Rago Arts 2012

C O N D I T I O N R E P O R T S , i n c l u d i n g t h o s e f o r p o t t e r y , A R E L I S T E D o n l i n e o n l y – www . r a g o a r t s . c o m P l e a s e f e e l f r e e t o c o n t a c t u s f o r a d d i t i o n a l i n f o r m a t i o n We are pleased to feature the collection of Mr. Peter Renzetti, which includes some of the finest Philadelphia ironwork from the early 20th century to come to market in recent years. This group could only have been assembled by a master blacksmith. Through his artistry, his belief in the transformative nature of craft and his close association with Clare Yellin and the Samuel Yellin Metalworkers (SYM), Peter Renzetti has extended the ideals of the America’s Arts and Crafts movement and the legacy of Samuel Yellin into the 21st century. Peter Renzetti was raised in Arden, Delaware, the Arts and Crafts utopian community co-founded by Frank Stephens and William Lightfoot Price in 1900. He began blacksmithing as a hobby at age 16. In 1968 he opened The Arden Forge Company in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and in 1973, became a founding member of the Artist Blacksmiths Association of North America (ABANA). In 1992, the Arden Forge became the new home for the Samuel Yellin Metalworkers (SYM) when the Philadelphia location was closed. For the next twelve years, Mr. Renzetti headed the SYM, while he maintained his own shop in Dillsworth, Pennsylvania. After thirty-eight successful years, Peter closed the Arden Forge Co. and retired in 2007. Most of the following eighteen lots (lots 1, 4, 5, 6, 8–18) are from the Renzetti Collection.