Martin McIlroy - Blog

From Austria to the Black Forest

Martin McIlroy — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 11:17:25 GMT

Anybody who has read my blogs or articles in Devon Life will know that my two great loves are Austrian cold painted bronzes and Swiss carved 'Black Forest' wares. Imagine my delight when a client brought in an object that combines both areas of collecting.

A large Austrian cold painted bronze humidor modelled in the form of a carved wood 'Black Forest' bear's head. The head hinged to reveal a tobacco jar with interior weight and lid, a vesta dish and a strike pad on the bear's tongue. The head measures 23cm. high and 20cm. wide.

Having examined all the folds in the fur I cannot find a Bergman vase stamp or any other marks that you would expect on an Austrian cold painted bronze, but I will keep on looking. You can just imagine this jar sitting on a table in a Black Forest hunting lodge whilst hunters sit around smoking a pipe after the days exertions.

This cold painted bronze bear will be included in our Fine Sale early in the New Year on the 26th & 27th January 2011, and carries an estimate of £1500-2000.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

"Gordon Bennett - That's Ballooning"!

Martin McIlroy — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:30:55 GMT

Sometimes an article arrives in your department that simply just grabs your imagination. So it was when a rectangular walnut travelling decanter box was shown to me. Inset into the glazed door were a collection of ballooning medals dating from 1823, but most related to the Gordon Bennet Cup from the 1920's.

The three smaller medals are "Sparrow farthings" issued by Isaac Earlysman Sparrow, an ironmonger in Bishopsgate, London, who ascended in a balloon from Oxford in 1823 with near disastrous consequences.

The remain medals relate to The Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett (The Gordon Bennett Cup). Initiated by the newspaper tycoon Gordon Bennett in 1906 the first race took off from the Tuileries, Paris. Since then the race has taken place every year with the exception of two world wars and the odd cancelation.

The ballooning medals relate to races in 1923, 1924,1925 and 1926 and were awarded to Captain CW Berry.

As a point of interest, the 2010 Coupe Aeronautique Gordon Bennett will take off from Ashton Court, Bristol on 24th September 2010.

The travelling case with the ballooning medals mounted to the glazed door, containing three clear glass decanters will be included in our Fine sale on the 21/22nd April 2010.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

Bergman Austrian Bronze Lizard

Martin McIlroy — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:54:35 GMT

Following the succesful sale of the Bergman cold painted bronze elephant model in our recent Fine Sale for £6,600 (hammer price) you can imagine my delight when another Bergman cold painted bronze of a lizard arrived at my desk.

The lizard was painted in greens and yellows with a greyish brown under surface. Produced in Austria in first quarter of the 20th century by Franz Bergman the leading founder of the day.it is a fine example of the sculptors work. With its eyes slightly open and head raised as if greeting the morning air. Its tail curling round and resting under its head.

To the underside of the lizard there is the usual Bergman vase stamp, with 'Geschutzt' and it's numbered 4133. From head to tip of the tail it measures 54cm.

The lizard will be included in or Fine Sale on the 7th/8th October.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

Faberge Buckle

Martin McIlroy — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:45:53 GMT

Following the highly sucessful sale of the Faberge parasol handle for £17,500, another masterpiece from the Faberge workshops is to be offered in our quarterly Fine Sale on the 22nd April 2009.

This time the object to be offered is a pink enamelled gold and silver oval buckle. It is decorated with pink enamel over engine-turning within bright-cut and gadrooned gold bands, the gold rim stamped '56'.

To the back of the buckle there is the Faberge stamp together with the makers mark H.W for Henrik Wigstrom. As the silver mark shows the womans head facing to the right the piece can be dated between 1908 and 1917.

There is also a scratched 17237 which is probably the Faberge inventory number. The enamel buckle measures 68mm long overall. It will be interesting to see exactly how much this Faberge buckle fetches in the forthcoming sale. Thank you to all of you who contacted me regarding the Faberge parasol handle I hope this creates just as much interest.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

Bergman Bronze Elephant

Martin McIlroy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:37:51 GMT

One of my favourite forms of sculpture is Austrian cold painted bronzes. Possibly the greatest exponent of the art of miniature bronzes was Franz Bergman (1838-1894). His bronze subjects were wide ranging, from birds and animals, carpet sellers to American Indians, erotic semi-naked females to reptiles. This study of an elephant with a seated rider is a magnificant study of power and muscle.

Franz Bergman was very quick to seize on popular subjects of the day and model them in bronze. During the Egyptian revival period, scantily clad bronze nude females would rise up from spring loaded Egyptian sarcophagae. Arab street sellers were modelled seated on carpets with their wares spread out before them. Cats modelled in the style of Louis Wain were extremely popular. This impressive bronze of an Asian (Indian) elephant with howdah strapped to its back draped with woven blankets shows the majesty of this beast of burden.

