MT. CRAWFORD, Va. – Green Valley hosted its sixth annual winter auction of glass and lighting Jan. 25-27, selling more than 3,500 pieces in 1,804 lots over four sessions.
The sale was conducted at the firm’s auction galleries in Mt. Crawford, Va., located in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley, and was also available on the Internet via eBay Live Auctions. The auction grossed more than $375,000 and resulted in more than 320 successful absentee, telephone and Internet bidders.
Green Valley first offered 128 uncataloged box lots of miscellaneous pattern and other glass, including salts, syrups, tumblers and lamp parts, as well as related reference books. The lots sold for prices ranging from $5.65 to $282.50 per box (all prices include the 20 percent buyer’s premium), which generated more than $9,000 before the cataloged auction began at 5 p.m.
Featuring 450 lots of milk glass, historical and novelty glass, children’s glass, EAPG, flint, and carnival glass, Session Two included three top lots that were all manufactured during the fourth quarter of the 19th century – an opaque white/milk glass Steer’s Head covered dish ($3,955), an amber 9 3/4-inch high Riverside Glass Works Cabbage Leaf water pitcher ($1,695), and one of Green Valley’s most consistent performers, the ruby stained Heart with Thumbprint goblet (a reasonable $1,582).
Saturday was reserved for some of the auction’s most desirable pieces, and in the fifth hour of the sale, the auction’s prized lot, an early 20th century Gallé wheel-carved marquetry vase with Autumn Crocuses decoration had an engraved “Gallé” signature, the Alapaix Paris retailer’s label under the base, and eleven eager telephone bidders.
The vase was undamaged, but Evans made it clear to all interested bidders that the front of the vase had a small cut-open bubble surrounded by a beveled area. He explained that the beveled area would not show up in the photo and that it was only evident when viewed at an angle with the naked eye.
One of the pieces de-accessioned by the Fenton Art Glass Museum, the 8 1/4-inch vase broke through the $3,000 high estimate and reached $20,340.
Another sleeper, and the auction’s next highest achiever, was an unassuming 16 1/4-inch-diameter hobnail library kerosene lamp petticoat shade in pink to dark rose all-over satin finish. The $500-$800 pre-auction estimate didn’t seem to faze this 19th century shade, which lit up the gallery and brought $9,040 as a result of a battle between two phone bidders.
Green Valley Auctions’ next cataloged sale of glass and lighting will be held May 16-17, 2008 and will feature the 50-year collection of Alice Lenker, Long Grove, Iowa, the lighting collection of Faith J. Meyer, Boothbay Harbor, Maine, the second half of the collection of the late Anne and Leon Powell, Celebration, Fla., and the Blown Three Mold collection of Richard D. Sheaff, Scottsdale, Ariz.
www.greenvalleyauctions.com
