The fall antique extravaganza auction will be held at the firm’s gallery in Aberdeen, Miss.
(ABERDEEN, Miss.) – Choice items from the estate of Dr. Ray Gregory, a general surgeon from Corinth, Miss. – to include around 200 pieces of Roseville pottery collected over the course of 40 years, about 50 pieces of brilliant cut glass, dozens of pre-1900 copper kettles and more – will headline a fall antique extravaganza auction planned for Saturday, Nov. 23rd.
The auction will be conducted by Stevens Auction Company, in the firm’s gallery located at 609 North Meridian Street in Aberdeen, a town about halfway between Tupelo and Columbus, Miss., on U.S. 45. The first gavel is scheduled to come down promptly at 10 a.m. (CST). There will be no Internet bidding for this auction, but telephone and absentee bids will be accepted.
In addition to Dr. Gregory’s collections, three other prominent estates – from Louisville, Miss.; Huntsville, Ala.; and Bartlettsville, Okla. – will also be offered. The sale will be packed with Federal, Empire and late Victorian furniture, some of it by renowned cabinet makers such as John Henry Belter, J. & J.W. Meeks, R.J. Horner, Mitchell & Rammelsberg and John Jelliff.
Also being sold is sterling silver, Old Paris and other fine porcelains, exquisite china, antique clocks, antique oil lamps, original works of art, lovely hand-made Persian rugs, unique primitive pieces and more. The items from Dr. Gregory’s estate are the expected headliners. He has been a general surgeon and prominent member of the Corinth community for over 40 years.
“Dr. Gregory is a serious collector of highly desirable Roseville and brilliant cut glass pieces, and it’s only due to his failing health that this auction is being held at all,” said Dwight Stevens of Stevens Auction Company. “The Roseville collection started four decades ago, and there are pieces stored in barns, in storage buildings, even in the basement of his medical clinic.”
The Roseville Pottery Company was founded in 1890 in Roseville, Ohio. Right away the firm enjoyed great success producing stoneware flower pots and other practical household items. The design of the pottery made it popular with the Arts and Crafts movement, which led to its desirability as a collectible. This only intensified after the company went out of business in 1954.
Since then, Roseville pottery has enjoyed two major revivals: with baby boomers in the 1970s and again in the late 1990s and early 2000s during the Mission Style revival. Today, some Roseville styles are relatively common, while rare pieces can fetch hundreds or even thousands of dollars. Collectors rely on the wide variety of kiln markings to guide them in their choices.
Dr. Gregory’s large and impressive collection of copper kettles, with all pieces dating to the 19th century, could conceivably be snapped up just as easily by someone looking to cash in on their value as scrap metal (easily in the thousands of dollars) as a collector of such items. “These copper pots and kettles are beautiful as functional pieces of American history,” Mr. Stevens said.
Period furniture pieces in the auction will include a ten-piece walnut Victorian parlor suite with two 71-inch-wide sofas and eight chairs, by John Jelliff (circa 1870); a massive walnut Victorian six-door bookcase, with the top section having blind doors (circa 1875); and an Empire mahogany banquet dining table with acanthus carved base and claw feet (circa 1840).
Additional furniture pieces will feature a mahogany full tester bed with wood locks, 8 feet 9 inches tall by 6 feet long; a flame mahogany Empire wine cabinet with curved door and column front (circa 1840); and a mahogany Sutherland inlaid drop-leaf table with turned base.
Lamps will include a magnificent pair of electrified double argand oil lamps with prisms (circa 1840) and a brass lamp with painted shade, signed Bradley & Hubbard. Clocks will feature a cast-iron Victorian mantle clock by the New Haven Clock Company; a bronze and alabaster French pillar clock (circa 1880); and a Victorian walnut double-weight wall clock (circa 1875).
The sale will feature two remarkable pianos. The first is a Wise & Brother rosewood square grand piano, made circa 1850 (“the finest one we’ve ever sold,” said Dwight Stevens), and a mahogany Aeolian player piano with over 100 records. Unusual lots will include a horse-drawn two-seater buggy restored 30 years ago and an original M. J. Himme chimney sweep doll.
Also to be sold will be a dresser box with sterling lids on the bottles, 7 inches tall; an authentic Kook Master Ace wood stove, made by Spencer Foundry Co. (Duluth, Minn.); a gold painted French plaque table with mirror center and hand-painted plaques; and a pair of French hand-painted bisque figurals, signed P. Mallard (New Orleans, La.), 16 inches tall (circa 1855).
Sometime in January (date and times still to be determined), Stevens Auction Company will sell the lifetime collections of a lady out of Missouri, also in the Aberdeen gallery. The 65-year accumulation will include early Chinese Rose Medallion, Sevres pieces, Moser art glass, Old English Staffordshire and more. Watch the website as 2014 nears: www.stevensauction.com.
Stevens Auction Company is always accepting quality consignments for future sales. To consign a single item, an estate or a collection, you may call them directly, at (662) 369-2200; or, you can e-mail them at [email protected]. To learn more about Stevens Auction Company and the upcoming Nov. 23 and January auctions, log on to www.stevensauction.com
