Antique Collecting magazine March 2021 issue

T H E R O L E X D AY T O N A

1 9 T H - C E N T U R Y S AT I R I C A L P R I N T S

VICTORIAN POT LIDS

ANTIQUE

COLLECTING AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO

RENÉ LALIQUE

MARCH 2021

Inside

CHRISTINA TREVANION ON BRIDGERTON SOLE SURVIVORS 300 YEARS OF FOOTWEAR

ANTIQUE COLLECTING

EARLY ENGLISH PORCELAIN

THE LEGENDARY ART NOUVEAU JEWELLER TURNED GLASS MAKER

VOL 55 N0. 9 MARCH 2021

In the loupe

5

Become an expert with our new jewellery and watch focus

Music legends

Why the memorabilia of Jimi Hendrix and Marc Bolan rocks

Reading the Room

How to create a Regency library in any home ALSO INSIDE Heal’s of London

• View from the saleroom • Expert opinion

Our dOOrs may be clOsed but we are Open fOr business cOntact us fOr valuatiOn and auctiOn advice

valuations@sworder.co.uk | 01279 817778 www.sworder.co.uk Stansted Mountfitchet Essex | CM24 8GE

42 St Andrew Street Hertford | SG14 1JA

15 Cecil Court London | WC2N 4EZ

FIRST WORD

Welcome

If I am perfectly honest, I think the chances I will ever start a collection of pot lids advertising bear’s grease is remote.

But, having read the feature on page 36, I can’t entirely rule it out. That’s the thing about antiques, they move us in the most unexpected ways.

Take bear’s grease. Back in the 1820s, the biggest debate in men’s grooming was whether lard from a Russian or Canadian bear provided the best remedy for hair loss. In truth, what was advertised rather exotically as ‘bear’s grease’ was mostly perfumed pig fat – with little benefit to the follicles. How similar, 200 years on, to the endless debates I have with girlfriends on the pros and cons of various (bonkers) diets, benefits of apple cider, turmeric tea, etc.

What I mean to say is, in these uncertain times, there is something very comforting about material culture from the past. Namely, it hasn’t changed in centuries.

Another example is gagging orders. If you think they originated with overpaid footballers or Harvey Weinstein, take a look on page 40, where Stewart Abbott wonderfully describes how George IV paid off prominent cartoonists of the day to stop them satirising his poor treatment of his wife as she fought to be crowned queen.

There’s no doubt nostalgia is big news these days. On page 13 Christina Trevanion gives her opinion on Netflix’s bodice-ripper Bridgerton, while on page 34 for all those home workerscum-home schoolers hankering for calmer times, Lennox Cato presents a guide for creating the perfect, tranquil Regency library.

We’ve also got a collecting guide to the work of French jeweller turned glass maker René Lalique on page 16, while on page 24, on the 50th-anniversary of the death of Jim Morrison, Paul Fraser unearths memorabilia from the wild men of rock. All human life is here.

Enjoy the issue.

IN THIS ISSUE

DAVID HARVEY

considers the four ages of wood, page 14

JOY MCCALL’S

guide to the work of René Lalique, page 16

MEG ANDREWS

on collecting antique footwear, page 26

Georgina

Georgina Wroe, Editor

PS Take a look at our new section devoted to jewellery and watches on page 49, reflecting their popularity among today’s collectors.

We love

KEEP IN TOUCH

Write to us at Antique Collecting, Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD, or email magazine@accartbooks. com. Visit the website at www.antique-collecting.co.uk and follow us on Twitter and Instagram @AntiqueMag

Antique Collecting subscription

We love this set of 12 Persian ceramic tiles, which has an estimate of £8,000-£12,000 at Roseberys’ Islamic and Indian arts sale on March 31.

MARC ALLUM

falls in love with a stylish French model (car), page 66

The Team Editor: Georgina Wroe, georgina. wroe@accartbooks.com Online Editor: Richard Ginger, richard.ginger@accartbooks.com Design: Philp Design, james@philpdesign.co.uk Advertising: Georgina Wroe, georgina.wroe @accartbooks.com Subscriptions: Sue Slee 01394 389957, sue.slee@accartbooks.com

£38 for 10 issues annually, no refund is available.

ISSN: 0003-584X

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 3

       









THIS MONTH

Contents VOL 55 NO 9 MARCH 2021

10

24 REGULARS 3 Editor’s Welcome: Georgina Wroe introduces the issue with a new jewellery and watch section 6 Antique News: All the latest from the world of antiques and fine art in lockdown 10 Around the Houses: Suffragette jewellery, a flying giraffe and a Dunhill-Namike fountain pen are among recent sales

50 Fast Track: Nick Orringe on why the Rolex Daytona is the watch collector’s watch 52 A Cut Above: A Roman intaglio necklace is put in the spotlight by expert Liz Bailey 54 A Family Affair: Jewellery by Van Cleef & Arpels has never been more collectable, writes Mark Littler 58 Top of the Lots: Upcoming jewellery and watches on offer from UK auctioneers

60 Auction Calendar: The latest listings from the auction houses’ 13 Lots of Love: Christina Trevanion on online sales why the Regency glamour of Bridgerton has got her in a spin 66 Marc My Words: BBC Antiques Roadshow’s Marc Allum on 14 Waxing Lyrical: David Harvey turns the joys of collecting and restoring his attention to the four ages of wood vintage cars

T H E R O L E X D AY T O N A

1 9 T H - C E N T U R Y S AT I R I C A L P R I N T S

VICTORIAN POT LIDS

ANTIQUE

COLLECTING

MARCH 2021

Inside

AN INSIDER’S GUIDE TO

RENÉ LALIQUE

34

CHRISTINA TREVANION ON BRIDGERTON SOLE SURVIVORS 300 YEARS OF FOOTWEAR

ANTIQUE COLLECTING

EARLY ENGLISH PORCELAIN

THE LEGENDARY ART NOUVEAU JEWELLER TURNED GLASS MAKER

VOL 55 N0. 9 MARCH 2021

In the loupe

5

Become an expert with our new jewellery and watch focus

Reading the Room

How to create a Regency library in any home

• View from the saleroom • Expert opinion

COVER

René Lalique, Formose, green glass vase, 1924, image courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull

FOLLOW US @AntiqueMag

46

FEATURES

30 Saleroom Spotlight: A look at this month’s sale of treasures owned by the 2nd Countess of Burma

16 Heart of Glass: Joy McCall considers the genius of the French art nouveau jeweller turned glass maker René Lalique

32 Puzzle Page: Take time out with 20 Fashion Heal’s: Holly Johnson two pages of quizzes with an antiques discovers how the iconic London crossword to test your knowledge furniture maker has been at the forefront of fashion for more than 34 Without Reserve: Lennox Cato’s a century guide to creating a perfect 19th-century library 26 Best Foot Forward: On the eve of an exhibition on 300 years 35 Your Letters: A delve into this of shoes, we present a collecting month’s postbag guide to footwear

Music legends

Why the memorabilia of Jimi Hendrix and Marc Bolan rocks

ALSO INSIDE Heal’s of London

24 Cool and Collectable: Memorabilia from the wild men of rock is put in focus by Paul Fraser

44 Book Offers: Great deals for subscribers

6

46 Top of the Lots: We preview a collection of early English porcelain going under the hammer in March 49 In the Loupe: introducing our new jewellery and watch section

36 Potted History: Victorian potlids ooze both charm and social history, write three dedicated collectors 40 Prints Regent: Satirical prints detailing the trial of Queen Caroline, who died 200 years ago this year, are put in the spotlight by collector Stewart Abbott

TO SUBSCRIBE PLEASE CALL OUR SUBSCRIPTION HOTLINE ON 01394 389957 ANTIQUE COLLECTING 5

NEWS All the latest WHAT’S GOING ON IN MARCH

ANTIQUE

news

Discover all the latest from the world of antiques and fine art in upcoming months

PANE-FUL HISTORY A 6m high medieval stained glass window will leave Canterbury Cathedral for the first time in 800 years to take centre stage in the UK’s first major exhibition on Thomas Becket – some 850 years since his murder.

Postponed from last year, next month’s exhibition at the British Museum, Thomas Becket: Murder and the Making of a Saint , uses 100 objects to chart the famous cleric’s rise from ordinary beginnings to one of the most powerful figures in England.

The stained-glass window, known as the ‘Miracle Window’ is one of 12 surviving sets made in the early 1200s to surround Becket’s now-lost shrine in the cathedral’s Trinity Chapel.

It is fifth in a series of seven, all depicting miracles attributed to Becket in the three years following his death, including the healing of eyesight and the replacement of lost genitals. The cathedral’s, Leonie Seliger, said: “The windows greeted pilgrims at the culmination of their journey to Becket’s shrine with images that would be both reassuring and uplifting.”

News of Becket’s death on December 29, 1170, sent shockwaves across Europe. Within days, miracles were being attributed to Becket, many connected to the healing power of his spilt blood, which lead to his canonisation.

Books bound British ceramicist and author Edmund de Waal has donated 2,000 books to the Mosul University Library in Iraq to help rebuild its collection which was almost destroyed in 2015 by the militant Islamic group Daesh.

The collection features writers from over 100 countries, ranging from antiquity to the present day, but all linked by themes of exile and displacement.

De Waal’s second book in 2015, The White Road traced the history of porcelain, from the hills of Jingdezhen in China to the first makers of English porcelain, William Cookworthy and Josiah Wedgwood.

He has also exhibited work at Kettle’s Yard, Tate Britain, Fitzwilliam Museum, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and the V&A, London.

Above Edmund de Waal’s library of exile at the British Museum, courtesy of The Trustees of the British Museum

6 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

The Miracle Window is leaving Canterbury Cathedral for the first time

Left Raphael’s cartoon, The Death of Ananias, 1515-1516 © V&A. Courtesy Royal Collection Trust / Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021 Below far left Recording the colour of the famous cartoons at the V&A © Gabriel Scarpa for Factum Foundation Below left A V&A

conservator condition checks a Raphael Cartoon, photo V&A

Right Fragment of

a bed valance with cockerel, northern Sporades, Greece, 18th century, linen and silk, Ashmolean Museum

1

Cartoon network

Ahead of the lifting of Lockdown 3, the V&A has unveiled an interactive exploration of the Raphael Cartoons using ultra-high-resolution photography.

Infrared imagery and 3D scans allow online visitors unprecedented access to one of the greatest treasures of the Renaissance.

Shortly after his election in 1513, Pope Leo X commissioned Raphael to create 10 full-scale designs – each measuring 5m by 3.5m – for a series of tapestries for the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.

Seven of the cartoons were brought to Britain in the early 17th century by the Prince of Wales, later Charles I. They were lent to the South Kensington Museum – now the V&A – by Queen Victoria in 1865.

For more details go to ww.vam.ac.uk/raphael-cartoons

3

Alice Aforethought

Dubbed its ‘landmark exhibition of 2021’, the V&A London celebrates Lewis Carroll’s most iconic book this month.

Alice in Wonderland: Curiouser and Curiouser, due to open on March 27 (Covid-19 dependent), explores the cultural impact of Carroll’s 1865 creation using work by artists ranging from Salvador Dalí to The Beatles.

Highlights include Lewis Carroll’s handwritten manuscript, illustrations by John Tenniel and Ralph Steadman, as well as Mary Blair’s artwork for Walt Disney’s iconic 1951 film adaptation. The exhibition is set to continue to December 31, for more details go to www. vam.ac.uk/alice

3

to see in

MARCH Below Photograph of the

‘real’ Alice Liddell by Julia Margaret Cameron, 1872, © V&A

Below right Alice at

the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, illustration for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by John Tenniel, 1865, © V&A

Above Cushion cover, Naxos, Greece, 18th century, linen and silk, Ashmolean Museum Far right Bed curtain, Cyclades, Greece, 18th century, linen and silk, Ashmolean Museum

2A stich on line

There’s a chance to view one of the Ashmolean’s exhibitions showcasing sumptuous Mediterranean textiles online this month.

With the Oxford museum temporarily closed, Mediterranean Threads: 18th and 19th century Greek Embroideries, which includes clothes, samplers and the trousseaux of young Greek women, can be seen on its website.

The Ashmolean embroideries were collected in the early 20th century by Professor John Linton Myres, Wykeham Professor of Ancient History at Oxford (1910-1939), and his student John Buxton.

The textiles encompass a range of textiles from Greek island production between the 18th and 19th centuries.

Right Salvador Dali,

A Mad Tea Party, 1969, © Salvador Dali, Fundació Gala-Salvador Dalí, DACS 2019

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 7

NEWS All the latest Ruff justice

CONTINENTAL SHELVES Fashionistas and designers or anyone with an eye for iconic African design are asked to check their wardrobes for a landmark exhibition of African fashion next year.

Curators of Africa Fashion, at the V&A, are calling for examples of ready-to-wear, madeto-order and street-style garments which came to the fore in the years after African independence in the mid 20th century.

Curator, Dr Christine Checinska, said: “Africa Fashion will celebrate the vitality and innovation of fashion creatives in the vanguard of the 20th century.” She is particularly keen to see work by the Nigerian designer Shade ThomasFahm (b.1933) and Chris Seydou (1949-1994) from Malia. Anyone with items to share should email africafashion@vam.ac.uk

A miniature portrait thought to be of Sir Walter Raleigh has been revealed as Henri III, King of France (15511589) – images of whom are extremely scarce.

It was not the only surprise for conservators at Philip Mould & Co., the Pall Mall art dealer who bought the 57mm likeness ‘unseen’ at a country sale during the 2020 lockdown. On opening the frame they discovered the rare signature of Jean Decourt (c.1530-c.1585) along with the date 1578.

The portrait of the French monarch contains all the hallmarks of Decourt’s style: meticulous detail, with particular attention paid to the clothing.

As well as being the official court artist to Charles IX of France, Decourt also painted Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587), Elizabeth I (1533-1603) and her favourite, Robert Dudley Earl of Leicester (1532-1588).

Philip Mould hopes the miniature will return to France.

Hoot property Owlwood, one of Hollywood’s most talked-about mansions and home to previous owners 20th

Quick fire questions with...

Charlotte Lee-Finglas, Sworders’ new head of fine interiors

What first attracted you to the business of antiques?

I actually fell into the art world by accident, having started off studying fashion. I soon realised it wasn’t for me but, having loved the history of art lectures that were part of the course, I re-applied my focus and the rest is history.

Most exciting find to date?

Top Shade’s Boutique flyer,

1971. Image courtesy of Shade Thomas-Fahm

Above Shade Thomas-Fahm in

the 1970s. Image courtesy of Shade Thomas-Fahm

8 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Perhaps not the most exciting or valuable, but I feel particularly fond of a rather sweet collection of silver pin cushions in the shape of various animals, including a camel, tortoise and chicken. As my first consignment for a client, it holds a special place in my heart.

The piece you would most like to come across?

There’s too many to choose from, but at the moment I’m loving brightly-coloured Delft ceramics contrasted with muted Gustavian furniture.

Above Jean Decourt (c.1530-c.1585), Henri III © Philip Mould & Co. Above right The delicate depiction is the undeniable work of the court painter Jean Decourt, © Philip Mould & Co.

Century Fox founder Joseph Schenck, Tony Curtis and Cher, has sold for $88m.

It was at Owlwood that the married 70-year-old Schenk fell in love with 21-year-old Marilyn Monroe who ended up living in the guest house.

Tony Curtis bought the house towards the end of his career, then later sold the 10-bedroom Italianate mansion to the singing duo Sonny and Cher.

Cher furnished the property with antiques, sending her decorator on frequent buying trips to Europe, acquiring Louis XIV chairs and an 18thcentury buffet. She wrote in her memoir: “I guess we were trying to appear established. We were nouveau riche, but better nouveau than never. ” Left The iconic Hollywood property sold for $88m

Who do you most admire in the industry?

Companies which aren’t afraid to do things differently and make antiques a little more accessible, such as TAT London and Ceraudo, both show antiques don’t have to mean old fashioned.

What are the interior trends for 2021?

Lockdown has had a profound effect on how people view their lifestyle and homes. On the one hand, the influence of nature, wellbeing and slow living can be seen in the ‘cottagecore’ aesthetic, incorporating natural materials, floral patterns, pared-back country furniture and studio pottery.

On the other end of the spectrum, maximalism embraces bright colours, exotic patterns and an eclectic mix of styles injecting some vibrancy and excitement at a time when life is feeling a little flat.

Something you’ve discovered in lockdown…

I’ve finally got round to riding my road bike around the Norfolk countryside but, as a fair-weather cyclist, it is, of late, back in the garage

Sworders’ next homes and interiors auction is on March 2. For more details go to www.sworder.co.uk

Market leader

NEEDLE POINTS The Science Museum, currently closed due to coronavirus restrictions, is the latest cultural venue to become a Covid-19 vaccine centre.

Throughout the pandemic the London institution has kept a close watch on new scientific developments, recently acquiring the vial that contained the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

It joins the Black Country Living Museum, in Dudley, a key location for the BBC drama Peaky Blinders, as well as Salisbury Cathedral.

Elsewhere, The Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds has been vaccinating patients since December - a fitting location for a medical facility as it is named after a Charles Thackray, a Leeds pharmacist and manufacturer of surgical instruments, and is a stone’s throw from the city’s St James’s University Hospital.

Last year in Italy, the Castello di Rivoli Museum of Contemporary Art outside Turin became the first gallery in the country to be used as a vaccine centre. Its director, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, said: “‘Art has always helped and healed.”

One of the capital’s best known markets celebrates its 700th birthday this year.

The earliest known reference to Leadenhall Market was in 1321 when it was known as a market for poultry, and in 1397, a nearby cheese market opened.

In 1408, it was bought by the former Lord Mayor of London, Richard ‘Dick’

Whittington who oversaw its growth to such an extent it became known as an early tourist attraction, when it was divided into three areas for leather, cutlery and herbs.

After being destroyed in the Great Fire of London, it was rebuilt as a covered structure made in stone to protect it from future fires.

Did you know?

The market’s name is thought to have come from Leaden Hall, a nearby mansion notable for its impressive leadcovered roof.

Above For many years the market was known for its trade in leather Left Leadenhall market was first mentioned in 1321

CHEAP TICKETS An online lecture this month lifts the lid on one of the 20th-century’s most remarkable jewellery discoveries.

For almost 300 years the Cheapside Hoard laid buried beneath one of London’s

Above The Science Museum has opened as a vaccine centre Below Salisbury Cathedral has also opened its

doors for jabs

busiest streets until 1912 when workmen started to demolish a 17th-century timberframed building near St Paul’s Cathedral.

The builders inadvertently discovered the greatest cache of Elizabethan and Jacobean jewellery in the world, and one of the most remarkable and spectacular finds in the UK. No-one knows who buried them sometime between 1640 and 1666, or why.

Hazel Forsyth, the author of London’s Lost Jewels will present an hour-long live webinair on March 17 at 6pm, hosted by Birminghambased auctioneers, Fellows. Tickets cost £5, available by emailing: hello@fellows.co.uk Left An enamelled gold necklace with lovers’ knots part of the celebrated Cheapside Hoard

By Georgian!

Known as the ‘Bridgerton Effect’, after the Netflix hit, the regency pursuits of drawing, needlework and piano are back in fashion, according to a report in The Times.

Today’s enforced leisuretime echoes that of our forebears, most notably well-off ladies who took up a number of hobbies to fill their days.

Hobbycraft’s Katherine Paterson, said: “Throughout the pandemic we’ve seen increased demand for traditional crafts, and those synonymous with the Regency era, such as needlework and art, are definitely the most popular. Home crafts such as needlework and art have stood the test of time.”

Sales of acrylic paints and canvases are up by 369 per cent and 207 per cent respectively, while cross-stitch kits have risen by 545 per cent. According to eBay, embroidery hoops are up with a 65 per cent increase in new searches.

See page 13 for Christina Trevanion’s take on the Netflix hit.

Above Adjoa Andoh in filming for the Netflix series Bridgerton, image Shutterstock

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 9

AUCTION Round up

AROUND the HOUSES

Suffragette pieces were in the tradition of arts and crafts jewellery

Our look at some of the best, and most unusual, recent sales from UK auctioneers

TENNANTS, LEYBURN A Suffragette pendant of amethyst, pearl and enamel sold for £750, against an estimate of £300-£500 at the North Yorkshire auction house, proving the market for unusual pieces.

Suffragette jewellery in Britain was made of green, white and violet semiprecious stones, whose colours were said to be a code for ‘Give Women Votes’. It originated in the 1890s, after the Suffragette movement was banned and produced until 1918 – the year in which British women first obtained the right to vote.

The pieces were decorated with a ‘fireworks’ pattern in rosewood

REEMAN DANSIE, COLCHESTER

SWORDERS, STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET ––

A cabinet and commode by one of the fathers of French art deco, Jules Leleu (1883-1961), both patterned in rosewood marquetry in his Feux d’artifice (fireworks) design, rocketed at the Essex auction house’s recent live online sale.

Jules Leleu The 10 lots were consigned by was one of the the Greek descendants of Celestine fathers of French Galani, the wife of shipping magnate art deco John Galani.

The pair which had been estimated at up to £15,000 and £30,000 respectively, sold to a New York dealer for £35,000 and £44,000.

Leleu exhibited at the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in 1925, and was friends with John and Celestine Galani who commissioned him to decorate their Paris apartment at 81 Avenue Marceau in the 1940s.

10

ANTIQUE COLLECTING

An oil painting, described by the Essex auction house as ‘18thcentury Italian school’, sold for £100,000 when eagle-eye bidders spotted it as a portrait by Mary Beale (1633-1699) of her son, Bartholomew.

Suffolk-born Beale, who studied The sale under the portraitist set a record for Sir Peter Lely, was one of only a small the work of the 17th-century artist number of 17th-century professional Mary Beale female artists, with her work increasingly popular from the 1670s. Another portrait of Bartholomew by Lely from c.1670 was sold at Sotheby’s New York in January 2009 for $242,500.

The portrait, which had been in the same family since 1950, set a record for the artist, two of whose works are on display at Tate Britain, with another selling for £75,000 in 2019.

The model Aston Martin commemorated the victory by Roy Salvadori and Carroll Shelby

GILDINGS, LEICESTER A mid-18th-century telescope by the renowned maker John Bird achieved more than 10 times its low estimate when it sold for £4,712 at the Leicestershire auction house.

The lacquered brass The rare, early telescope instrument was signed by Bird who was

by John Bird came active in workshops on The Strand between in its original 1745 until his death in 1776. mahogany box He mainly produced large-scale instruments, notably an 8-ft quadrant at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, meaning this small ‘desktop’ example of his work is a rarity.

Gildings’ director, Will Gilding, said: “For specialist collectors of scientific instruments, early examples by notable makers always create a stir at auction, it is rare to see an example signed ‘J Bird.’”

EAST BRISTOL AUCTIONS

The pen was decorated with a dragon in gilt relief and mountains on the cap

A Dunhill-Namiki fountain pen, outdid its pre-sale estimate of £1,500-£2,500 when it sold for £8,000 at the Bristol saleroom.

