Antiques Trade Gazette 21


oak?


In 1997 an almost identical flagon, but larger at 91


/2 in (24cm) made £28,500


when the Sandy Law Collection was dispersed at Chester, then run by Phillips. Three years ago to the month, Christie’s in London took £32,000 for another very similar example measuring 83


/4 in (22.5cm)


at the Little Collection sale. With such precedents, the £15,000- 20,000 estimate on this flagon – in untouched, if far-from-perfect condition – was not unreasonable.


The day opened with a private collection of 129 lots of which 73 got away albeit often on, or below, lower estimates.


In the tight, almost cloistered world of


pewter, bidders were well aware of the seller. As is usually the way, the seller’s valuations were often higher than those of the buyers. With only half a dozen items going


into four-figure bids, the prizes here were a York spouted acorn flagon dated 1712 and a Charles II wrigglework tankard. The 121


/2 in (31.5cm) tall flagon,


stamped WWto the ram’s horn thumbpiece and scratch-engraved WW 1712 to the knopped dome lid, was from the Frank Holt collection and sold at a top-estimate £6000. Another example of this distinctive form, with a presentation inscription for 1750 and touchmarks for John Harrison sold for £8750 as part of the Stanley Shemmell collection sold here in 2006.


The 6in (15.5cm) tall, c.1670 tankard, was stamped with the initials MR to the underside of the flat lid and with the touchmark of Lawrence Anderton of Wigan, to the base. It was decorated with a tulip to the lid and a bird among tulips to the drum. With a palm-tree thumbpiece, swan-neck handle and boot- heel terminal, it carried hopes of £5000- 8000 but sold at £4700. With resistance to the sadware and Continental work, the strongest bid came for one of the smallest of the mixed- owner offerings.


This was an exceptionally rare child’s toy ‘beefeater’ flagon – the name derives from the lid looking like a yeoman warder’s hat – dated c.1665. Just 23


/4 in (7cm) tall, with a plain body


on a bold spreading foot, it bore to the single-curve handle the touch mark WI, almost certainly that of William Jackson of London (fl.1662-1701). Estimated at £1000-1500 it at £2800.


Bonhams, Chester, May 12-13 Number of lots offered: 775 Number of lots sold: 70 per cent Buyer’s premium: 20 per cent Sale total: £331,000


Perfume bottle adds to spring’s smell of success


STEADY selling across the board and some unexpected, if very welcome, results – such as the £13,000 bid on a jade perfume bottle estimated at up to £1000 – made for a successful spring at Gloucestershire auctioneers Chorley’s (17.5% buyer’s premium). Three busy sales within four weeks


registered an overall 90 per cent selling rate on around 1400 lots at the expanding Prinknash Abbey Park premises. The new upper rooms were used for the first time on April 24 to offer 400 lots, including the residual contents of a Cotswolds mansion, Bourton House. As expected, outside effects sold well, led by a lead cistern, measuring 3ft 8in x 20in (1.11m x 51cm) inscribed Taylor 1778. Pitched at £2500-3500, it sold to a local private buyer at £4200. One of the day’s joint top sellers, from another private property, was a William IV mahogany four-poster bed which went to a private buyer within estimate at £4500. Its co-leader was more of a surprise. Catalogued as an Italian 17th century tortoiseshell, ivory and kingwood table cabinet it was estimated at £400-600. Unillustrated in the catalogue, but shown on the website, the eight-drawer cabinet drew huge interest and a pre-sale notice re-catalogued it as Portuguese. It had suffered some cracking and discolouration but went to the Continental trade at £4500.


As expected, the top money at the wide-ranging, 450-lot April 26 sale was taken for an early 19th century concertina-action, mahogany dining table together with its pedestal sideboard-cum- leafcase. The three-leaf table was not particularly large, extending to 7ft 7in


(2.31m) but the elegant sideboard had an unusual hinged drawer mechanism for the leaves, the like of which auctioneer John Harvey hadn’t seen in 40 years of selling. Against hopes of £5000-7000, the two sold at £7500.


It was the miscellaneous section, as is often the case, which yielded a happy surprise. A briefly catalogued, 18th century oak and inlaid candle box, initialled SW, 121


/2 in (31.5cm) wide, was


estimated at £150-250 – a modest figure even given the condition report of losses and replacements to the veneers, discolouration to the front and cracks to the fret-carved crest. However, it was prominently illustrated in the catalogue and Mr Harvey wasn’t really surprised when it went to the London trade at £1900.


The miscellaneous section in the May 27 sale also brought a multi-estimate bid, but as this was for the gilded bronze dancer by Josef Lorenzl which adorned the catalogue front cover, the result was not unexpected.


Illustrated on this page, the nude


in (69cm) high with its onyx column and had a printed estimate of £800-1200. It was from a private consignment and the vendors were keen to sell. Mr Harvey always expected it to do well and it fulfilled his best hopes when it sold to a buyer new to the rooms at £5000. What was a genuine surprise – even though it did come among the Oriental works of art which seem incomplete at most auctions unless they include a sleeper – was a carved jade bottle. Catalogued as 19th century, the 71


dancer, signed Lorenzl, measured 2ft 31


/2 /4 in


(18.5cm) bottle was carved in high relief with figures on a path and carried a


Left: Lorenzl bronze dancer– £5000 at Chorley’s.


Above: jade perfume bottle – £13,000.


£700-1000 estimate. It was certainly Chinese and a number of bidders from London and Hong Kong believed it to be 18th century. It eventually sold to a buyer Mr Harvey described as “a member of the international trade” at £13,000. Rather more expected, but still encouraging for the times, was the interest shown in another mahogany extending dining table and leaf cabinet. The Victorian five-leaf table was a little later and, at 13ft (3.96m), considerably longer than the one offered on April 26 and was a good-looking piece on four cabriole legs carved with scrolls and beads. In generally good condition and with a


private provenance stretching back generations in the same Bromsgrove farmhouse, it was estimated at £3000- 5000. It sold to a private buyer at £8500.


Kruse key to cloth doll’s appeal


THE surprise top seller at the specialist dolls and teddy bears sale held by Special Auction Services (15% buyer’s premium) at Midgham, near Reading, on May 22 was this painted cloth woman and child group, left. Cloth dolls are generally less highly rated, for obvious reasons, than the scores of major-name bisque and composition dolls in the 540-lot sale. Normally the duo here would not have been given a second glance. However, cloth dolls have their own aristocracy and, although not mentioned in the catalogue, the key to the lot’s attraction was the fact that the 161


/2 in (42cm) child was a Käthe Kruse creation from the


1920s. Together estimated at £40-80, both dolls were in excellent, and, unusually, unfaded condition and sold to a collector at £1500. Condition was a major factor in the lowly £100-200 estimate on a perennially popular Steiff blonde mohair teddy bear. “It was worn and moth-eaten,” said auctioneer Thomas Plant. “In fact there were still some moth eggs on the fur.” Nevertheless, the 16in (40.5cm) bear with hump back, boot-button eyes and button in ear, sold to a collector at £700. “The buyer told me it was staying in its plastic bag and going straight into the freezer to kill the moths,” said Mr Plant.


Left: painted cloth dolls, by Käthe Kruse – £1500 at SAS.


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