CINCINNATI – Artist, sculptor and designer Harry Bertoia (1915-78) created the bulk of his modernist silver, bronze, brass and gold jewelry in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s. He first worked at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan between 1937 and 1943 and in California between 1944 and 1950.
The pieces made at the workbench in Cranbrook are particularly coveted. This hand-forged and riveted sterling silver pendant is dated 1943 and was exhibited as part of the exhibition Bent, Cast & Forged: The Jewelry of Harry Bertoia, which ran at the Cranbrook Art Museum in 2015 and at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York in 2016. Last sold by Wright in Chicago in May 2017, it returns to the block as part of The Luxury Sale at Main Auction Gallery on Saturday, September 2 with an estimate of $10,000-$15,000.
GLENVIEW, Ill. – This cameo glass perfume bottle carved with flowering daffodils is the work of Thomas Webb & Sons, the best known of the many glassmakers working in Stourbridge, England at the end of the 19th century.
These pieces were mounted in silver by a number of nearby Birmingham silversmiths – this one bears the mark of Frederick Elkington and the date letter for 1884. As part of the Sunday, September 3 auction titled Art, Hermes, Tiffany, Exotic and Unexpected at Meadow Lane Auctions, it is estimated at $1,500-$2,000.
PITTSBURGH – Boxed hollow-cast figures of Peter Pan and Captain Hook in a sword fight were made by Sacul in the early 1950s to coincide with the Walt Disney movie release.
The short-lived British toy firm Sacul was founded in 1951 by a Mr. Lucas, who was a former employee of Timpo. He created his company name by simply reversing his own surname. Sacul first made high quality detailed figures of medieval knights, but it came to specialize in so-called “civilians,” characters from TV shows, films and other promotional figures in particular. As the firm folded in 1955, most are considered rarities.
In near-mint condition with the original illustrated box deemed excellent, this lot has an estimate of $600-$1,200 at Old Toy Solider Auctions on Saturday, September 9.
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – This set of 36 cards is an early edition of what became known as “Petit Etteilla” cartomancy cards. They follow the writing of M. Etteilla, Professeur d’Algebre at 48 Rue de l’Oseille, the pseudonym of the French occultist Jean-Baptiste Alliette (1738–1791). He founded La Société des Interprètes de Thot, an organization specifically dedicated to the study of the Tarot and astrology, at a time when the French Revolution left many Parisians fearful of what the future held.
The cards, which lack a printer’s name and remain uncolored, are now housed in a later leather box. They are estimated at $800-$1,200 as part of Turner Auctions’ Saturday, September 9 Fine Melange Auction.
EDINBURGH, U.K. – This late Victorian oak, parcel-gilt and lithographed “scraps” three-panel screen was a gift to the future King George V (1865-1936) and Queen Mary (1867-1953) in 1901. Carved with the feather plumes of the prince and princess of Wales, it bears a brass presentation plaque reading ‘Presented to their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales for the Royal Nursery by Mrs Carr, Widow of DR Carr of Blackheath, London, December 1901.’
It did indeed make its way to the royal nursery at York Cottage on the Sandringham estate and later joined the furnishings at Goldsborough Hall, Yorkshire, home of Princess Mary, the Princess Royal, Countess Harewood (1897-1965). It appears in the lineup of the two-day Five Centuries sale at Lyon & Turnbull on Wednesday, September 6 and Thursday, September 7, by descent from Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood, the first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II. The estimate is £3,000-£5,000, or about $3,800-$6,300.