The luxury pens, produced for the Western market in the 1920s by the combined forces of Ryosuke Namiki (1880-1954) of the Namiki Manufacturing Co and Alfred Dunhill, are highly sought after by collectors. It was signed below the lever by the artist Shogo (b.1894) who joined the Namiki Co in 1928 and became the leading member of the firm’s decorators.

Eric Ravilious also created designs for Wedgwood

EWBANKS, WOKING

A 28-piece Wedgwood dinner service designed by Eric Ravilious (1903-1942) sold for £2,860 at the Surrey auctioneers, against an estimate of £500-£800.

The ‘Garden’ pattern depicting variously a female in a garden and on a beach, in sepia with yellow enamel on a cream ground, included two lidded tureens, six small plates and a sauce boat with stand.

Ravilious, who studied at the Royal College of Art under Paul Nash, was one of the best-known artists of the 1930s. He was a leading light of wood-engraving, as well as undertaking ceramic designs for Wedgwood. He also designed graphics for London Transport.

The striking Flying Giraffe taxidermy saw bidding go through the roof

DREWEATTS, NEWBURY

A flying stuffed giraffe, by James Perkins, was one of the top sellers from the contents of Aynhoe Park in Oxfordshire, when it sold for £125,000 at the Berkshire auctioneer’s recent sale.

The two-day sale, entitled, The Celebration of a Modern Grand Tour, offered eclectic pieces from the Palladian family home of James and Sophie Perkins furnished with eccentric and stylish curiosities from around the world.

The sale totalled £4.1m against a pre-sale low estimate of £1.3m.

A 1959 Le Mans half-scale model of the winning Aston Martin DBR1, sold for £50,000 against an estimate of £10,000-£15,000.

MALLAMS, CHELTENHAM An oil painting from the circle of the Italian baroque old master, Guido Reni (1575-1642), estimated at £1,000-£2,000, sold for £6,500 at the Gloucestershire auction house’s recent country house sale.

The Greek It depicts the queen killed herself after slaying head of Queen her unfaithful Deianira who husband murdered her husband Heracles after discovering his unfaithfulness, before then killing herself.

At the same sale an 18th-century, elm and ash Windsor chair hammered for £1,600 against a £300-£400 estimate.

Windsor chairs’ sculptural design makes them popular in salerooms

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 11

AUCTION Round up DIX NOONAN WEBB, MAYFAIR A rare Oliver Cromwell 50 shilling gold coin, dating from 1656, and one of only 12 believed to exist, The gold set a world record at the London auctioneers 50 shilling piece when it sold for £471,200 – more than four fetched a world times its low estimate. record price for a Featuring the face of Oliver Cromwell, it is Cromwellian one of only a few British coins not to feature a coin monarch on the obverse.

The coin, by Thomas Simon, Cromwell’s chief engraver at the Royal Mint from 1649 to 1660, went to an American buyer.

The armour was once in the collection of American businessman George F. Harding

HANNAMS, SELBORNE THOMAS DEL MAR, PART OF OLYMPIA AUCTIONS A late 16th, early 17th-century north German field armour sold for £57,000 at the London auction house, close to five times its low estimate of £12,000.

Known as a ‘black-and-white’ cap-a pie suit of armour, it was one of 23 lots that had been deaccessioned by the Art Institute of Chicago.

The pieces came from the collection of George F. Harding, a Chicago businessman who added a two-storey ‘castle museum’ to his home featuring pieces he had sought out from dealers and directly from European royal families.

FELLOWS, BIRMINGHAM A carved gilt wood pier mirror, expected to make £500, sold for £21,000 at the Birmingham auction house.

The mirror, which attracted more than 75 bids, was the highest item to have sold in one of Fellows’ antiques auctions for many years.

Specialist Kevin Jackson, said: “The desire for our antiques auctions is increasing as each sale goes by and people have become accustomed to bidding over the internet.”

12 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

An Oriental print, expected to make £50, sold for £6,800 at the Hampshire auctioneers when it was discovered to be the work of Edo period ukiyo-e painter and The print printmaker Katsushika comes from the Hokusai (1760-1849). same series as the Described as ‘a 19th-century famous The Great Japanese woodblock print’, the scene Wave off of a boat and Mount Fuji was one of the Kanagawa Fugaku sanjurokkei (Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji) series issued from c.1830-1832, of which The Great Wave off Kanagawa, is the most famous.

LOCKDALES, MARTLESHAM Lot 50 proved to be a sleeper at the Suffolk saleroom’s recent sale. Estimated at £50-£60, a group of mid-19thcentury letters and covers sold for £3,000.

Auctioneer, Chris Elmy, said: “There was clearly something there that we didn’t see. Sorting through stamp collections and related ephemera is an ideal lockdown pastime, and material such as this is hard to find.”

The ornately carved pier mirror was one of the auction house’s best sellers in years

The collection was a sleeper in the Suffolk saleroom

EXPERT OPINION Christina Trevanion C H R I S T I N A T R E VA N I O N

Lots of Love Students of Regency England should look to Netflix’s Bridgerton to understand its society, design (and gossip), writes Christina Trevanion

emphasis on fussy decoration than in its predecessor Robert Adam’s day. While Ancient Greece and Rome were sources of inspiration, Egyptian design elements came to the fore after the British Navy’s victory over the French at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. Napoleon’s retreat from Russia similarly prompted a wave of Russian eagles on English furniture, mirrors and silver.

There was also a more lavish display of gilding and a braver use of colour. While blues and greens in pastel shades remained, they were added to with terracotta and maroon. Curtains and upholstery saw splashes of sulphur yellow, royal blue and crimson embellished with classical laurel wreath motifs, stars and cornucopia, lyres and sphinxes. Lighting also became important as designers made use of the newly-invented oil lamp, alongside torcheres, candelabras and chandeliers.

LOW MORALS

L

ike most of the population, I have been enchanted by the wonderful Netflix series Bridgerton, which follows a young aristocratic lady as she makes her way through the competitive world of the Regency era’s ‘Ton’ (high society). Alongside the gossip-drenched narrative, the costumes and locations are beautiful.

The term ‘Regency’ refers to the period 1811-1820, but encompasses the latter part of the Georgian era from 1714-1830. In 1811, George Augustus Frederick, Prince of Wales began his nine-year tenure as Prince Regent, following the decision that his father George III was unfit to rule. On George III’s death in 1820 the Prince Regent became George IV. The Regency era is characterised by the freedom and extravagance of George IV compared with the ascetic lifestyle of his father. Although it was just nine years long, the Regency ‘feel’ started around the time that George IV came of age, and therefore influence, in 1783 – and continued to his death in 1830. It was a period of great change. But while war raged overseas, at home it was also a period of great refinement and cultural achievement.

WORLD AFFAIRS For the most part, the Regency style was an appreciation of classicism in a pure and simple form, with less

Above The Holburne Museum in Bath used in the series as Lady Danbury’s residence © Holburne Museum Right The UK has been settling down with Bridgerton

The era was fuelled by the significant technological advancements of the day. In 1814, The Times adopted steam printing, allowing it to print 1,100 sheets an hour rather than the 200 previously. It sparked the rise of the wildly popular fashionable novels and pamphlets spreading the goings on and rumours of the rich and aristocratic. It created the perfect rumour mill for Regency ladies such as Bridgerton’s Lady Whistledown to perfect her skills as a gossip monger.

The Regency era’s style was full blooded, playful, yet intellectual, aristocratic and slightly vulgar. In fact, as paradoxical as the age that gave birth to it. In his biography of George IV the historian Saul David called it a: “Devil may care period of low morals and high fashion”. But the glamour epitimised by the young Regent gave way on his coronation to an unpopular king who was overweight with extravagant habits and a fickle attitude towards the public purse.

Christina Trevanion is managing director and founder at Shropshire’s Trevanion Auctioneers & Valuers as well as a regular face on Bargain Hunt, Antiques Road Trip, Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is and Flog it!

‘For the most part, the Regency style was an appreciation of classicism in a pure and simple form, with less emphasis on fussy decoration than in its predecessor Robert Adam’s day’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING

13

EXPERT COMMENT David Harvey

Waxing lyrical David Harvey considers why the ‘four ages of wood’ might not be as clear cut as previously thought

AGE OF WALNUT

W

hile carrying out some research on a newly-acquired piece, I came across Percy Macquoid’s wonderful books on 17th to 19th-century English furniture, published in the early 1900s.

Macquoid divided the centuries into four distinct ages: oak, walnut, mahogany and satinwood. This may well have been appropriate at the time Macquoid wrote his book, but since then knowledge on the subject has improved beyond all recognition. So much so, in fact, I am reminded of a wonderful quotation from Mark Twain: “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

The refectory table (above) dates from the 17th century but, if we compare the legs to the turnings guide in Victor Chinnery’s book (Oak Furniture, The British Tradition, 1979), the “rising baluster” is dated anywhere between 1580 and 1800.

There never was a cut-off date when one timber gave way to another. Indeed, oak has been the mainstay of vernacular furniture throughout our history.

14 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Above Late 17th-century oak refectory table Above right William

and Mary oysterveneered princes wood (kingwood) escritoire

by Thomas Pistor of London

Right Early 18th-century

burr walnut bureau bookcase

The second half of the 17th century saw the move from joinery to cabinetmaking, with the Restoration seeing a number of continental furniture makers coming to the UK, working at the Williamite court. The rebuilding of St Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire of London in 1666 also presented opportunities for foreign cabinetmakers, stonemasons, carvers, gilders and a host of other disciplines, many of whom settled in the vicinity of the great cathedral.

Royal taste for veneered and inlaid furniture was soon being copied by courtiers and others wanting to reflect the latest fashions and so the ‘age of walnut’ came into being with proponents such as the royal cabinetmaker Gerrit Jensen (1634-1715). Such makers perfected the art of oyster veneering using consecutive cuts of veneer from branches to produce much sought-after patterns in walnut, laburnum and, on rare occasions, the expensive ‘princes’ wood, also known as kingwood (see above). These styles continued well into the 18th century and the reigns of Queen Anne and George I.

BURR WALNUT Using timbers’ natural figuring continued unabated into the 18th century with stunning results, such as in this architecturallyinspired bureau bookcase in burr walnut (right).

The fall and all the drawers are “quartered” across to produce a strong pattern, while bun feet were still very much a feature at this time. There are a number of explanations as to the demise of walnut in cabinetmaking during the 18th century, one of which is that the

great storm of 1703 destroyed much of our native walnut, along with a French embargo on the exportation of European walnut to the UK as they were fearful of it being used to build warships. Just imagine a naval vessel of that period with a burr walnut dashboard!

PASSAGE OF TIME When browsing furniture books written in the first half of the last century I am often tempted to shriek when a Regency mirror is captioned as Queen Anne, or a chest as 17th century, when it couldn’t have been made until much later. To be fair to Macquoid and other writers, they did not have access to the wealth of information and images available to today’s dealers and historians. In truth, I am the first to admit that after more than 50 years in the trade, I am still learning and one of the joys of being a dealer is finding something new to marvel at every day.

MOVE TO MAHOGANY While mahogany was used for shipbuilding by the Spanish as early as the 16th century, and samples were bought back from Trinidad

by Sir Walter Raleigh for approval

by Queen Elizabeth I, it didn’t find favour among cabinetmakers until the 1720s. (Although it continued to supplant oak as the mainstay for shipbuilding in the UK as it was less likely to suffer damage or splinter from gun and cannon shot.)

The earliest example of mahogany furniture used the straight-grained and dense timbers from the Caribbean.

As time went on so the cabinetmakers and furniture designers became bolder and, as we move from the Palladian era into the Rococo styles of the mid-18th century, numerous French designs and iconic elements appeared on English furniture. A good example of the anglicisation of a continental design is the serpentine commode (above) made almost certainly in London during the middle years of the century, and there isn’t a straight edge on this anywhere.

Above Mid 18th-century mahogany serpentine or bombé commode in the French manner Right George III

breakfront library bookcase

Below right George

III satinwood and rosewood inlaid oval Pembroke table, c. 1785

THOMAS CHIPPENDALE The 18th century brought neo-classicism, with Robert Adam and Thomas Chippendale designing and making pieces with the increasingly-fashionable satinwood.

As Britain widened its global trade it imported an ever greater number of goods to meet a rapidly-expanding market, hence more exotic timbers from far flung areas became more readily available. Macquoid encapsulated this in his ‘age of satinwood’ from the last decades of the 18th century.

It also became fashionable to use satinwood as an inlay or banding in conjunction with other woods. An example of this is the mahogany breakfront bookcase (right) with satinwood panels set in bandings of kingwood (princes wood) and tulipwood, with ebony and boxwood stringing. Interestingly, it was made in 11 pieces and cased for ease of transportation, possibly from Gillows of Lancaster, to its home where it would have then been assembled on site by a Gillows’ team.

‘Royal taste for veneered and inlaid furniture was soon being copied by courtiers and others wanting to reflect the latest fashions, and so the ‘age of walnut’ came into being with proponents such as the royal cabinetmaker Gerrit Jensen (1634-1715)’

EXQUISITE WORK Satinwood was seldom used in the solid, as the most attractive veneers could be cut from larger pieces making it a much more commercial enterprise having been imported at great cost. Both the bookcase (above) and the Pembroke table (below) date from the 1780s and help to illustrate the variety of designs and competence of the extraordinary cabinetmakers of the day. During the last quarter of the 18th, and the first of the 19th century, we see a definite lightening of the form for furniture with pattern books being widely published by many who have become household names. Some, such as Hepplewhite and Sheraton, have even given their names to styles which continued into the Regency period.

David Harvey is the owner of W R Harvey & Co. Ltd., located at 86 Corn St, Witney, Oxfordshire. For more details go to www.wrharvey.com ANTIQUE COLLECTING 15

COLLECTING GUIDE René Lalique

HEART of GLASS On the eve of an auction dedicated to the French jeweller and glass maker René Lalique, Joy McCall considers the art deco master’s incredible designs

THE JEWELLER Born in 1860 in the small French village of Ay, Lalique’s family moved to Paris where René attended the Collège Turgot and began learning art and design at just 12 years of age. In the mid-1870s, he was apprenticed to Louis Aucoc, a prestigious jeweller and goldsmith and also enrolled at École des Arts Decoratifs. He would later spend two years at the Crystal Palace School of Art in London, where he continued to hone his craft.

After being apprenticed to Louis Aucoc and having worked as an independent designer for the houses, such as Cartier and Boucheron, Lalique established his jewellery business in Paris in 1885. He broke with the traditional understanding of jewellery-making by his exploration of new materials. He still worked with precious metals and gemstones but innovatively combined these with semi-precious stones and horn, as well as with glass and enamel.

THE GLASSMAKER From about 1894, Lalique turned his attention to glass, by 1909 employing 50 to 100 workers. After WWI, expansion caused him to buy a factory in Wingensur-Moder, Alsace, in the east of France, where the workforce grew to hundreds.

The region already had a glass-making tradition and the Lalique factory remains there today. Lalique aimed to mass-produce high-quality glass using moulds; the glass was either mould-blown or press-moulded. The former involved gathering molten glass on a blowing tube and blowing it into the mould, if required several layers could be worked together to produce ‘cased’ wares. The other technique of press-moulding required a plunger to force the glass into a mould.

Lalique was hugely prolific in the breadth and variety of his ranges – making everything from dressing table objects to dining wares, as well as vases, lights, car mascots, jewellery, and architectural features.

Besides smaller items, he also exhibited two whole dining rooms completed with fittings, lighting and table ware at the 1925 International Exhibition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts in Paris. The exhibition provided him with an ideal opportunity to showcase his work. Having already made a name for himself as an art nouveau master, now Lalique was able to garner huge respect as an art deco designer too. He also designed the interiors of Pullman trains and for the most iconic ocean-liner – SS Normandie.

R

ené Lalique (1860-1945) was, and remains, one of the most celebrated designers of his generation – achieving a pinnacle of excellence in two specific arenas. Firstly, he distinguished himself as the most significant art nouveau jewellery designer, acknowledged for his creative genius by being made an Officer of the French Légion d’honneur, one of the highest accolades awarded in France. Subsequently in a second career, he established himself as an art deco designer and one of the most important glass makers of the 20th century. In both careers, his greatness lay in the quality of his designs and his ability to keep in step with current fashion.

16 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Above René Lalique (1860-1945) Formose green glass vase, 1924 Right Marc Lalique

(1900-1977) Moulded glass and chromed metal Cactus table, 1951, image courtesy of Bonhams

THE LEGACY Not only was Lalique an incredible designer, he was also highly adept at marketing and selling his creations.

He established an internationally recognised brand and involved his son, Marc, in the business. When he died in 1945, Marc took over. One of Marc’s most impressive designs (below left) is the Cactus table of 1951, with its stunning circular base and flaring frond supports.

Marc introduced crystal, in place of the demi-crystal René had favoured, and incorporated coloured elements in turquoise, amber, amethyst, or peridot green.

In 1977, when Marc died, his daughter Marie-Claude added her influence becoming the third generation to lead the company. Her designs often involved animals and she developed the Lalique perfume range and jewellery. In 2008, the company was acquired by Art & Fragrance and the business still thrives with boutiques across the world selling glass, jewellery and perfumes.

Did you ART NOUVEAU know? INNOVATOR In this pendant

Lalique’s jewellery clients included the celebrated actress Sarah Bernhardt, Parisian intelligentsia, cocottes (grand courtesans) such as La Belle Otero, famed for her incredible beauty, and vast number of lovers, and socialites like the Countess Greffulhe.

COLLECTING LALIQUE CIRE PERDUE

The most exclusive form of glass collecting is that of the cire perdue meaning, literally, ‘lost wax’. It is a technique more usually associated with bronze-making dating back to ancient times and involves a wax model being covered in plaster before being heated so the liquid wax can be discarded before being replaced with molten glass.

When cooled, the plaster mould is destroyed to reveal the glass within. René Lalique used this technique when experimenting with designs – in many cases these were his prototypes. Cire perdue pieces are almost always unique because of the method used to create them and, consequently, there are only a limited number of these works in existence. The works have a distinctive appearance – the surfaces are rougher and appear unfinished, and even seamlines are sometimes evident. They are uncoloured glass, sometimes with staining applied to the surface. One of the very appealing features, though, is that Lalique’s own finger-prints may remain, giving a sense of intimacy with the maker.

Above right René Lalique (1860-1945) An art nouveau enamel, diamond and pearl pendant necklace, image courtesy of Christie’s Above Lalique fan Sarah Bernhardt as Hamlet in 1899 Left René Lalique (18601945) Frise branches d’épines (Thorn branch frieze) cire perdue vase and cover, image courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull Right René Lalique

(1860-1945) for Coty, Ambre Antique, frosted glass perfume bottle and stopper, c. 1910, image courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull

‘His jewellery making broke with tradition by exploring new materials. He still worked with precious metals and gemstones but combined them with semi-precious stones and horn, as well as with glass and enamel’

necklace the gold and enamel wasps have diamond-set wings, while the flowers are of opalescent glass and the leaves of enamel. Interest is added to the chain in the form of a leaf clasp and there is a drop pearl suspended from the interlacing whiplash lines of the stems – very much of the art nouveau style. The composition of the piece is wonderfully asymmetrical while remaining harmoniously balanced. A new departure typical of the art nouveau style was to make nature the subject.

The Frise branches d’épines cire perdue vase and cover (left) was designed in 1920 with a sienna stain applied to emphasise the details of its form.

SCENT BOTTLES Another readily identifiable field for collectors is scent bottles. One of Lalique’s neighbours was François Coty, the perfumer, who invited Lalique to design bottles for him. This was revolutionary as before this, scent was acquired in phials from the pharmacy to then be decanted into generic dressing table bottles at home.

However, Lalique created bespoke perfume bottles and in so doing established a precedent for future commercial perfume bottle presentation and packaging. One of the bottles Lalique designed for Coty in 1910 was Ambre Antique. The tapering cylindrical form was decorated in intaglio (meaning in this instance that the design is impressed into the glass as opposed to being in relief). It is decorated with a frieze of classical maidens surmounted by a delicate bud-like stopper.

It features four young women dressed in an antique style holding flowers. Each figure is slightly different, but they all have a reddish brown patina on the moulded silhouettes that enhances the motif appearing in bas-relief.

While a commercial item, the perfume bottle remains a work of art in its own right.

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 17

COLLECTING GUIDE René Lalique

CAR MASCOTS During the 1920s and early 1930s it became fashionable to mount mascots on cars, so René Lalique designed 29 different models. They took the form of birds, horses, dragonflies, figures, dogs, a frog, a fox, a fish, a boar, a ram, and even a shooting star. Perhaps the best known is the Victoire mascot of 1928. The piece is full of drama as the head strains forward, the hair is swept backwards, and the mouth wide open. Like so many of Lalique’s pieces this is a personification of speed. When the theme of his mascots was not speed, the mascots were clearly symbols of prowess.

Above René Lalique (1860-1945) Victoire car mascot, 1928 Above right René Lalique

(1860-1945) Archers, a cased opalescent glass vase, 1921, image courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull Below left René Lalique (1860-1945) a rare Ronce frosted electric blue glass vase, 1921, image courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull Below right Marius-

Ernest Sabino (18781962), 24 Pirogues vase, 1929, image courtesy of 1st Dibs

VASES Favourite items among collectors are vases, probably because they display well and can usually be viewed from more than one angle. Lalique’s vases could be used per se but generally people just appreciate the designs themselves rather than being concerned about their functionality. Most of Lalique’s designs were created in clear and frosted glass and some of these have then had a staining applied to the surface to highlight the details of the work.

In addition to this staining, Lalique also experimented creating works in coloured glass. His opalescent pieces have been a subject of fascination to collectors and some have chosen to focus specifically on these milky-blue, semi-opaque wares. By contrast,

Lalique lite

René Lalique inspired other designers and many successful businesses emerged producing similar wares - though for me they don’t command the same level of artistry or quality. In France there arose Marius-Ernest Sabino (18781962), André Hunebelle (1896-1985), and Etling the retail brand owned by Edmond Laurent whose glass was produced in Paris; and in England the company James A. Jobling in Sunderland then under the management of Ernest Purser. In addition to these there was Verlys, a range produced near Rouen by the Société Holophane Française, as a subsidiary of the American-based Holophane Company, as well as other lesser-known makers in Czechoslovakia and Italy.

18 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

other enthusiasts develop an ambition to collect a specific design in all the possible colourways that can be found. This is particularly the case with the Formose, Ronce and Archers vases. Another variant to be aware of is the coloured vase which is then ‘cased’ – meaning that one or more layers of glass are present in forming the work. The easiest way of assessing this is to view a vase by looking down at the top rim to see if concentric bands are evident.

OTHER OPTIONS Because Lalique was so prolific and versatile in his creations, the opportunities for collecting are endless and include boxes, ashtrays, knife rests, drinking glasses, statuettes as well as glass jewellery. Many of these options would be appropriate for a collection with spatial limitations.

Joy McCall is a senior specialist in decorative arts and design from 1860 at the Edinburgh and London-based auction house Lyon & Turnbull, which is the only UK auctioneer to hold biannual specialist Lalique sales, the next of which is on April 29 at the Mall Galleries in London. For more details go to www.lyonandturnbull.com

Right Lalique fish

sculptures in a range of colours start at £75

Below left René Lalique (1860-1945) lid of Libellules, opalescent glass bowl and cover, 1921, image courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull Bottom left René Lalique

(1860-1945) Libellules, opalescent glass bowl and cover, introduced 1921, image courtesy of Lyon & Turnbull

LALIQUE COLLECTING KNOW HOW Real or fake?

The first challenge is to determine if a piece is genuine. Sadly, because Lalique is popular and of such value, items have been produced that are fake. It is therefore important to buy from a reputable source.

In good order or not?

The next factor to consider is the condition, as this can have a significant impact on the value of Lalique glass and so a careful examination of the piece is vital. Be sure to check for chips, cracks and repairs, which may or may not be easily apparent. Damage can very often be subtly disguised by staining, by polishing or by the reduction of the piece in height, width or diameter.

Dating Lalique The age of a piece may potentially affect its value, with works by René Lalique made during his lifetime being more sought after than later executed examples.

A gauge of age can be made by looking at the marks.

How is the piece signed? As a general rule of thumb early pieces are marked ‘R. Lalique’ and works produced after René Lalique’s death just ‘Lalique’.

However, there are exceptions to this: some early works by René Lalique were simply signed ‘Lalique’ and some works produced after his death have been tampered with and will read ‘R. Lalique’ when in fact they are not old enough to have been made by him.

On a limited budget But what about the collector with a more limited budget? Well, while not everyone has the ability to spend over £2m on a pair of doors designed by the master, there are still many items to acquire for under £100. There are also pieces currently being retailed by Lalique for under £100. One of my personal favourites is the Fish at £75, available in 28 different shades.

DISCOVER MORE Collections of Lalique can be seen at Musée Lalique, in Wingen-sur-Moder, France, www.musee-lalique.com; the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Portugal, www. gulbenkian.pt and the Corning Museum of Glass, New York, www.cmog.org. Closer to home St Matthew’s Church in Jersey is furnished with moulded white glass made in the 1930s by René Lalique, with a forged glass font signed by Lalique, www.stmatthews.je ANTIQUE COLLECTING 19

COLLECTING GUIDES Heal’s of London

H

Fashion

Heal’s Heal’s classic look of limed oak belies a store at the forefront of design fashion for more than 200 years, writes Holly Johnson

20 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Top Limed oak has

been a signature look for Heal’s of London for many years, image courtesy of Heal’s

Above The designer Ambrose Heal, image courtesy of Heal’s

eal’s of London has been a well-established name in the UK furniture market for centuries, with its classic designs finding favour with everyone from interior designers to value-conscious buyers. But the store’s longevity masks a history packed with innovation and even controversy.

Heal’s story began in 1810 when John Harris Heal, a feather dyer from the West Country, opened a shop at 33 Rathbone Place in 1810 (the business moved to its famous Tottenham Court Road location eight years later). Heal’s first incarnation was as a mattress business, selling French-style, feather-filled versions at a time when many people slept on straw palettes.

After John died in 1833 his widow renamed the business Fanny Heal & Son and with their son, also named John Harris, set about putting Heal’s on the map. The latter spotted the importance of marketing

The Dodie wardrobe

and saw the potential in advertising and, in 1837, promoted the shop on the back cover of Dickens’ novel, Bleak House – one of the first retailers to do so.

FAMILY BUSINESS His grandson Ambrose Heal (1872-1959) joined the company in 1893, having completed an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. His contribution expanded the business into a wider range of furniture, including beds, dressers, and tables. With an entrepreneurial eye finely attuned to demand, much of his output was simple oak furniture, which was fashionable with the ‘weekend cottage’ set at the turn of the century.

By the end of the 20th century, Heal’s ranked alongside Waring & Gillow and Maple & Co. as one of the best-known London furniture houses. Ambrose believed in modernity and combined a functional aestheticism with a conviction that affordable furniture produced in large-scale workshops could still be of a good quality.

He had the vision to work with the most skilled craftspeople of the day, creating furniture that was comfortable, beautiful – reflecting the ideals of the arts and crafts movement but at a more affordable price.

A lot of his designs appeared at exhibitions of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society, but not everyone was a fan of his pared-back, with one shop assistant asking how they were expected to sell ‘prison furniture’?

Above A set of eight yew dining chairs by Heal’s of London, c. 1930, image courtesy of Holly Johnson Antiques Right A Dodie wardrobe,

designed by Ambrose Heal for his mistress, the author Dodie Smith

Below right Heal’s classic

designs have stood the test of time, image courtesy of Heal’s

In 1932, Ambrose Heal designed the Dodie bedroom suite, which includes this inlaid wardrobe, for his mistress Dodie Smith, who started as a shopgirl and later penned the children’s book The Hundred and One Dalmatians.

Dodie was a key character at Heal’s during the 1920s and 1930s, where she ran the toy department, as well as being a talented buyer for the shop.

Its striking geometric zig-zag decoration is typical of the art deco style of the 1920s, which Heal’s diversified into across a range of furniture, ceramics, glass, and textiles.

The wardrobe is now part of the V&A’s furniture collection.

DESIGN INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION A good friend of Ambrose Heal, Frank Pick (18781941) was not only the managing director of the London Underground during the 1920s but a passionate advocate of design. In 1915, he and Ambrose founded the Design and Industries Association (DIA), to promote links between designers, manufacturers and retailers.

After WWI, the outlook of the DIA and Ambrose Heal’s friendship with Gordon Russell led to a growing interest in good modern furniture design, further consolidated by the contributions of Arthur Greenwood and J.F. Johnson to the design team.

Taking this commitment further, in 1917 Ambrose

‘In 1933, Ambrose Heal launched the campaign, Economy with a Difference, at Heal’s, a clear step towards the new, Bauhaus direction. The catalogue featured chromium-plated steel furniture, including a chair designed by Mies van der Rohe which sold for £2 9s 6d’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING 21

COLLECTING GUIDES Heal’s of London

opened the Mansard Gallery on the top floor of the central London shop, with Pick providing Underground poster artwork for the first exhibition, Poster Pictures.

Many of those same graphic artists whose work was featured were commissioned to design posters for Heal’s newest space, including Pick’s star designer, Edward McKnight Kauffer.

MANSARD GALLERY In 1916, Cecil Brewer (Ambrose Heal’s cousin) designed the iconic spiralling ‘Brewer’ staircase, leading to the gallery, further adding to the Tottenham Court Road shop as a must-visit location. The gallery was a well-known spot frequented by Bloomsbury group luminaries such as Virginia Woolf and Wyndham Lewis.

Such was his connection to the Mansard that in

Above left The Fine Feathers suite, with pewter inlay, designed

by Ambrose Heal in 1898, image courtesy of Heal’s Above The owl cabinet, 1904. Considered by many to be the best piece of furniture Ambrose Heal designed, it is also known as the fumed chestnut cabinet 372, image courtesy of Heal’s Above right The company became synonymous with modern design, image courtesy of Heal’s Left A limed oak tallboy

by Heal’s of London, c.

1920, image courtesy of Holly Johnson Antiques Below Advertising

posters showed the breadth of the London store’s range, created by in-house display manager Charles Feeney, image courtesy of Heal’s

22 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

1920 Lewis used the venue to host his Group X show, bringing together a number of painters and sculptors from the British Vorticist movement.

Celebrated figures such as Claud Lovat Fraser, who played an important role in graphic design and theatre set design in the early 20th century, also held exhibitions of their work at the Mansard Gallery and designed the company’s seminal posters, while its catalogues contained essays by influential art critics.

FURNITURE INNOVATIONS As the decade progressed, the Mansard Gallery increasingly served to showcase the latest developments in interior design, with some of the new styles of furniture proving more controversial than the artworks. From 1928, the Modern Tendencies series of exhibitions continued to shock commentators by bringing tubular style furniture to the high street and introducing Britain’s homeowners to the ‘moderne’ and art deco styles that were sweeping across the continent.

But the extravagance of the roaring Twenties was to be cut short by the downturn of the Thirties. Heal’s responded by launching a range of economy furniture.

Ambrose invested in a nationwide promotional campaign called Heal’s Economy Furniture for 1932 and All That.

A year later, he launched the campaign, Economy with a Difference at Heal’s 1933 which took a clear step in the new, Bauhaus direction. The catalogue featured chromium-plated steel furniture, including a chair designed by Mies van der Rohe which sold

for £2 9s 6d. By 1936, an exhibition entitled Contemporary Furniture by Seven Architects featured the work of another former Bauhaus professor Marcel Breuer.

WWII AND BEYOND During the WWII, Heal’s factory workers turned their attention to manufacturing parachutes. Although this moved the brand in a different direction, the workforce at Heal’s learned new skills, which helped in launching Heal’s fabric arm of the business: Heal’s Fabrics. For this nascent enterprise many young and emerging designers were commissioned to produce designs, including Lucienne Day, whose Calyx design of 1951 won a prize at the 1951 Milan Triennale, and an international reputation was gained for excellence and innovation in textile design that continued to develop in the 1960s.

At the same time, furniture design still remained a strong core of the Heal’s profile with investment in Clive Latimer’s Plymet (plywood and metal) furniture and backing for his and Robin Day’s prize-winning involvement in the Low-Cost Furniture Competition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1948.

HEAL’S IN THE ‘50S Ambrose died in 1959, having already passed control of the company to his son, Anthony, in 1953 who had already been apprenticed to the Gordon Russell furniture workshops at Broadway, in Gloucestershire, from 1927 to 1929 before entering the firm.

The company continued to expand and develop its lines often echoing the Scandinavian designers.

But the looming oil crisis, alongside growing competition, began to cause problems for Heal’s and despite a number of strategic attempts to counter this, such as the Classics design show of 1981, the writing was on the wall for a philosophy that sought to promote the somewhat dated notion of good design for everyone.

Right Furniture by

Heal’s, such as this drop down desk, suit a range of interiors, image courtesy of Holly Johnson Antiques

Below left Advertising in Dickens’ novels, 1837, became larger and more elaborate, eventually taking the shape of expensive, full-page notices, image courtesy of Heal’s Below right Oak chest

of drawers by Heal’s of London, c. 1920, image courtesy of Holly Johnson Antiques

COLLECTING HEALS Interior designers, both in the UK and abroad, love Heal’s furniture, with furniture from the period 1900 to 1940 being especially prized.

Even during his own lifetime, Ambrose Heal’s designs evolved from the early arts and crafts influenced Fine Feather range from the late 1890s (inlaid with pewter peacock feather designs) to the more modern, linear style in the 1930s.

Heal’s aged oak and limed-oak pieces are both popular and reasonably priced, with painted furniture rarer and harder to come across. Heal’s clean lines and light woods, make it as fashionable today as it was a century ago.

Holly Johnson, owner of Holly Johnson Antiques in Knutsford, Cheshire, has a range of furniture by Heal’s in stock with prices starting around £1,000, for more details visit www.hollyjohnsonantiques.com

‘By the end of the 20th century, Heal’s ranked alongside Gillows & Waring and Maple & Co.’

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 23

MEMORABILIA Wild men of rock

Stage-used guitars are the pinnacle for Hendrix collectors. The most valuable? The white Fender Stratocaster Hendrix played at Woodstock in 1969.

Taking to the stage eight hours late at 8am on Monday morning, when the crowd had mostly gone, Hendrix ended his set with the now-iconic distorted version of The Star-Spangled Banner. In 1993, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen bought it for a reported $1.3m for his Allen’s Experience Music Project in Seattle.

Cool & Collectable

2021 marks 50 years since the death of The Doors’ frontman Jim Morrison. Collectables expert Paul Fraser delves into memorabilia from the wild men of rock

JIMI HENDRIX

Fellow musicians dubbed Jimi Hendrix ‘The Bat’ during his time living in London – due to the late hours he kept and the fact the curtains were always drawn in his top floor flat in Brook Street.

A member of the ill-fated “27 club”, Hendrix’s early death at 27, the same age as Jim Morrison, ensures his memorabilia is rare and his mystique is strong – perfect conditions for big auction prices. Hendrix’s autograph has grown in value by 5 per cent per annum since 2000, according to my PFC40 Autograph Index.

Expect to pay £8,000 for a top-quality signed photo.

Hendrix’s quintessential style ensures his clothes are in high demand. We sold one of his waistcoats for more than £12,000 recently.

Top Jimi Hendrix in concert in Berlin in 1971 Top right Jimi Hendrix’s scarf sold for £6,500, image Paul Fraser Collectibles Top far right Jimi Hendrix’s waistcoat sold for £12,995, image Paul Fraser Collectibles Above right Jimi Hendrix playing the the white Fender Stratocaster at Woodstock in 1969 Left Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen bought the guitar for a reported $1.3m in 1993, image Sotheby’s Right The passport was issued in Joey Ramone’s real name, Jeff Hyman, image courtesy of RR Auctions

24 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

THE RAMONES

The original punk rockers, the Ramones have a long list of wild stories, from being held up at gunpoint by Phil Spector, to throwing furniture out of windows (before clichéd).

In 2013, Joey Ramone’s passport, signed in his real name, Jeff Hyman, sold for £9,000.

It illustrated the band’s rigorous touring schedule in the 1980s, featuring stamps and attached work permits from across the world.

Joey’s personal record collection, featuring 97 vinyl albums, also sold at the auction. The collection contains almost no punk records, instead offering an eclectic selection from artists including Pat Boone, the Righteous Brothers and David Essex. It sold for £15,000.

Below The passport was issued in Joey Ramone’s real name, Jeff Hyman, image courtesy of RR Auctions

Marc Bolan fronting T. Rex in 1973, image Wikicommons

THE SEX PISTOLS

Of the four Pistols, Sid Vicious, has the most allure for punk rock collectors today, due to his early death in 1979 (and Johnny Rotten’s decision to advertise Country Life butter in 2009).

Subsequently, Vicious’ personal memorabilia is hugely popular.

Vicious was rarely photographed without his Rabbit-brand padlock and chain around his neck – an iconic punk accessory. One of three owned

by Vicious sold at a Fame Bureau auction in 2008 for £22,000. It featured numerous chopped chain links where it had been cut by the police following various arrests.

In October 1978, Vicious’ girlfriend Nancy Spungen was found stabbed to death in their room at the Chelsea Hotel in New York.

Vicious was charged with her murder. While on bail he was required to sign in at the police station three times a week. A spiral-bound bail notebook bearing 16 signatures signed in his real name, John Ritchie, sold for $13,045 at RR Auction in 2012.

The signatures date from November 22, 1978, to December 7, 1978, when Vicious was sent back to jail. The final entry dated February 1, 1979, reads, “Released on Bail—Sgt. Kilroy.” Vicious died from a heroin overdose on February 2.

Paul Fraser Collectibles has an original ad for the Pistols’ Pretty Vacant single signed by the whole band. Priced at £8,500.

Above left An original ad for the Pistols’ Pretty Vacant single signed by the whole band is priced at £8,500, image Paul Fraser Collectibles Above The Afghan coat belonging to Marc Bolan will set you back £4,950, image Paul Fraser Collectibles Below Vicious on stage with his trademark padlock and chain necklace, image Wikicommons Below right Richards’ jackets cost more than £6,000 if worn on stage, image Wikicommons

‘Another member of the ill-fated '27 club', Hendrix’s early death ensures his memorabilia is rare and his mystique is strong – perfect conditions for big auction prices’

MARC BOLAN

DJ John Peel called Marc Bolan “a flower child with a knife up his sleeve”. The progenitor of glam rock, who formed the band T. Rex in 1967, is one of the more affordable wild men of music, with his autograph available for around £200 at auction, and handwritten notes and poems rarely reaching four figures.

If you’re looking for something quintessentially Bolan, Paul Fraser Collectibles has an Afghan coat owned by the T. Rex frontman for £4,950.

WHERE’S KEEF?

No list of wild men of rock is complete without mention of the Stones, particularly Keith Richards. Unfortunately for Stones collectors, the band are extraordinarily protective of their memorabilia, with Bill Wyman the only one of the group to have put his collection up for auction. The occasional Richards-worn garment does appear, however. Expect to pay £6,000plus for a stage-worn jacket.

Paul Fraser is the founder of Paul Fraser Collectibles, for more details go to www. paulfrasercollectibles.com ANTIQUE COLLECTING 25

COLLECTING GUIDES Historic shoes The oldest shoe on show is a red velvet mule from the 1690s, which, despite its age, is still a recognisable style (right).

Manager of the Fashion Museum, Rosemary Harden, said: “It’s a very familiar-looking shoe that doesn’t have a back, designed in a style that’s still prevalent and fashionable now. It shows the continuity in stylistic variations down the centuries.”

Decorated with stunning gold and silver embroidery, the shoe also features raised work metal thread embroidery in real gold thread. During this period, shoes with colourful and intricate patterns were worn as early fashion statements by both men and women. While men’s shoes and mules were mainly domed, with square toes, women’s typically had pointed toes, which were deemed more feminine.

BUCKLE UP

BEST FOOT FORWARD With their colourful fabrics and detailed embroidery, historic shoes offer collectors the chance to own items with a unique sense of style and history

I

n 1991, the discovery of the well-preserved body of a 5,300-year-old man, mummified for millennia within a glacier in the Ötztal Alps on the border between Austria and Italy, created headlines around the world.

Nicknamed Ötzi, the iceman emerged from his frozen resting place still wearing a woven grass cloak, leggings, and a loincloth. On his feet was a pair of shoes made from deerskin, woven fibre from the linden tree and bearskin. The footwear demonstrated how human beings have been devising clever ways to protect their feet for thousands of years. Indeed, other research by anthropologists suggests that the practice dates back even further to some 40,000 years ago, evidenced by changes to the shoe-wearing feet of ancient skeletons.

SHOE IN This month (Covid-19 dependent), Shoephoria! – an exhibition at the Fashion Museum in Bath – showcases three centuries of footwear and how changing styles have been driven by practical considerations as well as the vagaries of fashion.

More than 200 pairs of boots and shoes, many from the museum’s own world-class collection alongside others on loan, will be on display.

26 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Above Floral embroidered

high heels, c. 1760s, all images, unless otherwise stated, courtesy of the Fashion Museum Bath

Below Queen Victoria’s

boots c. 1850s, Made by Joseph Box, London

In the 1660s, the shoe buckle began to appear as a decorative adornment and fastener, with Samuel Pepy’s eagerly embracing the look. In his diary dated January 22, 1660 he wrote: “This day I began to put on buckles to my shoe, which I had bought yesterday of Mr. Wotton.”

Throughout the 17th century, both men and women began to adopt buckles to replace ribbons that had previously been used to fasten shoes.

By the 18th century, men’s shoes were gradually becoming plainer in appearance, frequently constructed of black leather, with the toes pointed and the heels much lower. However, mules also featured as a popular choice for men, who wore them as indoor slippers, embellished with various colours and materials. The heels were typically flared and the choice of decoration could be designed to signify the wearer’s social standing and wealth.

Women’s shoes were generally made from finer materials including silk to mirror the look of their dresses. Rosemary said: “The exhibition will showcase a pair of embroidered silk high heels from the 1760s, in a beautiful cream colour, with the most colourful, floral embroidery of pinks, greens, yellows and blues. A style fashionable throughout the 18th century.”

While such examples were largely intended for indoor use due to their delicate construction, they were also worn when venturing outside. Rosemary continued: “Some of the 18th-century shoes had leather undershoes called clogs which were put over the shoe and tied with ribbons to protect the fabric of the shoe”.

Another protective alternative was a patten – a wooden soled over-shoe with an iron ring. Rosemary explained: “The iron ring went on the ground, and you tied the shoe into the wooden sole and leather straps.”

The patten allowed the shoe to be elevated above the damaging effects of the period’s muddy and dungridden streets.

RED HEELS The 18th century continued a flurry of changing styles including the demand for red heels, first popular with the restoration of Charles II in 1660. Charles, an early style influencer, introduced French fashions to the British court, with his red heels popular with both men and women for decades.

Elsewhere, highly-decorated mules for women continued in style, partly due to the subliminal sexual connotations they communicated. Mules were closely associated with Madame de Pompadour, the mistress of France’s King Louis XV, and also featured in the painting The Swing by the French artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Painted in 1767, the celebrated image suggestively depicts a young lady swinging with unrestrained pleasure while her silk dress lifts to reveal stocking-clad legs as she kicks off one of her mules in the direction of a gentleman in a nearby bush, smiling with obvious delight. Rosemary said: “There was even a style of women’s heel called the ‘pompadour’ towards the end of the 1770s and 1780s. It was a very high heel which was slightly curved.”

Other designs that made an appearance included the upturned toes of Chinese-influenced styles, and more restrained examples featuring shorter heels that

Above left Leather laceup walking shoes, 1810s Above right Red velvet mule with gold and silver embroidery, 1690s Below right Green silk

damask shoe trimmed with gold woven braid, 1730s

Below Jean-Honoré

Fragonard (1732-1806),

The Swing, 1767

appeared as a reaction to the outlandish fashions that presaged the French Revolution. This style for lower heels continued into the next century, and the earlier penchant for pointed toes increasingly gave way to ovaltoe and square-toe shapes.

MASS PRODUCED As the Industrial Revolution gathered pace throughout the 19th century, the process of shoe-making was transformed as machinery, including the sewing machine, made production quicker and the resulting shoes less expensive. Leather also became the material of choice for manufacturers.

Rosemary said: “Before the 19th century, leather was what ordinary people’s shoes were made of with fabric more high end. Throughout fashion, you often see items of dress previously at the fringe slowly become fashionable. It’s to do with factors such as economics, supply, productivity, manufacturing and industrialisation.

When all these things are thrown into the mix, fashions tend to change.”

As the century progressed demand was met by a combination of smaller makers and largerscale enterprises – sharing similarities with today’s retailing. Rosemary said: “Shoes made by makers were distinguishable because they had the maker’s label inside. There were also ready-made shoes, and a number of makers would have sold their shoes through warehouses. Just as with fashion today, the shoe warehouses were like our internet.”

‘While men’s shoes and mules could be domed, with the toes being squared or sometimes forked, women were increasingly opting for more pointed toes’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING 27

COLLECTING GUIDES Historic shoes

Kicking sales

SQUARE DEAL By the middle of the century, women were seen in the ubiquitous square-toed, flat boots that were laced or elasticated up one side, invariably with some form of decoration on the toe. Interestingly, one seemingly obvious design facet that today we take for granted was still not part of shoe and boot construction in the Victorian era.

Rosemary explained: “Shoes weren’t made in left and right. The museum has a pair of Queen Victoria’s elastic-sided boots from the 1850s made by a maker called Joseph Box. The shoes were made as ‘straights’ and it was only through usage that left and right was identified.”

Today, as with other garments and clothing, many of the earlier examples of footwear that survive tend to be those that belonged to women. Rosemary said: “A lot of menswear was worn until it was worn out.

