Yet again, my favorite A & C auctioneer is having a weekend auction jam-packed with amazing items. This time, RagoArts sent me a copy of their hefty catalog, which on its own is a great addition to any Craftsman book collection - the photographs of such a huge range of items make a great reference; it's $35 and can be ordered from their website. However, if you're anywhere near the auction house in Lambertville, NJ (not far from Philadelphia) on March 11 & 12 (yes, that's this coming weekend!), I doubt you could be doing anything much more interesting than attending the auction itself and picking up something special.

Now, though, that print catalog is available online (if you have the bandwidth) using the NxtBook technology, which emulates the full-page views and page-turning effects and some other bells & whistles - it's fun & a neat way to look at the catalog.

Without further ado, some selected highlights from this upcoming sale:

• a pretty blue Arequipa vase decorated in squeezebag and enamel (pictured)
• Albert Valentien baluster vase in a matte green alligatored glaze
• a green glaze Teco tulip vase
• an important Roycroft sideboard with leaded-glass cabinet doors over a mirrored back
• Frances H. Gearhart color woodblock print [and another]
• Handel table lamp,with brown and green cattails over a bronzed base
• Roycroft hammered copper and silver vase designed by Dard Hunter
• Reproduction Greene & Greene bronze and leaded glass lantern an exact replica which hung for 35 years at the Gamble House in Pasadena, California, replacing a (recently-recovered) stolen lantern
• Van Briggle tile in with trees in a mountainscape, mounted in an attractive Deco / Arts & Crafts frame
• a very attractive hammered-copper sign for the Pond Applied Art Studio
• assemblage of Rookwood tankard and mugs, green-glazed William McDonald tankard & four production Z-line mugs, each with a different geometric pattern
• an attractive and somewhat minimal Limbert single-door bookcase with three adjustable shelves
• lot of assorted glass pieces from Tiffany Studio
• Kandahar area rug with geometric floral ground and border on black
• upright Arts and Crafts piano and bench

Sunday also includes a large number of more affordable groupings of ceramic, glass and copper items (and some other bits and pieces), some of which are quite attractive and priced to sell.

My only gripe is that there are very few unsigned items - I realize that the whole point of an auction like this is to liquidate important items and distribute them amongst serious collectors and museums, but it might be good for the movement as a whole if a larger number of inexpensive pieces were distributed amongst the stock - it could bring a lot of new collectors in, and would be a great base to do more education / outreach from. I don't think this would adversely affect the sales price of the more important items, either.