Category: Auction Highlights

Bing and Nuremberg Tinplate Toys

A Bing tinplate clockwork open top double deck bus
A Bing tinplate clockwork open top double deck bus to be offered at Toovey's on 9th July 2013

The tinplate toy’s development in the mid-19th century with it’s bold and bright colouring, tactile modelling and often superb detailing quickly replaced its wooden toy predecessors for obvious reasons. The rise in the tinplate toy was spearheaded by German manufacturers, such as Märklin, who set the high standards for the industry. Today, the city of Nuremberg is known around the world as a center for toy production and hosts the largest international toy fair. The renown of the city started with a firm called Bing.

The brothers Ignaz and Adolf Bing originally opened a distribution firm for household goods in 1866, quickly adding toys to their list of products and a manufacturing firm to their flourishing business. By 1871 the company was employing over 100 workers. The company continued to grow and at the 1882 State Exposition Bing had the largest range of wares of any exhibiting manufacturer and were already shipping to destinations around the globe. Expansion at the firm continued and when the company issued its 550 page catalogue and price list in 1912 it was the largest toy manufacturer in the world employing 2700 people. It was not until the First World War that the firm started to dwindle in popularity, the output was changed to manufacturing military goods and the company was so large it was now necessary to change to a stock company eventually splitting into several manufacturing facilities. Although splinters of the company remain today the heyday for the firm was certainly around the turn of the last century.

Two Bing tinplate station indicators
Two Bing tinplate 'next train to' station indicators to be offered at Toovey's

Toovey’s specialist auctions of Toys, Dolls and Games regularly include examples from this and other German toy manufacturers and the July auction is no different. Lot 3160 is a beautifully crafted early 20th century Bing tinplate clockwork open top double deck bus with external staircase. The 18cm long bus is beautifully lithographed with the London General Omnibus Company logo and advertisements for Pascall confectionery, Wright’s Coal Tar Soap and Dunlop. For collectors, condition is all important and the generally good condition of this bus is reflected in its £200-400 pre-sale estimate. Bing are probably best known for the creation of model railways and also included in Toovey’s toy auction is a pair of Bing tinplate ‘next train to’ station indicators. Each platform sign has a clock face and six changeable destination boards. The pair are a similar date to the double deck bus and are estimated at £80-120 due to a little playwear and minor rust spots.

Bing alone did not make Nuremberg the center for toy products. At one time it is believed there were more than fifty toy firms operating in the city, most of whose names have been lost or forgotten in the archives. That said, many Nuremberg-based names are still revered by collectors including Arnold Fleischmann and Lehmann, while children of today will know the modern day producers of Playmobil, Carrera and Trix, continuing the legacy of toy production in Nuremberg.

Schuco Curvo 1000
Schuco Curvo 1000 to be offered at Toovey's

Another name joining the Nuremberg toy producer’s hall of fame was a firm established in the pre-war years of the 20th century by Heinrich Müller and Heinrich Shreyer. Also creating tinplate toys, Schreyer & Co enjoyed great success until the First World War, but with reinvestment the company survived, rebranding to Schuco in 1921. Under this trade name the company would eventually gain international fame, despite the difficulty of the second world war. In 1962, an estimated one hundred million Schuco toys were sold. Because of their vast and varied output Schuco tinplate toys regularly appear in the toy sales at Toovey’s. The auction on Tuesday 9th July features a tinplate Schuco ‘Curvo 1000’ measuring 12.5cm in length. The mid-20th century racer on a motorcycle, Lot 3165, is offered with the remnants of its original box and the original instructions. It carries a pre-sale estimate of £100-150 which illustrates that collecting tinplate toys can still be relatively affordable when buying at auction, that is unless you amass a collection to rival that of the late publishing tycoon Malcolm Forbes who was a well-known and avid collector. Tinplate toys were made throughout the 20th century with America and Japan becoming major producers too, flying the tinplate flag for Britain was Chad Valley among others. Many of the firms are still producing tinplate toys to be enjoyed by collectors now and in the future, but there is something inexplicably lovely about the vintage versions, like those waiting to be discovered at Toovey’s.

Hans Feibusch Drawings and Prints For Sale at Toovey’s

Design for Christ in Glory in St Sidwells, Exeter
Lot 8: Design for Christ in Glory

A group of twenty works by the 20th century artist Hans Feibusch is to be offered for auction in Toovey’s specialist fine art sale on Wednesday 12th June. Feibusch had strong links with Sussex and worked in a particular figurative style, influenced by the painters of the Renaissance.

Hans Feibusch arrived in England in 1933 from Nazi Germany to escape persecution as a Jew. He had become an established painter in Germany and was awarded the German Grand State Prize for Painters in 1930 by the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. His talent was soon recognized in England and he exhibited regularly, often with the London Group, to which he was elected in 1934. The London Group included many of Britain’s leading artists.

His first public commission came in 1937 when Edward D. Mills invited Feibusch to paint a mural, ‘Christ washing the Disciples’ Feet before the Last Supper’, for the new Methodist Hall in Colliers Wood, London. The painting attracted a great deal of interest from the national press and brought the artist to the attention of Kenneth Clark, later Lord Clark. Clark was very influential and was director of the National Gallery in London during the war. His television series and book ‘Civilisation’ would subsequently capture the imagination of a generation.

