Date: Fri 31-Jul-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: CAROLL

Quick Words:

Alderfer

Full Text:

Alderfer Auction

w/cuts

By J.M.W. Fletcher

HATFIELD, PENN. -- The Alderfer Auction Co held its Summer Catalogue sale on

June 11, sourced from dozens of collectors and estates, including the

collection of Anna Bechtel; the Lancaster County estate of Richard C. Von

Hess, former director of the Wrights Ferry Mansion in Columbia, Penn.; as well

as items from a variety of disciplines.

Meg Schaefer, curator of Wright's Ferry Mansion, was on hand during a luncheon

preview of the sale to view the Von Hess collection. According to Schaefer,

Von Hess began acquiring items at the age of 16 and continued to collect for

about 50 years. Trained as a commercial artist, he was responsible for the

acquisition and funding of the Wright's Ferry Mansion, founded in 1978.

The more than 500-lot Alderfer event offered a standing-room-only gallery a

plethora of Americana, folk art, silver, art glass, Orientalia and period

furniture. Also featured were an inordinate number of lots of area artists'

paintings, as well as many lesser-known and unknown works.

A second, non-catalogued sale, featuring an equal number of lots, was held

simultaneously in an adjacent gallery. Due to the quality of these items, they

should have been included in the catalogued event.

The sequence of lots in the catalogued auction differed from Alderfer's usual

format in that lots were grouped, when possible, more closely together by

"category" (eg "Crystal and Art Glass," "Ephemera and Textiles," "Artwork,"

and "Sterling, Silver and Pewter").

Two auction high notes were achieved, according to the gallery, for works by

Albert Van Nesse Greene, a Chester County, Pa., artist. One was an outstanding

25 by 30-inch oil on canvas of the Brooklyn Bridge that sold to a local real

estate developer for $13,000. The other was a spectacular 32-by-34-inch oil on

canvas painting of Cobbs Creek, Del. It set the top auction record at a robust

price of $24,000.

Nine Harry Leith-Ross oil/watercolors ranged from $350 to $3,000, which went

for a 26 by 21 inch oil on Masonite , "The Hunter." It sold to the phones. A

group of 11 painting lots by Walter E. Baum ranged from $350 to $2,500.

It took seven phone lines, including two overseas lines, to handle the

interest in a 12 by 18 inch oil on panel by Johannes Hilverdink (Dutch,

Nineteenth Century) featuring a fisherman on shore. It was interesting to note

that floor bidders dropped off at $2,700, while a phone bidder from the

Netherlands took the painting back home for $6,750.

Within the ephemera and textiles group was an 1828 North Umberland County

Pennsylvania Taufschein done by Henry Young. Celebrating the birth and baptism

of Samuel Schedt, it depicted a man and woman with wine goblets. Traditional

eight point stars were located in the upper right and left corners. The

Taufschein went to a persistent floor bidder, a New England collector, for

$9,000.

Two samplers did well, with one wrought by Mary Ann Stan Worth, dated 1835,

depicting buildings, flowers, and verse making. It sold for $1,500. Another

dated 1842 and decorated with the alphabet, in many styles, with floral and

animal figures, brought $2,200.

Among the 100 or so lots of antiques and decorative arts, a large group of

transferware bowls, platters and dishes brought retail prices. An exceptional

bone china dinner set of 77 pieces in the "Dainty Blue" pattern sold at

$2,700. A fine "T&V" French porcelain game bird set of 12 plates and a platter

made $1,500.

An 1834 brass Betty lamp depicting pick and hammer, heart on hanger, and bird

on well motifs sold to a phone bidder for $500. A hogscraper candlestick with

push-up shaft sold against the phones at $350. The top lot of four pottery

banks was an example in the form of a ram's head which sold for $350. A

miniature tramp art dresser, with two over three drawers, made $475. A group

of four butter prints (eagle, starburst, tulip and a stylized flower design)

realized $450. A fine wooden frame footed lantern, with glass door and sides,

reached $475.

A collection of 16 two splint oak and gathering baskets ranged from $100 to

$300. In walnut, a dish-top birdcage candlestand with padded feet (probably

Philadelphia) left the block at $2,000. A Windsor bowback armchair, with

bamboo turning, made $600.

A group consisting of some 40 lots of crystal and art glass brought a great

deal of interest. Phone lines were busy, but floor bidders were much more

persistent. The prize pieces sold to the New Hope, Penn., and Lumbertville,

N.J., trade. A cameo glass green and red vase, signed Daum Nancy, reached

$3,800; a 14-inch signed Emile Galle French cameo vase, with clear and emerald

background, sold to the floor at $3,600; a 17-inch apricot and white satin

background Galle vase made $1,400, also selling to the floor; and a pair of

13-inch tall Hawkes crystal candlesticks, with cut floral pattern, went off at

$1,000.

A fine Kirman carpet with ivory background and wide borders left the floor at

$3,500. A Twentieth Century mahogany tall-case clock, with beveled glass door,

side lights, German movement and tubular chimes, made $2,700.

Prices quoted do not include a 10 percent buyer's premium. The Alderfer

Auction Company has catalogued auctions four times a year as well as weekly

auctions. Alderfer's next catalogued auction will be September 17.