Humler & Nolan, Cincinnati, Ohio

We were fortunate enough last week to attend the Humler & Nolan auction in Cincinnati, Ohio featuring the Monsen-Baer collection. For those not familiar with this collection, it was massive and used to produce two books on the subject of middle-period vintage Roseville pottery. There were over 800 lots, with many of the lots containing 5-8 pieces. Nearly the entire catalog of Futura was represented, including several in Carnillian II glazes. Several dozen experimental and trial glaze pots were brought to market, and most will not be seen again for decades as they passed into private collections.

As always, the staff was professional and congenial, the facilities perfect, and the provided refreshments (catered by Quiznos!) kept the large crowd of 50+ bidders sated throughout the grueling 12 hour auction. Although there were a few glitches with the internet bidding, many lots were won across the world by people sitting at computers. The phone bidders were not intimidated, and pressed the prices of the higher-end pieces to stratospheric levels.

One of the stars of the show was  a Futura "Tank" vase with a small chip at the base. After frantic bidding, the price closed at $13,500, and with a 15% buyers premium the cost was over $15,000. Not bad for a pot that originally sold for $9.50/dozen.

Roseville Future Tank vase fetches over $15,000

In a close second, what may be the only known example of the "Chinese Bronze" vase was purchased with a bid of $10,000 plus 15% buyers premium for a total of  $11,500. Two big surprises were a Futura "Milk Carton" hitting $2500 and a Futura "Window Box" hitting $2100. Many pieces went far above estimates, with astounded onlookers gasping as the bids spiraled upward. Especially surprising was the bidding on Moderne line pieces which tripled and quadrupled estimates. Is this the beginning of a trend?

For our part, we came away with 27 pieces, 7 of which were trial glaze, experimental, or prototype. One nice example was a prototype 585-8 Apple Blossom vase. It has many more flowers and leaves that a production piece, with brighter and richer glaze. The details are very sharp.

Roseville 585-8 Apple Blossom prototype

Overall it was a great day, and we will end this blog with some pictures of some of the grouped lots, some of which would have been considered best of show in any other auction.