The sale will be held online and at Miller & Miller’s gallery, located in New Hamburg, Ontario.
NEW HAMBURG, Ontario, Canada – A Fine & Decorative Arts Auction featuring the single-owner lifetime collection of the late Bob and Delores McCash – two dedicated collectors who acquired most of their antique finds in the 1950s and ‘60s and kept them in their wartime-era bungalow in Kitchener, Ontario – will be auctioned Saturday, May 19th, at 10 am Eastern time.
The sale will be conducted by Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd., online and at the firm’s gallery located at 59 Webster Street in New Hamburg, Ontario. For those who can’t attend in person, online bidding will be provided by LiveAuctioneers.com, Invaluable.com and the Miller & Miller website, www.MillerandMillerAuctions.com. Phone and absentee bids will also be taken.
In all, 522 lots will come up for bid, in categories that include sterling silver, bronze and marble sculptures, lamps, art glass, art pottery, jewelry, fine furniture, porcelain and ceramics, paintings and prints and canes. Much of it will be from the McCashes, who found their antique treasures at auctions, yard sales, flea malls and through friends, long before collecting them was fashionable.
“They had an inventory coding system that showed what they paid, in ‘50s and ‘60s dollars, and what they intended to ask at retail,” said Ethan Miller of Miller and Miller Auctions, Ltd. “All their antiques were crammed into their bungalow, and nothing was ever sold. The collection has been out of circulation until now. These are true old world antiques you just can’t find anymore.”
Fresh to the market “McCash’s quality” consignments have been added, making the sale overall a collector’s dream. The merchandise mix will feature many fine items, to include the following:
• Fine local antique furniture from firms such as Berlin Interior Hardwood Company, Krug and McLagan.
• Thousands of sterling silver accessories, to include Tiffany flatware, a W.& G. Sissons figural ewer, flatware sets and tea services.
• Electric lamps by makers such as Handel, Pairpoint (three examples), Fratelli Toso Millefiori and Bradley & Hubbard.
• Art glass by Daum Nancy, Galle, Tiffany, Moser, Steuben, Quezal and Baccarat, plus Victorian epergnes, bride’s baskets and Bohemian-Czech bottles.
• Art pottery and ceramic pieces, featuring Royal Doulton, Moorcroft, Royal Dux, Bisque, Paris porcelain and Majolica.
• Estate jewelry pieces such as an 18kt gold and coral Etruscan fob, Seed pearl brooches, an 18kt white gold diamond ring, a Baltic amber necklace and an 18kt gold pocket watch.
A strong candidate for top lot of the auction is a circa 1860 relief-carved marble portrait of the prominent Canadian lawyer, author and politician Henry Corry Rowley Becher (1817-1885) by Sir Joseph Edgar Boehm (1834-1890), best known for the Jubilee head of Queen Victoria and a statue of the Duke of Wellington. The 30 ½ inch tall sculpture should gavel for $6,000-$8,000.
There are several outstanding Pairpoint lamps in the sale. These include a circa 1920 “Landing of the Pilgrims” lamp, 24 inches tall, with reverse painted roma form shade and correct and original signed four-arm base; and a circa 1920 “Garden of Allah” lamp, with Chesterfield form shade and rare Ravenna base, signed, 21 ¼ inches tall. Both lamps carry estimates of $4,000-$6,000.
Other noteworthy Pairpoint lamps include a circa 1915 example with reverse-painted Berkeley form shade having an Italian garden pattern, signed “P. Dillon” on the inner lower edge, 24 inches tall (est. $2,000-$3,000); and a Puffy table lamp, made in America around 1910, with a reverse-painted shade in a hummingbird and roses pattern and signed base (est. $2,500-$3,000).
An Art Deco bronze and ivory sculpture of a maiden by the German artist Julius Paul Schmidt-Felling, produced circa 1910 and artist signed on the base, 11 ½ inches tall, is expected to realize $3,000-$4,000; while a circa 1920 Austrian cold-painted bronze maiden mounted to an onyx, marble plinth, with “AUSTRIA” etched to the base, 12 inches tall, should make $2,000-$3,000.
A sterling silver wine figural ewer (narrow necked jug with wide spout and bulbous body), made around 1863 by W. & G. Sissons in Sheffield, England, showing young fauns, putti and goats, will be sold, as will a Birks sterling silver tea service (teapot, coffee pot, hot water pot, creamer, open sugar and spooner), in the Melon pattern with floriform finials (both est. $3,000-$4,000).
A gorgeous carved quarter-sawn oak cabinet, made around 1900 in Stratford, Ontario, by the McLagan Furniture Company, with the original finish and measuring 83 inches tall by 58 inches wide, should fetch $2,000-$3,000. Also, a quarter-sawn oak roll-top office desk made in Canada circa 1905 by the Berlin Interior Hardwood Company of Berlin, should sell for $2,500-$3,500.
An impressive 19th century Daum cameo glass pitcher, 8 ½ inches tall, having fine overall floral cameo polychrome decoration with hand-etched leaf venation on a splatter glass body, carries an estimate of $2,000-$3,000, as does an exceptional pair of circa 1850 Paris porcelain vases, both 18 inches tall, with three-dimensional figures applied along with depictions of birds and nests.
Other lots worthy of mention include a carved white Carrera marble sculpture of a sitting nude, created in Italy circa 1910, fixed to a fitted marble plinth and signed “F. Cichi” to the rear, 22 ½ inches (est. $2,000-$3,000); and a five-piece dresser set made in the 1920s in Czechoslovakia by Hoffman & Schlevogt, produced from black amethyst crystal and malachite (est. $2,500-$3,500).
A preview will be held the date of sale from 8:30 am until the first gavel falls at 10 am Eastern.
Miller & Miller Auctions, Ltd. Is always accepting quality consignments for future auctions. The firm is a seller of high-value collections of antique and vintage collectibles valued between $35,000 and $3 million. Its stated mission is to provide serious collectors with a trusted place to buy and sell, while its vision is to be Canada’s highest grossing seller of high value collections.
To consign a single piece, an estate or a collection, you may call them at (519) 573-3710 or (519) 716-5606; or, you can send an e-mail to [email protected]. To learn more about Miller & Miller Auctions and the May 19th auction, visit www.MillerandMillerAuctions.com