The top lot was this circa 1910 Tiffany Studios Daffodil lamp, 20 inches in diameter, that set a world auction record price of $131,150 ($60/80,000).
Review by Andrea Valluzzo
GENESEO, N.Y. — Two auction sessions over two days saw a wealth of fine art and antiques, including Arts and Crafts material, command attention and strong prices at Cottone Auctions September 23-24. The midweek sales, that together attained $1.9 million, began with a 220-lot single-owner sale of American Arts and Crafts from the collection of Dr Bruce A. Austin of Pittsford, N.Y., which totaled $700,000. The second day was the Fine Art & Antiques auction comprising 277 lots from estates and private collections, which earned nearly $1.2 million.
“There was very good interest in both days,” said auctioneer Matt Cottone. “On day one — Bruce was well known in the Arts and Crafts field, and a friend to many. Being a single-owner sale certainly helped. The second day had great participation as well with great results.”
The top lot overall was a Tiffany Studios Daffodil table lamp that set a new world auction record price at $131,150 in the second session. Made in New York circa 1910, this lamp was a number 1497 straight-stem version of the Daffodil, with a 20-inch leaded shade on a patinated bronze base. Tiffany is said to have been fond of daffodils, creating at least ten shade variants of this motif.
This Edward F. McCartan life-size bronze of Pan, cast by Gorham, achieved $61,000 ($20/40,000).
The record was for this straight-stem version, not an earlier Art Nouveau-inspired curving-leaf model that carried the same design number. Cottone’s example surpassed the $125,000 paid for the same model at Sotheby’s in 2019, previously the highest price paid at auction.
The September 23 session featured the collection of a figure well known in Western New York, the publishing world and among collecting circles. Austin, who passed away last year, was a professor emeritus at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he founded its School of Communication and chaired it for 15 years; later he directed RIT Press. He was as much a scholar of the Arts and Crafts movement in Western New York as a collector of it, and bidders followed his preference for the aforementioned documented example.
Leading his collection was a Dirk van Erp hand-hammered copper and mica table lamp, circa 1910, that achieved $16,470. It had descended in the family of its original owners and sold at Cottone in March 2024 before Austin bought it.
This rare early Gustav Stickley bow-arm Morris chair of about 1904, model number 336 of 2,340, with reverse-tapered legs and the red “Als Ik Kan” decal, brought $15,860 ($4/6,000).
Furniture by Gustav Stickley also performed well, led by a rare, early (circa 1901) bow-arm Morris chair, model number 336 of 2,340, with reverse-tapered legs and the red “Als Ik Kan” decal, that brought $15,860. A diminutive two-door bookcase made $12,810, while a model number 369 spindle Morris chair took $10,980 and a work cabinet went for $10,675.
Grueby Pottery, the heart of the collection, realized $156,709 across 28 lots. A squat vase with leaves and buds led the grouping when it sold for $12,505, followed by a two-color oil lamp base by Ruth Erickson at $10,980 and a 23-inch-tall tooled-leaf floor vase for $10,370.
The best of the Roycroft on offer was a single-door oak bookcase with a carved crest, which made $13,725. Two Roycroft model number 080 magazine pedestals brought $10,065 and $9,760, and a bird’s-eye maple dresser made for the Roycroft Inn went out at $8,235.
A Charles P. Limbert copper and slag glass Lighthouse table lamp realized $9,150, and the auction’s opening lot, a Joseph Heinrichs humidor with Native American motifs, took $7,320.
This mottled green and brown vase by Charles Fergus Binns was an assuming piece from Austin’s collection that bidders drove to $8,296 ($1/1,500).
From other Western New York makers, a mottled green and brown vase by Charles Fergus Binns, the first director of the New York State School of Clay-Working and Ceramics at Alfred University, brought $8,296.
The next day’s fine art and antiques auction, saw just more than two dozen Tiffany Studios lamps cross the block. In addition to the top lot, highlights included a Tiffany Studios Damascene floor lamp and a Handel Peacock lamp that each brought $15,250.
From Ruth deLorraine’s collection of Frederick Carder-era Steuben, the top lot was an acid cut-back vase of alabaster cased over cerise ruby, carved in two-color cameo relief, at $6,344.
Edward F. McCartan’s bronze sculpture of Pan, modeled circa 1913 and cast by Gorham, sold for $61,000. At 56 inches tall, this was the life-size example, the largest size in which the figure was cast, and McCartan wrote to the Albright Art Gallery in 1922 that he had limited the casts to six. This cast was shown at the Albright in 1916 and passed from the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy to John D. Larkin, Elbert Hubbard’s brother-in-law, for the gardens of his home, Larkland, on Lincoln Parkway. It was sold from the Buffalo, N.Y., estate of Patricia Forman Robb.
This Paul Louis Bouchard oil on canvas, “A Moscow Street in Winter,” went out at $40,260, well over its $8/12,000 estimate.
Paul Louis Bouchard’s oil on canvas “A Moscow Street in Winter,” circa 1900-10, led European paintings at $40,260. Edouard Cortès’ “La Place de la Madeleine,” with Rehs Galleries provenance, sold for $24,400. Two paintings by Yvonne Canu sold, with “Côte d’Azur” at $10,370 and “Vase with Flowers” at $8,235.
Among American paintings, Alexis Jean Fournier’s “View of Niagara Falls” brought $10,370 and Rochester, N.Y., painter Carl W. Peters’ “Winter Landscape” made $7,930.
In the Modern section, Joseph Floch’s signed 1944 oil painting “Tapestry” made $36,600 and Tetsuo Ochikubo’s “Insight into Nature” took $24,400; both were deaccessioned by a private New York State institution. A second Floch, “Three Figures,” brought $17,080, and a second Ochikubo, “Echoes of the Valley,” earned $19,520.
Three Andy Warhol screenprints brought $94,550 together: “Hot Dog Bean” at $41,480, “Mao” at $33,550 and “Jacqueline Kennedy II” at $19,520. Charles Ephraim Burchfield’s 1941 watercolor “Winter Scene,” painted for Dr Jim and Miriam Ehinger, went out at $33,550, and his early watercolor “Bow-Cloud, June 26, 1916” sold for $7,930. Alexander O. Levy’s “Six O’Clock” made $7,930.
Leading three screenprints by Andy Warhol was “Hot Dog Bean,” from Campbell’s Soup II, 1969, which brought $41,480 ($30/50,000).
Three George Nakashima pieces brought $58,255 together: a free-edge slab coffee table at $31,720, a cushion armchair and ottoman at $17,690, and an end table with shelf, $8,845. Among Wendell Castle fiberglass pieces, “Blue Noon (Prototype 2),” 2008, led the pack when it made $21,350, while “You’ll have to wait till yesterday” took $15,860 and “Destiny,” 2010, realized $11,895. A Castle Molar dining table brought $11,895.
Prices include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. Cottone Auctions’ next sale will be October 28-29.
For information, www.cottoneauctions.com or 585-243-1000.
