Maine Antique Digest, March 2017

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Maine Antique Digest, March 2017 11-B
- AUCTION -
11-B
James D. Julia, Fairfield, Maine
Shattering the $3 Million Glass Ceiling
by Mark Sisco
For the first time in the company’s history, James D. Julia’s
lamp and glass section—now officially expanded to the
lamp, glass, and fine jewelry division—held an auction
that raked in over $3.4 million. They did it on November 18,
2016, in Fairfield, Maine, and they did it without James D.
Julia pounding the gavel behind the podium.
For the first time in about 50 years, Jim had something more
important to do on the day of the auction. About a week before
the auction, his wife and the company vice president, Sandy
Julia, was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Her evaluation and
hospital stay were scheduled and coincided with the auction,
and Jim naturally made the decision to be with her. CEO Mark
Ford took over and ran the auction. The change had been
slowly developing, but Sandy’s illness and Jim’s absence
advanced the timetable a bit.
Ford stepped smoothly into the transition. “It’s been
something I’ve been evolving into in the last couple of years,”
he said, “but Jim is the master. On a scale of one to ten, he’s
an eleven.”
Almost half of the over 700 lots offered failed to sell, but
items on the top echelon dominated the sale and moved very
well. The keystone of the sale was a single-owner collection
of high-end Tiffany lamps, and several swept past their
six-figure estimates. Leading everything was an exquisite
Tiffany Studios table lamp with a green and blue mottled
shade bordered by a series of lacewinged dragonflies, each
with hundreds of multicolored wing sections, amid a field of
glass cabochons, and signed on the rim. The adjustable base
in a dark brown patina, signed “Tiffany Studios New York
397,” consisted of reticulated onion-like roots leading to seed
pods and artichokes above. With a few tight, nearly invisible
hairlines, it was estimated at a stingy $120,000/180,000, but
when the hammer finally came down, it lit up the room for a
colossal $515,475 (includes buyer’s premium).
Taking the second-place red ribbon was a Tiffany Studios
Peony lamp with a late addendum to the description that noted
a single replaced rectangular tile in the geometric border.
Apparently the new information did nothing to dampen the
enthusiasm for it. With varying shades of red, pink, and
white peonies on a blue and green background, topped with
the original acid-etched cap, the shade was signed “Tiffany
Studios New York 1505-25.” The #355 base bore the “Tiffany
Studios / New York” imprint and eight thick turtleback tiles
in iridescent blue. Even a few tight hairlines couldn’t keep it
from blowing past the $150,000/250,000 estimate and landing
at $391,050.
ATiffany lamp has to be a rare gem to merit a $50,000/70,000
estimate. But when a lamp comes with an estimate like that and
triples it, that’s something really special. The shade on such
a lamp had a field of poppies on a striated green and brown
background over a ring of leaves intricatelywebbedwithmetallic
veins. The bronze base, a Tiffany Studios #225, was formed of
spreading lily pads and upright cattails, all in a lustrous brown
and green patina. Even with a replaced slip cap and some minor
wear and scratches, it still blazed up to $219,225.
Among other changes at Julia’s, chief operating officer Fred
Olsen is moving on to other ventures. The day of the auction
was his last day on the job, and he looked back on his 15 years
with the company with no regrets. “It’s been a stunning ride.
Jim is the most generous and the most loyal employer that
you could hope for. What he did when we started his success
and how he shared that with his employees has changed lives
significantly, mine included,” he related.
As of this writing, Sandy’s operation was highly successful,
and her recovery is well under way. Her treatment will be
ongoing, and the prognosis is good for a full recovery. In
an e-mail sent out before the post-auction press release, Jim
commented on speculation that he and Sandy might be limiting
their future participation in the business or even stepping away
entirely. With typical Julia good humor, he wrote:
“People have asked me if this means that I might be getting
out of the auction business. Hell no! One of the great New
England auctioneers, Dick Withington, continued to do
auctions until he was 90 years old. My father who is 89 years
old still buys and sells and when I grow up, I want to be just
like both of them. Sandy and I love the business, we love the
people, we love our team and we have no interest or inclination
to walk away from it.”
The keystone of the sale was a
single-owner collection of
high-end Tiffany lamps.
Here’s the lamp that outshone all the rest—a Tiffany Studios Dragonfly table lamp filled with delicate
lacewing insects and glass cabochons, set on a background varying from light sky blue to deep greens, and
commanding a major league $515,475. Julia photo.
This Tiffany Studios Peony lamp with iridescent
blue turtlebacks took in $391,050. Julia photo.
There were two Daum Nancy pieces in the rare and appropriately called Prairie pattern. Each shows
cameo and enameled flowers rising from an expanse of grassland with trees on the horizon in front of
a pale violet sky. Each is signed “Daum Nancy” with the cross of Lorraine. The 7" tall pitcher went for
$23,700, and the rectangular 9¾" high vase brought $17,775.
This enormous (22" tall)
Daum vase, signed with the
cross of Lorraine, with long-
stemmed cameo violets with
tiny red and white stamens,
the flowers emanating from a
gilded base of leaves, lily pads,
and other flowers, fell within
the $25,000/35,000 estimate at
$30,810.