Tiffany Windows Shine | Maine Antique Digest

Cottone Auctions, Geneseo, New York

Photos courtesy Cottone Auctions

Cottone Auctions held a small 218-lot sale March 31 in Geneseo, New York. Almost every lot sold, and the total was almost exactly $3 million. “There may have been about five lots that passed,” said Matt Cottone. “It was a great sale.”

Tiffany Studios sunset landscape window, 1915, leaded and plated glass, 5'9" x 23 3/8" x 1½", sold for $276,000 (est. $40,000/60,000).

Tiffany Studios sunset landscape window, 1915, leaded and plated glass, acid-etched mark “Tiffany Studios New York 1915,” 5'9" x 23 3/8" x 1½", sold for $120,000 (est. $40,000/60,000).

Two 1915 Tiffany Studios landscape windows depicting sunsets were fresh to market. “These were a first-time offering,” said Cottone. “I’d been working on them for a while, and we were thrilled to have them consigned.”

The windows came from a building in Chicago, and both performed well. One of the windows was the top lot of the sale. The leaded- and plated-glass window, 5'9" x 23 3/8" x 1½", sold to a collector for $276,000 (includes buyer’s premium), well above the $40,000/60,000 estimate. The other window, also 5'9" x 23 3/8" x 1½", with an acid-etched mark reading “Tiffany Studios New York 1915,” sold for $120,000 (est. $40,000/60,000).

“There was good interest in them. I had half a dozen or more phone bidders, and there was pre-auction interest,” said Cottone. The same buyer, a private collector, bought both windows.

Louis XVI regulator with remontoir d’égalité, “Royal Model,” circa 1785, by clockmaker Robert Robin (1741-1799), the polychrome dial by Joseph Coteau (1740-1812), and the case attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1757-1843), sold for $246,000 (est. $100,000/150,000) to the trade, buying for a client. Cottone thinks it’s an auction record for this model regulator.

The sale included some expensive clocks from a collection in Naples, Florida. “He [the collector] could have sent that collection anywhere—any of the big New York houses—and we were honored he chose us,” said Cottone. A circa 1785 Louis XVI regulator with remontoir d’égalité, a device used to provide constant force to the escapement, by clockmaker Robert Robin (1741-1799), with a polychrome dial by Joseph Coteau (1740-1812) and the case attributed to Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1757-1843), sold for $246,000 (est. $100,000/150,000) to the trade, buying for a client. Cottone thinks it’s an auction record for this model regulator.

The sale had many Tiffany lamps and pieces of art glass, a strength of Cottone for years. “All of the art glass came from a very good collector that we’ve known for years,” said Cottone, noting that the collector had decided to pare down some of his collection.

Miniature Lady Liberty on ivory by Chusetown (renamed Humphreysville, now Seymour), Connecticut, farmer and artist Abijah Canfield (1769-1830), 2 5/8" x 2¼", signed, titled, and dated April 1797, sold for $42,000 (est. $5000/8000). The subject was loosely copied after an engraving by Edward Savage (1761-1817) published in 1796 and based on his painting Liberty in the Form of the Goddess of Youth Giving Support to the Bald Eagle. Known works by Canfield are rare. A reverse painting on glass of the same subject but larger, 28 7/8" x 23¼", is in the collection of the Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan. For more on Canfield, see Antiques magazine, March 1951.

A miniature Lady Liberty painting on ivory by Connecticut farmer and artist Abijah Canfield (1769-1830), 2 5/8" x 2¼", dated April 1797, sold for $42,000 (est. $5000/8000) to a collector. According to Cottone, it came from an estate in Utica, New York.

It appears to be the same miniature that sold at Christie’s October 13, 1983, for $4400 to dealer David Schorsch, buying for collector Ralph Esmerian. Schorsch borrowed the miniature for his 1989 exhibition Winthrop Chandler and His Contemporaries at his gallery in New York City. Schorsch photographed the miniature in 1989, and several characteristics match with the one at Cottone.

It remained in the collection of Esmerian, a dealer in high-end colored gemstones, until June 16, 1992, when Esmerian was robbed at gunpoint at his Rockefeller Center location in New York City. The theft was estimated at $4.5 million, and, according to Schorsch, the miniature by Canfield was among the objects stolen. The whereabouts of the miniature since the theft was unknown.

Cottone said he was contacted by authorities before the sale, and he provided them with everything he knew about who owned the miniature and where it had come from. The auction house was given the OK to sell but now finds itself in limbo. “I’m waiting because I want to do the right thing,” said Cottone. “I just want to know what the proper thing to do is. I’m a middleman here. I want to look out for the buyer, the seller, the whole package,” said Cottone. “I’m waiting for clarification.”

UPDATE: On May 15, Cottone said he received an update on the miniature. "It's free and clear to be sold so the auction sale is completed," he said in an e-mail.

For more information, call Cottone Auctions at (585) 243-1000, email [email protected], or check the website (www.cottoneauctions.com).

