WorthPoint’s Industry Partners are ushering in spring with some delightful collectibles in April auctions, including rare pottery, distinctive woodwork, a lush vintage gown, an art nouveau bat ring, and a world-class gold nugget.
Freeman’s|Hindman
Celebrated San Ildefonso artist Tony Da (1940-2008) revolutionized Pueblo pottery with his innovative techniques and designs. Collectors avidly seek his work not only for its artistry but also its scarcity: his career was tragically cut short at age 42 after a motorcycle accident left him badly injured.
Freeman’s | Hindman is offering one of Da’s rare pieces at its spring Native American Art auction on April 11, in Cincinnati, Ohio: Lot 152, a Redware pottery jar with an inlaid turquoise cabochon and a band of delicate heishi just below the rim.
The son of innovative potterist Popovi Da and the grandson of renowned potters Maria and Julian Martinez, Da built upon his family’s heritage and continued pushing boundaries, incorporating inlaid stones, sgraffito carvings, and stylized iconography derived from ancient Mimbres pottery to his work. After his accident, Da took up painting and never returned to making pottery.
Da’s work commands high prices, and Hindman has sold many of his pieces, including this lidded jar in 2021 for $56,250, the highest-recorded price in WorthPoint’s database. Over the past three years, most of his work has sold between $1,000 and $13,750 for a pottery bear also auctioned by Hindman.
Rago Arts
On April 11, Rago Arts of Lambertville, New Jersey, will hold its inaugural Craft Unlimited auction to celebrate the enduring legacy of handcrafted design.
One of the standout pieces is Lot 288, “Garden Windows,” a wood carving by William Hunter. It is a splendid example of what brought acclaim to the almost entirely self-taught artist regarded as one of the greatest living woodturners.
A California native, Hunter is credited with expanding the woodworking medium into more creative, sculptural expressions and is known for his abstract and distinctive vessels.
Rago has sold many of Hunter’s geometric and spiral-form pieces, and collectors have been eager to buy them, pushing their final prices to thousands of dollars above their high estimates, including another Garden Windows piece in 2022 for $16,250. Rago also achieved a record result of $84,420 in 2024 for a piece that’s also from Hunter’s Garden Series.
Augusta Auctions
Vintage clothing collectors and fashionistas will not want to miss Augusta Auctions’ Brooklyn Museum Textiles & Vintage Couture Auction on April 16 in Bellows Falls, Vermont. One of the highlights is Lot 250, a circa 1894 two-piece teal silk satin Renaissance Revival gown with a rose motif by influential French designer Charles Frederick Worth.
Known as the Father of Haute Couture, Worth founded the House of Worth in 1858, one of the most prominent ateliers of the 19th and early 20th centuries and a powerhouse in the world of Gilded Age fashion.
During the Gilded Age (roughly 1865-1900), Renaissance Revival fashion, characterized by elaborate construction, lush fabrics, and rich colors, reflected the era’s love of excess. During this period, Worth made trendsetting couture designs for a wealthy clientele of fashion-conscious women worldwide, who flocked to his Parisian shop for his one-of-a-kind gowns, which could cost thousands of dollars.
Worth’s designs periodically appear at auction, and Augusta has sold many of them, including this beaded 1889 wedding gown for $3,900, a mourning bodice for $2,187, and a day dress from 1879 for $1,625.
Link Auction Galleries
Bats scare many people but put one in the form of a beautifully crafted art nouveau ring, and many will warm up to it. During the 19th century, bats soared high in art nouveau jewelry as symbols of happiness and luck, and they were created in diamonds, gold, rubies, and other gems.
At a two-day auction on April 18 and 19, Gigi’s Favorite Things—The Estate of Diana Eley, Link Auction Galleries of St. Louis, Missouri, is offering an exemplary piece on the first day of the sale. Lot 64 is an 18k yellow gold bat ring by Masriera, a Spanish company that has been making art nouveau jewelry since the late 1800s. The ring incorporates diamonds, amethyst, basse taille, and plique-à-jour enamel.
Masriera, founded in Barcelona, Spain, in 1839, is renowned for its masterfully crafted and intricate art nouveau pieces, which are highly coveted by collectors. WorthPoint’s database shows that the majority of Masriera jewelry has sold between $1,000 and $17,500, the highest recorded price for a piece sold in 2018.
Heritage Auctions
Collectors and investors of gold nuggets can strike it rich with the curated assemblage of outstanding specimens Heritage Auctions of Dallas, Texas, is offering in its Nature & Science Signature Auction that closes on April 23.
Among the gold nuggets is Lot 72134, which was an anonymous donation made to the Salvation Army in December 2024; all proceeds of the sale will go to the charitable organization. But headlining the vast grouping of gold pieces is Lot 72132, the “Golden Beauty.”
This world-class gold specimen was found in the Kalgoorlie Goldfields in Australia by Frances Aggiss when she and her husband, John, were out metal detecting in 1979. The Australian treasure, which weighs 10 pounds and is over 145 troy ounces, is one of the largest nuggets likely to be offered at auction, making this an “Au-some” opportunity for a collector to acquire.
Gold nuggets are exceedingly rare, and Australia’s natural specimens are in high demand from collectors and investors due to their high purity and unique shapes. They also hold their value better than common grade or collectible grade nuggets. The highest recorded price in WorthPoint’s database for an Australian gold nugget is $318,000 for one that sold in 2019. Over the last three years, prices for other pieces have ranged from $100 to $15,773 for a specimen that sold in 2024.
Adina K. Francis has been a writer and editor in the antiques and collectibles field for more than twenty years. She has a bit of an obsession with the Victorians and thinks that dogs are one of life’s greatest gifts.
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