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20th-/21st-Century Design Sale

Lita Solis-Cohen | September 8th, 2012

Rago Arts and Auction Center, Lambertville, New Jersey

by Lita Solis-Cohen

Photos courtesy Rago

"The five modern auctions that preceded ours the week of our sale were mostly strong, but there were some soft spots in European furniture and Tiffany," stated David Rago in a post-sale press release. "Our sale had soft spots, too, but did pretty much as we had hoped, in spite of $20 million having been taken out of the market before our first hammer fell." There were some surprisingly high prices during Rago's June 16 and 17 sale in Lambertville, New Jersey, which brought a total of $4.74 million for 82% of the 1096 lots offered.

Rago said he would have liked to have been the first of the sales and not have had to sell on Father's Day, but he had to hold his sale on the weekend between two Antiques Roadshow shoots. Rago's Roadshow appearances and those of his wife, Suzanne Perrault, have brought in some business.

Rago Arts' Miriam Tucker did some clever marketing. She had Philadelphia designer Marguerite Rodgers furnish a sample apartment at the fashionable new 10 Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, complete with furniture, lighting, ceramics, and glass subsequently offered in the June sale, and with artworks from Rago's upcoming contemporary art sale. More than 100 people came to the preview party on Thursday night, and a steady stream of people arrived for a look on the weekend before the preview began in Lambertville. Most, but not all, of the things Marguerite Rodgers chose sold.

The sale on Saturday began on a high note. A Saturday Evening Girls center bowl by Frances Rocchi, decorated with a border of roosters and the Franklin proverb "Early to bed & early to rise makes a child healthy, wealthy & wise," estimated at $17,500/22,500, sold for $96,875 (includes buyer's premium). "It was one of her best pieces. The only one better is in the Ellison collection at the Met," said Rago.

From the same consignor, the matching pitcher, with "This is the cock that crew in the morn" around its waist and with a chip, sold for $12,500 (est. $10,000/ 15,000)—demonstrating that pottery has to be rare, visually arresting, and mint to bring a big price.

A Tiffany floor lamp with a yellow Tulip shade sold for $137,500 (est. $100,000/ 150,000), but a Tiffany table lamp with a Dogwood shade (est. $95,000/125,000) failed to sell. A Tiffany lamp with a Peony shade sold for $45,000. A Tiffany Leaf and Scroll pattern lamp base sold for $18,750, well over its $5000 high estimate, but a Tiffany bronze student lamp missing its shades sold for $2000, its low estimate. Rago gets to sell top art pottery but not the top Tiffany, and the middle market in every field is unpredictable.

A star at Saturday's sale was a large (16" diameter) Jazz bowl by Viktor Schreckengost, made at the Cowan Pottery Studio in Rocky River, Ohio, in 1930-31, just as the pottery was about to close because of the Great Depression. Estimated at $40,000/60,000, the bowl sold to a phone bidder for $100,000.

The first three Jazz bowls were ordered by Eleanor Roosevelt in 1929 to celebrate the election of her husband Franklin as governor of New York. Schreckengost, an industrial designer who taught at the Cleveland School of the Arts, went on to do plates and bowls in the Jazz series with elements that summed up the Jazz Age in black and Egyptian blue glazes. Schreckengost would scratch the individual designs into the clay shapes, and the potters would add the glazes and fire the work.

The secondary market for 20th-century studio ceramics seems to get a little stronger each year. At this sale a 12" x 10" tile portrait of a boy by Pablo Picasso, made in 1956 and in a carved and gessoed frame, sold for $59,375, topping its $40,000 high estimate. An Ampersand teapot with a cactus lid by Adrian Saxe sold for $11,875 (est. $5000/7000). But plenty of pots were left behind.

Some stylish pieces of Arts and Crafts furniture sold over estimates, and a phone bidder picked up some classic examples, often just under estimates. The phone bidder, apparently a dealer, bought a good portion of the furniture for stock and got some good deals. A rare early (circa 1903) round library table by Gustav Stickley (No. 636), Eastwood, New York, was his for $5625 (est. $4000/6000). The same bidder got a pair of Gustav Stickley double-door bookcases for $4375 apiece; each was estimated at $4000/ 6000.

Jerry Cohen, who runs the Arts and Crafts furniture part of the sale, said he was very gratified with the sales results of Arts and Crafts furniture. "Prices on many items are holding steady and in some cases improving," he said. "The market is as good as it has been or better; there is more participation and some new buyers. With the Forbes collection and the collection of Marilyn Gould, who had some very nice pieces of Limbert, and with some fine Stickley on board, we have a very exciting sale coming up in October."

Most of the bidding was from the phones or on line. According to Miriam Tucker, 15% of the on-line bids were from outside the U.S., from the U.K., Canada, South America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and the Middle East.

Sunday's sale began with the cover lot, a 62" tall sculpture by Paul Evans, an organic form from the 1960's with a verdigris patina, that sold on the phone for $53,125 (est. $45,000/65,000). It was consigned by a Princeton, New Jersey, collector who came to the sale and watched.

For more information, phone (609) 397-9374 or check the Web site (www.ragoarts.com).