Fabergé name retains all the old magic, as table clock price shows

Fabergé is synonymous with Russian craftsmanship of the highest order and a silver and guilloche enamel table clock, marked Fabergé, workmaster Michael Perchin, St Petersburg, c.1890, stole the limelight.

While there was some suggestion the striking yellow enamel had undergone minor restoration, according to CSK’s specialist Jeffrey Lassaline, the privately entered timepiece nevertheless sold on its lower estimate to a private commission bidder for £20,000.

The difficulties in sourcing Russian silver of the requisite quality meant it took Mr Lassaline around six months to gather material for this sale, but the burgeoning international interest in this commercial field meant it was time well spent. “Obviously the Russians are very keen to repatriate their own things,” he said.

The difficulties in selling standard English silver tableware and flatware has been discussed above, but the international interest for more unusual, decorative or collectable silver saw a Russian kettle on stand with burner, mark of Joseph Nordbeg, St Petersburg, 1865, a good size at 161/2in (42cm), sell to a European private for £2000, a Chinese four-piece tea and coffee set fetch £2200 from a dealer and a William IV gilt-lined snuffbox by the collectable maker Nathaniel Mills, Birmingham, 1835, with a micromosaic top depicting a spaniel, brought £3200.

Overall, Jeffrey Lassaline reported a more upbeat sale than of late, with a hammer total of £224,320 and a selling rate of 74 per cent by lot for the afternoon session of silver, and 70 per cent for the morning session of miniatures, vertu and icons. This compared with a more usual 60-65 per cent take-up by lot earlier in the year. “Since June the market seems to have bounced back,” said Mr Lassaline.