Online Only Decorative Arts Auction at Pook & Pook, Inc. in Downingtown, Pennsylvania

As the East Coast prepares to awake from its winter hibernation, Downingtown auction house Pook & Pook has been busy preparing for their latest Online Only Decorative Arts auction. This large, 800-lot sale will be held on March 20th, the first official day of Spring. Online bidding for the sale will begin at 9 am, exclusively on bidsquare.com.  With its immense size, this sale presents all manner of antique decorative arts - from a wide variety of furniture and folk art, to continental offerings and textiles, and featuring a great selection of fine arts including paintings and sculptures.

Lot 2478, Blue Staffordshire covered tureen; Estimate $140-$240

Presented early in the sale is a collection of sterling silver items, including a Stieff sterling silver four-piece repousse tea service ($800-$1200) and later in the sale, a Reed and Barton Francis I sterling silver flatware service for nine ($800-$1200). Additional pieces of silver include those by Bailey Banks & Biddle, Tiffany & Co., Towle, and Gorham. Distinctive decorative arts in the sale hail from all around the globe and include a pair of antique Chinese bronze Buddhas ($400-$600), a pair of large Southwest Native American pottery figures ($400-$600), an 18th c. German lock box ($300-$500), and a handwritten and signed letter from the Duke of Wellington ($200-$400). A unique addition to the sale is a large offering of musical instruments in their cases, including flutes, oboes, saxophones, trumpets, and clarinets.

Lot 2291, English coal miners on handkerchief quilt; Estimate $340-$400

Various groups of pearlware, redware, porcelain figures, and Chinese export fill out the sale, alongside tin advertising signs and hand painted trade signs. Fine art by local artists includes four oil paintings by Pennsylvania artist Annie M. Snyder (1852-1927), four signed collotypes by Andrew Wyeth (1917-2009) from a Chadds Ford collection, and a Peter Sculthorpe (1929-2014) signed landscape ($140-$240).

Faithful Pook & Pook bidders may remember the surprising result for one piece of oriental art in Pook’s January Online Only sale, where a Chinese cloisonné urn realized $126K. Perhaps another surprise looms for March’s sale where Oriental items include three early 20th century Chinese carved ivory chess sets, a Chinese carved ivory puzzle ball and stand ($200-$300), and three lots of Chinese embroidered silk robes.

Of special note in the sale are a number of fine quilts from a New York collection, including appliqué examples, fine late 19th c. examples, and more modern 1940s examples. One unique item from this collection is an English pro-union coal miners' motif quilt, ca. 1890 ($340-$400). Other textiles include paisley shawls, a number of 19th century samplers and embroideries, and nearly one hundred lots of oriental carpets, including room-sized examples and runners.

Lot 2424,Sheraton tiger maple and cherry chest of drawers; Estimate $300-$500

Fine 18th century Pennsylvania and New England furniture will also cross the block, and includes a Massachusetts Queen Anne cherry drop-leaf dining table, ca. 1765 ($400-$700) and a Pennsylvania Chippendale walnut tall chest, ca. 1770 ($400-$700). Popular contemporary examples of classic furniture include a couple pieces by Henkel Harris and half a dozen pieces by Kittinger.

All of these items and more will be available exclusively on the online bidding platform Bidsquare (www.bidsquare.com). Interested bidders are encouraged to contact Pook & Pook Inc. at info@pookandpook.com or (610) 269-4040 with questions regarding condition reports, bidder registration, or online bidding. A catalog for the sale may be viewed online at www.bidsquare.com/auction-house/pook. Gallery exhibitions are scheduled for Wednesday, March 13th through Friday March 15th, from 10 am – 4 pm, and Monday March 18th from 10 am – 4 pm at Pook & Pook’s Downingtown gallery. Live online bidding for the sale will commence at 9 am on March 20th on bidsquare.com. Pook & Pook is located at 463 E. Lancaster Avenue, Downingtown, PA 19335.