Bishop George Bell of Chichester wrote to Kenneth Clark at the National Gallery in 1939 asking for suggestions as to artists who might be prepared to accept commissions. Clark introduced Feibusch to Bell and the two men met for lunch in Brighton on New Year’s Day 1940. It marked the beginning of a lifelong friendship, during which Bell would be Feibusch’s leading patron. Both men were unprepared to turn their backs on evil. Feibusch personified Bell’s deep and active concern for the plight of the Jews in Germany and its refugees.

In 1929 Bell became Bishop of Chichester, bringing with him patterns of worship and the arts from Canterbury Cathedral, where he had been dean. He wished to see churches once more filled with colour and beauty. Eternal truths could be proclaimed anew in music, modern art and poetry. More people would be drawn into the Christian community by the revival of this old alliance and renewed vitality. Among visitors to the Bishop’s Palace in Chichester were Gustav Holst, Vaughan Williams, Henry Moore, T.S. Eliot, Vanessa Bell, Duncan Grant and, of course, Hans Feibusch.

Rupert Toovey comments, “The friendship between Bell and Feibusch blessed Sussex with a number of murals by this artist. These can be seen at St Wilfred’s, Brighton; Chichester Cathedral; The Bishop’s Chapel, Chichester, and St Mary’s, Goring-by-Sea. Painting onto the walls of churches and cathedrals requires painstaking preparation and these pencil cartoons by Feibusch give us a valuable insight into his work. The sketch for the mural ‘Christ in Glory’, painted in 1957 at St Sidwell’s, Exeter, shows striking prompts from Feibusch’s earlier works in Sussex. The ‘Christ in Majesty’, painted in 1954 at St Mary’s, Goring-by-Sea, has similarities with the sketch for St Sidwell’s. The mural and cartoon display Feibusch’s knowledge of Renaissance artists and their influence on his work. Christ’s arms open in a gesture of welcome and embrace. The figures are convincing, almost sculptural, with a quality of mass and light. Feibusch gifts them through their poses with grace and nobility. In the St Sidwell’s sketch, men and women look up to Christ with gestures of praise and thanksgiving, reminiscent of the figures in the Ascension scene painted by Feibusch in the Bishop’s private chapel in Chichester.”

While the attention of the art world moved on to focus on the abstraction of Ben Nicholson and the new depiction of naturalistic forms by artists like Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland, Hans Feibusch continued to paint and draw figuratively. His style of painting has been the subject of renewed interest in recent years with retrospective exhibitions held at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, in 1995, and more recently at the Bishop Otter Gallery, University of Chichester, in 2012.

“The murals deserve to be celebrated,” Rupert Toovey enthuses. “They represent the work of a gifted artist whose life was inexorably bound up with the extraordinary history and events of his time. For me, though, it is Feibusch’s sketches and drawings that reveal his true talent.”

Hans Feibusch’s work rarely comes to the market and it is with some excitement that collectors are looking forward to Toovey’s sale. The group of sketches, studies and prints will be offered in twelve lots at 10am on 12th June at Toovey’s Spring Gardens Auction Rooms, Washington.

Below: a selection of other works by Hans Feibusch to be offered in Toovey’s June auction.

Click on an image to enlarge.

Jewellery Collection to be Sold at Toovey’s

A diamond and pink beryl brooch
Lot 675

TOOVEY’S April auction this month includes an impressive collection of jewellery consigned for sale by a single local private vendor.

Lots 660-705 inclusive are all the property of a local lady collector and commences with a pair of brilliant cut diamond single stone earrings (Lot 660), each stone being approx 3cts. The pair or earrings carry a pre-sale estimate of £12,000-18,000. The collection continues with a £7,000-10,000 platinum and diamond single stone ring (Lot 661), the brilliant cut diamond measuring approx 2.80cts. Other highlights include a gold, emerald and diamond ring (Lot 665) estimated at £8,000-12,000 and two diamond bracelets (Lots 667 and 668) estimated at £4,000-6,000 and £3,000-5,000 respectively.

Lot 670 is another fine piece sure to attract attention, being a single row necklace of ninety graduated natural saltwater pearls on a diamond set clasp containing approx 2.50cts of diamonds, the principal diamond being approx 1.65ct of the total weight. The necklace is offered with The Gem and Pearl Laboratory pearl report (No. 07496, dated 6th April 2013) which states that the largest ‘pearl’ is 8.3-8.4mm in width, the smallest ‘pearl’ 2.6mm in width and the gross weight being approximately 20.25g. The necklace carries a pre-sale estimate of £5,000-8,000.  Another star of the collection is a diamond and pink beryl pendant brooch (Lot 675), circa 1900, with the large cushion shaped pink beryl in a surround of sixteen pinched collet set circular old cut diamonds with a similar set single stone suspension offered with an estimate of £10,000-15,000.

