When you enter the lobby of 20 West 34th Street in Manhattan, mountians of grey and white marble, inlaid with bursts of bronze, rise around you in a mighty display of New York iconicism. Directly ahead lies a monumental portrait of the very building in which you stand - the unmistakable, Empire State Building. The lobby mural, aptly done in the Art Deco style, mirroring its contemporary era, as well as the building itself, was designed and installed in 1931 by German born craftsman, Oscar Bach. During the first half of the 20th century, Oscar Bach was one of the most technically skilled and commercially successful artists in the field of decorative metalwork. After all, one doesn't simply land the job of designing the lobby in the world’s most famous skyscraper.  On April 13th, Rago will offer 42 pieces by Oscar Bach in their Remix: Classic...Read More

On Sunday, April 14, Rago will offer for sale a selection of property from the Estate of Hellen and Joe Darion, amassed over a shared lifetime spent traveling and collecting art from around the world.  Though best known as the lyricist behind the Tony Award winning musical “Man of La Mancha”, Joe Darion and his wife, professional dancer Hellen Darion, were also avid collectors of Indian and Persian manuscripts, Asian decorative objects, and fine art, much of which they gathered during their many adventures across South Asia. Notable examples in the Darions’ collection have been sourced by museums for exhibition and scholars for dissertations. Rago Auctions is pleased to offer bidders the opportunity to purchase art and antiquities from their personal collection, all fresh to market, in a 115 lot auction dedicated to the adventuring spirit o...Read More

We are just past the halfway mark of Asia Week and there are still many auctions left to go! On March 25, Leslie Hindman Auctioneers in Chicago, IL will be featuring their Asian Works of Art sale. This auction contains over 600 lots, with many of the objects originating from China, Japan, Korea, South East Asia, India, and the Himalayan region. The categories include jade carvings, furniture, porcelains, paintings, bronzes and religious sculptures. This sale is highlighted by a selection of important Chinese bronze vessels from a Chicago collection. One of the major objects is lot 137, an archaic bronze vessel from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). While many of these types of vessels are plain on their exterior, this particular example has a unique design. The body is decorated with lozenges and lappets while the mouth has an incised motif...Read More

When Times Square first emerged as the preeminent American venue for blinking bulbs and neon signs in the 1920s, the theater and entertainment industry attempted to grow along side the flashy advertisements that lined 42nd street. With the Great Depression looming in the distance and nationwide Prohibition laws buzzing in booze-filled basements, the city known for expressing itself (despite what federal law decrees) was acquiring its first taste for the electric energy that continues to pulse out of New York's mid-town. Brilliant marquee signs and moving marketing - like a giant coffee cup, out of which real steam spewed, and the famous "zipper" that required 14,800 light bulbs to render news headlines - fascinated millions of spectators. Along with the blazing lights of Broadway, New York City had another major draw to match its sky-high a...Read More

Even though the historical Buddha lived during the 5th Century BCE, his image did not appear in artwork until approximately the 3rd Century AD. This was a slow development that originated in India, and through many centuries, traveled east across the Asian continent along the Silk Road to Nepal, Tibet, China, Japan and Korea. In Buddhist art, the image of the Buddha was the most popular, but there were also depictions of bodhisattvas (a person who has reached enlightenment, but chose to stay on the earth to help others), Buddhist guardians, and spiritual teachers. These images can take the form of sculptures, paintings and relics. Despite bearing the physical attributions of the Buddhist personalities, these objects are simply vessels that aid in prayers and teachings.  Buddhist sculptures in particular have an important status within Asian...Read More

On March 23rd, Stair will be offering not one, but three rare German beaded glass table tops by Johann Michael van Selow in their much anticipated auction, The Collection of Mrs. John Gutfreund, Murray House, Villanova, PA. Lot 2, Fine German Rococo Glass Beadwork Table Top, Johann Michael van Selow, Braunschweig; Estimate $8,000-$12,000 These three rare table tops were made in Braunschweig, Germany in the mid to the third quarter of the 18th century. They were created in a factory run by Johann Michael van Selow, under the Royal patronage Duke Carl I of Braunschweig. The factory was in existence less than twenty years (1755-1772) and few examples of this colorful beadwork exist. Examples of van Selow’s work can be seen in the Städtisches Museum in Braunschweig and in the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castel. Perhaps the grandest example of this be...Read More

It takes time for American coins to amount to a considerable sum these days. Pennies, nickels and dimes float around in handbags or find themselves in odd corners of kitchen drawers, and on occasion a full baggie gets dropped down a Coinstar machine with blind faith that it might return a handsome receipt. However, our relationship to pocket change wasn't always this way. In the early 20th century, corner stores welcomed round-faced children willing to drop a few chips on goods such as soda pop, chewing gum and comic books, and how one stored their coins was just as swell.  Cast iron mechanical banks have been popular collectors items for decades, and the prices they achieve at auction go well beyond the capacity of their coin chambers. Valuable and vibrant examples in their original condition are difficult to come by, and when you're looki...Read More

Florence Knoll Bassett, who passed this year at the age of 101, was a legendary designer and entrepreneur. Her work helped to define the essence of the clean, functional forms that are synonymous with Modern Design. Knoll International remains a major player in the world of modern design to this day. Florence Knoll Bassett was born Florence Shust in Saginaw, Michigan in 1917 and orphaned at the age of 12. She was enrolled by her foster guardian at the Kingswood School, a boarding school for girls that was part of the Cranbrook Educational Community, which was and is a renowned center for the study of art and architecture. Her talents were noted early on by the President of Cranbrook, Eliel Saarinan, a world-renowned Finnish designer and architect of Cranbrook’s campus. Tulip Dining Set by Eero Saarinen for Knoll International Saarinen and h...Read More

We recommend making a long list of favorites before Rago's, Unreserved sales go live on the weekend of February 23-24th. There are 1,586 opportunities to score unreserved items ranging from prints, paintings, lamps, chairs, tables, ceramics and more. As always, in an unreserved auction, the high bid, whatever it might be, wins the day! If scooping up some missing pieces for your home sounds like your cup of tea, let us get you steeping! As is the case with many of Rago's upcoming items, these 5 selections hold estimates under $500, with some starting as low as $100.  Lot 1530, George Nelson; Howard Miller, Ball wall clock, Zeeland, MI, ca. 1949; Starting at $125 We're getting the ball rolling with George Nelson's, mid-mod timekeeper from 1949. This particular design, aptly named the 'ball wall clock' was the first of more than 150 clocks de...Read More

Brazil has been a hotbed for jewelry talent in recent years: Silvia Furmanovich, Fernando Jorge, Ana Khouri, and Ara Vartanian. Not to mention that, H. Stern, one of the most famous names in jewelry, was founded in 1945 by Hans Stern in Rio de Janeiro. There is another name, still somewhat obscure in the United States but desired by jewelry connoisseurs worldwide, and that is the name of H. Burle Marx. Haroldo Burle Marx (1911-1991) was born in Rio de Janeiro and part of an illustrious lineage, his father, Wilhelm Marx was a distant relative of Karl’s and owned a tannery in Brazil. His two oldest brothers were Walter Burle Marx, the celebrated classical composer, and Roberto, the world-renowned landscape architect and Renaissance man. Roberto left an indelible mark on his beloved Brazil in many ways but most famously he designed the black a...Read More