PITTSFIELD, MASS.- Fontaine’s Auction Gallery will offer an across-the-board auction comprising fine items from estates throughout New England on Saturday, Nov. 14, at 11 am.
The auction will feature 400 lots of fine furniture, decorative arts and clocks, including American Victorian and figural carved furniture, a large clock collection, music boxes and automatons, paintings, Royal Vienna and KPM porcelains, fine silver, leaded glass windows, art glass and cameo glass, bronze and marble statuary, Black Forest items plus related accessories.
“This fall auction season has been racing along at high-speed with three big auctions, one after another since September, and it shows no signs of slowing down,” said John Fontaine, owner of Fontaine’s Auction Gallery. “This auction is jam-packed with a really diverse selection of items that will appeal to everyone, from homeowners looking to add a few accent pieces to serious collectors.”
Buyers here are used to beautiful and ornately decorated antiques, especially furniture, and an expected highlight is a massive Eastlake four piece tester bedroom set that includes a half tester bed, armoire, marble top dresser and commode with mirror; all are ornamented with pierced carved crests having a central medallion, stylized birds, lion heads and all-over floral decoration ($8/12,000).
Demonstrating the A-to-Z range of the auction offerings are a 13½-foot tall carved wooden crucifix dating to the 19th century, with the cross having figural carved scenes on each end, fleur-de-lis, fruit cluster and floral motifs throughout ($5/7,500), and a mosaic leaded glass window, early 20th century, having a central motif of mosaic and jeweled glass, the outer band with ribbons, flora and crescent moons ($5/7,500).
Architectural items are well represented in the sale with one lot consisting of 11 sections of wrought iron railings, early 20th century, having scrolling decoration with central leaf and flower motifs ($4,5/6,500).
Buyers looking for design standouts that would make a statement in their homes will want to note a 19th century Garrus Bidjar rug in a harshang design ($3/5,000), and a 19th century girandole banjo clock in the style of Lemuel Curtis ($3/5,000).
Furniture offerings really run the gamut, featuring a Thomas Brooks rosewood cylinder secretary with broken arch crest and turned finials over a mirrored back ($3/5,000) and a Chinese Chippendale mahogany curio etagere, early 20th century ($2,5/3,500).
Rounding out the auction will be a Handel leaded glass floor lamp with a geometric and palm tree shade and a figural winged griffin base ($2,5/3,500), a pair of oil paintings by Samuel P. Dyke, one a winter landscape and the other depicting fishing boats off the coast of New Brunswick ($2/3,000); and a weight-driven Laterndluhr wall clock in a later rosewood case ($2,5/3,500).
