This Wave Crest dresser box with gilt metal feet and goldfish motifs swam past its $4/7,000 estimate to achieve $39,600, the highest price of both days of the sale.
Review by Kiersten Busch
DOUGLASS, KAN. — Between April 25-26, Woody Auction saw more than 1,000 lots cross the block from the collection of Grady and Annette Hite. The Hites, longtime members of the antiques community, sold their collection — which included Wave Crest, American Brilliant cut glass, art pottery, R.S. Prussia and more — through Woody with no reserves. Because of this, the two-day event was a white glove auction, with 100 percent of lots sold, for a total of $425,000.
“Overall, the auction did very well,” reported Jason Woody, operating manager and auctioneer. “As an auctioneer, the final result is what I always look at. It can be easy to sometimes focus on items that formerly sold for much more many years ago, but the bottom line is getting everything sold in today’s market to the highest bidder without reserve. That was successfully accomplished in this auction, and fortunately many select items did especially well.” Woody also shared that the firm’s bidding pool was primarily from the US, but bidders from Canada, Australia, Italy, China, Spain, Poland, France, Belgium and The Netherlands also participated.
American Brilliant cut glass was in abundance on day one, with 24 lots selling for prices ranging from $230 to $1,380. The former was earned by four separate lots, which included a signed bowl in the Tuthill Rex pattern, a five-sided bowl in the Pentagram pattern, a handkerchief box in the Engraved Floral pattern and a horseradish jar signed “J. Hoare.” The highest price of the category was achieved by a pair of wine stems in the Dorflinger pattern, which were turquoise cut to clear. The glasses also had a strawberry diamond and fan motif and Ray cut feet. Another pair of Dorflinger patterned wine stems, these examples cranberry cut-to-clear, made $403.
At $1,380, this pair of American Brilliant cut glass wine stems in the Dorflinger pattern were turquoise cut to clear and won by an American collector online ($500/800).
Bidders were also attracted to R.S. Prussia ware, which was led by an unmarked vase with tiger illustration and brown and yellow tones which roared past its $200/450 estimate to make more than double at $960, thanks to a US bidder on LiveAuctioneers. The other 23 lots ranged in price from $201 for a plate with scenic decoration and a peacock to $633 for a rare form pink and white-colored toast rack with floral motifs.
Wave Crest was a popular category spanning both days of the sale, with 24 lots offered on the first day, and 55 on the second. Day one’s lots ranged in price from $144 for an unmarked egg crate mold jewel box to $978 for a poker box with pink clover motifs and its original lining. The poker box also came with a full deck of cards dated “1898” and a full set of original poker chips. It was won by a US collector on LiveAuctioneers, who “also came in person to the Saturday event,” shared Woody.
The highest price of the sale came from day two: a Wave Crest dresser box with a sea foam mold and gilt feet, which sold a US collector over the phone for $39,600 after an intense round of 50 competing bids. The 7½-inch-wide box was decorated with an “extremely rare” goldfish motif, which may have contributed to the competition surrounding the piece. Of this lot, Woody commented that it “sold more than expected because we had two phone bidders, multiple in-person and LiveAuctioneers bidders involved in the process, which drove the price high… We have been told, but it has not been confirmed, that this item has now set the world record for the highest selling Wave Crest item.” Another jewel box with goldfish motifs, this one made with the swirl mold, swam to $11,000, the second-highest price in the category.
Switching on for $23,100 was this rainbow-cut-to-clear Brilliant cut glass miniature lamp, which made more than 11 times the high end of its $1,25/2,000 estimate.
Bidders continued to favor Brilliant cut glass on day two, with 12 lots offered. The highest-priced lot, which sold to a US collector over the phone for $23,100, was a crosscut diamond miniature lamp, which was a “must see” according to catalog notes. With “fantastic color,” the rainbow cut-to-clear lamp stood at just 9¼ inches tall.
Three lots of Royal Flemish art glass also crossed the block, with one of the three earning the fourth highest price of the day. Closing its silverplate lid at $3,850, a biscuit jar adorned with colorful segmented sections and the Rampant Lion crest of Scotland was a “great example” of Royal Flemish art glass, and was marked with an unusual P.M.C. (or, Pairpoint/Mount Washington) mark. An unmarked Harrach covered jar ($201) and a Harrach tall jug ($173) also found homes.
“It was an absolute honor to sell the Grady and Annette Hite collection — they have been involved in collecting many genres of antiques for multiple decades and it was a pleasure to represent them in this way,” concluded Woody.
Woody’s next sale, Cut Glass, is a two-day event spanning from May 30-31, with one online sale followed by an in-person sale. in Douglass. Prices quoted include buyer’s premium, as reported by the auction house. For information, 316-747-2694 or www.woodyauction.com.
