Lighting Steals The Show at Toomey-Treadway Auction

While furniture collectors debated the impact an earlier refinishing would have on the bidding for several examples of rare Gustav Stickley furniture, Arts & Crafts lighting proved once again that it is the rising star in the Arts & Crafts world.

While the first few lots of refinished Stickley furniture at last Sunday's John Toomey and Don Treadway's 20th Century Art & Design auction struggled just to make it into their pre-sale estimate range, lot #22, a Roycroft copper and stained glass lamp designed by Dard Hunter blew past its estimate of $10,000-$15,000 to sell for $17,000 (prices do not include the buyer's premium).

A smaller, more modest Roycroft lamp with a Steuben shade doubled its pre-sale estimate when it sold for $6,000.

Collectors of Dirk Van Erp hammered copper and mica lamps had three large examples to choose from in this sale. They pushed the first to $12,000, the second to $30,000, and a third, reportedly the only known example with cutouts in the base, to $26,000.

The two Gustav Stickley-Harvey Ellis inlaid pieces in the sale, a dropfront desk (est. $8,000-$12,000) and a 48" tall side chair (est. $12,000-$15,000) had each been refinished and each sold at the bottom end of their pre-sale estimate. An equally as rare Stickley-Ellis dropfront desk with strap hinges and no inlay came into the sale with its original finish intact and a pre-sale estimate of $20,000-$30,000. It left to a new home after a final bid of $27,000, further proof of the value of an original finish to high-level collectors.

Every auction has its 'sleepers' and this one was no exception. The first had been predicted here last week when a petite Gustav Stickley mantle clock in near-perfect condition came in with a pre-sale estimate of $5,500-$7,500, but left only after a final bid of $9,000.

The piece that had most people asking "Who?" was a 14" vase decorated with a family of moose walking through a forest (pictured). Unsigned, but attributed to Russell Crook, the vase came with a pre-sale estimate of $3,500-$4,500, along with a hole drilled later for a lamp cord. Two collectors who undoubtedly knew that Russell Crook had once been a tile designer for Grueby and a member of the Boston Society of Arts & Crafts -- and that Crook seldom signed his pieces -- battled the piece all the way to the $18,000 mark.

While nowhere near as dramatic as the bidding for the Russell Crook vase, collectors at the opposite end of the spectrum demonstrated that they could push the bidding for Arts & Crafts textiles as well. Three unidentified pillows, each with colorful Arts & Crafts designs and in excellent condition, were estimated to sell in the $250-$350 range, but in short order they sold for $375, $450 and, finally, $550.

For complete auction results, including prices paid for Teco, Grueby and Rookwood pottery, as well as Limbert and Rohlfs furniture, please go to http://www.TreadwayGallery.com.

- Bruce Johnson