Wonderful ‘Alice in Wonderland’ collection realized $230K at Potter and Potter

First edition of the 1923 Russian translation of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ done under a pseudonym by Vladimir Nabokov, which once belonged to the former Alice Liddell, aka the real-world Alice. It sold for $36,000 ($45,000 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter.

CHICAGO – The staying power of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – a story invented by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson to delight a small girl and her sisters in Oxford, England, and later published by him under the pen name of Lewis Carroll – cannot be denied. Stephen and Nancy Faber set out to build a book collection anchored by the beloved 19th-century story and its sequel, and ultimately consigned it to Potter & Potter Auctions. Offered on November 30, the collection earned a total of $230,000 and a sell-through rate of 92 percent. Absentee and Internet live bidding was provided through LiveAuctioneers.

The top lot overall was a first edition of the 1923 Russian translation of Alice, done under a pseudonym by Vladimir Nabokov. It once belonged to the former Alice Liddell, aka the real-world Alice, and was signed by her with her married name of Hargreaves in brown ink on the front pastedown. Estimated at $10,000-$15,000, it hammered for $36,000 and sold for $45,000 with buyer’s premium.

Two lots by two different creative legends, illustrator Barry Moser and Surrealist artist Salvador Dali, demonstrated how captivating the tale of Alice is and continues to be. Moser’s 1982 Pennyroyal Press version, which combined Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There into one volume had an estimate of $3,000-$5,000 and brought $6,500 ($7,800 with buyer’s premium). Dali’s take, produced in 1969 in a limited edition of 2,500, went for $6,000 ($7,500 with buyer’s premium).

Other standouts included a group of circa-1940s-1950s Pelham Puppets of Alice characters, which attained $3,000 ($3,750 with buyer’s premium) against an estimate of $400-$600, and two Alice-themed wooden jigsaw puzzles by the Vermont firm Stave Puzzles, one dating to 1991 and the other to 1997. Both estimated at $600-$800, the 1991 puzzle, which depicted a landscape view of Wonderland, earned $1,700 ($2,125 with buyer’s premium), and the 1997 version, which was shaped like a teapot and placed the Mad Hatter’s tea party at its center, realized $2,000 ($2,500 with buyer’s premium).

First edition of the 1923 Russian translation of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ done under a pseudonym by Vladimir Nabokov, which once belonged to the former Alice Liddell, aka the real-world Alice. It sold for $36,000 ($45,000 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter.

First edition of the 1923 Russian translation of ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,’ done under a pseudonym by Vladimir Nabokov, which once belonged to the former Alice Liddell, aka the real-world Alice. It sold for $36,000 ($45,000 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter.

Barry Moser’s 1982 Pennyroyal press release of the two ‘Alice’ books, which sold for $6,500 ($7,800 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter.

Barry Moser’s 1982 Pennyroyal press release of the two ‘Alice’ books, which sold for $6,500 ($7,800 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter.

Salvador Dali’s 1969 take on ‘Alice,’ one from a limited edition of 2,500, which sold for $6,000 ($7,500 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter.

Salvador Dali’s 1969 take on ‘Alice,’ one from a limited edition of 2,500, which sold for $6,000 ($7,500 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter.

Group of circa-1940s-1950s Pelham Puppets of ‘Alice’ characters, which sold for $3,000 ($3,750 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter.

Group of circa-1940s-1950s Pelham Puppets of ‘Alice’ characters, which sold for $3,000 ($3,750 with buyer’s premium) at Potter & Potter.

Sheila Gibson Stoodley

Sheila Gibson Stoodley

Sheila Gibson Stoodley is the associate editor for Auction Central News. She has written and edited for Robb Report, Art & Antiques magazine, and Andrew Harper online. She also authored The Hot Bid, a blog devoted to intriguing and delightful lots coming up at auction.

1902 Archibald Knox Liberty clock leads our five lots to watch

Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co. circa-1902 cruciform Tudric clock, estimated at £25,000-£35,000 ($31,000-$43,400) at Lyon & Turnbull.

1902 Liberty & Co. Tudric Clock Designed by Archibald Knox

EDINBURGH, U.K. — Historic Liberty & Co., for generations a leading luxury department store in London, specialized in designer housewares marketed under its own name, with the actual artist’s identity never publicly revealed. Collectors over the years have been able to identify Liberty items and connect them with their designers, making the items exceedingly desirable in today’s marketplace.

This cruciform clock from Liberty’s Tudric, or pewterware, line is from Archibald Knox (1864-1933), one of Liberty’s key designers and artisans. Offered around 1902, the clock has an almost neolithic quality to its shape — by design, of course. Raised on the Isle of Man with a childhood spent exploring the neolithic sites therein, Knox’s design ethic during this period sought to merge the nascent Modernist lines with traditional Celtic design.

One of only a handful known to exist, the pewter with inlaid abalone clock stands just 14.75in (37.5cm) in height, but looks imposing from any angle. Offered at Lyon & Turnbull as part of its Design Since 1860 sale on Wednesday, October 11, it carries an estimate of £25,000-£35,000 ($31,000-$43,400) and is the highest-estimated lot in the event.

