Husband and wife team Jeff and Beverley Evans recently conducted their first two cataloged auctions under their new company, Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates, Inc.
Due to excessive springtime rainfall and several other delays inherent to new construction, their new auction facility was not quite completed in time for the June 6 auction of miniature, kerosene and early lighting, so the sale was conducted in the old gallery at Green Valley Auctions. Auctiongoers familiar with the old location were treated to a glimpse of the new company’s state-of-the-art operation when the auction lots were displayed on a 52-inch television monitor as they came up for sale. With new equipment and new auction software, Jeff Evans’ first auction under the company that bears his name went off without a hitch.
The 485-lot auction featured the second half of the Marion and Carleton Cotting miniature lamp collection and the collection of the late Joan Bone, a founding member of the Historical Lighting Society of Canada. More than 400 miniatures were sold in 245 cataloged lots, including Victorian art and opalescent examples, a wide variety of colored patterned stand and finger examples, junior banquet and parlor examples, student and other metal examples and peg lamps.
Also offered for auction were nearly 200 early to late period kerosene lamps that included triple dolphin, swan and other figural bases, many good Victorian opalescent stand and finger lamps, a colorless marriage lamp with rare original match cover, several cut overlays, early colored base and font stand lamps and several banquet and parlor lamps.
Among the more than 40 whale oil/fluid period stand and finger lamps sold were blown and pressed and flint early American pressed glass (EAPG) examples. The catalog contained a good selection of kerosene parts as well as related material that included “baby” and red globe skater’s lanterns, match holders and more.
Three miniature lamps with matching shades, including two from the Cotting collection, were among the top five lighting lots. An amberina miniature lamp that stood just 7¾ inches tall achieved the highest auction price, $2,530, while a blue opalescent Spanish lace miniature brought $1,150 and a cased multicolor spatter example performed well, bringing $1,092. Tying for the sale’s second best price, $1,380, were a lot of two brass skater’s lanterns from the collection of the late Joan Bone, and a ceramic lithopane shade with gilt and black enamel decoration that carried a Fenton Art Glass Museum provenance. The skater’s lanterns included one with a ruby globe, and the lithopane shade was fitted on an electrified brass single-arm student lamp.
By mid-June, Evens’ new building was in the final stages of construction, and all staff and equipment moved to the new location just more than a week before the firm’s June 27 cataloged auction of Nineteenth and Twentieth Century glass. With an emphasis on Victorian wares, this auction featured the sugar shaker and syrup jug collection of Janet and Watt White, the second half of the Helen Liveten milk glass collection, a large collection of Greentown glass, another consignment from the Fenton Art Glass Museum and a wide selection of art glass.
With five TV monitors suspended from the ceiling throughout the gallery, floor bidders could not help but know what lot was being sold at any given moment. For those who could not attend the sale, the option to submit absentee bids was available up until two hours prior to auction time.
As expected, the most sought-after pieces in this 806-lot auction were from the White collection, with the early Twentieth Century syrup pitchers taking eight of the top ten auction prices. The showstopper was a Dugan Glass Company 6¼-inch-high green opalescent swastika syrup pitcher. Although this little jug received a conservative presale estimate of $800․1,200, a $4,250 absentee bid was quickly surpassed, and the lot finally sold to a serious phone bidder for $4,888.
Other top-dollar syrup jugs included an amber-stained Flowered Scroll with undertray, $1,380; a red Synora Lace, $1,380; a rubina Royal Oak, $1,265; a Coinspot nine-panel mold in cranberry opalescent, $1,035; a blue Daisy in Criss-Cross, $1,035; a cranberry opalescent Daisy & Fern Northwood Swirl mold, $978; and a blue Acanthus-stippled example, $920.
Rounding out the top ten lots were a chocolate glass milk pitcher in the Feather pattern, $863, and a pale yellow Mount Washington Crown Milano bride’s basket with floral decoration, $1,035.
All prices include the 15 percent buyer’s premium. For information, 540-434-3939 or www.jeffreysevans.com .
