PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Items produced by Tiffany Studios are always a highlight at Fontaine’s fine and decorative arts auctions. Fontaine’s Sept. 12 auction was no exception with over 100 fine Tiffany pieces crossing the block. The expected highlight of the sale was a Tiffany Studios Oriental Poppy chandelier, which was consigned by a client from Maryland, who had inherited it decades earlier and finally decided to part with it. Sure enough, bidders were eagerly anticipating when that lot crossed the block, and it attracted multiple internet and phone bidders before landing at $665,500 with the buyer’s premium. Absentee and Internet live bidding was available through LiveAuctioneers.
“This was just a good, strong sale overall that totaled $2.4 million, and the star was this chandelier, which had such bold and beautiful coloring, from vibrant red-orange Oriental poppy flowers rising out of green stems, to the rich green-brown patina of the fixture itself,” said John Fontaine, owner of Fontaine’s Auction Gallery.
The parade of fine lamps by Tiffany Studios continued with an Elizabethan table lamp, having a 22-inch-diameter octagonal shade with red, green, amber and blue glass jewels, which sold comfortably within estimate for $90,750, and a curtain border floor lamp with a 24-inch-diameter shade having an amber-yellow glass geometric tapering brick pattern over a mottled green and amber diamond pattern. It went just over its high estimate at $63,525.
Besides Tiffany, fine lighting by other renowned makers was well represented, led by a Duffner & Kimberly Louis XIII table lamp, having a hexagonal shade with multicolored scrolling arabesques, that went just over the high estimate at $33,275. The lamp was shipped to Fontaine’s from Barcelona, Spain.
A grouping of four Daum Nancy bronze wall sconces with three arms in leaf and berry motif decoration earned $25,410.
Among paintings and fine art, Diego Rivera (Mexican, 1886-1957) was well received in the auction with his watercolor and gouache on paper, Mineros (Miners), that fetched $29,040, depicting miners coming out of a mine with the town of Ayala in the background.
Gustav Stickley is always a hit with buyers and selling well over its estimate was an early Gustav Stickley dinner gong, circa 1902, that achieved $26,620, while an L. & J.G. Stickley dining room set, although refinished, was still a good buy for $19,360.
Several lots did well over their estimates, including a Pottier & Stymus Egyptian Revival pedestal, having an ebonized finish and paint decorations of trumpeted flowers, flora and round medallions, which soared over its $2,000-$3,000 estimate to hit $24,200.
An English mahogany bracket clock having a silvered dial with black Roman hour numerals that more than tripled high estimate to realize $21,175.
Rounding out the auction was an Art Deco console table attributed to Edgar Brandt, in wrought iron and bronze with an inset marble top, which realized $15,730. A J.H. Belter laminated rosewood center table with swirling pierce carved filigree in the apron over long cabriole legs sold for $12,100, and a French Industrial “Quarter Deck” nautical-themed clock that went just over high estimate to earn $10,587.
For more information contact Fontaine’s Auction Gallery at 413-448-8922.
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