Art Glass

So much auction activity is promised Nov. 17 and 18, much of it involving big-ticket items, that it seems wise to begin describing them now, so you can decide how to splurge. Let's start with the seventh annual Lalique sale in Lambertville. More than 400 lots of art glass, almost 300 of them Lalique, will be offered beginning at noon Nov. 17 at Rago Arts and Auction Center, 333 N. Main St. Most will be the traditional designs: vases, perfume bottles, inkwells, ashtrays, letter seals and hood ornaments at prices ranging from $300 to $500 for a 1922 "Archers" ashtray, up to $30,000 to $40,000 for a topaz vase made about 1929 in a "Petrarch" design.

Art glass, American Indian artifacts and industrial-strength gold chains from that increasingly popular consigner, the district attorney's office, will be offered at a variety of sales next week - including two on Monday, Memorial Day. That is when the art glass will be offered at the Arp Auction Co., 156 Fallsington Ave., Tullytown, starting at 10 a.m. Perhaps the most important piece is a Duffner and Kimberly leaded lamp on a Gorham base...

Art glass will be featured at two sales this weekend, one at Barry S. Slosberg Inc. in Philadelphia, the other at Rago Arts & Auction Center in Lambertville. David Rago has a well-established reputation for offering top-of-the-line items. The goods in the sale presented by him and Nicholas Dawes beginning at 1 p.m. today are no exception. Among the more than 200 lots of American and European fine art glass are more than 45 pieces of Tiffany, including a large aquamarine paperweight depicting a single fish swimming against a background of a net and aquatic foliage.

Prints, glass and designs predominantly from the 20th century will be offered at four auctions next week, three of them at galleries, the fourth at a suburban theater. The prints will be offered by Freeman's beginning at 11 a.m. Friday at the gallery, 1808 Chestnut St. The first dozen or so lots consist of old masters, including a 1641 etching of a landscape by Rembrandt that is expected to bring the auction's top price, $15,000 to $25,000, according to presale estimates. But most of the 250 lots are 20th-century and mostly from America.

The first weekend of October will be a busy one for auction-goers, with three multi-session sales scheduled in Philadelphia and its suburbs, plus a fourth farther afield that may appeal to regular visitors at the Devon Horse Show. On Friday and next Saturday in Vineland, N.J., Bertoia Auctions will conduct a two-day sale devoted to still banks, mechanical banks and toy soldiers. More than 400 lots of banks and 500 lots of soldiers will be offered by Bertoia, which is world-famous for its sales of toys, banks and similar collectibles.

Question: I own a four-inch-high frosted purple glass vase with an art- nouveau green raised floral pattern. It is signed "Galle" in relief. Is it rare? Answer: As many as 50,000 similar machine-carved cameo glass vases may have been made between 1900 and 1930 at Emile Galle's glass factory in Nancy, France, said Barbara E. Deisroth of Sotheby's in New York. Nevertheless, she estimated that at auction yours could bring $250 to $350 if it's in perfect condition. Galle (1846-1904)

It was a resurrection of sorts. The two stained-glass panels have adorned the First Baptist Church here for more than a century, but countless openings and closings and decades of decay had left them looking dead. It took just a weekend for glass artists from the Markheim Art Center to put the life back in. First, artists Paul Friend, Tim Ambrogi and Mary Courtney removed the panels from their sashes and weighted them down to correct the shape. They then removed and replaced the brittle leading and crumbling cement.

Collectors who liked the first Philadelphia Collectibles Extravaganza no doubt will enjoy the second, set for Sunday at the George Washington Convention Center in Willow Grove. Merchandise displayed on 175 tables will run the gamut of collectibles: Disneyana; non-sport trading cards; lunch boxes; comic books; magazines; rock- and-roll and movie and television memorabilia; antique toys, including cap guns; die-cast cars and trucks, and dolls. Doors will open at 10 a.m., and the show will run until 5 p.m. Early birds can check out the goods at a sneak preview at 9 a.m. at a cost of $10 (includes show)

It is not easy to become a connoisseur of glass. Techniques for blowing glass haven't changed much through the years, and the mechanized pressing of glass into molds is a process that makes it difficult to tell the old from the new. It takes a lot of looking and a lot of handling to develop real expertise. Where to look? The Philadelphia Museum of Art is a good place to start, because it has a fine collection of early glass and some 20th-century glass on display. But a less-known resource is Wheaton Village in Millville, N.J. Wheaton Village may be the best place outside the Corning Museum in Corning, N.Y., to see and learn about glass in this country.

Carlisle may a bit off the beaten path for Philadelphia-area collectors. But for those willing to go west, this weekend offers some major antique action at the 82-acre Carlisle Fairgrounds, site of the Antiques at Carlisle show. More than 1,000 dealers are expected to arrive from throughout the United States and abroad, offering something for virtually everyone, or, as the promotional material proclaims, "Name something collectible, anything collectible, and you'll find it. . . . Those somethings include art glass, furniture, art deco, clocks, primitives, jukeboxes and coin-operated machines, toys, pottery, silver, tools - you name it. Show hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.