The collection is offered for sale on the afternoon of Wednesday 17th April, for viewing times and to view the entire collection please click here. We’re sure you’ll agree the sparkly array is enough to dispel any gloom caused from the occasional April shower!

Click on a thumbnail image for the full view and again for further magnification.

Pre-Columbian Pottery and Other Antiquities at Toovey’s

Group of Pre-Columbian Pottery to be offered in Toovey's March Auction

Toovey’s March auction includes 45 Lots of Pre-Columbian Pottery and Other Antiquities, all consigned by local private collectors. Pre-Columbian is a term that refers to an era preceding Christopher Columbus’s Voyages of 1492, but is often used to denote a period prior to European influence.

Among the group is a Pre-Columbian carved stone head that is probably from the Olmec civilisation, the first major civilisation in Mexico that possibly dates back three millenia.  Perhaps more surprising than the age is the pre-sale estimate of £80-120. Unfortunately, while early antiquities are collected, they often command lower prices than many modern collectables.

At £300-500 a Mexican Totonac light red pottery figure is among the more valuable items, although not one of the oldest, dating from 400-900AD. Modelled as a female head and torso wearing a feathered headdress, the figure has some repairs, but being over 1000 years old perhaps this can be forgiven! The figure stands 14cm high excluding the modern oak base.

The Antiquities will be offered in the afternoon of Thursday 21st March.  In addition to the collection of Pre-Columbian Pottery and Other Antiquities, the March four-day sale offers 1647 other Lots, including specialist sales of Toys, Paintings, Silver, Jewellery, Clocks and Furniture, to view the entire online catalogue please click here.

Rare Robert Walton Continent Maps at Auction

Robert Walton's Map of Europe

A scarce set of maps of  Continents of the World by Robert Walton have been consigned by an American collector for Toovey’s Select Sale of Paintings and Prints on Wednesday 5th December 2012.

Robert Walton was one of only a handful of map publishers active in London in the mid-17th Century. Not much has been written about this map maker, who produced sheet maps of the roads of England and Wales before John Ogilby. The son of a yeoman farmer, Walton was born in 1618 in Welford. After an apprenticeship with John Costard of Lothburg, he established himself as a printer, map seller and publisher near Saint Paul’s, London. Walton died in 1688, having worked in the business until 1686.  For his maps of the then-known Continents of the World, Walton took the best of the contemporary Dutch maps by Pieter van den Keere, Nicolaas Visscher, Johannes Blaeu and others and adapted them to the English market. He re-engraved his European rivals’ images, changed the integral text to English and occasionally reinterpreted the geographic information. The unifying feature of Walton’s maps is his use of the fashionable ‘carte à figure’ style: the central panel contains the map proper, whilst around the edge is a wide panelled border, filled with related vignette portraits and views. These vignettes, with images gathered from many sources, are sometimes informative and always charming.

Robert Walton's Map of America

‘A New, Plaine, and Exact map of America…’ depicts North and South America, contained within a panelled border of titled vignette views of cities, like Havana and Mexico City, portraits of explorers, such as Christopher Columbus and Francis Drake, and portraits of indigenous peoples. The map has other decorative qualities; ships, canoes and water creatures are depicted in the sea and animals fill the undiscovered land, representing some of the native fauna. Walton’s map is unique for its diplomatic interpretation of the Island/Peninsula of California. From the 16th to the 18th Century, California regularly appeared on maps as an island, despite much debate to the contrary. Today, it has become one of the most notable cartographic mistakes in history. In ‘California as an Island’, R.V. Tooley writes, “This is an extremely interesting and uncommon map being an intermediate state in the geographical conception of the West Coast, the only map I know to show this compromise solution in the controversy as to whether California was an island or a peninsula.” The other Continents are similarly interesting; Europe, for example, is the second state with King Charles II replacing Cromwell’s portrait in the panelled border, beside a view of London around the time of the Great Fire in 1666.

Robert Walton's Map of Asia
Robert Walton's Map of Africa

Single examples of Walton’s Continents maps do appear on the market infrequently. There is currently an example of the map of Africa for sale at $9500, described as “probably the rarest map of Africa produced in England”, and in the relatively recent past a copy of the map of the Americas was retailed in New York with an asking price of $24,000, described as “a rare map”. On the American West Coast, a copy of Walton’s Asia was sold for $6000 with the accompanying text: “Extremely rare, this being the first example we have ever seen offered for sale.”  Examples of the map of Europe are listed as having sold at auction just twice in the last 15 years. So, with patience, a collector could expect to come across single maps and, over a number of years or even decades, could perhaps assemble a complete set. In December, Toovey’s are offering the rare opportunity to buy the four in one lot. The last time that we have been able to trace when all four maps were offered for sale at the same time was in 1988, when a set in poor condition was sold through the trade in America. This current set (Lot 85) carries a pre-sale estimate of £12,000-18,000 and will be sold at Toovey’s Spring Gardens auction house on Wednesday morning 5th December 2012. If you require more information or detailed condition reports, please contact us, and don’t hesitate – it may well be more than 24 years before the next set comes onto the market!

Additional images of the maps, click to enlarge: