Dec 29, 2017
The International Date Line, separating yesterday from today, or today from tomorrow, moved seven years ago. In 2011, Samoa lost December 30, moving straight to New Year’s Eve from December 29, so that instead of being 23 hours behind New Zealand and 21 hours behind Australia, it shifted to one and three hours ahead.
In leaping ahead of the rest of the world, Samoa aligned with its two most important markets. Until then it shared only four working days a week with them, so while everyone was at church on Sunday in Samoa, Monday business was roaring ahead in NZ and Oz.
There was a price to pay, however. Samoa had long attracted tourists who were able to stand on the rocky promontory that is Cape Mulinu’u and gaze across the International Date Line into tomorrow, just 20 miles away. Not any more.
Such is the ethereal nature of time, which evaporates into the ether without man to intervene with the steady hand of a ticking clock. And so it is with antiques at auction. The common definition of antique: something over 100 years old.
For the time being that discounts Art Deco and any number of other collectable genres. Nonetheless, despite the absence of any physical change, there is something magical about the moment the clock ticks past the century marker to transform a wonderful object into a wonderful antique object.
Dec 19, 2017
A collection of 34 perfume bottles sold well above estimates to total more than £25,000 hammer at our recent antique auction on December 14. The same sale yielded more than £7500 for a collection of keys and locks.
We will be offering another tranche of the Joyce Paretti Collection of Perfume Bottles in future and are delighted with this performance. A number feature in Edouard Launet’s 1999 book Perfume and Pomanders: Scent and Scent Bottles through the Ages.
Top price was the £3400 paid for a 2¾in (7cm) long derby porcelain perfume bottle and stopper, decorated with a striped cat pursuing two turtle doves up a tree, the base with a seal of a prancing horse and angel. In a shaped leather case, it came undated but is similar to other bottles from Derby dating to the mid 18th century.
A Louis XVI period gold and enamel oval perfume bottle, the blue ground inset with a grisaille portrait, and classical figure on the reverse, with the inscription la vertu fut ma gloire (virtue was my glory), carried the same guide but more than trebled the upper end of it at £1700.
A 4½in (11.5cm) long, 18th century South Staffordshire pear-shaped enamel perfume bottle, with topper and chain was also pitched at £250-500, but made £1500.
Another example guided at £250-500 was a 3in (7.5cm), 18th century rock crystal and gold scent bottle and stopper with chain that sold for £1200.
Thomas Webb & Sons, the 19th century makers, are celebrated for their swan head
Cameo perfume bottles, with examples in museums such as The Met. Here a conical cameo glass perfume bottle by Webb with a silver band and top, made in Birmingham in 1885, is decorated with a narcissus on yellow ground. At 4¾in (12cm) long, it was expected to fetch £250-500, but in the end made £850.
Incorporating a silver bracelet, a 19th century silver perfume by S. Mordan & Co, London 1888, carried hopes of £100-150 and outstripped this comfortably at £800. (lot 1512)
Two highlights came in at £750. The first, a finely engraved 2in (5cm) high silver-gilt vase-shaped pomander in four sections that screw into each other, is thought to be from Augsburg in Bavaria and dates to c.1690. It had an estimate of £200-300.
The second, a 3½in (9cm) long, c.1800 coalport porcelain leaf-shaped perfume bottle, with butterfly stopper and gilt blue and red decoration on a white ground, was guided at just £80-150.
Marked GH, a 4in (10cm) long Victorian silver perfume bottle and stopper, London 1885, was enamelled with butterflies and wild roses and took £600 against an estimate of £100-150.
Completing the perfume bottle highlights was a crystal example in the shape of a fish with silver tail, London 1906, which was made in collaboration with Thomas Webb who had registered the design in 1884. At 6½in (16.5cm) long, it had the same £100-150 guide and took £550.
Early keys and locks may not command the same price levels as perfume bottles, but the Vittorio Paretti collection of close to 80 lots offered in the same sale held its own well.
Joint honours went to a heavy 17th century polished steel lock, with small key with cloverleaf handle, and a 17th century iron lock and key as a ball. The first had been pitched at £100-200, the second at just £25-50, but they took £460 each.
Four iron and steel key of varied design with a joint estimate of £50-100 made £360, while two 17th century keys with pierced handles guided at £50-75 went for £340.
