GREAT ESTATES COME TO RAGO’S IN A DECEMBER 7TH-8TH-9TH HOLIDAY AUCTION Fresh to Market. 90% Unreserved. Decorative Arts. Furnishings. Asian. Fine Jewelry and Silver. Paintings and Sculpture. Americana. Ephemera. Ethnographic.
News-Antique.com - Nov 20,2007 - Rago’s Great Estates weekend is a holiday sale of outstanding estate property in three sessions. Much of it arrived from local families, many of whom attend Rago’s walk-in “Appraisal Mondays.” The majority of the property will be sold unreserved.
Sarah Churgin directs Saturday’s sale of jewelry and silver. Ivo Ispani directs the Friday and Sunday sessions of decorative and fine arts, furnishings and other estate property.
“Because of the great success of last year’s sale, we’ve been offered extraordinary pieces and this year’s auction has a breadth that we never imagined,” says Ivo Ispani, Director of Estate Sales at Rago’s, “Like all fine estate sales, my sessions include furnishings, carpets, art. We are selling a superb selection of statuary and clocks. There’s also a Dentzel carousel horse and other Americana and personal collections of baseball cards and ethnographic items.”
“David Rago asked me to try my hand at auction in 2002, after a life spent as a dealer in fine jewelry, silver and couture,” adds Sarah Churgin, Director of Jewelry and Silver at Rago’s, “Some six years later, I am still a kid in a candy shop - but I now know how much there is to discover by evaluating tens of thousands of pieces each year and that it is far from easy to find property worthy of a fine sale. The sale of December 8th is a very fine sale, indeed. I am privileged to offer these treasured heirlooms.”
Session One: Friday, December 7 at 3 PM
Friday’s sale begins with a wide-ranging selection of furnishings, including a fine collection of clocks from a home in Mamaroneck, New York. Among the offerings: an exceptionally large four-hundred-day clock with dome and base (lot 2/$3,000-5,000); many tall case clocks; and a Tiffany & Co. clock garniture (lot 64a/ $6,000 to $8,000). Among the best of the carpets is a 9’ x 20’ Persian, signed in Arabic, from an estate in upstate New York (lot 31/$6,000-$8,000). Those in search of fine furnishings will take an interest in a 19th C. French “plum pudding” mahogany console dessert at (lot 22/$10,000-15,000); a Victorian carved desk at ((lot 51/$1,000-1,500); a Chippendale Revival dining set; and an American mahogany Empire sofa among many others pieces.
Notable among the paintings for sale on Friday are two large 19th C. works: a Dutch street scene (lot 2/$6,000-9,000) and a French neo-classical depiction of the return of Helen of Troy. Also for sale are multiples by Erte, Whistler and Rembrandt; photographs by Ed Clark, W. Eugene Smith and Deborah Turbeville, and early photography.
The sale has a small and choice selection of ethnographic items. These include a Northwest Coast ceremonial bowl; a Rio Grande blanket, ca. 1880-1890; a Sioux pipe bag; and a unique collection of South American pottery and other property, including a monumental retablo from the estate of explorer and ethnographer F.W. McBryde.
Americana will be sold on Friday and includes textiles, weathervanes, two carousel horses (one by Dentzel), an excellent tramp art cabinet and a
