The Rago Arts and Auction Center will hold its Rago Unreserved Auction on Friday, April 19 to begin a three day auction marathon, April 19-21.  This 1,028 lot Friday sale is followed by a 547 Estate Auction on Saturday, April 20 and a 610 lot Unreserved Jewelry, Fashion and Silver auction on Sunday, April 21.

“Rago’s Unreserved is the auction everyone can afford to love,” said Rago partner Miriam Tucker. “On Friday we’re selling over 1000 lots furnishings and art that are high style at great value. Our Saturday Estate auction features conservative estimates and ultra-reasonable reserves on more fresh-to-the-market goods including furnishings, decorative and fine art, ephemera, Asian, tribal art, coins and collectibles. Sunday’s sale is unreserved again, so the high bid – no matter what it is – prevails for a great selection of jewelry, silver and fashion. It’s all online and telephone, absentee and online bidding are available for anyone unable to attend. Allow yourself plenty of time to preview – whether in Lambertville or at home – there’s a lot to love.”  

- 1028 LOT RAGO UNRESERVED AUCTION ON FRIDAY, APRIL 19

- 547 LOT ESTATE AUCTION ON SATURDAY, APRIL 20

- 610 LOT UNRESERVED JEWELRY, FASHION, SILVER AUCTION ON SUNDAY, APRIL 21

Auction Dates/Times

- Rago Unreserved Auction: Friday, April 19 at 9 a.m.

- Estate Auction: Saturday, April 20 at Noon

- Unreserved Jewelry/Fashion/Silver: Sunday, April 21 at Noon

Auction Exhibition/Preview

Saturday, April 13 – Wednesday, April 17, 12-5 p.m., Thursday, April 18, 12-7 p.m., and by appointment. Doors open on Friday at 7:30 a.m. and on Saturday and Sunday at 9 a.m.Rago Open House: Wednesday, April 17, 6 p.m., featuring a talk by Roy Pedersen, author and gallerist, “Coastal Impressions: Painters of the Jersey Shore, 1879-1940”. Please RSVP to raac@ragoarts.com or 609-397-9374 ext. 119. All are welcome. Rago’s is located midway between New York City and Philadelphia. Directions online at ragoarts.com.

Catalogues

View complete catalogues with color images online at ragoarts.com as of March 28.Estates Auction Catalogues are available for $20; Rago Unreserved and Unreserved Jewelry, Fashion, Silver Auction printed lists are free.  Available by calling 609.397.9374 or emailing a request to info@ragoarts.com.  

Auction Contact Information

609-397-9374 or info@ragoarts.com

RAGO UNRESERVED AUCTION: FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 9 A.M. 

Rago’s Unreserved Auction features over 1000 lots of unreserved merchandise, where the high bid, no matter how low, wins the lot.  The wide variety of stylish and useful property from traditional through the 21st century, includes furnishings, decorative arts, lighting, fine art, Asian, art pottery, glass, folk art, country and traditional furnishings, Native American/tribal, rugs, and much more, many from famous makers and designers. Masters of 20th century design include Mies Van Der Rohe, Eileen Gray, Le Corbusier, Marcel Breuer, Isamu Noguchi, George Nelson, Charles and Ray Eames, Richard Schultz, Adrian Pearsall, Eero Saarinen, Wormley for Dunbar, T.H. Robsjohn Gibbings, Tommi Parzinger, Milo Baughman and Pace.  Contemporary design by Gaetano Pesce, John Quirk, Phillipe Starck, Ron Arad and Dan Johnson.  Art Deco design, American and European, by Walter Dorwin Teague, Warren McArthur, Donald Deskey, Gilbert Rohde, Louis Rice, Josef Hoffmann, J.J. Kohn, Rene Herbst, Boch Freres, Weiner Werkstatte and Oscar Bach.  Italian design by Gio Ponti, Timo Sarpaneva, Dino Martens, Carlo Moretti, Cesare Toso, Barovier, Raymor, Marcello Fantoni, Livio Seguso, Cenedese, Pierro Fornasetti and Afra Tobia Scarpa.  French design by Maison Jansen, Rene Gabriel, Jacques Adnet, Odile Noll and Roger Capron. Scandinavian design by Tapio Wirkkala, Greta  Jalk, Alvar Aalto, Bruno Mathsson, Kay Bojesen, Jens Quistgaard, Jens Risom and Arne Jacobsen.  Studio furniture by George Nakashima, Phil Powell, Thomas Moser, Silas Seandel, Joe Pepe and Robert Whitley. Garden accessories by Brown Jordan, Russell Woodard and Salterini.  Studio pottery by Scheier, Polia Pillin, Cliff Lee, William Wyman, Betty Woodman and Toshiko Takaezu. Early 20th century pottery, furnishings and decorative pieces by George Ohr, Jens Jensen/Rookwood, Roseville, Weller, Gustav Stickley, Limbert, L. & J. G. Stickley, Harden, Byrdcliffe, Heintz, Michael Adams/Aurora Studios, Tiffany Studios, Quezal, Durand and Loetz. Fine Art including mixed media, oils, watercolors, prints, photography, drawings, sculpture and works on paper by artists such as: Massimo Vignelli, LA II (Angel Ortiz), Jean-Michel Basquiat, Matthew Barney, Louise Bourgeois, Andy Warhol, Leonard Baskin, Wolfe Kahn, Bernard Buffet, Alexander Calder, Roy Lichtenstein, Jeff Koons, Brad Edel, Feliciano Bejar, Joseph Meierhans, John Newton Howitt, Raoul Dufy, Julius T. Bloch and William Langson Lathrop. Also Windsor chairs, corner cupboards, traditional furnishings, suitcases by Louis Vuitton; and porcelain and glass decorative pieces by Boehm, Wedgwood, Blue Onion, Baccarat, Steuben, Orrefors and Val St. Lambert.

