Allum's Antiques Almanac 2015 E-Book

Marc Allum

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 302

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

From the BBC Antiques Roadshow specialist and author who brought you The Antiques Magpie comes the first annual almanac keeping you bang up to date with the vibrant, pacey and often amusingly idiosyncratic global art and antiques market. Find out: * How much the wedding ring of Lee Harvey Oswald sold for * What the world's most expensive printed book cost per word * Which First World War artefacts have enthused collectors amid the centenary commemorations ...and much more Written with Marc's trademark blend of knowledge, enthusiasm, irreverence and wit, Allum's Antiques Almanac 2015 provides a unique insight into a boundless world fuelled by history, avarice and passion, making it a must-read for the inherent collector in all of us.

Leseprobe

Allum’s

ANTIQUES ALMANAC 2015

Also by Marc Allum The Antiques Magpie

Allum’s

ANTIQUES ALMANAC 2015

An annual compendium of stories and facts from the world of art and antiques

MARC ALLUM

Published in the UK in 2014 by Icon Books Ltd, Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP email: [email protected]

Sold in the UK, Europe and Asia by Faber & Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House, 74–77 Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DA or their agents

Distributed in the UK, Europe and Asia by TBS Ltd, TBS Distribution Centre, Colchester Road, Frating Green, Colchester CO7 7DW

Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Allen & Unwin Pty Ltd, PO Box 8500, 83 Alexander Street, Crows Nest, NSW 2065

Distributed in South Africa by Jonathan Ball, Office B4, The District, 41 Sir Lowry Road, Woodstock 7925

Distributed in India by Penguin Books India, 7th Floor, Infinity Tower – C, DLF Cyber City, Gurgaon 122002, Haryana

Distributed in Canada by Publishers Group Canada, 76 Stafford Street, Unit 300 Toronto, Ontario M6J 2S1

ISBN: 978-184831-734-5

Text copyright © 2014 Marc Allum

The author has asserted his moral rights.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Typeset in Van Dijck by Marie Doherty

Printed and bound in the UK by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc

For all those who care – thank you.

Your words in my memory are like music to me.

—SNOW PATROL

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Marc Allum is a man with serious time-management issues. Always over-employed but largely unemployable, he walks an overstretched tightrope of impossible curiosity, a perpetual chronically jammed cerebral inbox of insatiable idiosyncratic desire while desperately trying to balance this with a combination of ‘real’ work that pays the bills and several strangely fulfilling hobbies – actually, his main problem is the continual creation of more openings into the labyrinth of object and association: the guitar and the player, the shotgun and the shooter, the engine and the mechanic, to name just a few. Marc is on a Thesian mission to meet the past he was never able to inhabit and his life as a BBC Antiques Roadshow specialist, author and consultant allows him to unwind just a little bit more of that never-ending thread.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Thangka Lot

Assassin’s Ring

Holding a Torch

All Tied Up

Crystal Ball

Art Market Matters

Derby Day

Lapidary Legend

Not on the Cheapside

Severed Head

The Printed Word

Without Prejudice

Stovepipe

Property Bubble

The £ Raindrop

Hand of Glory

Star Lot

Holey Grail

Sleepers

Past Picassos

Axe Hero

Eye Eye

Dresser Designs

Face to Face

Me Old China

Baaa-ber

Who Pays the Ferryman?

