Also of note is a circa 1800 George III "metamorphic" Pembroke table and library steps, expected to bring $2,000 to $3,000. It gets its name from the way it converts from a library ladder with which to retrieve books to a desk at which to read them. Another Victorian item is a mahogany folio cabinet, circa 1855, intended for storing large documents (maps, newspaper front pages, small posters), estimated at $6,000 to $8,000.
The English furniture also includes a set of four Victorian oak dining chairs similar in form to those of the House of Lords by A.W.M. Pugin and expected to bring $3,000 to $5,000.
The walking canes, a single lot of 34 including malacca and rosewood shafts and (for the military-minded) swagger sticks, are from the collection of Mary and Maurice Hut of Ocean City. Presale estimate: $2,000 to $3,000. The six lots of page turners from a Palisades Park, N.J., estate - something between a paper knife and a straight razor - are expected to bring around $600 per lot.
A top presale estimate, $10,000 to $15,000, is for a 400-piece Royal Crown Derby Imari pattern porcelain service from the Palisades Park estate. Also from that estate are a dozen lots of majolica.
From there the sale moves on to Asian items, notably a Chinese export, gilt-decorated, rose mandarin dinner service ($5,000 to $8,000) and an eight-panel Qing Dynasty hardwood floor screen ($8,000 to $12,000).
The remaining 254 lots are continental, with an early 19th-century bronze figure of a wyvern expected to bring $1,500 to $2,500. (In the mythological bestiary, a wyvern is a winged creature with a two-legged reptilian body and barbed tail. It is on the Churchill coat of arms and appeared in the Merlin TV series.)
The top presale estimate is for a 23-inch German carved ivory beer tankard depicting, in near bawdy detail, Bacchus and Ariadne surrounded by additional mythical beings, including cherubs, sea monsters, nude nereids, and a mermaid handle. The perfect vessel for a foamy beverage, it has a presale estimate of $15,000 to $20,000.
Also displaying cherubs and other allegorical figures is a Louis XVI-style side table with a spring-loaded drawer ($8,000 to $12,000). Otherwise, most of the continental items are expected to sell in the modest four-figure range.
Other highlights are nearly two dozen bronzes, notably a circa 1900 genre bust by Cesare Ceribelli of what might be an Egyptian figure ($4,000 to $6,000) and a cheerful early 20th-century four-piece Meissen porcelain troubadour band ($800 to $1,200).
Previews: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday and Monday, and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Bargain bling. Presale estimates for the Feb. 12 jewelry and watch sale beginning at 10 a.m. are predominantly in the three-figure range or less, according to the catalog. Just over 50 of the sale's 368 lots are in the four-figure range, the highest being $5,250 to $7,250 for a South Sea pearl necklace and matching stud earrings.
At the low end are several lots expected to go for $50 to $150, including a pair of gold-filled bangle bracelets, a Mexican silver bracelet, and a white gold and tourmaline ring. In between are a large number of decorative items, many with well-known or locally familiar names.
The watches include Bulova, Ebel, Longines, Timex, and Waltham makes. The jewelry includes a Bailey Banks & Biddle dress set of studs and cuff links ($800 to $1,000), a J.E. Caldwell lady's platinum and diamond engagement ring ($600 to $900), a Linde Meyer sterling silver bracelet ($200 to $400), and a Craig Drake 18-karat white gold and ruby bracelet ($1,000 to $2,000).
Costume jewelry includes a number of distinctive pins in animal shapes, among them a gold poodle pin with a ruby eye and diamond collar ($200 to $400), a pair of serpent earrings ($400 to $600), cats and insects. A diamond, platinum, and yellow and rose gold bumblebee pin attributed to the German American artist Franz Zirnkilton has a presale estimate of $2,000 to $3,000.
Other distinctive items: a 14-karat yellow gold and diamond Tiffany & Co. wristwatch with a retro band consisting of 28 tiny semicircular plates ($1,000 to $2,000); a yellow gold diamond and enamel umbrella pin, reminiscent of the Travelers Insurance Co. logo ($200 to $400); a circa 1904 $20 gold coin ($900 to $1,200); and a 14-karat yellow gold carved coral and diamond Buddha pin ($700 to $900).
Previews: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 7, 8, and 11. For more information on both sales, call 215-563-9275.
Contact David Iams at daiams@comcast.net.
