Home Consulting Services Featured Items Links Contact Us C.V. Downsizing Photograph supplied by Devin Moisan Auctioneers, Inc. Although prices for American art pottery are not at the stratospheric levels seen several years ago, pieces that are of the highest quality and illustrate the best traits of a particular art pottery continue to hold their value. The vase illustrated is a case in point. Sold at a local auction house for $69,000 (price includes a buyer's premium of 16%), the Grueby matt blue glazed vase bears the initials of Ruth Erickson. Only 11 inches high, with a small chip to the rim, its value lies in the excellence of the glaze, the perfection of the applied daffodil flower and leaves, as well as the mark of the modeler. William Henry Grueby and his partner, Eugene Atwood, set up as Atwood & Grueby in 1891. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the company specialized initially in architectural tiles that it produced and installed. Although the tile company closed in 1894, William Grueby subsequently established the Grueby Faience Company, working from the same location. Like Hugh Robertson, who opened the Dedham Pottery in Dedham, Massachusetts, in 1895, Grueby experimented for number of years developing what would become the most typical glaze used in Grueby pottery: the opaque, matt enamel finish, often a greenish color. In 1897 after the successful development of this glaze by Grueby, the designer George P. Kendrick joined the firm. The firm's significance to the decorative arts world was recognized internationally when, in 1900, at the Paris Exposition, William Grueby received two gold medals and one silver for his work. The success at the Exposition (and other Exhibitions) was double-barreled, however. Numerous smaller potteries copied Grueby's designs and sold them for less money. It was this competition - and the lack of new designs promoted by Grueby - that would ultimately cause the Grueby Pottery Company (yet another name change) to close in 1910. The Grueby Faience and Tile Company would continue to produce tiles until its closure in 1920. The production of art pottery by Grueby [Grueby Faience (1894-1909) and Grueby Pottery Company (1907-1910)] was short-lived, hence increasing the value of those pieces produced during its heyday. Grueby pottery was typically made by hand although some believe that objects such as scarabs were molded. Made on a foot-powered pottery wheel, the vessels were then modeled. Much of the applied decoration was modeled by artists who had graduated from local area art schools. The Museum of Fine Arts School, Boston, the Cowles Art School and the Normal Art School all produced artists who would work at Grueby. The Museum School, located in the basement of the museum (then located at the corner of St. James and Dartmouth Streets in Boston - where the Fairmount Copley hotel stands today), was two blocks away from the Cowles Art School. The Normal Art School was also located nearby. Ruth Erickson and Annie V. Lingley were both art school graduates who worked for the company from 1899 until its close in 1910. In addition to the mark on the base of the vase - Ruth Erickson's initials - this ceramic piece is valued for the three glaze colors and the elegant daffodil decoration, but also because it was produced early in the century, prior to the competition that would undermine the quality of the process. Ruth Erickson was one of eleven modelers - ten women and one man- who were contemporaneously identified in Edwin Barber's 1904 book, Marks of American Potters. A modeler is the one who sculpted the pot; i.e., applied the three-dimensional decoration to the thrown pottery vessel. Modelers may use the same device such as the daffodil or applied leaves, but they were interpreted on an individual basis and no two were exactly alike. i Susan J. Montgomery's seminal work, The Ceramics of William H. Grueby (Arts & Crafts Quarterly Press, Lambertville, New Jersey 1993), identifies a number of other modelers and employees working at the Grueby Company. Her book remains the standard treatise on Grueby ceramics. The author of this article was a student of Montgomery while working on her master's degree. This item was sold at Sotheby's on January 19, 2008 Lot 305 Featured Item: The Thomas Elwyn Federal Inlaid and Figured Mahogany Games Table, Adam Hains, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1810. This table had been in a storage container for at least three decades before being unwrapped during the process of an estate appraisal. At first glance it can be simply categorized as a card table from the Federal period. Classical design dominates, with inlay taking the place of decorative carving. Card tables from this period are relatively common and typically sell at auction for under $15,000. This particular example bears the remnants of a paper label on the rear fly rail: "All kinds of / cabinet and chair work / done by / Adam Hains…/ Philadelphia." Labels are increasing used by cabinetmakers and retailers in the early 19th century, but it is