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As Remembrance Day falls, it is worth recalling the Imperial War Museum’s remarkable display of Victoria Crosses. The field of campaign medal collecting can serve as a poignant reminder of those who have fallen, the qualities they had and the reasons they were prepared to give their lives in the service of their country.
Every medal counts, but of course it is usually those most rarely awarded – the VCs, MCs, GCs, DFCs, DFMs and CGMs among them – that carry the most extraordinary tales. And that’s what it’s all about in the end.
Materially, the medals themselves are little more than fairly inexpensive metal held up by a bit of ribbon, but what they stand for is what counts as they provide a physical link to these exceptional characters of the past, much in the way that religious relics have done for so much longer.
This explains why this field of collecting has grown hugely over the past 20 years or so, with prices at auction surging to several hundreds of thousands of pounds for the most sought-after VCs, and private sales rising to well over £1m.
The need to feel the touch of greatness was well illustrated a few years ago when the remains of a grasshopper were discovered trapped in the paint of Vincent Van Gogh’s 1889 picture Olive Trees.
Rather like those gorgeous pieces of amber you occasionally see at auction, which trapped unrecognisable insects sometimes hundreds of millions of years ago as tree sap before fossilising, the discovery created a seemingly direct link to a specific moment in time, almost 130 years on, compressing the years in between so that you could almost see and hear Vincent slapping the paint onto the canvas. This grasshopper was there when he did it.
These direct connections are what many people look for when buying things at auction and explain the huge price differences between artworks described in the catalogue as ‘follower of’ (someone unidentified working in the style of a well-known artist at around the same time), ‘school of’ (a work of the time in the style of the artist), ‘studio of’ (a work from the artist’s studio or closely associated with them), ‘attributed to’ (probably, but not certainly, by the artist) and ‘autograph work’ (categorically by the artist).
In the art world, there is nothing quite like being close enough to touch the hand of the creator.
JOHN NICHOLSON’S FINE ART AUCTIONEERS & VALUERS are looking for a capable individual to fill the role of:
HEAD OF PICTURES DEPARTMENT
The opportunity has arisen for an experienced Pictures expert to run their own department.
You will already have excellent contacts and know how to put a catalogue together from scratch.
You will be IT competent and have some knowledge of image processing.
Remuneration package negotiable.
For this role, please forward your CV and covering letter in the strictest confidence to philhildreth@johnnicholsons.com
If you want to find out more about how the art and antiques market works these days, you can sign up to innumerable email newsletters giving you the inside information on the latest trends.
That’s fine if all you are interested in is Contemporary and Modern art sales in London and New York that make millions, or what’s happening with blockchain and bitcoin and how they may help change the way the market works.
Try looking for news on the sort of art, antiques and collectables that interest you, me and most of the rest of the world, however, and your eyes will ache from too much screen time as you search in vain. Ok, top-end prices may make better headlines, but it astonishes me how the media tends to ignore 95 per cent of what is changing hands day to day.
Let’s face it, if you are interested in collecting and want to know about any given field, you need to know the ins and outs, what to look for, what to avoid and what factors affect values. That’s where collecting clubs come into their own.
What about the new collecting fields that are springing up all the time – the antiques of the future, as so many people call them?
Look at all of the websites and apps set up to recycle second-hand clothing and fashion items. I know teenagers who have effectively set themselves up as dealers as they market this gear, while others are already well versed in the online auction process as they chase the rarities and bargains.
Think, too, of all the new antiques dealers out there. They may be purveyors of retro furniture and design, 1970s jewellery and suchlike; they may be selling out of pop-up shops in trendy markets like Spitalfields; and it may not have occurred to them at all that they have anything to do with our wonderful world. But you know what? They are no different in their passions, approach and ambitions from all of the other antiques dealers over the years; they simply specialise in something different.
And that’s the key: as time passes, so antiques change as well. Few may seek out Victorian sideboards now, but they compete fiercely for their replacements: early and mid-20th century artist-craftsman pieces and post-war Scandinavian design.
So, yes, I am confident that our ever-evolving industry will prosper.
Students have headed back to college, pupils to schools, but there are also a lot of new graduates and school leavers looking to their careers now. Should they consider becoming auctioneers?
Having started at the bottom and worked my up, I have no regrets. I still think the best way in is the traditional one: starting as a porter at one of the larger auction houses, graduating to cataloguing and developing specialist knowledge in your chosen field while studying for a fine arts valuation qualification. There aren’t many courses left around the country, but they are worth doing if this game is for you.
A lot of the auction business has already gone online, and I have no doubt that more will in future. However, I also believe that there will always be brick-and-mortar salerooms for people to visit, view and handle the goods first, particularly at the top end of the market where prices run into the millions.
Auctioneering as a career still holds a lot of promise and the chances of setting up your own business and working for yourself in the long term are greater than in most other industries. It’s something you might want to have a think about.
Meanwhile, with the release of the new iPhone 16 Pro at £1,000, it’s worth remembering that Apple products are already sought-after collectables, with some of the earliest Macs selling for hundreds of thousands of pounds. The 1993 Apple Newton MessagePad, the 1998 iMac G3, the 2003 Apple iPod and the 2007 iPhone can already command decent prices if the condition is right.
They all feature in the collection of the Science Museum, providing a fascinating study of the development of technology and its association to social development over the past 40 years and more.
If this is the attitude that the Science Museum has to these objects – presenting them as museum exhibits – then you can be sure that they will also make their impact on the world of collecting in years to come. Millions of iPhones may be circulating the globe as we speak, but as they get updated and the defunct ones disappear, eventually only a limited number will be left to become sought-after collectables. The development of mobile phone technology, as they morphed into handheld computers, thereby changing the way the world communicates and interacts socially, has been the biggest game changer of all. Expect it to be a force at auction as a whole new niche collecting area develops in the future.
Thanks to our eagle-eyed specialist, bowls that lay unnoticed during a house clearance sold in Fernhurst for £35,000
As we continue with our new weekly series of consignment valuation days at John Nicholson’s, we can reveal that we have already found amazing treasures locally – and we know many more are waiting to come out of hiding!
Take the pair of Chinese famille rose porcelain bowls shown here. Beautifully decorated with coral red fish to the exterior, this 14.5cm diameter pair has a wonderful interior, garnished with blue and white sprays of flora. Each bowl has a Daoguang mark to the base. They may well be contemporary with that period of the Qing dynasty, which lasted from 1820-50.
The bowls came to light during a routine house clearance in Hindhead. The owner was moving to the United States and had called in John Nicholson’s to assess the contents and manage the process of their dispersal. Unaware of the significance of the bowls, the owner did not single them out for inspection, but luckily our specialist spotted them during a visit. Estimated at £4,000-6,000 in our May 17, 2023 Islamic & Oriental auction, they sold to a collector in Hong Kong for £35,000.
Also sold from the clearance were several antique Chinese jade pieces, which attracted very healthy prices indeed
The Surrey/Sussex border region has also proved to be very fertile ground for antique and Contemporary Islamic art. A recent example of this was the abstract study by the Turkish artist Mubin Orhon (1924-81). Signed and dated 1961, the 80cm square canvas left its £3,000-5,000 far behind when it sold for £15,000 at our November 17, 2023 Islamic & Oriental auction.
Now it’s time to see what treasures you may have in your home. Bring them along to our consignment valuation day at Fernhurst saleroom each Friday between 9am and 5pm. No appointment necessary. Or on other days by appointment only.
