Center: Since 1994, Rago's has served thousands of sellers and buyers with a singular blend of global reach and personal service. Originally specialists in 20th C. design, today Rago's expertise covers centuries of fine art, decorative arts, furnishings, jewelry and ethnographic property. It is a world-class venue through which to buy and sell. It is also a destination for those who seek to learn and share knowledge about art, antiques and collecting, offering free valuations for personal property (from a single piece to collections and estates), appraisals and auction exhibitions in house and online. Rago's, the largest and leading auction house in New Jersey, is located midway between Philadelphia and New York.
• Next 20th C. Design Auction: Saturday/Sunday, June 16-17, 2012. Consignments are now being accepted: 609.397.9374 or info@ragoarts.com.
Overview of Early 20th Century / Arts & Crafts / Art glass / European Secession / Wiener Werkstatte / 20th C. Studio Pottery, Saturday, February 25, 2012, 11 a.m.
Saturday’s sale begins with almost 400 lots of Arts & Crafts; immediately followed by 30 lots of European Secession and Wiener Werkstatte; 40 lots of Tiffany, Lalique and art glass; finishing the day with over 100 lots of 20th C. studio pottery. There is a fine and extensive collection of over 40 lots, property of a private Delaware collector, which starts with an exceptional trestle table and armchair designed by William Price and executed at the Rose Valley Utopian community in Delaware, circa 1901. The collection continues with a dozen lots from Byrdcliffe, a different Utopian community near Woodstock, New York. The materials relate to its founders, Jane Byrd McCall Whitehead and Ralph Radcliffe Whitehead, and include a grouping of rare wares made at their White Pines Pottery. The collection concludes with fine and esoteric forged iron items from the Philadelphia area and abroad.
Metalwork:
The sale begins with the featured collection of Mr. Peter Renzetti, which includes some of the finest Philadelphia ironwork from the early 20th century to come to market in recent years. This master blacksmith had a close association with Clare Yellin and the Samuel Yellin Metalworkers (SYM), extending the ideals of the America’s Arts and Crafts movement and the legacy of Samuel Yellin into the 21st century. The sale begins with an important and massive Samuel Yellin wrought-iron floor candelabrum from the 1920s. Possibly made for the Washington National Cathedral, this candelabrum was photographed in Yellin’s Arch Street, Philadelphia shop, and was published in Jack Andrews’ “Samuel Yellin: Metalworker,” 1992. Other metal items in the sale include andirons, fire screens, wall sconces and a lectern by the Arden community, Parke Edwards, Jarvie, E.T. Hurley, Dirk Van Erp, the Roycrofters, Finnegan & Janson, and the most esoteric Gideon from the tiny hamlet of Upper Black Eddy, PA. There are sterling silver pieces by Mary Catherine Knight, Arthur Stone, Joseph Mayer, Liberty and Tiffany & Co.
Featured metalwork lots in the sale include: lot 17, a rare wrought-iron fire screen by Parke Edwards, “East West Homes Best,” estimated
