Looks homemade, but it went for $1525. It's not in any Gus or Roycroft catalogues I have. What's the deal??? Frank Lloyd Wright piece or what??? Or just bidders out of control?

http://cgi.ebay.com/Monumental-MISSION-table-CANDLE-STA...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Irrational exuberance?
Perhaps someone knows something and we may see it for sale with some provenance or a twin for much more.

Yes a pair would make it worth more than the sum of the parts. I assume some sort of provenance/attribution based on the price and the seller wrote it up as found in Stickley's backyard kind of thing, so who knows.

As an aside, its pretty brutal how so many people try to associate their stuff with Gus/Roycrofters etc. Ebay has rules against false association but the games people play are still pretty bad.

I suspect an image of the candlestick may have appeared on a period catalogue and that is why the bid went high. I recognize some of the high bidders and they seem to be savy about the value of the piece. I am not imperssed by the metalwork.

Proportions of the candlestick are good. The design is similar to Roycroft Pricess candlesticks which were suposedly influenced by the Secessionist Movement in Europe. Perhaps this is an unsigned yet documented piece by Charles Rohlfs....

Fred

unsigned Prairie School and Karl Kipp (Roycroft) sticks...hmmmmm...interesting...

Stonecat,

Check out the web for Rolhfs candlesticks. The copper work is similar to the one sold on ebay.

Fred

quote:

Originally posted by FZweig:
Stonecat,

Check out the web for Rolhfs candlesticks. The copper work is similar to the one sold on ebay.

Fred

BINGO - nice call Fred !

not 100% identical but pretty darn close - no rivets under the top plate and no drip ring in the eBay one, but the drip plate may have been lost


http://www.treadwaygallery.com/12-3-2000-sale/catalog/objects2000/lot155.html

pair for $3750

It is obvious that this is what commanded the price.

Fred

On the other hand, the Treadway pair is signed but the eBay one isn't, and the eBay one is much larger. Ahh the mystery of it all...

I still think that it can be safely attributed to Rohlfs. The size can account for the high value even if not signed. I suspect the buyer understood what he was acquiring.

Fred

For the buyers sake, I hope so. In other words I hope it isn't just a bench made copy, which was a fairly common thing to do back in the day, e.g. Gus publishing plans for his furniture and books from companies like Popular Mechanics full of period plans. I posted a hall tree months ago that I thought might be Limbert because it was stylistically very close. I sent a pic to Jerry Cohen and he said no, and then a little while later I found the almost exact plans for it in the 1910 Popular Mechanics "How to make Mission Furniture" reprint book. It's still a nice piece but I'm convinced now that it was made in someone's home shop. Given that Rohlfs was known to sign his pieces and that the smaller sticks are signed I'm still suspicious. The winning bidder (who sniped it at the end) doesn't have a history of high-end purchases but on the other hand the back bidder does (Teco/Fulper), so maybe he knows the true story.