Silver Shines in 800-Lot Auction...
9th October 2018
The first session of our autumn Fine Art week saw 800 lots of silver and vertu go under the hammer with strong results right across the day.
A 17th Century spoon, made by Jasper Radliffe in Exeter in c.1628, took £2300 and a small Charles I sweetmeat dish from 1631 showed the strength of interest in early pieces such as this when it made £2250. There was a complete contrast shown in a modern centre piece modelled as a swan, made in 1975, that made £2860 and similar elegant restraint was shown in a Danish water pitcher by Georg Jensen from 1925-1932. This made £2190. A more ornamental vessel with a similar purpose was an Irish flagon from the mid-18th Century. Made by Thomas Dublin, it weighed a mighty 39oz and soared above expectations to take £8780.
In the vertu section, a Chinese ivory fan breezed to £1340; an interesting collection of seals took £3780 and two exquisite but small vinaigrettes took the highest prices: a George III commemorative Trafalgar example depicting Nelson and bearing the immortal legend `England Expects Every Man Will do His Duty` dated from the year 1805 and made £2190 (image 718) and another by Nathaniel Mills from 1843 depicted Christchurch College Oxford and was bid to £5360. The day’s total comfortably exceeded £240,000 with little unsold.
