Date: Fri 25-Jun-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDIR

Quick Words:

Eames-Treadway-Bagdade

Full Text:

Record Prices At Eames Auction Presented By Treadway Gallery

By Susan & Al Bagdade

OAK PARK, ILL. -- For two years, Richard Wright, Modern Design Expert with the

John Toomey Gallery, has been planning, acquiring and cataloguing works by

Charles and Ray Eames for an Eames Auction, held as part of the Twentieth

Century Art and Design Sale presented by Treadway Gallery, Inc. of Cincinnati,

Ohio, in association with the Toomey Gallery of Oak Park, Ill., on May 23.

This Eames sale was the first of its type in America, and generated a very

serious bidding from active floor and phone bidders.

Overseas interest in the Eames sale, as well as unprecedented interest in the

United States, was also noted. Richard Wright related that "record prices were

achieved in nearly every form. These were also record highs for American

postwar design objects. Everything in the catalogue sold except for two

pieces. The interest was consistent throughout the sale and reflected a

tremendous appreciation of Charles and Ray Eames designs."

Another interesting aspect of the event was the overwhelming bidder response

to numerous photographs and letters. Photographs estimated to sell for several

hundred dollars were driven to $4,000 and $5,000 by eager phone and floor

bidders, and their activity caused the auction to run about an hour behind

schedule.

"Photography was a very important part of Eames' life," Wright pointed out.

"He documented everything and was very proud of his photography. He donated

more than one million images to the Library of Congress."

The sale's buyers hailed from across the spectrum with institutions, new

buyers and avid Eames collectors among them. The majority of the most

expensive items appeared to be won by phone bidders.

The star of the auction was a Ray Eames splint sculpture, circa 1943, of

sawcut molded plywood with a flat, black painted finish. It had been consigned

by Parke Meek, who worked for the Eames for about 20 years. Despite its

pre-auction estimate of $25/35,000, the sculpture reached $130,000, a world

record price.

Robert Breeze and his partner Charles Stewart, Baltimore-area pioneers in

collecting Eames furniture, consigned many examples from their assemblage for

this sale. A Breeze-Stewart highlight was a Charles and Ray Eames DCW, circa

1950, manufactured by Herman Miller, molded ash plywood frame, with original

slunk skin upholstered seat and back. In excellent condition, this famous

chair reached $35,0000 (est $5/7,000).

More than tripling its pre-auction estimate was a Charles and Ray Eames

surfboard, or elliptical table rod base, circa 1950, manufactured by Herman

Miller in black laminated elliptical plywood top on black wire strut bases. It

sold for $9,000.

A set of four Charles and Ray Eames DCW's circa 1950, in original aniline dye,

molded birch plywood seats, backs and frames "in the finest condition we have

seen," according to Richard Wright, reached $8,500 (est $4/5,000). An ESU

desk, circa 1951, in rectangular birch plywood top on black angle iron frame,

with primary colored panels, wire X-stretchers, and label, reached $11,000

from a phone bidder (est $5,5/7,500).

A 1948, molded plywood, six-panel folding screen, in original black dye with

canvas hinges, reached $15,000 for a phone bidder (est $7,5/9,500). An ESU

400, 1950, with primary colored masonite panels in a zinc angle-iron frame

having cross stretchers, perforated metal panel, drawers and original sliding

dimple doors, bearing its original foot pads and label, sold to a phone bidder

for $27,000 (est $20/25,000).

From the Breeze-Stewart Collection, a prototype Eiffel Tower chair, 1950,

manufactured by Banner Metals, with Zenith gray fiberglass shell on black wire

base and screw pad foot pads, sold for $5,500 (est $2/2,500). Another star, a

child's chair, 1945, manufactured by Evans Products, in two-piece construction

of molded birch plywood with original red aniline dye and a back heart

cut-out, more than doubled its estimate and sold for $15,000.

The Arts and Crafts section of the auction, according to John Toomey, "was

diverse, with excellent early furniture, important metal, great lighting, and

fine art pottery examples. The bidding was very competitive on the phones, and

some impressive prices were realized."

Many collectors who viewed the objects prior to the auction preferred to bid

over the phone.

"Since Arts and Crafts has been an active market for so long now, I felt that

there has been some changes in the market and the way people buy," said

Toomey. "[Owners of] many established collections are seeking to only add one

or two pieces."

A Gustav Stickley sideboard, #814, with all-original hardware and exceptional

original finish, signed with red decal, reached $12,000 from a phone bidder

(est $7,5/8,500), and a Gustav Stickley chest of drawers, #602, reached the

same price, also from the phone. Achieving more than double its pre-auction

estimate was a Limbert table, #158, in double oval form over rectangular

cut-outs at base, signed with a paper label, which sold to the phone for

$20,000.

In wonderful design and finish was a Gustav Stickley bookcase, which sold for

$55,000 (est $30/40,000); a Stickley uncatalogued experimental form server

which sold for $30,000 (est $9/12,000); and a Roycroft magazine pedestal,

#080, with five shelves under a thick top with splayed sides, went to a phone

bidder for $22,000 (est $14/16,000).

A Byrdcliffe blanket chest, circa 1904, in a rectangular form with paneled

sides and eight hand-carved lilies at the corners, executed by Zulma Steele,

went to a Midwestern collector for $37,500. Originally from the Smith Bank in

Dwight, Ill., an important Frank Lloyd Wright director's table, which had

eventually been sold to a neighboring institution, the Campus State Bank, was

consigned by the latter to the auction. With rectangular top and incised edge,

it sold on the phone for $28,000, also to a Midwestern collector.

An important Grueby vase, having applied leaves at the top and bottom of its

double gourd form, in green matte glaze, with impressed mark, reached $25,000,

while a circa 1903 Van Briggle monumental form vase, with carved irises,

covered in maroon, blue and green matte, sold for $17,000.

The auction opened with an important Fulper lamp in cucumber, crystalline

matte green glaze, which came from the original owner's home. It reached

$30,000. A Theta pair of Jarvie candlesticks in fine original patina and

original bobeche, reached $14,000 (est $7/9,000). More than tripling its

estimate, an unusual Gustav Stickley wine cooler #4000, in hammered copper and

two riveted handles, sold for $17,000.

Wright reported "serious interest in the 1950s/Modern section of the auction.

The modern market has really taken off, with the best designs bringing good

money."

The highlight of this section was a Wendell Castle music stand, 1972, in

laminated and sculpted walnut on a tripod base, signed and dated, which

reached $45,000 (est $7/9,000).

A Nakashima bench, 1979, in American black walnut slab, with free edge and

rosewood butterfly beneath a walnut Windsor back having hickory spindles,

signed and dated, sold for $17,000. Other Nakashima creations selling above

their estimates included a cabinet, circa 1963, with walnut slab top which

sold for $10,000, and a conoid desk, with walnut slab top over Y-leg and three

drawers, which brought $13,000.

A record price was reached for a 1951 Heifetz table lamp designed by Lester

Geis for a Museum of Modern Art lighting competition, which sold for $7,500

(est $2/3,000).

In the American and European paintings section, two Paris street scenes by

Edouard Cortes reached $17,000 and $18,000.

Costume and Bakelite jewelry comprised the final auction section. Six Bakelite

rabbit napkin rings with inset translucent eyes sold for $1,000, and a

Bakelite sombrero charm bracelet reached $1,200.

Prices quoted do not include a ten percent buyers premium.