PITTSFIELD, Mass. – People are getting antsy for spring and in a buying mood. An early opportunity to whet one’s appetite for antiquing and spring redecorating will be at Fontaine’s Auction Gallery with an auction on Saturday, March 7, at 11 a.m. The sale runs the gamut from advertising items to Oriental rugs, good artwork, lighting, clocks, carved furniture and a whole lot more. Bid absentee or live online through LiveAuctioneers.
This auction will feature 385 lots of antiques and fine art, including Victorian, figural carved, and Midcentury furniture, 19th and 20th-century lighting, a large clock collection, gold and diamond jewelry, porcelains, fine silver, 19th and 20th Century paintings, Black Forest items, art glass and cameo glass, Asian and Russian items, bronze and marble statuary, weathervanes, country store and advertising items, music boxes, jukeboxes and Victrolas, violins, duck decoys, antique toys, slot machines and more.
“For this March auction, we’ve decided to show our fun side. Instead of showcasing one or two great objects, we are focusing overall on mid-range priced items that will have universal appeal across the board,” said John Fontaine, owner of Fontaine’s Auction Gallery. “We’ve got nice paintings, some really fine pieces of R.J. Horner furniture along with gorgeous pieces of jewelry and even a snazzy vintage Vespa scooter.”
Vintage advertising is a popular collectible and a colorful and folksy example that will cross the block is an H.P. Hood & Sons Milk porcelain sign (above; $5,000-$7,500) with vibrant, unfaded colors, 30 inches in diameter signed on the bottom, “American Valve & Enameling Corp.”
An expected high point of the auction will be an R.J. Horner 10-piece, figural carved mahogany dining set (below; $20,000-$30,000) composed of a sideboard, large banquet table with chairs, a china cabinet and a server. The set features figural nude maiden bust pilasters, shelf supports and table legs with matching pierced filigree carved crests. Another R.J. Horner piece crossing the block is an elaborate, two-part hall bench with mirror ($3,000-$5,000) with open carved cherub crest over a rectangular beveled mirror, framed in swirling filigree, 87 by 60 by 21 inches.
Fontaine’s is practically synonymous with good clocks and highlighting a large clock collection in this sale is a Walter Durfee, No. 5, oak nine-tube grandfather clock ($6,000-$8,000) with a large brass dial having a 12-inch silvered chapter ring, standing 100 inches tall.
Buyers fighting off cabin fever will find plenty in this auction to inspire a future decorating project from a 72-inch oak S-roll top desk ($4,000-$6,000) having inset panels on all sides, 57 by 72 by 38 inches, to a grouping of four antique Oriental rugs ($4,000-$6,000) having floral patterns with one prayer rug having a tree of life rising up in the center. Also on offer are a Pairpoint “Lansdowne” lamp with three sailing vessels pictured on the shade ($3,000-$5,000), 22½ inches tall, and a lithograph by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (French, 1864-1901), Moulin Rouge – La Goulue ($4,000-$6,000), 33 by 24 inches.
Rounding out the auction will be a French figural “Three Graces” clock ($1,800-$2,200) on a marble base and measuring 26 inches tall; an oil on canvas painting attributed to Franz Schrotzberg (Austrian, 1811-1889), depicting Leda and the Swan, estimated at $3,000-$5,000, and a 1963 Piaggio Vespa 150 Scooter ($2,500-$3,500) in baby-blue paint.
Jewelry will shine brightly here, including an assorted lot of yellow gold cufflinks and tie pins ($3,000-$5,000); a 14K white gold diamond halo ring with 13 mine-cut diamonds ($2,500-$3,500) and an 18K yellow gold, ruby, emerald and diamond necklace ($2,500-$3,500).
For details contact, John Fontaine at Fontaine’s Auction Gallery at 413-448-8922.
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