Not Allum’s Almanac

Street Life

Base Metal

Monster Price

Solid Gold

Stamp of Disapproval

Women’s Rights

Lest We Forget

Plan Ahead

Queen Anne’s Statute

Gatekeeper

Tibetan Travesty

Jolly Roger

Play Misty for Me

Grave Decision

Torc of the Town

Origin of Species

Peking Duck

Yankee Doodle

A Big Fiddle

Headline News

Scrap Metal

The Man From Xian

Banknote

Portal in a Storm

Blue John

Life Drawing

Signed and Sealed

Trench Warfare

Goldfinger

The Knowledge

In a Jam

Deathly Pallor

Boom or Bust

Clock Watcher

Battle Lines

Old Cow

Sword Play

Van’s the Man

Alter Ego

Pigeon Fancier

Favourite Finds

Great Dane

Hair Today Gone Tomorrow

Amber Gambler

Ballet Buffet

Slice of Apple

Haus Design

Flag Day

Watch This

Plane as Day

Chocoholic

Chinese Junk

We Are Sailing

The Price of Freedom

The Master

Pooled Resources

Napoleon’s Noisette

Completely Jaded

Pearl Jam

Angels of Death

Keeping Up With the Joneses

Bank On It

Bombing Mission

Pithy Stuff

Calculated Risk

Cracking Lot

Good Sir Toby

The Yves of Something Big

Cat Tales

Hotel Art

Architectural Salvage

Quack Cure

Auction Sniper

Apollo Apostles

Poisoned Chalice

Mouse Man

Fakes and Fortune

Golden Shower

Poetic Stuff

Moon River

Traveller’s Friend

By George

Machine Age

Fork and Knife

Muck and Brass

Ugly as Sin

Odd Societies

Gothic Sleeper

Game Off!

Promise to Pay

Our Pictures

Chelsea Boot

Head Hunted

Tall Story

Bulldog Blues

Poles Apart

Label Freak

Stolen Goods

Owls of Shame

Credit Crunch

Touched by the Devil

Sporting Life

Sole Survivor

Serious Burns

Best Offer

In God We Trust

Whipped Up

Rude Letter

Fishy Tale

Ship Shape

Palace Bowl

Smallwork

Ivory Tower

Miniature Marvel

Bombards and Black Jacks

Fire Lizards

Dental Record

Balls Up

Just the Ticket

D-Day Deception

Zig-Zag

Cape of Good Hope

EPILOGUE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

APPENDIX: A HANDPICKED SELECTION OF INTERESTING SOCIETIES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

USEFUL TRADE AND INDUSTRY LINKS

INTRODUCTION

Contrary to what you might think, the obvious attraction of writing a book called Allum’s Antiques Almanac was not a clever publishing ploy to cash in on the alliterative qualities of the three words; rather, the idea stemmed from my fervent interest in devising a format based on my interest in art and antiques and an historically appropriate vehicle for conveying a whole raft of time-sensitive facts (and some fictions). Among my varied collections are several almanacs, a type of publication originally dating back some several thousand years that came to be characterised by collections of ephemeral information such as lunar and solar predictions, horoscopes and eventually more concrete facts and figures that might aid a person in everyday life. The compilation of such material is in fact a very English phenomenon and became more popular in the late 14th century. By the 17th century such publications had become so popular that they were only outsold by that number one bestseller, The Bible. So the idea that these miniature, often beautifully embossed and tooled leather-bound publications in their similarly decorated protective leather slipcases could inspire me into compiling a tome of larger proportions but crammed with a mine of carefully selected, sometimes personal, factual, informative and anecdotal miscellany, seemed pertinent given that I would be dealing with just about every facet of the art world.

Following the success of my last book, The Antiques Magpie, it seemed obvious that I had dipped my toe into an arena that people were keen to hear more about. This compelling world, the ‘illness’ of collecting and the characters that populate it are like a form of antiquarian spontaneous combustion, igniting almost every day into amazing stories and snapshots of history. The idea that I could write an annual compendium by drawing on a continual torrent of startling facts about the auction world and the complex psychological machinations of collectors seemed wholly sensible to me; after all, it’s a world that I’m continually in touch with. Indeed, without my diverse knowledge of art and objects it would be nigh-on impossible to divine the stories and sniff out the gossip. People were also complimentary about the personal touch that I had lent the Magpie in drawing on my own passion for objects and their stories but not being totally handcuffed by the art establishment. Hence the association of my name with this Antiques Almanac.

Never a day seems to pass when I am not regaled with yet more tales of record-breaking artworks, and considering the huge financial sums at stake it’s a business that generates its fair share of drama, mystique, intrigue, elation and despondency, all encapsulated here in this eclectic collection.

