Briggs Auction Inc. of Garnet Valley, Pa., kicked the summer season off to a sizzling start with their Spring Fine Antiques and Decorative Arts catalog auction, which was held June 6.
Featuring over 400 lots of items from selected Main Line, Pa., estates, houses, and entire collections, the auction included period antiques, designer mid-century modern furnishings, decorative and fine art, fine Asian and French porcelains, fine estate jewelry, oriental carpets, country antiques, and much more. The auction saw enthusiastic bidding in-house, on the phone, and via the Internet from over 1,500 registered bidders around the world.
Prices were strong across various categories, from period furniture to modern designer pieces to estate jewelry. Top lots of the evening included the following:
Three rare lounge chairs by New Hope artist Paul Evans on welded and patinated steel frames sold for $47,200 total. All prices include buyer's premiums. Evans' popularity and prices have soared, due to a recent exhibition of his work at the James A. Michener Museum in Doylestown, Pa., and these chairs did not disappoint. They sold in two lots, first a pair, and a then single chair, but remained together, having been purchased by the same determined buyer bidding by phone.
A desirable Chester County, Pa., sampler dated 1830, worked by Hannah Bittle, featuring animals and floral motifs and with the delicately stitched names of Bittle's parents and grandparents, sold for $17,700. The sampler sold to a family member who wanted to preserve this piece of family history. The sister sampler, also hand-done by Hannah Bittle and dated 1828, sold for $2,832.
A fine Chester County, Pa., Chippendale tall chest with unusual document drawer and monogram on front, sold for $11,800. Hotly contested, this piece stunned the crowd.
A gorgeous diamond Art Deco cocktail ring set in platinum with approximately 2.9 carats total diamond weight, realized $18,880. One of the pieces with the highest pre-sale interest level in the auction, this ring saw bidders vying across all platforms before selling to a bidder on the phone.
"Modern designer furniture is the current market leader," said Stephen Turner for Briggs Auction Inc. "The strong prices we've seen for these pieces prove that modern design holds its value both esthetically and as investment pieces." Notable pieces from the evening included a sleek Gio Ponti King-size Headboard, selling for $7,080 and three pieces of George Nakashima Origins bedroom furniture for Widdicomb USA, including a triple dresser selling for $11,210, a gent's cabinet selling for $3,304, and a pair of nightstands selling for $4,484. A Hans Wegner for Andreas Tuck dining table realized $5,566. A set of 15 Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen Grand Prix chairs sold for $3,776, and a fine pair of Italian round brass and steel tables brought $2,006.
"Period furnishings are also surprisingly strong," countered John Turner, president of Briggs Auction Inc. "While the market ebbs and flows, the right pieces will always command sold prices." Highlights included an elegant Empire console table ($16,520); a Georgian four-part banquet table ($6,655); a lovely pair of French Empire commodes ($4,012); a sturdy Walter Durfee 19th-century oak tall-case clock ($4,720); a beautiful grand piano in mirror-finish black-lacquered case by Boston Piano Co. for Steinway & Sons ($6,655); and while not technically an antique, a fine Kindel Winterthur Reproduction Rhode Island desk and bookcase, which sold for $6,490.
Decorative arts, fine art, porcelains, and silver also saw strong prices for an eclectic mix of items, including a rare and important autographed Robert E. Lee carte de visite with an Alexander Gardner stamp ($5,082); a colorful Turkish Oushak carpet ($4,248); a pair of Chinese porcelain rose medallion garden seats ($5,192); a rare Austrian Art Nouveau bronze dragon-form lamp with jeweled body, base, and shade ($3,304); a grouping of two pictorial beaded bags with landscape and Venetian scenes ($1,331); an unusual Gustave Keller pocket perpetual calendar with silver and brass accents ($1,003); a classic mid-19th-century Martin guitar in as-found condition, but with period hard-shell case ($1,888); and a robust pair of Empire bronze 10-branch candelabras, which sold for $2,950. A Chinese pottery chrysanthemum-form bowl with tea dust glaze sold for $1,652, and a lot of two Chinese export cabbage leaf-decoration porcelain platters brought $1,815, while a Chinese export rose medallion punch bowl realized $1,888. A Chinese export "Rockefeller" plate sold for $1,210, a Chinese watercolor depicting a flowering tree with calligraphy poem in the upper right and three red seals sold for $2,360, and a George Ames Aldrich oil-on-board canal scene realized $4,598.
Crossing genres, two large-format Richard Bobby modernist architectural-style paintings realized $3,068. A stunning pair of diamond earrings of over 2.6 total carats with removable diamond-drop jackets sold for $8,850, and a grouping of five fine gold and enamel flower pins realized $1,534.
Additional prices realized and photos for all lots are available at www.BriggsAuction.com. Details about their upcoming fall catalog auction will be available soon and will feature modern-design furnishings, fine Asian export porcelains, fine art, and more.
The company holds weekly Friday evening public estate variety auctions, which feature a range of antiques and fine furniture, decorative and fine arts, estate jewelry, silver, china, glass, collectibles, coins, books, toys, tools, and discovery box lots. Weekly auction listings and hundreds of photographs are posted every Wednesday.
For additional information, call 610-566-3138.