Stickley furniture, notably an exceptional Gustav Stickley high-back armchair with upholstered seat, designed by Harvey Willis ($14,000 to $18,000), and an unusual Gustav Stickley tall chest of drawers with ring pulls on strap hardware ($4,000 to $6,000 - Stickley furniture for the bedroom is rarer than pieces for the living or dining room).

At the more affordable end is an L. & J.G. Stickley/Onondaga Shops rocking chair with slats and new cross-stitched leather cushions ($1,200 to $1,800). There also is a Gustav Stickley piece that is not furniture: a large, hammered-copper circular wall plaque embossed with stylized pods ($10,000 to $15,000).

Other well-known early-20th-century names include Grueby, a dozen and a half lots, including a rare horizontal tile incised and embossed and depicting a family of elephants ($10,000 to $15,000), and a 9-inch decorative tile depicting St. George Slaying the Dragon, in matte polychrome glaze ($15,000 to $19,000); Handel lamps, another dozen and a half in the $1,000 to $2,000 range; and more than two dozen pieces of Lalique glass, including a deep-blue "Penthievre" vase made in 1926, but only recently discovered in a Long Island estate ($14,000 to $19,000).

Items by less-well-known manufacturers include a large stoneware bird-shape tobacco jar made in 1895 by J.W. Martin ($20,000 to $30,000), a rare TECO original factory lamp with cylindrical base ($15,000 to $20,000); an early vase made by Hannah and Elizabeth Overbeck ($14,000 to $18,000); a rare Old Hickory glider with woven seat and back on a branch frame ($5,000 to $6,000); and a rare, full-size Arthur W. Dow poster for the magazine Modern Art for July 1895 ($3,250 to $5,000).

Previews are from noon to 5 p.m. June 6-12 and 9 a.m. to sale time on the sale day at the gallery at 333 N. Main St. For information, call 609-397- 9374, or go to www.ragoarts.com.

Musical instruments at Slosberg's. On Thursday, Barry S. Slosberg Inc. Auctioneers/Appraisers will feature musical instruments at a sale beginning at 5 p.m. at the gallery at 2501 E. Ontario St. They will include almost two dozen violins and violas, five cellos, acoustic and electric guitars, an art deco accordion, and an antique German squeeze box.

Preview is from 3 p.m. to sale time Thursday. For information, call 215-425-7030.