Browse online catalogue for the Fine Furniture and Decorative Arts auction to be held May 1st and May 2nd at Noon both days.

Chinese carved ivory emperor and empress. Don Presley Auctions image.

ORANGE, Calif. – There probably isn’t a stretch of highway between Beverly Hills and Newport Beach that auctioneer Don Presley doesn’t know. That’s his turf, and when the owners of fine estates in those well-heeled communities decide to part with their art and antiques, it’s often Presley whose number they call on speed dial. True to form, the Orange, Calif., auctioneer has gathered together an outstanding array of primarily European, Asian and American art and antiques for his May 7-8 auction, with much of it coming from prestigious local addresses.

A Beverly Hills consignor was the source for a pair of superb, 30-inch-tall Chinese carved-ivory emperor and empress figures. “The carving is fantastic, and I’ve never seen ivory figures of this type in such a large size,” said Presley. The star lot amongst 250 Chinese antiques cataloged in the sale, the marked figures will be offered as a pair with a $6,000-$10,000 estimate.

German carved ivory tankard, 19th century. Don Presley Auctions image.

A heavily carved 19th-century ivory and gilded-silver German tankard is very similar in style to the 17th-century drinking vessels made in the Bavarian city of Ausberg. “Those earlier tankards are held in distinguished collections, including those of the Victoria & Albert Museum and Bunratty Castle in Ireland. They were made for kings and nobles.” The example in Presley’s sale is profusely carved with images of mythological and other characters. The finial depicts a Native American draped in a bearskin, with a powder horn, tomahawk and shield. Overall, the tankard stands over 20 inches tall. It is expected to bring $15,000-$25,000.

In Presley’s last sale, bullish prices were paid for Sevres urns, with two of them selling to a Russian buyer. The May 7-8 auction includes a magnificent 40-inch tall, 19th-century Sevres lidded urn with scenes of a finely dressed couple in a garden on one side and a waterfall and mountain landscape on the other. Straight from a Beverly Hills estate and bearing all the proper marks for Sevres, it is estimated at $8,000-$12,000. A second Sevres urn, 17 inches tall and beautifully decorated with winged ladies, carries an identical estimate.

Sevres 19th century lidded urn, 40 inches tall. Don Presley Auctions image.

An exquisite gilt bronze 19th-century French clock and candelabra suite features “jeweled” adornments and hand-painted enameling. It came from the same Beverly Hills estate as a very fine silver-over-bronze centerpiece with mirrored base and cut-crystal bowls. Measuring 15½ inches tall by 35 inches wide, it is marked with the quatrefoil for the Sheffield silversmiths Henry Wilkinson & Co. The reserve on the centerpiece is $18,000.

Presley observed that silver “is really rolling at the moment.” In his sale, he has cataloged a 40-piece collection of old silver from a San Bernardino estate that includes tea sets, a Tiffany bowl, an inkwell, a Paul Revere bowl, Wallace flatware and three Georg Jensen pieces. Another silver collection, which came from a Laguna Beach consignor, includes six silver plates with a tray, a sterling inkwell and some very nice Pairpoint triple-plated candelabra. Additionally, there are pieces of German 19th-century .800 silver that were made in the manner of 17th-century silver.

Francois Linke kingwood and ormolu vitrine, signed and stamped. Don Presley Auctions image.

The furniture selection is led by a 95-inch-tall by 72-inch-wide kingwood and ormolu vitrine by Francois Linke, arguably the finest French cabinetmaker of the Belle Epoque period. Linke’s designs were highly influential in their day and were coveted by fashionable French society. The vitrine, which is signed and stamped, is offered with a $60,000-$125,000 estimate. Although unsigned, a small curio cabinet attributed to Linke will be auctioned, as will a small Linke table and bronze 4-light chandelier acquired some years ago at Sotheby’s.

A premier piece of American furniture came from a Newport Beach estate. Made around 1790-1800, the Hepplewhite secretary features glazed double doors with diamond-shape accents opening to triple shelves, over a four-drawer base.

