On Wednesday, April 27, 2022, Toomey & Co. Auctioneers will proudly present a single-owner sale, The Ira Simon Collection: Sold for the Benefit of the Art Institute of Chicago. The sale features over 300 lots of art and design from the Art Nouveau, Aesthetic Movement, Arts & Crafts, and Art Deco periods, including various rare and important works by the likes of Tiffany Studios, Émile Gallé, and others.

Ira Simon was a Chicago-based graphic designer who, in the 1970s and 1980s, began putting together one of the most impressive collections of late 19th and early 20th century material, which led to his full-time transition to buying and selling antiques and conducting appraisals for auction houses and private clients.

Highlights of The Ira Simon Collection: Sold for the Benefit of the Art Institute of Chicago on April 27

The auction on April 27 will begin with four lamps from Tiffany Studios, Most notably, the first lot is a rare Jeweled Drop Head Dragonfly table lamp on a telescoping reticulated Queen Anne’s Lace base (estimate $150,000-250,000). Other Tiffany lamps include an Apple Blossom boudoir lamp on a Fern base, a Daffodil table lamp on a Tree Trunk base, and an Acorn table lamp on a Dragonfly base (highest $20,000-30,000). Further notable Art Nouveau / Aesthetic Movement items in the sale from Tiffany Studios consist of a rare Scarab humidor box, a Volcano humidor, a Turtleback jardiniere, and a Groundhog candlestick (highest $30,000-50,000).

French Art Nouveau is well represented with multiple furniture designs by Émile Gallé. In addition to a rare Libellules (Dragonflies) hall console ($20,000-30,000), the sale boasts a Vitrine aux Blés (Wheat Showcase) / display cabinet, a vitrine display cabinet with carved wheat decoration, an étagère, a rare water lily and dragonfly two-tiered table, a log chest, a double bed, and a tulip and moth box / table casket (highest $15,000-25,000). Furniture from Jacques Gruber, an orchid motif wall mirror, and Eugène Vallin, four side chairs with wheat accents, will also be available (higher $2,000-3,000).

Ira Simon was fond of bats, so the auction has several related objects, such as Ferdinand Erhart’s silver Chauve-Souris (Bat) belt buckle, an Art Nouveau bat hanging lantern, and a Hugo Leven for Kayserzinn three-light candelabrum with bats (highest $3,000-5,000). Simon’s interest in animalier works extended to other creatures like: Édouard-Marcel Sandoz’s Cobra table lamp, Edith Barretto Parsons’ Duck Baby sculpture, a Yawning Tiger bronze by Anna Vaughn Huntington, a Tiffany & Co. Frog spoon rest, and E.T. Hurley’s seahorse-themed designs (highest $10,000-20,000). Besides Hurley, the auction has American Arts & Crafts metalwork by The Kalo Shop, Gorham Mfg. Co., Robert Riddle Jarvie, and Carence Crafters plus jeweled French Art Nouveau chests and boxes by Alfred Daquet.

Along with the sculptures mentioned above, the sale contains a bronze after Paul Howard Manship, entitled Actaeon, which draws on Greek mythology, male figures by Malvina Cornell Hoffman and Albin Polasek, and female figures by Art Deco sculptor Emory P. Seidel (highest $8,000-12,000). Landscape paintings from Indiana’s Brown County Art Colony will go to the highest bidder, with works by Edward K. Williams, Lucie (Lucille) Hartrath, Rudolph Frank Ingerle, and others (highest $5,000-7,000). Finally, prints by Art Nouveau master Alphonse Mucha are part of the sale as well as two works on paper by surrealist Salvador Dalí (highest $3,000-5,000).

Preview and Bidding with Toomey & Co. Auctioneers

The Ira Simon Collection: Sold for the Benefit of the Art Institute of Chicago will be held on Wednesday, April 27 at 10:00 a.m. Central Daylight Time at Toomey & Co. Auctioneers, 818 North Boulevard, Oak Park, Illinois. The auction is open to the public and preview is available both in person and virtually by emailing info@toomeyco.com

Bidders may also participate by phone (708-383-5234) or leave absentee bids (info@toomeyco.com). The catalog is posted online at toomeyco.com and early registration is recommended. Alternatively, bids may be placed via two real-time, third-party platforms (LiveAuctioneers and Invaluable). 

Upcoming Auctions and Consignments

Toomey & Co. Auctioneers will conduct three more sales this spring: Modern Design + Post-War & Contemporary Art on Wednesday, May 18; Fine Art + Furniture & Decorative Arts on Wednesday, June 8; and Keramics & Rookwood: American & European Art Pottery on Thursday, June 9. Consignments are invited for upcoming auctions and photographs of items may be sent to info@toomeyco.com for estimates. To learn about past or future sales, please visit toomeyco.com.

About Toomey & Co. Auctioneers

Located just west of Chicago in Oak Park, Illinois, Toomey & Co. Auctioneers holds several carefully curated auctions annually with material sourced from six departments: Fine Art, Early 20th Century Design, Modern Design, Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts, Silver & Objects of Vertu, and Fine Jewelry & Timepieces. Recent schedules have presented single-owner and special sales drawn from important estates and private collections.