Date: Fri 28-May-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: LIZAM

Quick Words:

Ruggles-Ayers-Jackman

Full Text:

REVISED: Ruggles Auction Tops One Million

(with 24 cuts)

By Bob Jackman

BROOKFIELD, MASS. -- On May 1 and 2, David Ruggles Ayers of New England

Auctions offered the estate of Carrie and Ray Ruggles of Brookfield,

regionally prominent dealers who, over six decades, amassed a fine personal

collection. Strengths of their assemblage included tiger maple furniture and

smalls, Windsor chairs, Sandwich glass and Bennington Rockingham glazed

pottery.

Of the 600 people attending the event, more than 100 traveled from outside New

England. Total sales were $1.34 million, with all 1,070 lots finding buyers.

Ayers is Carrie Ruggles' grandson. Ruggles was matriarch of the family and its

antiques business, for which Carrie's son Ray worked full time. In addition,

Ray was an expert on glass.

The Ruggles Family Business

Ayers also grew up working in the business. At the age of eight, he became a

runner for local auctioneer Gordon Reid (the same Gordon Reid who founded the

first Brimfield Flea Market). Ayers has been conducting auctions since 1979,

and he now hosts six to eight estate events per year. His sales first

attracted national attention four years ago, when he offered the Frank Decker

estate.

"It's been a rough stretch," he admitted. "We lost Carrie in March and Ray in

October. Now we have all this to take care of. We each depended upon each

other, and now they're gone.

"[The auction] was a fun ordeal," he continued. "Bittersweet. Something I

hated to do and loved to do at the same time."

Ware, Mass. dealer Donna Lotuff recalled, "At 97, Carrie was still a

whirlwind. She remained active, running her business and doing shows up until

the last couple months. People half her age couldn't keep up with her."

The Ruggles collection included about 80 objects fashioned from highly

contrasting, tightly banded maple. In New England that wood is called tiger

maple, but since the Renaissance it has been internationally known as curly

maple. Violin makers in Baroque Venice imported it from Bosnia. In New England

an ample natural supply has been widely used by local cabinetmakers and

turners.

Tiger Maple Leads

At $58,650, the lead tiger maple lot was a Rhode Island tall chest won by

Wilmington, Del. dealer Ed Hinton, establishing, it is believed, a record for

a tiger maple tall chest with a clear surface. (The overall record for any

tall chest was set three years ago by Wayne Pratt when he paid $115,000 for a

Dunlap tall chest in salmon paint.)

After buying his chest, Hinton commented, "I've been after it for 20 years.

The consensus is that it was made in Providence. I was prepared to go to

$60,000 plus the premium [$69,000]. My wife told me: `Don't come home without

that chest.'"

Another highly successful tiger maple lot was a country Chippendale slant-lid

desk with a simple interior that sold for $24,150. Despite an old dark

surface, the strong figure of the wood showed clearly. The drawer fronts had

strong diagonal figure, and the sides had horizontal banning with a mild arch.

It sat on shaped ogee feet.

A tiger maple four-drawer chest sold for $16,675 to Arthur Liverant. The piece

had been refinished long ago, and the second varnish was aging with an

attractive reddish tint. The chest's wood was extraordinary. Beyond being

highly figured with narrow banning, it was consistently figured for its full

length and width. The cabinetmaker aligned all elements of the front with the

bans running vertically. The side boards had horizontal banning. He also won

some of the better Sandwich glass lots.

The most active Ruggles descendant buying at the auction was grandson Robert

K. Ruggles III, who is a partner in Price Waterhouse Coopers.

"We all love antiques. My grandmother really loved tiger maple, and I

developed that same love. I went after the better examples in tiger maple. I

won a number of them, but I also lost some."

Family Relics

While the Ruggles family conducted routine business in the barn, more complex

and costly transactions were negotiated in the kitchen or on the porch. The

focus point of those kitchen conferences was a 39-inch oval pine top table

with a Sheraton tiger maple base.

"That was where we did our planning," Ayers reminisced, "and a lot of deals

were completed there. I'd love to have a recording of all the deals made over

that table."

During the preview, various friends commented that the family relic should

remain in the family. Bidding was between Bob Ruggles and Ayers, and David won

the table for $6,900.

