: - Wright's auction conducted on December 7 at 1140 West Fulton
Market, realized top prices for Modernist Twentieth Century
design icons. This auction featured important pieces of American
Art Deco. There were 336 lots offered. Prices reported include
the buyer's premium.
A Walter Dorwin Teague's Nocturne radio was a museum-quality
example offered at auction in excellent, original condition with
an estimate of $50/70,000.
Bertoia teapot, $27,140.
The radio originally sold for a high price of $350 in 1936,
which combined with the economic depression of the time resulted in
very few models being sold. Interest was strong among private
collectors and dealers. It reached $103,840.
Other highlights from the auction were an important selection of
sculptural forms by Harry Bertoia. Top lots included a teapot
created while Bertoia was an instructor at Cranbrook Academy.
This early and important teapot represents a more adventurous
departure from the Art Deco inspired metalwork usually seen from
this period. Estimated at $10/15,000, the piece sold for $27,140.
George Nelson Watermelon clock, $17,700.
A spectacular example of Bertoia's Sonambient sculpture with
two alternating rows of 22 and 23 rods that once exhibited at The
White House, Washington, D.C., sold for more than twice its low
estimate at $106,200. Many of the pieces in the auction will be
included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné on Harry Bertoia.
A beautiful Piero Fornasetti folding screen, titled "Scaletta
(The Little Staircase)," estimated at $7/9,000, sold for a record
price of $28,320. The screen was featured in a window display at
the Italian-based store Frette in Chicago for the month of
October, reflecting Fornasetti's versatile style of midcentury
modern while blending with classic and traditional elements.
Another auction record price was set by the sale of an
exceptional Watermelon clock by George Nelson and Associates.
This rare variation of the clock in a two-tone coloration was in
pristine condition with its original label. Estimated at $6/8000,
it sold for $17,700.
