At William Bunch, a $126,560 Floor Lamp Is in Rare Form

CHADDS FORD, PENN.

:A Tiffany Studios curtain border floor lamp sold for $126,560 at a recent William H. Bunch Auctions & Appraisals sale, setting a record for the form.

The sale totaled nearly $750,000 in an event marked by spirited competition from eBay Live Auction bidders from 46 states, the District of Columbia and 22 foreign countries.

But the action for the circa 1910 lamp with gilt-bronze stand, pigtail finial and green geometric dome over gold-colored border was all on the phones. Seven bidders duked it out after the bidding opened at $77,000, already past the high end of estimates, with a collector from Florida prevailing.

The previous record of $107,550 was set December 10, 2002, at Sotheby's.

"It was a terrific lamp, one that comes along only rarely, and I'm not surprised it made six figures," said auctioneer Bill Bunch.

Two more commonly found Tiffany lamps consigned by the same New Jersey collector also brought good prices. A three-light lily bronze table lamp with shades in a pulled green and gold feather design garnered $8,050; a statuary bronze counterbalance floor lamp with Favrile shade realized $11,162.

The collection also included 27 lots of art glass, highlighted by a 14-inch Daum Nancy acid cut vase depicting a marshy lake landscape at $6,497.

Other luminaries in lighting included a pair of Handel reverse painted table lamps with black floral banding beneath a gold crown that realized $4,312. A Handel reverse painted table lamp with floral paneled shade on a white metal base fetched $5,062, while a reverse painted Pairpoint Puffy table lamp with ivory and purple roses and birds, signed Stratford shade and copper patinated base made $4,312.

Two neo-Egyptian sconces with cobras from a Detroit theater charmed $4,025 from a dealer's wallet.

In a duel between bidders on eBay and the phone, a carved light green jade Phoenix bird lamp with a silk shade on an ornate base soared to $4,888. Another jade lot that included two dark green jade boxes with light green carved inset lids brought $4,600.

In art, American painters and printmakers attracted top dollar. "Ruffed Grouse," a watercolor on paper by Frank W. Benson (Massachusetts, 1862-1951) flew past the $20,000 high estimate to $40,250, going to a New England gallery.

"Center Valley Mill," an oil on canvas by Walter E. Baum (Bucks County, Penn., 1884-1956), sold for $23,000 to an eBay bidder. Picked up by the consignor at a yard sale, two small Impressionist paintings by "Philadelphia 10" artist Susette Schultz Keast (1892-1932) attracted big prices with "Rittenhouse Flower Market" fetching $12,075 and "Tall Trees" bringing $6,900.

Two matted and framed black and white etchings of dogs by Connecticut artist Marguerite Kirmse (1885-1954) were expected to fetch $2/300 each. But bidding by pet lovers pushed up prices, with the winner paying $1,840 for "Scotch and Water" and $1,035 for "When Winter Comes," a rendering of three spaniels in the snow. "They went to a collector whose wife sent him to the sale to buy them," Mr Bunch recalled.

Brown furniture fared well, with a three-door mahogany bookcase, likely Horner, making $7,762. A mahogany Georgian-style linen press realized $4,025, triple the estimate. An elaborately carved Victorian hall bench with crouched winged griffins under the arms and a lion's head on the back panel sold for $1,955.

An outstanding early Nineteenth Century basket pattern trapunto quilt realized $10,062, going to a dealer in Lancaster County. A man's 18K yellow gold Patek Philippe wrist watch sold for $6,325 to a dealer in Maine. A Chelsea yacht wheel ship's clock, estimated at $2,3/3,500, sailed to $11,500, propelled by nine phone bidders.

Stars in silver included a set of four weighted English candlesticks by E. Birmingham & Co. with detachable bobeches, which burned past the $4/600 estimate to $1,610. A 19-inch-tall silver pierced floral and wreath vase marked "Alice Belin, 1915" made $1,725 against a $400 estimate. An English-made silver plate on copper roast cover on base attracted a bounty of bidders, going for $2,645 to the trade. "It was the nicest roast cover I've ever seen, just extraordinary," the auctioneer said.

The winner bid to the tune of $6,325 for a restored Wurlitzer 1015 jukebox, with a circa 1972 Bally Fireball - the pinball machine in the rock opera Tommy - doubling estimates to make $1,610. Bidding for a carved and painted horse's head with glass eyes and an articulated mouth galloped past the $6/800 estimate to $2,990.

Prices reported include 15 percent buyer's premium.