Clearance auction sale of architectural salvage at Gil Shapiro's flagship Urban Archaeology Tribeca store on Franklin Street takes place in March. Among the pieces to be sold in the 700 lot sale is a staircase by Samuel Yellin (1885-1940), a Polish blacksmith who travelled to USA via England in 1906 to become a major figure in American wrought ironwork, based in Philadelphia, employing at his peak in the 1920s around 250 workers.
 
The c1919 staircase has four curved spiral flights with scrolling wrought iron balustrades with medallions of flowers and animals, including a squirrel, dove, turkey, swan, rose, fruiting cornucopia, fish, songbird, hawk, heron, rabbit, deer, a bird feeding her young, birds in various stages of flight, a bird looming over a locust, and other stylized fanciful birds of prey. The balustrades have wooden banister rails. The whole is priced at $250,000 on the UA website.
 
NYT writes: 'Mr. Shapiro has already auctioned some pieces through Christie's in New York, including a set of stadium seats designed by Marcel Breuer that brought $8,750. Mr. Shapiro and his wife, Judith Stockman, are hanging on to one batch of architectural antiques. An assortment of garden statuary, folk art and remnants from ice cream parlors, saloons and dentist offices will be stashed at a warehouse and their Long Island country home.'
 
The auction is due to be held by Guernsey's in New York on 28 - 29 March