All forms of bidding will be available for Don Presley’s May 7-8, 2011 auction, including live via the Internet through LiveAuctioneers or Proxibid. For additional information, call 714-633-2437 or email info@donpresleyauction.com. Visit Don Presley Auctions online at www.donpresleyauction.com.

Arbor Antiques Services, Inc.
Phone: (281) 388-1075
Email: Send E-mail Question Now
Web Site: http://www.arborantiques.com

Address of Sale:

6935 Shady Ln
Sugar Land, TX 77479
Google Maps or MapQuest or Yahoo Maps

Directions to Sale:

This is a beautiful single story home located in the Great Woods Subdivision. From 59 south take the Grand Parkway/Crab River Road Exit. Turn left onto Crab River Road. Continue to first light and turn left on Sansbury Blvd into Great Woods Subdivison. Turn Right on Knoll Forest Dr and Left on Shady Lane. The house will be on the left. Shady Lane is a cul-de-sac and parking will be limited. Please respect the neighbors and do not block the driveways.

Sale Dates and Times:
4/16/2011 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Saturday)
4/17/2011 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Sunday)
4/18/2011 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM (Monday)

Terms and Conditions:

All items sold where is as is. No delivery will be provided. However, we can provide you with numbers to make arrangements. All items purchased must be removed no later than 6:00PM last day of sale unless other arrangement are made. Local Checks and All Major Credit/Debit Cards accepted with proper ID. A fee of $55 charged on all NSF checks

Sale Description:

This is a beautiful well kept home.  Due to the sell of the home we are having to expedite this sell immediately.
Please note the days for the sale will run differently than usual. Due to the time restraint we will not have our normal preview the night before.

JOIN US SATURDAY MORNING for Mimosas, Coffee and other goodies!!!!!!

FURNITURE:

Precedent, Inc of Newton, N.C. swivel barrel Chair in beige upholstery
Precedent, Inc White linen upholstered swivel Easy Chair
BarcaLounger in a green leaf pattern tapestry Upholstery
Drexel off white tapestry upholstered arched back sofa
Imperial Furniture Co Classic American Federal Style Mahogany Tilt-top         Table on Tri-pod pedestal Base

White Upholstered, Skirted Boudoir/Slipper Chair
Solid wood hexagon Pine Drum Table
Solid Wood Octagon Drum Table
Solid wood Square Pedestal base Coctail Tables (2) purchased from         McDaniel Furniture Co.
Brass & Glass Tea Cart
Skyline Furniture Blue Brocade fringed bottom Boudoir/Slipper Chair
Broyhill Olive Green Velvet Upholstery Tuft Back Hi-back Swivel Rocker
Mahogany Mid-Century Coffee Table

Binata Finish 5pc Bedroom Suite: Triple Mirrored Dresser, Armoir w/2 drawers below 2 Doors Cabinet w/3 drawers, 2 Night Stands, and a Cathedral King Size headboard with Sleeping Beauty Kingsdown Pillow top Mattress and Foundation

Twin Bed with white Day Bed with Bolster Pillow Back
Stratford Brown Upholstered Recliner
Vintage Antiqued Green Paint 2 Drawer End Table
PR Virginia House Maple Captian Style Bar Stools

DECORATIVE ITEMS:

Celadon Glaze ceramic garden stool
Silk Palm (5 ft)
Large Silk Ficus (8.5′)
Misc. Silk Plants
Original Oil on Canvas Pastorial (24″ H x 48″ W) beautiful frame in a         broque style gold leaf frame with linen mat
Original Oil on Canvas Forest Scene (18’H x 22″W-) gold leaf frame with         dark green velvet mat.
Collection of 4  (8″H x 10″W) original oil on canvas by P. Murphy: 2 ea         European Street Scene and 2 ea Harbor Scene purchased from         McDaniel Furniture
Original Oil on canvas 2-door Portal linen mated in goldleaf frame
(32″w x 42″H) by Valerta
Pair Porcelain Table Lamps with raised shell designs
1970’s Large Porcelain Table lamp with Hanging Fern embossed decorated
Crystal Table Lamp
1970’s Cork Base Table Lamp

