Tucked within a 2006 correspondence between two ceramics scholars was the retelling of a conversation that one of them had in the 1990s with Mrs Graham, the wife of the former owner of the Bakersville, N.C., Grahams Furniture and Hardware Store. It was concerning a devil face jug that sat in the window for the store’s grand opening in 1941. The account relates that Mrs Graham said the jug “didn’t grace the window of the hardware store for very long” because “local folks were either offended of the devil being on the jug or scared of it.” The jug would go on to be published in Zug’s Turners & Burners: The Folk Pottery of North Carolina. It is one of two known examples of Brown Pottery devil jugs made with North Carolina store advertising on it. One example is in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the other makes its way to the block at Crocker Farm’s upcoming sale. It joins other top lots from around the United States in this week’s picks.
CROCKER FARM
Sale Date: July 22, 2017
Lot 126
Exceedingly Rare and Important Stoneware Storefront Devil Face Jug
Incised below with the large, black-glazed advertising, “GRAHAMS FURNITURE / AND / HARDWARE STORE / BAKERSVLLE. (sic) NC”, Stamped “Brown Pottery / Arden, N C / Hand-Made”, Davis P. Brown (1895–1967), circa 1941, large-sized cylindrical jug, decorated with a hand-modeled and applied clay devil face; features include inward-curving horns, a large incised mustache and goatee, bulging eyes with pierced pupils, raised eyebrows with incised hair, a nose with applied wart, ears with incised interiors, and an open mouth with china teeth. Original surface of jug includes smears of light-brown glaze.
Estimate: $30/40,000
COPAKE AUCTION
Sale Date: July 22, 2017
Lot 723
Isaac Friedlander (American, 1890–1968)
Scarce original woodblock, dancing boys. 12½ by 10 inches.
Estimate: $5/700
BRUNK
Sale Date: July 21–22, 2017
Lot 604
Rare Kentucky Federal Cherry Sugar Desk
Nineteenth Century, upper case with panel doors opening to fitted interior with five drawers and paneled prospect door, hinged lid opening to sliding lid over divided compartment over two dovetailed drawers and tapered legs, poplar and yellow pine secondary, unusual through mortise construction, 56½ inches high.
Estimate: $15/25,000
KODNER
Sale Date: July 19, 2017
Lot 169
Attributed to Aleksander Makovskij, Russian (1869–1924)
“Emperor Nicholas II,” oil on panel centered in giltwood frame with Russian coat of arms relief. Artist signed and dated 1911 lower. Old Russian gallery label affixed on obverse side. Panel measures 25½ by 21½ inches.
Estimate: $20/30,000
BURCHARD GALLERIES
Sale Date: July 23, 2017
Lot 1001
Pairpoint Puffy Papillon Shade Boudoir Lamp
Patinated bronze tree trunk-form base, single socket fixture, no visible marks. Reverse painted puffy glass shade with butterflies and flowers, signed “The Pairpoint Corp’n, Patented July 9, 1907,” 8½ inches wide on shade.
Estimate: $1,500/2,000
COYLE’S AUCTION
Sale Date: July 18, 2017
1798 John Adams Signed Presidential Order
John Adams signed presidential document granting Captain J. Hooper of the schooner Dolphin permission to seize French vessels.
GARTH’S
Sale Date: July 22, 2017
Lot 402
Tiffany Sterling Silver Bowl
New York, circa 1907–47. Large shallow bowl with rams’ heads and garlands. “Tiffany & Co. Makers Sterling Silver 925-1000.” With pierced brass cover. 5 inches high.
Estimate: $3/5,000
SKINNER
Sale Date: July 20, 2017
Lot 113
Dragon-carved Powder Horn
Mounted to a wooden base, 5 inches high.
Estimate $800–$1,200
COWAN’S
Sale Date: July 29, 2017
Lot 247
Spanish Vargueno Chest on Chest
Spanish, Nineteenth Century. A vargueno chest on chest in walnut, of dovetailed construction, with bone and gilt decoration, the upper case having double-hasp lock with metal plated escutcheon, with pierced mountings decorating the exterior, highlighted by a burgundy velvet, the drop front resting on decorative slides and opening to a 12 drawer interior, each drawer having a bone paint-decorated face, centered by religious scenes flanked by twisted columns, the lower case having four fitted drawers bordered by chip-carved, geometrical panels in bone, each drawer with recessed decorative panels and carved wooden pulls, all rising on square pad feet; 59 inches high.
Estimate: $2/4,000