Lynne Chadwick’s ‘Sitting Couple in Robes II 1980

Lynne Chadwick, ‘Sitting Couple in Robes II 1980,’ estimated at $50,000-$60,000 at Abington Auction Gallery.
Lynne Chadwick, ‘Sitting Couple in Robes II 1980,’ estimated at $50,000-$60,000 at Abington Auction Gallery.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Lynne Chadwick’s (1914-2003) figure sculptures of the 1960s-80s consist largely of angular male and female couples – standing, sitting, walking or lying together. He called them ‘Presences’ or ‘Watchers.’ Some were made as monumental public sculptures (his first steel sculpture, Two Winged Figures, appeared at an outdoor show in 1962), but others were cast in bronze reductions in small editions.

This 11 by 16in (27 by 40cm) bronze with a black-brown patina titled Sitting Couple in Robes II 1980 is signed with a monogram, numbered and dated Chadwick 790 2/9 1980. It is consigned for sale from a New York City collection at Abington Auction Gallery on Wednesday, October 11 with an estimate of $50,000-$60,000. The artist’s daughter, Sarah Chadwick, has authenticated the bronze and helped in the cataloging.

Louis Lozowick 1936 Lithograph, ‘Storm over Manhattan'

Louis Lozowick, ‘Storm Over Manhattan,’ estimated at $1,200-$1,800 at Eldred’s.
Louis Lozowick, ‘Storm Over Manhattan,’ estimated at $1,200-$1,800 at Eldred’s.

EAST DENNIS, Mass. — A leader in both the Art Deco and Precisionist movements of the 1930s, Louis Lozowick specialized in cityscapes, industrial objects and other iconic elements of the period in his artwork. He began creating lithographs of his work in the 1920s while still traveling Europe as a Ukrainian émigré, and was influenced heavily by his friendship with Russian Constructivist El Lissitsky, whose iconic Soviet art lead the 1930s avant-garde movement for the revolution.

Lozowick eventually settled in New York and New Jersey, and continued to create lithographs for collectors. Considered something of a “lost” member of the Art Deco movement, his works continue to be sought after by collectors today for their unique monochromatic and precise renderings.

On Thursday, October 19, Eldred’s presents Works on Paper, a 100-lot sale features two pieces by Lozowick. His Storm Over Manhattan from 1936 is a perfect encapsulation of his entire canon: the iconic New York skyline, shown with an unsettled, moody sky above and a placid harbor below. It is estimated at $1,200-$1,800.

Portrait of a Child by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, AKA Lewis Carroll

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), ‘Xie Kitchen,’ estimated at $8,000-$12,000 at Hindman.
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll), ‘Xie Kitchen,’ estimated at $8,000-$12,000 at Hindman.

NEW YORK — A photograph by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832-98) – aka Lewis Carroll – is included in Hindman’s Thursday, October 19 sale of Photographs from the Joe Baio Collection. The circa-1872 image of Alexandra ‘Xie’ Rhoda Kitchen (1864-1925) lounging on a sofa is estimated at $8,000-$12,000.

Xie was a favorite subject of the Alice in Wonderland author; he photographed her around 50 times, from the age of four until just before her 16th birthday. She was the daughter of Rev. George William Kitchen (1827-1912), one of Dodgson’s colleagues at Christ Church College, Oxford who later became the Dean of Winchester and Durham. She went on to marry Arthur Cardew, a civil servant and gifted amateur musician, and had six children.

Of the approximately 3,000 photographs Charles Dodgson made in his life, slightly more than half are of children. At the time, the camera was still a relatively new technology, and Dodgson, as an early and capable enthusiast, found no shortage of friends who wanted him to make likenesses of their children. Since the 1930s, biographers and scholars have questioned Dodgson’s intentions when taking these pictures and the relationships he had with his young subjects.

The sale is one of Hindman’s first in New York. The auction features 101 photographs from Joe Baio, who owns one of the most extensive and notable private photography collections in the world. Baio has collected photography since the mid-1980s, focusing on the theme of childhood and adolescence, inspired by raising and photographing his own children.

Collection of Artist-Historian Carl Pugliese

Howard Pyle, ‘Death of Montcalm,’ estimated at $5,000-$8,000 at Bruneau & Co.
Howard Pyle, ‘Death of Montcalm,’ estimated at $5,000-$8,000 at Bruneau & Co.

CRANSTON, R.I. — Carl Pugliese (1916-1982) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor and historian who specialized in collecting works from his friends and fellow artists. His collection comes to auction Saturday, October 14 at Bruneau & Co., with 150 lots set to cross the block. The catalog is now available for bidding at LiveAuctioneers.

Pugliese’s love of the American West and U.S. military history is a dominant theme of the collection. Artists and illustrators such as Howard Pyle, Tom Lovell, J. C. Leyendecker, Norman Price, Dean Cornwell and Herbert Morton Stoops are all represented, with many having signed their works to Pugliese. A collector known for his keen eye, most of these items are coming to auction for the first time.

The top lot in the sale is an oil on canvas by Howard Pyle (1853-1911). Death of Montcalm depicts the fatally wounded French general arriving on horseback in the City of Quebec through the Saint-Louis gate. Surrounded by a crowd of civilians and soldiers, the dramatic scene measures 22.325 by 13.25in and is estimated at $5,000-$8,000.

Pyle was an American illustrator, painter and writer whose career spanned fine art to a children’s book on Robin Hood. Many of his paintings are of American military battles, rendered with intricate accuracy. His more whimsical illustrations for his Merry Adventures of Robin Hood were designed specifically for child readers — he adopted a unique style for this audience that would have been unrecognizable to followers of his fine art paintings. He died unexpectedly at age 58 in Florence, Italy, where he had traveled to learn landscape art.

ACN Staff

ACN Staff

Content bearing the byline of ACN staff has been researched and written by multiple members of the Auction Central News team.