Circa 1820 orrery and music box by Parisian Zacharie-Nicholas-Amé-Joseph Raingo (1775-1847) with a two-train clock in an Empire-style case with ormolu mounts on amboyna wood. The earth revolves on its axis daily, the moon circles the earth, and the entire system turns about the sun in one year. Estimated at $150,000/250,000, it sold for $204,000 to a collector on the West Coast. “This was from a lifetime collection of a doctor in Naples, Florida. It was part of a 45-year collection of once-in-a-lifetime clocks,” said Cottone.

John Sloan (1871-1951), East River, Approaching Storm, oil on panel, 5" x 7¼", ex-Macbeth Gallery, New York City, sold for $9600 (est. $1500/2500). According to Matt Cottone, “It originally came out of an estate in Buffalo, New York, and sold to someone in Manhattan.”

Tiffany Studios Grape Trellis chandelier, circa 1905, leaded glass and patinated bronze, shade impressed “Tiffany Studios New York,” shade diameter 30", from a Pennsylvania collection, sold for $84,000 (est. $80,000/120,000).

Tiffany Studios Lotus table lamp, 1900-04, leaded glass and patinated bronze, shade impressed with an early “Tiffany Studios” tag, base impressed “Tiffany Studios New York 28622,” 25" high, shade diameter 26", sold for $115,200 (est. $80,000/120,000). It was from a private collection that acquired it from the family of the original owners. “This is a lamp that hadn’t been to auction before. It’s only been in a couple of hands, and it was in untouched original condition,” said Matt Cottone.

Tiffany Studios Poppy table lamp, circa 1910, leaded glass and patinated bronze, shade and base both impressed “Tiffany Studios New York,” 23" high, shade diameter 16", ex-Dr. Robert McGann of Naples, Florida, sold for $102,000 (est. $50,000/80,000). McGann has been a longtime customer of Cottone’s. “He gave us an opportunity to handle some of his lamps and artwork,” said Cottone.

Tiffany Studios Nasturtium lamp, leaded glass and patinated bronze, shade impressed “Tiffany Studios New York,” base impressed “Tiffany Studios New York 459,” 25½" tall, shade diameter 18", from an upstate New York collection, $105,000 (est. $40,000/60,000).

Tiffany Studios 18-light Lily table lamp, early 20th century, Favrile glass and patinated bronze, shades engraved “L.C.T.,” base impressed “Tiffany Studios New York 28626,” with Tiffany Glass & Decorating Company monogram, 20" high, $51,000 (est. $40,000/60,000).

Federal inlaid satinwood and mahogany bowfront chest, signed and dated “Made in 1812 in Saco, ME,” 37" x 39" x 19", with old refinishing and some veneer repair, sold for $15,600 (est. $10,000/15,000). It once belonged to a “longtime New England family,” said Cottone. “It had been in their family for a couple of generations. They never wanted to sell it—they still didn’t really want to sell it. It was bittersweet for them, and they wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate it. It did sell to a collector, and they were happy to know that.”

Tiffany Studios lily pad mirror, early 20th century, patinated bronze and beveled glass, with greenish-brown patina, impressed “Tiffany Studios New York,” 20" x 16", from a midwestern collection, sold for $19,200 (est. $10,000/15,000) to an overseas buyer.

Tiffany Studios gladiolus blown-glass paperweight vase, circa 1917, inscribed “L.C. Tiffany Favrile Exhibition Piece,” numbered 1141 L, with a partial paper label, 12½" high, from a midwestern collection, $15,600 (est. $10,000/15,000).

Tiffany Studios chain mail ceiling light, circa 1900, Favrile glass tiles and patinated bronze, fixture 16" long with a diameter of 8", from a West Coast collection, $34,800 (est. $10,000/15,000).

Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902), A View of the High Sierras, oil on paper laid on panel, 13 5/16" x 18 5/8", signed, knocked down for $46,800 (est. $20,000/40,000) to a private collector in Utah. A fresh-to-market work, it will be included the catalogue raisonné being put together by Melissa Webster Speidel, president of the Bierstadt Foundation. Provenance includes William D. Hailes (1890-1975) of Rochester, New York, to Mr. and Mrs. Edward H. Cumpston of Rochester, New York, and then to the consignors by descent.

Duffner & Kimberly peony table lamp, circa 1910, leaded glass and patinated bronze, 32" high, shade diameter 24", $42,000 (est. $15,000/25,000).

Laurence A. Campbell (b. 1939), 5th Avenue at 29th St. (blue version), oil on artist’s board, 16" x 12", $16,200 (est. $7000/10,000). It had previously sold at Shannon’s October 26, 2006, for $16,730.

Emile Gruppé (1896-1978), Palms at Naples Beach, Florida, oil on canvas, 24" x 20", sold for $19,200 (est. $4000/6000).

Orville Bulman (1904-1978), Easy Rider (left)and Au Clair De La Lune, 1973, oils on board, each 10" x 8", ex-Hammer Galleries, $24,000 (est. $8000/12,000).