John Moran Auctioneers will kick off the fall 2009 auction season with their Tuesday, September 29th Estates Auction featuring decorative and fine art and collectibles from estates and private collections in Southern California, Nevada and Texas.
The two-session sale will begin with the popular no-reserve Discovery Sale offering a large selection of high quality antique items sold with no reserves. This afternoon session is open to floor bidders only and is not catalogued, but highlights include a strong selection of Louis XV and XVI style furniture and a pair of Louis XV style gilt metal and cut glass wine coolers on stands; several lots of wrought iron furnishings by Trinkkeller, including wall lights, a floor lamp, tables, a headboard and a Roy Rogers commemorative plate; an assembled Meissen “Blue Onion” part dinner service and Wedgwood pieces including a blue jasper dip covered vase, circa 1800; silver, including a German .800 silver armorial footed bowl by D. Vollgold & Sohne, Berlin; jewelry, including an 18K white gold, diamond and pearl ring; American and European art, including two oils Henry Richter (California 1870 – 1960); art glass and box lots.
The fully catalogued Evening Session is expected to expand the scope of Moran’s already wide audience. In addition to the selection of fine furnishings, bronzes, paintings, silver and glass typically found at Moran’s auctions, it will feature an eclectic array of unusual items appealing to autograph collectors, sports fans, and musicians. The leading lot is a mahogany-cased Steinway & Sons Model ‘B’ grand piano (Photo 1) signed and inscribed by Theodore Steinway “For Richard Hageman.” A conductor, pianist, composer, and actor, Hageman (1881- 1966) was a guest director of the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra and a 1939 Oscar winner for his score for “Stagecoach.” The piano is in very good condition with a beautiful, warm tone and is expected to realize between $20,000 – 25,000.
Moran’s is equally pleased to offer collectors of rock and roll memorabilia the opportunity to bid on a white Fender Stratocaster electric guitar signed by three-time Rock and Roll Hall-of-Fame member and former Yardbird Eric Clapton. The final sale price may very well exceed the pre-sale estimate of $800 – 1200.
Moving from music legends to sports legends, Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig are among the members of the 1930 Yankees team whose signatures appear on a baseball that will be sold together with a framed pennant and photo. The group is offered at $2000 – 3000.
As usual at Moran’s auctions, silver will be available in abundance at the September sale. A coin silver seven-piece tea service by the Boston makers Rogers and Wendt, circa 1855, features a fluted design identical to that of a set made for the Binney-Newberry Family of Boston and Providence, RI. Moran’s set includes a tipping kettle and is offered at $2,000 – 4000. Making a grand statement is a monumental mid-20th century R. Wallace & Sons sterling silver presentation with a flared gadrooned rim and acanthus-sheathed handles. Estimated at $6,000 – 9,000, it weighs 240 oz. A Gorham sterling silver six-piece ‘Chantilly Countess’ coffee and tea service?dating from 1948 carries an estimate of $1,500/2,500.
A number of important bronzes will be offered, including a late 19th century work after Paul Dubois (1827 – 1905 French) depicting a Renaissance era troubadour playing a flute. Estimated at $2500 – 3500, it is signed “P. Dubois 1865” and “F. Barbedienne Fondeur” with the Achille Collas “Reduction Mechanique” pastille. The plaster model of Dubois’ sculpture, titled “Le Chanteur Florentin,” won the Medal of Honor at the Paris Salon of 1865 and other editions reside in the collections of the Musee d’Orsay and the museums of Grenoble and Chartres. Offered at?$700/1,000 is a late 19th/ early 20th century patinated-bronze figure of a woman after Karl Satzinger (b. 1864, German), while a patinated-bronze group after Albert Ernest Carrier Belleuse titled ‘L’ Amour et L’ Amitie,’ signed ”A. Carrier” (1824-1887, French), is offered at $1,500 – 2,500. This charming depiction of Cupid whispering a secret is also known as ”L’Amour se Confie a L’Amitie” (Love confiding in Friendship).
Several fine examples of glass and metalwork will draw collectors of all eras of decorative arts. Among them is a Schneider Le Verre Francais cameo art glass vase?signed “Le Verre Francais/France” that was created circa 1925 and is decorated with a hybrid Art Nouveau and Art Deco mushroom design in red-orange. In very good condition, it is expected to bring $800 – 1,200. A Handel art glass and patinated metal lamp signed by Albert Parlow is reverse-painted with an autumnal landscape, and is offered at $4000 – 6000.
Two lovely examples of Louis XVI style lighting are generating a great deal of interest. A nicely cast pair of ormolu quiver-form three-branch wall lights?made in the first half of the twentieth century is conservatively estimated at $2,000 – 4,000, while a late 19th century ormolu, patinated bronze and cut-glass three-light chandelier whimsically featuring putti playing trumpets is offered at $2500 – 3500.
Devotees of the Empire style will be drawn to a gilt-bronze and cut-glass centerpiece?with a circular bowl held aloft by three stately Kore figures, offered at $1,200 – 1,800
Other fine furnishings include two Italian Rococo pieces: a style burr walnut and tulipwood desk, and a polychromed figure of a blackamoor holding a torch estimated at $1000 – 1500 and $800 – 1200 respectively. Three Louis XIV beechwood and walnut fauteuils, one of them stamped I.B. Sené (Jean Baptiste Sené 1747 – 1803), are expected to bring $600 – 900, while a modern classic, a mohair sofa by Robert Venturi for Knoll, carries an estimate of $1500 – 2000.
Leading the diverse fine art selections is an ornately framed and finely detailed oil by Salvator Frangiamore (1853-1915 Italian)?of figures in an elaborate Italian interior. It carries an estimate of $7,500/10,000. An Orientalist oil by Jules Claude Ziegler (French 1804 -1856) depicting a sultan and his serving girl is offered at $6,000 – 8,000. Offered at $3,000/5,000 is a rare mixed media painting by Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951 India),?known as the principal member of the Bengal School of painting.
Rounding out the sale is a selection of rare edition books with fine bindings including the works of Mark Twain, John Steinbeck, Zane Grey, and Charles Darwin with estimates ranging from $300 to $2000.
The next Moran auction scheduled after the September 29th sale will be one of their well known California and American Art auctions featuring the best of pre-1950’s Impressionist and American Scene oils and watercolors and Western works, scheduled for October 13, 2009. One of the premiere lots featured in what promises to be a spectacular sale is a 28” x 32” landscape, Nine Lakes Basin, High Sierras by Paul Lauritz (1889 – 1975 California).
All of Moran’s auctions are held at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, CA. The September 29th sale will start with the no-reserve Discovery Auction at 3:00 pm followed by the Evening Sale at 6:30 pm. Public previewing starts at noon on auction day. A fully illustrated catalog of the evening sale will be available on Moran’s website at johnmoran.com. Bidding for this session is available from the floor, by absentee, phone, and internet via Artfact.com. Bidding for the Discovery Session is from the floor only. For more information about this sale or to consign, please call the offices of John Moran Auctioneers at (626) 793-1833 or visit their website at www.johnmoran.com