A lot of womenswear that survives is very decorative and seen as special so was kept by families for generations.”

Her favourite shoe? “I particularly love one pair from the 1760s because they match a dress that we have. The workmanship is exquisite, the colours of the threads are the same as when they were worn, and they’ve taken on the shape of the wearer’s foot. I feel so privileged to be so close to the woman who wore that pair of shoes in the 18th century. That feeling stops you in your tracks.”

Shoephoria! is provisionally due to open at the Fashion Museum in Bath on March 29 and will run into 2022. The exhibition will showcase more than 200 pairs of boots and shoes from the last 300 years. For more information and to see the latest Covid-19 restrictions go to www.fashionmuseum.co.uk

‘Women’s shoes were typically made from finer materials including silk to mirror the look of their dresses’ 28 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Above left Rosemary Harden, manager of the Fashion Museum Bath Above Scarlet red embroidered silk satin shoes, c. 1905, made by Stagg & Mantle, London Above right A pair of Queen Victoria’s brown kid leather boots that sold for £4,000, image courtesy of Hansons Auctioneers Below right Marie

Antoinette’s silk and kidskin leather shoe, image courtesy of Osenat

Bottom right The inscription on the heel of the shoe, image courtesy of Osenat

Shoes worn by wellknown historical figures are always in demand with collectors. They offer both a close and highly personal connection to the original wearer alongside interest as an historical artefact.

A single silk and kidskin leather shoe that belonged to Marie Antoinette was sold at Parisian auction house, Osenat, in November 2020, smashing its pre-sale estimate of €8,000 to €10,000 to fetch €43,750. Across the heel of the dainty item was written in ink: Soulier de Marie-Antoinette donné à M. de Voisey’ (Marie-Antoinette’s shoe given to M. de Voisey).

Two pairs of leather boots made for Queen Victoria by J Sparks-Hall of London were part of a collection of royal outfits bought by the Historic Royal Palaces recently. Hansons Auctioneers sold one pair of the Queen’s brown kid leather boots for £4,000, while a second pair fetched £2,000. The items were consigned to the sale by the descendants of a royal photographer, Alexander Lamont Henderson, who it’s believed was given the boots and clothing by royal servants perhaps in return for taking their photographs.

A pair of rare Nike Air Jordan 1 High sneakers signed and worn by basketball legend Michael Jordan during an exhibition match in Italy in 1985, sold for $615,000 at Christie’s in August 2020. The sale set a new record price for a pair of sneakers sold at auction, beating another pair of Jordan Nikes that had sold for $560,000 at Sotheby’s just three months earlier.

Sole Sister

Q&A London-based antique dress and textiles specialist Meg Andrews has been a dealer in shoes for 35 years

QA

What is your area of interest?

18th and 19th-century shoes are, for me, the most interesting. I love wondering who might have worn them and for what occasion. They are also often very beautiful and exquisitely made.

QA QA Q A

How did designs change over the centuries?

The shoe shape changed with the dress shape. In the 18th century, women’s shoes would often match their dresses. A piece of fabric would be left over from the dress and would be used to make a pair of shoes. After all, little fabric was required.

QA

What would be your ‘Holy Grail’?

I love 1790s shoes with small, wedge-shaped heels and pointed toes. Why doesn’t someone make that style Below A pair of Louis heel wedding shoes from

1770s-1780s, image courtesy of Meg Andrews

made to last. You had to be wealthy to buy them in the first place, and after a few wears they were stained. Pattens or overshoes were worn, but these did not offer a lot of protection from rain or mud splattering. The wealthy used carriages or sedan chairs to prevent them walking through muddy streets, but they would still have to alight from a carriage into 18th-century mire.

Q A

What affects the value of items?

Rarity first, then provenance, condition and attractiveness.

The older the shoe the less likely it is to be in good condition. After all, they have been worn, often in inclement weather.

How about any repairs or damage?

Most 18th-century shoes have splits and stains to the silk. A conservator may reduce the intensity of a mark, but they can rarely be removed.

Above A pair of black kid leather shoes with an Italian heel, 1790s. The pair are ‘straights’, with no difference between left and right, image courtesy of Meg Andrews

Above A rare man’s black leather shoe, late 15th/ early 16th century, with a deep, squarish tongue and rounded toe, image courtesy of Meg Andrews

today? They are very flattering and wearable.

QA

Who buys historic shoes?

Museums and collectors buy the rarest. 20th-century shoes are liked by those who wear vintage dress, but sizes tend to be smaller and many are unwearable. Designer shoes are bought by serious collectors.

QA

How can you find makers’ names?

From the 1740s, makers printed their address labels on the inside cotton of the shoe. By the 19th century, labels appear more often. Any label is interesting and adds that little bit extra to the history of the shoe.

QA

Are certain items more in demand?

The earlier the more desirable, but I can’t remember when a pair of 17th-century shoes, men’s or women’s, were on the market. However, I recently sold some 16th-century shoes, which must have been found by mudlarkers, but it is rare to find them. 18th-century women’s shoes are sometimes available, but rarely in good condition. Made of silk brocade or satin and occasionally embroidered, they were not

Are women’s shoes more in demand than men’s?

Men’s shoes rarely come on the market, but if they did they would be highly collected. Their shoes and boots were sturdy, made to last in leather, and were probably worn until they wore out. Women’s shoes made of pretty, delicate materials became damaged, but were still kept because they were a reminder of a particular event and too precious to throw away.

QA

Where can we find out more?

Visiting museums such as the Northampton Shoe Museum which, with more than 12,000 pairs, has the largest collection in the UK (www. northamptonshirebootandshoe.org.uk). The V&A also has a good selection, (www.vam. ac.uk) as does the Fashion Museum in Bath, (www.fashionmuseum.co.uk), as well as the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, (www.nms.ac.uk).

Many smaller museums also have shoe collections. Recommended books include Shoes: An Illustrated History by Rebecca Shawcross; Footwear and Shoes and Boots from the Hopkins Collection by Alan and Vanessa Hopkins. The Seductive Shoe. Four Centuries of Fashion Footwear by Jonathan Walford is another valuable source of advice.

Meg Andrews has been selling and advising curators, collectors and designers for the past 35 years. Previously she established the Costume & Textiles Department at Sotheby’s Belgravia. For more details go to www.meg-andrews.com

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 29

ANTIQUES UNDER THE HAMMER The collection of the 2nd Countess Mountbatten

SALEROOM SPOTLIGHT With estimates starting at just £80, there’s a chance this month for seasoned collectors, as well as new royal watchers, to acquire treasures owned by a woman at the heart of the 20th-century monarchy

portrait of her husband Prince Albert as a child, and an Imperial Order of which the Queen is the only living recipient.

Other highlights in the eclectic mix include a Fabergé clock, Chippendale furniture and a toy robot Lord Mountbatten gave to his children in the Fifties.

POWER COUPLE As the daughter of 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and the glamorous heiress-turned-philanthropist Edwina Ashley, Patricia had an unconventional upbringing, from weekend parties with King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson at her parents’ estate in Hampshire to evacuation on the eve of the Blitz to stay with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt III in her palatial Fifth Avenue apartment in New York.

In 1943, aged 19, she joined the Women’s Royal Navy Service where she met and fell in love with Lord Brabourne (John Knatchbull) who had worked for Patricia’s father in India. When Patricia inherited her father’s peerages, the pair became one of the very few married couples in England each of whom held a peerage in his or her own right and the custodians of two great inheritances.

STELLAR PROVENANCE

A pair of jewelled gold and enamel elephants, Jaipur, 1946. A gift from Patricia’s father Lord Mountbatten to her mother on their 24th wedding anniversary and has an estimate of £2,000£3,000 at this month’s sale

A

s the great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, great niece of Russia’s last Tsarina and first cousin to Prince Philip, it is not surprising the collection of Patricia Knatchbull, the late 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, includes a dazzling array of treasures.

The eldest daughter of Lord Louis Mountbatten (played by Greg Wise in The Crown) and Lady Mountbatten, Patricia was at the heart of a dynasty of royal and political relations.

She was married to John Knatchbull, 7th Lord Brabourne who died in 2005, with their wedding in 1946 attended by George V, with the royal princesses Elizabeth and Margaret as bridesmaids and Prince Philip serving as an usher.

Patricia was also on the boat which was blown up by the IRA off the shores of County Sligo in 1979, killing her father Lord Mountbatten, one of her twin sons, 14 year-old Nicholas; her mother-in-law, the Dowager Baroness Brabourne; and 15-year-old Paul Maxwell.

Now the countess’s family is to sell more than 350 items belonging to Patricia and her husband. Among the items for sale by Sotheby’s on March 24 are a bracelet that once belonged to Queen Victoria containing a

30 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Lord Brabourne inherited Mersham le Hatch, the Robert Adam-designed house in the Kent countryside, where the Knatchbull family has lived since the 15th century.

Furnished by Thomas Chippendale in the 1770s, it housed objects with extraordinarily diverse provenances, Left A Fabergé silver-gilt inkwell, probably by Julius Rappoport, St Petersburg, c.

1900, inscribed to John from his wife on their 20th wedding anniversary, has an estimate of £4,000-£6,000

Top Lord and Lady

Mountbatten and their daughter Patricia © The University of Southampton Library

Above right A late

18th-century brooch inherited by members of the Knatchbull family with its last wearer being Patricia. It has an estimate of £40,000£60,000

Right The inscription

in Patricia’s handwriting looking forward to 20 even more perfect years

including those belonging to the explorer and botanist Sir Joseph Banks who travelled to Australia on Cook’s first expedition collecting thousands of plant specimens previously unknown in Europe.

In addition to which, Patricia inherited objects from her parents’ glamorous art deco penthouse on Park Lane, including treasures from Edwina’s maternal grandfather who had, in turn, inherited the treasures from the Edwardian financier and collector Sir Ernest Cassel. Cassel was a financial advisor to King Edward VII, Edwina’s godfather, after whom she was named. When he died, the 21-year-old inherited a vast fortune, including his extraordinary collection of early silver and Chinese jades, some of which is on sale this month.

AUCTION fact file WHAT: Property from the Collection of The 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma When: March 24 Where: Sotheby’s, 34-35 New Bond Street, London W1A 2AA Viewing: Online at www.sothebys. com and at a public exhibition from March 20-23 Above left Once owned

by Queen Victoria – a diamond-set and enamelled gold bracelet containing a miniature portrait of Prince Albert as a child. It has an estimate of £4,000£6,000 Left A Chinese white jade model of a buddhistic lion, Qing Dynasty, once in the collection of Sir Ernest Cassel, has an estimate of £15,000-£25,000 Below left A gem-set

gold mesh evening bag

by Lacloche Frères, Paris, c. 1905, owned

by Patricia’s mother, Edwina, has an estimate of £2,000-£3,000

IN MY OPINION...

We asked Sotheby’s chairman Harry Dalmeny to share his highlights Why is the sale so special?

A sale like this doesn’t come up very often, marking a really special moment. The collection is rich and eclectic, with a strong biographical feel that tells the story of the great art patrons over the centuries, while providing an intimate look into one of the most important and well-known dynasties of our time.

None of these items have been offered to the public before, so we expect a great deal of excitement on the day. Testament to the breadth of the offering, I will be one of a team of auctioneers on the day.

Which pieces might attract the more experienced collector?

Many of the objects are museum-quality in their own right and we would expect them to appeal to serious collectors of furniture and decorative arts – even without the Mountbatten connection. Take the exquisite 18th-century Anglo-Indian Chippendale Indian bureau (below). It was an heirloom passed down through the Knatchbull side of the family and encapsulates the family’s passion for craftsmanship.

Are there any entry-level lots for the new and aspiring collector?

There is a real range of estimates across the almost 400 lots, with opportunities for those making their first foray into buying at auction. The lowest estimate is just £80, for a brooch designed as a Canadian maple leaf, gifted to Patricia’s mother, Edwina, by Ottawa Women’s Canadian Club on a visit in 1955.

Do you have a favourite piece?

It has to be the jewelled elephants; iridescent miniatures of the greatest creatures on Earth, chosen as a wedding anniversary present. Unforgettable – as you might expect!

Below An Anglo-Indian inlaid bureau made by Thomas

Chippendale for Sir Edward Knatchbull in 1767 for £4, estimated at this month’s sale at £40,000-£60,000

‘Patricia was on the boat which was blown up by the IRA off the shores County Sligo in 1979, killing her father Lord Mountbatten, one of her twin sons, 14 year-old Nicholas and her mother-in-law, the Dowager Baroness Brabourne’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING 31

TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

Puzzle TIME Time on your hands? Boost your antiques know-how with questions and a crossword from our compiler Peter Wade-Wright

Send your answers to Crossword, Antique Collecting magazine, Sandy Lane, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD, UK. Photocopies are also acceptable, or email your answer to: magazine@accartbooks. com. The first three opened February 10 will win a copy of 100 British Chairs by Adam Bowett, worth £25.

Finally, here are four anagrams A RAM BEGS NAILS… BE WELL BIG DON…BURN MALE CAD… WE RAN AETHER. Rearrange them to form: (a) something to hold candles, (b) a lead-based material (two words) of pale amber colour with aruby tinge (c) a material pervious to liquids after firing, and (d) a container (two words) used by barber-surgeons.

MARCH QUIZ Here is a list of four Williams born in the 18th century: (a) Duesbury, (b) Chambers, (c) Billingsley, (d) Beilby.

1 Which was an architect and furniture designer?

2 Which was a glass enameller?

3 One of those two had a sister who, if not as talented as her brother, was no slouch in the same skills. Which one?

4 What was her name? (a) Margaret, (b) Martha, (c) Mary, (d) Melody.

5 The other two Williams were known for (a) watercolours, (b) toy making, (c) bookbinding, (d) porcelain and its decoration.

6 Gaufrage is a technique of (a) ornamentation in textiles, (b) pattern matching in early wallpapers, (c) mechanical bookbinding, (d) ‘distressing’ of furniture, originally artistically but then purloined by unscrupulous dealers.

Above A goblet by another William (or his sister) Right The work of one of

four well-known Williams

7 The American book box was also known by some as (a) ledger box, (b) Bible box, (c) copy box, (d) French box.

8 When asked how he knew that a painting was finished and could not, presumably, be improved upon, which of the following French painters is reported to have replied that a picture was finished when he wanted to slap its bottom?

For the answers turn to page 35 1

SOLUTION TO LAST MONTH’S CROSSWORD:

The letters in the highlighted squares were 9 The first royal Swedish coins (issued around the rearranged give the time of the first millennium) were copies of which answer Automata. earlier, foreign coins? (a) Pfennig, (b) Crux, (c) The winners are Styca, (d) Denier.

S. Bostock, 10 Amaranth is (a) a tusk decoration on Raj-era Southampton; S. Robins, elephants, (b) a box, originally French, in which Hayling Island; R. Balls, Chichester to keep love letters, (c) a type of wood with a violet/purple colour, (d) a love-seat with space for a chaperone. (a) Bonnard, (b) Degas, (c) Matisse, (d) Renoir.

32 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

2

D E L A I 8 N Y M O 12 E G G E L 17 L A S S 22 L A

3

F T 7 E P H 10 R A 15 N 18 T 20 21 O A I D 25 L A E 26 G O L E M

4

P T U 9 E A R

5

6

R I N I U D E N E 13 14 R A M 16 S E F 19 A T I S T B 23 H O U R M E R 27 R O Y A

T

11

E S T E

24

S O L

1

2

3

4

5

7

8 10

12

13

14

6

10

ACROSS CLUE

9

What is the name of one of suckling twins?

11

15

16 17 22

18

19

20

21

23

24

25

26

27

Across

1 With 1 down. Mushroom-shaped, anti-rodent barn support (sing.) (7, 5) 5 Open country. Also Wesley ___ (1914-1981) American artist. (3) 7 Side of a coin containing the principal symbol, especially a head. (7) 8 Choose. Also an abbreviation found on some Roman coins meaning ‘The Greatest Ruler’. (3) 10 One of the twin sons of Mars being suckled in the Capitoline Wolf bronze (shown above, right). (5) 12 With 20-Across. Thames island community of artists of many types. (3, 3) 14 Modern name for an apparently ancient Greek toy that was once called a bandalore. (2-2) 17 Capital of Norway where Edvard Munch studied art. (4) 20 See 12-Across.

22 One of the deadly sins. (5) 24 The slaughter and martyrdom of Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion is shown in a woodcut by Dürer The Martyrdom of the _____ Thousand. (3) 25 French name for a large cupboard, usually with two doors. (7) 26 A box that in the Middle Ages could contain cosmetics or relics. (3) 27 Victorian writer whose characters were produced as figurines

by Charles Noke (1858-1941). (7)

‘David and John Phillip _ _ _ _ _ Dutch silversmith brothers who moved to England in the 1680s and are known for their unglazed stoneware...’

Down

1 See 1 across.

2 I ndispensable tool of the blacksmith’s art. (5) 3 Porcelain associated (in the 18th century) with André Planché, William Duesbury and John Heath. (5) 4 A room or cupboard used for personal washing, which included soaps and towels. (5) 5 Ancient weaving contraption which has undergone many structural changes over the years. (4) 6 Liberal _____. Secular education curriculum in the Middle Ages. (4) 9 Chubby children often shown in religious paintings. (pl.) (5) 11 Goddess of the dawn. (3) 13 Real, but importantly symbolic bird…including pre-Christian Jove, Roman power and, later, St. John. (5) 15 Another real bird and symbol (e.g. on coins) of ancient Athens (3) 16 One of the earliest (archaeologically) containers (readily decorated).

(3) 18 A piece of broken 16-Down…and a very tall London building. (5) 19 The first Mesoamerican civilization producing colossal sculpture and intricate works in jade. (5) 20 Kenneth ____ (1935-2012). American ceramic sculptor who produced what he called ‘gloops’. (5) 21 David and John Philip _____. Dutch silversmith brothers who moved to England in the 1680s and are now known for their unglazed stoneware. (5) 22 A flattened glass button connecting the stem of a rummer with its foot. (4) 23 A beautifully coloured and patterned stone used for cameos, for example. (4)

Finally: Rearrange the letters in the highlighted squares to form the aristocratic appellation of a certain 18th-century French woman. A noted patron of the arts, her name has been given to fine fans, a style of hair-dressing, the French rococo style etc.

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 33

EXPERT COMMENT Lennox Cato LENNOX CATO

Without RESERVE Working from home means more of us are repurposing rooms to achieve the rarefied atmosphere of a library, writes Lennox Cato Left A library needn’t be stuffy, the right choices can make it modern and bright, image courtesy of Lennox Cato Antiques Above right A pair

of Regency period mahogany library bergere chairs, attributed to Gillows of Lancaster, image courtesy of Lennox Cato Antiques

Below A globe adds

structure and interest, image courtesy of Lennox Cato Antiques

I

f ever asked which room I most like to furnish the answer is always a library. There is such a wealth of furniture, including library chairs, tables, bookcases and accessories and it doesn’t need to be the size of a palatial reading room, a corner of a room can be turned into a calm space.

Once you have the infrastructure of the bigger items, the whole thing falls into place. If you are fortunate to have a fireplace with a traditional surround this is another great plus. A clock on the mantel piece could be a focal point of the room, with its gentle ticktock reeling you back in time to a slower pace of life.

‘Floor standing globes work beautifully if the space allows – the bigger the diameter the better’ 34 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

GLOBAL VIEW Table globes are another wonderful addition. The smaller the table globe the better. Go for globes with recognised names such as Cary, an important family of 18th-century makers; Bardin’s globes; or the French globe maker, Charles-François Delamarche (17401817). Floor standing versions work beautifully if the space allows – here, the bigger the diameter the better.

A Georgian drum table in the centre of the room would complete the look, but if the budget is tight opt for a plain, circular top breakfast table.

Library steps or a ladder, usually made in mahogany unless estate made, will provide an architectural feature.

These have become quite difficult to find in recent times, but worth looking out for.

Windows look well dressed with Holland blinds layered with broad wooden venetian blinds, to prevent too much natural daylight and making the room even more atmospheric. Remember, accessories personalise the space, making it personal rather than corporate. But be careful not to over do it – less is more.

Lennox Cato is a specialist on the BBC’s Antiques Roadshow and owns Lennox Cato Antiques, for more details go to www.lennoxcato.com

LIBRARY CHAIRS I suggest starting with a large rug with big, bold designs and full of colour, which supports your library chairs.

These could be late 18th or early 19th century and preferably be a pair if your budget allows. The best form of library chair is the double-caned, mahogany-framed design, some of which have adjustable reading arms

allowing the person seated to be in a relaxed position while reading. A pair of 20th-century, fully-upholstered leather club chairs would also look brilliant, as well as being comfortable.

When buying chairs, it is imperative to try them out for comfort first. And remember never try them when wearing your coat as you most certainly will be stripped of an outer layer when you use them at home. If your space doesn’t allow for a traditional antique bookcase, built-in shelves can still work well dressed with books and interesting objects.

Right If a budget doesn’t stretch to a Georgian drum table, use a circular top breakfast table, image courtesy of Lennox Cato Antiques Far right A Regency circular bookcase, image courtesy of Lennox Cato Antiques

LETTERS Have your say

Your Letters

This month’s postbag sees yearning for the end of lockdown and a plea for information on a mystery table

Our star letter

receives a copy of Bulgari Treasures of Rome by Vincent Meylan worth £55.

Write to us at Antique Collecting, Sandy Lane, Old Martlesham, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 4SD or email magazine@ accartbooks.com

Above right Visits to

stately homes top many people’s list when lockdown is lifted, image courtesy of National Trust Images

Left Brown furniture should be on everyone’s must-buy list Below right Does anyone

recognise the table, or the publication it featured in?

I enjoyed Marc Alum’s thoughts (Marc My Words, February issue) on how old something has to be to be considered an antique. 100 years is my answer, although when I began collecting I considered anything older than 1830 was antique (but I did begin collecting a very long time ago).

Back then, in 1981, I thought my c. 1790, mahogany four-drawer chest with cock beading on the drawers was a real bargain at £180, but today’s pieces really are good value! I continue to be shocked by the bargains I see offered for sale in UK auctions. If only I were there I would buy ‘brown furniture’ ‘til the cows came home.

B. Anderson, Las Vegas, by email I am really enjoying the new puzzle pages in the magazine. My intention is always to complete them without recourse to the internet, by using my library of reference books. While I might not always succeed, please keep them coming.

Roy Burroughs, Hants, by email

Be part of the conversation on Twitter and Instagram @antiquemag

Star letter

How bitter sweet your article on treasures from the National Trust was in the last issue (National Treasures , February issue). As wonderful as it was to see sumptuous images from an upcoming book (all of which we could enjoy from the comfort of our armchairs), it wasn’t quite the same as seeing them in the flesh. I well remember a trip to Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire, home to the giltwood mirror featured.

It did however put it top of my list of places to revisit as soon as we are allowed.

J Radford, Nottingham, be email I wonder if any of your subscribers might be able to help? I am researching a very interesting serving table, which featured in an article or catalogue submission in 1991-1993.

