Rare Spoon Serves Up The Top Price in a £340,000 Sale...
11th April 2019
Over 800 lots of silver and vertu went under the hammer on April 9th to commence Lawrences’ week of Spring Fine Art sales. The day was a remarkable success with very little unsold and there were many strong prices throughout the 7-hour event. Highlights included £3250 for an early portrait miniature by the celebrated master George Engleheart (1750-1829) and £8500 paid for a superb pair of George III cast silvergilt candlesticks by Thomas Pitts (1806), which were of exceptional quality and in fine condition. Two very scarce items of flatware met with keen bidding. A George II Irish provincial marrow scoop, made in Kinsale in c.1730, took the top honours in a small collection of similar scoops and was bought for £10,000. A Charles I East Anglian spoon by Arthur Haslewood of Norwich (1635) was bought for £11,250. A £72,000 private collection of small silver concluded the day: not only were buyers eager for every single one of the 134 lots on offer but a snuff box of Arctic interest, awarded by Captain James Clark Ross to Captain Richard Wallace in 1833, made £6875. A tiny Victorian vinaigrette in the form of a flower upon a stalk, weighing just 1/3rd of an ounce, was just 4.5cm long and quadrupled hopes to make £2000. Fittingly, the sale ended on another high note as a further snuff box depicting a hunting scene (1828) was chased to £3750 to bring the day’s total to just under £340,000.
