That first buy – a Carl Sorensen bowl

Recently, I was talking to the sister of a regular auction-goer who had tagged along with him to the biweekly auction. She had joined him at other auctions, but she had never bought anything.

This time, she did. “I’m sure I paid too much for it,” she said. I understood her feelings. Even us veteran auction-buyers always – always! – wonder if we paid too much for an item.

When you buy for the first time, the doubt stays with you for the rest of the auction and even after you leave. It’s a nag, nag, nag – that negative thought in the back of your head berating you for not stopping when you should have or not starting to bid at all. Try to swat it away, and it comes back (it’s the same nag you get when you think you’ve paid too much for that pair of shoes or that dress that spoke to you.)

My conversation with her got me to thinking about some of my first auction buys. One piece that came to mind was an Arts and Crafts bronze bowl by artist Carl Sorensen that has a place on my fireplace mantle.

The piece was featured on the auction house’s website as part of its Quality Sale, where the items are antique and the bid prices high. That should’ve been my first clue that this one would not sell for $5.

I had never heard of Sorensen, so I checked him out on the web. I found that his pieces were very collectible and would likely bring in a tidy sum someday. I had only been going to this auction house to buy artwork – which I knew something about – so this metalwork was new for me. When I arrived, I searched for it and examined it closely.

It was a bronze bowl, 6″ in diameter, 5 ½” tall, with a scrollwork finial on top, in Sorensen’s trademark verdigris style (which I recognized from my research). It was signed on the bottom “Carl Sorensen” in script with the letters CS (I found out later that his CS is sometimes confused with another metalworking company called Craftsman Studios). The bowl had some tarnish inside and some wear on the bottom.

At auction, bidding was fierce. Nervously, I stepped into the mix. The bidding price kept rising, but I stuck in there, determined. Unfortunately, I hadn’t learned yet how to yield. The bidding topped $100 but I kept going (without hesitating, as I recall) until it stopped at $150, and I was left with my hand up.

I beat myself up for getting caught up in the moment and paying much much more than I had intended. The nagging started and didn’t stop for days. I Googled Sorensen’s name again and again, trying to convince myself that it was worth it. Finally, the bowl took up its residence on the mantle, the nagging stopped and I moved on.

As for the artist himself, I could find very little background information on him (that’s exactly what a zillion other sites were also saying). Not when he was born or when he died. Several sites said that he produced his metalwork during the early 20^th century while living in Philadelphia or eastern Pennsylvania. At some point, he worked as a designer for Tiffany Studios in New York. Some sellers were offering pieces by him that they said were made as late as the 1930s.

He worked in copper and bronze, and his pieces are very distinguishable by their mottled green-bronze hammered tone. He made such metal pieces as bowls, vases, trays, candleholders and inkwells.

Sorensen was producing his metalworks during the Arts and Crafts Movement, which originated in England near the end of the 19^th century. In this country, it was characterized by a simple, romantic and unadorned style with emphasis on craftsmanship and skill. One of its main artisans was Gustav Stickley and his plain Mission style of furniture. Another name that I came across was the Roycrofters, a community of craftspeople in New York state who developed their own metal-crafting style.

Was my Sorensen bowl worth $150? I don’t know. Recently, a similar bowl sold for $206 on eBay. The starting bid was $9.99; most of the other items with higher starting bids did not sell (except for a cigarette box for $110). This seven-piece set sold at auction in 2005 for $1,380. I found via Google that the asking price for his bowls were $250 to $375. Some sellers were asking even more for his 7″-tall vases.

Asking price is one thing; selling price (or not selling) is another. Maybe I’ll get lucky when I sell mine someday.