I have traced the piece back to a sale at Christie’s July 4, 1991, and enclose a photograph (below). If any readers recognise the piece (it was at Whittington Hall in Lancashire in the early 20th century) or remember the article, then I would love to hear from them.

Chris Coles, by email

Answers to the quiz on page 32

1. (b) 2. (d) 3. (d) 4. (c) 5. (d) 6. (a) 7. (b) 8. (d) 9. (b) 10. (c) A RAM BEGS NAILS = Amberina glass (b) BE WELL BIG DON = Bleeding bowl (d) BURN MALE CAD = Candelabrum (a) WE RAN AETHER = Earthenware (c) ANTIQUE COLLECTING 35

COLLECTING GUIDES Victorian pot lids FISH PASTE As towns and cities rapidly expanded in the 1800s, manufacturers and retailers had to develop new methods for packaging and transporting the large number of household commodities required for domestic use or consumption. One of the most common food items requiring a better method of branding and transport was fish. In response, fish mongers developed a vinegar-based anchovy and bloater (cured fish) paste that proved easy to store and was more transportable in ceramic containers. This packaging not only increased their product’s shelf life, it created new markets, and the edible paste quickly became a very popular food alternative for the expanding Victorian middle class.

These newly developed ceramic containers soon became the standard container of the day, housing everything from bear’s grease, cold cream, salves, ointments and cure-alls, to edible pastes, shaving cream and toothpaste.

ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITY Most manufacturers and retailers went one step further, taking the opportunity to print advertising on the lid of the small pottery containers. These pot lids clearly show the creativity and inventiveness of the many skilled engravers who etched the copper plates to produce the transfers so these containers could be manufactured in numbers.

Often, they had little to work on other than the name of the product and details of the proprietor. The resultant designs speak for themselves and include the development of new typefaces and intricately engraved pictorial scenes comparable in quality to any other form of transfer printed ware. It is hard to comprehend now that these high-quality containers were made by hand and were often quickly discarded to a rubbish dump once the contents had been used.

Potted History With their contents varying from bear’s grease to anchovy paste, Victorian advertising pot lids offer a delicious glimpse into Victorian life, write dedicated collectors Bruce R. Pynn, Bob Houghton and Neil Richardson

T

here are many reasons to collect potlids aside from their aesthetic appeal. Many collectors are attracted to lids originating from the area in which they live, with enthusiasts identifying the street, or even premises where they were originally purchased, as well as their undoubted historic and graphical appeal. Collecting pot lids is a world-wide passion with keen enthusiasts eagerly chasing rare examples across the world.

36 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Above Various sizes and shapes including the Rose Paste with a gold band and serrated edge Right The Lorimer

Sanoline Tooth Paste features the Three Little Maids from The Mikado, 82mm in diameter, valued at £1,500

TRANSFER PRINTING The process of transfer printing on pottery, which had its origins in the 1750s, was taken to its zenith in the mid 19th century. By 1848, a process of colour printing on paper patented by George Baxter in 1835 had been adapted for use in the ceramics industry – employing four different plates (blue,

Above Pre-dating 1845, an early transfer-printed pot lid featuring Henry Jewsbury Oriental Toothpaste, Manchester.

With outer marbling and a marbled base, it was hugely successful. The basic design was used for some 80 years.

61mm, valued at £1,000.

Bear’s grease

red, yellow and the black outline or key plate) to create polychrome decoration previously only attainable by hand decorating.

The invention of the transfer-printing process enabled a faster, economical method for describing the contents; and the lids were frequently decorated in this method. Although still laborious by today’s standards, this labelling method also allowed for a greater degree of artistic expression, with the aim of enticing buyers by the aesthetic appeal of the package.

After 1840, F. & R. Pratt of Fenton in Staffordshire, became the leading (but not only) manufacturer of multicoloured transfer-printed pot lids and a huge range of related wares. The genius of Felix Edward Pratt was to apply the technology to pot lids. He employed Jesse Austin (1806-1879), a gifted artist and engraver who joined Pratt in about 1843, to produce hundreds of designs over a 40-year period.

TIME CONSUMING The method of printing on a pot lid was multi-staged and time-consuming. The transfer was lifted on tissue-thin paper from an engraved copper plate that previously had been inked or coloured. It was then transferred to the lid after the first baking (the bisque stage) and rubbed until the print firmly adhered to the pottery. The paper was then carefully removed, usually by washing or floating it off in water and the lid was glazed and fired to fix the design as an integral part of the pottery. The pots were used until WWI, when more economical packaging techniques evolved, such as collapsible toothpaste tubes, tins and cardboard boxes or glass containers.

Single coloured or monochrome lids dominated the market because of the high production cost of multicoloured advertising on pot lids. Most every dentist of this era produced toothpaste, toothpowder or tooth

‘Princess Alexandra of Denmark, later Queen consort to Edward VII, was the most popular royal, appearing on 15 known varieties of lid issued by five different toothpaste manufacturers’

Above left A Kra-Nol hair restorer lid, originating from Chester, 95mm in diameter, captures the clever use of Victorian imagery, typically exaggerated in every respect. Valued at £500 Above The red background from London’s Burgoyne Burbridge features a beautiful young lady a typical ruse for many Victorian producers to entice the user. A rare and desirable lid, with a diameter of 88mm, valued at £2,000

Bear’s grease was used to prevent baldness and stimulate hair growth between the late 17th and early 20th centuries, with the scientifically shaky rationale that bears’ hirsute nature meant applying their grease would result in an abundance of hair.

The product was originally made from the fat of brown bears, mixed with beef marrow and a perfume to disguise the smell. By the start of the 20th century, demand had increased so much that manufacturers started substituting pig, veal, suet, lard and beef marrow fat for bear’s fat. To mask the aroma they added lavender, thyme, rose essence, or oil of bitter almonds.

The general public believed that grease from Russian bears was the best available. While Atkinson’s, based in Gerrard’s Street, was one of the best known purveyors of bear’s grease, advertising its product with a bear in chains (and might even have used a chained bear outside its shop) the pot lid, by Price & Co’s (above) shows the beast in a more bucolic setting. Pot lids advertising bear’s grease are among the most sought after, with many examples fetching more than £1,000 and some even reaching £10,000.

Above right ‘Genuine’

bear’s grease from Price & Co’s, 81mm in diameter

Right A pot for bear’s

grease, Isaac Wilson & Co., Middlesborough, 1840

Below right Ede Shaving

Cream highlights the skill of the copper-plate engraver who often developed new type faces to attract the user, 83mm in diameter, valued at £2,000

soap in a monochrome lid, which they sold from their own dental parlour. Gold bands were sometimes added around the border of the container to give the product a high-class appearance.

It was not just the Pratt factory that produced these transfer-printed wares.

While less prolific, T. J. & J. Mayer produced items of an equally high standard and, like Pratt, exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851. As a general rule, few lids are marked by the potter. Together ANTIQUE COLLECTING 37

COLLECTING GUIDES Victorian pot lids more than 550 different designs and variations have been recorded and serious collectors aim to own a good example of each one. The same transfer-printed designs that featured on the pot lids were also reproduced on a range of related domestic items, from tea wares to tobacco jars, collectively known as Prattware.

LID DECORATION Victorian advertising generates fascinating insights into the early days of mass marketing. The subjects printed on many lids gave a clue to their contents (Pegwell Bay for potted shrimps, floral subjects for ladies’ cosmetics, bears for bear’s grease etc), but others depict subjects as diverse as British and European landmarks, scenes from Shakespearean plays or the Crimean War. Several themes dominated the pictorials on these pot lids. Another theme was the inclusion of pictures of attractive girls and aristocratic gentlemen, while farmland scenes, beehives, horse and carts presented a message of natural, wholesome products; famous architectural structures sent a message of solid, dependability and longevity; and unusual locations and exotic animals, such as palm trees, temples and camels, attempted to allure the consumer with rare, expensive and mysterious ingredients.

Royalty was a popular theme and a significant number of proprietors claimed to be a dentist or perfumer to the Royal family – sending a message that if it was good for the rich and famous, it was certainly good for the commoner. Princess Alexandra of Denmark, later Queen consort to Edward VII, was the most popular Royal, appearing on 15 known varieties issued by five different toothpaste manufacturers.

FAKE LIDS Pot lids have a collecting history as old as their manufacture (many were mounted in frames to hang on the wall) and as early as 1897, just three years after the death of Felix Edward Pratt, an exhibition of factory productions was held in Blackpool. Although reproductions are uncommon, several varieties have

POT SHAPES The shape of the pot and lid also evolved.

For the first 30 years printed pot lids were mostly round in shape. From the late 1870s and 1880s, rectangular and square lids became popular. Oval-shaped pots and lids were also manufactured, with far less acceptance, because these were difficult to pack and store.

Toothpaste pots came in various sizes, from a small sample size of less than an inch in diameter to five inches for economy size.

38 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Above Various sizes and shapes including the unique speciality Coffin toothpaste container Below left A highly desirable pot lid for Messrs Matland of Holborn featuring a detailed engraving of the palate and upper teeth. Valued at £2,000 Right A multi-coloured

lid for hair regenerator measuring 95mm, made

by Pratt at Fenton, Staffs, featuring William Wyon’s portrait of a young Queen Victoria to add credibility. Valued at £3,000

surfaced over the past few years. Fakes are made by gluing a photocopy of a rare transfer to a plain lid, glazing it and firing it at a low temperature, and opening the kiln early, while still hot to produce artificial age crazing. Generally, forgers often use plain lids which are usually the wrong size and weight compared to the original lid. Unfortunately, they can be difficult to distinguish from an original.

COLLECTING MARKET Specialist auctions were held as early as 1924 when the input of wealthy industrialists from the Midlands saw pot lids and the associated field of Baxter prints reach collecting fever pitch.

A collectors’ club, the Pot Lid Circle, started in the mid 1960s and the market peaked in the early 1970s, with the best lids touching four-figure sums. Even Sotheby’s held specialist sales devoted to the subject. Just occasionally a lid comes to the market with a collecting provenance to prove the point.

For the beginner, it is still relatively easy to assemble a collection in most categories (toothpastes, cold creams, etc). Prices can be as little as less than £20 for the most common examples, while the rarest examples can exceed £1,000 with a few examples achieving prices in excess of £10,000. The price of a pictorial or regional pot lid will often depend on its desirability among a local pool of enthusiasts. It is, however, still possible to purchase common advertising pots for around £20 Prattware will vary in price from £5 for one of the more common pieces to over £2,000 for one of the very rare and highly decorative advertising plaques produced for firms such as Crosse & Blackwell and Huntley & Palmers. Serious collectors also seek out Jesse Austin’s original watercolour designs and the engraved printing plates used in the production process. Scarce pictorial pot lids are the most coveted and attract a greater number of collectors. Coloured transfers, those featuring buildings or portraits and bear grease lids, tend to command the highest prices.

STARTING A COLLECTION There are many places to buy pot lids including antique fairs, flea markets and internet auctions such as eBay, but there are also several specialist sources including Falmouth-based AA Auctions and BBR Auctions in Barnsley, and Glass Works in the USA. The price of many pot lids represents good value, especially when considered against the effort needed to recover them.

Bob Houghton is the co-author of the recently published Historical Guide to Advertising Pot Lids featuring more than 8,000 examples from around the world. Canadian dental surgeon Bruce R Pynn has been collecting pot lids for 16 years, while UK-based Neil Richardson from Halifax has been collecting and researching pot lids and antique bottles for 45 years.

Above left A rare 1860s purple print anchovy paste lid, featuring the Victorian character Punch. Its rarity puts its value at more than £5,000 Above Circassian Cream, featuring beautiful ladies from this region in Russia with resplendent curls, generally pre-date 1860.

74mm in diameter, they are very desirable, expect to pay £500 Above right A striking Cherry Tooth Paste lid from Stamford.

Rectangular in shape, it features a striding elephant. Measuring 62 x 96mm, it is valued at £1,000 Below While a common,

coloured tooth paste lid (95mm) from John Gosnell can be bought for as little as £20 (left) a rare, possibly unique, red print version (right) sold at auction for more than £3,000

VICTORIAN TOOTHPASTE Although flavours of toothpaste came in many varieties such as honeysuckle, rose geranium, orange, tomato, carbolic acid and even myrrh and borax, the two most popular types of toothpaste were areca nut and cherry.

Oddly, many were made of the same formula (with areca nut flavouring), but the cherry toothpaste was cherry-coloured by the addition of carmine or the iron oxide-rich clay, Armenian bole. Nothing was added to give a cherry flavour, the description “cherry” being applied merely due to the paste’s colour. The addition of Indian areca or betel nut and of the cherry colouring suggested pictorial adornment for the lids. Areca nuts were normally used as a worming agent, though it’s unlikely that many consumers realised they were being mildly wormed when they cleaned their teeth.

An analysis of a previously unopened Georgian dentifrice and a late-Victorian toothpaste revealed both pastes largely consisted of calcium carbonate that had abrasive properties, although a minute trace of lead was also detected in both samples. Interestingly, both pastes were not very soluble and took a significant time to breakdown in fluid. The Georgian paste was friable and white, while the source of the deep red/pink colour for the Victorian paste was undetermined, being mostly likely carmine. Both these pastes would have had beneficial effects, but some makers exploited the populations naivety, as well as lack of trade regulation, to promote outlandish claims. Indeed, Measam’s Medicated Cream was advertised as a toothpaste, ointment and skin cream, all in one.

‘The price of a pictorial or regional pot will often depend on its desirability among a local pool of enthusiasts.

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 39

COLLECTING GUIDES ‘Injured Queen’ satirical prints

PRINTS REGENT

19th-century satirical prints were the polarising social media of their day – none more so than those of the sensational case of ‘injured’ Queen Caroline who died 200 years ago, writes Stewart Abbott

T

his year, 2021 marks the 200th anniversary of the death of Caroline, wife and uncrowned queen of King George IV. Theirs was a ruinous relationship, mired in scandal, politics and the need for an heir, and as doomed an affair as any portrayed in the series The Crown.

And like any Royal intrigue since time began, the warring parties fought for public approval (the poet Shelley even warned the scandal could topple the monarchy). Long before today’s NDAs and gagging orders, George IV feared the power of the age’s satirical prints so much that he bought the satiricists’ silence – further affecting the way the drama played out.

However, his efforts were far from successful with

40 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Above Sir George Hayter (1792-1871) The Trial of Queen Caroline, 1820

a number of prints casting an important critical eye on one of the most contentious affairs of the day. Widely in circulation and easy to acquire, they make a charming foundation or addition to a print collection, as well as a delightful hanging in a Georgian-styled interior.

CHANCE DISCOVERY In 1973, I knew very little about Queen Caroline, and her place in our history. It was then that I spotted her silver coffin plate displayed on a bookshelf in the home of Stephen Lushington, a descendant of Dr Stephen Lushington, the anti-slavery campaigner who rose to prominence in 1820 as counsel to Queen Caroline.

It sparked an interest in the ‘injured’ queen and a collection of political and satirical prints which help to record her life after her return to England.

First the historical context, which may be known to some, but could do with revisiting. In 1795, in need of an heir and in order to silence public disquiet over his rakish ways, the then Prince Regent (later George IV) agreed to marry Caroline of Brunswick. Gambling had left him heavily in debt and he agreed to marry for clearance of his debts.

The union was a disaster from the start. The womanising prince, known as ‘Prinny’ had already married Mrs Fitzherbert (although, without the agreement of George III the union was invalid under English civil law) and felt little attraction or regard for his new bride. However they set aside their differences enough to conceive Princess Charlotte born a year later.

From 1796 until 1820, the royal couple led

Left Sir George Hayter (1792-1871) Caroline of Brunswick (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth; German: Caroline Amalie Elisabeth von BraunschweigWolfenbüttel) (1768 –1821) Right George Cruikshank

(1792-1878) Any Port in a Storm , 1821 Below right George

Cruikshank (17921878) A Pas de Deux Love, Love at First Sight, 1821 Bottom right Sir George Hayter (1792-1871) Caroline of Brunswick (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth; German) (1768 –1821)

independent lives, with George launching several undercover investigations to try to expose Caroline’s allegedly promiscuous lifestyle, and he restricted her access to Princess Charlotte. In 1814, Caroline went into exile and only discovered the news of Charlotte’s death in 1817 by accident. When George III died in January 1820, Caroline asserted her claim to be the lawful queen of Britain and announced her intention to return to England.

PUBLIC DISCONTENT The country was in a state of political unrest after the Peterloo massacre and execution of the Cato Street conspirators. Caroline, on the other hand, was regarded as an injured wife and mother shunned by the establishment.

Anticipating a PR war, George IV determined to stop her return to the UK, intercepting her at St Omer with the offer of £50,000 a year to renounce her claim and permanent exile. Refusal meant prosecution for adultery and ignominy. Caroline stood firm, resumed her journey to Calais, and arrived at Dover on June 5, 1820. Huge crowds of ecstatic fans welcomed her return and she was mobbed all the way to London.

Undeterred, George IV called on parliament to achieve a divorce. The ‘trial’ of the queen in the House of Lords was not as we know a trial today, but a political and contentious action by the king. Evidence

ANTI-CAROLINE BACKLASH

Caroline’s ascendancy following the decision to drop the Pains and Penalties Bill on November 10, 1820, did not last long. With the fickle public opinion behind them, the satirists soon started to publish antiCaroline (encouraged by payments from George IV) imagery.

A series of prints by George Cruikshank, Les Gloires des Honetes Gens, published in early June 1820, was an attack on Caroline’s behaviour while she was living abroad, depicting the Queen unmodestly dressed cavorting with Baron Bergami (her alleged lover).

Two further prints were published in 1821, the year of the coronation, A Pas de Deux Love, Love at First Sight shows Caroline dancing in an unseemly manner with Bergami, and A Wooden Substitute, or Any Port in a Storm, shows Caroline as Queen with Sir Mathew Wood, an adviser to whom she was linked. Wood takes the Queen’s left arm, she is wearing twin miniatures: one of Bergami and the other of Wood.

‘The marriage was a disaster from the start.

The womanising prince, known as Prinny, had already wed Mrs Fitzherbert (although, without the agreement of George III the union was invalid under English civil law) and felt little attraction or regard for his new bride’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING 41

COLLECTING GUIDES ‘Injured’ Queen satirical prints Before his ‘gagging order’, the first satirical prints by Gorge Cruikshank were firmly against the King. The print below, published July 23, 1820, shows George IV, in the title role of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni, surprised by the sudden arrival of his wife, Caroline, depicted as the wronged wife Donna Anna.

A number of bare-breasted women are present, while on the left, Lord Castlereagh, playing the role of Leporello, holds a long list of the king’s female conquests. It reflects the fact public opinion was with Caroline rather than George IV at this point.

of Caroline’s behaviour abroad was collected by the Milan Commission and presented to parliament as part of the passage of The Pains and Penalties Bill. It included alleged adultery between the would-be queen and Baron Bartolomeo Bergami in Italy. Evidence against her was presented in two green bags, which were to feature in many subsequent satirical prints.

It was fair game to the satirists, with prints published supporting the Queen and King, with the latter being in a position to silence his critics. We know from records from Windsor Castle that in 1820 the King spent £2,600 in payments to quieten satirists.

There is a receipt at Windsor recording that George Cruikshank was paid £100 and his brother Robert £70 ‘in consideration of a pledge not to caricature His Majesty in any immoral situation ’. .

MOURNING GLORY

Queen Caroline was not successful in her attempts to be crowned monarch and it wasn’t long before public opinion, broadly for her, swung to her opposition.

The antipathy came to the fore when she failed in her attempt to gain entry to her husband’s coronation on July 19, 2021. She died a few days later. Death had enhanced her reputation once more, as witnessed by a ‘penny print’ by Gally of her funeral procession, dated August 14, 1821 with her journey to her final resting place in Brunswick. It was the Queen’s wish that her coffin recorded her as the ‘Injured Queen’ of George IV. But the plate was replaced by one noting just her name and dates – the original being the one mentioned at the start of the article.

History has largely forgotten the ‘Injured Queen’, one of the most colourful characters of the Royal family.

Prints of the period bring the story back to life.

Dr Stewart Abbott has collected porcelain, glass, political and satirical prints since the late 1960s. Many of the prints mentioned in this article are available to buy from his website sandjabbottceramicsplus.co.uk with prices ranging from £150 to £600. He will be at the Petworth Park Antiques and Fine Art Fair in May.

42 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Above The Abyssinian Monster a rare print, published by J Dawson, Camden Town, London, in December 1820, portrays George IV in a poor light

Printed in November 1820, the print titled The R(oya)I Hen and the Dunghill Cock, and attributed to George Cruikshank. It shows a cock with the face of the king standing on a dunghill (one of the green bags in which evidence against Caroline had been carried to England), while a large eagle emblazoned with Public Disapprobation swoops down to pluck the Royal crown from his head.

Rays from the sun irradiate Queen Caroline, in contrast to the clouds which hover above the King. She has been crowned by a hand that reaches down from the clouds. The inference being she has powers from heaven as well as ancient powers from Roman times.

‘The widespread grief resulted in the production of vast quantities of commemorative works of art, which were eagerly purchased by a devastated public’

This print of Boadicea, after George Cruikshank, was published in November 1820 after the case against Caroline was dropped. The caption reads: Boadicea Queen of Britain overthrowing her enemies. Humbly dedicated to Caroline of Britain and Ireland. Queen Caroline is shown as triumphant Boadicea leading a crowd.

On her chariot the scythe of Justice cuts down all in her path, the King has lost his crown and his sword is broken. The Pains and Penalties Bill is on the ground, the church, court and state are all defeated by the wronged Queen.

John Bull the Judge, attributed to George Cruikshank, was published in November 1820, after the withdrawal of the Pains and Penalties Bill. The caricature shows John Bull representing Britain (to the right) playing the part of ultimate justice with his dog standing on the Sword of Justice.

He is condemning Queen Caroline’s accusers who stand before him with a mirror above. The implication is that there was a conspiracy to remove the queen from her rightful position but John Bull has spoken: Voice of the People – Voice of God.

Above Some of the commemorative pottery sold in 2015, image courtesy of Sworders

Princess Charlotte of Wales George IV and Queen Caroline had one daughter, Princess Charlotte, whose death shortly after giving birth at the age of 21 led to an outpouring of national grief similar to the death of Princess Diana in 1997.

Word soon spread throughout Europe, too; while in Venice, Lord Byron wrote: ‘The death of the Princess Charlotte has been a shock even here, and must have been an earthquake at home’.

Soon after the death of Princess Charlotte and her son, her accoucheur (male midwife) Sir Richard Croft, committed suicide. This tragic sequence of events became known as ‘the triple tragedy’.

As the couple’s only child, the princess was destined to ascend the throne, instead it went to George IV’s brother, William IV, who with no legitimate children, passed the crown to his niece, Victoria.

The widespread grief resulted in the production of vast quantities of commemorative works of art, which were eagerly purchased by a devastated public.

Other artists produced commemorative prints, ceramics and medals, often depicting the princess on her ascent to heaven, or Britannia, the personification of Britain, bent over double in grief.