A number of bidders had personal associations with Carrie, Bob or Ray Ruggles.

For example, a few decades ago a high school student and part-time picker

named Wayne Pratt drove up to the shop with a pair of Windsor chairs painted

in red and yellow. At the time he was delighted to sell them $850. At the

auction he reacquired them for $20,700.

"I dealt with Carrie since I was 12 years old," Pratt recalled. "I knew Carrie

and Ray well, and they were great dealers. We last spoke at great length a

couple years ago in New Hampshire."

A Windsor Record?

The Ruggles' collection of Windsor chairs had been extensively studied by

Nancy Evans for her book on American Windsors. The lead Windsor was a sack

back armchair in green paint with one replaced spindle, which dealer

Marguerite Riordan won for $36,800.

"I think that was a record," Pratt later commented. "I sold it to Carrie in

the early 1970s for $1,500."

Windsors by famous makers included a D. Danforth fanback, which sold for

$20,125, and an E. Tracy braced bow back, which rang up $9,488.

There were also the heartbreaks. In the early years of the Ruggles business, a

prized possession was a Chippendale bonnet-top chest on chest with an old nut

brown surface. When money got tight, they sold the chest to a collector.

After a couple decades, the buyers were downsizing, and they sold the chest

back to Carrie. In the interim, however, the collectors had had the chest

stripped and refinished. Fifty years later, it retains a honey maple color. At

auction the lot brought $28,750, about $100,000 less than its value in grungy

nut brown.

A surprisingly high number of furniture lots had damaged surfaces, and a large

contingent of restorers attended the auction. Sandy Doig of Somers, Conn., was

perhaps the most aggressive bidder among that group, and won a flat-top Queen

Anne highboy for $13,225 in good condition, along with half a dozen other

damaged lots. Most damaged pieces either went to restorers or to Bob Ruggles

III.

Connecticut dealer Arthur Liverant purchased a distinct tilt-top candlestand

with strong tiger maple figure.

"It has great shapely legs," quipped Liverant, "and I'm a legs man. It has

great toes, and I love toes."

Sandwich Glass

Approximately 443 glass lots included about 240 lots of Sandwich glass, and 80

lots in the "Ashburton" pattern made by Sandwich and other manufacturers. One

major Sandwich glass collector from beyond New England purchased five lots

bidding by phone. Those included a rare amethyst open fruit basket for

$20,700, two cobalt blue tulip vases for $5,520 and $5,175, and two amethyst

tulip vases for $2,875 and $2,530. Collector Jim Carusello won 18 lots with a

tab of $36,000.

Many people opined that the single-owner estate auction was a smart move, one

which produced higher prices than the same merchandise would have brought if

sold anonymously at multiple auctions.

Pottery

Rockingham glazed Bennington pottery had a strong day. The auction featured

about 100 lots variously cataloged as signed Bennington, Rockingham glazed

Bennington, and Rockingham glazed pottery. The signed Bennington works brought

strong prices, and the Rockingham glazed pieces thought to be English

appropriately sold for shorter money.

Two couples seated near each other contested most of the major Bennington

lots. At times these couples from Michigan and Vermont appeared to exchange a

few spirited words that fed competitive fires.

Bennington collector Cindy Motta enjoyed watching the competition, and

eventually her persistence was rewarded. "Overall the prices make me think

there is a resurgence in Rockingham Bennington," she predicted.

Highlights of the Bennington field included a rare astral lamp with a

Bennington stem and base which sold for $5,060; a huge, ten-inch-tall book

flask which brought $6,325; a candle dish, which reached $4,600; a green

glazed, Ben Franklin six-inch-tall pitcher, which garnered $4,255; a restored

poodle which fetched $3,565; and a pair of relishes which realized $2,530.

An Atmosphere Of Goodwill

The huge outpouring of goodwill and support demonstrated by the trade during

the several weeks surrounding this auction bears testament to the many

friends, supporters and colleagues David Ayers has in the antiques community.

"I know I'll succeed," Ayers said. "[My family] taught me well, and I have a

lot of friends in this business. It will be lonelier, but I'm sure things will

work out."

Prices quoted include a fifteen percent buyer's premium.