POTTERY & PORCELAIN:

Paul Muller Selb Bavaria “The Locarno” China: 4pc Place Setting Service for 6 including dinner plate, salad plate, cup & saucer.
One or more of;
Vernonware Gingham Dinnerware & serving pieces
Taylor-Smith-Taylor Luray Pastels
Fiesta
Royal Haeger ashtray
Hall teapot
Emile Henry Marcigny, France mixing & bakeware
Nancy Calhoun Dinnerware

POCKET KNIFE COLLECTION:

Schrade, Camillus, Parker, K-Bar, Century, Frost Cutlery, Bear MGC Cutlery, Craftsman, Case, Buck, Imperial Ireland Stainless, 960 Puma Cub,
Sharp, Gerber, Stag (Ireland), Frontier, Coca-Cola USA, Mercator, Master Mechanic, Westren, Tree Brand, American Blade, Victorinox Swiss Knife, J.A. Henckels, Rodgers, Pfadfinder, Hoffritz Solingen and more

VINTAGE CLOTHING & ACCESSORIES:

RARE, 1950’s LEWSID JEWEL by LLEWELLYN, Inc. LUCITE Box HANDBAG/PURSE :  Full lucite body and handles in a gorgeous,  White Mother of Pearl Lucite with black File lining in excellant condition

Vintage 1970’s-80’s Shoes

Vintage Hats made especially for “The Fashion” of Houston

Chinese Silk Embroidred Robe

Costume Jewelry

Designer & Quality Clothing and accessories.

STAMP COLLECTION:

KENMORE SEWING MACHINE: model 117-959 vintage in cabinet with
3 drawers and stool/chair

PRECIOUS STONE SOLITAIRE GAMES:
Hand turned and hand polished Game Board. 38 marbles hand cut from semi-precious quarried minerals: petrified wood; petrified coral; amethyst; red jasper; green jasper; fancy jasper; epidote; amazonite; brown batik; honey agate; brain stone; brecciated jasper; calcedony; green sard; phantom agate; purple batik; tea obsidian; white obsidian and marble.The game of solitaire is reputed to have been invented by a nobleman confined in the Bastille prison during the french revolution.

AUDIO/VISUAL:

Phillips 20″ Flat Screen TV
Daewood VHS/DVD Player
Zennith 32″ Oak Cabinet Console TV
Symphonic 19″ TV/VHS Combine
Sony Servo Turntable
Sony 5-dics automatic disc loading system CDP-C312M
Sony Remote Control Compact HI-Fidelity System LBT-D105

OFFICE:

Large Solid Wood Excutive Style Vintage 6-Drawer Desk
Book Case with Drop Front Desk Section 6’H x 3’W
Book Case/6 shelves 6’H x 3’W
Drop-side Printers Table
Brothers Selectric II Electric Typewriter
Royal Aristocrat Vintage Manual Typewriter
Fellows Powershred PS 75 Shedder
Wood/veneers 2 Drawer File Cabinets (2 each)
Brothers Fax Machine
Scentry model 1170 Fire Safe

Ivey-Selkirk is putting out the word about two upcoming auctions that are very exciting.  First, held on April 13th & 14th, is the Jackson Rooms auction.  Click here to view the highlights of this auction that includes a variety of pieces from Chinese decorative arts to American, Continental and English Furniture.

The second auction will be held on April 15th and is a wonderful collection of Spring Toys & Collectibles.  Click here to browse a nice mixture of items, including baseball collectibles that include a signed Babe Ruth baseball as well as vintage movie posters and Arcade cast iron “Lubrite Gasoline” tanker truck, toy cars and Lionel train sets.

Dealers Wanted for Discovery TV Show

UK TV production company Fever Media are looking for U.S. antiques and collectibles dealers to appear in a brand new TV show for the Discovery Channel.

The program sees members of the public attempting to sell their items to a panel of dealers. These items could be anything from a vintage car, to a collection of Star Wars toys, to an original Picasso sketch.

We are seeking dealers with a good knowledge of different areas and periods to feature on the panel. We are very keen to get a U.S. based dealer involved and if the show is successful there is potential to screen it in the U.S. A fee would be paid.

If you are interested or would like to know more, please contact Kieran at kieran.clubb@fevermedia.co.uk

Fill out our online application at:

https://ccasting.wufoo.com/forms/untitled-antique-collectible-competition-show/

or email us at:

untitledcompetitionshow@gmail.com

Antiques.com turned a year on Feb 1st 2011!  Thanks to all of our vendors for helping us to build our site into one of the best antiques sites on the web!  We’ve had more than 15oo dealers join in the fun so far, and we’re always looking for more.  We’re excited to offer over 80,000 items for sale on Antiques.com, but that number increases every day as more and more vendors sign up to be a part of our growing family.

To all of the people that visit Antiques.com looking for the perfect gift, trying to spruce up their home with a beautiful antique, or simply out of curiosity, thank you for coming!

And for everyone, vendors and antique aficionados alike, we’ve recently added a few features to our home page that we think you’ll enjoy!

– First, check out the Deal Of The Day – Each day we’ll offer a new deal from a vendor that is eager to give you a beautiful antique for a steal!

– Next, feast your eyes on the Cool Antique Of The Week – Each week we’ll show you something interesting from the site that is available to be purchased and fawned over by it’s new owner!

– And finally, have some fun with What Is This Antique? – Each week we’ll choose a new and interesting, if not a bit obscure, antique to feature for this game.  Take a guess, or several guesses, at what you think it is, and then each Monday we’ll publish the list of guesses submitted by everyone, along with the actual name and description of the antique.

Antiques.com strives to offer a wide variety of beautiful and interesting antiques, collectibles, and fine art pieces.  We’re looking forward to another stellar year where we add to our already impressive list of vendors and push our inventory to over 100,000 items!  So Happy Birthday To Us!  We’re looking forward to another fantastic year!

“Mid-century modern” describes an era in the history of design that began around 1945 and ended in the late sixties. Before WWII, popular architectural and furniture styles emphasized handcraftsmanship, ornate detail, and traditional materials like darker and heavier woods. But the visual art world (painting and sculpture) had been influenced just a few decades earlier by a movement called “modernism”, a visual emphasis on clean lines, contrast, elevation, and innovation in style and form. After the war, modernism began to influence lifestyle-related art forms as well, specifically architecture and furniture design.

Suburban living and economic prosperity began to expand during this time, and with these changes came a demand for mass produced, affordable furniture that could offer both beauty and function.  Home décor reflected a common desire to move beyond painful memories of the war and focus on innovation and the future.  Also, war-inspired advances in the aircraft industry made new manufacturing techniques and materials possible, like plastics and pressed molded wood.

Mid- century modern furniture styles were lightweight, affordable, clean-lined, and visually simple, and they made use of materials rarely before seen in furniture design, such as steel and acrylic.

Famous mid-century modern furniture designers include Charles and Ray Eames, Eileen Gray, George Nelson, Lilly Reich, and Isamu Noguchi. Famous manufactures such as Herman Miller and Vitra made names for themselves by building and selling the work of these designers.

Danish Modern Furniture

Many aspects of midcentury modern furniture design reflected an interest in organic, natural shapes that harmonized with the environment. In Scandinavian countries, this preference had already taken hold by the 1940’s. Danish and Swedish designers, inspired by long cold winters and a corresponding attraction to light, clean, warm shapes and natural materials like blond-colored wood, began to spread their influence across Europe and America.

Denmark had in turn been inspired by Japan; A relaxation of Japan’s isolationist policies allowed the elegant simplicity of Japanese style to flood into Scandinavia and lend additional polish to the simple and increasingly popular beauty of Danish design.

Two names of note in Danish modern design are Hans Wegner and Ingvar Kamprad. Wegner designed the iconic Danish modern piece known as the “Round Chair”, which was later used by Nixon and Kennedy in 1960 during the first nationally televised presidential debate. And Ingvar Kamprad founded the Ikea company in the 1940’s, which has been producing economically accessible Danish modern furniture since that time, though it’s only recently become a household name.

Vintage and Retro Furniture

By the late 1960’s, the passion for Danish modern and mid-century modern furniture design had more or less cooled. A fever for ultra-simple lightweight styles, space-age materials, and simple blocks of color had given way to the heavier structures of the 1970’s and 80’s.  But a mid-century modern revival is currently well underway, and the retro appeal of a Herman Miller Eames Lounge Chair, an Eileen Grey side table or an Isamu Noguchi coffee table now seems to be hotter than ever.

Vintage tastes have also been fueled by 1950’s decor on the sets of TV shows like Mad Men, and by a corresponding surge of interest in vintage 1950’s clothing and houseware styles.

It’s worth noting that while the shapes and color schemes of mid-century modern furniture have made a comeback, the manufacturing methods have not— Companies like Herman Miller are now making active efforts to create the old designs with updated, environmentally safer, and more sustainable materials.

By Erin Sweeney

For Antiques.com

Incorporating inherited or recently acquired antique furniture into an existing décor can add warmth, pedigree and distinction to your home. Even if the old doesn’t technically match the new, there are dozens of tricks, tips and attitudes you can adopt that will bring the room together and make it a welcoming haven that beautifully showcases your style.

1)      Don’t try too hard. Matchy-matchy aspects can date a room and bring it down anyway, so why force parallelism between pieces that don’t match and never will? If you have a modern end table on one side of a sofa, don’t position your antique table at the other end. Put the antique table under a window instead. Let it have a place of its own.

2)      Be true to yourself. Hide nothing. A beautiful piece of antique furniture is a beautiful piece, no matter what happens to be standing nearby. Don’t cover a table—or any other antique furniture– with a blanket in an effort to blend styles. Rather, place a runner on the table with a color that picks up and plays off of other colors in the room.

3)      The same principle applies to throw pillows, knickknacks, wall art, and other movable splashes of color. You’d be surprised a how well a small but consistent streak of blue can tie an otherwise disparate room together.

4)      Be playful. Recognize that the flexibility of the room and the flexibility of your aesthetic can allow each to bring out the best in the other. Antique furniture from a certain period may not convey your exact style, but the way in which it entered your life says something about you. If this piece of antique furniture belonged to your grandma, remember that your grandma is part of who you are. Let the room represent all aspects of you, not just a filtered few. See what happens!

5)      Finally, remember the most important rule of interior design—if you like an item, then it doesn’t matter why. In some mysterious way, a group of items selected by one person have a common thread that binds them together, whether the thread is easy to identify or not. If everything in the room is yours, and everywhere the eye falls it falls on something that you find beautiful, then in some magic way, the room will feel comfortable, balanced and pleasing to others. Design, like any other art, is half science and half magic. Enjoy your new-old antique furniture, and have confidence in your instincts!

By Erin Sweeney

Edward Wormley; a household name in the Mid Century Modern crowd.  He was a major influence on American design.

Wormley was born in 1907.  As a young child, he developed polio, which hindered his ability to walk until the age of 5.  This would be a mere speed-bump in Wormley’s life.  In 1926 he attended college at the Art Institute of Chicago.  By 1928 he was working at Marshall Field & Co, then later for Berkey & Gay in Michigan.

Wormley’s first taste of furniture design was in 1930 when he traveled to Paris and met designer Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann.  Upon his return to the United States, he went to work at the Dunbar Furniture Company.

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