Sgraffito redware plate
attributed to John Nessz. It sold to the trade for
$23,400.
Rare
Redware Plate is $23,400 Main Dish at Horst
Story and photos by Nancy J. Vozar
EPHRATA, PENN. -- Three times a year an influx of dealers
representing nearly all the states in the Union descend upon the
area to sell their antiques at a show promoted as Extravaganza.
This spring's event coincided with the Horst Auction Center's
April 25-26, sale, an extravaganza in itself. It was a memorable
event for the 385 registered bidders to witness with the auction
grossing $234,845.
Of the 1,243 lots in the two day, multi-consignor, unreserved
sale it was a plate -- a rare redware plate -- that proved to be
the main dish. Of Pennsylvania German origin, the late Eighteenth
or early Nineteenth Century Sgraffito redware plate was
attributed to John Nessz (also Neis or Nase; circa 1798-1829),
Tylersport, Montgomery County, Penn.
The face of the plate was covered with yellow slip and sparsely
glazed, which resulted in some dark brown and green visible on
the designs. The central focal point of the plate was an incised
Oriental-type pavilion with smoke emerging from the center
chimney and flanked on each side by stylized flowers with a
fuchsia-like flower below the pavilion. The border of the plate
was incised with a German inscription. Despite some slip loss and
several chips, the rare plate, once was part of the late Titus
Geesey's collection, sold to the trade for $23,400.
Other pottery lots proved popular, too. Bringing $6,800 was a
signed mid-Nineteenth Century lead and manganese glazed pottery
creamer with Gothic paneled sides by Henry Gast, Eagle Porcelain
Works, Lancaster, Penn. A lead and manganese glazed, slip
decorated, redware sugar bowl with a married lid featuring a bird
whistle (mid-Nineteenth Century, Shenandoah Valley) went out at
$3,100.
Another Pennsylvania German Sgraffito redware item (thought to be
from Montgomery County) also crossed the block. This one, a deep
dish with glaze losses and incised designs of a double-headed
distelfink, an urn, tuliplike flowers and two images of people,
sold to the trade for $2,700. A mocha yellowware milk pitcher
with a blue sponge decorated seaweedlike design exchanged hands
at $725.
Eighteenth Century walnut Chippendale chest of drawers,
$12,000.
The foremost furniture item was a late Eighteenth Century
Chippendale walnut chest of drawers (Chester County, Penn.) that
was purchased for $12,000. It was constructed with five
dovetailed drawers with thumb molded fronts (the top tier with
two side-by-side drawers, the other three tiers containing
single, full-width, drawers of graduated sizes) and the inside of
the top drawer was stamped "J. Pugh." The case was supported by
four tall bracket feet (replacements) with a cutout scroll design
along the edge.
A winning bid of $7,300 was executed for a country Sheraton
cherry and maple two-piece Dutch cupboard. A late Eighteenth
Century, Chester County, Chippendale walnut high chest of drawers
(six tiers of drawers) with applied cornice molding across the
front and sides brought $5,500.
The hammer dropped at $3,000 for a Pennsylvania Federal cherry
and curly maple slant front desk. A Chippendale mahogany card
table with a fold over leaf and a single, full-width, dovetailed
drawer was finalized at $2,900. A Pennsylvania two-piece blind
corner cupboard found a new home for $2,700, a Pennsylvania
Chippendale walnut secretary desk was purchased for $2,300, and
an Empire fall front mahogany and crotch -grain veneered
secretary or butler's desk sold for $1,800.
A Federal mahogany inlaid, eight-day, tall-case clock (unsigned)
fetched $1,300. It did not take a genius to know that a set of
four turn-of-the-century German Queen Anne-style oak side chairs
from the Princeton, N.J., home of Albert Einstein were a good buy
at $950.
Numerous doll and crib quilts were sold with a
turn-of-the-century, Lancaster, cotton crib quilt with the
central design of a house (221/2 by 25 inches) bringing $2,100,
while another cotton crib quilt (23 by 331/2 inches) that had the
same Lancaster origin, but was executed in the Jacob's Coat
pattern, sold for $1,500. Proving good things come in small
packages, a cotton doll quilt in the Lone Star pattern brought
$1,400.
The strongest seller in the full-size quilt category was a
turn-of-the-century Lancaster County Floral Wreath pattern cotton
applique quilt that sold for $1,350. Feline fever quipped the
crowd when a late Nineteenth Century pictorial hooked rug crossed
the block. The new owner paid $875 to adopt a cat and three
kittens. An early brown plaid linen homespun bed case that was
hand sewn and measured 58 inches wide by 68 inches long sold for
$2,150.
Unsigned Bliss dollhouse, $875.
There were a number of other crowd pleasers including an early
New England paint decorated folk art sewing box, with an attached
dovetailed slide-lid box that exchanged hands at $2,400. Of an
offering of 95 banks, the top lot was a dated 1882 painted
cast-iron mechanical organ bank. When the hand crank was turned
on this item a bell would ring and a small monkey on top of the
bank would rotate. The unusual bank sold at $1,300.
Farm tool enthusiasts were anxious to bid on an early salesman's
sample hand wrought iron and brass horse-drawn cultivator that
sold for $575. Proving that the housing market is still strong,
an unsigned Bliss two-story lithographed dollhouse brought $875.
An early pink Palestine pattern transfer decorated Staffordshire
china platter by William Adams sold for $1,300, and a dome-lid
coffee pot went out at $1,250.
An American Empire gilt mirror mounted by an eagle-shaped crest
sold for $1,550. By an unknown artist, an early to mid-Nineteenth
Century original oil on canvas portrait of a middle-aged woman in
its original gilt frame, 321/2 by 371/2, inches went to the trade
for $2,100.
There is no buyer's premium at Horst, which runs weekly gallery
sales.
