In particular there was the crossover appeal of three George II tea caddies – a pair by Charles Frederick Kändler, 1737, 5in (13cm) high. 220z in all, and a similarly-sized 14oz caddy with an indistinct maker’s marker. All bore the monogram MG for Mary Gregory, who was linked by marriage to the Crace family, among the 18th century’s foremost interior decorators.
All three caddies had been in their 81/2in (22cm) kingwood banded and inlaid burr yew box since the late 18th century and had no difficulty doubling the mid-estimate to bring £5000. There were a number of four-
figure sales like 328oz of Hanoverian rat tail pattern cutlery, William Bruford 1934, at £4000; a set of four entrée dishes and covers by J.W. Story & William Elliot, 1810 at £3100, and a 19th century Japanese bowl, approx. 65oz, embossed with chrysanthemums, at £1600.
Perhaps more interesting was the reaction to early English provincial spoons. A c.1570-1590 Maidenhead spoon marked W.G. conjoined Midlands – Jackson’s posits Coventry as the source of this mark – went a little over top hopes at £1050.
There followed a gilded St Peter Apostle spoon with the quatrefoil hearts mark of the Waveney Valley in East Anglia which was catalogued as c.1650. This sold at a mid-estimate £680.
These are good enough prices but one has to wonder what such pieces would have made – triple the prices here, perhaps? – if they had been fairly rare Scottish or Irish provincial works rather than English.
Phillips, Knowle, September 19
Buyer’s premium: 15/10 per cent
Crossover appeal puts caddies top
THE acceptance that silver has long lost its shine does not mean that there is no active market, just that prices are lower. After this sale of 340 lots at Phillips’ Midlands operation on 19 September the familiar picture emerged of modern pieces struggling, standard material chugging along and items with appeal beyond the metal doing rather well.
