Wallace Nutting

Wallace Nutting is known to dealers and collectors of American furniture for his three-volume Furniture Treasury, which has about 5,000 photographs of furniture arranged by category. It has not been superseded as a visual reference in the more than 60 years it has been in print. Collectors interested in Colonial Revival furniture also know Nutting as a maker of chests, tables, highboys and chairs, especially Windsors. Nutting also reproduced wrought-iron accessories for those who couldn't afford the real McCoy.

Auctions over the next few days will offer collectors carpets, paintings and what is billed as the largest Wallace Nutting sale ever held outside New England. The two-day sale of more than 425 Nutting photographs and related items by Michael Ivankovich Antiques Inc. of Doylestown will begin at 6 p.m. Friday at the Valley Forge Sheraton Plaza near the Pennsylvania Turnpike and will resume at 9 a.m. next Saturday. While billing it as the largest outside New England may inspire a "so-what" response, the artist worked in New England for 30 years until his death in 1941, and the area is still the center for dealing in his works, according to Ivankovich.

Three major sales next week will offer opportunities to bid on paintings by members of the women's art group known as the Philadelphia Ten; more pictures and prints by and reminiscent of Wallace Nutting; and a rare 16th-century Atlas with a chilling provenance. The paintings by members of the Philadelphia Ten will be sold as part of the March catalog sale of the Alderfer Auction Co. beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Alderfer Auction Center in Hatfield. They include works by Isabel Parke Branson Cartwright, Constance Cochrane, Arrah Lee Gaul, Edith Lucile Howard, and two by Fern Isabel Coppedge, notably The Delaware in Winter.

Eight months after the Clinton-Ivankovich Auction Co. Inc. was formed, the Bucks County company will have its first catalog sale. Scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. next Saturday at the Warwick Township Fire Company in Jamison, the sale will offer more than 600 lots of good furniture, paintings and accessories. According to partner Michael Ivankovich, the top item in the sale is a Delaware River Valley landscape by Bucks County artist Fern Coppedge. The 21- by-26-inch oil on canvas is one of 135 lots of artwork in the sale and came from a Newtown estate.

Culminating in a traditional Fourth of July sale, the next few days will offer several opportunities to bid on collectibles and curios, and an auction of estate items from a socially prominent Philadelphia couple. Cmdr. Walter Amesbury, who died this year, and his wife, Cecily, who died in 2000, were Society Hill residents who filled their 200-year-old townhouse, once occupied by James Madison, with furnishings and accessories gathered during their extensive travels. At a sale beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, Alderfer Auction Co. in Hatfield will start liquidating those contents, offering household furnishings and goods at what will likely be the first of several events devoted to the Amesburys' belongings.

For the peripatetic, next Saturday will be Auction Day. If you time things right and drive awfully fast, you could hit five sales in four hours (though not staying at any one for long). At 9 a.m. in New Holland, Pa., Paul Martin Auction Service will sell an elderly couple's estate, including a wide variety of furniture and collectibles. The property, 1.15 acres at 408 Main St., which is commercially zoned, will be sold at 1 p.m. Inspection is from 7 a.m. to sale time. For further information, call 717-733-3511.

Christmas week is usually a slow time for auctions, but there are a few sales that may help you round out your holiday shopping, particularly if you are willing to travel a bit. At 11 a.m. today and tomorrow in the north-central Pennsylvania community of Wellsboro, Mead's Auction service will liquidate the estate of Ruth Dewey, a former jeweler. While jewelry from the store will be offered at today's session, the major items in the sale are some of the furnishings from the Dewey residence.

Did you know that: Wallace Nutting art works, those hand-tinted photographs that look as if they once hung in Victorian parlors, are more valuable if they depict interior settings than outdoor ones? Durand glass was as famous in South Jersey as L.C. Tiffany was in New York? The U.S. government paid $14.65 apiece for pistols and $23.25 apiece for rifles used in the Civil War? These are just three bits of trivia gleaned from auction officials who will conduct three country sales next week.

Beginning with an important sale of Rookwood pottery today in Central Jersey, auctions through next weekend will offer a variety of popular collectibles. The Rookwood, 149 lots of it, will be offered by David Rago at noon at his gallery at 333 N. Main St., in Lambertville. Today's sale will be complemented by a second sale of Roseville/Zanesville pottery and Victorian majolica at noon tomorrow. The Rookwood was consigned by Toni Schulman of New York, who began collecting it more than 30 years ago. Rookwood was considered the top of the line in hand-painted Arts and Crafts ceramics for much of the company's existence, according to Rago.

Next week promises to be a good time for auctiongoers on vacation. There are four country sales, all on weekdays. The first will be at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Alderfer Auction Center, 501 Fairgrounds Rd., Hatfield. Among the top items to be sold are a complete Noritake double-azalea dinner service for 12 and, to rest it on, a Centennial banquet table that opens to 12 feet in length and comes with eight matching Chippendale ball-and-claw chairs. The Centennial dining-room suite was made in the late 19th century by Ferdinand Keller of Walnut Street in Philadelphia, according to auctioneer Dana Pfister.

