Fairyland flies to fore of Wedgwood

Not that this is an unusual feature for the Massachusetts auctioneers. They have two sales each year that focus on Wedgwood, both as single-owner collections and as mixed-owner consignments.

The material on offer last month came largely from two or three sources, said Skinner’s ceramics specialist Stuart Slavid. These properties featured a range of wares from all periods but it was the small section devoted to Fairyland lustre, one of Wedgwood’s early 20th century ornamental ranges and currently one of the hottest collecting areas, that provided the highest ceramics prices.

Leading the list at $7000 (£5000) was the 101/2in (26cm) plate decorated with the Imps on a Bridge pattern pictured here. The price was around three times what Stuart Slavid admitted to be a conservative estimate, “it was around what I expected,” he said.

An 11in (28cm) diameter lily tray decorated with the Garden of Paradise to the inside and Birds of Flight to the exterior followed at $4000 (£2860), while a 71/2 x 101/2in (19 x 27cm) plaque decorated with the Elves in a Pine Tree pattern with some wear to the gilding and an 81/2in (20cm) high vase (minus its lid) decorated with the Sycamore Tree with Feng Hwang and Bridge and Ship and Tree, each came in at $2800 (£2000) around what was predicted in the first instance and double expectations in the second. Although these were the most expensive, all 11 lots of Fairyland and other Wedgwood lustre in this section found buyers.

The sale’s highest price of $43,000 (£30,715) was paid for a pair of early 19th century Regency bookcases. These were of attractive dimensions at 3ft high by 3ft 6in wide (91 x 106cm) crossbanded in rosewood, part ebonised and gilded, with twisted columns flanking grille doors and the price was comfortably over the auctioneers’ $15,000-20,000 estimate.