Jeffrey S. Evans wraps up year with 3 successful sales
Nineteenth-century Tulip and Star stand lamp in an opalescent and cobalt blue font. October sale: $5,462. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates.
The firm will conduct auctions at the rate of one per month, in its gallery at 2177 Green Valley Lane in Mount Crawford. Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates specializes in 18th-to-20th-century glass and lighting, Virginia and Southern decorative arts, and all types of Americana, antiques and fine art.
“The year ended on a very positive note,” Jeffrey Evans, president of the firm that bears his name, said of the fourth quarter 2011 auctions. “Prices have stabilized, and the number of bidders and interest overall continues to increase. Collectors are recognizing the great values that are available in today’s market, and that certainly bodes well as we push forward into the future.”
LiveAuctioneers.com facilitates Internet live bidding at Evans’ auctions.
Evans said 2012 “promises to be a record year for us,” adding, “We already have three important lighting collections in house—possibly the best we’ve ever handled—plus we have some fabulous Americana lined up for the summer and enough early American glass to fill most of the year. On top of all that we will be hosting three national and two regional seminars.”
He observed that regional material, especially Southern, continues to draw strong interest and high prices. “Collectors are looking for objects that are relevant and have a story to tell, and are part of a larger narrative within their region,” he said, adding that high-end art glass, American free-blown glass, early bottles, firearms, coins and vintage comic books were all hot.
Following are some highlights from the October, November and December auctions. All prices quoted include a 15 percent buyer’s premium.
The Oct. 29 auction was a cataloged sale of 18th- and 19th-century lighting and glass. “The first half of the Meyer collection of early kerosene lighting was enthusiastically received,” Evans said (the second half will be sold in the April 12 lighting auction). “The Meyers were very particular about having each lamp set up with the proper burner, chimney and lamp shade.”
A cut overlay bear paw stand lamp, opaque with cut to cranberry pyriform font with white spiraling threads and a burner marked “Holmes, Booth & Haydens patented January 24, 1860,” went for $9,200. A mid-19th-century tulip and star stand lamp in a fiery opalescent and cobalt blue font with a fiery opalescent No. 40 variant base, patented in June 1862, made $5,462.
A Reed pyriform font stand lamp, opal cased colorless with cobalt blue spiraling threads and a brass stem, sporting a No. 1 fine line collar and fitted with an E. Miller No. 1 hinged lip burner, rose to $4,600; while a porcelain lithophane American Views lamp shade, cone form and displaying eight panels—four with cartouche patterns and four depicting genres—also hit $4,600.
A blown-molded, reverse colonial molasses can (or jug), sage green, with a tall tapered hexagonal body and applied hollow handle with a crude compressed lower curl, on a plain base, breezed to $2,685; and an Americo-Bohemian ruby stained beaker with American views, circular form, with panels showing the U.S. Capitol, Niagara Falls and Lake George, commanded $2,070.
The Nov. 12 event was Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates’ 21st annual fall cataloged auction of Americana and fine antiques, spotlighting Virginia and the South. Featured was deaccessioned material from the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.
“Great Southern material continues to bring strong prices, especially when it retains a strong provenance and is fresh to the market,” Evans said. “Just four lots in the sale carried reserves, and 100 percent of lots sold.”
A late 18th-century fine Virginia Chippendale walnut corner chair, attributed to the Isle of Wright Co. and having a yellow pine seat frame incised with “XII,” in excellent condition, realized $27,600; and a rare and important Augusta County, Va., cast-iron stove plate from the ironworks of Mark Bird and Henry Miller, 23 1/2 inches by 26 1/2 inches, rose to $12,650.
An Elizabeth Koch (Cook) fraktur by Peter Bernhart, Rockingham County, Va., dated Dec. 31, 1801, and with four birds, floral vines and tulips flanking an eight-point star, garnered $11,500; and a Winchester, Va., Kentucky-style flintlock long rifle, signed “J. Lauck,” with tiger maple stock, pierced brass patch box, silver thumb plate and eight-point star, rang out at $10,350.
A Northern Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, Federal walnut block-front bureau, made of pine and poplar secondary woods in the late 18th /early 19th century, 40 inches tall by 40 inches wide, fetched $9,200; and an 1829 needlework sampler by Elizabeth Ann Dyer, Franklin, Va., silk on linen, with eight lines of letters and a line of numerals flanked by baskets and a tree, hit $4,888.
The year ended on a light note with a Dec. 3 cataloged auction dedicated to vintage toys, Black Americana, country store and related items, featuring material from the Dorothy and Marshall Jenkins estate, Culpeper, Va.
“This was a really fun sale that drew keen interest from across the country,” Evans said. “Prices were strong, and toys especially drew a lot of bids.”
A lithograph on tin Prince Albert tobacco advertising sign, depicting “Chief Joseph, Nez Perce” in full headdress, circa 1913-14, with a related 1914 magazine ad featuring Chief Joseph, coasted to $8,050; and an I.W. Harper Whiskey reverse-painted glass advertising sign, 1904, depicting a grandfather and his three grandchildren, in the original oak frame, peaked at $2,760.
A Reed Capitol Building panorama toy, lithographed paper on wood, in good shape and honoring all the presidents from Washington to Chester A. Arthur (who served from 1881-85, around the time the toy was made), went for $3,335; and a set of Black Americana Marx Amos ’n’ Andy in Person” windup toys in the original box, each a walker-style figure, made $1,840.
A Capital Coffee painted-wood bin with a slant top and hinged lid, made for the Ohio Coffee Co. around the turn of the 20th century fetched $1,380.
Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates conducts monthly cataloged auctions in a wide range of categories, all of which are available for in-house, absentee and live Internet bidding facilitated by LiveAuctioneers.com.
Jeffrey S. Evans & Associayes is always accepting quality consignments for future auctions. To consign an item, an estate or collection, call them at (540) 434-3939 or email them at info@jeffreysevans.com. For more information on the companyand its schedule of upcoming auction events and seminars, log on to www.jeffreysevans.com.
Click here to view the fully illustrated catalogs for these sales, complete with prices realized.
ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE
Nineteenth-century Tulip and Star stand lamp in an opalescent and cobalt blue font. October sale: $5,462. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates.
Cut overlay bear paw stand lamp, opaque with cut to cranberry pyriform font. October sale: $9,200. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates.
Late 18th-century Virginia Chippendale walnut corner, or smoking, chair. November sale: $27,600. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates.
Rare and important Augusta County, Va., cast-iron stove plate. November sale: $12,650. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates.
Elizabeth Koch (Cook) fraktur by Peter Bernhart, Virginia, dated Dec. 31, 1801. November sale: $11,500. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates.
Lithograph on tin Prince Albert tobacco advertising sign, circa 1913-14. December sale: $8,050. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates.
Reed Capitol Building panorama toy, lithographed paper on wood, in good condition. December sale: $3,335. Image courtesy of Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates.
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