I will try to abstain from prognostication and the use of language ‘fitted (in plain English terms) for the apprehension of the weak’ and endeavour to keep it ‘serviceable for the finest wits and best capacities’* in conveying, in the best historical tradition of almanacs, a varied and interesting account of the finest annual tales from the world of art and antiques. This is no dry collection of facts and although I felt it necessary to pepper it with a few lists and illustrations, again in the true tradition of almanacs, I’m hoping that it will prove alluring in its diversity and revelationary nature because, after all, there seems to be no limit to man’s innate curiosity.

Footnote

* With apologies to Thomas Lakes, author of The Countrey-mans Kalendar (1627)

Thangka Lot

Money is like water, try to grab it and it flows away, open your hands and it will move towards you.

—BUDDHA

It’s no surprise that many of the most beautiful and rare objects created by man stem from his religious beliefs. I own a multi-denominational cross-section of religious artefacts ranging from glow-in-the-dark Madonnas to 10th-century bronze Buddhas, each with its own lure and personally selected irrespective of its religious connotations or my own beliefs. I recently made a trip to Sri Lanka and was captivated by the stunning UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Dambulla cave temple with its 153 statues of Buddha and over 2,000 square metres of frescoes. The complex, dating back some 2,000 years, is one of the jewels in Sri Lanka’s cultural crown.

Sadly, I suspect that I will never be in the position to attain nirvana but the 18th-century thangka on my wall at home serves as a constant reminder of the possibility. So, what is a thangka?

A thangka (or tangka, or thanka, or tanka – there are several variant spellings) is an intricately painted (sometimes woven) depiction of a Buddhist deity, or a mandala – a symbolic representation of the universe – or perhaps a Buddhistic scene. Painted on textile, they are primarily instructional aids designed to explain myths and teachings, and are sometimes described as ‘scroll paintings’. They exist in all Buddhist cultures including those of the Chinese, Nepalese and Tibetans. They range in size from that of a small household picture to many metres across. Large examples are used in festivals. The rise of the Eastern market in recent years has seen thangkas sell for increasingly large sums. A superb 18th-century example from a private European collection, depicting the 11th–12th-century Tibetan yogi Jetsun Milarepa, was recently sold at auction by Dreweatts & Bloomsbury for a staggering £450,000. Its size, at 1.27m by 86cm, was described as ‘monumental’ and the work was considered to represent the artistic height of the Karma Gardri school of Eastern Tibet known for its stylistic interpretation of Chinese influence.

Assassin’s Ring

There’s nothing like a good conspiracy theory to perpetuate interest in an infamous historical event. For those of us who are old enough, it’s not unusual to ponder the moment when we first heard that Elvis had died or that John F. Kennedy had been assassinated. Meanwhile, the conspiracy theories continue to abound and every so often fresh items with a particular or personal relevance to those involved emerge to fuel the media frenzy. The collectors of such mementoes seem to have an insatiable appetite for all things connected with the Kennedy assassination and, despite the somewhat sad and macabre fascination of such artefacts, records are always broken when new material comes on to the market.

2013 was of course the 50th anniversary of Kennedy’s death, and among the events marking the occasion was a specialist auction in Boston. Among the many Lee Harvey Oswald-related items was the window from the Texas School Book Depository from which Oswald took the fatal shot. However, the window has a particularly contentious history: at one point it was sold on eBay for $3 million but was not paid for. Conjecture about whether it is the right window may have been instrumental in it not selling during the auction. Apparently, windows in the depository were swapped and replaced and no official records were kept. This has subsequently led to a situation where various past owners of the building – as many as three – claim to own the real window. The true identity of ‘the corner window’ may never be determined satisfactorily. However, with irrefutable evidence from Oswald’s widow, Marina Oswald Porter, the provenance of Lee Harvey’s wedding ring, engraved inside with a hammer and sickle, was not in doubt. It realised $108,000 at the same auction.

Holding a Torch

No auctioneer or museum curator would be worth their salt if they didn’t constantly have their eye on the possibility of cashing in on an anniversary. Whether increasing footfall in an art gallery or maximising the potential revenue from an auction lot, the historic ‘tie-in’ can be a major boost to an exhibition or specialist sale. Amid the controversies of the 2014 Winter Olympics at Sochi, two Parisian auctioneers in the Drouot (a building in Paris housing several auction galleries) were keen to capitalise on the timing of the event by offering rare, identical Olympic torches.

The tradition of the Olympic flame symbolises the ancient myth of Prometheus stealing fire from Zeus, the Greek god. Its use in the modern Olympic Games dates from 1936 where it was introduced by Carl Diem, the chief organiser of the infamous 1936 Olympics in Berlin. The torch relay means that for each Games, numerous examples are manufactured. For instance, 1,688 torches were made for the 1948 Games in London and 8,000 were made for the 2012 Games. Obviously, excepting some circumstances, torches are not rare; but in the case of the Winter Olympics held in Grenoble in 1968, only 33 ‘artisan-made’ models were produced, created by the Société Technique d’Equipement et de Fourniture Industrielle. The two torches auctioned in Paris, mentioned above, were examples. One sold by Beaussant Lefèvre realised a glowing £87,720, and another sold by Olivier Couteau-Bégarie shone out at £65,790. The record for one of these models is €192,000. In 1952, a very limited number – only 22 torches – was made for the Helsinki Olympics. These are coveted by collectors and an example was sold by Vassy-Jalenques SARL of Paris in April 2011, for €290,000.

All Tied Up

Not even eternity can hold Houdini

—KATE BUSH, ‘HOUDINI’, THE DREAMING (1980)

Erik Weisz, better known as Harry Houdini, is without doubt one of the most famous magicians and escapologists in history. Born in Budapest in 1874, his family emigrated to the USA in 1878. Known as ‘The Handcuff King’ he began his career working in sideshows, doing card tricks with his brother. It was during this period that he started experimenting with escapology and his route to stardom was assured after a meeting in 1899 with his future manager Martin Beck.

Houdini toured Europe and America perfecting acts such as escaping from straitjackets, being buried alive and challenging police forces to handcuff and shackle him! Houdini took great pride in the honesty of his ability and spent much time debunking frauds and cheats and pursuing people through legal channels who defamed him or inferred that he had cheated or bribed people to help him escape.

One of his most famous stunts was set up by the Daily Mirror in 1904. Their challenge was for him to break free from a special ‘inescapable’ cuff, a rigid version that had taken a Birmingham locksmith, Nathaniel Hart, five years to make. If you have any knowledge of locks, the sight of the Bramah-style key would have been enough for most people to refuse the challenge, which apparently Houdini initially did, but eventually, in front of a crowd of 4,000 people at the Hippodrome in London, he undertook what he called ‘one of the hardest … tests, I have ever had’. It took Houdini over an hour to get out of the cuff, amid much conjecture and hype over whether he actually achieved it truthfully. The Mirror presented him with a solid silver set as a memento. These are now owned by collector Mike Hanzlick; the originals that were used in the challenge are today owned by the famous magician David Copperfield.

Houdini was to become one of the highest-paid performers in American vaudeville. With death-defying acts such as the ‘Chinese Water Torture Cell’, he captivated his audiences with ever more dangerous variations on his much-imitated tricks.

Houdini-related artefacts are much sought after. One of Harry Houdini’s straitjackets sold for $46,980 at Christie’s in 2011, but more recently Dreweatts & Bloomsbury have sold several interesting items including a pair of Lilly leg irons for £2,500 and an unusual pair of hand-forged cuffs made in Birmingham. Originally from the estate of the widow of Theo Hardeen, Houdini’s brother, the handcuffs were the first pair of Houdini cuffs to come to auction (and there have been many) that were ‘specially prepared … to provide a sure release’. It’s thought that they may have been used in his most dangerous underwater escape acts. They realised £2,300.

Houdini died of peritonitis in 1926 after suffering a ruptured appendix. He was just 52 years old.

Crystal Ball

If I had £1 for every time I’ve been asked the question ‘what’s the next big thing?’ I would have retired long ago. To be frank, not even a working crystal ball would have predicted some of the recent stratospheric movements in the markets, let alone the ponderous hedging-your-bets, time-related improvement in investing in an area which over several decades sees a large increase in resale value.

So when an American gentleman by the name of Eric P. Newman started collecting coins in the 1930s, $100 dollars was a lot of money. This was precisely what he paid for a 1796 B-2 quarter-dollar, minted in the first year the US mint produced a ‘quarter’. Recently sold, Newman’s coin is possibly one of the finest ever to come on the market, with a near-perfect ‘album toning’. Furthermore, it is one of only around 500 thought to have survived. It realised a hyper-inflationary $1.5 million at Heritage Auctions and formed part of a collection of 1,800 coins originally purchased for a total of about $7,500. The final tally for the entire collection was over $23 million!

Art Market Matters

Champagne for my real friends – real pain for my sham friends!

—FRANCIS BACON

Prior to the crash in 2008, records in the art market had been continually tumbling. The auction houses were awash with money as art was increasingly bought as a ‘blue chip’ commodity, soaking up the excess cash of the millionaires and billionaires trying to find a safe haven for their bulging bank balances. At the time, it seemed like the pre-crash peak was an unprecedented culmination of a one-way trip to financial ruin in a market that was fuelled by avarice, illgotten gains in the banking world and contempt for the real meaning of art itself. The Old Master market had remained fairly steady with the odd spectacular result – the finite supply of Rembrandts and the type of customer has always put a cap on the market. However, the modern art market periodically catches fire and prior to 2008 it was burning far more brightly than it had ever burnt before. Damien Hirst’s sale on the very eve of the crash signified a peak in the idea that art is really only worth what people are prepared to pay for it, rather than having an innate value. Many critics argue that Hirst’s work subsequently crashed in value because people ‘got over’ the delusional idea that his art is a ‘gold standard’ currency. Some say that Hirst’s art just got bad.

I can remember 20 years ago marvelling over pictures making record prices: wow, £5 million! Even at the peak in 2007 we marvelled at a Francis Bacon making £14 million! Now look at the market post-crash: what we thought were prices never to be bettered have been reduced to ashes in the magnesium-fuelled inferno of the new capitalist onslaught. Now we see £74 million paid for a version of Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ and £89 million paid for Francis Bacon’s triptych of Lucian Freud. Funny how out of so much anguish and financial heartache comes even more extraordinary excess. Where will it ever end?

Derby Day

The 1920s–40s is often regarded as the classic Hollywood era of American cinema. Actors and actresses from this golden epoch include the cream of comedy, personalities often epitomised by trademark accessories and mannerisms. None is more famous than Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy. A good friend of mine once recounted a story of the view at a Los Angeles auction. He found himself chatting to an unshaven man who was looking at a cane that had once belonged to Charlie Chaplin. After exchanging a few polite pleasantries, he realised it was Leonardo DiCaprio!

Actors who use props in the course of their career rarely rely on a single example. Various canes and bowler hats belonging to Chaplin have been offered for sale, and one such cane, used in the film Modern Times, was sold by Christie’s in 2004 for £47,800. More recently, Bonhams sold a cane and a bowler hat (those of Chaplin’s trademark Little Tramp character) for £37,669. I’m not sure whether Mr DiCaprio is the owner of either of these! A moustache worn by Chaplin in The Great Dictator was also sold in the 2004 sale for £11,950.

The bowler hat, known as a Derby hat in the USA, topped off the famous slapstick comedy duo of Laurel and Hardy. Their screen relationship blossomed from already successful careers. Stan Laurel had made over 50 films, and Oliver Hardy over 250 films, prior to their successful partnership. The pair appeared in, or made, 107 films in total. I’ve filmed several items related to the duo on the Antiques Roadshow, a situation made more possible by their unswerving generosity in giving away countless souvenirs and autographs to their fans. A pair of Derby hats once owned by the legendary entertainers was recently sold by Bonhams in New York for £11,300.

Charlie Chaplin with trademark cane

Lapidary Legend

Loyal viewers of the Antiques Roadshow are very familiar with the name Fabergé, indeed, the very appearance of my colleague Geoffrey Munn often heralds the start of a fascinating story about the Russian Revolution, the demise of the Russian aristocracy and the eventual execution of Czar Nicolas II and his family. Occasioning this story are the objects that intermittently surface made by the workshop of Peter Carl Fabergé, ‘Goldsmith by special appointment to the Imperial crown’. Not all Fabergé objects were made for the Russian royal family but the legendary quality and opulence of objects such as the famed Easter eggs – and the fact that several of those are still missing – continues to fuel our fascination with this fated lost dynasty.

Every so often, a lost Fabergé object surfaces to a plethora of media headlines, further intriguing tales and suggestions of untold worth. Such was the case with a staggeringly beautiful hardstone figure of Nikolai Nikolaievich Pustynnikov, the loyal personal Cossack bodyguard to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Czar Nicolas II commissioned the figure in 1912 as a present for his wife. It was sold by Hammer Galleries in 1934 to a Mr George Davis and stayed in the family until late 2013, when it was purchased for $5.2 million by the London jewellers and Fabergé specialist Wartski, who incidentally were Armand Hammer’s main rivals for the purchase of Imperial treasures after the revolution – little wonder that Geoffrey Munn, managing director of Wartski, knows so much about the subject!

Now, you may be forgiven for thinking that this lapidary masterpiece was a fabulous, prodigious discovery and was unlikely to be trumped in the near future. Wrong! The recent announcement of the discovery of one of the missing Imperial Russian Easter eggs, not seen in public since 1902, proved to be an enormous nest egg for the American dealer who purchased it at an antiques fair for a reported $8,000. Apparently, he did so based on the weight of the scrap gold and gem content, not its aesthetic qualities. Now valued at a staggering $20 million, Wartski were once again involved in the acquisition of this rare and missing Fabergé masterpiece commissioned by Czar Alexander III in 1887. As to how many are still missing, the jury seems to be out on that one: perhaps six or seven? What we can be fairly sure of is that at some point we can expect some further big headlines.

Not on the Cheapside

I am never one to miss a good exhibition, and the historic assemblage of the Cheapside Hoard at the Museum of London between October 2013 and April 2014 was a fascinating, not-to-be-missed insight into an area of antiquity perhaps little known by many – Tudor and Jacobean jewellery. This was the first opportunity since 1914 to see a priceless collection of gemstones, jewellery, objects and ancient artefacts that were found by workmen digging in an old Cheapside cellar in 1912. There, in the remains of a wooden box, they unearthed over 500 precious objects, the like of which were known only from paintings or, incredibly, not even known at all. The high security of the exhibition reflected both this scarcity and the objects’ value.

The true story or reason for their burial will never be known but it has been surmised that the hoard forms the stock-in-trade of a Jacobean goldsmith. The location on Cheapside was thought to have been the premises of a jeweller; a row of buildings in that vicinity was historically owned by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths in a jewellery-producing area known since medieval times. Possible reasons for the hoard’s disposition have abounded: skulduggery, fire, plague, civil war. There have been various suppositions but no one can be certain.

The workmen who found the hoard quickly sold it to an infamous pawnbroker known as ‘Stoney Jack’, ‘no questions asked’. However, the said pawnbroker, more properly known as George Fabian Lawrence, also sourced items for the London museums and was able to quickly collect the trove together and secure it for posterity. The funds for the larger part of the treasure, which went to the then new London Museum, were given by Lewis Vernon Harcourt, 1st Viscount Harcourt. Some items went to the British Museum, the Guildhall Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum. The Museum of London exhibition was the first time the hoard had been reunited for 100 years.

Most fascinating is the fact that the hoard displays the truly international diversity of trade: emeralds from Colombia, diamonds from India and rubies from Burma. Scattered among these are Roman and Byzantine cameos and intaglios, an intricate timepiece set in a large cut emerald and, my favourite of all, a collection of toadstones. It’s here that myth and reality meet in what on the face of it seems an altogether worthless collection of pebbles but is a wonderfully idiosyncratic history lesson manifested in the form of a selection of polished fossil teeth from the Lepidotes fish. Their use? Set into rings, they were invaluable aids for detecting poison and would heat up (according to myth) when put in the vicinity of a potential personal hazard. No doubt they were good sellers, as the numerous examples in the Cheapside Hoard suggests.

So, much as I moaned about being divested of much of my clothing, battling with the overly complicated lockers in the Museum of London and doing battle with the crowds of similarly irritated visitors, it was without doubt one of the best exhibitions of the year.

Severed Head

I was recently invited to dinner with a client. The meal was delightful and the banter peppered with tales of amazing objects and purchases. We retired to the drawing room for coffee and my host disappeared, returning just a few minutes later with a small, faded, leather-covered box. Embossed on the lid in gilt lettering were the words ‘Relic of King Charles The Martyr’. My heart jumped. I looked at my host and flicked open the hook-shaped catch. Inside, under glass, was a lock of hair and next to it a wax seal. Printed on a small piece of paper within the lid were the words:

Relic of King Charles I On the 11th April 1813, Sir Henry Halford, by direction and in the presence of the Prince Regent, superintended the opening of the coffin of Charles I, in the vault of the George’s Chapel, Windsor, for the purpose of verifying the interment of the King. Sir Henry removed a portion of the hair from the right temple and also from the beard, part of this relic he presented to its present owner, in whose possession it has since remained – whose seal it bears – and by whom it can be authenticated.

At that moment, a tear welled up in my eye and I felt like I was truly touching history. Value? £5,000–8,000.

The Printed Word

You cannot open a book without learning something

—CONFUCIUS

First or last? When it comes to collecting, these are the two words that more often than not define the real value of an object. The first book to be printed in what is now the United States of America was the Bay Psalm book of 1640. It was meant to be an accurate translation of the Hebrew Psalms into English, although it is rife with mistakes! Out of about 1,700 original copies, only eleven are thought to still exist. It was published by the Puritan leaders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and is regarded by some as being the most important book in the nation’s history. In 1947 a copy sold for a staggering $151,000 – far more at the time than even a Gutenberg Bible. The latest copy to come to sale was one of two owned by Boston’s Old South Church. The price paid? A mere $14.2 million. By my reckoning that works out at about $1,420 per word.

Without Prejudice

Jane Austen is without doubt one of England’s most celebrated authors. 2013 was the bicentenary of the publication of her novel Pride and Prejudice, an anniversary which undoubtedly was instrumental in the fervour that surrounded the rescue of a ring that had once belonged to her. One of only three pieces of jewellery known to have a personal connection to Austen, the gold and turquoise ring has an impeccable provenance and was passed through the family until it was sold by Sotheby’s at auction. The ring was purchased for £152,450 by American pop star Kelly Clarkson, a fact that immediately brought it to increased attention in the media. Regarded as a significant object and of national importance, it was slapped with an export ban which allowed the nation sufficient time to raise the equivalent sale amount in order to stop it from leaving the country. The funds were raised quickly through the Jane Austen’s House Museum, Chawton in Hampshire, helped by a generous anonymous donation of £100,000. The ring is now on public display.

Stovepipe

I live in Chippenham in Wiltshire and almost every day I am reminded of the great civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806–1859) as I pass under his imposing, multiarched Great Western Railway viaduct that heralds the entrance into the town centre. On the same line, between Chippenham and Bath, is the Box Tunnel, a miraculous two-mile feat of Victorian engineering and one of many so-called ‘impossible’ projects pioneered by Brunel. Despite some failures, the legacy of his skill still provides us with infrastructure that we continue to use every day. In 2002 he was voted second in a BBC poll of the ‘100 Greatest Britons’ and his character was central to the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. A famous photographic portrait of Brunel standing in front of the launching chains of the SS Great Eastern portrays him smoking a cigar in his trademark stovepipe hat.

Objects associated with Brunel are highly collectable and vigorously contested at auction. Some wonderful examples have come to light over the years. A leather cigar case, bearing the embossing ‘I.K.B. [Isambard Kingdom Brunel] Athenaeum Club Pall Mall’ – with one cheroot still intact – sold for £26,400 at Bonhams in 2011. A cased set of wooden architects’ drawing curves stamped in ink with ‘I.K.B.’ made £27,500 in 2012, again at Bonhams, and a personal favourite of mine, sold in the same year, was a silver presentation snuff box made by the famous silversmith Nathaniel Mills. The lid, decorated with a picture of Brunel’s ship the SS Great Britain, the first iron-hulled, screw-powered, ocean-going steamer (now in dry dock in Bristol) is inscribed inside from the directors of the Great Western Steamship Company to Brunel. The snuff box sold for £16,000. It’s thought that Brunel may once have sold it himself when the failure of the company to secure a mail contract for the great ship and her subsequently running aground near Ireland caused the company to go bankrupt.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

More recently, the Brunel offerings have been more meagre at auction but I was particularly taken with a 19th-century concertina ‘peep-show’ optical toy of the Thames Tunnel, the first tunnel built under a navigable river, constructed between 1825 and 1843 – both Brunel and his father, Marc Isambard Brunel, worked on the project. The toy realised a more affordable £400.

Property Bubble

Rising house prices are back in the news and it seems certain that the latest property bubble will end in tears for many overstretched buyers. Imagine then, that as the owner of a well-appointed and highly original Victorian doll’s house, complete with a wonderful array of original contents, you have to decide what is the best way to sell it. Unlike France, where it’s not unusual to buy a house with its chattels, it’s not something that is commonplace in the UK – except with doll’s houses, it seems! In this case, the owners stipulated that the contents be kept with the house and, rather unusually for an antique auction lot, the house and contents were offered for sale by Chorley’s auctioneers in Gloucestershire by informal tender.

The 4ft-high doll’s house was built around 1850 by a Liverpool couple called Mr and Mrs Newton. Made for their six-year-old daughter Emma, the house was furnished with a selection of items made by the couple and additional miniature household objects purchased on foreign holidays in Germany and Switzerland – famous centres of production for every necessary scaled-down accessory! Such was the interest that the winning tender was a hefty £42,450; luckily there was no stamp duty to pay!

The £5 Raindrop

I’m not a betting man but I was intrigued by this interesting gambling story that came to light as the result of the sale of some farthing coins at Woolley and Wallis auctioneers. Apparently, a member of the Alington family from Crichel House in Dorset had a £5 wager with a friend over the speed of two raindrops running down a pane of glass. The friend lost. Given that this was in 1890, £5 was no small amount of money and the friend, rather displeased at losing the wager, paid his dues in mint farthings – 2,794 of them to be precise – all dated 1890.

£2 18s 1½d remained of the original cache when it came to auction, the coins all wrapped in their original tissue, still bright and in mint condition. They sold for £63,440. It’s interesting to think what the full £5-worth might have made!

Hand of Glory

In 1823, a group of leading citizens and local dignitaries led by the Rev. George Young founded the Whitby Literary and Philosophical Society. The main purpose was to set up a museum and library, which would primarily focus on locally related material including the rich fossil deposits and jet that form an important part of Whitby’s working heritage. It’s one of my favourite museums, mainly because it has such a quirky and eccentric collection of objects. Although the collection feels very 19th century and in some ways seems quite random, the present museum building only dates from 1931, when it was built to house an ever-increasing collection. It adjoins the municipal art gallery.

There is one very unusual exhibit, this being the main reason for my most recent visit. The object, called a ‘Hand of Glory’, is a rather gruesome dried severed hand, which by all accounts was taken from the body of a hanged felon. Folklore says that when furnished with a candle made of the same fat as the hand, it has the power to render people motionless, open locked doors and detect treasure. There are various methods of preparation for a Hand of Glory; one detailed in the 1722 Secrets Merveilleux de la Magie Naturelle et Cabalistique du Petit Albert involved various herbs, nitre and a good stint of sunshine to dry it out. Naturally, such hands are quite rare, and given Whitby’s historic literary association with vampires, it attracts a rather unusual following.

Star Lot

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without

—CONFUCIUS

Strange, I sometimes think, how diamonds continue to intrigue us. They are commonly occurring and yet they can command incredible prices. However, the diamonds that attract the biggest sums are not the jewellers shop window variety, they are the largest, most flawless, historic and most unusual in colour. Those which fall within the purest grading categories make up less than 2 per cent of all gems. In recent years there have been some stunningly large amounts paid.

Der Blaue Wittelsbacher