A Closer Look: Tiffany and Rolfhs Share the Spotlight at Craftsman

LAMBERTVILLE, N.J.

:With all eyes focused on the front of the room and bidders poised and ready, auctioneer David Rago offered up his star lot of the day, a rare Charles Rohlfs drop front desk. The desk was one of more than 1,000 lots sold during the Craftsman Arts and Crafts Weekend presented by Mr Rago, Jerry Cohen and Suzanne Perrault on January 15 and 16.

A standing-room-only crowd was on hand for the auction with Arts and Crafts period furniture, tiles, art pottery, art glass and metalwork among the offerings. In typical fashion for a Rago auction, there were a huge number of absentee bids registered for the sale along with a couple hundred phone bidders.

The sale got off to a brisk start with the offering of a large Susan Frackelton salt glazed punch bowl with applied grapes and vines on the exterior. The interior of the bowl was decorated in a fashion similar to delft with the saying "Love is The Sweet Wine of Life." Bidding on the lot was active with it selling at $17,625. A crude unglazed earthenware pot apparently thrown by George Ohr and decorated by Frackelton, with Ohr's mark stamped on the base and incised "Frackelton," also did well at $15,275.

The first of the George Ohr lots to be offered was a glazed cylindrical pot with a folded midsection that was hammered down to a phone bidder for $17,625, while another pot with a folded lower section forming a protruding base having a gunmetal glaze on the upper portion and a amber glaze on the bottom sold at $21,150.

A selection of Teco pots were up next with a rare bottle shaped vase with six applied leaf-shaped buttress handles doing well. The piece, one of two known examples, was consigned from a home in Tennessee and had minor restoration to the tips of four leaves. Cataloged as one of "Teco's rarest forms" the vase opened for bidding at $8,000 with a bidder in the room battling with several phone bidders all the way to a selling price of $32,312. A rare pair of tall and slender Teco vases with four buttress handles with drilled bases sold to the same phone bidder for $27,025.

With a heavily front-loaded sale, it was not long before the fireworks began to pop. The first lot to take off was a rare Tiffany turtleback chandelier that had been consigned by the family of the original owners. Despite its single-family history, the piece had a somewhat interesting and checkered past. It seems it had turned up at a yard sale many years ago and was brought to Mr Rago, who sold it to a client for $6,000 and installed it in their home. Some time later a photograph of a stolen chandelier matching the one that had been sold was noticed and it was reported by Mr Rago. The piece was ultimately returned to the original owners with Mr Rago out the cash after having reimbursed his client. The chandelier was mentioned to a Rago associate during an appraisal day in Tennessee and the original owners expressed an interest in selling the piece. Mr Rago spoke with the descendants and related the story to which he got a response, "Well Mr Rago, it looks like you will get a chance to get your $6,000 back."

The Chandelier was ultimately consigned to Rago's and featured early in the sale as lot 26. Bidding opened on the lot at $65,000, with a gentleman seated with a representative of New York City Tiffany specialist Lillian Nasseau hitting the lot at $70,000. A phone bidder jumper in with a quick bid at $75,000 and it was again hit in the room at $80,000. At $85,000 the competition narrowed to two phone bidders with it bouncing back and forth to $100,000. The chandelier appeared to be ready to sell, until a new phone bidder hit the lot at $110,000, with it selling that bidder's way for $129,250.

The rare Charles Rolfhs desk was up a few lots later and once again the crowd was ready for some serious action. The desk, estimated at $50/70,000, was carved in 1900 and marked with a signed and number on a Rohlfs paper label. The piece was in exceptionally clean condition and needed, in the words of one collector who thoroughly looked the piece over, "no excuses." In original finish with original green varnished drawer interiors, the swivel based desk even retained the original fabric on the desk interior.

Bidding opened to the floor at $40,000 with the telephones hitting the lot immediately. Robert Kaplan, a partner in Manhattan Arts and Crafts dealers Cathers and Dembrosky, countered with a bid from the side of the room and it was off to the races with the action never slowing until it hammered at $165,000 selling to Kaplan. The final price paid for the desk, including premium, was $193,875. When asked if the desk would be seen in their booth at The Winter Antiques Show, Beth Cathers commented that would not as it was purchased for a client.

Another piece of furniture in the sale that was expected to do well was the cover lot, a Gustav Stickley inlaid side table. The rare table with Nouveau-style pewter and copper inlay, had shoe feet with a cross stretcher and a broad overhanging top. Speculation regarding finish hurt the piece, although Rago's maintained that it was in original finish with an extremely thin protective coating of shellac on top that had been applied many years ago. That, however, was enough to scare bidders as the piece, estimated at $70/100,000, was bought in without an opening bid of $60,000.

"Wood did pretty good overall," stated Mr Rago, with one lot, a rare Gustav smoker's cabinet, surprising nearly everyone in the crowd. When the lot appeared at Rago's, the auctioneer commented that he glanced at it and said "Oh great, another generic smoker's cabinet." Upon further inspection, Mr Rago realized that it was in fact a Gustav piece in original finish and dark color. Cataloged as an "extremely rare and early chalet smoker's cabinet circa 1901," the piece was given a presale estimate of $8/12,000. Bidding on the lot took off as it opened at $6,000 with two people in the room chasing the lot. It moved rapidly to the $16,000 mark, where it stalled until a new bidder jumped in. It was off to the races once again with it finally selling to a buyer in the room for $37,687.

Another lot to do well was a Gustav keyed and tenoned table with a Grueby tile top. The circa 1902 table sold between estimates to a telephone bidder for $26,437.

A selection of pottery included a SEG bowl with stylized floral decoration that sold at 21,150, a Grueby gourd-shaped vase with ridged cylindrical neck in a veined matte green glaze, $11,750, and a Grueby vase with carved leaves and flowers executed by Florence Liley, $8,222.

Prices include the 17.5 percent buyer's premium charged.