ESTATES:  SATURDAY, APRIL 20, NOON

The Estates auction features 550 lots of traditional furnishings and collectibles. There are mantle and grandfather clocks and music boxes. Furnishings in the sale are American, French, English, Edwardian, Baroque, Georgian, Victorian, including items such as blanket chests, bedroom sets, dining tables and chairs, highboys, desks, dressers, hall trees, cupboards, drop-leaf tables and tilt-top tables. Notable furniture lots include: lot 1153, a 19th century French Aubusson Tapestry Sofa, estimated at $12,000-18,000; and  lot 1083, an American corner cabinet, ca. 1800, estimated at $1,000-1,500, which comes to Rago’s from the Bucks County home of William Lathrop, Dean of the New Hope Arts Colony. There are several items of furniture and lighting from the Christopher Forbes collection, including lot 1076, a German early renaissance style carved chandelier with a woman in polychrome period dress, flanked by antlers with eight wrought iron candleholders, estimated at $2,500-3,000. The sale includes decorative glass vases by Baccarat, Daum, Galle, Lalique, Legras, Loetz and Steuben; and porcelain and pottery by Rosenthal, Royal Vienna, Spode, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Majolica, Dresden, including items such as shaving mugs, plates, porcelain figures, compotes, vases, and a collection of byzantine style mosaic panels.  Other decorative items include jewelry caskets, desk accessories, candelabras, a weathervane and more. Noteworthy decorative items include: lot 1137, a micromosaic plaque of the Temple of the Sybil at Tivoli, estimated at $10,000-15,000; and lot 1185, a pair of elephant tusks from Zimbabwe, estimated at $6,000-9,000.  There are numerous lots of tribal arts, including Navajo jewelry, fighting shields and spears from New Guinea, African carved figures, a carved figure from New Ireland, pottery by Maria/Popovi and more. There is militaria such as sabers, daggers, flags and banners, notably, lot, 1205, is an 18th/19th century jewel encrusted Mughal dagger from Northern India set with cabochon rubies, emeralds and diamonds, estimated at $80,000-120,000. There are Asian items from China, Tibet, Thailand, and Japan, including Buddha, Cloisonné vases, Japanese Satsuma, ginger jars and Japanese woodblock prints, made from bone, ivory, jade and stone.  A notable Asian lot is 1117, a Thai gilded Buddha with jeweled inlay on wood base, estimated at $3,000-5,000. There are about fifteen lots of Oriental and Chinese Rugs, ranging in price from $500 to $1,500. There are several lots of ephemera, including an Orville Wright autograph, a Robert F. Kennedy Autograph, a Picasso signature, and a collection of first editions of work by Mark Twain, A.A. Milne, Lewis Carroll, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Miller and more. There are several lots of Tompkins Real Wild West Posters.  There is fine art from the 19th and 20th century, from artists including Hamilton Hamilton, Rudolph Ernst, Jean Dupas, Willard Leroy Metcalf, Katharine Houghton Hepburn, Alvin C. Hollingsworth, Arthur Davenport Fuller, George Cochran Lamdin, George Cope, Andy Warhol, Charles Warren Eaton, Fred S. Cozzens, Louis Icart and many more. Notable paintings in the sale are lot 1107, an oil on canvas by Austrian artist Rudolph Ernst, "An Eastern Bazaar", estimated at $30,000-50,000; and lot 1096, an oil on canvas by Hamilton Hamilton, "Close of the Toilsome Day", estimated at $15,000-25,000, which comes to Ragos from Henry Holt, Essex Fells, New Jersey by descent to owner. Other notable lots include lot 1382, a pastel and crayon on paper by Eddie Arning, "Woman in a Landscape," estimated at $800-1,200; lot 1284, “Bordeaux” poster by Jean Dupas, 1937, estimated at $4,000-6,000. Lot 1339 is a grouping of Russian Imperial items estimated at $1,000-1,500.  Sculpture in bronze and marble by sculptors Philippe Laurent Roland, William Couper, Luca Madrassi, Bohumil Kafka, Ernest Guilbert, Louis Amateis, Emile Louis Picault, Fernando Vichi, Jean Lambert-Rucki, Robert Glen, notably lot 1292, a terra cotta bust of a young man by Philippe Laurent Roland, estimated at $8,000-10,000; and lot 1408, a cold-painted bronze of a boy dancing by Carl Kauba, estimated at $300-500. There is a large collection of “Amazing Spiderman” comic books from the 1960s to the 1970s, with a rare "Spider-man vs. Chameleon," 1963; G/VG condition, estimated at $2,000-3,000. The sale concludes with 70 lots of medals, the coins and currency.

