: Green Valley Auctions, Inc conducted its annual spring sale of
Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century glass and ceramics of May
12-13. Included were significant collections, as well as
individual offerings from consignors from several states.
Auction participants represented 29 states and Canada, with 195
bid numbers issued. The doors opened Monday at 8 am to preview,
and by 11 am auctioneer and president Jeffrey S. Evans had begun
with a collection of reference books and other materials. Past
auction catalogs from various firms, covering subjects of mainly
glass and ceramics, and dating from the 1920s to the 1990s,
continue to be important reference materials and strong sellers.
Following the reference materials, the auction turned to the
much-awaited early American glass cup plate collection of the
late Robert W. King. Green Valley Auctions, Inc was chosen to
liquidate the collection that King had amassed, a collection of
historical proportions with many rare and important examples.
Included with most of the cup plates were provenance cards that
read like the "who's who" of early glass circles of years past.
Among collectors, museums and dealers, Nineteenth Century
American glass cup plates are identified not by a shape or
impressed design, but by the numerical designation established by
Ruth Webb Lee and James H. Rose (Lee/Rose) in their book
American Glass Cup Plates first published in 1948.
Overhearing some of the conversations at the auction preview
might sound like code to those not familiar with American glass
cup plates. It became clear that not only did company president
Evans speak the "cup plate language" but he and his staff had
produced an auction sale catalog that few auction houses could
have duplicated.
Of the 273 cataloged lots, those cup plates that would emerge as
notable began with an extremely rare, brilliant deep green
Lee/Rose #227 that sold for $7,150. It was speculated that only
seven or eight examples in this color exist. A colorless Lee/Rose
#68 and possibly one of only four known reached $5,225, as did a
Lee/Rose #459-M opaque jade green and possibly one of two known
examples, the other being the Sandwich Glass Museum.
The final sales sheet showed 52 cup plates exceeding $550, 38
topping $1,100 and 23 reaching above the $2,200 mark. Following
the cup plates were blown and pressed salts, with an extremely
rare Boston Sandwich Glass Company covered salt reaching $1,320.
A toy lacy glass oval bowl in canary color saw $1,760. The star
of the lacy glass, however, proved to be one of only five known
"Hairpin" square dishes that topped at $7,150 after strong
bidding.
One of only five extant "Hairpin" square dishes, this example
reached $7,150.
The selection of fine lacy glass saw many lots selling in the
$50/500 range, which provided ample opportunity for collectors and
dealers to attain good examples. The same held true in the early
cut and engraved and the free-blown and blown molded categories. A
free-blown trumpet vase in rose color sold for $1,100, while a
free-blown open compote in cased light blue with rose color
interior and folded rim, $935. A large free-blown witch ball in
deep ruby saw an impressive $1,045 and a cobalt blue with white
looping drug bottle, $990.
The next eye opener was a sulphide paperweight with busts of four
early American presidents, possibly produced at the New England
Glass Company, which sold to a well-known dealer in early glass
for $1,760 and generated pre-auction interest from the Corning
Museum of Glass.
A rare pair of pressed flute wine coolers attributed to the
Boston & Sandwich Glass Company sold for a respectable $2,640
and was followed with a bang by a pressed loop leaf vase in
brilliant deep violet-blue which sold to the phone bidder for
$8,525 after fierce bidding.
The first lot of the early lighting category resulted in some
disappointment when a fine example of the Onion (Eaton) oil lamp,
attributed to the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company in a rare
mottled blue color sold for an anemic $2,530 to an exceptionally
fortunate and well-known Massachusetts dealer of early glass.
Lighting that didn't disappoint included a very scarce
pre-kerosene period ruby cut to clear whale oil/fluid lamp with
pressed hexagonal base that sold to a local advanced collector
for $1,870 and a full figural overlay kerosene lamp with a white
cut to deep green font that towered an impressive 183/4 inches
high that sold to a Canadian collector for $1,870.
Day two, the sale of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century ceramics
featured the Dr Charles Rand Penney collection of more than 500
Staffordshire figures. Penney assembled some 150 collections. His
Staffordshire collection began in the 1950s with travels through
North America and Europe in search of rare examples.
Pressed loop leaf vase in violet-blue, $8,525.
A scarce group figure of three dogs sold for an impressive
$2,750 (even with a crack to the base) while a pair of seated
children on goats ended at $1,760 after heated bidding. An example
of an "Uncle Tom" group figure sold to a Florida phone bidder at
$1,210.
The Staffordshire collection concluded with the sale of Penney's
sizable reference library and was followed by early ceramics that
included transfer ware, featheredge, Gaudy Dutch, Gaudy Welsh and
Gaudy ironstone. In addition, there was a sampling of historical
transfer ware, King's Rose and mocha ware.
An offering of 33 pieces of Parian was well received with full
figures, busts, a wall shelf and a set of plates, among others.
The top lots include Mercury seated on a rock with one wing
restored at $880 and a full figural of a woman holding an
inverted urn that also reached $880. The offerings of pearlware,
spatter ware and others rounded out the two-day event, with a
spatter ware dove pattern handleless cup and saucer with red
spatter rims that brought $1,430 and a spatter ware dangling
tulip pattern handleless cup and saucer with blue spatter rims
and a repair to the saucer, $1,650.
Prices quoted above include the ten percent buyer's premium.
