Category: Auction Highlights

Tiffany Studios Woodbine pattern table lamp auction

Tiffany Studios Woodbine Pattern Table Lamp

ADVANCE NOTICE: To be offered as part of our three-day auction of Antiques, Fine Art & Collectors’ Items on the 1st December 2011 in our sale of British and Continental Ceramics and Glass. As part of an important group of American Art Nouveau lamps consigned for sale by a lady. A Tiffany Studios Woodbine pattern leaded glass and patinated bronze table lamp, circa 1910, the domed shade with groups of leaves against a mottled ground beneath a panelled top, the green and brown patinated reeded base with a waisted stem and domed foot raised on ball feet, shade stamped ‘Tiffany Studios New York’, base underside stamped ‘Tiffany Studios New York 28622’ beneath monogram, diameter of shade approx 40.5cm, height of base approx 58cm. Provenance: Christie’s New York, Rockefeller Plaza, Important Tiffany & Art Glass from the Minna Rosenblatt Gallery, 10 December 2003, lot 496. Presale estimate £15,000-£20,000.

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Tiffany Studios Lily table lamp for sale at Toovey’s

Tiffany Studios Lily table lamp

ADVANCE NOTICE: To be offered as part of our three-day auction of Antiques, Fine Art & Collectors’ Items on the 1st December 2011 in our sale of British and Continental Ceramics and Glass. As part of an important group of American Art Nouveau lamps consigned for sale by a lady. A Tiffany Studios seven light Favrile glass and patinated bronze Lily table lamp, circa 1910, the gold washed iridescent shades supported on sinuous bronze stems rising from a green and brown patinated foliate formed circular base, five shades engraved ‘5-L.C.T. Favrile’, one shade engraved ‘L.C.T. Favrile’, one unmarked, base underside stamped ‘Tiffany Studios New York 385’, overall height approx 54cm. Provenance: Christie’s New York, Rockefeller Plaza, Important Tiffany & Art Glass from the Minna Rosenblatt Gallery, 10 December 2003, lot 488. Presale estimate £6,000-£9,000.

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Handel table lamp for sale at auction

Handel leaded glass table lamp

ADVANCE NOTICE: To be offered as part of our three-day auction of Antiques, Fine Art & Collectors’ Items on the 1st December 2011 in our sale of British and Continental Ceramics and Glass. As part of an important group of American Art Nouveau lamps consigned for sale by a lady. A Handel leaded glass and patinated metal table lamp, circa 1910, the domed shade with groups of red blossoms against a ground of dense leaves, with shaped rim edge, the green and brown patinated naturalistic base formed as a tree trunk with spreading foot, shade with applied tag impressed ‘Handel’, base marked to underside ‘Handel 5339’, diameter of shade approx 46cm, height of base approx 63cm. Provenance: Christie’s New York, Rockefeller Plaza, Important Tiffany & Art Glass from the Minna Rosenblatt Gallery, 10 December 2003, Lot 381; Christie’s East New York, 9 June 1999, lot 285. Presale estimate £4,000-£6,000.

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Table lamp attributed to Duffner & Kimberly at Toovey’s

Table lamp attributed to Duffner & Kimberly

ADVANCE NOTICE: To be offered as part of our three-day auction of Antiques, Fine Art & Collectors’ Items on the 1st December 2011 in our sale of British and Continental Ceramics and Glass. As part of an important group of American Art Nouveau lamps consigned for sale by a lady. A leaded glass and patinated metal table lamp, attributed to Duffner & Kimberly, circa 1910, the domed shade with three groups of orange poppy flowers against a ground of ‘brickwork’ green panels, the dark green/black patinated base with a swollen reeded stem and spreading circular foot with twelve lobed protrusions, diameter of shade approx 48cm, height of base approx 59cm, unmarked. Provenance: Christie’s New York, Rockefeller Plaza, Important Tiffany & Art Glass from the Minna Rosenblatt Gallery, 10 December 2003, lot 382. Presale estimate £3,000-£5,000.

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The Mystery Towers or Naval Giants at Southwick.

Postcards of the Mystery Towers at Southwick. Lot 3046 in Toovey

There is little doubt that Britain’s coastline has played a huge part in its success as a great nation. It has acted as a vital gateway for exploration, trade and harvest as well as an outline that marks it apart from the rest of Europe. Unsurprisingly it has also played an important part in times of war.

In reaction to the growing losses of the allied fleet through the onslaught of German U-boat attacks and fears of a German invasion, British Admiralty sought to construct a series of towers that would stretch all the way from Dungeness, Kent, to Cap Gris Nez off the Western Coast of France.

These floating forts were designed by civilian architect Mr G. Menzies and measured over 90ft high, they were intended to be united by steel boom nets and protected by mines. The towers were capable of providing a gun mounted defence system that could be manned by anything up to 100 servicemen. Work on the so-called naval giants started in June 1918, including two at Southwick, near Shoreham, Sussex. The understandable secrecy of such a project in wartime gave the structures the local nicknames of the ‘Mystery Towers’. With Armistice in November 1918, the plan never came to total fruition. Several of the towers did get built, including the two at Southwick. The First of these was towed out by steam tug on 12th September 1920 to become the Nab Tower off the coast of the Isle of Wight, the other was eventually dismantled. Locals at the time thought this was rather lucky, as it is rumoured the second was built 6ft too wide to leave the harbour mouth.

Whilst today no visible remains of these important local monuments survives, their memory lives-on through the vintage picture postcard which document this interesting folly of the First World War.

On Tuesday 1st November 2011 Lot 3046 will be going under the gavel at Toovey’s Spring Gardens auction rooms in the Sale of Paper Collectables. This lot consists of two albums containing 247 important postcards relating to Southwick and its environs, the albums include 25 postcards featuring the rise of the Mystery Towers (selection pictured above, click for larger image, for more images of the lot click here), most by local photographer Joseph Gurney Ripley. Offered in the specialist sale with a presale estimate of £1200-1800, these postcards brilliantly bring to life this moment in Sussex history.