I am enclosing an auction site for some Arts and Crafts classics coming up for auction. As a member of the Winona County Historical Society, I have been searching for items from Rockledge, The King mansion designed by George W. Maher in 1912. You cannot imagine the excitement the identification of these chairs has created. My friend, auctioneer Jon Kohner ,asked if I knew what the “interesting” chairs were in photos he had taken. He knew they might be good. I was stunned to see they were Rockledge. I have visited the arm chair in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, and more recently at the Victoria and Albert, Traveling Exhibition, International Arts and Crafts in Indianapolis.
The owners gave a 13th chair to the Winona County Historical Society, for which I will be forever grateful. Go to the AKS Auctions website if you want to know more. www.aksauctions.com
The few Maher pieces I've seen pictures of are quite nice. A set of 12 chairs is unheard of. Maybe we should run another guess the price contest! Great story, thanks.
note to Ralph or Fred - this could be moved to Furniture
sold for 16,000 ...and since this chair looks identical to the ones to be sold on April 22, it suggests that the original set might have been 14 chairs - 12 at the upcoming auction, 1 to the Winona County Historical Society and 1 that came out of the house at some point in the past and was sold in 2002
...so 12 X 16,000 equals 192,000, but being an original one of a kind commisioned set who knows where the hammer will drop...
This seems like one of those "we will never see this happen again" moments, meaning the sale of these chairs. Here's some more info from the book "The Art that is Life: The Arts & Crafts Movement in America, 1875-1920" (note: this book was originally printed in 1987 by Wendy Caplan, the Museun of Fine Arts Boston, and reprinted a few years later I believe, so now out-of-print; this book is important, find a copy, buy a copy, never sell it, it's a critical 'must have' benchmark publication, covers everything, seriously)
This truly is an incredible find. Be sure to let us know how much they go for and who buys them if it is made public. Has anyone seen any other publicity for the sale indicating that some really big name buyers will be there? I can't imagine what a huge event this is for AKS auctions since they probably usually deal only with much smaller sales.
So, Caplan states that the chair in the picture is one of a pair but the photo you added below shows there were at least 6 chairs. I wonder why she would assume there was a pair if it was the only one known to survive at that time (she may not have had Stonecats research skills)? Or, maybe because there was originally a pair of chairs with arms?...Was there no evidence until now that there were originally at least 14? I found little additional info on the Rockledge house online...
Good questions Steve. Look closely at the bottom picture. The chair in the foreground, seen from the back, is an arm chair. The chair to the left of the table and the chair to the left of the fireplace are side chairs (no arms). I would assume the ones to the right of the table and the right of the fireplace are also side chairs, because they are proportionally the same size. The one at the end of the table with its back to the fireplace is likely an arm chair, again because it appears to be the same size as the one in the foreground. The Treadway chair, the AKS chairs, and the donated chair are all side chairs. So if the Kaplan book identifies a pair of arm chairs, then the total commission for Rockledge looks to be in fact a set of 16 chairs (unless there are more we don't know about). The period picture shows both arm chairs, and 4 of the side chairs. So assuming the chair in the Kaplan book is still in a private collector's hands, and the arm chair the original message refers to, in the hands of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is in fact the second arm then the whole set of 16 is accounted for.
Originally posted by Lawrence: These chairs have been in our home for 33 plus years, please help get the word out. Thank you.
Lawrence,
Congrats on the great discovery of this set of chairs your family has had for so long. Best of luck at the auction. I'm sure there is a buzz already happening amongst the 'people in the know' (so that's none of us poor commoners here..hahaha) regarding these chairs coming to market.
I hope you or someone else associated with the auction can let us know how successful the sale was, or at least confirm that the auction website will be updated with information after the sale. GOOD LUCK !
Congratulations Lawrence, sounds like it was a great day.
I'm guessing the New York dealer was either 'Cathers and Dembrowsky' or 'Robert Edwards', but just guessing on my part as I'm sure there are others with the ability to have bought these...whoever got them is probably very happy...a nice piece of Arts & Crafts / Prairie School history...
...and since this chair looks identical to the ones to be sold on April 22, it suggests that the original set might have been 14 chairs - 12 at the upcoming auction, 1 to the Winona County Historical Society and 1 that came out of the house at some point in the past and was sold in 2002
Good questions Steve. Look closely at the bottom picture. The chair in the foreground, seen from the back, is an arm chair. The chair to the left of the table and the chair to the left of the fireplace are side chairs (no arms). I would assume the ones to the right of the table and the right of the fireplace are also side chairs, because they are proportionally the same size. The one at the end of the table with its back to the fireplace is likely an arm chair, again because it appears to be the same size as the one in the foreground. The Treadway chair, the AKS chairs, and the donated chair are all side chairs. So if the Kaplan book identifies a pair of arm chairs, then the total commission for Rockledge looks to be in fact a set of 16 chairs (unless there are more we don't know about). The period picture shows both arm chairs, and 4 of the side chairs. So assuming the chair in the Kaplan book is still in a private collector's hands, and the arm chair the original message refers to, in the hands of the Minneapolis Institute of Art, is in fact the second arm then the whole set of 16 is accounted for.
