Antiques and Collectables for Pleasure & Profit SUMMER 2013 | Page 15

bits

and pieces
Guesstimates – what were
they thinking… A Qianlong
white jade phoenix ewer
estimated at $30,000 sold for
$2.85m… A Boer War officer’s
helmet sold for $8100 against
an estimate of $300…
A Far Eastern brass figure of a
goddess estimated at $45 sold
for $16,500… An Imperial
porcelain abstinence plaque
estimated at $3,000 sold
for $57,000… A French
ormolu-framed triptych mirror
sold for $26,000 against an
estimate of $300… A netsuke
of a dragon that was estimated
at $300 sold for $8550…

Mad estimates, Chinese investors, lovers
of Moorcroft, banned trading, Tretchikoff
and a storm in a fake teacup...

yesterday the Crystal Palace, the
huge Victorian exhibition centre
once the largest glass structure
in the world, will be brought
back to life with an $811 million
investment from the Shanghaibased real estate firm
ZhongRong Group. The Crystal
Palace was designed by Jeremy
Paxton for the 1851 Great
Exhibition but was moved to an
area of South London that took
its name and was destroyed by
fire in 1936.’

relation to the
term ‘worked’,
when applied
to trade in
endangered
species. ‘Worked’
is the antiques
derogation that
states that an item
shall be exempt
from normal sales
controls if it was acquired prior
to June 1947 and has been
significantly altered from its
natural raw state for jewellery,
Laws tightened on
adornment, art, utility or
endangered species
musical instrument before that
trading
date. The new guidelines mean
In May 2013, the European
that many more items now
Commission of the Convention require a license before they
Karma - and The Great
on International Trade in
can be sold and other items
Exhibition
Endangered Species of Wild
have effectively been banned
Peter Saunders from South
Flora and Fauna (CITES)
from trade.
Australia sent us this note: ‘I
issued new guidelines in
Although most taxidermy
recently read your article, The
qualifies under the
Great Exhibition of
‘worked’ title, other
1851 (ACPP No. 48,
items that can no
Autumn 2013) in which
longer be legally
you quote the book by
traded include
Thomas Ohnwyn, Mr
rhino horns
and Mrs Brown’s Visit
(including when
to London to see The
mounted as silver
Great Exhibition of All
inkwells, clocks
Nations, in which ‘the
etc.); tiger claw
Chinese are represented
jewellery, even
as cruel and uncouth
when embellished
barbarians.’ I was then
with precious
highly amused and
metals and stones;
delighted to see the
marine turtle shells;
following item in our
sperm whale teeth
local newspaper,
(regardless of age);
reporting that the
elephant tusks
Chinese are to rebuild
unless fully carved
the Crystal Palace. I
Sold for 22 times its estimate – the silver mounted
or shaped into a
hope Mr Ohnwyn is
Moorcroft loving cup.
new form, such as
turning in his grave.’
Wedding gift smashes its estimate
a brush pot, for
The item from Peter’s
A loving cup that combined the talents of
example (polishing
local paper – The
William Moorcroft and the US jewellers Shreve & and mounting does
Advertiser, 05/10/13 –
Co smashed its (very conservative) estimate of
not qualify as being
reads: ‘A symbol of
$1200 when it sold at Carls Auction Gallery in
‘worked’). Items of
Britain’s worldwide
California for $27,000. The loving cup, which was scrimshaw and
power during the 19th
awarded a gold medal at the St Louis internationobjects made from
century will be rebuilt
al Exhibition and featured the popular Moorcroft
tortoiseshell are
in London – with
Claremont pattern with silver mounts by Shreve
considered ‘worked’
money from Chinese
& Co, was a wedding gift to the parents of the
and can be freely
developers. London
vendor and had been in the family since 1906.
sold. Tiger skins
officials announced
54
Antiques and Collectables for Pleasure & Profit

Tiger claw jewellery can no
longer be legally traded after
the introduction of new trade
guidelines in May 2013.

may only be sold when tanned
and lined. Mounted horns and
antlers can be sold freely as
long as the species they are
taken from is not on the
‘special status’ list, in which
case they will require a
certificate. If you’re thinking of
buying or selling an object that
orig