Jan 2, 2018
I visited a friend’s new house over the holidays. He’s pretty wealthy and had spent the past two years having it built to a Dynasty meets Dallas spec dreamed up by his wife. A marble palace with every latest technological convenience, including a home cinema with surround sound, it shouted money and luxury. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that, to me, it was rather a depressing sight: not an antique, collectable or decent picture in sight; no atmosphere and all the charm of a mausoleum. Every room was vast, with brand new furniture that cost a bomb yet added nothing. Despite the digitally controlled heating system it was a cold place. I’m not saying that everyone should follow my taste, but as far as I’m concerned a house should, first and foremost, be a home, not a platform for showing off.
When I look at what a decent piece of 18th century, hand-crafted furniture can do to lift the spirits of a 20th century living room, or how a well-framed Modern British print can add focus to a hallway, it tells me that the world of antiques is here to stay in 2018 and beyond. When you consider the money lavished on my friend’s contemporary vision, art and antiques at auction look like a very good bargain indeed. Happy New Year.
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 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 4, 2017
Three of the lots that came up in our first December sale brought to mind one of the greatest ‘might have been’ moments in sporting history. They were a framed boxing glove signed by Henry Cooper, another by Muhammad Ali, and a programme for a 1974 dinner in honour of Ali, signed by both boxers.
The pair fought each other twice, in 1963 and 1966, but it is the first bout that made history. Ali was 20lbs heavier and had a 4½in advantage on his reach, but it was Cooper who drew first blood in the first round with his aggressive punching.
Ali fought back and by the fourth round Cooper’s brow was bleeding heavily, but he famously lifted Ali from the canvas with a left hook, with the American only being saved by the ropes, which he slid down, and then the bell.
What came next remains one of the most controversial moments in boxing history. Ali’s trainer Angelo Dundee called the referee over to Ali’s corner to show him where the boxer’s glove had split. The interval had to be extended 20 seconds as they found new gloves, giving Ali more time to recover, before he went on to beat Cooper when the referee stopped the fight in the next round because of Cooper’s bleeding.
Had Dundee slashed the glove on purpose? We’ll probably never know. But without that delay, many think Cooper could well have KO’d his opponent.
Nov 28, 2017
As we turn into the home straight before Christmas, thoughts turn to Advent calendars and I have to say that this year has trumped all others for stretching the imagination and resorting to the ridiculous. The media have rightly been making quite a thing about the commercial exploitation of this corner of the festivities: Asda’s cheese calendar is just the beginning. What about the Edinburgh Gin calendar, complete with 25 miniatures for £100, or the Diptique limited edition calendar filled with skin and bodycare products, a snip at just £300? My favourite example of over-the-top nonsense was the one Porsche put on show in Harrods seven years ago: retail price $1m.
It’s all a far cry from the calendar’s rather restrained origins in Germany in the 19th century. Simple images posted behind the doors of a cardboard calendar dominated for decades until the first chocolate-filled calendars started to appear in the 1940s.
The market has now turned full circle, with reproductions of the traditional vintage German calendars available for sale.
Although there is quite a market in Christmas collectibles, Advent calendars remain a rather muted corner of it, but with the variety on offer now, especially some of the more unusual limited edition varieties, this is an area of collecting whose potential has yet to be fully exploited.
