Date: Fri 20-Feb-1998

Publication: Ant

Author: JUDYC

Quick Words:

Cowboy

Full Text:

Cowboy Rustic Dominates Caddigan's

w/cuts - EWM

DEDHAM, MA. -- The Holiday Inn Midland Ballroom was the site of Caddigan

Auctioneers, Inc, Twentieth Century design sale on January 19. More than 250

registered bidders were in attendance from all over the United States,

including Los Angeles, New York, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey

and Rhode Island, as well as many Massachusetts dealers and collectors.

More than 500 lots were offered spanning Art Deco, Art Nouveau, and Arts and

Crafts; mid-century and 50s Moderne design; and cowboy and rustic furniture.

The starring lots were five pieces of Thomas Molesworth's Shoshone furniture,

made circa 1945 in Cody, Wyo., and removed from the Kennebunkport, Me., home

of American novelist Kenneth Roberts, author of Northwest Passage . The pieces

were believed to be purchased in the late 1940s from New York City's

Abercrombie & Fitch.

Totalling $27,500, a club chair sold for $7,700, a sofa reached $8,250, a

two-tier table garnered $3,300, an ottoman realized $1,650, and thought by the

auction house to be a world auction record for the form, a Molesworth

three-tier drink stand realized $6,600.

All but one of the lots were purchased by Molesworth specialists Fighting Bear

Antiques of Wyoming. The sofa was snatched up by a New York City collector.

Rustic furniture included a grouping of Massachusetts-made birch pieces. A

mosaic top birch center table realized $5,500, a related child's settle sold

for $4,400, and a related birch six-foot daybed fetched $4,400. These lots

were handmade in Rockland, Mass., circa 1935, by Harry Arena.

Heywood Wakefield pieces included an Ashcraft bar with two stools, which sold

for $467.50; an early wicker and ash console sofa table, which brought

$432.50; two small Wakefield bookcases, which garnered $357.50 each; and a

three-piece Encore bedroom suite with cane door chest, which rang up $1,045.

Arts and Crafts items included an L. & J.G. Stickley open arm Morris rocker

with overcoated finish, which reached $1,320; a Limbert magazine stand with

cutouts, painted, which garnered $1,045; and an L. & J.G. Stickley clip corner

lamp table (refinished) even arm settle, lacking a cushion, which sold for

$1,155. An unadvertised Onondaga magazine shelf in original dark finish rang

up $715.

Among modern creations, an Eero Saarinen womb chair with loose cushions and

two ottomans realized $1,182.50; a shock mounted Harry Bertoia diamond chair

sold for $550; a Hans Wegner/Getama upholstered walnut lounge chair reached

$440; a single Eames DCM realized $332.50; and a Pierre Cardin design "ball

chain" floor lamp was purchased by a New York collector for $467.50.

Ceramics and art pottery from the Fifties included two modernist vases by the

Italian studios of Gambone rang up at $495 and $330. From an earlier period,

Dedham Pottery items included a pair of elephant pattern salt and peppers,

which fetched $850; a rabbit pattern teapot, which sold for $962.50; and a

swan pattern bacon tray, which was purchased for $467.50. An architectural

form Roseville jardiniere and pedestal doubled its estimate, selling for

$1,540. This unsigned matte green example will appear in an upcoming Roseville

pottery book.

For information, 781/826-8648.