Phillip Roth estate items consigned to Litchfield’s July 20 auction

LITCHFIELD, Conn. – Litchfield County Auctions’ July 20 sale opens and features the estate of the American novelist Philip Roth, a preeminent figure in 20th-century literature. Absentee and Internet live bidding is available through LiveAuctioneers.

The nearly 800-lot auction also features the estate of Ines Bausili of Manhattan, the daughter of a prominent Argentinian family; the estate of Jo Sullivan Loesser, singer and the widow of the famed Broadway composer Frank Loesser; deaccessioned pieces from the Milbank Tweed art collection, further consignments from a fourth-generation gallery collection, and the estate of Rosalie Coe Weir, descended from members of the Smith & Wesson family and Jekyll Island Club as well as many other New York and Connecticut private collections.

Highlights of the Philip Roth Estate include his Olivetti 32 typewriter and two IBM Selectrics, a collection of Akari Noguchi lamps, Stendig Leather seating, numerous library tables and lamps, a hand-signed Maurice Sendak opera poster inscribed to Roth and Claire Bloom, a master proof copy of Philip Guston’s Poor Richard, a collection of Bruno Schulz prints, a JFK-Angry LBJ poster, a Topps 1963 Sandy Koufax baseball card, English and country antiques, hand-knotted carpets, and an unsigned oil portrait of the writer. Many of these pieces appear in photographs or articles about Roth as well as appearing in Roth’s own works.

Other highlights in the sale include an 18th century copper urn with an engraved 1788 inscription honoring Gen. George Washington, a Ghiso 18K gold cigarette box, a Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze Buddha from a Washington Connecticut estate together with other Asian pieces, a large and complete 19th century French faience dinner service purchased in Paris, a collection of hand-painted German porcelain plaques, an exceptional Ogden Pleissner fly fishing watercolor and other sporting art, a Tiffany tall case clock, pendant portraits attributed to Ammi Phillips, a fine copy of a Eugene Delacroix oil, high-end field cameras from Wisner and Zone VI, and an early 19th century life-size ship’s figurehead in original paint.

Additional lots include hand-knotted carpets, sterling silver, case furniture and seating, glass and porcelain, modern design, lighting, fine art and sculpture and antiques.

The auction will take place on Saturday. July 20, beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern Time.