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FRIDAY DECEMBER 22, 2023 • VOL. 53, NO. 51
Serving Up The Season
Smack Dab In The Middle: Design Trends Of The Mid-20th Century By Donald-Brian Johnson “Over the river and through the woods, To Grandmother’s house we go! The horse knows the way, to carry the sleigh, Through white and drifted snow. “Over the river and through the woods, Now Grandmother’s cap I spy! Hurrah for the fun‚‘the pudding’s done! Hurrah for the pumpkin pie!” Traditional Mmm-mmm! Christmas pudding! Pumpkin pie! (And don’t forget those “chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”) Can it get any more Christmassy than this?
Why sure it can, especially when the goodies are served up in dishes expressly styled for the season. Christmas cookies? Yummy all by themselves, but a visual treat too, when piled high on a plate encircled by Santa’s welcoming arms. How about a reindeer-led cracker tray sleigh, with old St. Nick himself cracking the whip? And why settle for plain old everyday salt-and-peppers? The yuletide has arrived, and so have the “Mr. & Mrs. Snowman” S & P’s (and the “Mr. and Mrs. Santa” ones, too.) During the 1940s, ‚‘50s, and‚ ‘60s, “decorating for the holidays” meant “decorating everything for the holidays.” All by itself, a twinkling tinseled tree just didn’t cut it. From top to
Ivankovich’s To Sell Rare Wallace Nutting Table Lamp Online-Only Sale To Take Place Jan. 1 to 14 Mike and Sue Ivankovich are back in the Wallace Nutting auction business after a several-year hiatus. Running their first Wallace Nutting and Early 20th Century Hand-colored Photography Auction in 1988, they have returned to the auction arena, now using the HiBid auction format. Leading their Jan. 1 to 14 Online-Only Auction will be an extremely rare Wallace Nutting ornately hand-carved and electrified wood table lamp. Ivankovich has been buying and selling Nutting items for more than 40 years, and this is the only such lamp he has ever seen. He speculates that this lamp was probably a privatelycommissioned piece made by the Nutting Furniture Studio in Continued on page 3
Overflowing with holiday decorating tips is the “Christmas Ideas for 1961” issue from Better Homes & Gardens.
Here is a Santa tidbit tray.
Just the thing for lighting up the dinner table is the “Noel” elf quartet bundled up for the snow, marked “Japan.”
bottom, the entire house had to be Christmas-ized. So, while Dad busied himself running up the ladder (and the light bill), with outdoor decorations that would be the envy of the neighborhood, Mom busied herself (and busied herself, and busied herself) decorating everything else. Mom’s domain was indoors, where she was awash in stacks of homemaking magazines eager to help her dazzle with “the best Christmas ever.” Publications such as Good Housekeeping and Better Homes & Gardens presented holiday edition “specials,” chockfull of hints on how to achieve a happy holiday decor. A focal point of Mom’s holiday decorating scheme was the dining room table, festively accented with seasonal decor pieces and serving dishes for the soon-to-come Christmas dinner. Who knew there could be so many variations on a theme? Perched atop pine boughs were centerpieces starring the elves, the reindeer, choruses of carolers, and an avalanche of snowmen. Renditions of this standard cast
of characters were endless. They were featured on candy dishes, ash trays, drinking glasses, mugs, cookie plates, tidbit trays, saltand-peppers, and candleholders. Other celebrants ranged from angelic candle-huggers, to “Christmas pigs” ready to be impaled with hors d’oeuvres toothpicks. And, of course, there were Santas (and Mrs. Santas): Santa plates, Santa mugs, Santa candy dishes, and winking Santa water pitchers (just for starters). Source materials ran the gamut, from glass and plastic, to wood and metal. Homemaking magazines encouraged the especially crafty to rummage through what was at hand for homemade artistic inspiration, resulting in a merry multitude of cardboard Santas with cotton ball whiskers, and construction paper angels with paper doily wings. Among the more unusual suggestions: a dining room wall hanging that Better Homes & Gardens dubbed “The Holiday Mice.” Creating it was supposedly a snap: “silver-spray mousetraps, frame Continued on page 4
Works By N.C. Wyeth And Augustus SaintGaudens Soar In Heritage’s $4 Million American Masters Auction Sale Also Realized Auction Record For M. Horburg On Nov. 17, Heritage Auctions’ continued to prove its strength in the American Art category with a curated event that saw a number of works by America’s beloved artists sell for far above their estimates, broke an auction record, and landed a painting in a prominent East Coast museum. The auction, “Views and Visions: Important Works by Continued on page 7
In This Issue SHOPS, SHOWS & MARKETS . . . . . . .
starting on page 2
SHOPS DIRECTORY . . . . . . .
on page 5
EVENT & AUCTION CALENDAR on page 6 AUCTIONEER DIRECTORY . . . . on page 6 AUCTION SALE BILLS . . . . . . on page 6
FEATURE RESULTS: Hindman’s Fine Books And Manuscript Auction - Page 2
CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . . . . . . on page 11