Date: Fri 23-Oct-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Garth

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."

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 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 Porter took over the

firm in 1973, it has become known for its catalogue 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 catalogue pictured almost every item and they were described in

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

the final bids.

The top price at the auction was $17,600, bid 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. They brought prices ranging

from $220, for a seven-inch, natural finish example that the catalogue 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, $2,860; a wooden whale weathervane, $1,650;

a child's "0" Mt Lebanon Shaker rocker, $2,035; a child's blue Shaker cloak,

$467; and a cast and wrought iron solar system model, $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 that

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:

"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.)

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

busy highway north of Columbus, has seen them come and go. It's a no-frills

operation; no computers up front. They are instead 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.

There have been several changes at Garth's, and the best is the addition of

air-conditioning, as the weekend experienced 90 degree temperatures. Also, 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.