LAMBERTVILLE, NJ.- The first co-branded Rago/Wright auction, Masterworks of American Craft achieved a sales total of $1,436,345 on November 22nd.

Masterworks of American Craft is a new auction venue for the recently merged firms; the concept makes the most of their combined expertise and audience paired with innovation and style to present more than 100 years of extraordinary craftsmanship. The highly curated sale featured 43 lots and explored a variety of mediums and fields with works by Harry Bertoia, Paul Evans, George Nakashima, Viola Frey, George Ohr, Tiffany Studios, University City, Wendell Castle, and Dale Chihuly, among others.

The sale enjoyed strong interest with more than 100 bidders participating in house, by phone or live online using Wright’s own bidding platform or third party sites. The top lot of the sale was Snake River, an impressive sculptural form by Peter Voulkos; after several minutes of competing phone bids, an online bidder swooped in to win the work at $250,000, more than four times its estimate.

The bid activity was strong for many of the sale’s lots. Other notable results from the sale include: an early kinetic sculpture by Harry Bertoia that sold for $150,000, the exceptional Persian Installation, Poggianti-Schulman Wall by Dale Chihuly which sold for $87,500, and a Rare Lobster and Crab enameled box by Tiffany Studios also achieved $87,500.

Masterworks of American Craft is an interesting area of collecting that is really worth celebrating. Not only does it speak to the audiences at Rago and Wright but it also is the perfect marriage for the skillsets that we each bring to the table. We are excited to add this sale to our calendar and look forward to the next one in May of 2020. — Richard Wright

This was a very strong sale, especially considering it was the first of a new series. We broke out pieces from our regular Modern sales, running for nearly 25 years, to make a special presentation of the best material of this particular genre, American craft. The response was beyond encouraging and we expect to hold two each year moving forward. — David Rago