In 2015, Sworders sold a number of pieces related to the princess, including a cup and with a view of Claremont House, her Surrey Home, inscribed: Claremont, seat of the late lamented Princess Charlotte and a plate printed with Britannia mourning her death inscribed: To the memory of Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Wales and Saxe-Coburg.

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 43

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE

B O O K O F F E R S Looking for a great lockdown read? Save more than 1/3 on these titles from our sister publisher ACC Art Books

UP TO

35% DISCOUNT FORGOTTEN MOTORING

THE SLOW TRAIN A Railway Miscellany

By Peter Ashley

ISBN 9781788840927 RRP: £12.00 Special offer price £7.80 Take an amble across the countryside with this book, which celebrates a time when our railway network was more than a permanently delayed omnishambles of overcrowded and overpriced trains.

A Miscellany on the Open Road

By Peter Ashley ISBN 9781788840934 RRP: £12.00 Pre-publishing offer price £7.80 Due to be published March 22

This evocative volume gathers British motoring memorabilia, transporting us back to a time when roads were filled with bulbous Austin Somersets, humpbacked Standard Vanguards and unique road signs.

THE BICYCLE

A Miscellany on Two Wheels

By Peter Ashley ISBN 9781788840941 RRP: £12.00 Special offer price £7.80

Squeeze the brakes, sit back and coast downhill with this irreverent collection of cycling memorabilia.

44 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Due to the current crisis there may be some delay in sending out books.

For more details, or to order a copy, email georgina.street@accartbooks.com

SOUTHWOLD

By Geoffrey Munn

ISBN 9781851498550 RRP:£29.95 Special offer price £19.47 A glimpse into the exciting, and often tumultuous, history of a small seaside town.

THE JOY OF DAHLIAS

By Katja Staring, Linda Van Der Slot, and Marlies Weijers ISBN 9789089898258 RRP: £30.00 Special offer price £19.50

This inspirational book explores every aspect of the dahlia, from its history to its sustainable cultivation.

DAVID AUSTIN’S ENGLISH ROSES

By David Austin

ISBN 9781788840194 RRP: £25.00 Special offer price £16.25 Informative, accessible and stunningly illustrated, David Austin’s English Roses introduces the reader to the world of rose propagation and care.

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 45

ANTIQUES UNDER THE HAMMER Lots in March

TOP of the LOTS

Early English porcelain and a book of letters from an abolitionist born on a slave ship are all up for sale this month A group of 28 ancient bronze figures has an estimate of £8,000-£12,000 at Roseberys’ single owner collection on March 25.

Dating from the 5th century BC to the 2nd century AD and ranging in size between 6 and 9cm, they come from the Hohenzollern Collection of ancient bronze statuettes from Sigmaringen Castle, Germany.

Above The bronze figures make a striking sculptural statement

A Victorian bangle with a centrally-set old-cut diamond and bordered with white pearls has an estimate of £400-£600 at Ewbanks’ three-day sale starting on March 24. Mounted in 15ct gold, it comes in a fitted box and has a total estimated diamond weight of 0.16 carats.

Above Pearls were a firm favourite with Victorian wearers

An new-to-market oil painting by L.S. Lowry has an estimate of £60,000-£90,000 at Tennants’ art sale on March 6.

People in a Park, which has never been seen on the open market, is signed and dated 1971 and comes from John Fletcher of Oldham, who gave the painting to his housekeeper.

The small painting, which is signed and dated, encapsulates Lowry’s ability with a limited, but distinctive, colour palette of ivory, black, vermillion, Prussian blue and yellow ochre, to capture a snapshot of life in a northern industrial town.

Above The iconic scene is fresh to the market

46 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

The only work that Sir Winston Churchill painted during WWII, from the collection of Angelina Jolie, has an estimate of £1.5-£2.5m at Christie’s sale on March 1.

The 1943 painting Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque was a gift from the then UK prime minister to President Franklin D Roosevelt following the 10-day Casablanca Conference in 1943.

After being passed to Roosevelt’s son Elliott it stayed in American collections, including that of the US actress – who was given the painting by her husband Brad Pitt in 2011.

Churchill began painting scenes of Morocco after being encouraged to visit the country by his painting tutor, Sir John Lavery.

Upon his first visit in 1935, he felt that the light and scenery were unrivalled, creating some 45 paintings of the country.

Above The painting could set a record for a Churchill work

‘ The painting encapsulates Lowry’s ability with a limited, but distinctive, colour palette to capture a snapshot of life in a northern industrial town’ One of the earliest first-hand accounts of slavery, by the first Briton of African descent known to vote in England, has an estimate of £200-£300 at Chorley’s two-day sale on March 23-24.

The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, 1782, by Charles Ignatius Sancho, was published two years after the death of the British abolitionist, writer and composer who was born on a slave ship (c. 1729) in the Atlantic and later sent to England.

Sancho became a devout supporter of the British Abolitionist movement and was the first known Black Briton to vote in England and have an obituary published in the British press.

Above The book offers a first-hand account of slavery

A collection of 18th-century English porcelain goes under the hammer in London this month, including pieces from Worcester manufacturer, Chelsea and Limehouse.

Representing the golden age of porcelain, the collection for sale at Chorley’s on March 24, is made up of pieces sourced from respected dealers, including the London porcelain specialist Albert Amor Ltd. Most of the collection are Bristol and Worcester wares made c.

1750-1760 and purchased between 1984 and 1993.

The 18th century was an age of affluence, elegance and enlightenment, when an obsession with Chinese porcelain was in full swing. Ambitious wares were created with the emergence of English porcelain factories developing innovative and new techniques.

1

2

Natural world

Widespread interest in natural history lead to the manufacture of detailed porcelain figures of animals such as the Chelsea white model of an owl in the collection (one of only a handful known), estimated at £15,000£20,000. The Chelsea porcelain manufactory was the first important porcelain manufactory in England, established around 1743–1745, and operating independently until 1770.

Its wares were aimed at a luxury market, and its site in Chelsea, London, was close to the fashionable Ranelagh Gardens pleasure ground, which opened in 1742.

The collection also features a selection of finely modelled cups and jugs that demonstrates the newfound popularity of tea and coffee in the Georgian era.

Chorley’s porcelain consultant, Emma Jenner-Fust, said: “The Chelsea owl and the wine funnel will be of particular appeal as they represent the most unusual examples of porcelain being produced at the time.”

The collection is part of Chorley’s two-day sale on March 24. For more details go to www.chorleys.com

4

3

1 A Chelsea white model of an owl (c. 1745-1749) naturalistically

modelled in great detail, perched on a rocky base, 20.5cm high. Provenance, Albert Amor Ltd’s exhibition, Treasures from Toronto, 1993, it has an estimate of £15,000-£20,000 2 A Worcester cream jug (c. 1753) of baluster shape with strong scroll handle and thumb rest, painted with the strutting bird pattern, 7 cm high. Acquired from Albert Amor Ltd. in May 1989, it has an estimate of £3,000-£5,000 3 A Worcester wine-funnel (c. 1754) painted in bright famille rose enamels with blue and orange enamel rocks from which grow flowering peony branches and bamboo, 14 cm high. Acquired from Albert Amor Ltd’s exhibition The Cohen Collection, May 1992, it has an estimate of £10,000-£15,000 4 A Worcester fluted creamboat (c. 1752-53) with a thin angular handle and pronounced thumb rest, enamelled with river scenes of fishermen, pine and cherry trees, 5cm high. Acquired from Albert Amor Ltd. in January 1989, it has an estimate of£6,000-£8,000 5 A Worcester two-handled vase (c. 1755-56) of baluster form and quatrefoil section, painted with a red crested ho-ho bird with blue wings and red tail feathers. Acquired from Albert Amor Ltd. in March 1986, it has an estimate of £4,000-£6,000 6 A Worcester creamboat (c. 1752-53) of Wigornia type, with hexagonal form and a geranium leaf moulded under the lip, embossed with a chinoiserie landscape in yellow, blue, puce and green, 11.cm long. Acquired from Albert Amor Ltd. in October 1986, it has an estimate of £10,000-£15,000 7 A Worcester low-footed sauceboat (c. 1753-4) with a curled thumb rest, and enamelled with strutting bird pattern, 16cm long. Acquired from The Sidders Collection of Dr Wall Worcester Porcelain by Albert Amor Ltd. in October 1985, it has an estimate of £2,000-£3,000

5

6

7

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 47

DESIGN SINCE 1860 WEDNESDAY 21 APRIL at 33 Broughton Place, Edinburgh

LALIQUE THURSDAY 29 APRIL at The Mall Galleries, London

MODERN MADE: POST-WAR DESIGN & STUDIO CERAMICS FRIDAY 30 APRIL at The Mall Galleries, London

THESE AUCTIONS ARE INVITING CONSIGNMENTS For more information or to discuss selling your artworks, please contact us on the numbers below or email: JOHN MACKIE | john.mackie@lyonandturnbull.com JOY MCCALL | joy.mccall@lyonandturnbull.com PHILIP SMITH | philip.smith@lyonandturnbull.com

ÉMILE GALLÉ (1864-1904) RARE COROLLA LAMP, 1902-1904 Estimate £10,000-15,000 + fees To be offered at auction 21 April 2021

LONDON 0207 930 9115 | EDINBURGH 0131 557 8844 | GLASGOW 0141 333 1992 | www.lyonandturnbull.com

J E W E L L E RY | WATC H E S | M A K E RS | D E S I G N S | C O L L E C T I N G

In the

LOUPE

A Cadenas watch © Van Cleef & Arpels. The watch was designed by Van Cleef & Arpels in 1935 and, with its geometric art deco shape, remains one of the brand’s most emblematic pieces, see the feature on page 54

Introducing our new jewellery & watch special.

Everything you need to know from iconic makers and their best-known designs, to how to collect them

‘The most famous Cadenas watch belonged to the Duchess of Windsor.

A platinum and diamond-set bracelet, it sold for close to £300,000 at Sotheby’s in 2011’ ANTIQUE COLLECTING 49

In the

LOUPE

Fast track

For many watch aficionados the Daytona ranks way above any other Rolex and remains its most sought-after chronograph, writes Nick Orringe

L

aunched in 1963, as the ‘reference 6239 Cosmograph’, the Daytona is viewed by many as the sports watch par excellence. Like its predecessors, the ref. 6234 and ref. 6238 chronographs, the watch initially met with a lukewarm reception.

Half a century on, with a sporting and celebrity following, the Daytona is seen as the crème de la crème among the watch-collecting elite.

PRE-DAYTONA

A 2011 Daytona in everose gold with a leather watchstrap, taken from The Book of Rolex, published by ACC Art Books

From the 1930s Rolex started to build a strong reputation as a manufacturer of versatile sports watches thanks to its ‘sealed against the elements’ Oyster case. Its early chronographs combined wristwatch and stopwatch functions and found popularity with many professions, ranging from medicine to the military and, more pertinently, motorsports. But the origins of the Daytona stretch back to a less automated age.

The ref. 4500 ‘Pre-Daytona’, the ancestor of today’s Daytona, started in the mid-1940s, and followed on from the zenograph and centregraph monopushers of the late 1930s. It had a conventional 2/4 o’clock pusher configuration, and ‘side by side’ sub-dial layout. It was not until 1955 that Rolex introduced a manual-wind chronograph in an oyster case, which can be considered a real precursor of the Daytona.

The Rolex Oyster Chronograph ref. 6234 featured a tachometer scale on the outer ring and a telemeter scale for distances on the inner ring. From 1955 to 1961, Rolex produced about 2,300 stainless steel pieces and less than 150 in 14ct or 18ct gold in a variety of black and white dials. The three sub-dials (small seconds at 9 o’clock, 30 minutes and 12 hours counters respectively at 3 and 6 o’clock) had different sizes in the various versions.

‘In common with its other watches, Rolex designed timepieces for a specific purpose, with this watch conceived purely for the track – hence the tachymeter scale on the bezel is significantly larger for readability’ 50 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

One to watch: the Rolex Daytona RACING CONNECTION

In common with its other watches, Rolex designed timepieces for a specific purpose, with this watch conceived purely for the track – hence the tachymeter scale on the bezel is significantly larger for readability.

Over a distance of 1,000 metres if the second hand stops after 30 seconds, the bezel will show you have been travelling at a speed of 120km/h.

The first Daytona, introduced in 1965 as the Cosmograph ref. 6239, was referred to not as the Daytona but as the ‘Le Mans’ – an unusual choice given Rolex had served as official timekeeper of the 24-hour race since 1962. In 1964, Rolex nicknamed the Cosmograph the ‘Daytona’ to underline its connection with motor racing. Since then Daytona has replaced ‘Cosmograph’ in regular parlance globally.

The first incarnation however was far from a success: its mechanical movement meant it had to be wound everyday and if you accidentally got it wet and activated the chronograph, water would get into the watch movement.

In 1965, with the launch of ref. 6240, screw-in push button meant the watch’s case was almost as hermetically sealed as the Oyster models without a stopwatch function. This was superseded in 1970 with the ref. 6262, with its unthreaded buttons and alterations to the Valjoux movement. This watch is extremely rare and one to look out for, as it was superseded the following year by ref. 6264 with screw-in buttons. It wasn’t until 1988 that the Daytona became automatic, with a switch to the calibre 4030 movement, a reworked Zenith El Primero.

DATING A DAYTONA The dial is one of the simplest ways to distinguish later from earlier Daytonas. In later models the running seconds sub-dial moved from 9 o’clock to 6 o’clock, with the centre of the elapsed-minutes and running seconds sub-dials now positioned slightly above the dial’s 9 and 3 o’clock line. The changes Rolex made to the El Primero, movement included slowing its frequency from 36,000 to 28,800 vph (vibrations per hour). This was to give a longer power reserve of 72 hours and to give longer service intervals bringing it in line with other models in the range.

The Daytona can be divided into three series. The first has a four-digit reference number (such as the ref.

6239); the second series, with the Zenith calibre, has five digits, starting with ref. 16520. The year 2000 saw the introduction of ref. 116520 with the calibre 4130 – the first new watch movement from Rolex in 50 years.

Nick Orringe FRICS is the watch consultant at Ewbank’s, its next watch sale is on March 24, for more details go to www.ewbanks.co.uk

WHO WEARS THEM?

Top left Where it all

began: the Daytona racetrack in 1962

Top Paul Newman

wearing the Rolex ‘Big Red’ Daytona, photo Geoffrey Hewitt photograph collection

Top right Early adopter – George Lazenby wears a Pre-Daytona in 1969 Above Paul Newman’s ‘Big Red’ Daytona ref.

6263, which sold for $5.4m in December last year

Throughout his lifetime, Paul Newman was photographed wearing a handful of Daytonas, mainly the ref. 6239. It is this association with the star that has led to the watch being universally regarded as possibly the world’s most sought-after wristwatch.

In 2017, Paul Newman’s Rolex ‘Paul Newman’ Daytona ref 6239, set a record for the highest sum ever achieved for any vintage wristwatch at auction when it sold for $17¾m.

While the ref. 6239 is the reference that Paul Newman owned and wore, subsequent references can have a ‘Paul Newman’ dial, allowing the actor’s name to be accepted for those references.

But the history of the Daytona is littered with celebrity connections from its earliest days. In 1969, the James Bond actor George Lazenby wore a Pre-Daytona Rolex Chronograph ref. 6238 in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

In the 1970s, the ref. 6363, the result of Rolex’s monochrome researches, earned it the nickname ‘Albino’. One example, owned by Eric Clapton, sold for $505,000 in New York in 2008, while a customised ref.

6263 belonging to the Sultan of Oman sold in a Swiss sale for a figure in excess of 750,000 Swiss francs.

EXPECT TO PAY The Daytona has never been more popular among discerning watch collectors, with vintage models in particular skyrocketing in value.

Prices for a ref. 6239 typically start in the mid-five figures for a standard dial, and can soar into the hundreds of thousands for a Paul Newman, with still higher prices achieved by special pieces, or pieces in gold.

Prices for a ref. 6262 and re. 6264, with a Paul Newman dial, are soaring, expect to pay more than $100,000.

However, while for decades the collector’s holy grail has been the ref. 6239, 6241, 6262, 6263, 6264 and 6265, in recent years the Zenith Daytona has become as coveted.

A rare platinum ref. 16516, dated 1999, with a lapis lazuli dial (above) sold in Hong Kong in 2019 for $3.3m.

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 51

In the

LOUPE ROMAN FIND

A Cut Above

With a worldwide collecting base, ancient intaglio jewellery is in high demand, writes gem specialist and gemmologist Liz Bailey

A

ncient engraved gems, which were historically worn mounted on finger rings, fall into one of two categories — intaglios, carved gemstones that have been carved below the surface to reveal an image, and cameos, which have excess material removed to leave a raised image. One of the oldest forms of jewellery, intaglio pieces have been found from around 5,000BC. With varying functions over history, intaglios have been used as seals (revealing their image when stamped onto hot wax), amulets (as symbols of personal protection), as well as decorative objects.

This necklace is a remarkable piece of intaglio jewellery, set with 27 ancient intaglios, arranged beautifully in a graduated order. The intaglios would have originally been worn in rings, mainly dated to the 1st century CE, and were assembled by a late 19th-century collector into this carefully arranged and graduated necklace, with the intaglios securely set in rubover settings.

52 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Significantly, all 27 intaglios were authenticated by Dr Martin Henig of the Institute of Archaeology, Oxford, as 1st century Roman. It is likely that the intaglios were purchased in Italy, and it appears that they were specifically selected to portray depictions of animals and plants. Roman intaglios are a fascinating subject within the canon of intaglio carving.

Blending an influence of the Greek and Hellenistic intaglios with their own unique motifs and techniques, the Roman intaglios feature a huge variety of symbolism. In the early years of the Roman Empire, opaque stones such as agate, sardonyx, carnelian, chalcedony and paste were used.

Later, however, translucent and even transparent gems were more frequent, with examples including garnets, aquamarine, peridot, topaz, amethyst, emerald and sapphire. This necklace features a variety of gemstones, mainly opaque, with a couple of carved amethysts featured in intaglios 1, 6 and 15. A ‘nicolo’ example is seen in intaglio 22, a term used for a black and blue layered agate that was carved to reveal the image and border in black with a grey/blue background.

ROMAN REINTERPRETATION Above The necklace set

with 27 ancient intaglios sold for £34,160 in 2017 Below left Gold ring with carnelian intaglio portrait of the Emperor Tiberius, AD 14-37, Metropolitan Museum of Art

While the Romans bought their own symbolism to the craft of intaglio carving, they also relied and reused popular motifs from Greek and Etruscan culture. This necklace features a beautiful mix of intaglios, with some distinctly Greek symbols reimagined by the Romans.

POPULAR ROMAN SUBJECTS Distinctly ‘Roman’ motifs in intaglios are often associated with victory, heroes, warriors and emperors.

These intaglios are seen throughout the necklace. The symbolism in intaglios 9 and 13, of a palm, horn of plenty and a globe would have represented world rule, while intaglio 12 depicts a heroic scene, detailing a charioteer with two horses.

The palm was such a powerful symbol in Roman culture that the Latin word ‘palma’ became a metonym for victory. Palms are seen in intaglios 3, 9, and 10, indicative of the widespread prevalence of this association. Finally, intaglio 14 shows a sphinx. The sphinx was the emblem adopted by Emperor Augustus for his first imperial seal.

Focus on Intaglio jewellery DRILLING DOWN

The necklace’s intaglios in detail

Intaglio 11 features Dioscuri, the two heavenly twins of Greek mythology with their horses, while intaglios 14, 16 and 20 show the Greek mythological characters Cupid, the Sphinx and Pegasus. Meanwhile, intaglio 15 features a satyr carved into amethyst. Interestingly, the satyr was a companion of the Greek God of wine, Dionysus. The choice of gemstone here is also telling, as Pliny the Elder famously declared that amethyst ‘prevented drunkenness,’ so in this carving we see a perfect symmetry between the stone and its subject.

Above The necklace in detail

INTAGLIOS AS AMULETS Several of these intaglios depict animal carvings, designed possibly as amulets serving to bestow the wearer with the symbolic and associated qualities of the subject.

‘Several of the intaglios depict animal carvings, designed possibly as amulets serving to bestow the wearer with the symbolic and associated qualities of the subject’

1 Amethyst carved with a bird on branch and a star 2 Carnelian carved with a lion 3 Green chrome chalcedony carved with a palm with two cornucopiae 4 Banded agate carved with a cow, dating to the second half of 1st century BCE, Augustan 5 Carnelian carved with a cow 6 Amethyst carved with a cow 7 Carnelian carved with a pair of cows within a border 8 Carnelian carved with a cow beneath a tree 9 Banded agate carved with a palm, a horn of plenty and a globe, dating to the second half of 1st century BCE, Augustan 10 Carnelian carved with a dolphin and a palm of victory 11 Banded agate carved with Dioscuri 12 Carnelian carved with a charioteer with large 2-horse chariot (biga), initialled AV (presumably part of the name of the owner) 13 Sardonyx truncated cone carved with a bird perched on globe; the bird is pecking from a cornucopia 14 Carnelian carved with a sphinx 15 Amethyst carved with a satyr, part of the entourage of Dionysus 16 Sardonyx truncated cone carved with cupid 17 Carnelian carved with two horses, one with rider 18 Banded agate carved with a boar, dating to the second half of 1st century BCE, Augustan 19 Carnelian carved with a lion 20 Sard carved with Pegasus or a lion griffin 21 Carnelian carved with a hand holding corn and poppy head 22 Blue onyx carved with a dolphin 23 Carnelian carved with a goat nibbling on ear of corn 24 Carnelian carved with a cow beneath a tree 25 Carnelian carved with a hound chasing a hare 26 Green Chrome Chalcedony carved with a goat with a corn ear 27 Carnelian carved with four corn ears

Lions (intaglios 2, 19 and 20) were seen as symbols of power, strength, and public duty in the Roman times, while cows were associated with harvest, and so used to bestow wealth and prosperity on the wearer. An unsurprisingly popular subject for an amulet, cow carvings are seen in intaglios 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 24. Goats were an unlikely symbol of victory, hence intaglios 23, 26, and 27 all depict goats with ears of corn, representing prosperity in victory.

Liz Bailey MA FGA DGA is the jewellery and watches specialist at the Nantwich-based auction house Wilson55. Their next fine jewellery and watches sale is on March 18, for more details go to www.wilson55.com or email liz@wilson55.com ANTIQUE COLLECTING 53

In the

LOUPE

Family Affair

Beloved by royalty and Hollywood for a century, jewellery by the French makers Van Cleef & Arpels is as collectable as it is stylish, writes Mark Littler

V

an Cleef & Arpels is one of the most recognisable names in art deco jewellery, having supplied pieces to the rich and famous since the company’s founding, with its famous advocates ranging from royalty to Hollywood. Grace Kelly, the Duchess of Windsor and Ava Gardner were all famous fans.

