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This chrome frame armchair with pony skin seat and back is by Le Corbusier. Photo courtesy Rago's.

Rago channels eclectic treasures to Discovery Auction

This chrome frame armchair with pony skin seat and back is by Le Corbusier. Photo courtesy Rago's.
This chrome frame armchair with pony skin seat and back is by Le Corbusier. Photo courtesy Rago’s.

LAMBERTVILLE, N.J. – Great property comes to Rago’s with consignments destined for its high-end cataloged sales, but much arrives via its appraisal days, including jewelry, furniture, Americana, art, rugs, couture and ceramics. The wildly salable among this property goes up for bids twice yearly in Rago’s Discovery Auctions. The next such event will be Jan. 24 beginning at 10 a.m.

David Rago claims the upcoming Discovery Auction will be the best to date.

“The Discovery sales are the most fun we get to have all year. It’s the way great country auctions used to be, but with a way broader selection for people who want anything from Knoll furniture to photography by Ansel Adams, Pennsylvania redware to Cartier,” said Rago.

Rago’s never knows what will show up, but it’s always fresh to market. Another remarkable feature of the Discovery Auction is that the high bid always takes the prize; there are no reserves.

The Discovery Auction will open with more than 300 plus lots of Modern furnishings and design. Furniture lots include pieces by Charles Eames, Paul Evans, Le Corbusier, Eero Saarinan, T.H. Robsjohn-Gibbings, George Nelson, Vladimir Kagan, James Mont, Paul McCobb, John Widdicomb, Edward Wormley, Harry Bertoia, Richard Schultz, Gilbert Rohde, Achille Castiglioni, Isamu Noguchi, Hans Wegner and Yngve Ekstrom.

Also featured will be pottery, lighting and glass including pieces by Pillin, Otto and Vivika Heino, Charles Catteau for Boch Freres, WPA pieces, Royal Copenhagen, Clarice Cliff, Livio Seguso, Salviati, Gino Cenedese, Murano, Tapio Wirkala, Peter Bramhall and Leerdam.

Fine art will consist of traditional and contemporary work in many media by Edith Kuhnle, Segei Belik, Ralph Della-Volpe, Fletcher Benton, Claes Oldenburg, Kiki Smith, Eric Fischl, Ellsworth Kelly, Chaim Gross, Raphael Soyer, Robert McLoughlin, Leonard Baskin, John James Audubon, Edmund Martino, Carl Phillip Weber, Franz Josef Ponstingl and Lloyd Ney.

Antique and estate jewelry and watches will be sold. Rago said that he is proud to offer work by designers, Miriam Haskell, Taxco, Canavati Brothers, Gunnar Malmberg and Tiffany & Co. Customers will find Victorian to contemporary work in gold and silver, pearls, as well as gemstone collections, furs, perfume bottles and pocket watches.

A fine selection of early 20th century design will be sold. There will be Arts and Crafts furniture by Gustav Stickley, L.&J.G. Stickley, Stickley Brothers, Roycroft, Limbert and Harden. There is also a handsome collection of Stickley-style furniture by E.J. Audi, as well as Arts and Crafts smalls and lighting by Rookwood, Fulper, Ohr, Teco, Roycroft, Bradley & Hubbard and Handel. Art glass and art pottery by Moorcroft, Amphora, Lalique, Daum, Durand, Steuben, Moravian Tile Works, Dedham, Van Briggle, Hampshire, Roseville and Weller will also be offered.

Other areas of interest are Persian rugs; Asian and ethnographic items including work by Grace Chino, Inuit prints and Eskimo sculpture; Americana, including folk art, quilts, redware and weather vanes; an English bracket clock; Continental and English ceramics including Parianware, Royal Worcester, Lenox, Royal Doulton, Dresden porcelain; paperweights; a Terra Lux standing globe, Victorian and Georgian pieces. Toys, ephemera and a 1994 Jaguar XJS convertible round out the sale.

Exhibition preview of the Discovery Auction will be daily beginning Saturday, Jan. 17, through the morning of Saturday Jan. 24, at Rago Arts and Auction Center in Lambertville (near Princeton, N.J., and midway between New York City and Philadelphia). Hours are noon to 5 p.m. or by appointment.

Telephone, absentee, online bidding are available for those unable to attend. Doors open at 8 a.m. the day of the sale.

Printed catalogs are available free by calling 609-397-9374 or e-mailing a request to info@ragoarts.com. View a complete online catalog with color images at ragoarts.com beginning Jan. 9. For more information contact Rago’s Kristina Wilson: 609-397-9374, kristina@ragoarts.com.


ADDITIONAL LOTS OF NOTE

Kiki Smith (American, b. 1954) created this 1993 offset lithograph titled My Secret Business. (Provenance: the collection of the late Elliot Bartner, New Jersey, to benefit the rebuilding of his beloved synagogue which was heavily damaged by fire.) Photo courtesy Rago's.
Kiki Smith (American, b. 1954) created this 1993 offset lithograph titled My Secret Business. (Provenance: the collection of the late Elliot Bartner, New Jersey, to benefit the rebuilding of his beloved synagogue which was heavily damaged by fire.) Photo courtesy Rago’s.
Fine jewelry to be offered at Rago's Discovery Auction will be this ruby bee brooch in 14-karat gold.  Photo courtesy Rago's.
Fine jewelry to be offered at Rago’s Discovery Auction will be this ruby bee brooch in 14-karat gold. Photo courtesy Rago’s.
Rookwood artist Elizabeth Lincoln decorated this 7-inch Iris Glaze tapered vase with cherry blossoms. Photo courtesy Rago's.
Rookwood artist Elizabeth Lincoln decorated this 7-inch Iris Glaze tapered vase with cherry blossoms. Photo courtesy Rago’s.
A turned walnut stand holds a Terra Lux illuminated globe made in 1934. Photo courtesy Rago's.
A turned walnut stand holds a Terra Lux illuminated globe made in 1934. Photo courtesy Rago’s.