Famed silversmith could craft anything
This three-piece sterling suite, circa 1930, was produced by the legendary Pasadena silversmith Clemens Friedell. The pieces will be offered Sunday at A.N. Abell Auction Co., in a special quarterly fine art and antique sale.
According to Michael J. Weller, owner of San Francisco’s Argentum Antiques and a leading scholar of California silversmiths, Friedell’s silver chronicled the entire Southern California lifestyle of the early 20th century. He arrived in Pasadena in 1911 and was noticed very quickly, in part because of his gift for self promotion. In 1912, he was commissioned to produce his first of many trophies for the annual New Year’s Day Rose Parade. Friedell went on to become one of the most talented silversmiths of his generation. He could craft whatever a customer ordered and could depict everything from a California poppy to a polo pony with the greatest of accuracy. Stylistically, he was one of the early pioneers of the California Craftsman movement.
Also included in Sunday’s sale will be a wide range of fine 18th century English furniture, porcelain and decorative arts consigned from the Irene Field Trust to benefit the Field Museum of Chicago.
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Leslie Trilling
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A.N. Abell Auction Co.
Location: 2613 Yates Ave., Los Angeles (323) 724-8102,
www.abell.com
Preview dates: Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Sale: Sunday, 10 a.m.
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Silver service
Lot 400: A pair of sterling candelabra, 14 1/2 inches high, 52 troy ounces (57 standard ounces). Stamped “Friedell-Pasadena.”
Estimated sale price: $5,000 to $7,000
Lot 401: A sterling centre bowl, 14 inches wide, 32 troy ounces (35 standard ounces). Stamped “Friedell-Pasadena.”
Estimated sale price: $3,000 to $5,000