Van Cleef & Arpels Zip necklace, image courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels

The origin of the world’s most successful art deco jewellers started in 1895 with the marriage of Estelle Arpels, the daughter of a precious stone dealer, and Alfred Van Cleef, the son of a diamond broker. Somewhat inevitably the couple shared a passion for jewellery, and the combined expertise of both families put gems at the heart of the family business. Alfred Van Cleef and his father-in-law, Salomon Arpels, founded the company in 1896. When Salomon died in 1903, Alfred took on his brothers-in-law – Charles Arpels, Julien and finally Louis, setting up a shop in the Place Vendôme in Paris. The shop was officially opened in 1906.

COMMERCIAL SUCCESS

Left The Van Cleef & Arpels Zip necklace turns into a bracelet, image courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels Right A ballerina

clip in the Eleanor range, image courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels

‘In 1966, the company was commissioned to create a crown for Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran for her coronation in 1967. The crown took 11 months to complete and eventually consisted of six emeralds, 36 rubies, 105 pearls and 1,469 diamonds’ 54 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

The company soon found its stride, with designs including motifs such as flowers, animals, fairies, and birds. It opened up stores in Nice, MonteCarlo, Vichy, and Le Touquet. In 1925, a Van Cleef & Arpels diamond

GEMSTONES & MOTIFS Van Cleef & Arpels has long been associated with fluid, feminine and dynamic forms, with flowers, butterflies, and female figures featuring heavily in its designs. Emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and sapphires are used liberally, with the ‘mystery set’ technique allowing a blanket of colour with no visible metal in many designs.

The company only uses gemstones of the highest quality, therefore untreated gemstones and diamonds of the best grades are used in all its jewellery.

Van Cleef & Arpels bracelet interspersed with ruby and diamond rose motifs won a prize at the International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts.

In 1926, Alfred and Estelle’s only child, their daughter, Renée, took over artistic direction of the company, working closely with draftsman René Sim Lacaze. Lacaze was a French jewellery designer and artist credited with playing an important role in the emergence of art deco. He worked for the brand until 1941, producing some of the firm’s most iconic pieces and techniques, such as the serti invisible – or ‘mystery set’ – technique. This process allowed gemstones to be held in place without visible claws, making Van Cleef & Arpels’ designs even more streamlined.

The late 1930s saw Claude, Jacques, and Pierre Arpels – sons of Julien Arpels – join the family business.

Management of the Parisian side of the firm fell to Jacques, while his brother Claude was charged with growing the American boutique. Pierre was the last to join the firm in 1944, with his role being to oversee jewellery design.

STAR APPEAL: GARDNER AND TAYLOR

Above Van Cleef & Arpels Zip necklace in the Palmyre range, image courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels Left Van Cleef & Arpels minaudière was patented in 1933 as a handy container for a lady’s essentials, image courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels

INNOVATIVE DESIGNS Van Cleef & Arpels is credited with inventing the ‘minaudière’, a hard-cased bag with no handles or straps – not be confused with a clutch bag – after Claude Arpels was inspired by the Lucky Strike cigarette case used by the American socialite Florence Jay Gould to house her belongings. The minaudière was intended to hold the essentials for a high-class night out, with compartments for opera glasses, lipstick, cigarette holders and pill boxes. It was patented by Van Cleef & Arpels in 1933.

The firm was also responsible for the creation of passe-partout jewellery that could be transformed into different pieces depending on the occasion or whim of the wearer. So a necklace became a bracelet or a belt became a choker. The iconic 1950s Zip necklace, which doubles as a bracelet, is one of the best known examples. It dates to the late 1930s, when the Duchess of Windsor suggested a piece inspired by a zip fastener to Renée Puissant, daughter of Alfred and Estelle.

Belolw Van Cleef &

Arpels 1930s brick-link Ludo bracelet, image courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels

Throughout the 1960s, Ava Gardner regularly bought jewellery from Van Cleef & Arpels, as a reward for each of her films. In September 1961, she bought a fourstrand bracelet, each strand consisting of 95 cultured pearls, with a clasp formed from a spray of diamond motifs in the shape of flames. In January 1962, a few weeks before filming started on 55 Days at Peking, she bought a flower brooch in yellow gold set with 169 round diamonds. In 1964, it was the turn of Night of the Iguana, which she marked with a Marguerite (Daisy) brooch set with 277 diamonds and 21 emeralds. In 1966, the year she filmed The Bible, she made her finest purchase: a pair of emerald and diamond ear pendants costing $16,000. The Ava Gardner collection was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in 1989 and 1990, a few months after the star’s death.

In December 13, 2011, at Christie’s New York, Elizabeth Taylor’s sale of “legendary jewels,” comprised 80 pieces from her 269-piece collection – 22 of which were by Van Cleef & Arpels. François Curiel, international director of jewellery sales at Christie’s, estimated the sale price of the whole collection at a very conservative $30m. Lot 67, a Barquerolles diamond necklace with a lion’s head motif, given to Taylor by Richard Burton on the birth of their first grandchild in 1971 (estimated to make $150,000) finally reached $900,000.

A ruby ring given by Burton to his wife as a stocking filler on Christmas Day 1968, sold for $4.2m setting a then record for a ruby, per carat, of $512,925.

GLITTERING CLIENTELE One of Van Cleef & Arpels’ most famous clients was Grace Kelly. When her fiancée Prince Rainier III gave her a pearl and diamond set by Van Cleef & Arpels it sparked a life-long love of the brand, so much so it became the official jewellery supplier for the Principality of Monaco.

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 55

In the

LOUPE In 1966, the company was commissioned to create a crown for Empress Farah Pahlavi of Iran for her coronation in 1967. The crown took 11 months to complete and eventually consisted of six emeralds, 36 rubies, 105 pearls and 1,469 diamonds.

A year later, the ballet Jewels, choreographed by George Balanchine and based on the work of Van Cleef & Arpels, premiered in New York. It was in part inspired by the motif of dancing women that had first begun to appear in designs in the 1940s, thanks to Louis Arpels’ love of ballet.

The project was a landmark collaboration between Balanchine and Claude Arpels and featured music by Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky, demonstrating the farreaching influence of Van Cleef & Arpels’ designs. The L.A. Dance Project continues to choreograph ballets inspired by Van Cleef & Arpels.

ALHAMBRA RANGE Launched in the 1960s, one of Van Cleef & Arpels’ most infamous motifs is the Alhambra, based on turrets from the famous Spanish palace. With a lucky clovershaped quatrefoil design, the range soared in popularity.

Jacques Arpels, nephew of the founding couple and avid collector would often pick four-leaf clovers, offering them to his employees as good luck charms.

The simple but distinctive design proved instantly popular with important jewellery collectors, including Elizabeth Taylor. Princess Grace of Monaco was one of the women most identified with the Alhambra range, and often wore a necklace made of malachite that had been bought in 1975.

Alhambra jewellery is often set with a broad range of high-quality, semi-precious gemstones, including mother-of-pearl, onyx, malachite, carnelian, turquoise and tiger’s-eye. The popularity of the motif saw it reproduced in modern ranges, including Lucky Alhambra, Magic Alhambra and Pure Alhambra.

56 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Above An 18ct yellow diamond and white diamond dress ring, signed VCA and numbered, image courtesy of Elmwood’s Above right A pair of 18ct yellow gold diamond earrings, designed as a flower, set at the centre with round-cut diamonds, signed Van Cleef & Arpels, image courtesy of Elmwood’s Below left An Alhambra necklace in pink gold, image courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels Below An Alhambra

between-the-fingers ring in white gold with mother of pearls, image courtesy of Van Cleef & Arpels

Right The company only

uses 18ct gold, so look for the 750 mark

COLLECTING GUIDE Gem-set or diamond-set pieces could be great investments due to the very high-quality gemstones, but equally, a piece from any of the Alhambra collections could warrant the same returns due to its iconic design.

The modestly priced range of jewellery, manufactured in a broad range of materials including coral, aquamarine, mother-of-pearl and chalcedony, proved hugely successful.

Also look out for pieces for its more whimsical La Boutique collection of more affordable jewellery launched in 1954 to enliven the austere post-war years.

The idea was to provide more light-hearted pieces, usually of naturalistic form, using gold and semiprecious stones with diamond highlights. The jewels, which took the forms of birds, lions, cats, squirrels and other animals, are instantly recognisable as works by Van Cleef & Arpels.

Mark Littler an independent antiques and jewellery consultants based in North Yorkshire. For more details go to www.marklittler.com

SPOTTING A FAKE

Van Cleef & Arpels’ reproductions and fakes are increasingly common. If a piece of jewellery signed VCA has low-quality gemstones, or poor settings, it should raise instant alarm bells.

There are three main things to look for: a metal hallmark, a trademark and a serial number.

The trademark will appear either as ‘Van Cleef & Arpels’ or simple ‘VCA’. Many fakes include a fraudulent trademark that reads as ‘Van Cleef’, so if you see that, avoid.

Where the signature stamp is placed depends on the type of piece you have. For earrings, you’ll find it on the ear clip (one or both), for rings, it will appear inside the shanks, and Alhambra’s collection contains stamps that are placed on the clover station nearest to the clasp.

As for the metal hallmark, this is fairly easy, since Van Cleef & Arpels exclusively uses 18ct gold. The hallmark for 18ct gold is ‘750’, so that is the number you’ll always see on an authentic Van Cleef & Arpels piece. The serial number should appear near the trademark and hallmark.

Forthcoming LIVE ONLINE auction

Jewellery & Watches Tuesday 16th March at 1pm

AUCTIONS FOR JEWELLERY, WATCHES & SILVER

To include a wide range of antique and modern jewellery and watches We are delighted to offer readers of Antique Collecting magazine a free copy of the auction catalogue

Please email jewellery@dnw.co.uk

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE THE LAUNCH OF A NEW DEDICATED MONTHLY JEWELLERY, WATCHES & SILVER AUCTION NEXT AUCTION: 11TH MARCH Entries now being invited

Dix Noonan Webb

London Specialist Auctioneers

16 Bolton Street Mayfair London W1J 8BQ

www.dnw.co.uk

For a free valuation or to speak to a jewellery specialist call 0207 431 9445 or email info@dawsonsauctions.co.uk

Antique Collecting 1/4 Page Advert - Jewellery Feb 2021.indd 1

A collection of 19th century green paste jewellery Sold for £3,810 (including Buyer’s Premium) in December 2020

Mallams 1788

12/02/2021 10:18

Signed & Designed

Friday, 5 March at 10am

The auction will be going ahead as live only online.

J EWE L L E RY

&

WATCHES

S I LV E R 16 June 2021 ENTRIES INVITED

To arrange a free auction valuation please contact: Louise Dennis FGA DGA T: 01865 241358 E: louise@mallams.co.uk

BOCARDO HOUSE, ST MICHAEL’S STREET, OXFORD OX1 2EB

AN ART NOUVEAU OPAL, ENAMEL AND DIAMOND BROOCH, BY GEORGE FOUQUET Est. £10,000-15,000*

Bid live on our website

www.elstobandelstob.co.uk *Plus fees

Elstob & Elstob Limited The Ripon Saleroom, Ripon Business Park, Charter Road, Ripon HG4 1AJ

t: 01765 699200 e: info@elstobandelstob.co.uk

www.elstobandelstob.co.uk

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 57

In the

LOUPE

TOP of the LOTS

A round up of jewellery and watches on offer from the UK’s leading specialists A 43cm ruby and sapphire necklace by the Greek goldsmith (1920-2013) Ilias Lalaounis, has an estimate of £5,500-£6,500 at Wilson55’s fine jewellery and watches sale on March 18.

Born into a family of goldsmiths and watchmakers, Lalaounis was known for his historic motifs in gold and gemstones making his pieces less jewellery and more works of art.

A trio of pieces, including a Victorian gold and garnet pendant with an estimate of £150-£250, appears in Dawsons’ watches and silver sale on March 11.

Although garnets fell out of favour around 1820, they witnessed a revival in 1880 during Victorian times.

Many garnets of the era were rose cut, which were set into low carat gold.

A 19th-century gold and gemstone ring has an estimate of £100-£200, while a diamond and gold ring is expected to fetch between £80-£120 at the same sale.

Above Three pieces feature in Dawsons’ upcoming sale

Above The necklace has an estimate of £5,500-£6,500

An art deco Burmese ruby and diamond cocktail watch is expected to make £1,200-£1,500 at Dix Noonan Webb’s sale on March 16. The 16.5cm long timepiece has a rectangular dial inside a brilliant-cut diamond bezel, with scissor-cut calibre ruby highlights in barrel settings.

Above Cocktail watches were in fashion in the 1930s as

discreet ways for women to check the time

A 1960s sapphire and enamel bird brooch by the French cubist George Braque (1882-1963) has an estimate of £3,500-£5,000 at Elstob & Elstob’s ‘Signed and Designed’ sale on March 5.

It is signed Bijoux de Braque, Tithonos, EL 2/72 , numbered 2492, with a sapphire eye, and stamped with French eagle’s head mark.

Braque, who disliked ‘shiny’ gold, mixed sand to create a granular effect. From 1961, the 79-year-old Braque began working with Baron Héger de Lowenfeld on a collection of gold jewels translated from the artist’s lithographs and graphic works.

Braque would sign the ones of which he approved.

Above 20th-century artists increasingly experimented with jewellery as works of art

Two late-Victorian 18ct yellow gold keepsake rings each has an estimate of £150£250 at Ewbanks’ three-day rare watches, Rolex and antique jewellery sale starting on March 24.

One has a double heart and arrow motif, set with an old-cut diamond and a round-cut ruby, with a concealed hinged top, enclosing the word MIZPAH – Hebrew for May God watch over you. The other has a horseshoe ring set with an old-cut diamond and two round-cut rubies, with hinged section saying Good Luck.

Top Both rings are in 18ct yellow gold Above The engraving is a good wish message in Hebrew

A rare, late 18th, early 19th-century garnet and diamond-set pendant of the Portuguese Order of Christ in the shape of a cross sold for £4,800, almost five times its low estimate, at Mallams’ recent sale.

Antique Portuguese jewellery dating from the 17th century onwards is renowned for its varied use of coloured gemstones and precious metals, often sourced from locations within its empire, including Brazil and Portuguese India.

Above Antique Portuguese jewellery is coveted by collectors

58 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Jewellery, Watches & Coins: 24 March Silver & Fine Art: 25 March Antiques, Clocks, Books, Stamps & Furniture: 26 March James Bond 007 Auction: 9 April

AUCTION Calendar Because this list is compiled in advance, alterations or cancellations to the auctions listed can occur and it is not possible to notify readers of the changes.

We strongly advise anyone wishing to attend an auction especially if they have to travel any distance, to telephone the organiser to confirm the details given.

LONDON: Inc. Greater London Bonhams, New Bond St., W1 020 7447 7447 www.bonhams.com The Mind’s Eye / Surrealist Sale, Mar 2 Ecole de Paris 1905-1939, The Jewish Artists, Mar 3 Homes and Ineriors, Mar 24 Medals, Bonds, Banknotes and Coins, Mar 24 Picassomania, Mar 25 Impressionistic and Modern Art, Mar 25 Islamic and Indian Art, Mar 30 19th Century and British Impressionist Art, Mar 31 Bonhams, Knightsbridge, SW7 020 7393 3900 www.bonhams.com Knightsbridge Jewels, Mar 3 British and European Art, Mar 3 Modern and Contemporary African Art, Mar 17 Post-War & Contemporary Art, Mar 24 Fine Books and Manuscripts, Mar 31 Chiswick Auctions, 1 Colville Rd, Chiswick, W3 8BL 020 8992 4442 www.chiswickauctions.co.uk The Collector: Objects to Clocks, Mar 22 Wines and Spirits, Mar 22 Urban & Contemporary Art, Mar 22 Fine Rugs and Carpets, Mar 23 Old Master Paintings & Drawing, Mar 23 Silver & Objects of Vertu, Mar 23 Books & Works on Paper, Mar 24 Interiors, Homes & Antiques, Mar 24 Autographs & Memorabilia, Mar 24 British & European Fine Art, Mar 30 Christie’s, King St., London, SW1 020 7839 9060 www.christies.com Chinese Jade Carvings from a Distinguished European Collection, Nov 3

60 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Important Chinese Art, Nov 3 Handbags and Accessories, Nov 3-17 Modern & Contemporary Middle Eastern Art, Nov 4-24 Topographical Pictures, including China Trade Paintings (online) ends, Nov 5 The Collector - Live, Nov 12 The Collector (online) ends Nov 17 Art of the Islamic and Indian Orientalist Art, Nov 18 Finest and Rarest Wines and Spirits, Nov 19 Russian Art, Nov 23 Old Masters, Dec 3 Valuable Books and Manuscripts, Dec 9 Dix Noonan Webb, 16 Bolton St, Piccadilly, W1J 8BQ 020 7016 1700 www.dnw.co.uk Coins and Historical Medals, Mar 2 Jewellery, Watches, Antiquites and Objects of Vertu, Mar 16 Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria, Mar 17 Elmwood’s Auctioneers 101 Talbot Road, London, W11 2AT 0207 096 8933 www.elmwoods.co.uk Jewellery, Oct 7 Forum Auctions 220 Queenstown Road, London SW8 4LP 020 7871 2640 www.forumauctions.co.uk Artsy X Forum Auctions, Mar 3, 25 Books and Works on Paper (Online), Mar 3 Editions and Works on Paper, 1500-2020, Mar 11 Maps and Atlases (Online), Mar 18 Fine Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper, Mar 25 Editions and Works on Paper, Mar 30 Hansons Auctioneers The Normansfield Theatre, 2A Langdon Park, Teddington TW11 9PS, 0207 018 9300 www.hansonsauctioneers.com Asian & Oriental Auction; Kate Bliss Curated Silver, Jewellery & Watches, Mar 1

Coins, Medals, Militaria & Toys Auction, Mar 27 Lyon & Turnbull 22 Connaught Street, London, W2 2AF 0207 930 9115 www.lyonandturnbull.com None listed for March Olympia Auction 25 Blythe Road, London, W14 OPD 020 7806 5541 www.olympiaauctions.com None listed for March Morton and Eden Nash House, St. George Street London, W1S 2FQ 020 7493 5344 www.mortonandeden.com None listed for March Phillips, 30 Berkeley Square, London, W1J 6EX, 020 7318 4010 www.phillips.com 20th Century & Contemporary Art Day Sale, Mar 24 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale, Mar 25 Roseberys, Knights Hill, SE27 020 8761 2522 www.roseberys.co.uk Modern and Contemporary Prints and Multiples, Mar 9 Jewellery and Watches, Mar 16 A Private Collection of Judaica and Silver, Mar 17 Old Master, 18th, 19th Century Pictures, Mar 23 Fine and Decorative, Mar 24 Single Owner Collection, Mar 25 Islamic and Indian Art, Mar 31 Sotheby’s, New Bond St., W1 020 7293 5000 www.sothebys.com Modern and Impressionistic Art, Mar 9-16 Made in Britain, Mar 9-16 Prints and Multiples, Mar 9-17 Banksy, Mar 9-18 Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale, Mar 19-26

Contemporary Art Day Auction, Mar 19-26 Modern and Contemporary African Art, Mar 24-31 Evening Sale, Mar 25 SOUTH EAST AND EAST ANGLIA: Inc. Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Norfolk, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex Beeston Auctions, Unit 12, Paynes Business Park, Dereham Road, Beeston, Norfolk, PE32 2NQ 01328 598080 www.beestonauctions.co.uk Militaria, Mar 10 Fine Antiques and Collectables, Mar 11 Bentley’s Fine Art Auctioneers The Old Granary, Waterloo Road Cranbrook, Kent, TN17 3JQ, 01580 715857 www.bentleysfineartauctioneers. co.uk Antiques, Mar 6 Bishop and Miller, 19 Charles Industrial Estate, Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 5AH 01449 673088 www.bishopandmiller auctions. co.uk Mr Bishop’s Interiors, Mar 12 Mr Bishop’s Pictures, Mar 19 Antiques (Timed Online), ends Mar 28 Bellmans Newpound, Wisborough Green, West Sussex, RH14 0AZ 01403 700858 www.bellmans.co.uk Interiors, including European Ceramics, Silver, Wines & Spirits, Mar 2-4 The Friday Sale (at No Reserve), Mar 5 Burstow & Hewett The Auction Gallery, Lower Lake, Battle, East Sussex,TN33 0AT 01424 772 374 www.burstowandhewett.co.uk Antiques, Mar 24 Fine Art, Mar 25

Cheffins Clifton House, Clifton Road, Cambridge, CB1 7EA 01223 213343 www.cheffins.co.uk Online Charity Sale on Behalf of East Anglian Children’s Hospice (EACH), ends Mar 6 The Interiors Sale, Mar 11 Clarke and Simpson Campsea Ashe, Nr. Wickham Market, Suffolk, IP13 0PS 01728 746323 www.clarkeandsimpson.co.uk The Monday Sale, Mar 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 Art Deco, Design and Retro, Mar 27 Durrants Auctions The Old School House, Peddars Lane, Beccles, Suffolk, NR34 9UE 01502 713490 www.durrantsauctions.com General Antiques with Furniture, Mar 5 Silver and Jewellery, Mar 12 Clocks and Watches, Mar 19 Mid 20th Century Design and Vintage, Mar 26 Ewbank’s, London Rd, Send, Woking, Surrey 01483 223 101 www.ewbankauctions.co.uk Jewellery, Watches & Coins, Mar 24 Silver & Fine Art, Mar 25 Antiques, Stamps, Books, Clocks & Antique Furniture, Mar 26 Excalibur Auctions Limited Unit 16 Abbots Business Park Primrose Hill Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, WD4 8FR 020 3633 0913 wwwexcaliburauctions.com Movie and Music Memorabilia, Posters and Autographs, Mar 13 Vintage Toys and Model Railways Auction, Mar 27 John Nicolson’s Longfield, Midhurst Road Fernhurst, Haslemere Surrey, GU27 3HA, 01428 653727 www.johnnicholsons.com Oriental and Islamic, Mar 3 Fine Art, Mar 4 Fine Paintings, Mar 17 Lacy Scott & Knight, 10 Risbygate St, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 3AA, 01284 748 623

www.lskauctioncentre.co.uk Home and Interiors, Mar 13 Twentieth Century Art & Design, Mar 19 Music & Film Memorabilia, Mar 19 Fine Art & Antiques, Mar 20

Chorley’s, Prinknash Abbey Park, Gloucestershire, GL4 8EU 01452 344499 www.chorleys.com Fine Art & Antiques, Early English Porcelain, Silver & Jewellery, Books & Medals, Mar 23-24

Mander Auctioneers The Auction Centre, Assington Road, Newton, Sudbury,Suffolk CO10 0QX, 01787 211847 www.manderauctions.co.uk General Sale, Mar 6

David Lay Auctions Penzance Auction House Alverton, Penzance, Cornwall 01736 361414 www.davidlay.co.uk Antiques and Selected Items, Mar 18-19

