: With more than 8,500 selected pieces, Hermann Historica OHG's
50th anniversary auction was one of its largest since its
founding.
The top lot was a Russian breast star 1st class for the Order of
St Catherine from around 1860-70 that was listed in the "Medals
and Decorations" section of the sale. Since the auction of
Russian orders from the possession of a noble house at Hermann
Historica in October 2000, no further example had appeared on the
market. This rare piece provoked a real bidding duel and was
finally sold for $119,047, double its initial bid of $64,700.
In the field of antique arms, collectors found several examples
of pieces that seldom appear on the market. One of the oldest
objects offered at was a rare Chalcidian helmet from the
Fifth/Fourth Centuries BCE that was offered at $9,700 and
realized $11,387. A well-preserved two-handed sword from the
battle of Castillon, which took place in 1453, aroused intense
interest in bidders from all over the world. This historically
significant object was offered at $19,411, and found a new owner
at $55,645.
A Sixteenth Century black and white Nuremberg suit of armor from
1580, brought $27,174 from an Italian museum as an addition to
its collection.
A massive narwhal tusk, 9 feet long, offered at $9,706, reached
$25,884. A Flemish traveling desk from the first half of the
Seventeenth Century was offered at $9,700 and was sold at $19,410
and a pair of disk candlesticks from the Sixteenth Century
hammered down at $4,140.
Firearms standouts included this Augsburg wheel lock pistol,
circa 1580, which realized $27,198.
There were 650 lots representing the Oriental and Asiatic
cultural area. A Nineteenth Century gold-mounted shamshir from
Oman/Saudi Arabia doubled its opening bid to fetch $8,540. A
gold-inlaid Persian shamshir from around 1800 was sold for $9,057
and a rare Ottoman Miquelet flintlock from the period of the
Turkish wars at the end of the Seventeenth Century was bid up from
$4,500 to $11,516.
Russian standouts included a heavy, double presentation frame by
the famous court jeweler Sergei Fedorovich Verkhovtsev from 1867
that sold for $19,411. Memorial pieces for historical personages,
such as the papal seals of Pius X and Pius XII, which went for
$9,316 and $10,092 respectively, and a presentation bracelet of
Kaiser Wilhelm II at $12,951 met with equal interest.
Military-historical standouts include a complete silver plated
helmet for the life guards of the Imperial Austrian House of
Habsburg, which found a new owner for $20,056; a model 1832
helmet belonging to Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, which was sold at
$12,422; and among the edged weapons, a ceremonial Saxon
Hirschfänger which, offered at $6,470, was worth $18,762 to a
collector and a ceremonial Baden infantry officer's sword that
garnered $12,034.
Sixteenth Century German armor highlights included this
black-white Nuremberg suit of amour from 1580, which was worth
$27,192 to an Italian museum.
The firm arranged for a special auction, The Dr Söllner
Collection "In Honour of Baden." The collection comprised more than
400 pieces, including rare examples of military self-portraits from
the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries that nearly all sold.
A rare Baden helmet for a royal aide-de-camp reached $8,152. An
equally rare piece, a helmet of the Bruchsal City Militia
Cavalry, went for $4,658 and the uniform ensemble for a
Rittmeister (Captain) of the 1st Baden Life Guard Dragoons sold
for $2,329. Objects in the collection from places other than
Baden also drew interest and a Prussian helmet for an officer in
the Life Guard Cuirassier Regiment No. 1, offered at $646 fetched
$5,175.
About 1,200 firearms came up for bid on the second day of the
auction. Offered under the heading of "Firearms of Five
Centuries," they covered a period from an Augsburg wheel lock
pistol of 1580, which sold at $27,170, and a Trabanten wheel lock
rifle for the Dresden Guard dated at 1589 for $16,174, to a rare
Giradoni system, magazine air pistol from 1830, for $8,151.
Rarities among more modern firearms including a third model Colt
Dragoon Revolver with an 8-inch barrel and a Krieghoff Pistol 08
from 1937, both sold at $8,151, also fared well.
All prices initially reported in euros have been converted to
dollars. For information, www.hermann-historica.com. The firm's
next auction will be in October.