MEDALS, FOREIGN AND US COINS/CURRENCY IN ESTATES:  SATURDAY, APRIL 20, NOON

Saturday’s Estates Auction concludes with approximately 70 lots of medals and foreign and U.S. coins/currency. Included are medals commemorating The Universal Exposition, The World's Fair, The Numismatic Association, The Society of Medalists, United States monuments and other architecture; medals honoring aeronautic professionals, artists, musicians and authors, and more. Coins including U.S. gold coins, silver coins, fractional notes, world proof and commemorative coins; peace dollars and Morgan dollars. There are foreign coins from the Middle East, Africa, Russia, Canada, Central America, South America, Europe (Italy, Poland, Hungary, Portugal, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, etc.), Iceland and Greenland and more.

UNRESERVED JEWELRY, SILVER, FASHION: SUNDAY, APRIL 21, NOON

Rago’s April 21, 2013 Unreserved Jewelry, Fashion and Silver auction offers something for everyone with over 600 lots collected over the past year from local and regional estates. Featured are over 400 lots of jewelry, including antique and period gold, silver or platinum, numerous precious and semiprecious gemstones and diamonds, a collection of amber jewelry, mid-century studio craft, notable costume pieces, signed pieces by makers including Tiffany & Co., David Yurman, Cartier, Chopard, VCA, Ippolita, and more.  A featured piece in the jewelry sale is lot 2331, an impressive and lively 3.4 cts. pear-shaped diamond gold ring, estimated at $5,000-8,000.

There are over 50 lots of designer clothing, accessories and bijoux, including handbags, a large collection of beaded evening bags, belts, dresses and scarves, by famous designers such as Hermes, Chanel, Gucci and more. There is ornamental silver and other vanity accessories, a collection of Edwardian and Art Deco hat pins, Gentleman’s jewelry, timepieces, a large collection of pens, and over 100 lots of silver and silver plate, featuring flatware, tea sets, candle stands, giftware, hostess ware and other accessories. The sale concludes with a dozen lots of exonomia, coins and currency.

Ten lots of the sale comprise of a collection of studio prototype and multiples of Paul Von Ringelheim’s jewelry and accessories, which come to Rago’s from the Estate of the artist. Some of the lots include studio notes in the artist’s hand, representing designs for both Cartier and Tiffany & Co.  Paul Von Ringelheim (American 1933-2003), Artist and Sculptor, is best known for massive minimalist installations such as a 50’ “World Peace Screen” displayed at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair and Pop-Art “Tangential 32” installed on Park Avenue in 1969. He was also the focus of an exhibition at Cartier in New York City in 1971.

The inventory dates from the 17th-20th centuries and across many continents.

Notes for the Editor

High-resolution images available.

Consignments Invited

Consignments are invited for the next Rago Unreserved Auction, to be held Friday, September 20 and Saturday, September 21, the next Estate Auction, to be held on Sunday, September 22, 2013 and all of Rago’s fall auctions, including 20th C. Design, Fine Art, Silver and Jewelry. 

About Rago Arts and Auction Center

Since 1994, Rago's has served thousands of sellers and buyers with a singular blend of global reach and personal service. Originally specialists in 20th century design, today Rago's expertise covers centuries of fine art, decorative arts, furnishings, jewelry and ethnographic property.  It is a world-class venue through which to buy and sell. It is also a destination for those who seek to learn and share knowledge about art, antiques and collecting, offering free valuations for personal property (from a single piece to collections and estates), appraisals and auction exhibitions in house and online. Rago's, the largest and leading auction house in New Jersey, is located midway between Philadelphia and New York.

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