George IV globes, $44,000.

Mirrored dresser from the American Rococo Revival bedroom suite that fetched $20,680 total.

By Rita Easton

TOWSON, MD. — American and Continental furniture and decorations, clocks, porcelain and ceramics, art glass lamps, pressed glass and other country antiques, European paintings, silver, jewelry and Oriental rugs were the subject of an auction held in three sessions at Alex Cooper’s, the first on June 23, with two following on June 24. Three preview sessions preceded the sale.

Twenty-two hundred lots crossed the block, with approximately 550 bidders, including those on the phones and left bids, in competition for rdf_Descriptions in the six estates offered, which included the estate of John W. Staggers, Esq, removed from historic Snowden House “Oaklands at Conte,” Prince George’s County, Md.

Fetching the highest bid of the auction, a pair of rare George IV terrestrial and celestial globes on mahogany and brass stands, by S.&W. Cary, London, dated 1816. They went to a private Connecticut buyer at $44,000.

A four-piece American Rococo Revival carved rosewood bedroom suite, mid-Nineteenth Century, from the estate of John W. Staggers, Esq, was divided, with three pieces — an ornate bed, a small chest and a mirrored dresser — going to one buyer, and the fourth, a wardrobe, to another, the total being $20,680. A Victorian brass and marquetry inlaid carved rosewood round ottoman (borne), upholstered in a peach fabric, third quarter of the Nineteenth Century, reached $16,500, purchased by a Connecticut dealer with an absentee bid.

A pair of American School early Nineteenth Century portraits, “Charles Vaughan and Frances Weston Apthorp Vaughan,” oils on canvas, each 26 by 21 inches, made $14,300, the Maine portraits going back to Maine to a local museum. A semiantique Heriz rug, 8’9″ by 11’7″, garnered $4,950; a semiantique Teheran from Persia, circa 1930, 7-foot by 10’2″ was purchased for $4,400; and a Regency ebonized convex mirror realized $4,950.

An impressive Elizabethan Revival figural carved, marquetry-inlaid oak cup and cover baluster bedstead was the buy of the day, at $2,250, the lot selling with a made-to-order mattress that was somewhat smaller than a standard twin. A Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica porcelain tureen, having a cover and an underplate that was 26 inches long, achieved $8,800; and an Italian Neo-classical pictorial marquetry-inlaid walnut chest of drawers, late Eighteenth/early Nineteenth Century, did $4,675.

“Checkers,” an oil on canvas by Fried Pal (Hungarian, 1893-1976), 24 by 30 inches, depicting a clown and a showgirl backstage playing checkers, went out at $1,760 while a George III carved mahogany architect’s table, circa 1800, made $4,400. A fine American carved walnut tall-case clock by Eli Bentley of West Whiteland, Chester County, Penn., circa 1770, reached $11,000 and a greenish-brown patina bronze, “Mineur,” by Charles Levy (French, circa 1820-1899), 39 inches high, did $4,950.

Surprising the estimators, a Chinese export punch bowl, late Eighteenth Century, which had been estimated at $½,000, escalated to $10,450. Six Federal shield back Massachusetts chairs, late Eighteenth Century, brought $7,920 and “Coming Snow,” an oil on canvas by Eugene Leake, 33¼ by 45¼ inches, sold for $7,150. A 30- by 20-inch still life by Herman Maril went out for $6,600.

Prices quoted do not reflect a 12 percent premium, or ten percent buyer’s premium for cash or certified funds.