Stohlman Collection Yields Top Lot At Green Valley

On April 30, enthusiasts from across North America gathered at Green Valley Auctions for its annual spring cataloged sale of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century glass and lighting.

The firm had secured the collection of the late Dr Martin and Elizabeth Stohlman of Chevy Chase, Md., pioneering collectors and researchers of John Frederick Amelung's short-lived (1785-1795) New Bremen Glassmanufactory in Frederick County, Md.

Living 30 miles from the Amelung property, the couple spent many weekends in the 1930s and 1940s gathering and studying shards from the site. The collection that they assembled had been the focus of several publications, including the October 1948 issue of The Magazine Antiques, "Excavating and Collecting Amelung Glass," and the January 1964 issue of The Antiques Journal, "Amelung Glass-works," both authored by the Stohlmans. In addition, numerous examples from the collection had been on loan to the Corning Museum of Glass and the Maryland Historical Society.

The sale began at 9 am sharp with a large in-house crowd, many of whom attended primarily for the Stohlman collection. Phone participants and some 1,700 absentee bids also vied for 140 lots per hour. The auction totaled $406,421.

The lot that drew the most interest from the Stohlman collection proved to be the highest-selling piece in the sale: a free-blown candlestick in bubbly pale yellow green glass featured a deep cylindrical socket, hollow baluster-form shaft with lower gadroon decoration and circular domed foot with folded rim. It was one of the Stohlmans' favorite pieces and one of only three recorded examples. It quickly surpassed the $5/8,000 estimate, eventually selling to the phone for $20,900.

A pale green jelly glass pattern molded with 18 ribs swirled to the right was cataloged as late Eighteenth or early Nineteenth Century American, possibly New Bremen. After a long battle between the phone and several floor bidders, it was knocked down to $4,620 ($300/500). Another lot that was obviously bolstered by the fact that it had been exhibited at Corning and published in The Magazine Antiques, along with its possibly Amelung attribution, was lot 170, a seemingly normal looking free-blown and molded square snuff bottle in a strong medium green. Standing a little under 5 inches high, it was undamaged with only a hint of wear, and flew to $2,530 ($200/300).

The collection of shards that the Stohlmans had gathered in the 1930s and 1940s at the Amelung factory site was placed at the end of their portion of the catalog. Made up of 100s of colored and colorless fragments of tableware, along with window and bottle glass, the lot drew both institutional and scholarly interest, eventually selling to the phone for $3,410.

The remaining 775-plus lots of the auction were made up of the Sydney S. Baker collection of Westfield, N.Y.; selections from the collections of Sylvia Applebee Lyon and Ken Lyon and Ken Depew; lighting from the collection of C. Robin Turner of Chatham, Mass.; and pieces deaccessioned by the Jones Museum of Glass & Ceramics.

Among examples of American pattern-molded glass from the Lyon collection, a brilliant cobalt blue example of the paneled vase, circa 1840, featured 13 flutes instead of the usual 12. It stood 75/8 inches high and was undamaged except for a minute nick on the lower edge of the rim, which contributed to its final price of $6,050.

Leading the way in the free-blown category was a fine lily pad decorated quart jug in strong aquamarine from the Baker collection. This New York State-attributed lot was nearly identical to an example in the collection of the Henry Francis du Pont Winterthur Museum. Baker had purchased this jug for $500 in 1956 from dealers Abraham & May, and despite a minor annealing line beside the lower handle terminal, it sold to the phone for $11,000.

Early cut glass from the Pittsburgh District drew interest in this sale, possibly due to recent exhibit of Bakewell glass at Pittsburgh's Frick Art and Historical Center and the accompanying catalog by Arlene Palmer. Headlining this section was a Strawberry Diamonds and Fans kerosene lamp in two sections, which may have been produced for Bakewell's exhibit at Philadelphia's Centennial Exposition in 1876. It sold for $2,420.

Colored flint pressed glass offerings produced two contested lots. An elongated loop with bisecting lines vase, in an unrecorded and possibly unique deep ruby with milky striations, was a recent discovery for a New England picker. At 67/8 inches high, this specimen was the largest size produced by the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company and other firms in the mid Nineteenth Century. It sold to a New York City collector on the phone for $7,700.

A pair of brilliant deep peacock green vases in the Bigler pattern stood slightly over 9 inches high and had been recently discovered by an estate appraiser in a small Florida collection of "green glass." It was purchased for $10,550 by a Midwestern collector on the phone.

Boston & Sandwich Glass Co. cut-overlay banquet lamps, 1860-75, deaccessioned by The Jones Museum of Glass & Ceramics, $6,050 and $9,900.

A small grouping of flint early American pattern glass from the Baker collection included a rare Comet water pitcher. Measuring 10 inches high overall, this is the first recorded example with additional cut decoration on the neck panels. Probably a product of the Boston & Sandwich Glass Company, it sold for $3,740 to the phone.

The lighting portion of the sale was headlined by nine lamps deaccessioned by the Jones Museum, formerly in the collection of Dorothea Setzer. Two Boston & Sandwich cut overlay banquet lamps, both with double step marble bases, were offered first. A teal green to colorless example sold just above its low estimate at $6,050, and a blue cut to colorless example sold just above its high estimate at $9,900, both to the same phone bidder.

The last sections of the catalog were made up of pressed glass, including toys, lacy tableware, salts and cup plates. The top toy lot was a Boston & Sandwich opalescent paneled ewer and basin that had made an appearance on Martha Stewart's television show in 2002. It was from the Ken Depew collection and sold to an absentee bidder for $3,850.

From a selection of more than 130 lots of salts was the second BF-1d (all ID numbers refer to Neals Pressed Glass Salt Dishes of the Lacy Period) Basket of Flowers salt in an unlisted color to be sold by the firm in the past year. This example, from the Elizabeth R. Clatterbuck collection, was in a peacock green, a rare color in the 1830-1840 period. After a battle between two phone bidders, it sold for $8,800, the second highest price ever paid for a lacy salt. The next highest-priced salt in the sale was a light green JY-2a Jersey Glass Co., which , after a heated battle between the phone and the floor, sold on the floor to dealers Gary and Diana Stradling for $6,325.

Green Valley's next glass auction will take place September 22-25. Prices quoted include a ten percent buyer's premium.