NEW YORK, NY.- South Bay Auctions announced a single-owner timed auction of items from the estate of late quilt expert, Laura Fisher (1945-2021), is now open for bidding exclusively on igavelauctions.com through Thursday, August 11th, 2022. More than 150 lots from Fisher’s estate will be offered including antique quilts, hooked rugs, Americana, jewelry, Folk Art, and more.

“We are delighted to offer this wide selection of Americana from the estate of Laura Fisher, in partnership with South Bay Auctions,” says Lark Mason.

“This sale is a treasure trove a beautiful antique quilts, Americana, jewelry, and Folk Art with very accessible estimates.”

Highlights include a circa 1920s Alphabet Postage Stamp quilt that, “looks like a needlework sampler thanks to the one-inch postage stamp squares used to create the letters,'' according to Laura Fisher’s original write-up. Several wonderful quilts in the “Flying Geese” pattern are in the sale, including an unusual “Odd Fellows” example with appliqued indigo print. Antique hooked rugs abound, including late 19th century Burnham Star round rug in the style of Ralph Burnham, a Massachusetts rug company that was the source of similarly executed patterns. Star jewelry lots round out the sale, including an 18k gold starfish pin, and a gorgeous 18k gold bracelet with yellow and white gold oval links.

Laura Fisher was born and raised in the Bronx and graduated from Cornell University where she studied home economics. Her career in antiques began in 1975 when, on a whim, she bid on and won three months of storefront space at Manhattan Art & Antiques Center in a charity auction for New York’s Channel 13 PBS station. In the 45 year long career that followed, Fisher became a recognized expert on Americana specializing in textiles. Top collectors and designers would vie for the unique finds she sourced internationally.

A frequent guest on Martha Stewart Living Television, Laura lectured at museums and universities and was known for her extensive writing on quilts. Books by Fisher include “Quilts of Illusion” and “Home Sweet Home: The House in American Folk Art” (with Deborah Harding), and she contributed essays to “Diamonds and Bars: The Art of the Amish Quilt”, “America’s Glorious Quilts” and others. A regular contributor to periodicals such as Architectural Digest, House Beautiful and Country Living, her shop was also featured frequently in Town & Country, The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker, among many others.

South Bay Auctions is a family-owned auction house that has been operating in East Moriches, Long Island, New York for more than 40 years.