Arts & Crafts And Modern Does Well at Garth's Sale

DELAWARE, OHIO - Arts and Crafts along with an assortment of Modern and camp items were featured at an exciting Garth's sale on September 9. The auction was well attended and good prices were reported throughout the auction.

Featuring the collection of Tom and Marion McCollough, the auction also included a substantial shaving mug collection from the late Tom and Eileen Ashburn, along with select items from the collection of Paul B. Williams.

The McColloughs collection of Arts and Crafts materials had been formed after the couple purchased a defunct bank building in Glenford, Ohio, and began renovating it. The Glenford bank was one that had closed for a so-called "bank holiday" in the middle of the Depression, and never reopened its doors. The neoclassical red brick structure was home to many businesses over the years, and after perusing the building for many decades, the McColloughs finally bought and restored it as a home.

Their collection of Arts and Crafts materials fit well on the interior until the couple decided to sell the contents and their home recently as they were retiring to Florida.

"It was nice," commented Garth's vice president Amelia Jeffers of the sale, "We don't normally get enough material to have a dedicated Arts and Crafts sale. Things are usually just interspersed throughout other sales. We had a good crowd turn out, there was lots of phone bidding, and the Internet bidding was strong," she said.

The top lot of the auction came from the selection of art pottery as a Weller Sicard relief decorated plaque was offered. The unusual piece, with decoration of a woman with her hair in a bun, sold well above estimates, bringing $13,800.

A George Washington Maher Prairie School high chest originally made for the Maher-designed Rockledge House near Homer, Minn., attracted quite a bit of interest. In an original white paint with minor touchups, the four-over-four drawer chest sold for $8,050. A Lifetime oak eight-legged server exceeded estimates at $3,737, and a contemporary Prairie style settle made $3,105.

A "Steinlen" chromolithograph advertising poster "Lait pur Sterilise" attracted the attention of numerous bidders. The framed piece, printed in France by Verneau, depicted a girl sipping milk from a bowl with several anxious cats hovering around her feet. Bidding on the lot was brisk with it selling at $8,870.

A large oil on canvas depicting a village scene with a man leading horses and ducks through the street, signed by Leslie Cope, soared past the $300/400 presale estimates bringing $2,875. A pair of formed metal decorative floor lamps in a cattail and floral motif with "realistic original paint" sold for $2,760.

A selection of modern furniture included a couple pieces attributed to Reitveld with an armchair in multicolored bright paints selling at $345, while a toy chest on wheels with the same attribution brought $115.

The selection of occupational shaving mugs sold well with a mug with painted horse-drawn wagon bringing $517, a horse-drawn enclose carriage $402, a machinist working at a motor $402, and a mug with an accountant writing in a ledger brought $575.

Prices include the buyer's premium charged. For further information, contact Garth's at 2690 Stratford Road, Delaware OH 43015, or call 740-362-4771 or view Garths.com.