The model is stamped underneath the stomach with the Bergman vase stamp, serial or model number and 'Geschutzt' or Patent. This Bergman bronze model of an Indian elephant is to be included in our Fine Art Sale on the 22nd/23rd April with an estimate of £1500 - 2000.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

Bassett Lowke Speedboat

Martin McIlroy — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 16:51:00 GMT

From the British firm of Bassett-Lowke comes this superb speedboat 'Iolanthe' . The iconic shape of the hull shouts 1930's and Sir Malcolm Campbell would have been proud of her. She has a painted wooden two-tone hull, engine compartment with cover enclosing a clockwork motor, and a cockpit protected by a windscreen. The rudder can be adjusted to give a wide or narrow turning circle.

The inter-war years was the 'Golden Age' of speed with attempts on the land speed record, as well as the water speed record,the 'Bentley Boys' winning Le Mans 24 hour races and Britian winning the Schneider trophy, what boy could fail to want to go to the boating pond with this beauty?

Bassett-Lowke was founded in 1899 and went on to produce some ot the finest model railway locomotives, ships, traction engines and engineering models ever. They produced models for museums as well as ship models for numerous shipping lines.

This Bassett-Lowke clockwork operated speedboat 'Iolanthe' will be included in our Maritime Sale to be held on 1st April, at our Alphin Brook Road saleroom.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

Faberge Parasol Handle

Martin McIlroy — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:15:39 GMT

Following my recent blog on the Faberge parasol handle I can now bring readers up to date. This handle made by the workmaster Michail Perchin for faberge was included in Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood sale yesterday 28th January 2009. As with all pieces of Faberge, there was both national and international interest and all telephone lines were booked.

It wasn't long before the internet and telephone bids took over and after some intensive bidding the handle was finally sold for £17,500 (hammer price). The vendor who was present was delighted.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

Silver Grouse from Berthold Muller

Martin McIlroy — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 20:34:00 GMT

The firm of Berthold Muller & Son were wholesale silversmiths trading out of Acton during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were sole British agents for the German company Neresheimer & Sohne of Nuremberg, they also imported sliver wares from Holland and Austria.

The last piece of German silver imported by Berthold Muller that I sold was a tea caddy modelled in the form of a cat, bearing import marks for 1905. It realised £7,000 in our July 2008 sale.

Recently two continental silver models of red grouse have wandered across my desk each about 9.5cm. tall. One grouse bears import marks for 1926 the other grouse for 1927.One also bears the import marks for Berthold Muller and was almost certainly made by Neresheimer & Sohne. Although they are a matched pair of grouse (cock and hen) they are not by the same makers and there is a years difference in their import dates.

This brace of grouse will be included in one of our forthcoming auctions.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

Faberge Parasol Handle

Martin McIlroy — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:06:40 GMT

There are a few jewellers who excite an auctioneer more than the name Faberge. Imagine, if you will, a lady comes into our reception with two umbrellas, the first has a handle of carved wood in the form of a Scottie dog. The second umbrella handle is much more important, immediately recogonised by our jewellery expert Jethro Marles, the handle was from the House of Faberge. The quality of the handle was apparent from the start. The handle was the work of Michail Perchin working in St Petersburg for the Faberge family.

The Faberge parasol handle was enamelled, gold, bowenite and rose diamond mounted. The pale green bowenite ball above a collar decorated with translucent pink guilloche enamel with applied gold wreaths of laurel and between rose-diamond set bands. Stamped with workmaster Michail Perchin, St Petersburg marks.

Estimated at £10,000-15,000 this Faberge parasol handle will be one of the major lots to be included in Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood auction on the 28th January. The owner originally thought of throwing the umbrella away or taking it to a local charity shop. Thanks to the expertise of Jethro Marles the Faberge parasol handle was correctly indentified and now is included in our inaugural Fine Sale on the 28th January 2009.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.

Recruiting and Advertising Posters

Martin McIlroy — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:29:10 GMT

Currently I am cataloguing a collection of World War One recruiting posters and advertising posters. The posters date from 1914 through to the late 1920's and include examples of French, British, American and Canadian recruiting posters. Posters were designed to inform simply and quickly, with basic images in blocked colours and few words, something memorable but also cheap to produce.

Railway posters always prove popular with collectors and included in this collection is a poster for the London Underground providing information on fares. A previous collection of railyway posters were sold through our rooms and totalled £45,000. One of the top prices was for an L.M.S. poster "Blackpool" by the artist Fortunino Matania (1881-1963) which realised £4,200.

The collection of posters will be included in a forthcoming collectors sale in the new year. Dates and details to follow.

This weblog is produced by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood.