Topping the Beardmore collection bill were two C Scroll cup and saucer lots. Pictured here is a maroon ground floral decorated cup and saucer set on daisy wheel feet - pattern number 4412 - which realised £1100 (estimate £80-150). Both lots were in good condition with just some wear to the gilding and decoration and are referenced in the Daniel Ceramic Circle’s work Daniel: Patterns on Porcelain Tablewares.
Around half of the 540 lots that made up Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) Spring sale on April 24 in Dorchester were given over to one English porcelain factory, that of H&R Daniel, courtesy of the first part of the late Bryan Beardmore’s collection.
Topping the Beardmore collection bill were two C Scroll cup and saucer lots. Pictured here is a trio with floral centres and blue and gilt borders (pattern number 4415) both cups with daisy wheel feet, which realised £1200 (estimate £80-150). Both lots were in good condition with just some wear to the gilding and decoration and are referenced in the Daniel Ceramic Circle’s work Daniel: Patterns on Porcelain Tablewares.
A lifelong enthusiast for porcelain collecting, he started out buying Meissen but once retirement from the Post Office in 2004 allowed him more time, he increasingly gravitated toward English products of the early 19th century, buying pieces from about 40 different factories.
Another sought-after lot at Duke's was this single C Scroll cup and saucer painted with flowersprays on a white ground set on daisy wheel feet and with only slight wear to the gilding and decoration. Estimated at £80-150, it was hammered down for £1000.
Beardmore concentrated first on wares by the Yates factory and subsequently those of the Staffordshire-based Daniels. His collection in its entirety ran to around 3000 pieces.
A H&R Daniel lot containing two cups, both in the Mayflower shape moulded with small raised flowerheads to the ground inspired by Meissen pieces and painted with floral panels, one set against a pink and yellow ground, the other with a white ground. The coffee cup has a small firing crack to the handle and a hairline crack to the body. It sold for £360 at Duke's.
His introduction to Daniel porcelain came via the seminars held by Geoffrey Godden and Michael Berthoud of the Daniel Ceramic Circle. A chance meeting with a member at an auction in 2003 introduced Beardmore to the Circle which he joined, attending his first seminar that year. He went on to become the DCC’s treasurer and membership secretary, positions he held until his death last year, as well as collaborating on articles for its journal.
Proving more popular than predicted at Duke's was this lot containing two Queen’s shape pieces decorated with flowers: an 8½in (21.5cm) high lidded cream bowl pattern D406 and a 10¼in (26cm) high centrepiece pattern 6567. There were some condition issues, the centrepiece having a reattached stem and hairline cracks while the cream bowl had a repair to the rim and hairline cracks throughout but the £40-80 guide proved modest and in the end the hammer fell at £320.
He also co-authored several books on the factory: Identifying Daniel Porcelain Tablewares, with B Smith, H&R Daniel Earthenwares, with J & J Simpson and B Smith, and H&R Daniel - A Pocket Guide to Aid Identification, with J & J Simpson, B Smith, and G & S Pickett. Many of the pieces in the Beardmore collection were referenced in the books he co-authored.
Richard Daniel is recorded as having recognised a burgeoning market for fine porcelain among the Scottish Gentry and produced a number of services decorated with landscapes and manor houses of Scotland. This 38-piece tea and coffee service in the Savoy shape decorated with panels of Scottish landscapes within maroon and yellow borders (pattern 8925) realised £700 at Duke's. Condition-wise, there is wear to the decoration throughout and some rubbing to the gilding while three of the plates and eight of the cups and four saucers have cracks plus hairline cracks to the bowls.
He was well placed to provide this expertise. Daniel porcelain is of high quality with fine decoration in a variety of patterns and techniques but one of the main features is that it is hardly ever signed or marked so attribution relies on identifying by shape.
Shrewsbury-shape cups which are popular with overseas buyers were another sought-after category at Duke's. The four cups and saucers pictured here, each of a different pattern, were largely in good condition with just minor cracks to three of the cups and to one saucer. They sold for £550 against a £40-80 guide.
Beardmore set himself the impossible task of trying to collect examples of all the patterns produced by the Daniels, a venture which of necessity sometimes meant buying damaged pieces to further that study.
Duke’s sale of the Beardmore collection followed on from the dispersal by Halls in Shropshire last year of another significant study collection, that formed by Michael Berthoud who was the first to write a book on the factory (ATG No 2620).
Realistic guidelines
A group of 15 Shrewsbury-shape plates in a variety of patterns including two with landscapes, the largest measuring 9in (23cm). Generally in good condition with some wear to the decoration and gilding, a few with chips or hairline cracks and one with a stapled repair. Sold for £650 at Duke's.
Would the market be able to support so much on offer in such a short time especially given not all the Beardmore pieces were in perfect condition? For Duke’s this meant setting realistic guidelines and lotting a high volume as group lots.
A sizable portion of the collection sold as predicted but there were some lots that dramatically outstripped estimates. As with the Berthoud collection, many of these were attractive shapes such as C Scroll teacups featuring daisy wheel feet and the Shrewsbury pattern pieces that are particularly popular with Far Eastern buyers.
This H&R Daniel group of 13 jugs in Shell B shape and various patterns, the tallest measuring 5¼in (13.5cm) in height. Around a third were in good condition, others had minor defects or restoration. The lot sold for £170 at Duke's.
Given there is an active collecting society for Daniel wares (a group of whom attended the sale in person), there were also some bidders keen to fill gaps in their own holdings.
The affordable estimates would also have given entry-level buyers an opportunity although it seems likely, with so much was offered in larger groups, that this would have also favoured trade buyers.
Prices ranged from just £10 to a high of £1200. Many, though, were in the three-figure bracket. Pictured and discussed here is a selection of examples from across the range.
Combined expertise
Daniel: Patterns on Porcelain Tableware has been written by Susan and Gordon Pickett (with research by the late Bryan Beardmore among others).
For Daniel porcelain enthusiasts and those interested in expanding identification of their own pieces, the Daniel Ceramic Circle published a new book in September 2023. Daniel: Patterns on Porcelain Tableware has been written by Susan and Gordon Pickett (with research by the late Bryan Beardmore among others) and was over three years in the planning.
It runs to 400 pages and features 1700 images.
Presented chronologically in sections on each of the 36 tableware shapes, the book follows the shape first then leads the reader on to the section on pattern descriptions.
The book is available from the Daniel Ceramic Circle costing £55 plus extra for post and packing For further information see the website below.
