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The Most Widely Read Collector's Newspaper In The East Published Weekly By Joel Sater Publications www.antiquesandauctionnews.net
VOL. 45, NO. 8 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 21, 2014
Americana Week Sales Recap And The Ralph Esmerian Sale: A Further Retrospective By Karl Pass
he bulk of Americana Week events take place every year during the third week in January in New York City. The centerpiece is the Winter Antiques Show, which this year ran from Jan. 23 to Feb. 2. Celebrating its 60th anniversary, the show is held at the Park Avenue Armory on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and is the grand dame of fine a r t
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This small pressmolded glazed redware fish bottle or flask attributed to Rudolph Christ of Salem, N.C., sold for $53,125 (est. $15,000-$20,000) to dealer Todd Prickett. It sold for $7,475 at the Dr. and Mrs. Henry Deyerle sale held through Sotheby’s in 1995. Rudolph Christ made tinenameled glazed figural pieces such as this during the first quarter of the 19th century and used copper oxide in his lead glaze formula to achieve the popular green coloration.
An excellent Pennsylvania slipware dated “1808” redware plate with two tulips and diamond shaped floral design sold at its high estimate of $20,000 (est. $15,000-$20,000). It was attributed to John Leidy II (1780-1838) of Franconia Township, Montgomery County. It sold for $4,800 on June 7, 1976, at the last of four major sales held by noted collector/dealer Walter Himmelreich at Pennypacker’s.
and antiques shows in the country. Along with other shows, Americana Week also features museum exhibitions, gallery shows, lectures, and auctions held throughout the city. Christie’s Americana Week sales totaled $10,189,025, notably including their Important American Furniture, Folk Art, and Decorative Arts sale that was held on Jan. 24, which garnered $5,416,400. Among the highlights was an 18th-century Chippendale carved mahogany scalloptop tea table from Philadelphia, which sold for $905,000. It was possibly from the shop of Benjamin Randolph. Sotheby’s Americana Week sales totaled just over $18.4 million. Their Important Americana sale totaled $5,451,076 and was held on Jan. 24, but the story of the week was the Ralph Esmerian Folk Art collection, sold on Jan. 25, which accounted for $12,955,943 of the grand total for Sotheby’s. All prices in this report include buyer’s premiums. The results of these sales always serve as barometers for market watchers to follow. While certainly these first quarter of 2014 Americana sales figures are astronomical, they A lidded redware jar with extensive banding decoration and likely from Lancaster County, Pa., sold at low estimate for $20,000 ($20,000-$30,000). It brought $10,350 at the Deyerle sale in 1995.
This was the finest grouping of portraits by artist Jacob Maentel to ever reach auction. This interior scene of John and Caterina Bickel, each measuring 19-by-12-inches, sold for $401,000 (est. $200,000-$300,000) to David Schorsch and Eileen Smiles. The Bickels were from Jonestown, Lebanon County, Pa. Esmerian acquired them in 1975 from Dr. Ed Bohne. Bohne was a dentist turned antiques dealer that sold out of his house in Newmanstown, Pa. He handled great Pennsylvania German folk art.
represent a small market share at both auction houses. For example, Christie’s Old Masters Week, which also took place in New York City, held from Jan. 28 through Jan. 30, generated $68 million in sales, and Sotheby’s Old Masters Week total was over $70 million dollars (three lots sold had been recovered by the Monuments Men, the subject of a Columbia Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox movie about rescuing Nazistolen artwork during World War II.) Contemporary art sales at both international auction houses often eclipse $100 million in sales. Here is a rare ovoid redware lidded jar with cream, yellow and green slip decorated arches and dated “1790.” It sold to dealer Todd Prickett for $106,250 (est. $40,000-$60,000).
This Pennsylvania slipware redware plate dated “1816” with tulip decoration sold for $81,250 (est. $30,000-$40,000) to Yardley, Pa., dealer Todd Prickett. The plate sold at auction for $4,800 on June 18, 1979, at Pennypacker’s in Kenhorst, Pa. A near identical plate by the same potter and with the same date sold at the Dr. and Mrs. Donald Shelley sale held at Pook & Pook in Downingtown, Pa., on April 20, 2007 for $105,300.
dealer Todd Prickett for $43,750. Prickett also bought the following plate with tulips, attributed to Conrad Mumbouer (1761-1845), for $53,125. The top redware lot was the opening lot of the sale, which was a Pennsylvania sgraffito redware oval dish with tulips and a large heart selling for $281,000. The fraktur collection was highlighted by numerous rare examples. Fraktur are illuminated manuscripts done in a German style of decorative work. They often incorporate religious text for personal milestones such as birth and baptism. Some examples sold for record prices, while some failed to find bidders. A fraktur from Earl Township, Lancaster County, Pa., dated “1824” with pictorial hearts, flowers, birds, and symbols, was bought in (est. $25,000$35,000). The fraktur had sold for $6,325 at the Fred Wichman sale held at Sotheby’s on June 9, 1983. Reinholds, Pa., dealer Hattie Brunner also once owned it and sold it in 1945. A taufshein (birth and baptismal certificate) by the Rev. Henry Young, however, sold for a staggering $25,000 (est. $25,000$35,000). Similar versions in
A seated redware dog with a bottle in a basket. The basket handle has been broken and is missing and the tip of the tail has been broken as well. Attributed to John Bell (1800-1880) of Waynesboro, Pa., it sold for $7,500 (est. $6,000-$8,000). It brought $2,100 at the Wetzel sale in 1980.
In last week’s issue, there was an overview report on the better condition have sold for Ralph Esmerian sale. This week, much less. The market for Young’s continued coverage is feawork has long been dominated by tured, concentrating on a small regional grouping of colthree sections of lectors in the central Pennsylvania Pennsylvania German folk region, in and around art from the collection: (Continued on redware, fraktur, and page 2) Jacob Maentel portraits. Esmerian collected American folk art over This many decades, and Pennsylvania Pennsylvania German sgraffito redmaterial was a strong segware oval ment of his collecting dish with passion. tulips and a The likelihood of a large heart Pennsylvania sgraffito redwas the first lot in the ware collection such as this sale and sold to hit the market all at once for $281,000 is rare. The pieces in mint (est. $40,000condition excelled and those $60,000) to with various degrees of Westborough, restoration were passed. Mass., dealer Several observers mentioned the David Wheatsale could have easily been hancroft bidding in dled with two separate auctions, the salesroom on behalf of collectors. perhaps one in January and one in October, given the depth of the material. The first six lots of figural redware animals failed to sell. The remaining four were seated dogs and sold at or within estimates. A standing lion that had sold for $1,400 at the Hodgson sale back in 1974 was one of the passed lots. “You had to look at the stuff, if you were going to buy,” said one advanced collector concerning restored items. A rare glazed redware standing dog with a figure on its back and a pipe in its mouth also failed to sell. It was estimated at $15,000-$25,000. The piece had restoration to the pipe and left side of the figure. It had sold for $5,750 at the Wetzel sale held through Sotheby’s in 1980 and was attributed to Solomon Bell (1817-1882) of Strasburg, Va. A sgraffito plate with pin wheel floral designs and The Maentel interior-scene double portraits of Lebanon, Pa., residents tulips once owned by both Arthur Elizabeth and Michael Haak, circa 1825-1835, sold for $233,000 (est. Sussel and Hattie Brunner sold to $80,000-$120,000) to Pennsylvania private collectors bidding by phone.