Treadway-Toomey Auction Notches a Solid Sale

While 2010 doesn’t appear to be shaping up as one of those years highlighted by a steady stream of stellar, one-of-a-kind, fresh to the market, rare Arts & Crafts masterpieces, collectors continue to turn to the major Arts & Crafts auction houses as they build their collections.

Last Sunday’s auction by John Toomey and Don Treadway at Toomey’s Oak Park, Illinois gallery demonstrated that collectors were ready to pounce on those fine examples that are surfacing – and to pick up a few bargains along the way.

Teco pottery continues to bring high prices for rare examples, evidenced by a 14” vase (model #192) with twisting leaf handles designed by Fritz Albert that brought $14,000 (prices do not include the buyer’s premium). The next lot, a 17” Teco vase with an unusual architectural motif designed by Fernand Moreau, blew past its presale estimate of $9000-$12,000 to be hammered down for $32,500. Both pieces were in the classic Teco green glaze. Later, a pair of Teco jardinières designed by famed Prairie school architect George Elmslie for a Louis Sullivan commission sold for $6500 and $7500.

Yet, at the same sale, new collectors itching to add a signed piece of Teco to their shelves had their choice of several more common forms in the $200-$550 range.

Grand Rapids furniture manufacturer Charles Limbert was well represented at this sale. Two hall chairs with Mackintosh-inspired cutouts sold for $6500 and $3750, a similar library table went for $2000, and a set of four dining room chairs reached $3000. Limbert china cabinet model #416 sold for $1600 and server model #1404 went for $1400.

Two L. & J.G. Stickley Morris chairs demonstrated the maxim that “Beefy Is Better.” A large, paddle-arm version with original leather cushions and original finish sold for $5000, even though the adjustable back bar was new. In contrast, a lighter form of an L. & J.G. Stickley Morris chair with new leather and a cleaned finish could not reach the bottom end of its $2000-$5000 presale estimate.

A colorful, large (16” square, pictured here) Rookwood tile of a tree-shaded cottage (est. $1500-$2500) sold for $4500, while a 9.5”x14.5” plaque of a landscape scene painted in 1909 by Ed Diers brought $10,000.

Two lesser knowns proved that name recognition isn’t everything. A Hartford Faience tile panel nearly three feet long and with seven colors under a matte glaze sold for $13,000, while a 6” sterling silver lidded jewelry box (pictured here) with an enameled angel and semi-precious stone designed by Ernestine Mills (English) went to a new home for $5000.

Among the bargains which collectors found at Sunday’s auction was a Kalo sterling silver bowl for $500, a Gustav Stickley library table at $900, a Roycroft “Little Journeys” bookstand for $550 and an unsigned octagonal tabouret for $350.

Also on that list was a signed Gustav Stickley high-back rocking chair (#232) with an original finish and original leather seat that was hammered down for just $425.

All in all, it was a solid sale with something for just about everyone’s taste and budget, offering beginning collectors a great opportunity to pick up some solid, classic forms in every category for some very reasonable prices.

For a complete list of sales results, please go to www.treadwaygallery.com.

-bj