#Middlebury #Antiques
A table has three or four or more legs and a flat top. But some modern designers can make furniture that is almost unrecognizable but still serves the same purpose. Cottone Auctions had a recent sale featuring a collection of modern furniture, including pieces by Gianfranco Frattini (1926-2004).
No, this is not a table. It is four tables made to fit together until they are needed. The clever set sold for about $1,400 at a recent Cottone auction. (Kovels photo)
He is best known as an Italian architect, but he designed unusual furniture for Cassina and modern lamps for many companies. He is considered an important member of the Italian design movement of the late 1950s and ’60s. The strange table pictured here is really a nest of four tables designed by Frattini in the 1960s. The group is fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle. The four tables vary in height up to 15 inches. The hammer price for the set was $1,416. The tables were first made by Cassina in 1966, and early examples have sold for almost $4,000.
Q: I have a bisque or porcelain bride and groom wedding cake topper that was used on my grandparents’ wedding cake. The bride is wearing a white dress with green sprigs on it. She has a wreath of pink roses on her head and is carrying a bouquet of pink roses. The groom is carrying his top hat in one hand and has his other arm linked through the bride’s arm. The bride figurine is hollow. The back of her skirt is embossed with the number “8942” above “Germany.” We’d like to know more about these figures.
A: Wedding cakes were topped with bells, doves, cupid, flowers and sometimes by glass domes in the 1890s. Bride and groom wedding cake toppers weren’t used until the 1900s. They became popular in the 1920s. It’s possible to date many of them from the style of the bride’s dress. You know how old your topper is because you know the date of your grandparents’ marriage, and cake toppers are almost always new. It’s not possible to determine the maker since there is no maker’s mark, just the model number and country of origin. We’ve seen bride and groom cake toppers with these marks selling for $40 or more.
Current Prices
Silver-sterling, letter opener, bulbous tapered handle, teardrop end, incised bands, Sheffield stainless steel blade, 1950s, 9 inches, $40.
Doorstop, golfer, mid-swing, knickers & jacket, cap on ground, cast iron, painted, Hubley, c. 1920, 10 inches, $175.
Advertising trade sign, Fresh Butter, cow shape, wood, painted, white with black spots, metal hanging loops, 21 x 30 inches, $385.
Glass sculpture, pelican, teal green, beak up, clear gullet with red & yellow fish inside, Elio Raffaeli, Murano, c. 1975, 22 1/4 inches, $455.
TIP: Never put hot glass in cold water or cold glass in hot water. The temperature change can crack the glass.
“Kovels’ Antiques & Collectibles Price Guide” – the new 2022 edition with more than 12,500 all-new and real prices, 3,000 pictures and 500 marks – is available for pre-order. Visit www.Kovels.com for a special offer.
© 2021 King Features Synd., Inc.
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