10 for the Road 1. Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. Manheim, Pa. Weekends and Labor Day, Aug. 14-Oct. 31. Jousting knights, jesters, jugglers, and other costumed characters re-create a 16th-century English village. 717-665-7021; www.parenfaire.com/faire.html . 2. Bergen County 4-H Fair. Paramus, N.J. Aug. 14-15. Educational displays and hands-on activities for children, plus games and crafts. With exhibits about lawn care, soil conservation, recycling, composting, and fire safety.

Where would an art teacher and art-glass collector live with her pediatric dentist/collector husband? In a condo just steps from the Art Museum, of course, with magnificent views of the historic building and the oft-painted Schuylkill. Art has always been a symbol of Penny and Sheldon Bernick's relationship. Married in 1981, they bought their first piece of studio art glass, a bowl by the world-renowned Dale Chihuly, from the Works Gallery in celebration of their wedding.

Next weekend will be a busy one, with three above average suburban sales offering such items as a seminal folk-art portrait, a Rittenhouse clock, and a vehicle called a panel-boot Victoria. The folk-art portrait is among the more than 500 lots that will be offered by Stephenson's Auction beginning at 3 p.m. Friday at the gallery at 1006 Industrial Blvd., Southampton. It comes from the estate of the late Richard de Groot, former advertising director for the equally late Gourmet Magazine and one of the two major sources of items in the sale.

Collectors of contemporary studio glass know that it melds technical skill and artistic innovation. Few glassmakers have been more successful at this fusion than Lino Tagliapietra, who divides his working life between his native Italy and the United States. "Lino Tagliapietra in Retrospect: A Modern Renaissance in Italian Glass" opens Oct. 3 at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington. The 140 works on display range from simpler forms produced in Murano, near Venice, at the beginning of his long career to brilliantly complex pieces from the last decade.

The Allen Iversons want a clean break from Philly. Now in Denver and Atlanta in his post-76ers life with the Nuggets, A.I. and wife Tawanna are selling furnishings from their Villanova mansion rather than moving some of the big stuff. Art. His-and-hers furs. Luxury-car wheels. A kid-size, gas-powered black Maserati. Arcade games. Designer clothing in women's sizes 6 to 10. A select group of Main Liners was invited to a three-day tag sale last month run by Lisa Semerjian and Sarah Lopes , who handle ritzy sales through their Berwyn-based Art of Decoration ( www.artofdecorationestatesales.

So much auction activity is promised Nov. 17 and 18, much of it involving big-ticket items, that it seems wise to begin describing them now, so you can decide how to splurge. Let's start with the seventh annual Lalique sale in Lambertville. More than 400 lots of art glass, almost 300 of them Lalique, will be offered beginning at noon Nov. 17 at Rago Arts and Auction Center, 333 N. Main St. Most will be the traditional designs: vases, perfume bottles, inkwells, ashtrays, letter seals and hood ornaments at prices ranging from $300 to $500 for a 1922 "Archers" ashtray, up to $30,000 to $40,000 for a topaz vase made about 1929 in a "Petrarch" design.

Art glass will be featured at two sales this weekend, one at Barry S. Slosberg Inc. in Philadelphia, the other at Rago Arts & Auction Center in Lambertville. David Rago has a well-established reputation for offering top-of-the-line items. The goods in the sale presented by him and Nicholas Dawes beginning at 1 p.m. today are no exception. Among the more than 200 lots of American and European fine art glass are more than 45 pieces of Tiffany, including a large aquamarine paperweight depicting a single fish swimming against a background of a net and aquatic foliage.

If you're in the makeover mood and searching for ways to jazz up a family room, here's the scoop: Featured in Barry S. Slosberg Inc.'s gallery auction Sunday are nearly 100 lots of vintage ice-cream parlor memorabilia. They include stools, chairs, tables, a soda-fountain countertop, and a complete booth with two benches, plus signs for such brands as Dolly Madison, Hershey's and Abbotts; blenders, dispensers, and, of course, vintage scoops, a popular collectible. The memorabilia comes from three main consignors, says Slosberg associate Eric Cohen, "the bulk of it . . . from a guy who had set up a little ice-cream parlor in his basement.

A two-day multi-estate auction next week at the William H. Bunch gallery in Chadds Ford will offer unusual items in familiar categories, notably fine art, folk art, and furniture. The furniture, which will be sold throughout the auction's 500-lot second session beginning at noon Tuesday, will feature unexpected 19th- and 20th-century pieces: a Victorian oak barber chair; an English Regency invalid's chair faintly reminiscent of a Barcalounger; and an aptly named Arts and Crafts "barrel" armchair by Barber Bros.

Prints, glass and designs predominantly from the 20th century will be offered at four auctions next week, three of them at galleries, the fourth at a suburban theater. The prints will be offered by Freeman's beginning at 11 a.m. Friday at the gallery, 1808 Chestnut St. The first dozen or so lots consist of old masters, including a 1641 etching of a landscape by Rembrandt that is expected to bring the auction's top price, $15,000 to $25,000, according to presale estimates. But most of the 250 lots are 20th-century and mostly from America.