Freeman's will open its sale of modern and contemporary works of art Nov. 1 with the first session of its much-heralded liquidation of the Lehman Bros. collection.

Of the approximately 400 lots in the sale, which will begin at noon in the gallery at 1808 Chestnut St., more than 275 come from the New York investment and financial-services firm, which went bankrupt in September 2008. Subsequent sessions are scheduled for Dec. 6 and Feb. 12.

Although the artworks in the collection generally have modest presale estimates, according to descriptions in the $40 auction catalog, they present a broad overview of American and European styles, ranging from impressionism to abstract to pop.

They include works by such diverse but well-known figures as Robert Motherwell, Jim Dine, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Louise Nevelson, Robert Indiana, David Hockney, the local artist Neil Welliver, and Roy Lichtenstein. The single Lichtenstein work is a signed and dated limited-edition screen print, I Love Liberty, with a presale estimate of $15,000 to $25,000, the highest for any of the Lehman Bros. works.

More traditional works include two oils on canvas by the French impressionist Georges Manzana Pissarro: a dock scene with a presale estimate of $7,000 to $10,000 and Poule Blanches, a winter scene of a walled garden with an $8,000 to $12,000 presale estimate.

Among the abstracts are Arturo Herrera's limited-edition collaged pulp painting Mine and Ryan McGinness' Black Holes, a set of four prints consisting of three lithographs and one unique color monoprint with three .22-caliber bullet holes. Each lot has a presale estimate of $10,000 to $15,000.

The collection also features photographs and scenes of New York, with some works combining both. Among them are a fine set of 10 prints by the photographer Berenice Abbott depicting city scenes from the 1930s, with a presale estimate of $6,000 to $10,000, and 10 scenes of Manhattan by Richard Haas, some colored-pencil and gouache, others etchings and phototints, with presale estimates ranging from $800 to $1,500.

The big-ticket items are to be found among the auction's remaining 115 lots, beginning with a color Renoir lithograph, Le Chapeau Epingle (2eme planche) ($25,000 to $40,000). It comes from the estate of Joan Rosenwald Scott of Haverford, the daughter of Lessing Rosenwald and a longtime fixture with her husband, Isadore, of the social scene here.

Following that will be a watercolor equestrian scene by Jean Dufy ($12,000 to $15,000); a Matisse color aquatint of an odalisque ($20,000 to $30,000); a Picasso linoleum cut, Femme Accoudee ($50,000 to $80,000); Picking Flowers, by the 20th-century French painter Le Pho ($20,000 to $30,000); Country Landscape With Pond, Phoenicia, N.Y., by the Indian painter Francis Newton Souza ($30,000 to $50,000), one of the sale's five Souzas, all from the artist's estate; Alex Katz's Joan and Carol ($30,000 to $50,000); John Lennon and Yoko Ono, the Dakota, N.Y., December 8, 1980, by the photographer Annie Leibovitz ($15,000 to $25,000); and a signed and numbered Andy Warhol screen print of Grace Kelly published by the Institute of Contemporary Art ($40,000 to $60,000). It is one of five Warhols in the sale.

Previews are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and next Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Oct. 31. For more information, call 215-563-9275 or go to www.freemansauction.com .

Designs, decoys, and doors. Three other sales of note are scheduled for this weekend.

In Lambertville, N.J., the Rago Art and Auction Center will conduct a sale beginning at 11 a.m. tomorrow and Sunday of nearly 1,000 lots of modern furniture and design. It will begin with a Wendell Castle walnut coffee table with a cantilevered corkscrew base and a presale estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 and continue with a half-dozen pieces by Wharton Esherick, notably a buffet with a sculpted walnut top set upon a curved walnut base; it has a presale estimate of $280,000 to $380,000.

Tomorrow's session also will feature works by George Nakashima, including a 1979 rosewood and holly chess set ($30,000 to $50,000); Edward Wormley/Dunbar; Paul Evans; and Judy Kensley McKie, whose mahogany dining table carved with birds and fish has a presale estimate of $60,000 to $90,000.

Sunday's session will begin with a Campo & Graffi laminated bentwood lounge chair and other Italian design pieces, including a Gio Ponti walnut writing desk (both $20,000 to $40,000), before turning to such diverse objects as a Joe Columbo tube chair and a Hans Wegner Papa Bear chair and matching ottoman (both $5,000 to $9,000).

Previews are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to sale time tomorrow and Sunday at the gallery, 333 N. Main St. For more information, call 609-397-9374; to see the catalog online, go to www.ragoarts.com .

On Sunday in the Jersey Shore community of Belmar, Frank & Frank will conduct its fall catalog sale of decoys, art, and sporting collectibles beginning at 10 a.m. at the Taylor Pavilion, Fifth and Ocean Avenues. Among the more than 375 lots are an early Canada goose by the Mason Decoy Co. of Detroit ($10,000 to $15,000); a mallard drake and a wigeon drake by L.T. Ward & Bros. of Crisfield, Md. (each $8,000 to $12,000); a yellowleg by Taylor Johnson of Point Pleasant, N.J. ($12,000 to $15,000); and a red-breasted merganser drake ($20,000 to $25,000).

Previews are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. tomorrow and 8 a.m. to sale time Sunday. For more information, call 732-938-2988 or go to www.frankandfrankdecoys.com .

Finally, in town, Barry S. Slosberg Inc. will conduct a sale beginning at 10 a.m. Sunday and resuming at 5 p.m. Monday at the gallery, 2501 E. Ontario St.

In addition to a 300-lot single-owner collection of Orientalia, mostly ceramics, and 10 paintings by the local artist Ralph Taylor, Sunday's session will feature a pair of oak saloon doors with original frosted glass dating to the 1880s from the old Hotel Powelton in West Philadelphia. Slosberg associate Rob Goldstein expects them to sell for $3,500 to $5,000.

Monday's session will be devoted to decorative items and estate jewelry, notably an 18-karat gold David Webb fur clip decorated with diamonds, platinum, and coral ($5,000 to $8,000), and an Ideal Sublime Harmony Piccolo music box from the same consignor as the doors ($6,000 to $8,000).

Previews are 3 to 7 p.m. today and one hour before sale time Sunday and Monday. For more information, call 215-425-7030.

Contact David Iams at daiams@comcast.net.