Reeman Dansie, No. 8 Wyncolls Road, Severalls Business Park, Colchester, CO4 9HU 01206 754754 www.reemandansie.com Antiques and Fine Art, Mar 2-3 Collectors, Mar 23-24 Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers, Cambridge Road, Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, CM24 8GE 01279 817778 www.sworder.co.uk Homes and Interiors (Including Toys), Mar 2 Fine Wine and Spirits (timed), Mar 14 Homes and Interiors, Mar 16 Jewellery, Mar 24 Homes and Interiors (including Militaria), Mar 29 Homes and Interiors - Two Day Sale, Mar 30-31 T.W. Gaze, Diss Auction Rooms, Roydon Road, Diss, Norfolk, IP22 4LN, Norfolk 01379 650306. www.twgaze.com Special Antiques, Mar 3 Antiques & Interiors, Mar 5, 12, 26 Toys, Mar 10 Automobilia, Mar 17 Antiques and Interiors with Beswick, Mar 19 Modern Design, Mar 24 Architectural, Mar 31 SOUTH WEST: Inc. Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Somerset, Wiltshire British Bespoke Auctions The Old Boys School, Gretton Rd, Winchcombe, Cheltenham, GL54 5EE 01242 603005 www.bespokeauctions.co.uk Antiques, Mar 3

Dawsons, Kings Grove Estate, Maidenhead, Berkshire | SL6 4DP 01628 944100 www.dawsonsauctions.co.uk Jewellery, Watches & Silver, Mar 11 Fine Art & Antiques, Mar 25 Dominic Winter Auctioneers, Mallard House, Broadway Lane, South Cerney, Cirencester, Gloucestershire, GL7 5UQ 01285 860006 www.dominicwinter.co.uk Printed Books, Maps & Documents Further Selections from the David Wilson Library The Bookbindery of Faith Shannon MBE (1938-2018), Mar 10 Selected Antiques & Historic Textiles, British & European Paintings & Watercolours, Portrait Miniatures, Old Master Prints & Drawings, Mar 11 Dreweatts, Donnington Priory Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2JE 01635 553 553 www.dreweatts.com Space Exploration, Photography and Ephemera, Mar 10 Art on a Postcard, International Women’s Day Auction in Support of the Hepatitis C Trust, Mar 11 Modern and Contemporary Art, Mar 18 Fine Furniture, Sculpture, Clocks, Carpets, Ceramics and Works of Art, Mar 31 Duke’s, Brewery Square, Dorchester, Dorset, DT1 1GA 01305 265080 www.dukes-auctions.com Art & Design post 1880, Mar 18 East Bristol Auctions, Unit 1, Hanham Business Park, Memorial Road, Hanham, BS15 3JE 0117 967 1000

www.eastbristol.co.uk Monthly, Mar 11-12 Military, History and Transportation, Mar 19 20th-Century Design, Mar 26 Gardiner Houlgate, 9 Leafield Way, Corsham, Wiltshire, SN13 9SW 01225 812912 www.gardinerhoulgate.co.uk The Two-Day Guitar Sale, Mar 10-11 Musical Instruments, Mar 12 Hannam’s Auctioneers 4 The High Street, Alton, Hampshire, UK, GU34 1BU, 01420 511788 www.hannamsauctioneers.com Gentlemans Library Sale inc Tribal Art, Mar 8 Hansons Auctioneers, 49 Parsons Street Banbury, Oxford, OX16 5NB 01295 817777 www.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk The Oxfordshire Two-Day Spring Fine Art & Jewellery Auction, Mar 5-6 HRD Auction Rooms Ltd The Auction Rooms, Quay Lane Brading, Isle of Wight PO36 0AT 01983 402222 www.hdrauctionrooms.co.uk Antique & Modern, Mar 16 Lawrences Auctioneers Ltd. Crewkerne, Somerset, TA18 8AB, 01460 703041 www.lawrences.co.uk None listed for March Mallams Oxford, Bocardo House, St Michael’s St, Oxford.

01865 241358 www.mallams.co.uk The Art and Music Sale, Mar 10 The Oxford Library Sale, Mar 11 Mallams Cheltenham, 26 Grosvenor St, Cheltenham.

Gloucestershire, 01242 235 712 www.mallams.co.uk Modern Living, Mar 17 Mallams Abingdon, Dunmore Court, Wootten Road, Abingdon, OX13 6BH 01235 462840 www.mallams.co.uk The House and Garden Sale, Mar 22 ANTIQUE COLLECTING 61

AUCTION Calendar Because this list is compiled in advance, alterations or cancellations to the auctions listed can occur and it is not possible to notify readers of the changes.

We strongly advise anyone wishing to attend an auction especially if they have to travel any distance, to telephone the organiser to confirm the details given.

Philip Serrell, Barnards Green Rd, Malvern, Worcs.

WR14 3LW, 01684 892314 www.serrell.com Antique and Fine Art, Mar 18

01778 422686 www.goldingyoung.com Bourne Collective Sale, Mar 3-4 Toy, Transport & Automobilia Sale, Mar 24

Stroud Auctions, Bath Rd Trading Estate, Bath Rd, Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL5 3QF 01453 873 800 www.stroudauctions.co.uk The Beatles, including Vinyl records, Musical Instruments, Guns & Weapons, Medals & Militaria, Sporting and Taxidermy, Mar 3-4

Golding Young & Mawer The Grantham Auction Rooms, Old Wharf Road, Grantham, Lincolnshire NG31 7AA01476 565118 www.goldingyoung.com Grantham Collective Sale, Mar 10-11

The Pedestal, The Dairy, Stonor Park, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 6HF, 01491 522733 www.thepedestal.com None listed for March W.H. Lane & Son Jubilee House, Queen Street, Penzance, Cornwall, TR18 4DF 01736 361447 www.whlane.co.uk General Sale, Mar 18 Woolley & Wallis, 51-61 Castle Street, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP1 3SU, 01722 424500 www.woolleyandwallis.co.uk Sales postponed till later in the year EAST MIDLANDS: Inc. Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Sheffield Batemans, Ryhall Rd, Stamford, Lincolnshire, PE9 1XF 01780 766 466 www.batemans.com Fine Art, Antiques & Specialist Collectors, Mar 6 Gildings Auctioneers, The Mill, Great Bowden Road, Market Harborough, LE16 7DE 01858 410414, www.gildings.co.uk Antiques and Collectors, Mar 2, 16, 30 Golding Young & Mawer The Bourne Auction Rooms, Spalding Road, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9LE

62 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Golding Young & Mawer The Lincoln Auction RoomsThos Mawer HouseStation RoadNorth Hykeham, Lincoln LN6 3QY 01522 524984 www.goldingyoung.com Lincoln Collective, Mar 17-18 WEST MIDLANDS: Inc. Birmingham, Coventry, Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Bigwood Auctioneers, Stratford-Upon-Avon Warwickshire, CV37 7AW 01789 269415 www.bigwoodauctioneers.com Furnishings, Interiors and Collectables, Mar 5, 12 Antiques & Collectables inc. Traditional Sports and Pastimes, Mar 26 Cuttlestones Ltd, Wolverhampton Auction Rooms, No 1 Clarence Street, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, WV1 4JL, 01902 421985 www.cuttlestones.co.uk Antiques & Interiors, Mar 19 Cuttlestones Ltd Pinfold Lane Penkridge Staffordshire ST19 5AP, 01785 714905 www.cuttlestones.co.uk Spring Antiques, Mar 11 Antiques and Interiors, Mar 24 Fellows, Augusta House, 19 Augusta Street, Hockley, Birmingham, B18 6JA 0121 212 2131 www.fellows.co.uk The Designer Collection (timed), Mar 1

Pawnbrokers Jewellery & Watches, Mar 4, 18 Online Jewellery (timed), Mar 11 Silver and Costume Jewellery (timed), Mar 12 Online Watches & Watch Accessories (timed), Mar 15 Fine Jewellery, Mar 25 Antiques, Silver & Collectables, (timed), Mar 29 Fieldings, Mill Race Lane, Stourbridge, DY8 1JN 01384 444140 www.fieldingsauctioneers.co.uk Decades of Design, Mar 18-19 Halls, Bowmen Way, Battlefield, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, SY4 3DR 01743 450700 www.hallsgb.com/fine-art Antiques and Interiors, Mar 3 The Spring Auction, Mar 17 Hansons Auctioneers, Bishton Hall, Wolseley Bridge, Stafford, ST18 0XN, 0208 9797954 www.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk The Staffordshire Spring Fine Art Auction, Mar 10-17 Curated Ceramics & Glass, Mar 31 Kingham & Orme, Davies House, Davies Road, Evesham, Worcestershire, WR11 1YZ, 01386 244224 www.kinghamandorme.com Stamps and Ephemera, Mar 4 Fine and Decorative Arts, Mar 5-6 Richard Dennis Promoting British Ceramics 1971-2021, Mar 27 Mellors & Kirk The Auction House, Gregory Street, Nottingham NG7 2NL 0115 979 0000 www.mellorsandkirk.com Fine Art Antiques & Collectors, Mar 11-12 Potteries Auctions, Unit 4A, Aspect Court, Silverdale Enterprise Park, Newcastle, Staffordshire, ST5 6SS, 01782 638100 www.potteriesauctions.com Two Day Fine Art Auction of 20th Century British Pottery, collectors items, household items, antique & quality furniture, Mar 12-13

Trevanion Auctioneers, The Joyce Building, Station Rd, Whitchurch, Shropshire, SY13 1RD, 01928 800 202 www.trevanionanddean.com Fine Art and Antiques, Mar 17 NORTH: Inc. Cheshire, Co. Durham, Cumbria, Humberside, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, Sheffield, Yorkshire Adam Partridge, Withyfold Drive, Macclesfield, Cheshire, 01625 431 788 www.adampartridge.co.uk Two Day Auction of Boutique, Silver, Jewellery, Watches, Coins & Banknotes with Furniture & Interiors, Mar 18-19 Adam Partridge, The Liverpool Saleroom, 18 Jordan Street, Liverpool, L1 OBP. 01625 431 788 www.adampartridge.co.uk Rock & Pop with Antiques and Collectors’ Items, Mar 3 Anderson and Garland Crispin Court, Newbiggin Lane, Westerhope, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE5 1BF. 0191 432 1911 www.andersonandgarland.com Town and County, Mar 10, The Music Auction, Mar 11 Fine Watches Auction, Mar 23 Fine Silver and Jewellery, Mar 23 March Country House & Fine Interiors Auction Interiors, Mar 23-25 Capes Dunn, The Auction Galleries, 40 Station Road, Heaton Mersey, SK4 3QT. 0161 273 1911 www.capesdunn.com Interiors, Vintage & Modern Furniture, Mar 8, 22 Antiquarian & Collectable Books, Maps, Prints & Affordable Art, Mar 9 Colllectors, Mar 23 David Duggleby Auctioneers Vine Street Salerooms Scarborough, North Yorkshire YO11 1XN, 01723 507 111 www.daviddugleby.com The Teddy Bear Collection, Mar 5

The Furnishings Sale, Furniture and Interiors, Mar 13 David Duggleby Auctioneers The Saleroom, York Auction Centre, Murton, York.

YO19 5GF, 01904 393 300 www.daviddugleby.com Jewellery, Watches and Silver, Mar 25 Antiques Fine Art and Collectors, Mar 26 Furniture, Clocks and Interiors, Mar 26 Elstob & Elstob, Ripon Business Park, Charter Road, Ripon, North Yorkshire, HG4 1AJ. 01677 333003 www.elstobandelstob.co.uk Signed and Designed, Including Artist’s Proof Prints from the Family of Chris Prater (1924-1996), Mar 5 Jewellery, Watches and Silver, Mar 20 Hansons, Heage Lane, Etwall, Derbyshire, DE65 6LS 01283 733988 www.hansonsauctioneers.co.uk Antiques and Collectors, Mar 18-23 Football & Sporting Auction, Mar 24 The Derbyshire Spring Fine Art Auction, Mar 25 Medals, Militaria & Firearms Auction, Mar 26 The One-Day Derbyshire Fine Art Auction, Nov 24 Wilson55 Victoria Gallery, Market St, Nantwich, Cheshire.

01270 623 878 www.wilson55.com Jewellery & Watches Timed Online, Mar 1-18 Fine Jewellery and Watches, Mar 18 Sheffield Auction Gallery, Windsor Road, Heeley, Sheffield, S8 8UB. 0114 281 6161 www.sheffieldauctiongallery.com Specialist Collectable Toys, Mar 11 Silver, Jewellery & Watches, Mar 25 Fine Art, Antiques and Collectables, Mar 26 Tennants Auctioneers, Leyburn, North Yorkshire 01969 623780

www.tennants.co.uk Modern & Contemporary Art, Mar 6 20th Century Design, Mar 6 Books, Maps & Ephemera, Mar 10 Antiques and Interiors, Mar 12, 24 Spring Fine Sale, Mar 20 Traditional Pictures, Mar 20 The Curious Collector, Mar 27 Thomson Roddick Coleridge House, Shaddongate, Carlisle, Cumbria, CA2 5TU 01228 5289939 www.thomsonroddick.com Home Furnishings and Interiors, Mar 2 Collectors, Mar 10 Vectis Auctions Ltd, Fleck Way, Thornaby, Stockton on Tees, TS17 9JZ www.vectis.co.uk 01642 750616 TV and Related Related, Mar 9 Diecast, Mar 16 General Toys, Mar 19 Model Trains, Mar 26 Matchbox, Mar 30 Toy and Teddy Bears, Mar 31 Warrington and Northwich Auction 551 Europa Boulevard, Westbrook, Warrington, Cheshire WA5 7TP, 01925 658833 www.warringtonauctions.com Toy & Games & Specialist Military Sale, Mar 2 Home & Garden and Antiques & Collectables, Mar 3

Nov 11, Dec 9 Two-Day Antiques and Collectables, Nov 13-14 Three-Day Winter Fine Art and Antiques, Nov 15, 27, 28 Lyon & Turnbull, Broughton Pl., Edinburgh.

0131 557 8844 www.lyonandturnbull.com Jewellery, Silver & Accessories, Mar 9 Watches, Mar 9 Thomson Roddick The Auction Centre, 118 Carnethie Street, Rosewell, Edinburgh, EH24 9AL, 0131 440 2448 www.thomsonroddick.com Home Furnishings and Interiors, Mar 4 Antiques, Mar 11 WALES Anthemion Auctions, 15 Norwich Road, Cardiff, Wales, CF23 9AB 029 2047 2444 www.anthemionauction.com General Sale, Mar 3

Peter Francis Towyside Salerooms, Old Station Rd, Carmarthen, SA31 1JN, 01267 233456 www.peterfrancis.co.uk Antiques, Furnishings & Collectors, Mar 3, 17, 31 IRELAND Adam’s 26 St Stephens Green Dublin, D02 X66 353-1-6760261 www.adams.ie Important Irish Art, Mar 25 Sheppard’s Irish Auction House The Square, Durrow, Co. Laois, R32 FN88, Ireland 353-57- 874 0000 www.sheppards.ie Paradigms & The Unexpected, Mar 2-3 Whyte’s 38 Molesworth St. Dublin, D02 KF80, 353-1-676 2888 www.whytes.ie Spring Online Art Sale, Mar 1 Irish and International Art, Mar 22

Wilkinson’s Auctioneers, The Old Salesroom, 28 Netherhall Road, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN1 2PW 01302 814 884 www.wilkinsons-auctioneers.co.uk None listed for March SCOTLAND Bonhams, Queen St, Edinburgh.

0131 225 2266 www.bonhams.com Whisky, Mar 2 Great Western Auctions 1291 Dumbarton Road Whiteinch, Glasgow G14 9UY 0141 954 1500, www. greatwesternauctions.com Furniture and Interiors,

www.OlympiaAuctions.com

+44 (0)20 7806 5541 enquiries@olympiaauctions.com

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 63

ril pp.53-63:Layout 1

17/3/17

14:08

Page 63

ANTIQUES CENTRES

TO ADVERTISE PLEASE EMAIL

64 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

Rutland The

ARMS

GEORGINA WROE georgina.wroe@accartbooks.com

ANTIQUES

LENNOX CATO ANTIQUES & WORKS OF ART EST: 1978

•WANTED•

for epic East Yorkshire Georgian townhouse restoration.

Signed and unusual furniture. Georgian, Regency, William IV. Sofa / Pembroke / side tables, library furniture / bookcases. Also Victorian campaign chests, armchairs etc.

Ross of Dublin, Morgan & Sanders, Williams & Gibton, James Winter, Hill & Millard and many others.

J Alderman. Daws and George Minter reclining chairs. Shoolbred/ Hamptons / Cornelius Smith Victorian armchairs.

Marble fire surrounds. Georgian / Regency/ William IV. Bullseyes etc.

Exceptional Georgian / Regency fire grates Sash windows x 4 identical. Georgian reclaimed. Approx 58” high x 36” wide.

Wide reclaimed floorboards. Approx 100 m2.

Early decorative oil / gas / electric light fittings. Ceiling, wall or table.

Early gasoliers. Colza lamps. Gimble lamp.

1 The Square, Church Street, Edenbridge, Kent TN8 5BD 01732 865 988 cato@lennoxcato.com

www.lennoxcato.com

Roland Ward, Van Ingen taxidermy. Human skull. Hippopotamus skull.

Stuffed crocodile / alligator.

Quirky architectural features. Regency columns, corbels, marble and stone pieces, over door pediments, folding/rolling multi part Georgian room dividing doors.

Victorian canopy shower bath. Decorated toilets etc Unitas, Simplicitas, Deluge etc.

Decorated basins x 3.

vintagejewellery@yahoo.co.uk or tel 07958 333442

•WANTED•

VINTAGE WRISTWATCHES Omega Seamasters and pre-1980s Omegas in general.

IWC and Jaeger LeCoultres, all styles. Looking for Reversos. American market filled and 14k pieces possibly, at the right price.

Breitling Top Times, Datoras and 806 Navitimers.

Pre-1960s Rolex models, with a focus in pre-war tanks, tonneaus etc.

Gold or silver/steel. Also World War I Rolex 13 lignes etc. Princes.

Longines, Tudors and Zeniths, pre-1970. Even basic steel models in nice condition.

All the quirky oddities like Harwoods, Autorists, Wig Wag, Rolls etc, and World War I hunter and semi-hunter wristwatches.

Early, pre-war ladies’ watches also wanted by Rolex, Jaeger LeCoultre etc. Prefer 1920s/30s deco styles, but early doughnuts also considered.

PM Antiques & Collectables are a modern and innovative antiques retailer based in Surrey.

Specialising in a wide array of collector’s items, including contemporary art, entertainment and memorabilia, vintage toys, decorative ceramics, watches and automobilia.

We Buy & Sell pm-antiques.co.uk Contact us: phil@pm-antiques.co.uk 01932 640113

Yorkshire based, but often in London and can easily collect nationwide.

vintagejewellery@yahoo.co.uk or tel 07958 333442

PMAntiques2015

PM_Antiques

ANTIQUE COLLECTING 65

LAST WORD Marc Allum

Marc My Words

I

Antiques Roadshow expert Marc Allum has fallen in love with a sexy French model who is also high maintenance and weighs two tons

love old vehicles. I can hear the yawns already but, honestly, old cars are part and parcel of being interested in history, art, antiques and technical innovation. I’m a practical sort, so I get just as much satisfaction from putting a new distributor on a 1953 Austin Champ, as I do from restoring an 18th-century Derby figure; polishing a George III lowboy; or cleaning a Victorian portrait.

A love of all aspects of antiques and art usually brings with it an appreciation of the processes, design and construction that went into making them. This is particularly pertinent with vehicles which often incorporate several facets: ranging from

lovingly-crafted, walnut-veneered interiors; to stylish bonnet-mounted mascots. Big names in art and design frequently cross over into the world of motoring – although I don’t have a £10,000 Lalique Victoire mascot mounted on the front of my new vintage Citroën.

CHUNK OF CHANGE I know what you’re thinking. Old cars can take a heavy financial toll – and you’re right. Unless you either have bottomless pockets, or an aptitude for mechanics, the cost of keeping a two-ton, oil-dripping beast in roadworthy condition is scant reward for the odd day of adoration when

it only goes for long enough to get to the local petrol station and back. Add to this, tax and insurance and you might wonder if it is worth the aggravation? Luckily most of my old cars, being more than 40 years old, have fallen outside the tax and MOT bracket, but yes, I can honestly say it is worth it.

I just don’t feel complete unless I’m driving a piece of history. It’s not only about the vehicle either. It’s also about its past. As with all antiques, provenance is important. But there’s the smell, too – nothing smells like the interior of an old car; then there’s that moment when you open the barn door and the aroma of oil greets your nostrils.

GALLIC STYLE The list of cars I have owned is long and varied, but my latest acquisition – Delphine is an elegant, classic piece of French automotive history – a Citroën Traction Avant 11b Normale. Her lines are pure and sensually Gallic, she’s a head turner wherever she goes and I love her. Filling the glove box with period French maps is just part of the fun.

Key to her elegance are the many aheadof-their-time technical innovations, one of the reasons that has led me to accept an invitation as an ambassador to the Association of Heritage Engineers, an organisation that promotes and sponsors sustainable skills, apprenticeships and knowledge and awareness across engineering and heritage sectors.

It’s an amazing organisation and I’m pleased to be able to lend my enthusiasm to all things related. I look forward to us being able to resume normal service soon at some spectacular car meets later in the year.

Marc Allum is an author, lecturer and specialist on the Antiques Roadshow, for more details go to www.marcallum.co.uk Find out more about the Association of Heritage Engineers at www. associationofheritageengineers.co.uk

Delphine has got Marc Allum in a spin

66 ANTIQUE COLLECTING

‘Delphine is an elegantlydefined, classic piece of French automotive history – a Citroën Traction Avant 11b Normale. Her lines are pure, sensual Gallic style and she’s a head turner’

Spring & Summer Auctions We are now welcoming consignments for our Spring & Summer auctions

Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers

Contact clientservices@roseberys.co.uk with the details and images of your object to receive a complimentary valuation from one of our specialists

Modern & Contemporary British Art 23 February|1 June

Traditional & Modern Home 2 March|8 May|21 August

Modern & Contemporary Prints & Multiples 9 March|7 July

Jewellery & Watches 16 March|8 June

A Private Collection of Silver & Judaica 17 March

Old Master, 18th & 19th Century Pictures 23 March|20 July

Fine & Decorative 24 March|21 July

Ted Few : An Idosyncratic Eye 25 March

Islamic & Indian Arts 31 March|15 June

Design: Decorative Arts 1860 to the Present Day 27 April

Chinese, Japanese & South East Asian Art 19 May

Impressionist, Modern, Post War & Contemporary Art 23 June

www.roseberys.co.uk 70/76 Knights Hill, London SE27 0JD | clientservices@roseberys.co.uk | +44 (0) 20 8761 2522

Specialists in the sale of single owner collections and estates

A 1964 Porsche 356C part of a private collection

SOLD: £48,000

INDEPENDENT ANTIQUES ADVISOR & VALUER • Antiques • Silver • Classic Cars • Watches • Jewellery • Wine & Whisky www.marklittler.com

01260 218 718

valuation@marklittler.com