still an important factor to consider when valuing a piece of furniture. It is now known that Philadelphia cabinetmaker, Adam Hain[e]s (1768-after 1820), worked in the city until 1803 when he moved to Berks, County, Pennsylvania. Furniture labeled by Adam Hains is relatively rare with a small number of labeled pieces known. Most of these objects are owned by museums. Turning to the quintessential book on Philadelphia furniture, Hornor's Blue Booki, one piece is related to our table. Pl. 390 illustrates a pier table by another maker, John Nixonii. The central inlaid plaque on this table is very similar to the central plaque on the labeled Hains table. As the Blue Book was published in 1935, it is necessary to look a little further for more current researchiii. Using the American cabinetmaker's database compiled by the staff of the Maine Antiques Digest (based in Waldoboro, Maine), it appears that no other card table is known to exist in the public domain labeled by Adam Hains (although often card tables were made in pairs). This is another factor to be considered when determining the fair market value. What about the condition of the table? A cursory glance while still in the storage unit - not an optimal vantage point - revealed that a front leg was broken and repaired, both the front legs had been reinforced, the rear fly rail had been re-glued, and one of the frontal paterae had also been replaced. At some point in the table's life, the surface had been refinished, but not totally skinned. Condition of an object must be factored in when determining the object's value. At this point in the appraisal process, given the poor condition noted in the storage unit, the rarity of the label, and the overall proportion of the table from a "good, better, best viewpoint," a value in the range of $3 - 5,000.00 would be a fair assessment. The table was subsequently removed from storage and it could now be examined in natural and raking light. Now visible on the underside of the rear frame was the brand "T. ELWYN". As a researcher and contributor to Brock Jobe's massive tome on Portsmouth furniture, the possible identification of the brand was recognizable to me. Turning to the back of the book, indeed, this brand for the former owner of the card table, Thomas Elwyn, was illustratediv. But a Portsmouth, New Hampshire merchant's brand on a Philadelphia-labeled card table? The thought that the label was added at a later date entered the equation of value. Labels generally add value to a piece of furniture and Philadelphia furniture has historically been valued more by collectors than New Hampshire seacoast items. Just one more factor to consider in the valuation process for this table. Appraising is an inexact science particularly when dealing with items that are not mass-produced. As illustrated in the text, it can be difficult to value such a table, but the process of research and the consideration of all the factors are essential. Eventually, this table sold at Sotheby's in New York (Lot 305, Important Americana, January 18 - 19, 2008) for a staggering $58,000 (includes buyer’s premium). Even the experts in the auction world can be surprised: the original estimate - based on the condition of the piece - was $8,000 to $12,000. But this rare document of a piece of Philadelphia furniture purchased in that city and then moved to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and branded by Thomas Elwyn, determined the value. The estate value is the amount realized at auction plus the buyer's premium. i Horner, William Macpherson, Jr., Blue Book of Philadelphia Furniture, William Penn to George Washington, with special reference to the Philadelphia-Chippendale School (Philadelphia; privately printed: 1935). ii According to Hornor, a pier table has a single top, rather than the folding leaf that characterizes a card table. iii Many articles, catalogues and theses have been published subsequently, but Hornor's still remains the quintessential resource for Philadelphia furniture. iv Jobe, Brock. Portsmouth Furniture. Masterworks from the New Hampshire Seacoast. Hanover: University Press of New England/SPNEA, 1993. See p. 429. [Home] Anne Weston & Associates LLC 43 Pray Street Portsmouth, NH 03801 W: 603.431.0385 C: 603.521.4001 Certifications Certified Member: Appraisers Association of America Member: New England Appraisers Association Member: New Hampshire Estate Planning Council USPAP Certified 2007; 2005 "Federal" is a term used by furniture historians to describe American furniture and decorative arts that were made or produced during the early decades of the new American Republic, circa 1790 - 1810 Albert Sack, the last surviving son of the renowned American furniture dealer, Israel Sack, wrote Fine Points of Furniture - Early American, (Crown Publishers, Inc: 1950) which became better known as "Good, Better, Best", the bible for new collectors. Each piece of furniture illustrated was valued according to its proportions, carving or inlay, and other identifying features. The book has been republished many times since.