Date: Fri 26-Mar-1999

Publication: Ant

Author: MELISS

Quick Words:

Christie's

Full Text:

Christie's Takes The Market Pulse

with cuts

NEW YORK CITY -- In the wake of the settling dust following an extraordinary

auction at Christie's Park Avenue and Christie's East, held on December 10,

patterns of escalating prices have emerged with no end in sight.

"The prices for the last year have built on themselves," said Nancy McClelland

of the auction house, "and certainly with every new sale and the kinds of

record that are established, everyone feels more and more bold about paying a

higher price at the next auction."

"The credibility is reinforced, and I think the `Magnolia' is the perfect case

in point."

McClelland referred to the stunning $1,762,500 fetched by the masterpiece

Tiffany Studios lamp which was privately purchased.

"We sold our previous `Magnolia' in our last June sale for a record $900,000

plus premium," she pointed out. "We should have never have gotten to the new

record without that previous record."

When asked to compare the current escalation in auction prices to the parallel

phenomenon in the current stock market, McClelland replied, "It's not quite

the same as the stock market. There's a great shortage of Tiffany material.

Even though we know it was produced for a great number of years, the market

has been very, very tight."

"You would think that when we announce a special sale of this type, a great

deal of these items would come flowing out," she continued, "but it really

took tremendous amount of work to bring this together. There's not a great

flood of property out there on the market right now, either in Tiffany or in

any other area of Twentieth Century decorative arts. We did sell a lot of

wonderful examples in the December sale, for example the `Elaborate Peony'

which also brought a incredible price."

The lamp referred to, a Tiffany Studios example of a 35¬ inch high table lamp,

21‹ inch diameter, estimated at $300/400,000, sold at $750,000, "a very

substantial price, obviously a new record for that," McClelland noted.

Speaking of the double record set for an Armand Alber Rateau cast-bronze chair

at $640,000, (a record for Rateau and a record for any Twentieth Century

chair), McClelland remarked that the chair was not unique. "There are probably

six, perhaps eight, that are known, with a slight variance in the chairs."

Provenance on the lot was an American museum, originally made for an American

collector.

In addition to the records set by the "Peony" and the "Magnolia" Tiffany floor

lamp, two more Tiffany records were shattered; a dychoic "Large Dragonfly"

Tiffany floor lamp reached $387,500, replacing Christie's prior record of

$332,500, and a rare necklace designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany, set with

black opal, demantoid garnet, and sapphire, with enamel decoration, garnered

$233,500, a world record for any piece of jewelry designed by L.C. Tiffany.

Strong prices for Stickley were reflected, "We were getting $16,000 for little

tables. The bride's chest that was just a single band made $35,000, which is a

new record, three times the price such a chest has ever brought," McClelland

stated.

Frank Lloyd Wright was represented by an important, patinated copper urn, 18¬

inches high, at $288,500. The circa 1903 lot, executed by James A. Miller and

brother, was designed for the Susan Lawrence Dana House in Springfield, Ill.

An Asian museum won "Clematis," a Tiffany Studios leaded glass three-sectioned

skylight, $442,500. The 52« inch by 73Ô inch, 57¬ inch by 73¬ inch, and 58¬

inch by 73¬ inch panels were originally executed for the Harbel Manor, in

Akron, Ohio, in 1915, fashioned as an arbor of glass in the passage between

the dining room and the breakfast room in the home of Harvey S. Firestone.