Product Description
Lawrence Hunter Hand Wrought Brass and Walnut Punch Set c.1965
LAWRENCE HUNTER, San Diego, California
Punch Bowl set c.1965
Hand hammered and hand wrought large asymmetric punch bowl with matching ladle, turned walnut pedestal platter and twenty four hand wrought brass and walnut pedestal shape goblets
Marks: HUNTER spelled out within a large outline of an H (name logo and monogram mark on all pieces)
Punchbowl H: 13 ½” x Dia: 16”
Cups: H: 5” x Dia: 3 ½”
Serving tray: H: 2 ¾” x Dia: 17 ¾”
Price: $11,500
By repute, this elaborate punch set was a custom commissioned work for a West Coast collector and likewise was purchased directly from Larry Hunter in the mid-1960’s for $2,500.
Lawrence “Larry” Hunter grew up in San Diego and received a BA from San Diego State College in the late 1950s. As an undergraduate, Hunter studied with John Dirks, who founded the furniture design program at San Diego State College, and Ilse Ruocco. While completing an MA at University of California, Los Angeles, Hunter worked in clay and was a teaching assistant for Laura Andreson. Hunter was hired to teach general crafts and design classes at San Diego State in 1962, and later inherited the furniture design program from Dirks.
Hunter was a member of the Allied Craftsmen of San Diego and exhibited furniture regularly in the California Design series at the Pasadena Art Museum and the California Crafts series at the Crocker Art Gallery in Sacramento. Hunter led the San Diego State furniture design program until the late 1980s, helping the furniture program to become a vital part of the community. Featured artists will include Toza and Ruth Radakovich, Rhoda Lopez, Jack Hopkins, Arline Fisch, Ellamarie and Jackson Woolley, Larry Hunter, Kay Whitcomb, Ilse Ruocco, and James Hubbell. It was at this same time that Constantine’s, a New York fine wood merchant, offered plans for clocks with wooden works; that John Gaughan made a skeletal grandfather’s clock with wooden works; and that Larry Hunter, who taught at San Diego State, used the clock form to explore kinetic sculpture within a functional format. Hunter eschewed the older traditional adornment of the case and focused upon visible works so that people could watch time actually move.
Lawrence Hunter Hand Wrought Brass and Walnut Punch Set c.1965
BLACK STARR & FROST New York, NY
Art Nouveau Sterling and Mahogany Jewelry Box c.1900
Mahogany jewelry box with thick sterling silver decorative graphic mountings in an elaborate Art Nouveau whiplash design, original key
Marks: Eagle mark (Company logo) BLACK STARR & FROST, Sterling
For more information see: American Jewelry Manufacturers, Dorothy T. Rainwater (West Chester, Penn.: Schiffer, 1988)
H: 4 1/2″ x W: 10 1/2″ x D: 7″
SOLD
One of America’s oldest fine jewelers, Black, Starr and Frost traces its roots to 1810. In that year, Erastus Barton and Frederick Marquand opened Marquand and Barton near New York’s Maiden Lane. The firm added and lost partners numerous times and it also frequently moved locations in accordance with the addresses of its prestigious clientele. Its merchandise was eclectic and greatly varied including, lamps, jewelry, paintings, porcelain, and artistic objects. In 1876, the firm changed its name from Black, Ball, and Co. to Black, Starr, and Frost, and moved to 251 Fifth Avenue. Its inventory became focused on jewelry and silver objects, some imported from Europe, some produced in-house. For many decades, the renowned jewelry house, Black, Starr, and Frost was considered one of the great American jewelers. In 1876, it was invited to exhibit at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia along with renowned firms like Tiffany & Company, Whiting, and Gorham. In 1939, the firm was one of five American jewelers invited to exhibit at the New York’s World’s Fair. In 1929, it merged with Gorham to become Black, Starr, Frost – Gorham.
OTTO PRUTSCHER (1880-1949) Austria
WIENER PORZELLANMANUFAKTUR AUGARTEN
Pair of vases c. 1926
Hand painted and glazed porcelain
Marked: firm’s logo, Wien, Augarten Austria, model no. 5217
Illustrated: Die Kunst, 1926
For more information see: Wiener Keramik: Historismus, Jugendstil, Jugendstil, Art Deco, Waltraud Neuwirth (Braunschweig: Klinkhardt & Bierman, 1974), S. 409 & 414
H: 9 1/2″
Price: $11,800