This beautiful walnut cradle was made in California by Frank Rohloff. Rohloff was active in the studio furniture movement, which sought to bring classic craftsmanship together with modernist design in the 1950s.
Rohloff's pieces were exhibited in shows at the Worcester Art Museum (1955), and this cradle design was shown in the Museum of Contemporary Crafts in New York in 1957.
It seems that Rohloff's designs were only produced in very small numbers, so it's unlikely that this particular cradle played a role in the creation of the Consumer Products Safety Commission in the early 70s, and the subsequent ban on protruding spindles and corners on cribs, which pose an entrapment & strangulation risk.
Not to be a buzzkill or anything. I'm sure its historical and design significance will generate plenty of bidding excitement next week.
Feb. 23, 2014, Lot 228 Frank Rohloff, Cradle, est $2-3,000 [lamodern.com]
I slept in that very cradle when I was a baby and so did my brothers and sisters, and several of their children. All of us survived!