A tiny pierced polish steel key and a small folding key, both only 2in (5cm) long, sold together for £300 against expectations of £25-50 (lot 1405), and a 5in (13cm) long, 17th century iron key with pierced handle, carrying the initials CPF, made £280 against hopes of £25-50, the same price as paid for three early iron locks guided at £50-80.
Finally, five iron and steel keys of various designs took £240 against hopes of £50-100.
Our next Fine Antique auction and the first of 2018 will be on Thursday, 25th January. Keep an eye out for our catalogue nearer the time.
Dec 18, 2017
It’s always nice to get a decent collection consigned for sale, and the latest we have had in really has made my Christmas. Put together over the years by a lady called Joyce Paretti, this stunning range of perfume bottles displays the tremendous levels of artistic talent and craftsmanship dedicated to creating these little jewels from the 17th century onwards.
Mostly just and inch or two long, so as to fit snugly into a pocket, these would have been carried everywhere, both as a means of making the owner smell nice, but also to help them overcome the often noxious odours that would have assaulted their nostrils as they made their way about town.
Made from silver, glass, enamel, porcelain and rock crystal, they are an ideal collectable, because they are so varied and attractive, have strong historic and social links and are small enough to allow a collector to build up a significant holding without the need to build an extension at home.
Each one unlocks a fascinating story as you research who made it and where it came from. My favourite from this selection? Probably the mid 18th century Derby porcelain perfume bottle and stopper fashioned as a tree with a striped cat pursuing two turtle doves up it.
Watch out for more to come form this collection in future sales.
Dec 11, 2017
As we all know, snow can be your friend or foe, depending on whether you are a ten-year-old hoping for an unexpected day off school or the parent desperate to make sure lessons go ahead.
For me though, when I looked out of the window on Monday to see the season’s first fall, despite the difficulties even a few inches of the stuff can cause in getting things and people to and from our Fernhurst saleroom, the beauty of the landscape was enhanced further by the effect this type of weather has had on the collectables and the auction market. From snowshoes and skates to early skiwear, sporting specialists can plough a furrow in this fairly narrow collecting field, but the area that interests me is the one that has a much wider appeal: ski posters.
Christie’s pioneered these sales from 1982 and have built a healthy following of wealthy collectors looking to decorate their ski chalets or homes. Now others have joined the fray, realising that these fabulous pieces of art appeal well beyond the traditional collecting fraternity.
Resorts – Gstaad, Davos, St Moritz – artists, subject matter, condition and age can all have an impact on values. The colour, dynamism and graphic quality of these pieces make them burst with life, and prices for the best now reach well into five figures. Still, compared with other markets, that is pretty affordable.
Dec 6, 2017
The recent Collector’s auction exceeded expectations; a combination perhaps, of being able to bid online (and therefore being accessible to all) but also there were some great bargains as well! Not least, the Louis Vuitton luggage collection. Such an iconic design. Anyone carrying one of these cases on holiday would look very elegant.
A large Louis Vuitton case, no. 1074290, Paris, with brass corners, hinges and lock, no. 290909, the lid opens to reveal a lift out clothes holder, complete with leather handle and leather luggage label complete with outer cover. Standing at 29ins long, 19.5ins wide, 9ins high, it fetched £2200. Also from the Louis Vuitton collection was a speedy 35 Damier Azur bag with padlock and keys, including dust bag which fetched £260.
Another iconic brand in the sale was Hermès. Famous for their timeless and colourful silk scarves, which fetch up to £600 new, unworn and boxed, they were selling with us from just £30. Do keep an eye on future sales for bargains such as these! Four designer silk scarves, vintage scarf and hat sold for £170, another small silk neck tie, boxed, fetched £80 with an estimate of £30-50 and other Hermès silk scarves, boxed, fetched from £90 through to £160, all with estimates of £40-60.
Other exciting items included an Everlast red boxing glove, signed by Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes, Ken Norton, Riddick Bowe, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Joe Frazier, Lennox Lewis and George Foreman. In a gilded frame and standing at 23ins x 16ins x 5ins deep and with an estimate of £250-500, it sold for £400.
A good silver gilt and enamel filigree shaped box and cover, decorated with panels of birds in coloured enamels. Impressed silver and 16cms high, it sold for £1100 against an estimate of £100-150.
Lastly, a Danish sterling silver Georg Jensen cigarette box with wooden interior with an estimate of £80-150, sold for £900.
Our last auctions of 2017 start with an Oriental auction on 13 December. Keep an eye out on our website for previews.
