Rago $1.6M auction had cabinets, curios to fill them

LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. – Rago Arts and Auction Center’s three-day auction on Sept. 20-22 resulted in total sales of $1,625,484. The top lot in Sunday’s Great Estates sale was a life-size bronze sculpture of a horse by Victor Delfin, which sold for $32,500. LiveAuctioneers.com provide Internet live bidding.

“Each Great Estates auction is a new cabinet of curiosities. This auction’s cabinet had a lot to recommend it, from arms and armor to Asian artifacts, fine art to Royal Worcester, Elizabethan furniture to books and ephemera. We had robust bidding on all but a few lots and hammered far above the low estimate,” said Tom Martin, who directs the Great Estates auctions.

A collection of arms and armor from Claude Offrey Jr., kicked off the sale, exceeding the projected high estimate by 30 percent. The George Gallup Collection of Elizabethan furnishings, portraits and other notable property beat its mean estimate by 23 percent. There was much interest in books, including several first editions, and a 19th century hand-illuminated Koran, which brought $10,000. Overall, books surpassed their high estimate by a 28 percent. Coins and currency also did well, exceeding the high estimate by 11 percent. Some of the strongest results in the auction were achieved by the lots of fine art: a Flemish school painting sold for $23,750; a Susan Catherine Moore Waters, oil on canvas of a cat watching squirrels fetched $16,250; and a Jean Jacques Feuchere bronze sculpture of a Satanic figure brought $21,250. An exceptional Harry Davis for Royal Worcester two-handled, lidded vase sold for $15,000 against an estimate of $3,000-$5,000. A Chinese altar table, saw spirited bidding, much of it by a Chinese clientele, finally bringing $22,500 against its $500-$700 estimate. The D.W. Griffith Birth of a Nation statuette brought $8,750, with phone bidding from antique shop owners, filmmakers and private collectors.

Additional highlights included a Tiffany & Co. billiard clock, which sold for $18,750; an English plate mail armor, 17th/18th century, $13,750; Elizabethan four-poster bed, $10,000; and a Vienna bronze Orientalist lamp, $9,375.

Friday’s unreserved highlights were an Asian decorative group (lot 582), $ 6,875; a Gustav Stickley dresser, $4,688; an Aesthetic movement chandelier, $3,250; a George Ohr teacup and vase, $3,125; George Ohr small bowl with in-body twist, $1,875; an RCA Victrola, $2,125; a Louis XVI-style king-size bed, $1,875; an L. & J.G. Stickley rocking chair, $1,750; and a Arts and Crafts paneled center table, $1,750.

Saturday’s highlights, also unreserved, were Mon Levinson’s Pleiglas contruction titled Three Stacked Circles, $8,125; Paul Evans, Directional, Cityscape cabinet, $6,875; Kurt Weiser, ceramic charger, $2,125; Finn Juhl, Niels Vodder, Judas dining table, $6,875; George Nakashima, Mira chair, $4,375; Mastercraft, pair of illuminated vitrines, $3,500; an Adrian Pearsall credenza, $3,375; Leonora Carrington (attr.) Cocodrilos Sueños I / Crocodile Dreams I, $3,250; style of Jean Michel Frank side chair, $3,250; Bjorn Wiinblad, Rosenthal partial Magic Flute porcelain dinner service, $2,875.

Rago Auctions will hold the next Great Estates Auction on Dec. 7, 2013 and Discovery Auction on Jan. 17-18. Consignments are now being accepted for all auctions: 609.397.9374 or info@ragoarts.com.

Click here to view the fully illustrated catalog for this sale, complete with prices realized.

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ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

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