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Rick Kaplan has been a friend of mine for over 40 years. He owns Treasureseeker Auctions, LLC, in Pasadena, CA, specializing in more affordable items in the Art Nouveau & Art Deco world. They held a Pre-Summer Antiques & Decorative Arts Sale on June 14, 2020. Following are a few of the more notable results.

The top lot of the decorative arts items in the sale was #123A, a pair of large, 21½” tall, Art Deco silvered-bronze wall sconces, circa 1925, by Georges Gori (French). They sold within their estimate of $4,000 – $6,000, realizing $6,400, including buyer’s premium.

A rare Daum Nancy miniature Rain vase, 1½”, also sold within its estimate of $1,500 – $2,000, realizing $2,304, including buyer’s premium. The market for Daum Nancy miniature vases has been cool for a few years, so $2,304 is a pretty good result for today’s market.

An original French Art Nouveau lamp with a lovely Gallé shade, circa 1900, lot #108, sold within its estimate of $1,500 – $2,000, realizing $2,048, including buyer’s premium.

Most major auction houses will not accept your items if they’re under $10,000 each, so you might consider consigning to Rick’s auction. Write to him at info@treasureseekerauction.com.

For the complete results of the sale, click here. You will have to sign in (free) to see the prices.

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Treadway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, held a diverse Decorative Arts auction on June 14, 2020. The sale included pottery, glass, furniture, lamps and metalware. Following are a few of the more notable results.

The top lot of the sale was a Tiffany Studios 20″ Dragonfly table lamp, sold as lot #116. I would call it an unusual, not very attractive example. There were too many colors that didn’t work well together — blue geometric bands at the bottom and top; reddish dragonflies; brownish-olive background; green jewels; and flat, orange eyes. Personally I wouldn’t have been interested even at a substantially lower price. It sold below its estimate of $55,000 – $65,000, realizing $62,500, including buyer’s premium.

A moderately strong price was paid for lot #107, a Tiffany 10″ diameter gold decorated Favrile shade. It realized $13,000, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $7,000 – $9,000. Makes perfect sense to me. When a Favrile lamp falls and breaks, the shade is destroyed and the base remains. It means there are many more bases than shades in existence today. So when a shade comes up for sale by itself, everyone wants it, especially a nice example like this.

The Handel reverse-painted lamp market has been in a decline for quite a few years, maybe even decades. But what is still buoyant is anything that is Arts & Crafts. Treadway lot #119 was a Handel overlay lamp in the Cattail design, on a very nice bulbous tree-trunk base. It fits the mold of Arts & Crafts design, so it works well in a Mission style-home. It sold within its estimate, realizing $13,750, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $9,000 – $12,000.

For the complete results of the sale, click here.

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Some of you may recall that I wrote a blog on August 15, 2016 entitled A visit with John Atzbach at his museum of Shelby and Lamborghini automobiles. Click here if you would like to (re)read it. Due to health reasons, John has decided to sell everything.

The automobile collection, including 12 Shelbys and Lamborghinis and 18,000 pieces of memorabilia, will all be sold at Mecum’s Auction in Indianapolis, IN, from July 10-18, 2020. Everything will be sold without reserve except for the most important lot of the sale, the 1965 competition Shelby GT350 R-Model. This single car’s sale is expected to exceed $2 million, while the whole sale is expected to exceed $10 million. It will be an exciting auction.

Following are several links to mecum.com with extensive information about the collection, including a podcast in link 5 and a video in link 6.

Link 1, The Automobile Collection

Link 2, Memorabilia

Link 3, Memorabilia

Link 4, Memorabilia

Link 5 Podcasts (choose #9 for the Atzbach Collection)

Link 6 A video of the collection

To the best of my knowledge, the Imperial Russian collection will also be sold at auction. I’ll update that information as soon as I have it.

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Heritage Auctions, Dallas, TX, held a Tiffany, Lalique and Art Glass auction on June 4, 2020. The sale was diverse, with mostly middle-of-the-road items, but also included some important English cameo glass by George Woodall. Sales totaled $1,256,387, including buyer’s premium.

The top lot of the sale, #79087, was the cover lot — an English cameo, hand-carved vase by Thomas Webb’s most important artist, George Woodall. Entitled The Origin of Painting, it was signed by Woodall and dated 1887. The result was a little weaker than hoped. It sold just below its estimate of $100,000 – $150,000, realizing $118,750, including buyer’s premium.

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The second best result of the sale was realized by lot #79001, the first lot of the sale. It was a decent, but not exceptional, Tiffany Studios 17″ diameter Dragonfly table lamp, on a simple base. It sold for $57,500, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $30,000 – $50,000.

Lot #79101 was an exceptionally fine Gallé 6″ marquetry vase with purple and green cyclamen flowers, signed Emile Gallé Étude 12 (Étude means study). It doubled its high estimate of $12,000, realizing $30,000, including buyer’s premium. I tried to buy this vase, but it went way beyond what a dealer could reasonably pay.

In my opinion, the strangest result of the sale was for lot #79040, a standard Tiffany Favrile trumpet vase. I sell these all day for $1,000 – $1,500 and this one realized $12,500, including buyer’s premium, against an estimate of $700 – $900. What the ??? The only possible explanation is a note accompanying the lot (Please note that this lot is depicted in a Jenness Cortez painting, commissioned by the consignor of this lot in 2008 and to be offered in Heritage Auction’s American Art auction on July 1, 2020.)

For the complete results of the sale, click here. You will have to sign in (free) to see the prices.

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Marshall Fields in Chicago was a very high end department store at the beginning of the 20th century. One department had the Tiffany Room, complete with items directly from Tiffany Studios in New York. One of my daydreams is to time travel back to visit. How exciting would that be?

Take a close look at the photo, first at the table on the left. You have to use your imagination for the colors, but some details are discernable. Take the tallest flowerform vase in the right corner of the table. It has a decorated foot with radial stripes. That’s a real rarity and is sometimes seen with a strong green color. It has to be a knockout in person. The entire table is filled with magnificent flowerform vases.

Can’t tell for sure, but the wall cabinet on the right seems to have simpler items, like all gold Favrile vases. The table in the back also seems to have some simpler, lower-priced items. I do love the mirror on the right. I can’t tell for sure which model it is, but I’ve had several mirrors over the years and they’re all wonderful.

The leaded glass windows are very nice, but the one in the upper right center is special. It appears to be Flowers, Fish and Fruit, which is now on permanent exhibition at the Baltimore Museum of Art. When you visit the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show you could also visit the museum. The show is now scheduled for November, but I don’t think it will happen this year. Let’s hope the show is held in August, 2021, so you can visit both.

Thanks to Paul Doros for permission to use the photos.

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