Auctions

THE Hindenburg archive, which includes the famous Leica and accessories recovered from the wreckage by Fritz Deeg, the steward onboard the airship when disaster struck on May 6, 1937, is being offered by WestLicht on May 23 and 24.

Illustrated right is one of 15 chromolitho plates after pastel originals by Étienne Léopold Trouvelot that make up a scarce, complete set of The Trouvelot Astronomical Drawings, the work of a keen observer and talented artist who spent the years 1872-74 using the 15in refractor at Harvard Observatory.

AN UNUSED photographic postcard showing the ‘The New White Star Liner Titanic... nearing completion: locked in the largest graving dock in the world, Belfast, February 1912’, was one of the more popular lots in a sale of books, cigarette, trade and postcards, plus autograph material, held by Acorn Auctions of Salford on April 15. It sold at £210.

Not such a pretty face, perhaps, but the artist was certainly worth a thousand dollars or more.

MOST numismatic material when offered at auction comes up in London. Sometimes this is not the case and then frequently a better-than-usual price is achieved.

ALTERNATIVE investment might be too strong a word for it, but the current desperate state of returns in the stock market and other investment areas does seem to be having a positive effect at art sales, at least in Scotland.

THE war in Iraq does not appear to have had any obvious effect on the latest series of lslamic sales, held in London last week. There was still an international turnout for the three main auctions of Islamic works of art and, in a field usually characterised by selective buying, the selling rates were not especially different, with a take-up in lot terms ranging from just over half the content at Bonhams and Christie’s King Street to just over two thirds at Sotheby’s.

THE move towards better prices for silver took Cumbrian auctioneers Penrith Farmers' & Kidd's rather by surprise at their 1125-lot quarterly catalogue sale on March 26 (15% buyer's premium inc. VAT) – although it was a wine-related item which did the honours and these do have their own buoyant market.

IT’S been a long time since any auctioneer chose to illustrate his catalogue front cover with an array of silver candlesticks but this was the rather heartening decision by The Bristol Auction Rooms for their April 8 sale (12.77% buyer's premium inc. VAT) and their enlightened, so to speak, move was rewarded when all the lots, from George IV to 1967, sold within or above the admittedly modest three-figure expectations.

A pair of candlesticks featured strongly at ELR Auctions' 28 March sale (12.5% buyer's premium), were a classic by Ebeneezer Coker, who along with Cafe, is probably the best known of all candlestick makers.

Black Forest Bear furniture is hugely popular and this late 19th/early 20th century stick stand in the form of a standing bear with outstretched arms, right, was one of the main attention grabbers at Clevedon Salerooms (15% buyer’s premium) on March 6.

HALLS of Shrewsbury will be taking a very active part in next month’s Asian Art Week, having turned up a 157-piece collection of netsuke in the Midlands.

Getting Sotheby’s Olympia’s (20/12% buyer’s premium) 288-lot April 2 sale of British and European Ceramics off to a brisk start was a well received section devoted to early Italian maiolica, Dutch Delft and other tin-glazed earthenwares.

BELFAST was the city that built the Titanic and the connection between the doomed liner and the Northern Irish capital has always been strong. The news of the tragedy was devastating to the thousands of men who had worked on the ship, their families, and to all the people of Belfast, perhaps none more so than James Lord Pirrie, uncle of Thomas Andrews, the designer of the Titanic and chairman of Harland & Wolff, the famous shipyard where it was built.

Devon auctioneers SJ Hales (15 per cent buyer’s premium) have moved to a wider field than the ceramics, and particularly Staffordshire, on which they founded their reputation but this area remains their strength. The 500 varied ceramic lots and nearly 200 Staffordshire pieces took most of the better prices among the 1500 offerings at the new Bovey Tracey rooms on March 12 and 13.

Back on March 18, Bonhams (19.5/10% buyer’s premium) held a sale devoted entirely to Export Arts of the China Trade in their Bond Street rooms. Running to 277 lots, it comprised material from both China and Japan, the bulk of it ceramics but also featuring metalwares, ivories, furniture, paintings and other works of art.

THE distillation of a life of taste, dedication to a collecting field and unique expertise. This rare confluence of qualities may be seen this Thursday, May 1, when Neales of Nottingham present the 163-lot single-owner collection of one of their own cataloguers.

Sourced from a small church in the West Country but apparently once part of the furniture at William Beckford’s splendid Fonthill Abbey, this George III pair of mahogany hall benches (one shown) were the highlight of Duke’s sale in Dorchester on April 17.

A number of ivories closed the Oriental ceramics section at Tennants’ sale with some memorable results. A 143/4in (37.5cm) double-handled basket and cover from Canton c.1860, carved with phoenixes and figures in pavilions, made a five-times estimate £2500 and more surprises came among ten Japanese ivories such as an 81/2in (22cm) one-piece carving of a farmer looking at an empty pumpkin cage, a cicada on his head, which made £4000 against printed expectations of £500-700.

CHRISTIE’S, who have postponed their April Hong Kong sales because of the SARS outbreak, have now published a revised list of sale dates for July.