Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999
Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999
Publication: Ant
Author: SARAH
Quick Words:
Slawinski-estates-Memorial-Day
Full Text:
Slawinski Estates
(with 3 cuts)
FELTON, CALIF. -- Slawinski Auction Company conducted their most recent
estates auction on Memorial Day, with 431 big cards issued. Floor bidders were
joined by over 200 absentee bids; phone bids snapped up 62 of 397 total lots.
Twenty-two lots sold to bidders out-of-state and total sales exceeded
$400,000.
Auctioneer Bob Slawinski started the event by asking all veterans and the
families of fallen soldiers to stand. The crowd broke into rousing and lengthy
applause.
The sale began timidly enough with a Steiff rabbit bringing $185, but lot 29,
a rare 11« inch Grueby four-color vase, executed by Ruth Erickson, soon
followed.
The vase was found in a local home and had been a gift to the consignor's
mother from a wealthy East Coast relative some 85 years ago. With interest
from several institutions, dealers and private collectors, it ended up in a
contest between two collectors on the telephone, finally selling for $17,000
(est $8/12,000).
Other items in the Arts & Crafts category included a hammered copper box by
Harry Dixon, which brought $900, and an unsigned Mission oak dining table,
with cross-stretcher base, which sold at $2,500.
Victorian furniture provided a number of highlights. A pair of monumental oak
collector cabinets sold for $9,750; a mahogany Rococo Revival dressing table,
attributed to Alexander Roux sold to the trade at $8,000; and a Wooton rotary
desk, with tambour roll and burled walnut panels, sold to a phone bidder at
$7,000.
A large oak buffet, with bow front, curved sides and carved back with oval
mirror, was a good buy at $2,500; a carved oak hall bench with lion heads,
probably by R.J. Horner, was hammered at $2,250; and a very ornate oak side by
side, with elaborate display sections, was sold at $1,450.
Other items of interest included a 1957 Mercedes 190SL convertible which
earned a top bid of $16,000; a Vienna cold painted bronze of a dancer, signed
"Gerdago," which brought $3,250; and a large French quarter repeater carriage
clock, which sold at $1,300.
One of the most memorable lots of the sale, an oak cheval mirror with lion
heads and paw feet, painted pea green (est $1,5/2,500), came to the block with
seven phone participants (more than any other lot) poised to bid. The action
went quickly past estimate with four phone bidders active, until at $5,500 the
under bidder finally relented.
Paintings were lead by an interesting interior scene by John Absolon,
depicting two ladies with a fortune teller, which went to a lady in the room
at $3,500. A group of paintings by Will Frates, whose family has consigned
more than 50 paintings to the firm, brought prices up to $600. A desert scene
by George Bickerstaff sold above estimate at $1,000; and a view of Rome by
Robert Gigli reached $800.
Prices quoted do not include a ten percent buyers premium. For information,
831/335-9000.