Beginning with an important sale of Rookwood pottery today in Central Jersey, auctions through next weekend will offer a variety of popular collectibles. The Rookwood, 149 lots of it, will be offered by David Rago at noon at his gallery at 333 N. Main St., in Lambertville. Today's sale will be complemented by a second sale of Roseville/Zanesville pottery and Victorian majolica at noon tomorrow. The Rookwood was consigned by Toni Schulman of New York, who began collecting it more than 30 years ago. Rookwood was considered the top of the line in hand-painted Arts and Crafts ceramics for much of the company's existence, according to Rago.

Culminating in a traditional Fourth of July sale, the next few days will offer several opportunities to bid on collectibles and curios, and an auction of estate items from a socially prominent Philadelphia couple. Cmdr. Walter Amesbury, who died this year, and his wife, Cecily, who died in 2000, were Society Hill residents who filled their 200-year-old townhouse, once occupied by James Madison, with furnishings and accessories gathered during their extensive travels. At a sale beginning at 8 a.m. Thursday, Alderfer Auction Co. in Hatfield will start liquidating those contents, offering household furnishings and goods at what will likely be the first of several events devoted to the Amesburys' belongings.

More and more auction companies are promoting their sales online, with varying degrees of detail. Some auction company Web sites simply run a version of their print ads, while others will give thorough lists of items with identifying features. Some even offer complete catalogs of their sales, occasionally with pre-sale price estimates. Such online searches can be time-consuming, however. To save you the effort, here are some gleanings from a search of local Web pages. A collection of cars.

One of the most characteristic artists of early 20th century America was Wallace Nutting. His tinted photographic prints - usually of landscapes but occasionally depicting interiors - are instantly recognizable. The scenes - invariably signed and titled at the bottom - recall a quieter era before radio, television or the encroachment of the automobile. Their blandness in fact reflects the character of their creator. Nutting was a Congregationalist minister who was born right after the Civil War and died in 1941.

Three major sales next week will offer opportunities to bid on paintings by members of the women's art group known as the Philadelphia Ten; more pictures and prints by and reminiscent of Wallace Nutting; and a rare 16th-century Atlas with a chilling provenance. The paintings by members of the Philadelphia Ten will be sold as part of the March catalog sale of the Alderfer Auction Co. beginning at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Alderfer Auction Center in Hatfield. They include works by Isabel Parke Branson Cartwright, Constance Cochrane, Arrah Lee Gaul, Edith Lucile Howard, and two by Fern Isabel Coppedge, notably The Delaware in Winter.

Eight months after the Clinton-Ivankovich Auction Co. Inc. was formed, the Bucks County company will have its first catalog sale. Scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. next Saturday at the Warwick Township Fire Company in Jamison, the sale will offer more than 600 lots of good furniture, paintings and accessories. According to partner Michael Ivankovich, the top item in the sale is a Delaware River Valley landscape by Bucks County artist Fern Coppedge. The 21- by-26-inch oil on canvas is one of 135 lots of artwork in the sale and came from a Newtown estate.

Christmas week is usually a slow time for auctions, but there are a few sales that may help you round out your holiday shopping, particularly if you are willing to travel a bit. At 11 a.m. today and tomorrow in the north-central Pennsylvania community of Wellsboro, Mead's Auction service will liquidate the estate of Ruth Dewey, a former jeweler. While jewelry from the store will be offered at today's session, the major items in the sale are some of the furnishings from the Dewey residence.

Auctions over the next few days will offer collectors carpets, paintings and what is billed as the largest Wallace Nutting sale ever held outside New England. The two-day sale of more than 425 Nutting photographs and related items by Michael Ivankovich Antiques Inc. of Doylestown will begin at 6 p.m. Friday at the Valley Forge Sheraton Plaza near the Pennsylvania Turnpike and will resume at 9 a.m. next Saturday. While billing it as the largest outside New England may inspire a "so-what" response, the artist worked in New England for 30 years until his death in 1941, and the area is still the center for dealing in his works, according to Ivankovich.

For the peripatetic, next Saturday will be Auction Day. If you time things right and drive awfully fast, you could hit five sales in four hours (though not staying at any one for long). At 9 a.m. in New Holland, Pa., Paul Martin Auction Service will sell an elderly couple's estate, including a wide variety of furniture and collectibles. The property, 1.15 acres at 408 Main St., which is commercially zoned, will be sold at 1 p.m. Inspection is from 7 a.m. to sale time. For further information, call 717-733-3511.

Did you know that: Wallace Nutting art works, those hand-tinted photographs that look as if they once hung in Victorian parlors, are more valuable if they depict interior settings than outdoor ones? Durand glass was as famous in South Jersey as L.C. Tiffany was in New York? The U.S. government paid $14.65 apiece for pistols and $23.25 apiece for rifles used in the Civil War? These are just three bits of trivia gleaned from auction officials who will conduct three country sales next week.