Date: Fri 16-Oct-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Garths

Full Text:

Garth's Sells Shaker and Americana

w/cuts

By Fran Kramer

DELAWARE, OHIO -- In a two-day auction held September 25 and 26 by Garth's,

more than 700 lots, about one-third of them Shaker, were offered.

"We've sold Shaker over the years," said Tom Porter, owner of the firm, "but

never this much at one time."

Garth's has been an Ohio "fixture" since 1954, and the site, a large acreage

on busy highway number 23 north of Columbus, has seen them come and go. It's a

no-frills operation; no computers up front (they are in the rear and the firm

does take credit cards for a three percent additional premium). A tablecloth

covers the "podium" (really a table), and the chairs need those cushion pads.

In plain view are fuse boxes and wires, unadorned fluorescent lights, and huge

steel supports holding up the ceilings.

But it all makes for a warm, old-fashioned environment and the regulars, along

with the newcomers, seem to love it.

We noticed several changes at Garth's since the last time we visited, and the

best was the addition of air-conditioning, as the weekend saw 90 degree

temperatures. In addition, the gallery has undergone a modest expansion. A

nearby building has been connected through a small hallway and this serves as

overflow exhibit space. Stratford Auctions, the firm's division that used to

handle Victorian consignments, is gone, and that building serves the business

as a warehouse. And the warm apple dumplings are no more, replaced by basic

brownies.

The consignments for the auction came from two collectors: a Cincinnati, Ohio

couple, Rudy and Virginia Latas, who acquired Christmas tree lights, quilts

and Shaker items over a period of some 40 years; and a Clarksville, Tenn.

tavern owner, Joe Balthrop, who had collected Shaker for only the past seven

years.

Balthrop purchased from Nashville and New Hampshire shows, Ohio auctions and

several Shaker dealers. He appeared to favor Shaker painted oval boxes and

wooden smalls.

Garth's handled many left and phone bids, as usual. Since Tom Porter took over

the firm in 1973, it has become known for its catalog descriptions and the

extent to which its staff researches items.

As Porter said, "We don't have to be experts; we just have to know the people

who are."

This sale's catalog pictured almost every item, descriptions being very

detailed. Estimates were given for each lot and, overall, they were close to

the final bidding.

The top lot of the auction was $17,600 paid by a Pennsylvania collector for a

Shaker cupboard over drawers. The Canterbury, N.H. piece had been refinished

at one time, but the buyer said he was delighted to find a "mate" for a piece

he already had in his collection. He added that he had two daughters and now

they could each inherit a Shaker chest.

There were more than 50 Shaker oval boxes offered, and they brought prices

ranging from $220 for a seven-inch, natural finish example that the catalog

marked "age?" to $2,970 for an 11‹-inch, light-blue, painted box purchased by

a New England dealer.

Other highlights garnering strong results included a blue, nine-inch Shaker

oval box, which realized $2,365 from a phone bidder who took six lots in a

row, all painted boxes; a blue covered bucket attributed to the Shakers, with

"28" stencilled in several places, which rang up $2,860; a wooden whale

weathervane, which sold for $1,650; a child's "0" Mt Lebanon Shaker rocker,

which sold for $2,035; a child's blue Shaker cloak, which brought $467; and a

cast and wrought iron solar system model, which reached $2,750.

Furniture offerings were light. Pieces with a Shaker attribution from the

Western communities either had major restoration or forms that were not

"classic"; that is, they could be described as more vernacular or Victorian.

Non-Shaker furniture included a few Southern forms: a refinished sugar chest,

which made $1,760; another sugar chest, created to resemble a miniature

Sheraton chest, which garnered $2,750 from a phone bidder; a country cupboard

from Kentucky, which sold for $1,980; and a Southern huntboard, which reached

$2,475.

The sale was unreserved except for one piece, a Shaker drop front desk which

did not find a buyer. It was not part of either of the two aforementioned

collections. The piece was estimated at $20/25,000, and reached $10,000.

The crowd was rather light, so that only about half of the auction barn was

filled. But those who were there -- primarily about a dozen zealous Shaker

collectors (many of them newcomers) and a handful of Shaker dealers -- did not

let anything slip by. The good stuff did well. The stuff with problems did

not.

For Shaker collectors it was evident that both production chairs, excluding

children's examples in good condition, and natural oval boxes, with a few

exceptions, were soft. In contrast, items in excellent condition, like some of

the painted boxes and sewing carriers, were extremely strong.

Porter, who also acted as auctioneer, is known for his wit, and some examples

in this sale included:

"Are you bidding or swatting a fly? We are trained to pick up any motion."

"Are you trying to sell us something?" (To bidders who kept their paddles up.)

"And here's a roulette wheel from the Sabbathday Lake Shakers."

And finally, "This came directly from the White House." (Referring to a

theatrical date book.)