Topping the sale at $25,258 (£20,000) was this reproduction print titled “The Three Brides” by Jan Toorop that was in an Art Nouveau frame that measured 22¾ by 25-1/8 inches. Two exhibition catalogs, from 1918 and 1928, were also included in the lot and may have helped drive its price. A New York phone bidder had the prevailing bid (£300/500).
Review by Madelia Hickman Ring; Photos Courtesy Sworders
STANSTED, MOUNTFITCHET, UK — Nearly 340 lots from the collection of Anglo-American art and antiques dealer, Warner Dailey, were auctioned off by Sworders on February 22. With about 70 percent of the sale gaveling down successfully, the firm earned a cool $264,200 with interest from the United Kingdom, United States and other countries.
Alex Froggatt, senior specialist at Sworders, said, “The Warner Dailey Collection provided many exciting results commensurate with the nature of the quality and breadth of the offering.”
A reproduction print of “The Three Brides” by Jan Toorop (Indonesian/Dutch, 1858-1928) was the sale’s top lot, and, given its £300/500 estimate, the $25,258 it realized, from a buyer in New York bidding on the phone, may have been a surprise. Highlighted with chalk, it was in an Art Nouveau-style frame and was accompanied by two exhibition catalogs: one from 1918, the other from 1928.
Expectations were much higher for a pair of 16-bore silver mounted flintlock dueling pistols that were made by Clark of London in 1772 and had documentation confirming a provenance to Lord Byron. A buyer in Luxembourg, also bidding on the phone, won the pair for $22,100.
This pair of silver mounted flintlock dueling pistols were accompanied by Twentieth Century letters linking them to Lord Byron based on their engraved mermaid crests. They found a new home with a Luxembourg buyer for $22,100 (£14,000) (£14/18,000).
Another lot in the arms and armor category that also had a top notch result was an Eighteenth Century tulwar sword that had been owned by Mark and Peter Dineley, the former being the owner of Bapty & Co, a theatrical and film prop company that specialized in arms and armor. The silver damascened hilt was affixed to a curved 31-5/8-inch-long blade that had three cartouches with gold-inlaid script. A UK trade buyer, bidding online, took it to $7,100, more than seven times its high estimate.
A modest-seeming cast iron tobacco box that had the anti-slavery image of a kneeling figure in chains with the word “Humanity” on its lid was not chained to its £200/300 estimate and earned a cool $12,629 from a buyer in the UK bidding online. Provenance to a named collection may have bolstered additional interest to the lot.
Formerly in the Kennedy Collection in Acton Round in Shropshire, this early Nineteenth Century cast iron tobacco box, 3-1/8 by 5½ by 3¾ inches, that had abolitionist decoration, will be staying in the United Kingdom, with an online bidder who paid $12,629 (£10,000) for it (£200/300).
Charles Green (1888-1974) was the ship’s cook onboard the HMS Endurance as well as the James Caird, both with Sir Ernest Shackleton. His seaman’s papers — known as a Continuous Certificate of Discharge — was of immense importance and the $6,625 it realized, nearly nine times its high estimate, reflected that. It will be staying in the UK, having been purchased by a UK trade buyer.
Sworders will sell Fine Interiors on March 19, Fine Wine & Spirits on March 24 and Jewelry on March 27.
Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium as reported by the auction house. For information, www.sworder.co.uk.
